Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-09-18
W Washing Day.

hEkE IS Io lui )olldHJ uiltl cHCC III
Monday among those families who do
their own washing. The way of observ-
ing it is very similar. The first thing is
to get the man up an hour earlier than
usual to get down the boiler We don't
understand why a boiler is kept on the
top shelf where nobody but himself can
reach it. But perhaps it is not intended
we should understand it. Having got
down the boiler and taken his place at
the table, and pronounced grace with a
| benevolent aspect, he is called into the
kitchen again to lift the boiler up on the
stove. He finds it full of water and
weighing about three-Quarters of ton,
but he sinks his teeth into his lips, lays
| his eyes out on his cheek, initiates those
cheeks, and accOmplishes the task. After
| breakfast, which is eaten hastily, and
| from table that is garnished with bar
| of soap, package of starch, and a blue
! ing bag, he is sent down cellar after the
tubs, w..shboard, bench, etc. He puts
! both tubs together and the wasboard in
| side, with view to avoid coming down
stairs again, although he has been years
giving practical demonstrations that those
! things can't be carried at one time. But
| he grasps the inside Of the tubs with one
| arm and takes the washbench under the
| other, and starts for the stairs. No one
who has not tried it can begin to under
| stand the amount of circumspection re-
| quired to engineer wash tub and wash
! bench up the same stairway at the same
time He knows it, but there is an indy
ing hope in his breast that there is a way
to accomplish it and he starts. Before
reaching the stairs the tubs slide around
and the board slips out. He thinks at
first that he will put his heel on it and
| split it in two, but changes his mind
sets down the things, and replaces the
| board. Then he starts again, and when
he has got as far up the stairway as he
can go without proceeding sideways, he
turns the tubs to the front, but as his hold
to them has been gradually yielding all
the while, he finds they are so low that
they strike the stair, and in an effort to
raise them the bench gives, and to save
that he loses in part his hold on the tubs
and before he can recover it the board
slips out and goes back into the cellar,
two steps at a jump. He turns round and
! looks over the tubs down at the board
which he eyes with an intensity there ap-
| pears to be no call for, and again attempts
the ascent. He gets the bench started
ahead, but the end catches in the top step,
and having exhausted his endurance and
reach in getting it that far, finds himself
| completely powerless to lift it over the
obstruction. 1t has grown very warm in
the last minute, and his breath comes
very short and quick, and it seems as if
the arm which holds the tubs will very
soon drop off at the shoulder and leave
him cripple for life, and at this june
ture the outside tub loosens and COM
mences to slip and threaten trouble. He
presses his arm all the tigher to the inside
l. 4 Ii L, OF
the outside one, but is too late. There is
a squirm or two, and then it is over The
outside tub is down with the washboard
having accomplished the trip with a noise
that is almost deafening. The other tub
follows at once, being urged thereto by
| kick that nearly throws him from his
! feet and then getting the door open he
! shoves the bench into the kitchen and clear
across the room, to the apparent jeopardy
Of the legs Of the entire family. After
that he gets up the other things-making
no remark to any ybody, but looking around
on every one in a manner calculated to
reflect the greatest amount OF discredlt.
! Tnen he puts on his coat, rubs his arms,
| and starts down street, and gets out on the
walk, when he is called back to bring up
! some wood. If that wood was in the
| shane of a burial casket, 1t is extremely
! doubtful II ne COuiU nave looheu ulOlc
solemn in taking it p-stairs. At noon he
comes home to dinner and finds only one
| leaf up, the table-cloth i'll the wash, and
that his wife has cut the bread after cut
ting the soap. What comments he con-
templates making on this state of affairs
are never made He is sent out in the
ward armed with the elothes-line and an
! Injunction to not drop it in the dirt, and
p! in the seclusion of the space devoted to
the back yard, he vents the spleen that has
been gathering within him, and whips that
clothes line around with sardonic JOY.
After that he comes in with his teeth to-
pether, and lifts two tubs full of water to
the floor, and then goes into the bedroom
and puts on pair of dry pants, and
griuly eats his dinner. 1t may occur to
him that there is no difference in this
Monday from any that has preceded 1t,
but he can't help but wonder what kind
of misery that is which comes up every
time so fresh and formidable a. 10 appear
entirely new.-Danbury Meas,