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ADVICE TO A 1912 BRIDE

Years ago a Kentucky grandmother gave a bride the following recipe for washing clothes

1. Bilt fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. 2. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. 3. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in bilin water. 4. Sort things, make 3 piles. 1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. 5. To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with bilin water. 6. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and then bile. Rub colored, don't bile, just rinch and starch. 7. Take things out of kettle with broomstick handle, then rinch, and starch. 8. Hang old rags on fence. 9. Spread tea towels on grass. 10. Pore rinch water in flower bed. 11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. 12. Turn tubs upside down. 13. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@farm.com), November 17, 2001

Answers

Thanks for posting this

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), November 19, 2001.

Oops that is 1912. You're Welcome Cindy. I loved this. Perhaps with our modern washers and dryer's we're missing out on that feeling of counting our blessing after a long hard day. I know I probably appreciate my washer and dryer less than this lady appreciated her tea and rock after a long day. Of course I guess we could probably get out the old wash kettle any old time we please.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@farm.com), November 19, 2001.

I grew up in a house with my great grandma. She insisted on doing the laundry by hand for years, then my grandma sent part of it to a laundry until they discovered a the laundromat-never would get a washer/dryer. Anyway, great grandma would boil the white clothes, use bluing, and hang everything she could on a line either outdoors or in the garage in the winter. (I do the hanging part cause we don't have a dryer.)

Sure wish she would have taught me a few things. Never could get a recipe out of her, she just said watch and do what I do, like yeah.

She pressed the clothes, She hung them in a press. We were not interestd in her old-fashioned language then, sure am now.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), November 20, 2001.