Grandma’s old Aprons

Nora Williams, late of Clogherboy

The many uses of the apron

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of grandma’s apron was to protect her dress underneath but along with that it served as a potholder for removing hot pots from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears and on occasion was used for cleaning out dirty ears; it was used for carrying eggs from the chicken coup and sometimes for half hatched eggs to be finished off in the warming oven.

When company came, the apron was a great hiding place for shy kids. When the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big aprons wiped many a perspiring brow bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindle wood was brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas were shelled it carried out all the husks.

I the Fall the apron was used to bring in all the 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 the matter of seconds. When dinner was ready grandma walked out on the porch waved her apron and the men knew it was time to come from the fields for dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace the old time apron that served so many purposes.

This page was added on 27/09/2018.

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