One of my readers and I have been carrying on a discussion about air-drying clothes. I suddenly remembered (and found) this quote from Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE"...
""When that's all done," said Ma, "I want a clothes-line."
Pa laughed, "Yes, and I want a well."
After dinner he hitched Pet and Patty tot he wagon and he hauled a tubful of water from the creek, so that Ma could do the washing. "You could wash clothes in the creek," he told her. "Indian women do."
"If we wanted to live like Indians, you could make a hole in the roof to let the smoke out, and we'd have the fire on the floor inside the house," said Ma. "Indians do."
That afternoon she washed the clothes in the tub and spread them on the grass to dry."
And by the way...a friend of mine and I visited the 'Little House on the Prairie' site last fall. Although Ma's clothesline is long gone, Pa's well is still there! :)
I moved into a new house that doesn't have a clothes line. This post really made me miss having one!!
ReplyDeletePS. Thanks for linking up on my blog today to help me test out my Mr. Linky! It worked. ;)
Thanks for posting, Rebekah. I really enjoy reading your posts, too. And you're welcome! I'm glad to hear that Mr. Linky worked! :)
ReplyDeleteMa needed a clothes drying rack then she would not have needed to lay the clean clothes on the grass to dry. Seriously so many of the ways that our past generations did things make a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteI am all for progress but sometimes I wonder if all the progress is costing us more on the environment, family and community than it is worth.
Slowing down and using clothes drying racks, eating organic etc has so many benefits...