Spring brings flowers, holidays and hanging laundry outside
Spring is such a beautiful time of year. It makes me think of lyrics from the song "How Great Thou Art" ... "When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed."
A recent surprise was the violets that greeted me at night. I love the lullaby of the spring peepers putting me to sleep. The signs of the Resurrection are all around us and I hope you had a lovely Easter with your family.
An abundance of flowers welcome us to May along with the end of another school year. Prom and graduation are two special days. We have the pleasure of honoring our mother on May 8. Do you remember to wear a corsage on that special day? If your mother was still living, the flowers were to be pink or red. If she was no longer living, they were to be white.
At the end of the month, we celebrate Memorial Day when we honor the memories of our loved ones by placing flowers or flags on their final resting place.
It’s those memories of our mothers and laundry day that I want to refresh for some of you.
Today we load the washing machine, add soap, softener and more before closing the door and pushing a button. We switch to a dryer where everything comes out dry, fluffy and ready to be put away.
Seldom do you see a clothesline of laundry today blowing in the breeze. There are those folks who relish the aroma and feel of freshly laundered bedding though.
In my laundry room hangs an illustrated story of how wash day used to be. Please enjoy, but don’t blame me or the Times Recorder for the spelling or grammar. This laundry day “to do” list has been reproduced in many formats for decades with its origins unknown.
Receet for Washin Cloes
Bild fire in back yard to het kettle of rain water
Set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert
Shave one whole cake of lie soap in bilin water
Sort things to make three piles…
One pile white…one pile collard…
One pile work briches and rags
Rub dirty spots on board…scrub hard…
then bile…rub collard but don’t bile
Just rench and starch
Stir flour in cold water to smooth then thin with bilin water
Take white things out of kettle with broom stick handel…
then rench…blew and starch
Spread tee towels on grass…hang old rags on fence
Pour rench water on flower bed…scrub porch with hot
Soapy water…turn tubs upside down
Go put on a clean dress…smooth hair with side combs…
Brew cup of tea…set and rest a spell and count your blessins.
Dorothy Montgomery is a former teacher, 4-H adviser and county commissioner.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Spring brings flowers, holidays and hanging laundry outside
