My Mothers Apron

What a host of memories that brings back. I believe there is a poem about it, which I did not write. There is a copy around here someplace, but I haven't a clue at present where it might be. If I find it, I will share it with you. For now, I will reflect on what "my mothers apron" ment and means.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from a friend that is over 70 reminding me about the "clothes lines" and their care. It brought back so many memories, which reminded me of Mom on Monday with her Apron over her "house dress". Monday was always "wash day". After we were all sent off to school, Mom would gather up all the dirty laundry and carefully sort it in the back porch. Whites were never washed with colored clothes and of coursed Dads' oiley work clothes were always the last load. Back then the same water was used for the entire laundry. So the whites went in first followed by the lighter colored things, then the darker and finally the work clothes. The very delicate items were washed in the kitchen sink in a large pan of very luke warm water. While the first load was washing, Mom would take her "line clothe" which she had dipped in the warm soapy water and wrung out. Out to the back yard she would go, lower the clothes line poles and wipe down the clothes lines to make sure they were dirt free before she would hang out her clean wash. Normally the lines weren't all that dirty, but if they had been smudging the orange groves, even though they were miles away, the shoot gravitated to our area and would coat the clothes line with an oiley, black coating. No one wanted that on their clean clothes.
Mom would fill her apron pockets with clothes pins and carry her basket full of wet clothes into the back yard and hang them out to dry. That's right, we didn't have clothes dryers back then.
I don't believe you can beat the feel or smell of clean sheets and pillow cases that have been air dried in the sunshine. Something I miss even to this day. Usually by the time Mom had finished the laundry, the front of her apron was wet from her handling all the wet things. That ment she would have to change into a clean apron, which of course had always been starched so any dirt she may accumulate in wearing it would easily wash out and leave no stains. The Apron was as important a part of a housewifes dress as her neatly washed and ironed house dress. Times do change.
On Sunday there was always the nicest apron to be worn over the best dress. Meals were still being cooked and served by Mom so she would keep her dress in good condition by wearing her
nicest apron. When I learned to iron, I was allowed to do the handkerchiefs first, then the pillow cases and then aprons. Shirts and blouses were saved until I had learned how to get the wrinkles out. The starched pieces were always the hardest to iron nice and neat. I learned and found a great deal of pride in taking a piece out of the ironing basket and making it look great. Oh I guess I should tell you about that too. Once the wash was dried, we went out and as the things were removed from the line, they were folded neatly and placed in the basket, that had been left in the yard so the sun would dry it out. The sheets and towels were put into the proper drawers in the bathroom and dining room, where the Buffet Hutch had drawers for them. The ironable pieces were carefully "dampened" and rolled neatly and placed back in the basket to
"season" for ironing on Tuesday morning. Not too much water, but just enough to moisten the fabric so it would respond to the warmth of the iron, NO we did not have steam irons then either. If you wanted to press a dress pair of pants, you laid newspaper on the leg, dampen the paper with a wet rag then press over the wet paper, which made steam. Handy, but far different than how they do it at the cleaners. Coats and suits were about all that went to the cleaners in my youth. In fact I don't believe I had anything cleaned until long after I went to work. Everything we made or purchased was washable.
If Mom went out to shop or visit, etc. she would carefully hang her apron up and when she came home, she would put it back on, almost without thinking about it. Wearing aprons was a habit.
I remembering reading about the pioneer women who had two aprons. One was white and beautifully starched for Sudays. The day to day apron was usually a darker material. One for work and one for dress. Yes, they wore their aprons to church. When a flood came through one of the valley areas the biggest lament the Sisters had was the loss of their beautiful white apron. I guess they had so few nice things that the care and wearing of that one single item was the pinnicle of their lives. We can hardly understand such things, but times and clothes change. We rarely think of the many things we have today, and the care they take to keep us looking good.
Perma press has changed us, but it is never a hardship for me to think back on the care and time spent in keeping a family looking presentable and neat. Mom always told us when she was a girl she had two dresses. One for everyday wear and one for Suday. Aprons were necessary to keep their one dress presentable and their Sunday Dress in good condition so it would last. She wore a lot of hand me downs and realized they had been cared for so she would have something nice.
Being the youngest she rarely had anything "new". There were only three girls in the family of 9, so she wasn't always the same size, but made do. The sister older than her had a very narrow foot, so when the shoes were passed down, they hurt Moms' feet. Wear them she must, or go barefoot. As a result, she was continually caring for "corns" on her feet that were caused by wearing such tight shoes. When I was a kid, we had a pair of school shoes and a pair of dress shoes for Church. I don't recall ever having a pair of "tennis shoes" until I went in to High School and had to have a pair for Gym class. We wore black shorts with a white stipe down the side on which we had to embroidery our name and a white blouse that we had to embroidery our name on the pocket. Tennis shoes were marked with our name with a pen. We felt grown up when we got to High School and changed for Gym Classes. Not as impressive now.
Well yes, I too wore aprons, but not as much as Mom, and probably not as much as my Grandma did. As I said times change. There are a lot of things we don't do, or wear now that were so much a part of life back then. It is for certain everyone today are a lot more casual. For somethings that is good, for others, losing that structured dress has definately lowered the conditions of our society.
Mom made all her own aprons. Some were made out of the printed flower sacks, but the majority were made out of lovely fabrics that were trimmed either with bias tape or rick rack. They were always very distinctive and generally hung from the neck to the hemline of her dress. Only on rare occasions did I see her wear a "half apron", which was one that just tied around the waist. Those were usually for Sunday.
One of the things Mom taught us was: "it is clean and paid for". Coming from a very poor family without a Dad to contribute to the family welfare, everyone had to pitch in and do their share. I believe she and Dad had learned how to "make do and do without" during their young lives so that they tried very hard to see we three kids were better off than they were. I am greatful for that care, and tried to pass it along to our children. Today however I see children with far more than they need and caring less for what they have. Our society has become more of a wanting for things than caring for things. A shame really. If we still only had two aprons I wonder if we could appreciate the things we have been supplied with in these the "latter-days"? From washing in one tub, hanging clothes on the line and ironing every single item we wore or used, well we have come a far place from that. We still can only wear one outfit at a time and eat one meal at a time. It was always just what we had, not what we wanted or would have liked. I know I was a very picky eater when I was younger. Mom would simply say, you don't have to eat it Charmaine, but there isn't anything else. Bread and butter were often the meal I had and
I survived. If we had peanut better I don't remember. Mom did make jam and jelly, so I could have had some of that. Either way, there were not a lot of options, and you know, looking back on that it was O.K. We had it good and in some cases even more or better than some. We didn't complain. Oh, and we were never bored. In fact I wouldn't have know what that was. The kids in the neighborhood were always getting together to enjoy each others company in one game or another.
I remember Mothers Apron, Mom and the good things we enjoyed. I am greatful for all those memories and the times we had together. I don't know if they wear Aprons in Heaven or not, but if they do, I bet Mom has hers on, and is busy doing things for her family there.

Written this 6th day of May 2010
by: Eileen C. Rosenberg