Ralphie & Wilbur Wright
I went with Aiden and his class to the Wilbur Wright Birthplace today. An older lady was giving a tour of the house when she started talking to the students about the soap they made from lard and lye. “Now, this soap isn’t anything like the soap they sell today that smells all pretty,” she said. And then she went on to talk about how nasty the soap tastes, talking about how her mom used to wash her mouth out with soap whenever she said a naughty word.
All I could picture was Ralphie from A Christmas Story with that big ol’ block of soap stuck in his mouth.
In addition to the house and tool shed and smokehouse, they also have an area of a museum depicting their living quarters in Kitty Hawk with a fully-stocked kitchen. Included in the necessities was a box of soap. The very same soap that made Ralphie go blind!
And this scene has been running through my head the rest of the afternoon:
Apparently, they make a big deal about decorating the museum and such with Christmas trees. I think it would be great to have a cardboard cutout of Ralphie standing near the Lifebuoy soap. Maybe he could wear his pink bunny suit!
So – if you’re reading this, curators of the Wilbur Wright Birthplace, please, please, please make this happen!
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