In one of his posts he mentioned a donkey stone, used for colouring front steps, but he initially got the name wrong and called it a dolly stone. That in turn reminded me of growing up in Mumbles.
I've mentioned before I'm sure that I grew up living with my mum, my grandparents, and my great-grandmother. We had a tiny backyard, which included the outdoor toilet - the only one we had until I was in my teens when my mum had a bathroom put in - as well as the washing line, mangle and dolly tub.
My gran did the washing on a Monday and before she had a ... not even a washing machine, a ... what was it called? Just a sort of large water boiler, which I think was run off gas. Like this.
Life was tough in those days for housewives. And I grumble about having to put the washing in the machine!
And thinking of front steps, we had large slate steps leading up to the house and these provided the setting for numerous family photos.
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| The double wedding of Charlotte (left) and Grace. |
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| And probably about 30 years later. That's my mum in the white top leaning forward on the left and next to her is Charlotte. |
11 comments:
Wow! I was visiting a stately home recently and there was a whole display showing the way your mother washed as an example of how things were in historical times. (And they pointed out that all the laundry was done by servants and it was extremely hard work - though I guess a stately home creates more laundry than a small house.)
That generation worked so hard. I often wonder what they’d think of the lives of their descendants today. Far different in many ways but easier? I wonder.
My mum had a mangle too. She used to use it out in the back garden after doing the washing.
Later on, she ditched the hard labour and got my sister and I to take all the family washing to the local launderette each Sunday and use the industrial sized machines there. I hated that job! Hours wasted each Sunday waiting for the washing machines to finish then waiting for the tumble dryer to finish.
When I was very young, my aunt in east TX had a wringer washer. It consisted of 2 tubs - one with soapy water, one with fresh and a hand crank wringer. It was long enough ago that the memory is a picture in my mind. I helped one day by catching the clothes as they came through the wringer and put in a basket to hung on the clothesline. Not long after that memory though she got a regular washer and dryer.
Ah, memories of life in younger years. Three members of my family (both grandmothers and a great-grandmother with whom great-great grandmother lived) owned electrically-powered washing machines - with attached "mangle" (which we called a "wringer"), in two cases hand-powered, but electrically driven in the third. There were the two obligatory galvanized steel tubs to provide two rinses after washing. The water was heated on the cooking stove (wood- or oil-burning) and was not changed between loads of clothing. The first load was always the white linens and undies, progressing through "lights", "mediums", and ending with overalls and such.
By the early 1940s, Elder Brother and I were "allowed" to help with the wash as long as we kept hands off of the electrically-powered wringer. When we moved to town in January 1943, we not only got indoor plumbing, but our own similar laundry set-up. Prior to that, our laundry was done at one or another grandmother's or great-grandmother's/great-great grandmother's house - usually with multiple generations participating each week. Of course, we didn't produce as much laundry in those days. Standards of cleanliness did not, then, require daily clothes changes, etc, let alone multiple changes during one day!
Cop Car
P.S. Mom bought a mangle while I was in college. In the States, a "mangle" is a large machine with heated rollers that is used to iron large, flat pieces such as bed sheets. I've no idea when she got rid of it; but, she loved to iron. I do recall that my great-grandmother, until 1956, ironed her and great-grandfather's clothes on a board that was laid across the backs of two kitchen chairs, set back-to-back about three feet apart.
Cop Car
Don't get me started on outside toilets, and having to hang a paraffin light underneath the high up cistern to stop it freezing up, and the long dangling metal chains and ... no I said not to get me started. Thanks for mentioning my blog. We called kitchen water heaters "geysirs" although we would probably have spelt it "geezer". If I may take the liberty of posting a link in your comments there's a picture of my grandma's behind her in my post https://www.taskerdunham.com/2019/09/kitchens-old-and-new.html
When I was born, my Mom only had a galvanized tub and a washboard. That's what she washed all the clothes (and my diapers) with. But by the time I was a little girl, she had a real washing machine that sat in the corner of the kitchen, with a dolly agitator inside and a small electric mangle on top for squeezing out water. Then the clothes were hung outside to dry. We were warned each and every time not to get our fingers near the mangle when it was operating or they would be crushed.
My grandparents who ran a small country hotel also had a large electric heated mangle for ironing all the sheets and linens. I still remember the scent of warm sheets going through that machine. It was a real time and labour saver.
In addition to doing the washing for the family (10 children) each week my grandmother took in other peoples washing to make a bit of extra money. All the children hated Mondays and Tuesdays because there was no time to make pudding (!)
Thanks to all my new visitors for visiting!
TCW, it is quite depressing when I visit museums and see items in there from my childhood.
Definitely easier but, Marie, but with different challenges maybe?
JayCee, it's quite hard to find a launderette these days.
That sounds like quite a posh washer, Pam!
CopCar, my gran used to love ironing too. Every Sunday, when we were first married she would come up for dinner and then do my ironing. I was in a hotel recently and thought about the sort of ironing machines they must have to produce creaseless duvet covers.
I've commented on your kitchen, Tasker. I don't think it ever got cold enough in south Wales for the cistern to freeze - or perhaps it was so rare we coped with it.
Can you imagine what getting your fingers crushed would have been like,, Debra?! Uurrhh.
I wonder why washing day was always at the start of the week, Sonata?
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