Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Increment no -13 - Hillwood syory August 9th 2011


This is increment no – 13 -

We usually kept our drinking water in a galvanizes tin bucket or some time we had cedar wooden bucket and that kept water a little cooler in the summer. We al drank water from the bucket with a dipper and kept it in the bucket at all times, where ever one could use it. When we had company visiting us we would go to the well or spring and get a bucket of fresh water to serve to our company that is the only drink that we could offer to them.


Taking Baths


We had different methods for taking baths mostly our primary method was with a pan of water or bucket of water with a washcloth. We kept our bodies reasonably clean; it was not like a hot shower. Our family had some rules regarding taking baths usually the boys would take our baths at night behind the old wood burning stove and the girls would take there baths in the morning. That served different purposes one was for warmth and the other for privacy. Taking baths in the summer time was very different we could heat water in a number –3 tin tub in the sun shine and take it in to the kitchen where we could sit in the tub and take an all over bath. O course we took some over body baths by heating water on the old wood burning stove but we did not take them that frequently as we did in the summer time. The boys and men went to branches and creek to take baths as well. After us boys became teenagers and my father built a bathhouse down near the well. This bathhouse consisted of sprinkler to take showers a place for the water to drain, a dressing room, just like down town. We took a 60-gallon oil drum cut the bottom out and welded a ¾” pipe in to it and sat it down on a scafle and run the pipe to the bathroom. We sat the drum near the well and we could draw water and pour it in to the drum and let the sun heat the water.



Wash Days

Washdays, washing our clothes were an all day job. Our Mother or some other lady of the family mostly did it. The wash place was near a spring or a dug well so we would have plenty of water. Our family wash place was at our dug well and consisted a wash bench with three large tin tubs, and a boiling pot. The three tubs and the boiling pot had to be filled with water to start the washday. My Mother always started washing the colored clothes first because they were the dirtest. It was the boys job was to draw the water and fill all the tubs and build a fire around the boiling pot. We carried hot water from the boiling pot and mixed with the first pot where my mother would rub the clothes on a rubbing board to scrub the dirt loose, and if our over alls had much pine resin on them she may have to use a batten board to loosen the resin loose by beating it loose. After rubbing the colored clothes she put them in to the hot boiling water pot to boil. After they boiled around twenty or thirty minutes she put them back thru the rubbing procedure again. We empted all the tubs and refilled the tubs with fresh water and start the sane procedure for washing the whit clothes. After all of the clothes run thru the scrubbing tub they were passé thru the two rinsing tubs to get all the soap out. She would twist and squeeze the clothes to get as much water out she could and they are ready to be hung on the clothesline to dry.

After the washing detail was completed she would shake the garments to remove the wrinkles and hang them on clothesline to dry she fasten them with wooden clothespins. Since the clothes lines were of wire it was necessary to take wet cloth line to remove rust from the clothes line other wise you would get rust marks on the garments.

End Of increment no – 13 –

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