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The Good Old Days
Page 2by
Bob Bowman |
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Page
1
Soap making
was the most arduous task in a household. Families made lye, an ingredient used
in soap, by filtering water through wood ashes, and there were four other steps
essential to producing soap, as described by Veatch.
First, it was unwise
to make soap except in the dark of a March moon.
Second, at least two pounds
of pine rosin had to be added to chunks of fat meat or “old cracklings” to create
“soap grease.”
Third, the lye and soap grease were combined in a kettle
sitting over a fire in a fireplace.
Fourth, to stir the mixture, a “soap
stick” had to be cut from a sassafras limb cut from the right side of a woods
trail. It had to be slightly crooked at the end which touched the soap mixture.
Five,
the mixture was always stirred to the right. If stirred from the left, even for
a few seconds, the soap would be of a poor quality.
The next time you
complain about having to drive to the store for a bar of soap, remember Andrew
Veatch and the “good old days.” |
All
Things Historical
August 15, 2005 Column
Published with permission
(Provided by the East
Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman is a past president of the Association
and the author of more than 30 books about East Texas.) |
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