Mom's clothseline

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sbwertz

sbwertz

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Joined
May 11, 2010
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Location
Phoenix, AZ
If you remember all this, you are older than dirt, just like me!


THIS IS HOW I FIRST REMEMBER DOING LAUNDRY.......WE HAVE COME A LONG
WAY !




Great memories for some of us!
It's the poem at the end that's the best!!!



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Remembering Mom's Clothesline



There is one thing that's left out.

We had a long wooden pole (clothes pole) that was used to push the clotheslines up

so that longer items (sheets/pants/etc.) didn't brush the ground and get dirty.

I can hear my mother now...



THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:





(If you don't even know what clotheslines are, better skip this.)



1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.

2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.

3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes -

walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites,"

and hang them first.

5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!

What would the neighbors think?

6. Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend,

or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!




7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could

hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)




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




9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes!

Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!




10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item

did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, sprinkled and rolled in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

12. IRONED??!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

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And now a POEM...



A clothesline 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 designs.
The line announced a baby's birth, From 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 also said, "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 and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows, And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past, For dryers make work much 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.

















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I won't begin to tell you how many years ago I was the 'helper', handing the clothe pins to my mother as she hung the washing. And we washed whenever it was handy but never on Sunday.
In the winter we washed even on Sundays because we hung the wet clothing in the basement to dry. Wood and coal heating back then.

Memories.
 
Clothes hung out to dry still come cleaner and smell much better.:smile: Our only problem with the line drying is the unerring aim of the occasional bird.:mad: When that occurs, oh well, instant dirty clothes!:rolleyes:

Oh, yes, we do own an electric drier for when all our clothes are dirty and the incessant rain forces us to wash them and dry inside.:confused: It just ain't the same.

Thank you Sharon.

Charles
 
When I was a kid we lived about a quarter mile from a huge stockyard. Most of the time the prevailing wind blew away from the stockyard, but every once in a while, I'd hear my mother's panic yell "The wind changed!!" We'd all make a mad dash for the clothesline to get the laundry down before it could pick up the smell. And BOY did it smell!
 
When we were first married (1962) we lived in Highland Falls, NY in a little upstairs apartment in a private home. I had a tiny portable washing machine (with a wringer) that I rolled up to the kitchen sink, and hung my clothes out the window on a clothesline on a pulley. There was a regular clothesline downstairs, but mostly I used the one out the window so I didn't have to carry heavy wet laundry down the steep, narrow stairs. The washer was so small that the line would hold the whole load. I had a new baby and there was no such thing as disposable diapers, so I was washing every day.
 
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I remember the old wringer washing machines because in 1954 my mom ran a "washateria" in town after she and my dad separated... but I also remember that before that wash day also meant drawing water from the well by hand, filling the cast iron wash pot, stacking wood around it to heat the wash water and a long stick to stir the clothes, then to dip them out and into the scrub tub and the wash board... then into the rinse... hand wrung and then shake them out before hanging on the line.
 
My Mother still uses her clothes line. I remember on a hot summer day with a bit of a wind even your jeans were dry by the time the washer was done with the next load. And yes the towels were washed and hung before the "unmentionables" were and were taken down after.
 
We always had ants crawling along the clothes line. I wondered how long it would take them to get from the wood shed to the walnut tree.
 
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