Many of you may have already read this, but if not, it will bring a 
to your face.
The clothes line....a dead
give away. Do the kids today even know what a clothes line is? I am sure a lot of
you are too young to remember the clothes
line, but for all of us who are older, this will bring back the memories. ... . at least it did for
me.
THE BASIC
RULES
1. You had to wash the
clothes line 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?
4.
Wash day on a Monday...........never hang clothes on the weekend or Sunday
for heaven's sake!
5. Hang the sheets
and towels on the out side lines so you could hide your 'unmentionables' in
the middle.
6. It didn't matter if
it was sub zero weather.....clothes wouldfreeze dry.'
7. Always gather the
clothes pins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left on the line was "tacky".
8. If you were
efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two
clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed
item.
9. Clothes off of the
line before dinner time neatly folded in the clothes basket and ready to be
ironed.
10.
IRONED?????????? Well, that's a whole other
subject.
A POEM
A clothes line was a news
forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could
keep
When clothes were hung o 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 carefully 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 on the line!
