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Joyce Johnson
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Member Rara Avis
since 2001-03-10
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Washington State

0 posted 2008-01-14 02:47 PM


Emancipated Mama

I remember when my mama bought
Her first washing machine.
As our farm was not electrified,
It was powered by gasoline.
Before that time her washday
Was mighty, mighty hard.
She had to boil the sheets and towels
And scrub them on the board.
I looked at that contraption,
Strangest thing I'd ever seen,
And had no comprehension
How it would get our laundry clean.
First, Daddy must carry water
That he pumped from the barn well
And pour it into the boiler
On the stove, to heat a spell.
Then Mama broke the water
By pouring in a dollop
Of lye to break the minerals up
And bring them to the top.
She had a special dipper
That she used to skim the stuff.
She captured every bit before
She thought it good enough.
My mama used a bucket to
Transfer water to machine
And pared a cake of P & G
For suds to get clothes clean.
That machine began to rumble
And to shimmy and to shake.
It sounded like Dad's tractor
And the noise that it could make.
While they washed, I noticed Mama
Was tying up her waist length hair.
She said a lady had been scalped
Because she hadn't taken care
When running the new wringer
Of just such a machine.
I thought that a high price to pay
To get your work clothes clean.
She used a strong, long stick to poke
Her clean clothes through the wringer
And hummed a song just like she did
When using treadle Singer.
When she had washed all of the whites
She put in the colored clothes,
With overalls from sons and Dad
There sure were lots of those.
Each batch needed to be rinsed
And then wrung out again;
But all the time my mama worked
She never lost her grin.
She emptied the washer with a bucket
And carried it outside
Pouring the water on her garden
Which had looked a little dried.
She could throw away her washboard,
She no longer had to scrub,
For the washer did the hard work
With its magic rub-a-dub.
With the wringer wringing heavy clothes
She used to have to wrench,
Mama said with her new helpers
Washday really was a cinch.

By: Joyce 1/14/08

© Copyright 2008 Joyce I Johnson - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
1 posted 2008-01-14 03:01 PM


Thank you, Joyce! I'm tuckered out just reading of it!




JamesMichael
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since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
2 posted 2008-01-14 03:57 PM


Wonderful descriptive writing...James
Clang
Member
since 2005-12-15
Posts 222

3 posted 2008-01-14 04:37 PM


This is wonderful.  It reminded me of making lye soap with my grandmother.  She had one of those contraptions in the basement.
Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
4 posted 2008-01-14 06:40 PM


Oh, dear Joyce, thank you for this fantastic write of those old times. I will keep this. It brought smiles and memories too.
Those wringers were really dangerous, yes. My mother told me of a neighbour boy who would bring in the laundry of his mother to wring it and despite all the recommendations he did not wait until the wringer stopped fully and in trying to take out the laundry he broke his arm!!
I remembered also a television serial which was set in the fifties I guess and the family had bought a washing machine and the Grandmother and granddaughter sat in front of the machine in total amazement watching the laundry moving through the glass oblo. It was a big event indeed and a great help no doubt. How would we ever cope now without it??
THANK YOU!
love,
Margherita

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
5 posted 2008-01-15 12:05 PM


Hi Joyce, I remember those old washing machines and how much trouble washday was and still it was so much better than it had been. Brings back early childhood memories.
                                     Ida

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
6 posted 2008-01-15 10:35 AM


it's a treat! up you go once again ...

love
Margherita

Bobby Jordan
Member
since 2007-08-13
Posts 491
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7 posted 2008-01-15 10:59 AM


Joyce,

This is an enjoyable read.  Wash boards are well forgotten.

I like your work.

Bobby

Roniece Dawson-Bruce
Member Ascendant
since 2000-01-29
Posts 5689
Sydney, Australia
8 posted 2008-01-17 06:10 AM


what a great story you told Joyce.. enjoyed this very much  love and thanks RDB

Be kind at heart....for everyone you meet has their own battle to fight.........

Ringo
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since 2003-02-20
Posts 3684
Saluting with misty eyes
9 posted 2008-01-17 07:43 PM


Joyce,
Thank you for this insight into the "pleasures" of laundry days past. My shoulders ache just from the imagining.

What would you attempt to do...if you knew you could not fail?.
www.myspace.com/mindlesspoet

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