Laundry

Hi Marty

 

I still love hanging laundry on the clothesline. Nature's scent does not come in a bottle, so, the minute the weather permits, laundry is hung out to dry.

I love the poem, it's so true.

Enjoy!

 

Subject: The Clothesline

 

>   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 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 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 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 tablecloths'

>   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 night clothes, 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!

Thanks Penny F.