Washerwoman

“ There may be fish in his ocean, but there is no beauty there. How can there be with that fiend plucking at his suspenders?
And oh, the country washerwoman! Can anybody tell why she, having tried her fists only on red flannel, calico, and sheets, should announce herself as a professional laundress, and up to the mysteries of bluing, rinsing, clear-starching, and ironing? Trustingly you place your linen in her hands, and she departs to some spot where sun, fresh air, clover-blossoms, and plenty of water are all in her favor. In process of time she returns your clothes. ”

“ There are a set of ghostly washerwoman called ar cannerez nos, or “nocturnal [979, 980] singers,” who wash their linen always by night, singing old songs and tales all the time: they solicit the assistance of people passing by to wring the linen; if it be given awkwardly, they break the person’s arm; if it be refused, they pull the refusers into the stream, and drown them. ”

“ Now, we do not claim a very profound knowledge of the household diplomacy which results in the making of treaties with washerwomen; but, so far as any echoes of the proceedings have reached our ears, we have received an impression that very considerable interest is taken in the choice of an efficient washerwoman, and that the subsequent performance of the person selected is watched with close attention. We have reason to believe that questions are very frequently raised as to whether the clothes have been properly treated in the washerwoman's hands ”

“ I found that old washerwoman-dress that he came home in yesterday, hanging on a towel-horse before the fire. So I put it on, and the bonnet as well, and the shawl, and off I went to Toad Hall, as bold as you please. The sentries were on the look-out, of course, with their guns and their “Who comes there?” and all the rest of their nonsense. “Good morning, gentlemen!” says I, very respectful. “Want any washing done to-day?”
‘They looked at me very proud and stiff and haughty, and said, “Go away, washerwoman! We don’t do any washing on duty.” “Or any other time?” says I. Ho, ho, ho! ”

“ But if a washerwoman has a great basket of clothes to carry home, and prefers to balance it upon her head instead of taking it in her hands, why may she not, provided she knows how? And it is by no means an easy thing to do, as you would be willing to admit if you had walked, or tried to walk, about your room with your unabridged dictionary borne aloft in a similar manner. These women wear little flat cushions, upon which the baskets rest. Those women I have seen looked well and strong and cheerful, and walked with a firm, free step, swinging their arms with great abandon. ”

“ She belonged to the Guild of the Poor Dear Souls, and they hold the record for having nearly reformed a washerwoman. No one has ever really reformed a washerwoman, and that is why the competition is so keen. You can rescue charwomen by fifties with a little tea and personal magnetism, but with washerwomen it’s different; wages are too high. ”

“ The discomfort of these loathsome creatures is excessive, and one gets away from them as far as possible. Not having had a washing day for some days, I made one to-day, and myself turned washerwoman. The one idea of natives with respect to clothes washing, is to pile on the soap agony, and leave your garments as stiff as a board, and almost as uncomfortable to wear. I entrusted a pair of white flannel trowsers, and a white flannel coat to one of the boys to wash, but I tremble to think what the result will be. ”

“ Ironers are paid by the month, and required to do so many in that time. She corroborated the statement of the other that a good ironer need never want a place. I heard a washerwoman say that, as the system is very much relaxed by washing, the vapor from the suds and soiled clothes renders it unhealthy. ”

“ The washer-women were among the happiest of these happy souls, and nowhere were seen prettier pictures than they made, clustered round the fountains or tanks by the way, scrubbing, slapping, singing, and gossiping, as they washed or spread their linen on the green hedges and daisied grass in the bright spring weather. ”

“ A unique custom is attached to the washerman's office. When a girl-wife attains puberty, it is the duty and privilege of the washerman to carry the news, accompanied by certain presents, to her husband's parents, for which the messenger is duly rewarded. ”

“ But you think it's more meritorious to help old washer-women who squint? Well, if it had been a squinting washer-woman I'd exchanged yells with, and she'd told me she was looking for work, I do think I should have felt inclined to send the washing to her. ”

