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Working Women
TAKING IN LAUNDRY
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Courtesy of Dover Publications
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Taking in laundry was no easy task. Before the age of the washing machine, the chore consisted of boiling the clothes, scrubbing them on a washboard using harsh lye soap, then rinsing them, hanging them to dry, and finally ironing them with a hot iron.These tasks could consume the better part of a day for a normal household, but the work doubled or tripled when other people's wash was brought in. The sailors' wives were paid very little for their services, but at least the work was considered an acceptable occupation for a married woman.
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