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Would men help
with washing clothes?
Oh,
no, -they worked on the fields. It was the
lady of the house had a "free" day from field work to
do the washing.
How did
they wash the clothes?
by Rosina Schmidt
My grandmothers house
faced a river. She took the clothes in
the warm season to the river, dunked them
all in, put some stones on them so they
would not float away and then took one by
one, soaped it with home made soap, laid
it onto the washing board, took a washing
bat and hit the folded item numerous
times this way and that. Then she soaped
it again and repeated the procedure.
Finally she rinsed it in a similar
fashion until the water run clear
through. Then she wrung it, spread it on
the grass and let the sun bleach it
sparkling white. In the winter
time she made a fire under the huge
kettle, soaked the items first in cold
water in the washing basin, then put it
into the kettle with some home made soap
and let it boil. No bacteria had a chance
of surviving that procedure.
Then she took each item and
rubbed it on the washing board, this one of
a different kind. Everything had to be
rinsed as well. All the water had to be
brought in pails from the covered well in
the yard and the wood for boiling the water
in the kettle split the day before. It was a
huge undertaking. 2) For storing linen and
such there was a chest in the parlor or
bedroom; for the Sunday outfits there was a
furniture clothes closet but the daily
clothes were hang on the hook and covered
with a curtain for protection from the dust.
Cleaning
the Dirt Floors:
by Rosina Schmidt |
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"Die Kathi am
Brunne" (Kathi at the well)
Lovely wood-cut picture by Hans Roch.
Contributed by Diana Lambing, 20 Mar 2004
wash tub & scrub
board |
Chocolate spots are removed with water
and soap or detergent. If that does not
help rub spots with a mixture out of
glycerol and Eigelb, warm water. and
repeats rinse. [Eigelb is (literally)
egg yellow... or, more commonly "egg
yolk. (Dan Drew)] 
