Dear Folks, I was recently reminded about the question of actually ironing underwear. It reminds me of a time back around 1946 when I was a teenager who loved to go horseback riding. However, one week I found that I had already spent my $.50 a week allowance and didn't have the $.50 I needed to go horseback riding the coming Saturday. I was desperate and I asked my mother what I could do to earn the $.50. She called our neighbor Mrs. Hawley and told her my dilemma. Mrs. Hawley knew just what I could do for the $.50. She agreed to pay me that amount if I would iron her recent load of clothes. I went over to Mrs. Hawley's house and she had already set up the ironing board in her basement with the basket of clothes nearby. I plugged in the iron and went to work. By that age (around 15) I certainly knew how to iron clothes. It was a rewarding bit of work but when I ran out of the usual sheets, table cloths, napkins, men's shirts, blouses, etc. there was nothing left but Mr. Hawley's cotton boxer shorts. Although I had never ironed men's boxer shorts before, I did that day as best as anyone could. When I showed Mrs. Hawley that I had ironed everything and folded them up properly, she happily handed over $.50 cents to me. She seemed happy and I know that I was. A day or two later my mother had told me that Mrs. Hawley couldn't believe her eyes when she noticed the ironed boxer shorts! I guess that Mr. Hawley never had a pair of boxer shorts that had actually been IRONED! Hey, if you need anyone to iron your clothes, I'm here and I work cheap! :-) vee

Mom always ironed Dad's boxers, and when I was old enough to do the ironing I did them too. After learning with the flat work the boxers gave me practice with something with shape to it yet it wasn't something that would be seen so it didn't matter. Ruth PS: Dad's boxers haven't been ironed since Mom died. At 10:25 PM -0500 3/1/05, Vee L. Housman wrote: >Dear Folks, > >I was recently reminded about the question of actually ironing underwear. >It reminds me of a time back around 1946 when I was a teenager who loved to >go horseback riding. However, one week I found that I had already spent my >$.50 a week allowance and didn't have the $.50 I needed to go horseback >riding the coming Saturday. > >I was desperate and I asked my mother what I could do to earn the $.50. She >called our neighbor Mrs. Hawley and told her my dilemma. Mrs. Hawley knew >just what I could do for the $.50. She agreed to pay me that amount if I >would iron her recent load of clothes. > >I went over to Mrs. Hawley's house and she had already set up the ironing >board in her basement with the basket of clothes nearby. I plugged in the >iron and went to work. By that age (around 15) I certainly knew how to iron >clothes. It was a rewarding bit of work but when I ran out of the usual >sheets, table cloths, napkins, men's shirts, blouses, etc. there was nothing >left but Mr. Hawley's cotton boxer shorts. Although I had never ironed >men's boxer shorts before, I did that day as best as anyone could. When I >showed Mrs. Hawley that I had ironed everything and folded them up properly, >she happily handed over $.50 cents to me. She seemed happy and I know that >I was. > >A day or two later my mother had told me that Mrs. Hawley couldn't believe >her eyes when she noticed the ironed boxer shorts! I guess that Mr. Hawley >never had a pair of boxer shorts that had actually been IRONED! > >Hey, if you need anyone to iron your clothes, I'm here and I work cheap! :-) >vee -- Ruth Barton mrgjb@sover.net Dummerston, VT