Life had t be at an all-time high as far as boredom is concerned. It was bad enough in the daytime but with no electricity nights had to be worse.
LOL…smell? In the New Orleans French Quarter, there are still a couple of very old taverns (tourist traps) that still have the tiled “whiz” troughs directly in front of the bar. There was no need to ask a friend to watch one’s drink whilst going to relieve oneself; ya just let ‘er rip. Now, so far as the old west goes, I lived in, worked in and toured a few towns with some fairly old drinking establishments but saw no evidence that the New Orleans practice was part of the western culture. Still…..?
I have a question regarding "proximity" to the other patrons, because kitchen counters ain't the only thing with a backsplash.
Lightening up the vernacular, do ya think that the practice had anything to do with the phrase, “peeing in someone’s boot”?
I can imagine what a bunch of drunk guys might have done with such a setup...and I'm not proud of it.
"If you could hop into a DeLorean time machine and go back to an Old West saloon, one thing you’d notice — along with the open-carry side arms, overpowering stench of body odor, and dirtiness of the bar glasses — would be all the dry, hacking coughing." "Sure, the Old West was a dusty place, but that wasn’t the only reason. In most cases, it was because of consumption, a condition you’ll come across as you skim through news articles, journals, and literature from that era. But what was consumption, and what was it like to die of this disease in the Old West?" "Consumption is still around, and it is still a major problem in some parts of the world. Like an FBI informant in the Witness Protection Program, consumption changed its name and moved away. It’s new name? Tuberculosis." "Let’s learn the gross, gritty details of consumption in the Wild West." MORE
I didn't know TB was that prevalent in that setting. So Doc Holliday likely had lots of company and was not an anomaly.
I think life was anything but boring, since just keeping the clothes washed, garden tended, the buggy going and animals fed and cared for was plenty of excitement. They had saloons, barn dances, rodeos and fights.
Yup. Boredom is what happens when someone else [modern conveniences] takes care of your survival needs.
For me I don't worry about clean clothes or gardening. I'm talking cowboys not farmers. Anyone notice of all the pics of saloons there are no barstools? Also, back then there were no mix drinks.