Wash Tubs
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Have you ever had a bath in a galvanized tub like the one in the picture? I have had many of them back when I was a kid.
Wash tubs were a mighty useful thing back in those days. We used them for washing clothes, taking baths, bathing pets and in the garden to gather vegetables.
I was probably about twelve or thirteen before we lived in a house with a bathroom. So a wash tub bath was all that we had available. Even though we finally had a bathroom we didn't have hot running water. We had to heat bathwater in the winter on the stove so the wash tub was easier to deal with than a big bathtub. The summer was no problem because we used cold water to bathe in.
I had many wash tub baths, usually with my sisters, when we were kids. We would stoke up the old wood stove in the kitchen and get it really warm in the room while the water was heating. Then we would scrub ourselves until we were sparkling clean. Then not only did we have our baths but my Mother would then use the water to mop the floors, So the water was not wasted. After that she would pour the water on the garden or flower beds and it really was triple used.
We always had two or three galvanized tubs around our house at any one time. When they started leaking they would get discarded and we would get a new one to replace it.
I had a galvanized tub up until about three or four years ago. It had been stored up in my attic for years so I decided to get rid of it. I sold it in a garage sale. Actually, I have thought several times since then that maybe I should have kept it. But I am at an age that I need to clean out things around here and that tub seemed like a good candidate for disposal.
I often think of those olden day baths when I run water from my faucet for a bath. It is so easy now compared to then. But somehow, a lot of things seemed so much better then in spite of how much work and trouble it was to do things!
posted by kyra lafain @ 4/14/2009 12:30:00 PM
3 Comments:
I never had to bathe in a washtub, but we did use one for a little "swimming pool" when I was a toddler. I have some pictures of me playing in it.
Yes, we took a bath in a tub like this when I was a little girl. We lived in a coal mining camp and didn't have electricity or running water, so my mother hauled the water in a wagon from a spring about a mile
from the house and heated the water on the stove. We all used the same water but we had a bath every day. Thanks for posting this picture. I'm just writing this story for my grand children and it is nice to be able to include a picture.
My Dad had many sisters growing up. He told us the wash tub that was in our garage now was used by he and his sisters growing up. Since he was the only boy he had to be the last one to bath in the tub after his 7 sisters took their baths. He had to add more hot water by the time it was his turn for his bath, the water was very dirty, but he was too tired to replace water with clean water!!! I smile when I see the tub now!
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