Old-timey Dishwashing 1989

What a wonderful thing — the dishwasher.  We have come a long way with our dish washing, or have we?  As I unloaded this machine I find a fork that has to be done over — just like I had to do in days of old.  I had an “Inspector #12”, but her name was “Mother” and when she didn’t approve of how it was done, I had to lick my calf over.  I have a friend who has licked her calf over so  many times she named it “Lollipop”.  John recalls an incident that happened when he and his brother were to do the dishes and they decided to dry clean them.  When his “Inspector #12” finished with them, they had washed and dried all the dishes in the safe.

We didn’t have the dish washing detergents as we do today — we used a little Oxydol or Super Suds or whatever washing powder we had and if we were out of that, a bit of homemade soap would do.  We had to be saving with anything we used.  My mother advocated that “a woman could shovel it out faster with a spoon than a man could shovel it in with a shovel.”  Of course, that was back when men brought home the bacon and  the woman stayed home and did the cooking.  Water, too, was used sparingly as it had to be drawn from the well and toted in.  We washed dishes in one pan and rinsed in another.  The dishrag was piece of flour sack and the drying towel was a feed or fertilizer sack split in half and hemmed.  Many times the drying towel would have fringe and/or embroidery on it — or even pulled-thread work.  They had to be ironed too. If one dropped the dishrag it was a sign company was coming.  Also, it the rooster crowed in front of the door that, too, meant company was on the way.  You should see John run to scare that rooster away from the door now when he starts crowing!  When we had finished with the dish water it was poured in the slop bucket to be fed to the hogs.  The rinse water was used to water a thirsty plant.  When I was a small tyke, I used to cover this house in a walker and, so the story goes, thoroughly enjoyed retrieving a biscuit or whatever was available from that slop bucket — guess that was where I got my good start toward “fleshy.”

Thank God for Dirty Dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes
They have a tale to tell
For while others are going hungry
We’re eating very well
With home and health and happiness
I shouldn’t want to fuss
for by this fact of evidence
God’s very good to us.

Author Unknown