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Archiver > VERMONT > 1999-05 > 0926640704


From: "Jackie M. Botala" <>
Subject: [VERMONT-L] more old papers...
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 17:11:44 -0700


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Making Soap

An almost forgotten home industry is the making of soft
soap. Scraps of fat, skins, etc. were saved all winter. In the
spring my father got out his special flat stone with a narrow
grove all around it. A spot was found where water could run
from the stone into a pail or kettle. A barrel of ashes with a
hole in the bottom was set over the stone. Water poured
into the barrel, soaked down through the ashes, making lye,
which ran out onto the grooved stone and into a receptacle.
Two large iron kettles willed with fat scraps were prepared
and the lye water added. The mixture was thoroughly boiled,
resulting in a soft, slimey, slippery mass called 'soft soap'.
When this cooled it coagulated into a soft jelly-like mass
which was collected in a barrel and put away in the cellar to
be used on washday.

(contributed by Ella Covey, Underhill)

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Soft Soap

To make soap, high platforms were made on which were
put barrels filled with wood ashes. Holes in the bottom allowed
water to filter through, resulting in lye.
This lye was combined in a brass kettle with waste grease
and fat which had been saved for a long time. When the mixture
was thick, it was cooled and stored in barrels in the cellar and
used for all household purposes. The portion of lye and grease
determined the quality of the soap. When in barrels in the cellar
it looked much like barrels of maple syrup.

(Contributed by Emma Kimball)

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Straw Ticks and Feather Beds

After the wheat was threshed, the straw was sometimes
used to fill 'straw ticks'. Made of linen which had been woven
in the home, the ticks had a long slit at the top which was
buttoned together. When the straw became packed, one
reached through the slit and stired it up.
Ticks were used on so- called 'rope or cord' beds. Cords
were woven back and forth in a set pattern and the tick rested
directly on top. It was considered quite a trick to set up one
of these beds.
On top of the straw tick was placed a feather bed which
was another tick filled with feathers. Geese were plucked
alive and the feathers were used to fill the ticks and pillows.
A good goose feather bed was considered very nice to own.
My great grandmother was very proud of hers.

(Contributed by Emma Kimball)

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