The Saturday Night Bath
By Owen Sanders
Have you ever been scrubbed in a number three tub
As you crouched in an awkward squat?
Have you waited your turn in a family of ten
When you were a tiny tot?
Have you gingerly dangled a toe in the tub
To test the heat of the water
And had your mother say, "Son,
Would you like it a little bit hotter?"
Saturday night was a time of commotion
Of hustle and bustle and noise
When all of the family had baths
From grown-ups to girls and boys.
A crackling fire was built in the range
To heat both the water and room;
Wicks were trimmed and lamplight was lit
To cast a glow in the gloom.
Patchwork quilts were hung on the chairs
To make the bath spot more snug;
A number three tub was placed in the room
On a threadbare braided rug.
Water was carried in buckets and tubs
From cisterns, from wells, or the brook
Slopping and dripping and splashing it out
Along the rough trail that they took.
Often the schedule of bathing
Was delayed for days or weeks
When trips were taken in wagons
Or ice was deep on the creeks.
When ice was thick in wintertime
It first was chopped or sawed
Then carried home in buckets
And placed on the stove and thawed.
Midst noisy complaints that water was hot;
That soap got under their lids,
Mother wrestled and scrubbed and rinsed
The family of wild squirming kids.
Tiny tots could sit and splash
And chortle with childish glee
But when old pop perched in the tub
'Twas a picture no one wanted to see.
Pa would hunch in an awkward crouch
And try to soap and scrub
And strain to reach some distant spot
While cramped inside the tub.
Grimy toes and calloused feet
Caked with dirt from the dusty path
Were often washed in a separate bowl
Before the Saturday bath.
The water got roily and murky
As children were bathed one by one
No water was wasted by being poured out
'Till the Saturday bathing was done.
The sudsy water was often used
To scrub the kitchen floor
Before the rest of the cloudy bath
Was flung out the kitchen door.
When all the kids were scrubbed and rubbed
And bedtime prayers were said;
Pa was given a good-night hug
As they scampered off to bed.
Then mother fondly tucked them in
And kissed them all good night
And as they drifted off to sleep
They knew that all was right.
