This is precious, as many of today's mother's may not use aprons
to the point they were used in grandma's day.
The principle use of grandma's apron was to protect the dress
underneath from stains. Bbut along with that it served many functions,
such as as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven, drying
children's tears, and on occasion used for cleaning out dirty
From the chicken-coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs,
fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in
the warming oven.
When company came those same aprons were ideal hiding places for
shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around
her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent
over the hot wood cook stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the
peas had been shelled it carried out the hulls. In the fall the
apron was used to bring in 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 a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, grandma walked out onto the porch, waved
her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields
It will be a long time before someone invents something that
will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many
Interesting enough, grandmas used to set her hot baked apple
pies on the window sill to cool while many of today's granddaughter's
set theirs out to thaw.