Soap from Bayberries
It
is possible, and we shall do so when time can be
spent in making luxuries, to get soap from the tallow
of bayberry plums.
I have already said that we stew out a kind of
vegetable tallow from bayberries with which to make
candles, and this same grease, when boiled with lye as if
you were making soft soap, can be cooked so stiff that,
when poured into molds, it will form little hard cakes
that are particularly convenient for the cleansing of
one's hands.
There can be no question but that bayberry soap
will whiten and soften the skin better than does soft
soap; but the labor of making it is so disagreeable
that, as Susan says, I had rather my hands were tough
and rough, than purchase a delicate skin at such an
expense.
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