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Memories of Golde Dicks Markham (1996) Golde Markham Dicks 55/125

Washing the dirty clothes was the first chore each Saturday. We had to fill an iron
wash pot full of water and build a fire underneath. As soon as the water got hot, Ma dipped

the hot water into a zinc tub along with some cold water. She then soaped each garment with
homemade lye soap, put it on the battling block, took a wooden paddle similar to an ax
handle, and beat the clothes. I “battled” each garment, being careful not to hit any buttons

because that paddle could break them.
Next each garment was dropped into that iron pot with the soapy lye water and boiled.
But no resting while the clothes boiled! We had to draw water from the well to rinse the
clothes. We filled three “number three” tubs with clear water then took the same battling

stick and dipped up one garment at a time out of the pot and battled it a little more. This
helped get that hot soapy water out of the clothes. Next we put the garment in the first tub
of clean water, dipped it up and down several times, twisted and squeezed all of the water

out, then dropped it into the next tub of clear water. We went through this same process
with each garment in all three tubs. When the clothes were hung on all of the clotheslines, we
hung them on the fence all around the house.
Once the washing was finished, we went into the house and removed all of the furni­

ture from every room. The moss mattresses had to be fluffed or plucked and the ticking
washed. We fluffed and plucked one mattress every week. We took the ticking cover off the
moss and emptied the moss at the end of the back porch, which has been converted into a

bedroom now. We scrubbed all the floors using the lye soap, and rinsed them with lots of
clear water. Tribble, Emerald, and I scrubbed the floors while Ma washed the mattress
ticking and hung it out to dry.

In the winter months, Ma heated the smoothing irons in the fireplace. In the summer,
she heated them on the kitchen cook stove. By the time we got this work done, Pa’s starched
Sunday shirts would be damp enough to be just right to iron. Those shirts had to be starched

and ironed perfect, so Ma did them and our Sunday clothes. After she finished starching and
ironing, I ironed the sheets and pillowcases—even the scarves off the dressers and mantle
plus our everyday clothes, overalls, and denim work shirts. It seemed like everything had to
be ironed.

By the time we finished these jobs, it was early afternoon, and we were hungry. Ma
made egg sandwiches using fried eggs and leftover biscuits. We usually had a glass of milk or

clabber {sour, curdled milk). We put syrup in our clabber and to make it sweet. That was our
midday dinner.

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