Thursday, January 16, 2014

Airing Dirty Laundry Through the Ages

Until recently, there were three people living in my house. A few years ago, there were four. At the height of my semi-professional job as a laundress, I washed clothes for five people.

My Cowboy working...and working, and working...(well, sorta) 
Given that four of those people were male and the idea of conserving energy by limiting their imprudent use of towels was completely unthinkable, and given the fact that when not in school, 75% of my clientele were either working cows (can we say ewww?), baling hay, or working in sweltering temps on a construction site, suffice it to say that the laundry room required a revolving door.

I really never counted (the trauma, you understand), but it wasn’t unusual to have 7-10 loads of clothes a week in those days. Can you imagine washing all those clothes by hand in a stream of running water?

Me neither! Yikes!

Now I understand why people wore clothes for days and weeks at a time and when they pulled them off, they’d practically stand up by themselves.

It’s pretty much a given that the first options for washing clothes were streams, rivers, and lakes. The water carried away the sweat, dirt, and grime embedded in the clothes. Lye soap was used when available and helped get rid of more of the grime and smells. 

Picture what our washing machines do today…agitating, sloshing, slapping, beating your clothes into submission. Women of yesteryear did all that with the sheer power of their arms, with wooden slats, often called washing beetles or bats. Instead of the sides and the agitating core of a washing machine, they might spread the clothes on a rock (a beetling-stone) or a battling-block or board to beat out embedded grime. …that’s what women of the past had to do to clean their family’s clothes, and this went on for thousands of years. Who ever said women were weak? Ha!

Laundresses the world over eventually started thinking of ways to make this task less arduous. Communal wash-houses made the job easier for all concerned when women congregated to get the task done. Depending on the resources and geographical location of any given village, town or city, a communal wash-house could be as simple as a well in the center of the village with a thatch lean-to, to a heated building with separate basins for washing and rinsing with water flowing through stone troughs and basins.
Usually, one particular day was designated wash-day and the women gathered to wash clothes and share news, and dare we say, a bit of gossip. Gives new meaning to airing dirty laundry, huh?

As women migrated further afield and set up housekeeping in far-flung regions, they adapted as needed. In the late 1800s, any woman worth her salt wouldn’t set out in a covered wagon west without a wash tub, a scrub board, and a working knowledge of how to make lye soap. And for many reasons, she’d insist the family settle close to a nice, running stream and pray they’d have well water in due time.

And other than periods of time when cold, winter months and rainy seasons played havoc with laundry, good old fashioned sunshine dried clothes and that particular commodity stayed the same for centuries regardless of the time, place, or location. Some people still prefer the fresh, clean scent of sun-dried clothing today.

The Industrial Revolution turned this time-consuming task on its ear and created a society that wears, recycles, and washes clothing, bedding, and towels incessantly. (Rabbit trail: I wonder how much lint I’ve created in my lifetime as a wife and mother? And…is there any earthly use for lint? This blog post says yes. Who woulda thunk it?)

So, back to washing clothes. Uh, do I have to?

We went from trekking down to the creek with our stinky, soiled laundry to washing in wash houses, to wash boards, and on to wringer-type washing “machines” (machine, my foot) to fully-functional electronic washing machines and driers that would make our great-great-great grandmothers’ heads spin faster than the clothes in my drier.

Excuse me while I go hug my washing machine!



---
Pam Hillman was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn’t afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove the Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn’t mind raking. Raking hay doesn’t take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that’s the kind of life every girl should dream of! Claiming Mariah is her second novel. www.pamhillman.com

19 comments:

  1. The title of your blog made me laugh and spill my coffee. Now I want to hug my washing machine! It's so easy to take things for granted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Margaret, at least washing your coffee stained robe won't be the chore it was one hundred yeas ago! :)

      Delete
  2. I have a family of 6 and at one point we had 7 living here. And oh my goodness I can so understand the laundry issue. LOL. Sometime I felt like the laundress, cook and maid who never drew a paycheck. LOL. But hubby was so supportive and always said he couldn't afford me if I drew a paycheck because my work was never done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seven??? So, you're the chief, huh, Debbie? Hail to the Chief! Anybody beat Debbie Lynne for having the most washing to do?

      Yikes!

