Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Clothes Line


A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link

For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by

To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"

And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths"
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth

To folks who lived inside
As brand new diapers were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could

So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.


It also told when illness struck,

As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, "Gone on vacation now"

When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon

If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way..

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.

Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.


I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

2 comments:

  1. Hope Billy Bob can tell us more stories about George at the hotel. Not many could tell any of those stories.

    Joe C.

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  2. Jim Greene knew Uncle George pretty well, I think. How about it, Jim, any stories about him?

    George would come over to the paper office every Thursday and get all the people who were permanent hotel dwellers a paper. I remember him slightly, seemed very nice and articulate to me.

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