On summer Monday mornings as my brother, sister, and I played outside, we kept watch on mom working in the enclosed porch as she washed clothes in the wringer washer. As soon as she drained the first tub outside, we got stick and rocks and created dams and roads. The water would soak away and we would wait for the next flood. While we were playing, I'm sure Pat was helping mom hang clothes on the clothes line.*
Mom ran an efficient laundry operation for our family, making it look easy. From the time I was born until my oldest brother married when I was 4, mom did laundry for 9 people in a house with no running water. The kids pumped water from a well on a small hill maybe 25 yards away and brought it to the house. Mom probably did this herself when they were in school. The white wringer washer sat in the enclosed porch. I remember mom saying how good it was to finally have a washer with a motor on it to power the wringer instead of cranking clothes through the wringer by hand and bicep power.
Clothes were dried on the clothes line as she described (see images, transcription is below images). She didn't mention that blue jeans had stretchers pushed inside the legs to stretch them and give them a nice crease down the front and back of the legs. Throughout the years we often heard, "Go get the clothes off the line. Looks like it might rain," or "The wind blew the pole down. Go put it back. The clothes are dragging on the ground."
Because laundry was a lot of work, we would wear the same clothes to school several days in a row, as did some of our class mates. After school we changed into "after school" clothes, probably hand-me-downs, or clothes that were about to be outgrown. These were clothes that had stains or patches and that could be worn outside without worrying about ruining them. Shoes were purchased at the beginning of the school year and last year's shoes were worn after you got home from school until they fell apart or were just too small to be tolerated.
It was a long line of laundry, stretching throughout her 86 years, from heating water on a wood burning stove, to stepping into the kitchen and throwing a load of laundry in the automatic washer and dryer. Mom took hundreds of photos, but none of the everyday activities and chores. I wish I would have asked her to write about ironing, another weekly chore, another long day.
(*This memory is from the Lakeman place west of Sargent, Nebraska, where we lived when I was born and moved away from when I was 5. I asked mom about some of the every day things they did when she was young, and she wrote and drew illustrations on the hand-written pages included here. Sisters & brothers, please correct any facts I got wrong...how far the well was from the house, etc.)
Wash Day 1
Written by Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell
Wash Day 2
Wash Day - Transcription
Written by Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell (1923-2010), in the 1990s.
[page 1 of 2]
This is similar to the washer my mother used early on. I don't really remember it much. The one I remember was half moon shape as below.
The first thing was to fill the boiler, a large container which held about 10 gallons. The water was hand pumped from the Pitcher pump by the sink.
It had a lid.
The boiler fit over the front two lids on the range. Of course a good hot fire was going. A large tub was situated by the side of the washer below the wringer and filled [over, page 2 of 2] with cold water in which some bluing was added (blueing was blue liquid from a bottle) it helped to whiten the clothes. After the water was hot it was carried by pail to washer. While the water heated the clothes were sorted whites, such as shirts, dishtowels sheets pillowcases etc. (no colored linens then) then light colors, dresses towels washclothes (if lighter) light shirts etc. next was shirts overalls dark towels. Last came rags rugs mops etc. The hot water had to be carried by pail to the washer, the white clothes added. Then agitated 20 min by the handle on side of washer. After emptying the boiler it had to be partly filled again as the white clothes were put in it to boil, to help whiten them. From the boiler back to washer the water was so hot had to use a pole to fish them out of boiler. Now they go through the wringer into the rinse. The wringer swings around so can wring them from rinse into a clothes basket usually a bushel basket lined with newspaper or oil cloth. Now ready for next pile of clothes etc. but they go into rinse then basket, don't need to boil. From rinse to clothes line, which was a wire or wires strung between two poles with a middle prop so the real heavy items wouldn't drag. Clothspins, which usually were carried in a apron like bag, one type a wooden straight pin or snap type. In winter clothes that were hung out would freeze stiff, bring them in at night and drape them around be dry by morning. I had a clothe dryer a wood contraption made of dool [dowel] sticks & folded up when not in use. Clothes dried faster from frozen state. Of course the water had to be emptied outdoors. In summer washed on porch winter in kitchen, farther to carry hot water & rinse to porch.
A Long Day!
P.S. A pan of starch had to be made from flour & water to starch shirt collars & cuffs or dress shirts some dresses dresser scarfs or what [end]