Monday was usually washday, and occupied most of the day. We heated water in
a big
oval-shaped galvanized or copper wash boiler on top of a wood cookstove. If
our cistern had
enough soft (rain) water, we'd heat that water. Then we'd dip the boiling
water into the washing
machine - a big round tub-like machine. We had a Briggs & Stratton gas motor
to run the leather
belt to make the dolly turn to rub the soil out of the clothes. The dolly was
a paddle affair. Now
days we can do laundry in cold water and not worry so much about colors
mixing. It was a
catastrophe if a red article that faded was washed with white underwear. Many
a guy wore pink
underwear!
Usually we had two round washtubs with rinse water in them. We used an old
broomstick handle
to pull the hot clothes from the washer into the wringer. A wringer had two
hard rubber rollers that
we put the clothes between to let most of the sudsy hot water run back into
the washer.
Soap was Fels Naptha IF you could afford. We made our own soap out of old
rancid bacon and
sausage grease, and lye. If you splashed any of this recipe on your arms, you
had instant burns. The
liquid soap was stirred until it was a creamy mixture. Then it was poured into
flat pans with edges,
and left for days until it hardened.
Laundry
Index
