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Show THE OLD-TIME BATH SATURDAY NIGHT IMMERSION A TIME OF HORROR. Middle-Aged Business Man Contrasts the Luxury of the Present Day With the Life In Small Western Town Twenty-five Years Ago. "Last night," said tho comfortablc-troklng comfortablc-troklng man with tho 48-lr.ch waistband, waist-band, "1 'stood by,' as tho Bailors say, whlto tho wlfo bestowed n scrubbing upon my 7-ycnr-old youngster. Nothing Noth-ing remarkable about that, Is thero? But It set mo to thinking about how much better tho kids of to-day havo It thnn they did when I was a lad my-Mlf. "Ho looked mighty comfortnbio, that boy did, and ho JtiBt lay there In the tub and let his mother swab and molly-coddle him with all tho Itisou-clnuco Itisou-clnuco Jn life. When tho dousing wob over ho stood up and lot the tepid wntor from tho shower run over him, find then ho stepped out of tho tub onto a bath rug, and his mother gave him n brisk drying with a Turkish towel. Then sho anointed him with t'lorltla water, rigged him out In n fresh night shirt, and tucked hint Into bvd. "I know, when I was his ago, this Saturiay night bathing gamo was always al-ways in store for mo, and I used to look forward to It with n kind of n feeling of despair. But I'd dodgu tho tho Job as long as possible, and I'd unit for my good mother to nppear at '.lie back gato and summon mo homo .long toward 8 or 9 o'clock of tho Saturday Sat-urday night. By that time sho'd havo tho supper dishes all washed up and tho pans In tho kitchen alt a-shlnlng for Sundny, and tho old wash tub, with tho wooden handles sticking up O.DOVO tho brim, would bo out In tho utlddlo of tho kitchen floor. " 'Got tho water, Bon,' sho'd say to mo, and then tho Job was n. It was a littlo western town where thera wcro no water works, but tho well was right out In tho back yard. That well always al-ways seemed about a mllo and a half deep to mo when I was drawing up tho water for tho Saturday night Rurubblng. Then my brother nnd I would begin to raco to seo willed could peel his duds off first, and goV the first bath. Tho reason why we both wnntcd to get tho first bath wasn't, of course, en account of any lovo for tho bathli'g, but becauso It was so much fun for the ono who had got through with tho horrlblo Job (list to stand around nlco and dry and warm, and mako faces at tho ono who 'A as Just beginning to undergo tho misery. "Well, when I was tho 'first un dressed' I'd ekato over to tho old green-painted wash tub and fcl o' tho water with ono of my hands and feel Bad with myself, B-r-r-r-r! bin .wasn't that well wator cold, though. I'd stand thero and look Into tho depths of tho tub, Bhlvorlng, until my mother made hor appcaranco In the kitchen with her paraphernalia. " 'Now, get In there, you boy,' my good mother 'ml say, and I'd stick ono fcot In, swearing In my henrt all the tlmo that at tho first chanco 1 was going go-ing to run away to bo a sailor or something some-thing ami then my mother would exert ex-ert a sudden pressure on my shoulders should-ers and down I'd kerflummox in that Icy wator. I wouldn't bo through gasp Ing and trying to get my breath beforo sho'd begin on my upper superstructure superstruc-ture with a pleco o' red flannel for a wash rag and halt a bar of common raller soap that had edges on it as harp as a knifo. "Mother was pretty muscular In thoso days, and the way she'd begin to gougo and boro with that red flan-pel flan-pel wnshrag and that soap was sure a caution to locusts. And when sh wasn't busy with tho band holding tbo washrag she'd Always let tho durned cold thing hang, dripping, down my back. Such a swabbcrinol Talk about your military scrubblngs and things like that, I'll bet they'ro not ono, two, three with tho washtub swims that that ever faithful, self-reliant, self-reliant, strong-armed mother of mine put me through when I was at the tadgcr stage of llfo. I can smoll that yallor bar of soap yet It smelt llko 'rozzum' nol ivnln, y'utiderstand, but 'rozzum.' "May bo I wasn't always glad whoa sho began to rinse me off by dipping a tin wash-basin Into tho tub nnd pouring tho water on my bend. The drylng-off process didn't nmOunt to .Much, but you can wager your gallusoa that it wasn't done with nny turklsh towel. Fact is, thero'd often bo a shyness of any kind of a regular towel on theso occasions, so that 1'vo seen my mother hunt nrouml for an old plilow case or a remnant of some mysterious mys-terious cottony garment for tho drylng-off part of the Job. And I guess maybo I didn't breatho a sigh of deep contentment and relief when, aftor clipping into ono o' thoso old-fashioned, fuzzy-wuzzy canton flannel union night garments for young tins, I I got Into tho old feather bed, with the applo tree Just outsldo tho window and know that the next bath was a .vholo week In tho distance." Washington Wash-ington Post. |