>>The heat-on-the-stove irons were called "flat irons" when I was young. Well -- they were "flat" alright, and after using one for several hours the user was not only "sad" but had a sore arm and back. I speak from experience! My mother called them "sad irons" as had her mother before her. Not sure why. But if one had a good arm and some skill and practice, they did a good job. At our house, on Monday morning, clothes were scrubbed on a washboard with homemade lye soap, whites were boiled while being poked and agitated with a long stick, rinsed and wrung dry by hand. It was a physically hard thing to do. Often my dad would come in and help with wringing the clothes. Then they were dipped in a starch solution, wrung again, and dried on the line. Then they were "sprinkled down" with water, and rolled up to sit and become uniformly damp. When times were better, my mother had store-bought laundry soap. In the late 1930's we got a gasoline powered Maytag washer with a wringer on top of it. What a wonderful thing that was! That all happened on Monday (wash day). By Tuesday the clothes were ready to iron. The irons were heated on the top of the wood (or coal) burning stove. The surface of the stove had to be very clean of course or you'd ruin your clothes. The more irons you had the better because they got cool rather quickly. Having them just the right temperature for whatever you were ironing was an art and a science. The ironing board had to be near the hot stove which was nice in winter but summer ... was not so nice. In the winter, the irons were heated to just the right temperature, wrapped in flannel, and everyone got one or two of them to put in bed at their feet. The good old days? Well, sure in some ways. And it made us old timers what we are today -- survivors and what our kids and grandkids call "tough old birds." But I gotta tell you I do love my modern electric gadgets. And three cheers for permanent press! Jeanne Surber (Another tough old Iowan basking in the California sun)