Hello friend,
Thank you for taking the time to read common-woman. Strong, good thoughts come your way as we come to the end of October.
Be sure to read common-woman on November 6. Common-woman will share a how-to video for making Ice Cream Lasagna. You won't want to miss the recipe for this easy and delicious treat!
During part of her growing up years, my mother-in-law Velma Spangler lived on Utah Street in Hiawatha, Kansas. A forever reader, she checked out stacks of books all of her life from the Morrill Free Library (established 1882). Inspired by the authors of the many books she enjoyed, Velma wrote about her own life. Here's one of her stories about a dear neighbor who took in laundry.
Velma's story of an interesting neighbor: Taking in Washing
"While I was in the first grade (1914-15), we moved to a house across the street west of the Morrill Free Library. Dad's folks owned it and lived on the next lot west, facing Utah Street. The folks had a tennis court in the vacant lot south of us and there were always friends there in the evenings, playing tennis. Vada and I enjoyed watching them. There was a tall tree close to the house and Dad put up a long swing for us.
Mrs. Walters was a tiny little German lady who spoke very broken English, and lived with her two grown daughters next door to us on Utah Street. They earned a very meager living by doing what we called "taking in washing" which included doing a big ironing as well.
They were so busy that I did not often go into their home, but the few times I did, I can still feel the heat and see the steam rising from the boilers on the cook stove in the kitchen where they boiled the white clothes to keep them white.
Do you know what I mean by a boiler? It was a rounded, oblong container, long enough to fit over two stove lids and was probably thirty or so inches long and twenty to twenty-four inches high. When it was filled about three-fourths full of water, the housewife cut up a bar of soap into the water; often the soap was homemade.
When the water was hot, sheets, pillow cases and wite underwear were put in to boil awhile. To get the hot clothes out (of the hot water}, the housewife used a stick to fish them out and move them into another container.
Mrs. Walters would have followed this routine, possibly finishing up by rubbing all or part of the clothes on a washboard, and then rinsing them through several waters (and running them through a wringer) before hanging them outside on the wash line to dry.
When the clothes were dry, they would be taken down from the clothes line, folded into a wooden bushel basket lined with an old sheet, and carried into the house. There, each article of clothing would be sprinkled with water, rolled up, and placed into another basket, ready to be ironed the next day. The following morning, all of the articles of dampened clothing would be ironed. The sad iron would be heated on the stove. -cs
Washing clothes in those days was a long, back-breaking job. Looking back from today (1982), I have the greatest admiration for Mrs.Walters and her girls, because not only did they do those huge washings and ironings, but they kept the rest of their home in immaculate order.
They had a great love of flowers-and some way-they found the time to care for the many lovely flowers along the fence and around the house. They also had quite a large garden in the back yard and there was not a weed in it.
A wonderful little family...who earned an honest living doing the only kind of work they knew how to do--"Taking In Washing." - Velma Spangler 1908-1992
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