A Sliver Of Green Soap

Ray Sammons 2005

The last bar of green soap gets smaller with every shower; it’s now down to a thin green sliver.

I’ve always had a fascination about how soap was made. The magic of combining greasy lard with caustic lye and coming out with a product that you rub on your body and clothes is amazing. My grand parents made their own soap, but my parents bought all of their soap.

Therefore, when Steve (our oldest son) and his family started making soap several years ago I was more than interested. One year they brought all the equipment to Tucson and they made a batch of soap; I followed every detail with interest and anticipation.

Before making the soap we bought some white PVC pipe for soap molds; Steve didn’t like square bars of soap. We cut the pipe into short lengths that were the proper depth for bars of soap and we heated some of the pipe in the oven and formed it into oval shapes before cutting it into bar soap sizes.

After all the preparations were finished it was time to make soap. We had the lard, lye, perfumes, palm oil, health aids, and when they asked what color do you want the soap and I immediately said, “Green.” They asked for some green crayons and they shaved them into small pieces, melted them into a liquid and produced green soap. They made a double batch and when the day was done we had 70 bars of green soap spread all over the back patio cooling and hardening; that’s a five year supply of shower soap!


Herb and Doris Goodell were some of my folk’s good friends as I grew up. They lived five miles east of Utica, Montana, our home town, and we lived a mile and a half west. I always looked forward to a visit at Herb and Doris’ house.

Herb and Doris had several big tall pine trees and some big cottonwood trees around their house. We didn’t have any trees around our house; the nearest trees were three miles away, down by the river.

Herb and Doris had electricity in their house and barns and I loved flipping the switches to see the lights go on and off. We didn’t have electricity; we used kerosene lamps in the house and Dad hung the kerosene lantern on a nail as he milked the cows in the barn after dark. I remember walking with my dad when he carried the lantern after dark. Our shadows would move before and behind us as the lantern swung back and forth keeping perfect cadence with our stride.

Herb and Doris had a big two story house and a big barn and several out buildings and they were all painted grey and they were trimmed in white. We had a small two story house and a good sized barn and they had been painted once but that was before my time. Our shop was small but I liked it better than Herb’s. My dad could heat and bend metal, shape horse shoes, fix tractors, and everything. Our shop was fun; Herb’s looked sterile and unused.

Herb and Doris had green grass in their yard and I always liked the click, click, click of the reel lawn mower as I pushed it around their yard. I was too small to mow all of their grass but they let me push it when I came. We didn’t have any grass in our yard, just dirt and a few weeds.

Herb and Doris had running water in their house and barn; turning the faucets and watching the water gush out was a favorite pastime. We had a hand pump over a well across the driveway from our house. When we wanted water we put the water bucket under the pump snout and pumped the handle enough times to fill the bucket and then wagged it back across the driveway to the house and hoisted it up onto the water bucket bench. We drank from the dipper that was always in the water bucket and we also used the dipper to put water in the wash pan, next to the bucket, to wash our hands and face. The white Ivory soap was in a saucer by the wash pan and the community towel hung from a rack above the wash pan, beside the mirror. We poured the used wash water into the waste water pail at the end of the bench; when the pail was full it was taken out and thrown into the yard.

Herb and Doris had a bathroom in their house. We had a path to a two hole out door toilet behind the house where the expired Sears and Roebuck catalogue was put to good use. The toilet was up from the well.

The sink in their indoor bathroom was a light lime green and the bath tub was the same pleasing color. Our bath tub was a galvanized tub that sat in the middle of the kitchen floor on Saturday night and the water was heated on our wood burning kitchen stove. We all took a bath every Saturday night; I was first, my older brother next and dad last. The water was grey and soapy by the time dad got into the tub.

It was a special treat for me to go into Herb and Doris’ bathroom, turn on the electric light, run water into the sink from the faucet, wash my face and hands with their fresh smelling green soap, and dry my hands on their clean green towel.

Fifty years later, when Steve asked me for the color of our home made soap I said, “Green!”