Oh! I LOVED this piece and can well remember my angel Mom out in the
heat or the bitter cold hanging our freshly-and-often-HAND-washed clothes, God
love her sweet and hard-working soul...and taking them down the right way too
not to mention the hours of IRONING she did for all of us! And – there is
NOTHING sweeter-smelling than pillows and sheets whipped dry by the wind and
gathered and put on beds by a truly LOVING Mother – !!! Thanks for
sending; so very nostalgic and touching – if I close my eyes I can go back and
smell those freshly-washed and dried bed clothes to this day – you know the
sense of smell is the last sense to go they say
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 6:40 PM
Subject: Fw: Clotheslines...
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Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
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From: Mr. G.
<
prieye@msn.com>;
To:
Subject: Clotheslines...
Sent: Fri, Jun 21, 2013
2:43:26 PM
I
grew up hanging clothes on the line and remember every one of those
"rules". It was a challenge in those cold wet Iowa winters;
clothes indeed froze on the line - making it impossible to fold
them up; tuck them in the basket and carry into the house. As a
teenager, it was very embarrassing hanging undies on the line for
neighbors or passersby to see or worst yet should a boyfriend stop
by. However, if it were allowed today in my own fenced backyard,
I'd hang my clothes out to dry and sleep on the freshest smelling
sheets one could ever ask for . . . yes, those where the good old days
and it kept little hands busy; out of mischief along with doing the
dishes, scrubbing hardwood floors or picking veggies from the
garden. Great memories :)
THIS IS FUNNY AND QUITE
TRUE...WE ARE PROBABLY THE LAST GENERATION THAT WILL
REMEMBER WHAT A CLOTHESLINE WAS.
Great
memories for some of us! It's the poem at the
end that's the best!!! 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, neatly
folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be
ironed.
12. IRONED??!! Well, that's a whole
OTHER subject!
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.
