Historians tell us that laundry was the household chore that nineteenth century housewives detested most. One woman of the time once described doing laundry as, "the Herculean task which women all dread." The task involved soaking the clothing in tubs of warm water overnight. Then, the next morning, scrubbing the laundry on a rough washboard and rubbing it with soap made from lye, which severely irritated the skin. Next, the laundry was put in big vats of boiling water and stirred with a long pole to prevent the clothes from developing yellow spots. Then the clothes were lifted out of the vats with a washstick, rinsed twice, once in plain water and once with bluing, then wrung out and hung out to dry. At this point, clothes would be pressed with heavy flatirons and collars would be stiffened with starch. Perhaps this is why men insisted on such strict gender roles. Who wouldn't comb the scriptures for some text to keep one's self from laundry responsibilities?
Which puts our relatively new front-loading washer and dryer in some sort of perspective I suppose. The only part of the task which I refuse to ever take part in is sorting the white load which takes some sort of extra sensory perception in order to discern whose underclothes are whose. As for ironing...that's a job in which everyone is strictly on their own on an as-needed basis. Thank you, modern technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment