Today's picture was taken in 1900, and shows a woman doing the wash in a wash tub with a scrub board. This would have to be a hard job. I would think that it would be very hard on your hands.
When I was growing up, my mom did the laundry. When I went to college, I had to do laundry myself. I did not like it, and was not very good at it. I would really overload the washing machine. I mean, I would fill it all the way to the top, and stuff the clothes in. Problem was that with the washer overloaded, it did not do a good job rinsing the soap out. After I finished school, and got a job, I would take the clothes to the laundromat. One day when I was in there doing the washing, the owners saw me overstuffing the machines. Come to find out, the owners were my next door neighbors in the apartment I was living in. They told me that I was overstuffing the machines, and told me that was not a good idea. Well, in the end they said that if I would just drop my clothes at there door in the morning, and leave the quarters for the machines in the basket, they would bring them in and wash and dry them for me. They would then drop the cleaned clothes at my apartment after work. They did a real nice job, and would hang the shirts on hangers, and fold everything nicely. That was a pretty good deal that I stumbled into, and it went on as long as I lived there. Then, once I got married, Mrs. PJM did the laundry. I would say that Mrs. PJM and I do about the same amount of domestic work. I take care of the outside stuff, and she takes care of the inside stuff. I do all the mowing, and taking care of the chickens and peacocks, and she takes care of the house cleaning and the dogs. So, I would say it is a pretty even split in the work.
