The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath. She only had a few so it was easier to wash aprons than dresses, but along with that it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was also wonderful for drying children's tears.

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 an ideal hiding place for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped away many a perspiring brow, while bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in 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 and waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.