“ The washer-girls were dressed in the gayest of peasant clothes—green and scarlet petticoats, flowered kerchiefs, coral beads and flashing earrings; you would have to go far into the hills in these degenerate days before meeting their match on an Italian highway. But the girl on the wall, who was actual if not titular ruler of the domain of Villa Rosa, possessed a keen eye for effect; and—she plausibly argued—since one must have washer-women about, why not, in the name of all that is beautiful, have them in harmony with tradition and the landscape? ”

“ But, here also, [293] if the intervals between the washings be long, a washer-woman will be hired, and the mistress will probably lend her aid, in sorting the clothes, getting up the small linen, ironing, &c.
In proportion to the arduous and active duties of a situation, is the satisfaction to be enjoyed from a regular and attentive discharge of those services: hence no servant has it in her power to render herself and her employers more comfortable, than the maid of all work. ”

“ Like most men, I have a concealed passion for perfect cleanliness—concealed, because to the sex so ironically intrusted with the duty of domestic lustration cleanliness appears to mean frightful and devastating upheavals resulting in a nauseating odour of soap and furniture [93] polish. When you shall have learned, dear ladies, to keep your domains clean without so furiously getting them clean, you will have earned, in our eyes, your somewhat dubious title of housekeepers. Meanwhile, continue, in heaven's name, to think us the contentedly dirty sex! ”

“ In my youth, the pursuit was associated exclusively with laundry-workers, but in later years I realised that, except in that small proportion of houses where servants are kept, every woman is a laundrymaid, [43] and that in every house throughout the land, or indeed throughout the world, the cleaning and the washing are done mainly by women, by wives and mothers, their girl children or women servants. Washing, the making clean that which had been dirty, and making the crumpled and uncomfortable things smooth, was my hobby. ”

“ Every lady carries with her all the appliances of the bath, as well as providing her own servant; the inferior ranks alone availing themselves of the services of the bathing women, who, in such cases, supply their employers with every thing requisite.
These bathing-women, of whom I saw several as I traversed the great hall, are the most unsightly objects that can be imagined; from constantly living in a sulphureous atmosphere, their skins have become of the colour of tobacco, and of the consistency of parchment; many among them were elderly women, but not one of them was wrinkled ”

“ Home Washing.—If the washing, or even a portion of it, is done at home, it will be impossible for the general servant to do her household duties thoroughly during the time it is about, unless she have some assistance. Usually, if all the washing is done at home, the mistress hires some one to assist at the wash-tub, and sees to little matters herself, in the way of dusting, clearing away breakfast things, folding, starching and ironing, the fine things. With a little management much can be accomplished provided the mistress be industrious, energetic, and willing to lend a helping hand. ”

“ The wet nurse is a social custom. A luxurious custom, on the one hand. Not very long ago, a girl of the middle-and not even the upper middle-class, who was about to marry, boasted in the following terms of the domestic comfort promised her by her future husband: "I am to have a cook, a housemaid, and a wet nurse." On the other hand, the robust peasant girl who has given birth to a son, looking complacently at her heavy breasts, thinks: "I shall be able to get a good place as wet nurse." ”

“ And when the low-voiced and timid second girl tells you that, as a lady who knows her place, she really cannot demean [185] herself to wipe off the paint or sweep the front steps, do you take her by the hand and acknowledge the indiscretion of your coarser nature in expecting her to do such menial service? How many of us, clods that we are, have raged when the mild-mannered laundry maid has appropriated our underclothing, or remonstrated when the number seven foot of the blue-blooded cook has condescended to stretch our silken hose? ”

“ Nature seems to design it for the weaker Sex. The best of Linnen for Service is called House Wife’s Cloth, here then is no need of the Broad Seal, or Joint-Stock to establish the Methods for the good Wife’s weeding her Flax-garden, or how soon her Maid shall sit to her Wheel after washing her Dishes; the good Woman is Lady of the Soil, and holds a Court within herself, throws the Seed into the Ground, and works it till she brings it there again, I mean her Web to the bleaching Ground.... ”

