I don’t think our kids know what an apron is.
The principle use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses, plus aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, that was bent over the hot wood stove. Wood chips and kindling were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’, that served so many purposes.
Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma’s aprons.
REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.
Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
They would go crazy now, trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron – but love
*****
When I would visit Grandma. I was always very blessed,
by the apron that she wore, and the love that she expressed.
Always she had two, one for baking and one for outside mess.
And when that bow was tied, then Grandma’s day would start.
Just a simple cloth it hung, but it was full of heart;
She used it for shooing flies away or fowl that stalked her legs.
Then it became a bountiful basket, for gathering the eggs,
And tiny, just-hatched chickens, needing somewhere soft and warm
Or a li’l orphaned lambkin, born on a frosty morn.
That apron carried kindling, to stoke the household fire.
And brought in a load of washing, or became a quick hairdryer.
To protect her hands, a hot pad, to lift up steaming pans,
and when anyone was overheated, she waved it as a fan.
If cold, she wrapped up babies, or even her own arms,
At dinner time, she’d flag it, to bring men in from the farm,
Dirty ears and tender tears, were always sweetly wiped,
and it became a hiding place, if little kids were shy.
Veggies any season, in the summer, spring and fall,
were brought to the kitchen table in that apron carry-all.
Any pie fruits she collected, were secure with apron pins
When peas were shelled, the hulls were tipped out to the hens.
Oh, how much that trusty apron, could dust all down the hall
If unexpected guests turned up, with a sudden friendly call.
One day Grandma went to glory, God called her to rest
‘Cause from her life of apron loving, so many had been blessed.
~Unknown~
http://www.alighthouse.com/gran9.htm
*****
The very best device kept from those days of yore,
A tool so very useful for nearly every chore
Is not the modern kitchen, utensils by the score
But the hearty steadfast apron, that every Grandma wore
http://www.alighthouse.com/gran9.htm
*****
‘Twas such a lovely flappy thing
I remember….as she waved
Grandma’s apron in the wind
Overflowing all she gave
Swishing dust and grubby faces
Squeezing warm to that embrace
Firewood, for that cozy hearth
Flowed from her pinny’s grace
Pie apples, berries, lemons
Corn, pecans, peas n’ beans
Grandma gathered with her love
To care for you and me
Yet, ’twasn’t gentle folds of cloth
But the hands that bore it so
‘Twas how she held that love
That caused our hearts to glow
We didn’t know, in all the living
How secure in her we felt
All the loving that she managed
Our hearts to softly melt
For, when we look back now
Swirling pictures in our mind
‘Tis the apron wiping hands
Portrayed such love divine
Then where today is Grandma’s apron
The starched cloth, embroidered art
Why, ‘twould never fall to tatters
For we keep her in our heart
Oh, the comfort of the memory
Our eyes o’erflow with tears
God’s selfless apron Grandma’s
Bless every darling dear
http://www.alighthouse.com/gran9.htm
*****
Mother’s Apron
Mother wore an ample apron
to cover her clean dress.
She’d tell you that’s what it was for
if you asked her, I would guess.
But that apron had more uses
than I could even count.
It brought in eggs and vegetables
and could hold a large amount.
I’ve seen her use that apron
to wipe her dripping brow
as she labored over the big range
that’s just an antique now.
Her apron could bring giggles
in a game of peek-a-boo
with her newest, sweet grand-baby
as she hid her face from view.
When we kids were hurt or crying
we’d run to find her lap.
She’d wipe the falling tears away
with a bit of apron flap.
That apron dusted tables
and shooed away the flies,
it did just fine as oven mitts
to take out bubbling pies.
But the greatest of the treasures
that old apron could hold,
was the endless love from Mother
abiding in each fold.
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