The Old Wash Tub

had many purposes in my lifetime.  The first memory I have is as a bath tub.  We had no running water so water was drawn from a cistern and heated on the stove for our baths.  We shared the bath, separately, of course, but the water washed us all, from the cleanest down to the dirtiest. Mom always had a warm kettle of water to rinse our hair as we sat in the tub.

When the baths were finished and the water cooled, the water was used for another purpose, in summer it was used to water plants and in winter used to clean things outside before it was returned to the ground.

The tub was also used for laundry, holding fish until they could be cleaned, washing fruit jars and even processing meat...we all survived and were very healthy despite all the health rules that were broken.  Mom was a cleaner and after each use it was bleached and cleaned so there was no danger in the multi-use of this container.

I remember one summer we got a long tub.  Talk about excitement!  A tub to bathe in where you didn't have to fold up.  You could stretch out.

Since we had a four line clothes line (laundry was done once a week in a wringer washer and tubs again), my sisters and I came up with an idea.  We pinned blue jean quilts to the clothes lines to form a room.  The long bath tub was placed inside this room.  Oh, the joy of hauling that water and filling the tub was wonderful,  then we waited for the sun to warm the water.

We took turns on who was the first to bathe and it was a joyful event when it was your time to be first.  The sun warmed clear water in this long tub was a delight to experience.  A private bath was certainly a rarity and we loved the summer months when we could do this.

The ease of our baths now is taken for granted and I am sure there is never the joy we experienced in that long tub, hidden under the clothes line.