Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 October 1882 — Old-Time Kicking Frolics. [ARTICLE]

Old-Time Kicking Frolics.

Our grandparents were hard workers. With them neither the farm nor the house knew aught of labor-saving machines. It was rough work fdr tli&men out of doors and it was hard work &> r the women in doors. Families thought to better themselves by moving but West. It was jumping from the fryingpan into (th>e fire. Indians put a rifle on the farmers shoulder, and necessity forced his ■ faithful wife to seek orifc many inventions. She clpthed her children in toW frocks, and dressed herself and husband in linsey-woolsey, if she cotdd get wool to mix with the*flax. As

her sheep increased she made their wool nto fl mnels. But there were no .filling mills, and so woman’s wit invented “kicking frolics’’ for foiling her flannels. She invited all the men in the neighborhood to visit her cabin on a certain evening. They came to find a mass of •woolen web, saturated with soap and water, in the center of the washed cabin floor. Seating themselves about the soapy mass, with naked feet and rolledup trousers, they began kicking it vigorously. The desire to kick the hardest kept the living fulling mill at its best work, while laughing women poured soap and water on the woolen mass. The spirit of fun and frolio prevailed, and many feet made light work. At last, when the flannel had been thoroughly fulled, and the men and women saturated writh soap and water, a homely supper was served, and the “kicking frolic” closed up.