Monday, May 19, 2008

Received this from a friend.

Monday - Washday

The clothes line....a dead give away. Do the kids today even know what a clothes line is? I am sure a lot of you are too young to remember the clothes line, but for all of us who are older, this will bring back the memories. . . . at least it did for me.

THE BASIC RULES

1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes. Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line.

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order and always hang whites with whites and hang them first.

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. What would the neighbors think?

4. Wash day on a Monday...........never hang clothes on the weekend or Sunday for heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your 'unmentionables' in the middle.

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather.............clothes would 'freeze dry.'

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left on the line was 'tacky'.

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothe s up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?????????? Well, that's a whole other subject.

A POEM
A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the 'company table cloths'
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, 'Gone on vacation now'
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, 'We're back!' when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way..

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!


Hi, this is me, Patty, with a short story about my wash days. When we lived in this big town called Gordon, we had a family that lived about three doors up from us, and he was a barber. He had one room at the side of his home where he cut hair. My Uncle use to come down to Gordon, from another large town, LOL, called Arcanum. And the barber always told my Uncle what a nice white wash I always hung out. Well it should have been a nice white wash, when you have cloth diapers and wash only once a week, you have lines full of white diapers. I'm so happy with my automatic washer and dryer. No more lines to lug heavy wet clothes out to dry and then having to go back and take them all down again, folding as you take them down. Hoping a bird didn't fly over and leave a big dirty spot on something. If that's what men call the good old days, they can keep them.

5 comments:

Melinda said...

well there is nothing quite like smelling fresh washed and sun-dried sheets or towels though...especially sheets....towels get a little stiff in the sun!

Wanda said...

Oh I love Wash Day stories. My mother was the master of it, and I did learn a lot from her.

This was delightful to read.

Renie Burghardt said...

I enjoyed this, Patty. Clothes lines are history, even in the boonies. Haven't seen one in years. The poem was sweet.

Good night!

Renie

Martin Stickland said...

Does this mean you do washing fro free patty? Great! I will UPS a load over to you but do not laugh at the pink boxer shorts!

Hope you are both well and give my regards to Abe!

bigbikerbob said...

Hi Patty, We still hang out our washing WHEN the weather is good enough, Sue swears clothes are fresher and nicer dried outdoors.