The Clothes Line - Laundry Day

The Clothes Line

Do young people today even know what a clothes line is?
For all of those who are older, this will bring back the memories.

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 so that the clean, wet, clothes will not get dirty.


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 had to remain clean for the next use.


8. 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.


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 (city-bred)

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.

Author unknown

I received this as an e-mail message and found myself reminiscing -

how about you? :-)

Actually, I do still hang my clothes out to dry (weather permitting) and now that I think of it I should encourage all readers to do so rather than use the dryer - definitely is a way to conserve energy.