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Old
Time Objects Long Goneby Delbert Trew
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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. |
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