- Reminiscences of Robert Hodge – Story 10 of 10,
Wash Day
This is the tenth and last article in a series of stories that Robert Hodge wrote in the 1980s about his childhood experiences growing up in Lawrence.
“I often hear, in these 1980s, a deep sigh, followed by “I’ve got to wash a load of clothes!” This is followed by the gathering of an armload of soiled clothing, putting it in the automatic washing machine, turning the dial to the desired setting, sprinkling in some soap and then reading the paper until the machine stops. The spin-dried clothes are removed, transferred to the electric dryer whose timer is set, which signals, with the ringing of a bell, when the clothes are ready to be folded and put away.
“Now, I remember when the pitcher pump was used to fill the two-gallon kettle which was then emptied into the wash boiler, which was set on a gas hot plate on the back porch. It took about ten kettlesful of water to fill the boiler. The two or three burners were lighted and turned up to “high” so that, in about an hour, the water would be hot enough to use. Meanwhile, the washing machine would be pulled from its storage corner and the wash bench near it. Two large wash tubs would be placed on the bench (the same tubs which were used for personal bathing on Saturday or Sunday nights) and, if there was ample water in the cistern, they too were filled, kettle by kettle. If the cistern water was low, then the rinse water had to be carried from the long-handled pump out in the yard. One tub would receive a dash of “bluing” which, when swirled, would make beautiful flowing art streaks until finally the entire tub was an even dark azure.
“When the water in the boiler was hot, it was dipped, kettle by kettle, into the washing machine. The white clothes were first, the machine receiving some bleach and soap powder. After ten or fifteen minutes of churning, the clothes would be fished out with a stick (the water being still too hot for hands) and fed into a wringer which dropped them into the bluing rinse tub. Great care had to be taken not to get fingers caught in the rubber rollers. If this happened, you maneuvered the “gear shift” to stop, reverse, then restart the wringer. The working of the gear shift was so much fun that sometimes, when “kids” were given the chore of wringing the clothes, not much care was taken in preventing wrap-arounds of clothes.
“From the bluing tub, the clothes were transferred via the wringer into the second rinse tub, then again into the clothes basket. The filled basket would be carried to the clothesline which, when filled with wet clothes, would sag and have to be propped up with a clothesline prop.
“When all the clothes had been washed, the water in the machine and tubs had to be emptied. The water in the machine, after having been used for the white clothes, the colored clothes and finally the work clothes, usually overalls (blue jeans with bibs and suspenders) without being changed in between, would be actually thick and cold. At first, when it was my chore to empty the water, it was carried bucket by bucket from the porch out across the driveway and poured at the edge of the vegetable garden. Later, when I got smarter (lazier!) I hooked a garden hose to the drain spout of the washing machine and emptied the water from the tubs into the machine and let it all drain to the garden’s edge.
“In all the time we’ve been married, our family washing has been done as in the very “tedious” manner described in the first paragraph of this reminiscence, never in the traditional manner described thereafter. MODERN LIFE IS SO TIRING!”
