There was a part of our farm my dad called the wagon yard. It was an open space between our yard and the outbuildings, like the corn crib and stables for the cows. Well in this yard was a vat made of cast iron. It was once used to boil cane juice to make syrup, but now it had a different use. It was where my mom heated water to boil our bed linens in lye soap to make them white, and it worked we always had white sheets on our beds. Sometimes when the water cooled, my brother and I could get in it. Sometimes early in the morning we would put water in the vat and let the sun warm it so we could play in it. In the winter when we killed a couple of hogs for our meat, a fire was built under the vat to heat water to scald the hogs so the hair could be removed. Once when my brother and I were playing in the water we noticed our white duck had been dusting in the black dirt under the boiler. He wasn't white anymore, so we decided he needed a bath. We got the soap and washed all the oil out of his feathers and he almost drowned because he couldn't float anymore. Many times we played in that vat. I wonder what happened to it. I think my mom said it was cracked and leaked. I sure would like to have it. Just for sentimental reasons of course because I really don't need it. Just another part of my childhood.
neon_sapphire