Back in the day when there was a wash day, there was something called a clothesline. 

I can hear some folks say, “Of course there was,” but I also realize not everyone on the planet may know that, as some grew up with nothing but clothes dryers.

Actually, the clothing line was a device strung between two objects, usually posts, that were anchored to the ground. Sometimes, the clothing lines were hung between trees when poles weren’t available.

The lines could be cotton, but more often metal was used. It was stretched tight and consisted of a number of lines. 

Metal lines required one to wash the line well with a wet cloth or rag before hanging the wet clothes, or one was apt to have dirty, dark spots on the clean clothes when they took them off the line. 

This is also true of the clothespins, the pinch-type gadgets that left their mark if they had been left outside on the clothesline. It was best to remove them from the clothesline every time they were used. 

Clothespins came in a gripper style with a coil spring center. There were wooden ones too, without springs. Typically, the wooden ones ran cheaper but usually weren’t as sturdy and capable of their job. Many times the side of one item shared the side of another to save on clothespins.

Whites were usually washed first, and then the sheets. The sheets were discreetly hung on the outside lines so one could keep their unmentionables hid, or even less white articles from being seen by the neighbor.

Properly hung, shirts should be hung and pinned by the shoulder seam or the upper part of t-shirts hung over the line and pinned under the arm pit, but most often they were hung by the tail, which caused knit garments to sometimes attain a weird bottom shape. Jeans were hung unzipped and with the pockets turned out so they would dry faster.

Back in those good old days, clothes were hung out in the summer and winter. In the winter, they supposedly froze dry and were often taken into the house like stiff planks. 

Particularly funny were bib overalls and long legged, one-piece underwear that could literally stand alone. Once thawed, they were still considerably damp like when they came from the wringer washer. Cottons like shirts and blouses were just right for ironing.

The prudent housewife kept her eye peeled for inclement weather. When it started to rain there was a mad dash to the clothesline for the almost dried clothes. Sometimes items had to be caught before they blew away in the wind.

Catastrophe struck when a line broke and all the clothes fell to the ground and had to be rewashed.

Monday was wash day. Tuesday was for ironing. Then, the clothesline could be used for drying dish towels or airing out clothes or blankets during the remaining portion of the week. Lucky kids got to make tents by putting old bedspreads or blankets over the clothesline so they could play house or maybe even sleep under them on nice summer nights just for fun.

There were some dangers involved with clotheslines, like if someone took to chasing after a ball and forgot the clothesline was there or they were outside after dark for whatever reason and ran into them.

One thing is for sure, no chemical concoction could ever smell as good as clothes brought in from the clothesline, especially in cold weather.

When dryers first came on the market, many the housekeeper denied herself the ease of drying clothes other than on the clothesline. Hanging out the laundry on the clothes line was just another example of free exercise.

There was the hauling of the clothes basket up the stairs and outside, bending over and picking up each item, lifting their arms to hang the clothes on the clothes line, taking the clothes off the line and folding them and bending over again, putting them back in the laundry basket, then carrying the basket back into the house and delivering the laundry to each room.

Enough said about clotheslines. Washing clothes today has come a long way from the old wash board and hand washing to the old wooden tub washers, and of course the mighty square tub Maytags which had a dasher and a wringer. 

The laundress would use a stick to pull pieces of clothing out of the wash tub, arranging it carefully on the wringer. There were many tales of hands, arms and hair getting caught in the wringer. Passing clothing through the wringer so many times was dangerous, especially so if time and attention were considered into the mix.

The wringers on those old washers consisted of two hard rubber rollers that the clothes had to pass through. My mother remembers having one of the first washers that had a tub on one side, and a spinner on the other side that spun the water out. 

Later on, she got a washer similar to those we have today, which also happened to function as a dryer. They disappeared for a while, but they are back and used more often in Europe.

Then came upright washers that washed and spun the water out of the clothes. Then came the water saving front loaders, many more equipped with dryers or steam cleaning.

There was a time when one could take dry cleanable clothes to a laundry mat by Morin Park in Albert Lea, which had washers that used a cleaning fluid instead of water.

One could write a book on soap. My Grandma Schember always made her own soap from tallow and strained grease, lye and whatever else. It was tough stuff, but it seemed to clean well. Sometimes, a scent was added to make the clothes smell better.

Earlier bar soap was P & G.  Oxydal was the powdered soap of choice for many years. Baby clothes were always washed in Ivory or Dreft.

Now, there are about as many varieties as you can count legs in a crowd of centipedes with various claims, strengths, smells and in liquid and powdered form. Tide has been a favorite of many, and Norwex is a brand where a little bit goes a long way, but is only available direct from the company and not in stores.

There are sheets for the dryer to stop static electricity and make things smell good. The only downside is that they have chemicals. 

Makes you feel a little sorry for the natives who use to have to pound their clothes on the rocks in streams, doesn’t it?

I guess that is why we now need exercise gyms. Old timers got their exercise automatically as a part of the homemaker’s normal day. Think about it.  

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things, we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us. If you have news, please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405. 

• Thursday, July 19th: Charlie Glenn Fuller, Cheryl Dunlap, Natasha Marie Peterson, Nicholas Pete Johnson, Carolyn Plunkett, Alyssa Mumm, Travis Jensen, Michael Beckman, Ryan Schmidt, Warren Farr, David Cooper, Angie & Michael Kath.

• Friday, July 20th: Pam Muri, Paul Marcus, Wayne Sommers, Brad Eder, Richard Nelson, Cody McCartney, Howard Gallentine, Elvern & Jeanne Holland, Cory & Colette Bauers, Mark & Teri Ravenhorst.

• Saturday, July 21st: Julie Langlie, Riley Marzloff, Violet Elise Aronson, Lindsay Smith, Marilyn Sullivan, Trudy Abel Holm, Marcia DeVriendt, Randy Anderson, Michele Granowski Domeier, Mike Collins, Nicholas Miller, Micki Heimer, Ed & Nancy Ver Hey, Katie & Paul Troe, Mike & Amy Glienke.

• Sunday, July 22nd: Warren Torgerson, Colleen Brekke, Jodie Hohansee Waalkens, Shari Crabtree, Jeff Olson, Joanie Ayers, Jesse Collins, Tyler Joshua Lair, Carl Anderson, Vicki & Kory Kress, Tara & Scott Peterson, Tara & Chad Cliff.

• Monday, July 23rd: Barb Kubat, Jackie Layland, Diane Broskoff, Jim Brown, Ron Kraiser, Kelly Pitcock, Carl Glienke Sr., Nathan & Michelle Jacobson, Brooke & Isaiah Lundberg, LuAnn & Keith Miller.

• Tuesday, July 24th: Marilyn Goslee, Robert Carter Edwards, Katie May, Joy Peterson, Pat Schulz, Jeff Thompson, Phillip Briggs, Denise & Richard Olson, Trisha & Casey Johnson, Greg & Shari Lassahn.

• Wednesday, July 25th: Sue Hill, Kari Janka Hareid, Stan Mork, Ivy Oland, Ann Falksen, Rick Hagen, Cole Pospesel, Kristine & Jesse Routh.

Let your door open to every joy your special day can bring.