Lila and I took tub baths about once a week in the winter time. We bathed in a wash tub in front of the old wood stove during the cold days. Mama laid old news papers around the tub to help soak up the water we “accidentally” splashed on the old wood floor. Between those days we took daily “Spit Baths” as mama called them. Spit baths were when we washed our bodies with a wash cloth dipped in a wash pan filled with sudsy warm water. We lathered our wet wash cloth with a bar of hand soap. We usually placed the pan of sudsy water on the floor to wash our dusty to dirty feet. We rinsed our bodies in clean water after our sudsy bath by using the same wash cloth after rinsing it clean from soap suds.

All homes had a wash stand of some sort with a bucket of water with a dipper inside and a wash pan sitting on top of the table. We limited the amount of water we used for washing our hands and then threw the used water out the door when we were finished. We were also told to dip just the amount of water we needed to drink so the remainder did not go back into the bucket. I really doubt that this rule was followed too closely. I always tried to sip my drink as close to the handle that I could so I did not use the same spot others did. I practiced the same method with the “community” dipper at our one room school as well.

In the summer time, we most often took our baths outside in the same wash tub. We filled the tub with buckets of water from our pitcher pump which was just outside of our kitchen door. If the water was too chilly, we warmed it with a teakettle of hot water. For privacy, we often wore our under panties. Lila and I most always bathed together. By being outside, we could splash around as much as we liked. It was more of a fun thing than a bath. We scrubbed each other’s backs with a cloth and poured clear water over each other’s heads to rinse the soap from our hair.

There is no way Lila and I would fit together in that same wash tub nowadays. I am not sure I would fit by myself either. Those were just a few of the happy memories we shared back then.