Ain't What They Used to Be

Things ain't what they used to be 

and probably never was.

 ~Will Rogers

Used now as nostalgic, rustic decoration, I can remember when washtubs such as these were a part of every Monday morning of my childhood. My Grandma ran a boarding house for the elderly and Monday was Wash Day.  I loved to help her with the chore in her shadowy basement where she had an old fashioned wringer washer with two tubs like these for rinse water.  The wringer arm of the chugging, churning machine swung about so that we could wring the clothes and bed linens from the soapy water into the first and then the final rinse water tubs. It was probably a dreaded weekly chore for Grandma, but I hope having a little "helper" made the task less wearisome. One of my most vivid memories of Grandma was her strong but wrinkled hands that always smelled of Clorox.

REPLY TO THE COMMENT FROM ANNE (below): My "reply to comments" feature isn't working. Thanks for stopping by, Anne.  Yes, we often got articles of clothing or towels caught in the wringer --- but I don't remember ruining anything.  Grandma would always warn us kids to be careful not to get our fingers caught in the wringer though!