There was no such thing as an indoor toilet in the huts, but the little girls wished there had been, since that dark path to the Brownie was a scary trek. Phoebe Atha (1947-48) thought it was a frightening walk to get there, as did Karen Short (1945-48) .Even the buildings themselves housed creatures that scared the little girls. (The only time it felt safe was in the middle of tornado warnings, when it doubled as a shelter.)
“The cabins were dark at night. There were metal bunk beds and it was so disorienting when you tried to go to the bathroom if you did not have a flashlight,” said Susie Utter (1954-56). “It was pretty traumatic the first time I went and it was quite a hike at night as a little girl. As we got older, I remember we had to do Brownie duty, which no one liked.”
“I can still remember getting up in the middle of the night to walk down to the bathroom from my cabin and seeing all those Daddy Long Leg spiders,” said Sally Hurand, who camped in the mid-sixties’. “I had a conversation with myself to make friends with those things.”
Kellie Moore and Sue Robson camped in the seventies’ and there was a protocol for visiting the Brownie. They would stand by the front door of the hut and yell, “Cabin 5! Brownie!” and someone would answer by yelling out that they could go. “I think they were at the lodge partying,” laughed Sue. (Poor little Kellie encountered a skunk as she was taking the pathway up the hill with her flashlight to go to the Brownie and decided she didn’t have to go that badly.)
“We had a nickname for the Brownie, which was G.C., which stood for golf course! (Eighteen holes—get it?)” laughed Tracy Topping (1962-63). “It’s funny how things stick out in your mind. I think it was my second year and I had a vivid dream that I had walked up the hill to go to the Brownie and I woke up to a wet sleeping bag! I was way too old for that. I couldn’t believe I had wet my sleeping bag. I hung it out in the sun and said something foolish, like rain had come in the window, but who did I think I was kidding with this reeking bag?”
Debi Gotlieb (1968+) had the perfect solution. “When I had charge of the younger girls, it was like babysitting. Inevitably, one of the little girls would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I got tired of going out in the dark and taught them how to pee in the woods. I know some of them wrote home to tell their parents how excited they were to learn this important new skill.”
Some of camper Carla Schweinsberg’s favorite memories included sneaking out into the woods to the farthest hut to “tinkle in the woods”. “We were so far from the Brownie, but we were also scared we were going to get caught”, said Carla, whose photo can be seen on page thirty-nine in the book “Camp Maqua” with her friend Bev Lemanski, as they returned from their “tinkle” adventure.
“My cousin Ann reminded me the other day that we would stick our butts out the window and wee-wee,” laughed Helen Johnson (1968-73), as she explained that she did it out of necessity. “I did and still do today, wet my pants when I laugh. My Mom used to gauge how good of a time I had at camp by the amount of times I wet my pants. My good friends knew about my tiny bladder, but others could be so mean.”
Carrie Norris (1972-73) decided she would never walk there, but would go in the woods. “The showers were icky. I recall a mass shower, but I don’t think I showered much. I might have taken one right before the photo of us all. Like Carrie, Elaine Levinsohn (1927-30) could never recall taking showers or lake baths and never got up in the middle of the night!
Lindy White (1970-73) thought the worst job at camp was cleaning the “latrines” and she was not alone with that feeling. Kerry Weber (1952) thought it was also the worst, plus the girls were instructed to come up with ideas on how to improve it. “I can still see the signs in there telling us how many squares of toilet paper to use,” mused Kerry.
“I remember the year they put in flush toilets, which we thought was the best thing since sliced bread,” laughed Mickie Kessler, who hated cleaning the latrines in the forties’. “The following year they didn’t work and we were back to cleaning the outhouses, which consisted of a hole with a plank over it.”
Each cabin had to take turns cleaning the Brownie. Shelley Harris (1965-75) said they would sweep, hose it down and check for supplies. “I’m sure we cleaned the toilets, but I cannot rememember doing it, but I do remember that big circular sink.”
There was one camper who had a totally different outlook on the cleaning of the Brownies. Vicky Wynne-Parry (1965) loved the chores. “When it was our turn to do chores, like cleaning the latrine, I felt like it gave me a sense of responsibility. I can still remember cleaning that big sink. The cabins took turns rotating the chores and it was fun cleaning as a group.”
How did you feel about the walk at night? Did you ever clean the bathrooms?
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