Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00570)

At 12:28 AM 4/15/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Jerry,
>Of course HPB had an aroma.  With her kidney troubles all the toxins in her
>body had to come out her sweat glands and they did not have deodorant in
>those days.  Poor Countess Wachmeister did not even have a gas mask!
>Obviously it was an odor of sanctity.  Or maybe deisel oil?
>
>Chuck the Barbarian MTI, FTSA
>Heretic
>Troublemaker
>
>
>Chuck:

You raise an interesting point. Actually it may be an important one. Suppose
HPB didn't have a bad odor? What would that imply? No one has ever reported
that she did, at least as far as I know. Of course people had different
sensibilities in those non-deoderant days, and probably politeness might
rule out public comment. But I don't thnk there were any private (diarys
etc) comments on HPB being "stinky". I know my Grandfather never mentioned
it. If Kidney problems aand all, she didn't smell bad, it certainly implies
something "special" about her. The Countess was a Frenchwoman married to a
Swede and neither of them have American "sensibilities", I think if HPB had
an offensive odor, Constance would have at least mentioned it in passing, as
something completely natural. Which, of course, it would have been, It's not
smelling that's "unnatural". At least it's somethiing to think about.

alexis