The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1903-01-27
THE OLD-TlME BATH
SATURDAY NIGHT IMMERSION A
TIME OF HORROR.
Mldde-Aged Business Man Contrasts
the Luxury of the Present Day
With the Life in Small Western
Town Twenty-Five Years Ago.

Last night" said the comfortable
boxing man with the 4S-inch waist |
baud, Il stood by as the sailors say,
while the wife bestowed a scrubbing |
upon my 7-year-od youngster Moth |
ing remarkable about that, is there?
But 1t set me to thinking about how
much better the kids of to-day have
Il than they did when was lad my
self.
He looked mighty comfortable,
that boy did and he just lay there in
the tub and let his mother swab and
molly-coddle him with all the insou-
Glance in life When the dousing was
over he stood up and let the tepid
water from the shower run over him,
end then he stepped out of the tub
onto bath rug, and his mother gave
him brisk drying with Turkish
towel. Then she anointed him with
FLORIDA water, rugged him out in q
fresh night shirt, and tucked him into
bid.
81 knew, when | was his age, this
Saturday night bathing game was al
| ways in store for me, and | used to
look forward to 1t with a kind of
| feeling of despair But I'd dodge the
tae job as long as possible. and I'd
wait for my good mother to appear at
The back gate and summon me home
along toward or 8 o'clock of the Sat
uTday night. BY that time she'd have
the supper dishes all washed up and
| tho pans in the kitchen all a-shining
for Sunday, and the old wash tub,
| with the wooden handles sticking up
above the brim, would be out in the
middle of the kitchen floor
Get the water, son. she'd say to
me, and then the job was on. 1t was
little western town where there were
no water works, but the well was right
out in the back yard. That well al
ways seemed about a mile and half
deep to me when l was drawing up
the water for the Saturday night
scrubbing. Then my brother and
would begin to race to see which
could peel his buds off first, and get
the first bath. The reason why we
both wanted to get the first bath
wasn't, Of course, On account of any
love for the bathing. but because it
was so much fun for the one who had
got through with the horrible job first
to stand around nice and dry and
warm, and make faces at the one who
was Just beginning to undergo the
misery.
well, when l was the first un-
" dressed I'd skate over to the old
green-painted wash tub and feel O
the water with one Of my hands and
feel sad with myself. B-r-r-r-r! but
wasn't that well water cold, though
I'd stand there and look into the
depths of the tub, shivering, until my
mother made her appearance in the
kitchen with her paraphernalia.
: "'Now, get in there, you boy my
good mother 'ud say, and I'd stick one
foot in, swearing in my heart all the
time that at the first chance | was go
ing to run away to be sailor or some
thing-and then my mother would ex
ert a sudden pressure on my should
ers and down I'd kerfummox in that
icy water. ! wouldn't be through gasp
ing and trying to get my breath before
she'd begin on my upper superstruc
ture with piece O. red flannel for q
,, washrag and half bar Of common
|, yaller soap that had edges on 1t as
!. sharp as a knife.
Mother was pretty muscular In
/. those days, and the way she'd begir
. to gouge and bore with that red fan
mel washrag and that soap was sure
, a caution to locusts. And when she
wasn't busy with the hand holding
!, the washrag she'd always let the
, burned cold thing hang, dripping
= down my back. Such q swabberino
|, Talk about your military scrubbingl
2 and things like that, I'll bet they're
J, not one, two, three with the washtul
!, swims that that ever faithful, self
!. reliant, strong-armed mother of min,
a put me through when / was at tn,
!. tadger stage Of life. can smell tina
!. yaller bar of soap yet--it smelt lik,
a 'rozzur'-noi resin, understand, blu
!, rozzum.'
q maybe | wasn't always glad whel
r she began to rinse me off by dipping
n a tin wash.basin into the tub ant
a pouring the water on my head. Tn
,. drying-ofr process didn't amount t
q much, but you can wager your galluse
>. that 1t wasn't done with any turRisl
9 towel. Fact is, there'd often be
r. shypess Of any kind of regular towe
l. on these occasions, so that I've see
O my mother hunt around for an oil
s pillow case or a remnant of some mys
Y terlous cottony garment for the DIR!
il ing-off part of the job, And CUES
n maybe didn't breathe sigh of dee
contentment and relief when, afte
slipping into one o. those old-fasf
toned fuZzy-wuzzy canton flame
union night garments for young un'
n got into the old feather bed, wit
y the apple tree just outside the windo,
'r and knew that the next bath was
S. whole week in the distance. "-Wasi
ington Post
= The Melted Coin.
Place the coin In half walnut she
"a and fill the shell with a mixture {