This amazing piece of cloth was one of the most important tools of the rural homestead. I don’t think most “fast food micro-wave” kids today know what an apron is. They should.
Grandma’s apron protected her dress because she didn’t have many clothes. It was perfect for drying children’s tears, and for cleaning out dirty ears.
The apron was used for carrying eggs and harvesting the garden. When company came, aprons were ideal hiding places for timid kids. In winter, it was her scarf. Aprons wiped many a perspiring forehead, bent over the hot wood stove. After the peas had been shelled or corn husked, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen. When dinner was ready, she waved her apron when it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It was also a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
Grandma’s apron was a symbol of comfort, love, calm, family and that everything would be just fine… tomorrow.
I think folks are not all that confident about tomorrow these days. Our world is not calm and doesn’t seem very secure. Maybe what we need is just a lot more aprons these days.
Watch Michael’s TV special Songs of Rural Americawith the Ohio Valley Symphony on the RFD-TV Network Friday February 22, 2019
Among the throngs of artists in the music world, few have elevated “dreaming” to such a high art form as folksinger Michael Johnathon. He has a successful career as a touring songwriter, author of four published book, playwright of the Walden Play performed in 42 countries, composer of the opera, Woody: For the People, organizer of the national association of front porch musicians called SongFarmers, and as the host of the live audience broadcast of the WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour with a radio audience with over two million listeners each week on 500 public radio stations, public television coast-to-coast, American Forces Radio Network in 173 nations and now on the RFD-TV Network nationwide. His latest album release is DAZED & CONFUZED and his fourth book will be released June 2019. Visit: MichaelJohnathon.com, WoodSongs.com,WaldenPlay.com
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