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  Texas : Features : Columns : "It's All Trew"

Old Time Objects Long Gone

by Delbert Trew
Delbert Trew
How long has it been since you were sent to the “pantry” to get something? These old-time, ever-handy storage areas seem to have gone the way of spats and corsets. Our pantry had a narrow door, the inside measured about four feet square, and it contained shelving from floor to ceiling.

Lard cans, a sack of potatoes, crocks and milk buckets sat on the floor. Home canned jars and store-bought staples filled the other shelves.

In reviewing early day food storage a few readers will remember the dirt-walled, dirt-topped root cellars where vegetables and fruits were buried in bins of dry blow-sand. Shelves at the back of the dugout held jars and crocks of processed food. Onions, herbs, and ears of corn hung from the ceiling. These crude “horns of plenty” served their owners well.

Next came the concrete cellar that was much cleaner and stronger than the root cellar. Called “scaredy holes” by cowboys, these shelter/ storage combinations protected the owners from storms and provided extra storage space for many items.Today’s refrigerators and deep-freezes are pantries of a sort, but I suspect use of the old time storage began to wane when groceries became so costly no one could afford to fill the shelves anymore.

Where pantries diminished in size, modern day closets grew to the size of old time rooms. Many early day houses had broom sticks nailed across the corners of bedrooms and behind doors to “hang-up” clothes. All other items were kept in drawers or trunks. There were no “out-of-season” clothes as most could barely afford clothes of any kind. Nails in the wall of the back porch held coats, caps, slickers, and overalls for bad weather use.

Today’s homes have walk-in closets larger than early day bedrooms. I once remodled a friend’s home where I built a closet 18 feet by 6 feet with clothes rods, shoe racks, and two shelves down one side, and double rods and shelves across the back to hold his wife’s clothes. I drove five nails in the opposite wall to hold my friend’s Sunday Stetson, funeral suit, white shirt, long handles, and two bolo ties. His Sunday boots stood on the floor beneath.

Other friends missed from the past are the water bucket, dipper, wash-pan, and steaming tea-kettle sitting on the wood stove. To wash up, place the wash-pan in the sink, dip out cold water from the water bucket, then reach for the tea-kettle to warm the pan contents, and finally, dig a bar of lye soap out of a coffee can sitting nearby. Our wash-up utensils were of white porcelain with a red-colored band around the top. Grandma Trew’s wash-up set had black rings.

Grandma always kept a shiny 16 penney nail in the bottom of the water bucket to make sure everyone had plenty of iron in their blood, I know this remedy worked ‘cause I sure have plenty of iron in the seat of my britches now.
© Delbert Trew
"It's All Trew"
August 2 , 2004 column
 
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