My dad always had me helping him take care of the 3 or 4 outhouses at a
little campgrounds called Grampa's Woods near Elmwood Nebraska. He'd tell me
to rehang the door on one, and I'd ask him if it should swing in or out.
He'd say, "Well Lem said they should always swing in." When we painted one
he'd say, "Lem said black & white is best." It was always Lem this, and Lem
that. I knew we didn't know any Lems, so I  finally asked who Lem was.

Now my dad was an artist as a boy and worked at an art studio in Lincoln.
One of his jobs was painting the backdrops at the local theaters for the
vaudville acts, so he occasionally got to meet the actors. One he got to
know was Chic Sales, who told my dad many humorus stories about Lem, who was
a carpenter who only built outhouses, and billed himself as "The
Specialist". So, it was always loads of fun working with my dad on the
outhouses, because by the end of the job he would have me rolling on the
ground laughing about Lem and Chic's stories.  I can't really remember any
of the stories right off, just always struggling to pick up the tools at the
end of a job with a belly ache from laughing so hard.

Lem and Chic is probably where my dad got the idea to research the use of
corncobs and outhouses in the little northeastern Nebraska village of
Verdigre -- but, I think I've already told that story here on BP.

John Leeke

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