      Delete
  3. Loved this post, Pam. I once did laundry for two adults for a month by hand in the sink. Scrubbing wasn't anywhere near as bad as the wringing out... To wring out a pair of denim jeans is a lot of work! I can't imagine doing it with heavy fabrics!
    And --the soap! My hands dry out just doing dishes. I can't imagine having harsher soaps and wet hands for hours. We have SO MANY more pieces of clothing to worry about now

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debra, my hands are the same way. I'd hate to know I had to wash laundry by hand. My own clothes I could manage, mostly, because they're light weight and I don't have a dirty, stinky, sweaty job.

      But my guys' clothes?

      Whoo-boy!

      (Must take a break. There's a baby calf in my bathroom and I hear bumping. Be right back!)

      Delete
  4. My first memories of washing clothes is that of my grandmother's big tub with a wringer attached sitting on her back porch. She was thrilled to have such a "modern" convenience to do her laundry. She had a hose hooked up to the water and filled the tub. I had the honor of feeding clothes into the wringer. My sister and I fought over who got to do that until I went too far and caught my hand in the wringer and was up to my elbow before Mimi could stop it. I gladly gave that job to my sister after that.

    Got my first dryer when our second son was born. Had a washing machine with the first boy but hung the clothes on the line. I must say that most days those clothes smelled so good and fresh when I brought them indoors. We had three boys, and they were involved in sports year round. Lots of laundry and odor. So thankful for both the washer and the dryer.

    I don't mind the washing and drying, but I hate folding and putting it away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martha, so glad you didn't break your arm! And I'm the same way about folding and putting away clothes. What's up with that? I mean, it's a downhill slide at that point. You'd think we'd be happy to put away the nice, clean-smelling clothes, wouldn't you? :)

      Delete
    2. Our youngest daughter-in-law has 3 ages 11 to 17 and has lots of laundry with 2 teenage girls. She has stacks of clothes at the bottom of the stairs for the kids to up their rooms. I'd just put the baskets in the boys' rooms and tell them to fold their own. She makes me feel guilty. :)

      Delete
  5. About our uninvited guest in the bathroom. We had a newborn baby calf to fall into a ditch. He was cold, wet and in shock when My Cowboy found him. He's been in the bathroom for 12 hours. Hopefully he'll get reunited with his Mama today. Here's the Baby Calf in my bath room. He's so sweet...for now. I hate to think what it would be like to keep him inside indefinitely. A bull in a china shop. Yep!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pam, your article today is delightful and so timely. Until last night, we had been without water for 6 days - our well pump shifted in the frozen ground and lost pressure. We've been heating water for sponge baths, cleaning dishes, etc. Today was to be laundry day! Thankfully, Justice Water Systems out of Pagosa Springs repaired the pump and restored water flo,w just before dark last night! I remember helping my grandmother heat water, run clothes through the washer ringer and hang the clothes on an outside line. When I was young that was fun. Today - not so much. Looking forward to your next article.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, see, Linda, you missed the perfect opportunity to give us a first-person-up-close-and-personal experience today! :)

      Seriously, so glad you have water again.

      Delete
  7. *coming back from hugging my washing machine and telling it I'm sorry for taking it for granted* Wow. Awesome article to make me stop complaining about washing laundry! I cannot imagine having to haul it and scrub it myself and soap it up, etc. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan, maybe we need to make up t-shirts that say, "Have you hugged your washing machine today?" lol

      Delete
  8. I know i posted a comment last night my time but its gone blogger must hate me.
    I love the post and was going to hug my machine. I still dry my clothes on a clothes line and in winter by the fire
    I would hate to have to do washing by hand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear ya, Jenny! I hate to think what our clothes would look like if I had to do it all by hand.

      It would be bad.

      Really, really bad!

      Delete
    2. I have heard that because of the diet back then things like BO were not as bad as now. They have done shows where they ate what would have been eaten back then (they did an aussie one) They ate nothing processed like today and found that the BO was way less than it is today. Oh and this was done in the Australian Summer where the temps were very high. They did swim in the river at times to cool off. but back then it was one bath a week if that also.

      Delete
  9. While I was growing up my mom had a wringer washer for a long time. When she got the automatic one and could stop putting the wet laundry through the ringer it was a happy day. But it was a while before she got a dryer. Before that in summer she hung the clothes outside, but in winter they had to hang in the basement. Those Wisconsin winters are not conducive to hanging laundry outdoors. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can imagine. It probably took days for the clothes to dry.

      Delete