Monday has been "warsh" day since way back. Per "Our Own Snug Fireplace" by Jane C. Nylander whose book covers 1760-1860(excuse the typos): Laundry was always a difficult task, especially for large families and for those caring for infants or the cronically ill. Family members dreaded laundry day, which was often the subject of jokes and satire focused on bad tempers, cold food, and exhausted women. If men and boys were advised to keep out of the house on laudry day, it was for good reason. Mondays were the favored day for this hard work, probably because women were relatively rested after the tranquility of the Sabbath, and they wished to complete the heaviest part of their work early in the week. In the best of weather, doing laundry meant a day outdoors carrying large quantities of water in heavy and awkward wooden containers, maintaining fires, and tiresome lifting, rubbing, and scrubbing. In wintertime, when laundry was done inside, warm steam from the boiling water filled the room, but spilled water might freeze on the floor, and drying was never accomplished easily. In the coldest waeather, clothes put out to dry would freeze stiff. The recommended washday procedure was: "Assort the clothes, and put the white ones to soak the night before in warm water. In assorting the clothes, the flannels are to be put in one lot, the colored clothes in another, the coarser white clothes in a third, and the fine clothes in a fourth lot. Wash the fine clothes first in suds and throw them, when wrung, into another tub of suds. Then wash them in the second suds, turning them wrong side out. Then put them in the boiling bag and let them boil in strong soapsuds for half and hour, moving them about with the wash-stick to keep them from getting yellow in spots. Take them out of the boiling water into a tub, and rub the dirtiest spots. Then rinse them, throwing them, when wrung, into a tub of blueing-water....Then wash the courser white articles in the same manner. Then wash the colored clothes....Lastly wash the flannels". This is an utterly fascinating book. It's primarily about New England homes, however, when New England subject matter is lacking, the author looks to Pennsylvania German sources to fill in the gaps. Almost makes you appreciate the days of the wringer-washer.....(well almost!). Sue (Miller) Bosevich