The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-01-07
@ l | M P S E S
OF
TIL E P A S T
By CAROLYN LLOYD

An item from the January
Ladies Home Journal col
unnn, Fifty Years Ago., is
enough to make any woman
thankful for 1855, regardless of
how the year turns out. Quote:
"How l plan a Weeks Work with
out a Servant: Monday: Rise at
five am. and go to the kitchen
and put on large apron, sweep
ing cap, and gloves. Remove ashes
from the range and make fire.
Rub range with strong soapsuds.
While teakettle is boiling, begin
soaking a boilerful of clothes"
Another item: "While l sweep,
do not swathe my head in a
towel" confides a new bride. Il
have cunning mob caps of white
lawn, and when I am wearing my
blue house gown 1 pin blue bow
on the cap"
In contrast, the house wife OF
1855 rises on Monday morning,
puts on her cunning" Stacks or
shorts, according to season, turns
on the electric or gas range, push
es a button to start the washing
machine, and gets out the vacuum
cleaner. Of course, the carpet
sweeper appeared on the market
in 1905, but it weighed fifty
pounds and can hardly have been
much improvement over broom.
Mrs. 1855 doesn't have to worry
about covering her hair with a
mob cap, though she may do it up
with bobby pins and cover it with
a scarf. If the dust gets in her
hair, shampooing it is a simple
thing. Back in 1905, when wo-
mans hair was browning glory,
a shampoo was something else
again. Beauty parlors and hand
dryers were unknown and hair
hung to the waist or knees took
all day to dry. Consequently,
standards of cleanliness were not
the same as they are today, and
women depended upon brushing to
keep their hair in condition. Come
to think of it, it is lot easier to
be clean in general than it was in
1905. Hopping into a tub or under
a shower is much simpler than
filling the old tin tub, and there
is little comparison between
swishing wisp of nylon
around in the lavatory and wash
ing and ironing several yards of
ruffled cotton 'unmentionables."
Speaking of hair-a number of
years ago, when l appeared at
school one day with short hair, one
of my pupils informed that the
Bible says it is a sin for woman
to cut her hair. He didn't know
where it said it, but he knew 1t
was the truth, and he was worried
about having sinful teacher. /
got my come-uppance for the sec
ond time on the subject of hair
when l suggested that each girl
in my glass 1--WE were discussing
personal grooming. and the sug-
gestion was a gentle hint for sew
eraD shampoo her hair during the
week end. On Monday morning l
received a note from an irate
father stating that mary drop"
of water had ever touched his
daughters head in the wintertime
and mary a drop" was going to.
Needless to say, l dropped the
subject.
Still another item lin the Fifty
Years Ago" column told of how a
woman waiting for a train in
Minneapolis lost her hustle, in
which was $500. l can see the
point to hiding money in hustle,
since such a hiding place would
certainly BATTLE a pickpocket or
purse snatcher. What 1 can't fig
ure out is how she could lose her
hustle and not know it.
Those who want to go back to
1905 with its bustles and getting
up in the dark to clean out the
ashes in the range are welcome
to it; me, I'll take 1855.