"Soapmaking" Summary

In this article, Andrea Burrell and three other students visit Andrea's grandmother, Peal Martin, to discuss the process of soapmaking. Pearl begins with two and one half pints of water, and one can of store-purchased Red Devil Lye. Once it is dissolved, Pearl adds breakfast bacon grease, noting that the liquid must be stirred for another twenty minutes. When asked if the soap can be used for laundry, Pearl answers that it can be, but when asked if she ever adds perfume to the mixture, Pearl laughs. She states that she never has, simply because her generation did not care about such things. Turning back to the simmering liquid, Pearl tells the girls she will pour the thickened liquid into a shallow cake pan to harden overnight, and then cut the hardened block of soap into bars.

The four interviewers then...