Basic Rules for Clotheslines

I got an email the other day that took me waaaay back. I guess it should be Wednesday cause this is like Lane's Wayback Wednesday posts. I'm doing laundry today... okay, yesterday and today... not that there's a lot of it but I'm lazy. So here is my clothes line

Not your typical clothesline. It's clothesline cord stretched between two pillars at the edge of our deck. Notice I use hangars for the shirts. That's to save space cause it's very short. I do use clothespins for pants and I keep them in this little bag I made. 

I love my clothespin bag :0)

I have a family tree book written by a great uncle by marriage. He speaks of Templeton, a small, at one time english speaking, community in Quebec,  Canada. I can't read or speak French so I'm glad they were English. All of the women had their laundry finished and out on the line by 7am on Monday morning. If they didn't the community would first check to see if she was ill. If she wasn't ill then she was fodder for gossip for the rest of the week. Glad I don't live in those times. It's now 11:45 on Tuesday morning and only half my laundry is done. Haven't done the pants or towels yet. Due to the wonder of dryers the rest of it is drying without me having to do much.

I realized the following really is how my mom taught me to hang clothes. We don't live in an area where the clothes freeze anymore and besides it rains all winter here so I have to hang things inside during the winter. So the only rule I still follow in this list is #7. DH does leave the pins on the line. Drives me nuts so I go along and take them down.

Of course this all sounds very nostalgic and neat but there were drawbacks. My father wore long underwear in the winter and I remember my mom telling me how one neighbour in particular was shocked to see all the patches on them. But my parents didn't have enough money to waste on new things, especially ones that wouldn't show except on the clothesline.

Love the poem at the end too.

So how do you do following the rules? Do you have a clothesline? I'm not allowed a regular one cause 1. DH says it ruins the ambiance of the yard (rolling eyes)
2. Being at sea level here there's no way we can sink a post deep enough to hang a clothesline on.

Basic Rules for Clothes lines

You have to be a certain age to appreciate  this.   I can hear my mom now ...

THE BASIC  RULES FOR CLOTHES LINES:   (If you don't know what clothes lines are, better skip this.)

1.  You had to wash the clothesline before hanging any clothes.  Walk the entire length of each line wiping the line with a damp cloth.
2.  You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

3.  You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!  What would the neighbors think?

4.  Wash day on a Monday . . . Never hang clothes on the weekend, certainly not Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

5.  Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

6.  It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather . . . Clothes would "freeze-dry."

7.  Always gather the clothespins when taking down dry clothes!  Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"

8.  If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothespins with the next washed item.

9.  Clothes had to be off the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?  Well, that's a whole other subject!  

 

          POEM

           A clothesline was a news  forecast
           To neighbors passing by.
           There were no secrets you could  keep
           When clothes were hung to dry.

            It also was a friendly link
            For neighbors always knew
            If company had stopped on by
            To spend a night or two.

            For then you'd see the "fancy  sheets"
            And towels upon the  line;
            You'd see the "company table cloths"
            With intricate designs.

            The line announced a baby's  birth
            From folks who lived inside  -
            As brand new infant clothes were  hung,
            So carefully with pride!

           The ages of the children could
            So readily be known
            By watching how the sizes changed,
            You'd know how much they'd grown!

            It also told when illness struck,
            As extra sheets were hung;
            Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
            Haphazardly were strung.

            It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
            When lines hung limp and bare.
            It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
            With not an inch to  spare!

            New folks in town were scorned upon
            If wash was dingy and gray,
            As neighbors carefully raised their  brows,
            And looked the other way . .  ..
 
            But clotheslines now are of the past,
            For dryers make work much less.
            Now what goes on inside a home
            Is anybody's guess!

            I really miss that way of life.
            It was a friendly sign
            When neighbors knew each other best
            By what hung on the line!