How to Do the Washing by Georgie Boynton Child

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 10, 1915

How to Do the Washing

By Georgie Boynton Child

THE secret back of successful laundry work is the loosening of the dirt which has become embedded in the fiber of soiled clothing. This is accomplished by means of chemical action, and of washing machines, which enable us to do the work in hotter water than was possible when we had to have our hands in the suds. Hot water expands, or opens, the fiber of textiles. The dirt, being loosened by chemical action, is then readily forced out into the water. The power employed to remove the dirt is provided by the machine, so that the process is no longer a fatiguing one.

We must first have the right conditions for the work, and the complete equipment, even if it is of the simplest type. Then we must have all the needed supplies on hand, so that the work can proceed without delay. Washing is one of the processes that must be put through without interruption, and early in the day, so that the clothes may have the benefit of the air and sunshine of the warm hours. Furthermore, the clothes must be in the best condition to be washed. This means careful looking over before wash day, removing fruit and vegetable stains that would be set by being washed by a hot-water method, and mending rents, as the garment might be badly torn if it were to be put through the wash without previous attention. It also requires the careful sorting of garments, so that the cleanest white pieces are washed first, and the very dirtiest done by themselves. Flannels and ordinary colored clothing and stockings require different treatment from the white pieces, so they are kept in separate piles.

Preparation

When getting ready for wash day, sort the clothes, remove stains, and cut up soap needed for next day's washing. Place in stewpan and cover with water. (From two to three cakes are needed, according to size of wash and hardness of water.) Where work must be done in the kitchen and with very simple appliances, the procedure is as follows:—

Necessities.—Clothes boiler resting on stove at convenient height for worker, so that high temperature of water may be easily maintained; vacuum hand washer; one portable tub, with clothes wringer attached, placed on low table, and moved near the stove; clothes basket and clothes stick; facilities for rinsing the clothes either at kitchen sink or in portable tub placed near sink, so that waste water may be easily emptied.

The clothes are not soaked beforehand, but any special stains are removed. They have been mended and sorted before being brought into the kitchen. The breakfast dishes have been washed and the kitchen put in order, so that the work may proceed without interruption.

Method.—Fill the clothes boiler one-half full of hot water, cover, and bring to near boiling point. Add the melted soap prepared the day before. If the water is soft, it may not require so much as two cakes. If very hard, it may require more. If the water contains organic impurities, it should have been purified and softened before being put into the boiler. Then add two tablespoonfuls of kerosene.

Begin with the cleanest clothes, filling the boiler two-thirds full, an amount of clothing equal in bulk to three sheets. Now, while clothes are in the boiler, operate the vacuum washer up and down in the suds, using a sidewise, shoulder motion instead of a direct up-and-down stroke. Very little strength is required to operate the washer.

A Very Important Point

Use the washer for three to five minutes, then with a clothes stick transfer the clothes from the boiler to the rinse tub placed on the kitchen table near enough to the stove to transfer directly from the boiler to the tub. The important point in transferring the clothes is to drain them well while they are wound round the end of the clothes stick, so that they carry as little as possible of the suds from the boiler to the rinse water. An old-fashioned stick with two prongs is better for this purpose than a straight-ended stick. The rinse water should be as hot as possible.

As soon as all the clothes have been transferred from the boiler to the rinse tub, fill the boiler with another load, taking the next cleanest clothes. Cover and leave while you put the first load through the rinse water. Use the vacuum washer in the rinse water. From two to three minutes will be enough. Then run the clothes through the wringer into the clothes basket or large pan placed at a convenient height below the wringer.

As the clothes are taken out of the basket, and shaken out for the next rinsing, examine each piece to see that all the dirt has been removed. If any very soiled parts have not been cleaned, dip them in melted soap, rubbing the soap into the fabric, and either rub on a small washboard or place in the boiler to be washed again. The rest of the clothes are then carried in the clothes basket to the sink to await another rinsing and bluing. The same amount of water must be maintained in the boiler as when you started washing, so, as it gets lowered by transferring clothes to the rinse tub, replenish from the tub, adding more hot water to the tub as needed to keep it up to the right height.

The second load is washed in the boiler with the vacuum washer and carefully transferred to the rinse water. A third load is placed in the boiler, covered, and left to heat while the second load is being rinsed. It may be necessary to add more melted soap to the third boiler load. A half cake more will usually be sufficient. Cover and leave while the second load is being rinsed.

The same thorough rinsing is given. using the vacuum hand washer, and the clothes are put through the wringer, shaken out, and laid with the first load at the sink.

The Flannels and Colored Clothes

Now the water in the first rinse tub is reduced in temperature, and can be safely used for the flannels and colored clothes. It should not be hotter than is comfortable for the hand, and should have soap enough to carry a good head of suds. Ordinary flannels may be washed in it, and the average run of colored clothes. For all-wool flannels and delicate-colored clothes, a special suds of mild soap should be prepared. Special directions for washing flannels and fine pieces should be followed. But for the average wash, begin with the flannels, using the vacuum washer for three to five minutes, running them through the wringer and then through two rinse waters of the same temperature as the water in which they were washed. Shake them out carefully, pull into shape, and hang in the sunshine at once. If the day is not pleasant, find a place in the kitchen where they will dry quickly.

The colored clothes follow next. Stockings are best done in fresh suds because they are very apt to get linty in the suds used for other pieces.

Now begin with the second rinsing of the white pieces that require starching, putting them through the rinse water, then through a bluing water, and then starching. Follow with the calicoes that require starching, so that all the starched pieces may be on the line next after the flannels. Then the largest white pieces are rinsed and blued and hung out. The washing apparatus is then put away, the kitchen table moved back into place, the scrubbing done, the boiler wiped out carefully and put away, and the little hand washer placed above the stove where it will dry quickly.

Points to Remember

1. Remember that melted-soap solution rubbed directly into the soiled portions of garments is far more effective in loosening dirt than twice the amount of undissolved bar soap.

2. That dirt that does not yield to the first application of soap solution and hot suds needs more soap solution in fresh suds, rather than boiling or rubbing longer in dirty suds.

3. That wash water should be clean and soft to get the best results.

4. That hot water causes the fiber of cotton clothing to expand, and thus frees the dirt embedded in its meshes.—Georgie Boynton Child.