The boiler fire ought to be laid the night before washing-day, so that you may only have to light it next morning. Before beginning to lay the fire, take great care that all the old cinders and ashes are raked out.
From The art of laundry work: practically demonstrated for use in homes and schools By Florence B. Jack, Head teacher of laundry work, Edinburgh school of Domestic economy. 2nd ed. Edinburgh 1896
In my first year at boarding school I was confronted with doing my own washing for the first time. Despite being 1980 our laundry was an austere room with concrete wash-troughs and two old twin tub washing machines (one of which worked). Laundry was a dreaded task and many a hand was burnt lifting clothes from the washing part to the spinning part.
But of course, we had it easy. My counterparts earlier in the century were boiling clothes in a copper. The very thought of lighting a copper and swishing clothes around with a big stick is a reminder to us how much easier laundry is today.
And even they had it easy. Imagine dragging your clothes down to a river and bashing them with a rock. It’s not as far gone as you might imagine.
Check out this video taken in China in 2006.
So as much as I complain about doing the laundry I declare that beating ones clothes with a rock or boiling them in a copper can stay before our time. I can’t do without my automatic washing machine. If only it could wash, spin and hang the clothes out as well.
18 comments:
not to mention the water it saves...
i'm sure i would have been sloshing it all about making a big slippery dangerous mess
Or what about the old agitator ones with the mangles. An absolute nightmare if you had long hair and bent over too far.
I quite enjoy feeding the machine and hanging it out but folding socks and putting things away is such a drag. I pay my children to do it.
I've got a brand new washing machine and it's certainly preferable to dragging the sheets down to the river, or even the laundromat. That said, having a brand new efficient washing machine makes it rather more tempting to wash clothes, sheets and towels more frequently, so at least some of the workload reductions get lost.
Twin-tubs? Your boarding school had twin-tubs? Pure luxury. Ours only had steel laundry troughs. The Mof bought me one of those 'camping washers' from a mail order catalogue (basically a big bucket with a lid and an agitator with a handle that you worked manually). There was a queue among my friends to take it into one of the showers and use it there, washing, rinsing and hairwashing all done in several easy steps.
I am certainly grateful for automatic washing machines!
Gawd I'd forgotten all about twin tubs.
Mum used to use a mangle.
I want that washing machine to fold and put away too.
As a child of the 40/50's I well remember the copper and if I close my eyes I can smell the steamy, soapy atmosphere in the laundry!
Washing was an all day affair as most of the laundry was white and had to be boiled to keep the whiteness although a 'blue bag'was added to the rinse to make 'whiter than white'(I never quite knew what the bluebag was) The sheets etc had to be maneouvred from the copper into the sink with a stout laundry stick ( I have a feeling the stick had a name but it escapes me) Children were banned from the laundry as this was quite dangerous. From there the cloths were rinsed and put through a wringer which was clamped to the sink, to remove as much water as possible. If you didn't have a wringer strong arms were used to twist and expel the water.
We progressed to an electric boiler and I will never forget lifting the lid when I shouldn't have and scalding all the fingers on my hand.
Ironing was usually done the next day as it took all day to wash and dry.
Despite my likeness for laundry, I'm with you on automatic washing-machines. It was the first household item I bought before furniture and even a bed – we slept on the floor! Everything mof says is familiar. The "blue bag" was a block of blue dye in a tight muslin bag shaken into the last rinsing water till there was a hint of blue in the water the idea being that a touch of blue on the white made it look whiter. We also used to spread items on grass and keep them wet as the combination of sun, chlorophyll and water bleached as well but all 3 had to be present. We lived 3 floors up so I often got sent down to the backgreen to re-sprinkle the items. Small places had communal bleaching greens. Large places had public wash-houses known as steamies for obvious reasons. Women pushed the washing there in large high prams often with their hair in curlers as the steam worked in it. Till well into the 60's babies nappies had to be boiled, often in a pail on the stove but by the end of the 60's a product called Napisan was available. An overnight soak meant that all that was needed was a rinse in the AUTOMATIC washing machine. The glass jars it came in are still my airtight storage jars, the snap-on plastic tops still being perfect despite nearly 30 years of dishwashers.
P.S. Forgot to say that I spent 3 years at the establishment quoted in the post. It was popularly called the "Do.(domestic)/Dough School and was situated in "Atholl Crescent" giving rise to a second nick-name – "Apple Crescent" for obvious reasons.
I would sell a body part before I'd part with my washing machine.... particularly this week, as it has been running on overtime, keeping up with towels, bleach rags, etc. Can you imagine facing the prospect of a couple of kids with the stomach flu WITHOUT one? Makes me queasy just thinking about it.
I love my washing machine. My girls had gastro recently and it gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for my washing machine.
And my tumble drier. I don't use that as often preferring to air dry. But when every towel in your house is in the wash and every bit of your childs bedding and spare bedding is in the wash... that tumble drier comes in darned handy.
Nanu: I've been looking for a way to bleach the dustbowl out of my daughter's white school socks, but I've never heard of the sun/grass/water combination before.
What a shame my backyard has fake grass which creates no chlorophyll...another con to add to the list!
I would not want to be without mine either. I am very spoiled. I would be interested to hear more about your boarding school. Our children went to private Catholic schools but not boarding school. Just curious why you had boarding schools?
Brenda, I have replied privately about your question but will make it the topic of a forthcoming post - comparing boarding schools from the past to now. Definitely a topic that Alison and I are both familiar with.
Thanks for your question!
If anyone else has before our time questions please ask them, we love to get them!
Alison - I think a trial of the chlorophyll bleaching process is in order... I wonder could that be a skill worth bringing back to our time?
Innercitygarden: I completely agree with your comment that automatic washing may in fact increase the amount of washing we do.
I experimented last year with only washing on two days. That cut down the amount of washing I did because family members had to wear their clothes for longer between washes.
Alison and Megan – Have to say that the sun, water and chlorophyll bleaching process takes time and only works on cotton and linen. It certainly kept things white but we did it all the time. How it would work in a one-off of something heavily stained, I don't know. I doubt it. I think, in that situation, I'd be reaching for the bottle of bleach. Keeping items wet was never a problem for us in Scotland but might be a real chore for you. I'm also with you on the tumble driers for emergencies and have decided that when the current machine dies (it's 15 years old and not broken down yet) it's replacement will be a washer drier in case of emergency.
I like washing, and hanging, but not folding and putting it away.
We used to have one of those old wrigers that used to awalk across the floor when they spun. also had a twin tub, now its the auto upright - did you know you should clean your washing machine? I took the centre thing out recently - OMG!!!!! Talk about gunk - ick! They say wash that thing and run a descaler though on hot every 6 months... errr maybe 5 years late for me LOL
oh there is no way I could live without my machine. I used to even handwash my work shirts and a few things up until having my first child then I thought "what is the delicate cycle for if I am going to hand wash???" and haven't hand washed since!!! 16 years now
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