The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-24
WASH DAY ALL OVER WORLD

From the Wide World Magazine.
 A MONG well-to-do families in Eng A land and America the handling of
 ( the family washing is usually a very prosaic matter. The laundry van calls the beginning of the week, returning with the clean linen on Saturday, and the whole matter is complete. How 1t is done none of us know, neither do we par ticularly care to inquire. All that we do know is that modern machinery and chenf-
 ical soaps turn soiled articles into marvels of whiteness and purity, although, as such articles as buttonholes and tablecloths
 show, the wear-and-tear action is none too gentle. Still, it is hurrying age, and we pay and are satisfied. In many lands, however, the weekly
 wash is a picturesquely primitive affair. The chief ingredients are quickly-fowing l stream and plenty of elbow grease. After
 ward the sun acts as bleacher, the wind as drier and the clothes are sweet
 and clean again.
 After all. perhaps this is better way, and certainly more hygienic. than the evil smelling copper, with all it's attendant mis- cries. On washing day, as many of you know, all the housekeeping arrangements, not to mention the housewife's temper. are frequently upset by the activities of the washerwoman.
 Perhaps the finest laundering in the
 world is to be seen in France. Very often 1 fine old bourgeois families conduct an- cestral laundries in which all the work ts, >k the family. I remember once when visit ! ing friends in the south of France, under the shadow of the Apes Martimes, I came across wonderful laundry of this type. It was an old farmhouse on the
 mountains. set in the midst of a mag
 niticent landscape. and for once the unro-
 mantle wash" had beautiful setting. It happened that these laundry folk wero friends of my host and when my first weeks clean clothes were returned the usual bill was missing. On inquiry was told that to have sent bill would
 be an insult, as I was considered en fam file with these people, and therefore ex-
 empt from payment. When I called to
 thank these kind friends found charm ! about everything. Drying linen. spotless- ly white, was hanging amid orange groves and mimosa trees in full bloom. The peo-
 pie themselves treated me royalty. their
 charming daughters offering wine and food. until for me romance breathed in
 every snow-white garment that these en-
 ergetic and kindly French folk washed. That laundry was quaint and pictur- esque; elsewhere the business of the weekly task becomes frankly primitive. Let us take a look around and see how the task is tackled in less familiar regions.
 In Brittany, in northwestern France, at. an old town far from any railway but
 reached by stage coach from Ploermol,
 the substantial danes who gossip over
 their family washing are the wives of
 working men. with propaby little or no
 education. but plenty of shrewd common.
 sense and lively interest in their neigh
 bor's affairs. The French they speak is
 dialect which can hardly be understood
 by the stranger, sort of local patois. l They soap the garments on the handy steps, rinse them in the placid river and
 spread them out on the banks to dry. The
 occupants of the lordly chateau in the
 background get an excellent view of this
 open-air laundry. but nobody seems to
 mind. and the custom has proDanly p,S
 vailed from time immemorial. N | From France we take long jump to the | far north-to Alaska. in fact. Here in one of the small Indian villages the women
 members of the Hydaha tribe are seen hard at work washing their clothes in .
 tiny pool. In the background will be seen severl of heir canoes, covered with can
 vas. These form convenient "horses' for spreading the clothes on, and are fre-
 auently taken advantage of.
 The public washing trough at the Mii- dera temple in central Japan Is very
 praiseworthy example of municipal en-