I was unable to find the author of this piece:The principle use of Grandma's apron, was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder 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 children. 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 kindlling wood were brought into the kitchen with 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 different purposes.
By the way, the painting is called "Ray of Sunshine" by Daniel Ridgeway Knight, (1839-1924), a Pennsylvania artist. To see more of his art go here bertc.com/subtwo/knight.htm or here www.kodnergallery.com/docs/Featured/ridgewayknight.htm . Dutch people settled in that area, and much of the crafts, art, architecture, and so forth, is called "Pennsylvania Dutch."
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