The Clothesline

Are you old enough to remember the clothes line? Did you have one?
I got an email about clothes lines... which I will put below. But it got
me started thinking about it. And I also got two return comments from
friends who remember them in their household. One which asked the
question... how every rule from raising kids to wash day was the same
on each end of the country and all parts between? Was it passed down
from mother to daughter? Which I am sure it was. And grandparents as
well. And as we spread across this nation of ours in the past 200+ years.

My mother had one, just as all did in the 1940's. She had it until I left in
1958. The dryer didn't come until after I left. I wonder if that was because
it was the thing to get, or because the daughter moved out of the house.
We also had a wringer type washer. Sure got my hand caught in that
enough times. Wriing it into the rinse, wring it in to the second rinse,
and then in to the basket, to be taken outside. God I hated that wringer.
And when my father told me he was going to save it for me, I thought
he has got to be kidding. If I had one now, I would use it as a planter.

Ours was attached to our house by the back door. And it went out to
a telephone pole that was in the middle of the barn yard. Don't ask me
why we had a telephone pole there, because I don't know. I don't believe
the phone wire was on it. That was all out front and across the street.

But many of years I had pin the clothes to that dang thing and then reeled
it out to the top with each piece of clothing. I remember my fingers almost
freezing, as we did it each Monday come rain, snow or shine. I do remember
getting in hot water with my mother over a sheet. It had froze solid. And I
was playing with the corner, bending it back and forth... and it broke off.
My mother didn't have much of a sense of humor. Well, at least in those
days all sheets were flat sheets, and I imagine that was used for the
bottom sheet. Knowing my mother, it was always used on my bed.

Well, here is the email... and see if you remember the rules. And
how you could tell what was going on in the inside of the house,
but what was hanging on the outside.


Do you remember?
The clothes line...a dead give away.
Do the kids today even know what a
clothes line is? For all of us 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.
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 neighbours 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 was 'tacky'.
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
A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbours passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link
For neighbours 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 neighbours 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 neighbours knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

I don't know the author of this..but it sure tells the
truth of it.
Do you remember?