More About Laundry & Times Past

Copied from a shared email with my own thoughts inserted along the way

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

[ "What will the neighbors think?" was an oft used phrase and influenced many things a family would/could do.]

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped by
To spend a night or two.

[ Would we now say these were nosy or just observant neighbors?]

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels on the line
You'd see the 'company table cloths"
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
From 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 also 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!

[I can't say that I ever remember people talking about such things as VACATIONS during the 40s and 50s -perhaps just a lapse of the modern day writer's recollections}

Folks were scorned
If wash was dingy and grey
As neighbors raised eyebrows
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!

[Some say they miss this way of life.
Others say "no way"..been there, done that."

Personally, it still can be a wonderful experience
going back to another time.  We did it for a number of years and its one of those experiences I would not trade for anything.  ..to be cont'd another time.