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This picture was taken in 1902, and shows a black woman doing laundry. The woman is pictured putting clothes out on a clothes line. When I was growing up, we did not have a clothes dryer, and my mother dried clothes on the line. In the winter, she hung the clothes around the house, and then turned the little house heater on high.Monday, April 6, 2009
Doing Laundry
This picture was taken in 1902, and shows a black woman doing laundry. The woman is pictured putting clothes out on a clothes line. When I was growing up, we did not have a clothes dryer, and my mother dried clothes on the line. In the winter, she hung the clothes around the house, and then turned the little house heater on high.
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Here in Northeast Pennsylvania, clothes lines are a common sight in yards during the spring and summer months. Clothes smell a lot fresher when dried in the outdoors.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I am not trying to nick-pick but "black" should be Black as it refers to a race.
ReplyDeleteI always loved hanging clothes out on the line. As Pope George Ringo said, "Clothes smell a lot fresher when dried in the outdoors." I always hung my babies' diapers on the line, and the sun brought the whiteness back to them. Now, homeowners' associations usually have covenants against clothes lines. I'd have one if I could!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, my mother always put clothes out on the line. I used to love the fresh "outside" smell of them when she took them.
ReplyDeleteNo-one does that around here any more. Everyone has dryers, and the air is probably too polluted anway.
Brings back nice memories, though.
bs:
ReplyDeleteIf you were really not trying to "NIT pick," then why did you even bother to mention the capital "B" in black?
Honestly, back off and find something else more pertinent comment on.
I thought we put the "politcal correctness" issue aside a long time ago.
Please don't start that nonsense again, it's insulting to the author.
You go, (Smart)Girl!
ReplyDeleteI whole-heartedly agree.
The 'B' in black was a grammar issue, not political correctness.
ReplyDeleteI love the laundry line! I will definitely be putting one up some day.
I live in an apartment and I have a makeshift clothesline. It's tied to one side of the wall, and when I'm drying clothes on it, I pull it out and attach it to the other wall.
ReplyDeleteThere's not enough space to do all our clothing, unfortunately, but I do air-dry at least a few things.
"nit pick" it is, as it is "Black" but for entirely different reasons. Why do folks always assume things are racial/political correctness related (not just here). Geeze
ReplyDeleteI live on the Calif coast so can use a clothesline year round.
ReplyDeleteI'm a cheapskate so haven't used the dryer for years. (I finally turned it on after a couple years for a "drying emergency" and found the heating element no longer worked.) There is nothing better than line dried. Funny thing is, even my greenie save-the-earth friends don't have clotheslines. They all have excuses why they must use a dryer. (No homeowner association rules either, just too lazy or too busy.)
There is no fabric softener fragrance that beats the fresh air smell of clothes dried outdoors. Our Mom had a washing machine with a wringer [no spin dry].
ReplyDeleteThere were no wash 'n' wear clothes that were wrinkle-free. World of difference when compared to today.
http://www.laundrylist.org/
ReplyDeleteI'm a clothesline snob. There are certain rules when hanging out an award winning line of laundry. Just ask your moms. Certain days of the week were forbidden to hang out laundry. "Unmentionables" were always hung on the inside lines between sheets or towels to bar from view. Of course, there are proper ways to hang different items. Just ask your moms.
PJM, about your poll, Barack said America is arrogant and Europe is anti-American I thought.
ReplyDeleteI saw Black women washing clothes in the river canoeing down a side river in South Carolina in the 1980s. I was shocked to see that in the US.
bs and Jake Hammell:
ReplyDeleteWhether the "capital B" issue is political correctness or grammatical, it's still irrelevant.
How about if I start editing YOUR comments instead of focusing on the topic at hand?
Honestly.
'How about if I start editing YOUR comments instead of focusing on the topic at hand?"
ReplyDeleteYou are more than welcome as I usualy simply hit and run here. I never claimed to be a mastrful typist and spellcheck is my life saver but it is important to not that when you are talking about a RACE White & Black si capitolizeD (sic). It is all proper to referr do the same for North & South when refering to the regin rather than the diretion.
Tehre I gave you some thin to edit! Enjoy yourself.
bs:
ReplyDeleteHha, your comment made my day!!!
I still hang out my clothes whenever possible. Even in the dead of winter my bedsheets go on the line. When I unpack my winter clothes, it is heavenly to smell the fragrance of lilacs or roses, left from when I put them away in the spring.
ReplyDeleteI remember Monday was wash day, Tuesday you did the ironing. On wash day, the big black pots were filled and a fire was lit under them to heat the water. Homemade lye soap was cut up and the first load in the pot was the whites (sheets, towels,etc. After they had boiled a bit, they were taken to the first rinse tub. The second rinse had blueing added to make them whiter. The last load was work clothes.
ReplyDeleteno one knows more about laundry than your mother! I had plenty of "lessons" and to this day there is a certain way to do things...
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the Jewel-T man coming to the house with detergent and the blueing stuff....worked like a charm for whites!!!
p.s. "whites" as in clothing.....:)
Yes, I remember the Jewel-T man and The L.B. Price Man as well.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the Jewel T man had everything from soap to radios. A store on wheels. I can also recall a bakery truck that came into the neighborhood and what we in NEPA called the "rag man", who would come to sell or collect garments. You knew he was on the way when you heard a loud horn in the neighborhood. If one of us kids would get brazen with Mom she would threaten to give us to him! We shaped up fast!!
ReplyDeleteI still remember horse drawn rag & bone carts working central London in the early 1980's! My mother would put stuff aside for the "rag & bone man."
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly that's were Scrooge's clothes, bed linens & curtains went in the vision of Christmas Future.
Nothing smells better nor feels better than being hung out on the line in a country breeze to dry after a good wash. My parents and all before them did this. God how I long for the "good ole days".
ReplyDelete