Daily Dirt: ‘A community tooth brush was used’

Daily Dirt for Aug. 27, 2021

G’day, mates! Welcome to Vol. 49 of the Daily Dirt, where all of your dreams come true. And now, for today’s three thoughts:

1. Many times I have talked and written about the old west, marveling at the famed gunslingers, lawmen, wagon trains and Indian tribes. What I have never examined much was perisomal hygiene, or actually the lack thereof.
Those who may have a squeamish stomach may want to skip this part of the Daily Dirt. Those who don’t will likely enjoy.So, if you ever wished you had been born in the time of Billy the Kid or Doc Holliday, you may want to consider:

• You often learned to live with lice, fleas, gnats and bedbugs. Baths of any sort were few and far between.
• “Families ate by common platter and drank from common tin cups,” writes Marshall Trimble for True West magazine.
• “Indigestion and dysentery was a common occurrence.”– At public eating places and stagecoach stations a community tooth brush was used, made from the bristle hair of some animal.
• The tooth brush was shared by one and all, or at least those who opted to even brush their teeth.
• Rolls of actual toilet paper were still decades away. Grass, corn cobs and similar items were used in place of TP.
• Shampoo? That was not invented until about 1920. As a result, women in the wild west washed their hair about once a month and the men even less.

2. A big part of the grand appeal of college football are the colorful coaches. The following quotes illustrate that point:

• Probably my favorite response from a coach ever was provided by Woody Hayes of Ohio State. He was asked, with his team leading by 36 points late in the fourth quarter, why he went for a two-point conversion following a touchdown: “Because I couldn’t go for three,” said Hayes, who never minced his words about his distaste for the Michigan football program. In fact, he hated the entire state. Woody was a great, great man.
• When Dan Devine coached at Notre Dame, he soon discovered the pros and cons of being the head man of that storied program. “There are two kinds of people in the world: Notre Dame lovers and Notre Dame haters. And quite frankly, they’re both a pain in the ass.” Nailed it.
• Mack Brown’s sense of humor is legendary, no matter where he has coached. The following words were provided while he was at Texas. “Most players don’t mind drug testing once they realize they don’t have to study for it.” Funny. And accurate.
• Speaking of coaches with a great sense of humor, these words are from Bobby Bowden, the Florida State legend who recently passed away. “That boy don’t know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades, and that boy don’t know the meaning of a lot of words. “We’re going to miss Mr. Bowden.
• Greg Schiano is in his second tour of duty at Rutgers. We’re glad to have him back, too. “There are two things every man in America thinks he can do: work a grill and coach football,” Schiano said. Since I have recently mastered the art of grilling, I wholeheartedly agree. I always knew I would have been a natural as a football coach.

3. In case you missed it, the Paramount Network finally announced the season four premier date — Nov. 7 — for “Yellowstone,” the uber popular show about the Duttons and their Montana mega-ranch. All the principal characters, from John (Kevin Costner) to Beth (Kelly Reilly) to Rip (Cole Hauser) will return.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He is available for parties and bar mitzvahs.