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PG. 22 VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1981
Pioneer bathing,
a ritual of labour
by Jean Wyatt
Do you take for granted your
any -hour -day -or -night bath? The appur-
tenances of modern tub and shower, fine
toilet soap, bath salts, oils, and the great
sheet of soft, absorbent looped terry in
which you envelop your dripping body?
I did, until I learned about the
once -a -week ablutions of our early
settlers. Their bathing schedule formed a
laborious part in the round of occupations
which made life full and varied.
Imagine living in 19th century Ontario.
As a more prosperous settler, you live
in a three room log house. Bathing is
done in the kitchen. On this fall night, it's
cosy enough with your wood -burning
stove. used not only for cooking but to
supplement the heat from your bright -
flaming hearth, during the chill winter
months.
Water for your bath is carried in from
an outside pump, bucket by bucket, and
poured into the wash -boiler on the stove
which must be stoked well with wood.
Your bathtub is the metal wash -tub
hanging from a nail on the outside of your
home. When the water is hot, bucket it
into the tub and then add the necessary
cold water...from the pump.
You toe -test the temperature of the
water. Then you lower yourself into the
wash -tub, assuming a fetal position, of
necessity.
The water is relaxing and sedative.
Presently you obtain a laudable lather
from a big cake of soap. homemade of
wood ashes and rendered animal fats.
At length, sore muscles soothed and
tension relieved. you step out and dry off
with a length of woolen toweling.
Empty your used bath water outside,
there is no plumbing.
Yes. pioneer style bathing was a ritual
of labour.
As for me, I no longer take for granted
the common comfort of shower or tub.
After all, a bathtub drain is a gadget of
some consequence, isn't it?
THEATRE
(cont. from page 17
Amos. "1 would bet we are the onl
theatre in Canada doing neNN Canadian
plays that's come up in the black. %%ith
only limited grants."
With the enlarged theatre. Blyth last
year experienced the largest attendance
leap in its six-year history. with an
average increase of 100 per performance.
Amos estimates at least three sellouts a
week last year. and early indications for
this year. the seventh season. arc
evidence for continued optimism: by May
advance sales were up approximately 100
per cent over the same period last year.
The Likelihood of another successful
season has already been in part affirmed.
The theatre took last year's extremely
popular St. Sam and the Nukes on the
road early in 1981, with shows as far away
as Arnprior in eastern Ontario. Then in
May one of this year's five plays, Firc on
Ice by Keith Roulston. was workshopped
by invitation at the Toronto Theatre
Festival.
Amos is confident the 1981 season
will again give visitors something to
cheer about. The season opens July 3
with Anne Chislett's Quiet in the Land.
directed by Guy Spring. It is the story of a
young Amish man whose love for a girl
conflicts with the views of his father and
the elders of his community.
The second presentation. beginning
July 7. is Carol Bolt's Love or Money,
which centres on the mysterious disap-
pearance of millionaire theatre owner
Ambrose Small. Small once owned the
Grand Theatre chain but he sold his
interests and was never heard from
again.
Next is a second play by Anne Chislctt
(wife of Festival founder James Roy) The
Tomorrow box. The play. which opens
July 28. is the story of a farm wife who.
after•her husband sells the farm without
telling her. concludes she's had enough
of his decisions and must forge her own
future. Of the comedy. second year
artistic director Anios says: "It's a very
important play for the people in our
area." and she added an accountant had
mentioned the fact that farmers arc now
able to pay their wives for work on the
farm "has done more for marriages in_
this area. It puts the issue in a comic %% ay
and in a serious way." Tomorrow Box
director is Clarke Rogers.
Fire on Ice. which opens August 4. is
the fourth play of the season. and the
fourth Roulston play to he performed at
Blyth. "This is really a neNN venture for
him." acknowledges Amos. "It's not
strictly a comedy." It's the story of Hot% is
Morelli, one of hockey's first superstars.
who died at an early age because of a
broken heart. some say.Amos says "it is
and it isn't" a comedy. "His life was not
tragic. his death was tragic. He was an
early Canadien (Montreal) not from
Quebec. They loved hint. He gave them
their style. He had terrific passion for the
game." David Fox will direct Firc On Ice.
The additional play in the expanded
season in 1981 is a return of He Won't
Come In From The Barn by Ted Johns.
one of the most popular productions in