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Outhouses or Toilets

After the construction of the school was the building of the toilets, usually one on either side of the barn, and at a specified distance. One toilet for the boys and one for the girls.

The little trip to the outhouse on a cold day must of been quite an ordeal what with layers of clothing, no zippers (buttons and button holes) and cold fingers. This must have been quite a task especially for small children. In below zero weather, brushing the snow from the seat and then sitting down must have been torture.

Sometimes students found themselves locked in the outhouse. This was either by accident or a prank. Usually the teacher noticed them missing and send another student on a search.

Toilet paper consisted of catalogues and newspapers. Sometimes you might be lucky and there would be orange or apple papers available.

The toilet paper issue was the source of humor in many schools. They had a barter system as follows: 2 orange wrappers were worth two cookies, a piece of cake or a piece of candy, one orange wrapper allowed a student to borrow an eraser, a pen, a paint brush, a compass or a ruler. Three wrappers in good shape qualified a student for help with his homework, a ride home in a buggy or relief from a school job such as lighting the stove or hauling wood or water.

The lack of comfort and hygienic toilets was not considered too critical as it was the trend of the times - "Pioneer Living". In later years some schools installed indoor chemical toilets. Other rural schools used chemical toilets in the winter time and outside toilets in the summer time.

The matter of suitable and sanitary privies was always a problem in rural schools in spite of instructions from the Department of Health. In May,1929, the Department of Public Health in Alberta sent the following message to every school in the province. (Malcolm R. Row, Deputy Minister "Rural Sanitation", Alberta Public Health Bulletin).

"All toilets should be well ventilated and lighted and should be so constructed as to render them positively fly proof. Two sizes and heights of seats should be provided to meet the requirements of the smaller and larger pupils.
From the school environment, the child should not only learn no bad habits and catch no disease, but should be so taught and generally impressed with the home. It should be the concern of every parent to see that the school is a model of sanitary appointments".