For the past several years, it has been the intention of the board of Directors of Chap. 10 to provide some printed Primer of sorts to present to newly initiated Brothers. Some publications are available from various Chapters and some are advertised for sale in The Clamper, (Ed. Note: The Clamper has not been published for many years now, and the chapter then provided a subscription to The Flatlander Nugget, instead.) which the chapter provides to new initiates, in the form of a free year’s subscription. (Sadly, even the Flatlander has now gone out of business.) Many of the names on our mailing list have been members for a short time so we present here a short and incomplete history of the Order so new members may know just what the hell they have gotten themselves into. Information here has been gleaned from work by Duff Chapman XSNGH, Carl Briggs XSNGH, and newspaper stories by Bob Wyckoff XNGH Chap. 10. Chapter 10 is a direct descendant of the re-forming of E Clampu...
In our last issue, we covered the beginning of E Clampus Vitus. We now continue with the series, focusing this time on the Chapter functions of the old days. Keep in mind, Brothers, the working conditions of the old times. Many hours spent in cold water, physically hard, and for many, dangerous and isolated labor. Free time, what there was of it, was spent obtaining the barest of necessities for life. Food was high priced; liquor was of poor quality and expensive. Homes were cold and drafty, clothes were wet and ill-fitting. (As an example, right and left boots were not readily available, only generic boots for either foot.) As for other necessities, women were few and far between and in some cases, expensive also. Besides, who would really like to have much to do with a “girl” named “Big-nosed Kate” who was probably 20 or so years older than you, and was known to carry obnoxious little bugs to share with her “friends?” For a somewhat glamorized account of life in the min...