Hi Group, Well, I think it very timely indeed, that my copy of the SMITHSONIAN magazine arrived today, with a picture on the cover of Frances Drake, (remember her ?) and an assortment of irons used as props from Paramount movies in 1933. It reminded me of some of these irons, used by my grandmother, that had to be heated on the coal stove for ironing the clothes. Some of them had removable handles for several bottom plates that would be heating, while another was being used. It reminded me of my Mothers' struggles with the washboard, my own skinned knuckles trying to help, the Octagon soap used long before Oxydol and Rinso, and yes, "renching" out the clothes. I also remember my Mother's first electric wringer washing machine, and how we cried all the way to school that first morning because Mother wouldn't let us stay home from school to watch her wash the clothes! SMITHSONIAN magazine quotes an old rhyme: "They that wash on Monday/ Have all the week to dry, They that wash on Tuesday/ Are not so much awry,... They that wash on Friday/ Wash in need, And they that wash on Saturday/ OH! they're (bad word) indeed." Evelyn