VII.PUTTING CLOTHES TO SOAK.
“AYOUNG housekeeper” is troubled at the idea of “putting clothes to soak” overnight. She is sure it must take two or three hours to do it, and asks, “How is one to do this, who lives in the country, where the ‘modern improvements’ of hot water and cold and stationary tubs are not found, except in the houses of wealthy families; but where all the water must be pumped or drawn by hand, and carried to the tubs by one who has all the work to do for husband and family, and perhaps keeps a few boarders beside? To bring the water, soap the clothes, as they are put in the tub, would occupy two or three hours of the Sabbath; for, as you speak of washing Monday, we infer that you mean to soak the clothes Sunday.”
Yes, Sunday morning or evening, as is most convenient. We think it—like getting breakfast, washing dishes, making beds, etc., on Sunday—one of the necessary items of household labor. True, some prefer to do this Saturday evening, but too long soaking yellows the clothes, and beside only part of them can be collected Saturday. Some also soak their clothes a half-hour Monday morning, but, in our judgment, very little is gained by that. We would, however, by no means advocate the mode we have advised, iftwo or three hoursof the Sabbath or of any other day in the week must be given to it. Twenty minutes or, if a large wash, half an hour, is abundant time.
This young housekeeper evidently imagines that we must be givingtheoreticaladvice, and not such as can be successfully carried into practice. But in this, as in all that wehave offered, we speak only of “what we know, and testify of that which we have seen” and done. Ten years at the West, at a time when all “modern improvements” were unknown, and when we were so situated that the work for husband and little ones, and often several boarders, was, of necessity, done with one pair of hands, where the water was all to bedrawn, not pumped, with now and then a “shake” or “chill,” to fill up the measure of the week’s work (and fever and ague, “out West,” in those days, was a genuine article), compelled us to economize time, if not labor. We never foundtwo or three hours to spendin putting clothes to soak. When supper was over,Saturday evening, dishes washed, and babies to sleep, the water was drawn, tubs filled and covered, to keep the water free from dust, and, except the bedding and garments, to be changed Sabbath morning, all the dirty clothes accumulated through the week were “sorted” and laid in piles on the table, in the “wash-shed,” covered over with the clothes-baskets, ready to be soaped and put into water. This last may be done before dressing for church or, as we much prefer, before retiring, Sabbath evening.
Such lessons, taught by the best schoolmaster in the world,necessity, are often far more valuable than any we can learn in later life, and under more easy circumstances. Of course no man, whose labor ends with the close of the day, who deserves the honored name of husband (house-bond), would need to be asked to put his strong arm to the work, so far as to draw the water and fill the tubs, after tea, in the twilight of Saturday evening; while the wife and mother, whose work never ends till all are sleeping, is putting the little folks to bed and getting everything in readiness for breakfast Sunday morning. But often the nature of the husband’s employment deprives him, by necessity, of the pleasure of assisting his wife. Then, if without servants, there is no other way but for her to prove “woman’s equality with man” by doing it herself.After all, there are many harder things than drawing the good clear water from the well.
Now, with water in the tubs, clothes laid in separate parcels, plenty of soap dissolved, or a nice barrel of soft soap close at hand, does not our “young housekeeper” think the clothes could be soaped and put into the tub in less than half an hour? Would there not be plenty of time after breakfast, before dressing for church, to perform this necessary labor as we think it? Or if making beds or uneasy children consumed too much time in the morning, how long would it take to throw on a wrapper just before retiring, when all is quiet at night, and have the clothes all at soak? The answer to these questions depends on two things,—are you anearly riser? have you such established system about all your labors as to secure atimeas well as aplacefor everything?
There is one other point that may as well receive attention while we are on this subject.
Many are in the habit of changing bed-linen Saturday night, to avoid what may seem like extra labor Sunday morning, in accordance with their ideas of a strict observance of the Sabbath. We cannot think this wise. It certainly does not meet our ideas of that “cleanliness that is next to godliness.” We think it should be a matter of principle to have everything as pure, as sweet, and clean Sabbath morning as is possible. All one’s clothes are put on fresh on that morning; table-cloths and napkins come right from the drawer. If these are all brought out spotless in their purity, in honor of the Lord’s day, then why should not our beds also rejoice in the whitest of linen? We think it a grateful and appropriate way of beginning our Sabbath; and if the bed-linen is laid out Saturday night, as it should always be, we do not see how it can occupy more time to put on clean things than those which are tumbled and soiled. We think the objections to it are of that kind spoken of as being “wise above that which is written.”