Remember ????

[Jo McDonald]

                                          Good ol Days they say!
                                     THE FLOUR SACK

                                   BY COLLEEN B. HUBERT


                       LONG AGO TIME WHEN THINGS WERE SAVED,
WHEN ROADS WERE GRAVELED AND BARRELS WERE STAVED,
WHEN WORN-OUT CLOTHING WAS USED AS RAGS,
AND THERE WERE NO PLASTIC WRAP OR BAGS,
AND THE WELL AND THE PUMP WERE WAY OUT BACK,
A VERSATILE ITEM, WAS THE FLOUR SACK.


PILLSBURY'S BEST, MOTHER'S AND GOLD MEDAL, TOO
STAMPED THEIR NAMES PROUDLY IN PURPLE AND BLUE.
THE STRING SEWN ON TOP WAS PULLED AND KEPT;
THE FLOUR EMPTIED AND SPILLS WERE SWEPT.
THE BAG WAS FOLDED AND STORED IN A SACK
THAT DURABLE, PRACTICAL FLOUR SACK.


THE SACK COULD BE FILLED WITH FEATHER AND DOWN,
FOR A PILLOW, OR 'TWOULD MAKE A SLEEPING GOWN.
IT COULD CARRY A BOOK AND BE A SCHOOL BAG,
OR BECOME A MAIL SACK SLUNG OVER A NAG.
IT MADE A VERY CONVENIENT PACK,
THAT ADAPTABLE, COTTON FLOUR SACK.


BLEACHED AND SEWN, IT WAS DUTIFULLY WORN
AS BIBS, DIAPERS, OR KERCHIEF ADORNED.
IT WAS MADE INTO SKIRTS, BLOUSES AND SLIPS
AND MOM BRAIDED RUGS FROM ONE HUNDRED STRIPS.
SHE MADE RUFFLED CURTAINS FOR THE HOUSE OR SHACK,
FROM THAT HUMBLE BUT TREASURED FLOUR SACK!


AS A STRAINER FOR MILK OR APPLE JUICE,
TO WAVE MEN IN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD USE,
AS A SLING FOR A SPRAINED WRIST OR A BREAK,
TO HELP MOTHER ROLL UP A JELLY CAKE,
AS A WINDOW SHADE OR TO STUFF A CRACK,
WE USED A STURDY, COMMON  FLOUR SACK!


AS DISH TOWELS, EMBROIDERED OR NOT,
THEY COVERED UP DOUGH, HELPED PASS PANS SO HOT,
TIED UP DISHES FOR NEIGHBORS IN NEED,
AND FOR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD TO SEED.
THEY DRIED DISHES FROM PAN, NOT RACK
THAT ABSORBENT, HANDY FLOUR SACK!


WE POLISHED AND CLEANED STOVE AND TABLE,
SCOURED AND SCRUBBED FROM CELLAR TO GABLE,
WE DUSTED THE BUREAU AND OAK BED POST,
MADE COSTUMES FOR OCTOBER (A SCARY GHOST)
AND A PARACHUTE FOR A CAT NAMED JACK.
FROM THAT LOWLY, USEFUL OLD FLOUR SACK!


SO NOW MY FRIENDS, WHEN THEY ASK YOU
AS CURIOUS YOUNGSTERS OFTEN DO,
"BEFORE PLASTIC WRAP, ELMERS GLUE
AND PAPER TOWELS, WHAT DID YOU DO?"
TELL THEM LOUDLY AND WITH PRIDE DON'T LACK,
"GRANDMOTHER HAD THAT WONDERFUL FLOUR SACK!"

And some of the gals had flour sack drawers too.

[Wilma]

You're darn right we did.  And sometimes the brand wouldn't bleach out.  I still have dish towels made from flour sacks although I don't use them.  Mother made me a skirt one time from flour sacks, trimmed it around the bottom with scraps from a dress she had made.  Somewhere in a box I have some sacks that I haven't used yet.  Come to think of it, my kitchen curtains are flour sacks trimmed with the valance material.  I haven't forgotten how useful the sacks were.

[Jo McDonald]

I LOVED the flour sacks and the feed sack things that Mama used. Most of our dresses  Mama made Helen and I, had panties to match.  It seemed to take forever for her to get enough sacks of feed and flour to match, so we could have new dresses.  When they started selling flour in sacks that were white -- we had new sheets and pillow cases and tea towels.
 
There is a store in Bemidji,  Minnesota that sells white flour sacks, and I am so mad at myself for not getting some when we were there last summer, to make some new tea towels... Too late now- I don't know if we will be going back up there or not.

  There used to be an ad in the Capper's paper that sold white flour sacks.  But I haven't seen a Capper's paper for a long time.

[Jo McDonald]

I remember aprons.... Do you?

Aprons

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

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 funiture 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.

[Wilma]

Jo, if you look at the advertising at the bottom of the page there are 4 ads for flour sacks.

[Wilma]

3 of them just disappeared.

[Jo McDonald]

Well. I'll be darned...........Guess I just blindly go through and see nothing.
  Thanks, Wilma

[Wilma]

Oh Great Queen, how can we get those ads back?

[Dee Gee]

This sure does bring back memorys of how the apron was used and flour sacks, I also remember the printed sacks that chicken feed came in, the print that you wanted was always on the bottom of the pile at the feed store.

[frawin]

I remember flour sacks!  In fact, I have tea towels made from flour sacks (cup towels as they are called in Texas).  I like them so much better than terry towels for drying dishes.   Mother embroiders them for us girls and the grandkids.

My grandmother pieced Sun Bonnet Sue quilt blocks (applicaed) from the first dresses, which were flour sacks and feed sacks.  Mother than took my Centennial Dress (Kansas Centennial) cut it off, and set the blocks together.  Mrs. Loren Lister quilted it on the machine and gave it to us as part of our wedding gifts.  I had it on a quilt rack at the end of the hall in the house we live in now (until is was packed to move). 

Myrna