My husband's grandmother remembered an old woman who lived next door when
she was a girl. She thought the woman was "nasty" as she wore the long
skirts of the era and no undergarments. She said the woman would stop
periodically during her chores and flap her skirts, presumably to send the
gnats on their way. Also, she would relieve herself outdoors standing up.

Speaking of the long dresses of that day, I once asked the elderly daughter
of one of the first Waldensian settlers in NC how they could wear those
long, dark dresses. She told me that her mother used to say "What keeps out
the cold keeps out the heat as well"

Tammie