HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER

Washing

Something we take for granted these days was quite a chore in days gone by. Back in the 1800’s, a galvanized wash tub was the norm. The water was heated in a kettle on the wood stove, and a washboard was used to scrub the clothes. The clothes were then rinsed and wrung out by hand. Since this was way before the days of permanently pressed clothes, everything had to be ironed. The iron was a heavy, clumsy instrument that had to be heated on the stove. The standard day for washing was Monday.

         

The next great invention to invade the standard household was the wringer washer. These came about when electricity was brought into the more affluent households. At least this invention freed the housewife from the tedious task of the washboard, and the attached rubber wringers would do the task of getting the water out of the clothes. I imagine that whatever had to be ironed would be ironed at the end of the ringer’s task.

         

Not having a washing machine until the 1950’s, I remember my mother washing our clothes in the kitchen sink. She had this plunger-like instrument that she would use to agitate the clothes. I remember her standing over the sink furiously plunging the clothes with a swok-swok sound emanating throughout the whole kitchen. Since most of the mothers that I remember as I grew up in Salisbury were housewives, doing the wash at home was the norm. When women started to go out into the workplace, the long, tedious chore of clothes-washing was replaced by the automatic clothes washer. Probably, all she earned was used to pay for that new washer.

         

Mom was prolific when it came to washing clothes. I think she washed clothes every day. We followed a ritual in our house that entailed everyone throwing their dirty clothes in the hall at night after we had changed into our pajamas. Miraculously, those clothes disappeared over night and would reappear on the corner of my desk the next day after school. They were always neatly folded and fresh-smelling. She even ironed my underwear and the neatly folded handkerchief I was required to carry and change every day.

         

If she didn’t have time to iron right after washing, she would put the laundry in the refrigerator to be ironed later. Since everything had dried out a bit, she had an attachment to a soda bottle that would sprinkle water on them and make them suitable for ironing.

         

Times have sure changed over the years, and the washer and dryer in these modern times (along with the advent of perma-pressed clothes) have made the maintenance of clothing nothing short of easy. They’re two of the many modern conveniences that free us up to pursue other endeavors. The only hard part about washing nowadays is picking out the proper detergent and fabric softener from the many brands available at the grocery store.