Stuff we’d rather not know about ancestors

“A few did manage to lavish in this luxury a couple times a year.”

And what was that “luxury?” Getting in a tub of hot or warm water, bathing, and using real soap.

http://www.historyconfidential.com/2011/08/history-bathing-in-early-america/


Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com

There was a regional aspect to bathing, of course. A part of that Massachusetts vs. Virginia conflict that has permeated American history: “In New England states bathing was not even a thought.”

I went about a month without a bath or shower in early 1967, northwest of Tay Ninh City, not far from Cambodia. I don’t recommend anyone go that long. Luckily, the Army had not changed from steel helmets, so we all had a pot for at least a cat’s bath now and then. And shaved every day.