Soap Trivia

(Interesting tidbits from the past)

Here are a few bits and pieces that I have collected from older books and magazines. The points of view sure have changed! This will be an on-going project, so check back for more later.

Odd Scraps for the Economical

From "The American Frugal Housewife; Dedicated to Those Who are Not Ashamed of Economy" by Mrs. Child; originally published in 1832:

If you would avoid waste in your family, attend to the following rules, and do not despise them because they appear so unimportant: 'many a little makes a mickle.'

Look frequently to the pails, to see that nothing is thrown to the pigs which should have been in the grease-pot*.

Look to the grease-pot and see that nothing is there which might have served to nourish your own family, or a poorer one.

*Note: The grease collected in the "grease-pot" was kept and then used to make soap. See A Short History of Soap in America

Proctor & Gamble Promotions

Soap manufacturers commonly sent out materials promoting their soaps and providing "education" to the ladies who used their products. In 1896 Lever Brothers presented an almanac "to users of Sunlight Soap" with Christmas wishes printed on the cover page. It contained almost 500 pages of all types of information--including how to manage a home, using Sunlight Soap, of course.

Even earlier, in about 1883, Proctor and Gamble published this little booklet entitled, "What a Cake of Soap Will Do," apparently as a promotional item to be handed out by retailers. It contained about 24 pages of line drawings, poems and tidbits--all promoting Ivory Soap. Three of these poems, along with the drawings for them, are below. They reflect what Proctor & Gamble must have considered important social issues of the times.

Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Green

Said Mrs. Brown to Mrs. Green,
"What makes your garments look so clean?
No speck of dirt on them is seen
To mar your linen's glossy sheen;
Your woolen dress that was so soiled,
I thought that it was surely spoiled,
Now looks as spick and span as though
It never had been spattered so!
this fine old lace is firm and white;
Your silk hose keep their colors bright;
Your shawl, your gloves, are spotless, too;
That old print gown seems really new!

"In vain my laundress boils and rubs
The clothes, and labors at her tubs;
My newest garments soon look worn,
Get streaked and lusterless and torn."
Sand Mrs. Green, in turn: My dear,
Poor soap has spoiled your clothes, I fear,
Compelled your laundress first to boil,
Then spend her days in fruitless toil.
My laundress uses Ivory Soap,
And in its cakes for you there's hope;
What in my clothes so pleases you,
To Ivory Soap is wholly due."

A New Departure

Said Uncle Sam: "I will be wise,
And thus the Indian civilize:
Instead of guns that kill a mile,
tobacco, lead, and liquor vile,
Instead of serving out a meal,
Or sending Agents out to steal,
I'll give domestic arts to teach,
A cake of Ivory Soap to each.
Before it flies the guilty stain,
The grease and dirt no more remain:
'Twill change their nature day by day,
And wash their darkest blots away.
They'll turn their bows to fishing-rods,
And bury hatches under sods,
In wisdom and in worth increase,
And ever smoke the pipe of peace;
For ignorance can never cope
With such a foe as Ivory Soap."

Reclaimed

We once were factious, fierce and wild,
To peaceful arts unreconciled;
Our blankets smeared with grease and stains
From buffalo meat and settlers' veins.
Through summer's dust and heat content,
From moon to moon unwashed we went;
But Ivory Soap came like a ray
Of light across our darkened way.
And now we're civil, kind and good
And keep the laws as people should.
We wear our linen, lawn and lace,
As well as folks with paler face.
And now I take, where'er we go,
This cake of Ivory Soap to show
What civilized my squaw and me
And made us clean and fair to see.

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