We were entertaining our friends with a Sunday night supper. Our little daughter and her little friend, both aged five, excused themselves to go to the outhouse. It was almost dark. They were gone for some time and a “blue norther” blew in with an awful force. The two little girls came running into the house as mad as wet hens, asking why we hadn’t rescued them! It seems that the wind had blown the outhouse door shut, causing the wooden latch to fall into place, locking them inside. After yelling and screaming to no avail, our little daughter reassured her little friend that she would get them out safely. She started unrolling the toilet tissue from its holder, them took the cardboard cylinder, mashed it flat with her shoe, and slipped the flat cardboard through the crack in the door, unlocking it. We thought that was pretty smart thinking.
That was the only outhouse I’ve ever seen carpeted wall-to-wall in toilet tissue.
Our little girl has grown up and is the mother of twin boys, and is still using her ingenuity.
Mrs. Herbert Michalewicz
Rosebud, Texas
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
