Clothesline
 

BRINGS BACK MEMORIES!

The clothesline....a dead give away. Do the kids today even know what a clothesline is?

THE BASIC RULES
1. You had to wash the clothesline before hanging any clothes.
Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line.

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?

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 design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To 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 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 gray,
As neighbors raised their brows,
And looked the other way..

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work 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 out on the line!

But …. Thank God For Our Clothes Dryer!

Re: Clothesline
 

LOL! Cute!

I agree... thank God for clothes dryers!

Re: Clothesline
 

Believe it or not, my wife asked me to put a clothesline up for her last summer. She used it all last summer and this summer, until she wasn't able. We use it mostly for sheets and blankets. Nothing, no dryer sheets, can beat the real scent of the outdoors.

Re: Clothesline
 

There's one! A special memory! Thank you Jesus!

Re: Clothesline
 

Yeah, and I'll most likely continue using it.

Re: Clothesline
 

What I hated about the clothes line ...was having to rewash after a bird fly over!!:reaction

Re: Clothesline
 

Let me tell you my memory of the clothesline.

Not too long after we were married, some thirty years ago, my darling wife loved the smell of clothes hung outdoors.
One morning, I reached into the closet for a fresh pair of jeans, slipped them on and found a bumblebee had made the inside left leg his home. He repeatedly told me, as only he could, that I was not welcome in his home.
My wife and I decided (by executive decision) that no longer were any of my clothes to be hung outside.
Bless her heart, she has stood by my decision ever since.

Re: Clothesline
 

When I saw the title I thought Sweet Pea had "gone charismatic" and was starting a standards thread!

Re: Clothesline
 

My mother always hung the laundry outdoors. She didn't have a dryer until 1971. And it the north it's a challenge as the temps fall. There were always clotheslines in the basement as well. There are many memories of the good old days but clothespins and laundry aren't at the top of my list.

Dryers are a blessing.:party

Re: Clothesline
 

Some of the old-timers were serious about their clotheslines! My house was built in the 1950s, and has been owned by Oneness Pentecostals for right around 50 years. I needed to remove the clothesline poles, one for septic work and one for the garden. The first dear brother homeowner must have had some previous unfortunate experience with sagging clotheslines, because the poles were 4" steel tube, were 5 FEET into the ground, and each had 3 or 4 bags of concrete. These poles resisted arrest, and did not come out quietly!