The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-12-14
WASHING DAY.

The old couplet reads:
ut is scold, scod, thump, thump, scold and scold
There is ne er bit of pleasure on washing day. u
Why have we this sort of reputa
tiono Why should this work, which
is so necessary to the health and COM
fort and even sanctity of the family,
turnus into termagants and make the
day one to be Stunned and dreaded /?
Women are more and more trying
to creep out OF washing. They send
out their clothes to some high priced
laundry or overworked washerwoman,
and then complain that they are not
washed to suit them. Aud this, too,
while the labor of washing is SO light
ened by the invention of the family
washing machine that one would
think that more rather than fewer
women ought to be doing their wash
ings at home.
I shouldn't like to say that we are
growing too lazy to wash; nor should |
hint that we are too proud and above
our business as helpmeets to do this
most important branch of household
economy. shouldn't like to insinuate
that we are too ignorant to know how
to wash and iron a fine shirt or dress,
or too stupid to learn. I shouldn t
like suggest that managing a washing
machine is so far beyond our caliber
that we cannot do it with success and
ease; nor assert that we don't care
how much money we spend, nor
whether our husbands can pay their
debts or not-that at all hazards we
are going to take the world easy and
abolish this trouble some day that all
the world despises. There is so much
that is not to be said about this sub
iect that / shall have to confne my
self to such things as have been seen or
learned by experience.
The school of experience is often a
very dear one, but its teaching has
the virtue of lasting for life. Many
beginners in life's journey would be
made richer and wiser if they would
heed (but they won't the lessons that
the graduates OF this costly school can
give them.
Fifty years ago I bought one of the
first washing machines that l had ever
seen. 1t proved to be saving of
labor, of clothes and of cash. have
never been without one since; /
should as soon think of cooking a
dinner without a dinner pot as washing
without machine. Sometimes the
then fresh Head of the Sidneys would
turn it for me-said he could ruu a
washing through the machine quicker
than he could harness horse and take
the clothes to a washer woman; or
sometimes chore boy that we had on
the farm would work it. I liked the
boy best, for he did not want to boss
the Job. The Head would keep forget
ting that he was not head of every
thing. He was permitted to run his
threshfng machine, cOrnsneiieT. grind
stone, or any other piece ofmachinery
that he owned, but that washing ma
chine was mine. I bought it to mas
ter it and get all out of it that was in
it, and did not need a heboss mixing
into the management of the wash.
He learned his place in time, for l
heard him say to a neighbor woman
who remarked that her husband turn
ed the washing machine slowly, think
ing that was the best way to get the
clothes clean, although she thought
quick licks were best: GAS for me, "
said the Head, II have to do it as |
am told to do it. I have no mind Oh
washing days."
After the clothes have been washed
through strong suds, made of soft
water and good soap, and as hot as it
can be made, the work of rinsing and
starching is not very laborious, and
wash-day morning is no harder than
any other busy morning. All can be
accomplished with cheerfulness in time
to get dinner, unless something else
looms up to stop progress, such as
company, cross babies or sickness.
If the housekeeper finds that she has
not time or strength for a large IRON
ing, she can fold up from the line the
everyday sheets, pillowcases, kitchen
towels, underclothes, stockin G S,
aprons, overalls, and all such things
as are for use rather than ornament,
and put them in their places, and the
world will not stop. Nobody will
notice or care that she has cut OH
some non essential work, and thus
reduced the labor of ironing about
one-half. To put out the wash costs
more than the price of good COW
every year, which few farmers, unless
born with the traditional silver spoon
in their mouths, can afford.
When the young bride starts house
keeping she is helping to found lit
tie world, the prosperity of which
greatly depends on her. She must
bring Spartan courage to the work
something of the bravery that our
foremothers exhibited in establishing
their homes in the wilderness when
this country was first settled. She
may not have the isolation and hard
ships of those pioneer women but, she
must not be above any sort of work
that the home calls for; not forgetting
that when industry goes out, poverty
comes in.
Washing may be hard at first, but
strength will be gained by practice,
and the strength thus gained lasts
longer that acquired by climbing lad
ders and swinging on ropes in the
gymnasiums of the schools.
The housekeeper may have some
half grown sons or daughters who
would like more spending money than
they have. Give them an interest in
the washing machine let them have a
portion of the money saved by home
washing, and see if the wheels do not
go round more briskly on washing
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