Wednesday, July 25, 2018

My Hunt for a Chamber Pot -- or Two

I have made it a habit to go to thrift stores and antique stores when I am traveling.  It is sort of an obsession, but I justify it by making it part of my teaching agenda.  You see, I have lots of "stuff" that I use to show my students, and it's not just any stuff.  It is science stuff, and history stuff, and literature stuff.  I recently read about a teacher in Kansas who had over 50,000 artifacts he uses for his history classes.  I'm not nearly there, but I have hopes. 
 
So, every year when we read the eighth grade literature story that mentions a chamber pot, my students are always puzzled.  "What's  a chamber pot?" they ask.  And then I remember that they have no reference for this at all.  So, about a year ago, I embarked upon a journey to find a chamber pot to have in my classroom for exactly that purpose.  I know, I could just show them a picture of one.  But I think that it would be way more exciting to actually have an authentic one in my classroom.  

I had looked for a chamber pot for over a year in at least four different states to no avail.  Then, I was in Hutchinson, Kansas, waiting to leave for Wichita for my afternoon flight when I happened upon an antique store.  "Do you have any chamber pots?" I always ask when I enter.  I get so distracted that I often feel I could overlook the things.  Besides, chamber pots aren't exactly your showcase window items.  The proprietors always give me a strange look as if I want one to use it for its original purpose, and that is when I explain that I am a teacher and my students have no clue what one is.  Then they jump up and help me.  

So it was that I finally found three chamber pots, but two of them were ironstone and very expensive.  Besides that, they wouldn't travel well in my suitcase and on the plane.  So, I forked out a little too much of my saved-up birthday money for a decently priced porcelain chamber pot, and I was quite happy about that.  Until I got home.  "Mom, gross!  Why did you get one of those?" my children wailed.  I was undeterred.  

The next week I stopped by my favorite thrift store -- the one in which I'd been looking for a chamber pot every week for over a year to no avail.  And, not only did I find a pristine vintage chamber pot, but it was ironstone, and it was only $8.  I call that a Teacher Score.  My children still call it gross.  

And, here is a funny chamber pot fact.  In 1805 a company in England was selling these chamber pots with Napoleon's bust in them after the Napoleonic Wars.