“ In these days of public baths and universal progress, we trust that it is unnecessary to do more than hint at the necessity of the most fastidious personal cleanliness. The hair, the teeth, the nails, should be faultlessly kept; and a muslin dress that has been worn once too often, a dingy pocket-handkerchief, or a soiled pair of light gloves, are things to be scrupulously avoided by any young lady who is ambitious of preserving the exterior of a gentlewoman. ”

“ Will the women learn to love cleanliness, to regard their men's rags and their children's dirt as their own dishonour, and to understand that womanhood has its share of duties in social and domestic life? ”

“ I could run an office or a library, or nurse and teach children. But solitary dish-washing isn't enough to satisfy me—or many other women. We're going to chuck it. We're going to wash 'em by machinery, and come out and play with you men in the offices and clubs and politics you've cleverly kept for yourselves! Oh, we're hopeless, we dissatisfied women! ”

“ Besides the usual female occupations of taking care of the house and children, [Pg 170] spinning, weaving, and so on—that females in all countries perform—the women are not obliged to do much of the labor of living. But they pay the greatest attention to the cleanliness of their houses, sweeping them and the courts several times in the course of the day. Whenever they make use of any utensil, they immediately wash it. ”

“ It is much more likely that the simile of a line hung with linen and which employs the idea of washing garments in moonlight, should occur to a woman of strong poetic imagi nation, the routine of whose life was the wash-tub and the kitchen, than to a languid and dyspeptic man. ”

“ Indeed, but you must; it is woman’s peculiar province to wash clothes. Men never wash properly: they either half do it or else beat to pieces whatever they may be washing in the vain endeavour to properly purify it. ”

“ THERE are fields of labor in which women have been immemorially active. In all matters relating to the cares of the house and children among the civilized, and, among the barbarous and the lowest strata of life in Europe and elsewhere, field-labor, the care of animals, and the lighter manufactures, are the tasks imposed upon women. Deduct from this the comparatively small number of women of fashion whose existence is merged into the decorative part of social life, and we have here roughly grouped the lines which have defined the usefulness of women, and which have lain parallel for ages. ”

“ The ladies all look plump and well kept as any scions of royal blood. Care rests lightly on them as their clothing, which entire outfit resembles the lace and gauzy drapery for the more substantial ornamenting of an American lady’s toilet. ”

“ In a remote corner sat a young woman alone, whose pale, drawn face bore the marks of cruel struggles and long suffering, and whose simple, black gown, patched in more than one place, afforded a striking contrast to the gorgeous toilettes around her. ”

“ I will not say that a washer-woman may not be a lady. It is certainly possible for her to have all the essentials of a lady. But such a case is so rare that I think we are justified in taking the contrary for granted till we have proof of the fact. ”

“ The making and mending of clothes, that great part of women’s daily work, is non-existent with us, for, as before stated, the lengths of flimsy cotton are worn as they come from the shop. Washing is often in progress, rather a miserable business in sea-water without soap, but the thinness of the stuff makes it easier [39] . ”

“ Seeking for my gloves on the toilet table, my eyes rested momentarily on the withered wreath, which I still preserved. The leaves hung lifeless; the bright hues of the flowers had faded. Alas! poor ephemeral flowers, is not your brief but beautiful existence a type of woman’s life also? ”

“ The Woman at the Washtub
Has lost the charm of youth;
Her hair is rough and homely,
Her figure is uncouth;
Her temper is like thunder,
With no one she agrees –
The children of the alley
They cling around her knees. ”

“ The pretty chambermaid's anxieties about her dress, the minutes she spends at her small and not very clear mirror, are sneeringly noticed by those whose toilet-cares take up serious hours; and the question has never apparently occurred to them why a serving-maid should not want to look pretty as well as her mistress. ”

“ There are scarcely any of the ceremonies of a lady's toilette more a mystery to one sex than the other, and men and their wives, who scarcely eat at the same table, are in this respect grossly familiar. ”