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A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -1- 6/23/72
Tape 16-2

AV: You could tell me about what the women used to do in the old days.
AT: Well, as I said, practically everything is alike around here, you know? Most everybody had the same routine. Only some took it, I guess, more easier than the others. We used to do our regular housework, carry our water, wash our clothes on the washboard, scrub them. And then we used to have the - I don't know when that came in - wringers, to wring our clothes, by hand. But I can't remember what year we started with those. So, you had to have a wooden tub. There were, now what would you call them, clasps, I guess. There were clasps, and you would have to attach them to the tub, you know. But when the tub would get soaked up with water, when you were using it lots already, well then, see, it would be falling out, because the wood would get sofrt, you know. And then it would be falling out. So, there you would be, with your knee on the tub, holdin' the tub, and one hand holding the wringer, and the other hand turn it. Sometimes you'd almost die if it were something heavy in there like carpet or something that you had to put through it. Because, you know, it'd be jumpin' out - if you could use your both hands, you know, to - but you couldn't because it would be jumpin' up from the tub! So you had to hold it down. It was tough work to do.
AV: Did you do that yourself?
AT: Oh sure, who else would do it for me? I had to do it for myself.
AV: Wer eyou married then? When they came out?
AT: Yeah. I don't remember when they were, I'm sayin' I don't when they came out, but I had it when I was married, but I don't know, did I get it right away after I was married, or, were they, did they come in later, I don't know, I don't remember. But they had, that was the wringer-type, we had, you know. There were no washers that would wring, so you used the tub for a - there were all wooden tubs at that time. I had one til not long ago and fell apart. And my daughter-in-law almost took a fit. She said Why didn't you keep it? I told you don't throw anything away! she said, I want it! Ha ha!
AV: What did you use when you were young, to wash the clothes, what did your mother use?
AT: Same thing.
AV: Washboard and tub?
AT: That went on til, wait, 19...28, I guess. I know it was 1928 when I got a washer. I never had any before that. And in 19...about 1924, maybe 23, I don't know, but 24 I know it was for sure, when they start...we had no lights in town. There weren't any lights in town. Nothing at all. And then some men, you know, they were tryin' to get the town, you know, to bring the lights into town so they could get electric washers for their wives, you know? So, my mother wasn't feeling well, she had ulcers in her leg, and, she went and she ordered a washer. And when they come home, she told ah, brothers, her sons and my brothers, she says, I ordered a washer. They said What kind? She says, A hand washer. They said, well who's gonna do it? She says, Well, you's will. Because she had, you know, had the ulcers in her leg, she couldn't stand on her feet. And they said, No they won't, he said, they're gonna get the place wired, and she better cancel that order that she ordered, and they'll get electric washer for her, you know, with nobody'd have to handle it. Well, that aws some washer! She was sick in 1924, and I used to go up there to do it. Well, they must have been the first ones that come out. Because they weren't nothing like this is, nowadays. The motor was all exposed, and the tub, it was a wooden, I think it was a wooden tub, and inside of it, the agitator was just of wood, and had, now how many were there, three or four, I don't remember, just like, oh, what the world should I call them, like pegs or something. You know, just sticks, stickin' down. And this'd twirl back and forth, and that was washin' the clothes. But you

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