The Clothes Line

I remember hanging out the wash, including cloth diapers, early on summer mornings. It always smelled so fresh. Remember helping your mother do this? Then what trouble we would get in if we played tag and ran between the hanging sheets! But the wet sheets were so cool.

I enjoyed this and thought I would share it. I had forgotten all about this part of early married life. How about you?

*The clothes line...a dead give away.  Do the kids today even know

    what  a clothes line is?*

    *For all of us who are older, this will bring back the memories.*

    *  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 outside lines so you could

    hide your 'unmentionables' in the middle.*

    *  6.  It didn't matter if it was sub zero

    weather............clothes would 'freeze 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 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 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_!*