Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-03-02
TRIALS OF A WHITE WASHER.

EDITOR CITIZEN The following
is an account of the experience of
the writer in the white-washing bus
iness, which i hope will be believed
by the readers of the CITIZEN.
Oh, yes, | can whitewash. 1t was
about 7:30 a. m, had just come In
from the barn and the sun was getting
higher and warmer every minute.
| knew we were in for a hot day
aud as my co-workers and compan
ions (the mules) were away hauling
lumber, | had no special desire
to work with the hoe, with old "Sol"
looking SO fiercely upon the earth
q love a hoe, but dog take the ham
dle.) With these thoughts upon my
mind | meditated deeply upon the
the thought of white washing and
its advantages OIL hot day, es-
pecially if it could be done in large
and airy kitchen where the gentle
zephyrs can play hide and seek with
your whiskers as they come dancing
through the doors and windows. The
deeper | thought, the better l liked
the idea, so l resolved to carry it out.
| went to the barrel where the lime
was Stacked and there began the ex-
perience am about to relate. This
barrel stood beneath a paper mulber-
ry tree, which had kindly deposited
therein large quantities of its album
dant fruit, consisting Of little things
that looked like kitten tails. These
kitten tails, instead of being attached
to the kittens as they should have
been, had become very much attached
to that lime aud by reason no doubt of
the attachment the lime had become
"soft" and equally attached to the
kitten tails, so / had considerable
trouble in effecting separation and
only succeeded in getting them out by
allowing the best part of the lime to
accompany the kitten tails out upon
the grass where | left them clinging
to one another in way that showed
strong mutual attachment and
steadfastness of purpose. Having
appropriated the bucket dedicated to
the swine, | mixed up the white
wash and finding brush i marched
boldly to the kitchen door. My
mother was much pleased, after
discoursing upon the effect it would
have upon the appearance, as we'll as
the healthiness, of the room. | told
her L was ready to go to work. She
suggested that 1 move the furniture.
laughed at the idea, saying that it
was not necessary for me to white
wash anything but the walls, and SO
L began. ] had a little ten cent
brush made of wood fiber, which l
verify believe held pint of white
wash, and scrub as you might, most
of the contents would land in your
eyes and ears or down your back and
none on the wall. l began under
the window and began to work mp
wards, but when / had reached the
height of six feet, l discovered that
the wall was eleven feet high and
that In my eagerness to go to work /
had neglected to get a handle for my
brush, SO dropping it in a chair /
rushed to the hen-house and got a
nice, long roost, fitted it into the brush
and went to work. After awhile |
came In contact with an old press,
the top of which was used for crock
cry and the bottom as a hiding
place for cats, so after a few mo-
ments of meditation concluded that
In order to white-wash the wall be-
hind, it would be necessary to move
the press, which | did, and fitting
my pole in the brush began again.
Did you ever take shower bath !?
Well, that is what 1 got as the brush
ascended the wall but upon revers-
ing the motion with energy l was
delighted to discern through the mist
that narrow streak was being left
upon the wall. All, now it was work
ing. Cling-aling! Oh
horrors, what was that? The other
end of the brush which was behind
me, had landed among a pile of
crockery which had been put on the
table to get them out of the way,
and then my hands began to itch
awfully; / got mad and wanted to
blame something. began to abuse
the brush in such an awful manner
that its dawdy yellow hair fairly
stood out straight. AS usual there
was a woman in the case Gas they are
in most all cases). My mother came
in just then and said al told you so"
and said she knew how it would be
and all that sort of consoling talk.
She looked at me and looked at her.
Nv face being covered with lime T