When you wring the clothes from the first rinsing-water, see whether the streaks you could not rub out have disappeared. If not, they can probably be removed quickly now. Wring the clothes dry, else the suds remaining in them will make the last rinsing water soapy. If the wash is large, dip off part of the water, when half of the clothes are wrung out, and add clean water, and a little more blueing. Strength, and some practice are necessary, to wring large articles dry, and the appearance of the clothes will but poorly pay for the labor bestowed, if this part of the work is not well done. Perhaps it is the most fatiguing part of washing. The inventor of a good machine for wringing clothes will deserve and have, the thanks of many a toil-worn woman.
When the white clothes are upon the line, take boiling suds and wash the coarse towels; boil them in a clean water, or in some of the last rinsing-water. Wash them thoroughly as the table-cloths; not negligently because they are coarse. If the weather is wet, let the clothes lie in the rinsing-water till a fair day, but omit the blueing, as it will be apt to settle in streaks upon them; or some of the articles will be very blue, while others will not be so at all. If the weather threatens to be rainy, better not put them out, as they cannot be taken in half dry, and carried out while damp to be put on the line again, without getting more or less soiled. If the wind is violent, let them lie in the water even if it is fair (unless they can be hung up in an attic or wood-house chamber or in a yard sheltered from the wind), as the hems will very likely be snapped from the corners of the sheets and table-cloths, and all the clothes will be more worn (even if they are not torn) by being blown half a day, than by two months' use from week to week. In the winter when they will freeze stiff in a few minutes, and there is a strong wind, they are liable to be torn. I have known a large and new table-cloth, cracked completely across, in a few minutes after being hung out. Small and fine articles, like caps, collars, handkerchiefs, and baby's dresses should be dried in the house in severe winter weather. Clothes are made very white by the night frosts, and where the yard is sheltered from the wind it is well to leave them out sometimes for that reason, provided there is no danger of their being stolen.
When the last boiling is done, dip out all the water and save it as before. Heat clean water for the flannels and other woollens. These should be washed in quite warm water with good soft soap. Bar-soap makes woollens hard and wiry. Wash the finest and most delicate articles first. If they are much soiled use considerable soap so as to get them clean quickly without much rubbing, for it is this which fulls up flannels, as we may know from the fact that it is by a similar process cloth is made thick at the fulling-mill. As fast as they are done throw them into a plenty of scalding water. If they lie in a pile until all are washed, they will shrink. When you can bear your hands in the water, wring them and throw them into another; from this last water wring them dry, snap them well, and hang them out. Few people rinse flannels twice, but they look enough better to pay for the trouble. If the soap is not rinsed out, they will shrink, and also become yellow. The water used for the white flannels is fit for the colored ones, and for mixed footings, or calicoes. All sorts of stockings should be washed first on the right side, and then upon the other.
Red flannel preserves the color best, and is softest, washed in hard water. A sailor's red flannels, that have been, during a long voyage, often tied to a rope and towed through the waves, look better and feel softer than those washed at home. A word here in regard to the purchase of flannels, will not be out of place. It is the best economy to buy those made of soft wool. They will shrink very little, while coarse wool flannels will grow small and thick every week, and no pains-taking can prevent it.
After hanging out the woollens, wash the calicoes in clean water, with hard soap, and rinse them twice. Have the starch[22] ready, and dip them before they are hung up. Calicoes should be thrown into the rinsing water as fast as they are washed. Even firm colors are injured by lying. If the weather is not fair leave them in the second rinsing, but put the light and dark ones into separate tubs, unless the colors are perfectly fast. Put a little salt into the water. They will not be injured any more than white clothes, by lying in the water over night. Nice calicoes and ginghams should be dried in the shade, and so put upon the line as to dry quickly. Hang a dress in an angle of the line near the post, with the waist down; put one pin at the turn of the line, and one on each side, a few feet from the angle, so that the hem of the skirt will form a triangle. When the skirt is dry, except near the waist, shake open the waist and sleeves, and reverse the dress, pinning the shoulders to the line.
Calicoes should not be sprinkled till the morning of the day they are ironed. The colors sometimes run together when they are folded over night, and in very warm weather, the starch in a dress that is sprinkled in the evening will become sour by the next morning. In July and August, damp clothes that lie folded together two nights, are very liable to become mildewed. Care should be taken that soiled articles are not put aside in a damp state, during the week, for the next wash. Sad accidents have occurred through want of care in this particular.
For the assistance of ladies who are not able to detect the reasons, if their clothes do not come from the laundry in good order, I will specify a few particulars as to the causes.
If good water and soap are provided, and yet the white clothes look badly, it is owing to one, or possibly, all, of the following things—their not being well assorted, the coarse clothes, and those most soiled being washed and boiled with the best ones; or perhaps those places which required special care, had no more rubbing than other parts. If the seams of underclothes are not clean, it is because they are not turned, after being washed on the right side, and well rubbed on the other. If the clothes look yellow, perhaps the washer uses too small a quantity of water, and neglects to dip off, often, that which is cool and dirty, and add more which is hot; and very likely too many are crowded into the boiler at once. If they are not wrung dry from the first rinsing-water, before being thrown into the second, they will be yellow; and lastly, if they are not well wrung out of the second, they will have soapy streaks in the gathers and hems. If spots of iron mould appear, perhaps the washer is not careful to avoid touching the clothes while wet, to the wire handles of the tubs or pails. If the calicoes fade more than you had reason to expect, very likely they are washed in boiling suds. The soft soap in it will spoil them; and besides, it is never clean enough for nice calicoes. It is a good way to have calico dresses washed on some other day by themselves; it will be easier to have them done well. If the flannels are becoming dingy, it may be that they too are washed in the water in which the white clothes were boiled, and then rinsed but once. If they shrink, although made of fine wool, probably the soap is not all rinsed out, and that they were laid together in a pile, and became cold before they were thrown into scalding water. If they retain the wrinkles after being ironed, they were not well shaken out (or snapped) before being put out to dry. They should not be sprinkled; but if laid in the basket over night with the folded white clothes, they will be just damp enough to iron smooth. If the toes of the footings, and woollen stockings feel stiff, they were not washed clean.
Some domestics bestow great care upon the nicest articles, and take no pains with common ones. This is neither neat or economical. All clothes that are both washed and ironed well, keep clean longest.
There are some advantages in a lady's taking the clothes from the bars, after they are ironed, herself. She sees at once whether they are well washed without the trouble of unfolding them to examine, and all those which need mending can then be most conveniently laid apart from the rest. I will only add to these minute directions, that the boiler should be left perfectly dry, and the tubs, &c., rinsed and put away clean. It is good economy after the usual cleaning is done, to save all the suds to water the garden and trees. The good effects will soon reward the trouble.