A Moment in Time
“Washing Made Easy” - By Edith Watson - Written circa 1898
I have many fond memories of Grammy Boothman and have learned much more about her as we have poured through the journals left by her. In doing this research, we came across the following and thus the figure was created.
Here is a great handwritten note of Edith’s as she learned the secrets of being a good wife, who keeps her laundry sparkling white. (Was this taken from her mother’s recipe?) Makes our job look much easier today! Edith was born in 1878, and wrote this before she married John Boothman in 1898, at age 20.
Take 1 ounce of salts of tarter, 2 ounces carbonate of ammonia, 1 lb. Package of concentrated lye. Put all ingredients into a gallon of warm water, and when all is dissolved (which will take 2 or 3 hours) it is ready to use. It should be kept in a jug well corked and away from children.
Instructions for Use- Take one capful of the fluid, with one half a bar of soap, cut into thin slices, and put into one half a boiler of water. Put in clothes and boil for 20 minutes or more, the clothes having been soaked all the previous night, then suds and rinse. Only especially dirty spots will require rubbing.
For the second batch add a little more fluid and proceed as with the first. The sudsing water will have enough of the fluid in it for coarser articles and the colored cloths.
She is bending over her handmade laundry basket folding wash just taken off the clothesline. Tucked into the basket is Edith’s very own recipe for laundry soap she titled “Washing Made Easy” (circa 1898) complete with instructions on how best to
use.
I have many fond memories of Grammy Boothman and have learned much more about her as we have poured through the journals left by her. In doing this research, we came across the following and thus the figure was created.
Here is a great handwritten note of Edith’s as she learned the secrets of being a good wife, who keeps her laundry sparkling white. (Was this taken from her mother’s recipe?) Makes our job look much easier today! Edith was born in 1878, and wrote this before she married John Boothman in 1898, at age 20.
Take 1 ounce of salts of tarter, 2 ounces carbonate of ammonia, 1 lb. Package of concentrated lye. Put all ingredients into a gallon of warm water, and when all is dissolved (which will take 2 or 3 hours) it is ready to use. It should be kept in a jug well corked and away from children.
Instructions for Use- Take one capful of the fluid, with one half a bar of soap, cut into thin slices, and put into one half a boiler of water. Put in clothes and boil for 20 minutes or more, the clothes having been soaked all the previous night, then suds and rinse. Only especially dirty spots will require rubbing.
For the second batch add a little more fluid and proceed as with the first. The sudsing water will have enough of the fluid in it for coarser articles and the colored cloths.
She is bending over her handmade laundry basket folding wash just taken off the clothesline. Tucked into the basket is Edith’s very own recipe for laundry soap she titled “Washing Made Easy” (circa 1898) complete with instructions on how best to
use.
Edith May "Grammie Boothman"
SaraSally North Country Personalities
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