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Archiver > AUS-Tasmania > 2001-11 > 1004657873


From: "LISA BEAINI" <>
Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] The good old days...
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 10:37:53 +1100
References: <MABBIAIAAOBJBCLEBEFEEEBICGAA.ckclee@austarnet.com.au>


Hi List,
Just a quick note RE: The Good Old Days
To avoid any confusion, the above was sent to the London List a long time
ago and we were all informed by several members of list as well as the List
Owner that it is not FACT, but only someone's interpretation of Old sayings
and that it should be treated as such. It's a lot of fun and interesting to
read, but we were warned that it should not be treated as fact.
I'm not having a go at you Lee for sending it, I just thought everyone would
like to know.
Best wishes,
Lisa
Melbourne
www.lisasgenealogypages.homestead.com
researching:
DAVIS, RISBY, CRISP, FULLER, HURST, SEMPLE, CRAWFORD, COOPER, BIDENCOPE,
WHITE, TABART, and many others in Tasmania
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Chambers" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 10:48 PM
Subject: [AUS-Tas] The good old days...


> My husband emailed this to me. I found it interesting and thought I'd
share
> it.
>
> > Here are some facts about the 1500s.
> >
> > Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
> > May
> > and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
> > smell,
> >
> > so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
> >
> > Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house
> > had
> >
> > the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men,
> > then the women and finally the children -- last of all the babies.
> >
> > By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
> > Hence
> > the saying: don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
> >
> > Houses had thatched roofs -- thick straw, piled high, with no wood
> > underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
> > dogs,
> > cats, and other small animals, mice, rats, and bugs lived in the roof.
> > When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip
and
> >
> > fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
> >
> > There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed
a
> >
> > real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really
> > mess
> >
> > up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung
over
> > the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
> > existence.
> >
> > The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt,
hence
> >
> > the saying dirt poor.
> >
> > The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when
> > wet,
> >
> > so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the
> > winter
> >
> > wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door
> > it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the
> > entry way. Hence, a thresh hold.
> >
> > They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the
> > fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate
> > mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew
for
> > dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
start
> > over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there
> > for
> >
> > quite a while. Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,
> > peas
> > porridge in the pot nine days old.
> >
> > Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When
> >
> > visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a
> > sign of wealth that a man could bring home the bacon.
> > They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit
around
> >
> > and "chew the fat!"
> >
> > Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid
content
> > caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning
and
> >
> > death. This happened most often with tomatoes. So for the next 400
> > years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
> >
> > Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of
wood
> >
> > with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from
> > stale Parson bread which was so old and hard that they could use them
> > for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times
worms
> > and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy
> > trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."
> >
> > Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of
the
> >
> > loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper
> > crust."
> >
> > Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
> > sometimes
> > knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road
would
> > take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on
the
> > kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
and
> > eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up -- hence the custom
> > of
> > "holding a wake."
> >
> > England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury
> > people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a
> > bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of
> > 25
> >
> > coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized
> > they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a
> > string
> > on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through
> > the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the
> > graveyard all night, the graveyard shift, to listen for the bell. Thus,
> > someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered "a dead ringer."
> >
> > Ah, the good old days!!!!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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