My Grandma Justine's Apron

This is an apron worn by my Grandma Justine (aka Gussie) Schutz. I can only guess the age of the apron to be pre 1926. The fabric is a homespun and feels so soft.It is in excellent condition for being around 100 years old. I found a patch on the front that she darned shut ..priceless isn't it!

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the
dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a
potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.It was
wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion
was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.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 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
stove.Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen
in that apron.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 to
dinner.It will be a long time before someone invents
something that will replace that 'old-time apron'
that served so many purposes.Send this to those who would
know (and love) the story about Grandma's
aprons.REMEMBER:Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies
on the window sill to cool.Her granddaughters set theirs on
the window sill to thaw.They would go crazy now trying to
figure out how many germs was on that apron.I don't
think I ever caught anything from an apron--except love
..........Author Unknown