Granny's Recipe For the Wash

 by John Van Deusen

 What sort of advice could a bride expect from her grandmother back in 1800? At least one woman saw fit to tell her granddaughter how to handle the family washing. This is an authentic recipe in its original spelling.

1. bild a fire in back yard to heet kettle of rain water

 2. set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert

 3. shave 1 hole cake soap in bilin water

 4. sort things--make 2 piles,1 pile white,1 pile cullord

 5. stur flour in cold water, to smooth, then thin down with bilin water

 6. rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then bile, rub cullord but don't bile--just rench

 7. take white things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then rench, blew, and starch

 8. spred tee towels on grass

9. hang rags on fence

 10. pore rench water in flower bed

 11. scrub porch with hot soapy water

 12. turn tubs upside down

 13. go put on cleen dress--smooth hair with side combs--brew cup of  tee--set and rest and rocka spell and count your blessings.

 (Taken from Bumfuzzled by R. Lewis Bowman)