The Clothes Line

Long before elecric or gas laundry dryers, there was the "clothes line". The photo shows a typical clothes line that was in use during the early years in America. It was a single stran of heavy gauge wire stretched between supports at each end. The supports were usually wood, metal, or trees. The wire was not overlaid with plastic. Plastic was not in widespread use at that time. A person would wash their laundry in a boining pot of water over a fire, or in a wash tub using a scrub-board. Then they would remove the laundry and carry to the clothes line. There the laundry was held on the line with clothes pens. Some pens were one piece of wood, others had metal springs on them to get a better grip on the line. This prevented items from blowing away on a windy day. If there were a lot of heavy items on the line, it may sag in the middle. If that happened, the laundry would touch the ground and get grass stains on it. To remedy this problem, a person would get one or more long sticks and prop the line up. Women with babies had to wash cloth dippers every day. There weren't any disposable dippers back then.

The clothes line had some pluses and minuses. On the plus side, sun dried laundry had a wonderful fresh smell to it. Some people argued that the hot sun killed harmful bacteria left on the laundry after washing. On the minus side, there were birds that flew over and/or perched on the clothes line...............they could sure mess-up a clean sheet in a hurry. When mulberries and/or wild cherries were ripe, that was a big problem. Another minus was, summer cloud bursts. This type of rain was unpredictable. Your didn't dare leave laundry on the line if there was any chance of rain. If laundry got rained on......you had to do it all over again. One other potential minus was that laundry on the line collected any dust, pollen, or smoke that might be in the area.