Volume 2, Number 2 - Winter 1965
The Black Dye Kettle
Written for Mary Scott Hair -- "Samanthy" -- who uses the old kettle now and then to dye rug rags.
'Tis said six thousand years ago
Earth dwellers dyed with indigo.
And then, as now, the word was "dye";
I've never heard wherefore, or why.
'Twas 1850 -- that I know -
More than one hundred years ago
My Gran'Pap came from Tennessee
With Granny, too. And making three
Was Great-grandmother; same as four
Was the precious kettle the flatboat bore.
That black dye kettle was a wonderous thing!
From it came colors bright as spring,
And all things bright seemed very dear
To the lady who brought that kettle here.
So colorful, too, was the life she led
That, after the sweet old soul was dead,
The dye kettle seemed to signify
A gallant spirit that could not die.
And for years this kettle marked her grave,
As a symbol bright for a soul so brave.
Now, her grave is shown by a pretty stone,
And the black dye kettle I'm proud to own.
George Nicholas Rees
Nixa, Missouri
The black dye kettle of George
Nicholas Rees' poem, and its
present owner, Mary Scott Hair,
dyeing a batch of rug rags.
[21]
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