Wednesday, July 19, 2000
Wednesday, July 19, 2000 |
| Chores
have become more bearable in the last 10 years By PAT NEWMAN I would have been a complete failure as a middle class woman in the early 1900s. Based on the British serial “1900 House,” which has aired on PBS, I learned that the main focus of my existence would have been to cook, clean, wash clothes and try to maintain my sanity. The dear woman who gave up all her modern appliances and conveniences to live the life of a turn-of-the-century drudge for three months with her career-military husband and four children deserves a title from the Queen. Lacing oneself into a corset every day is bad enough. Layering another five pounds of clothing over it is staggering. I can't imagine life before lycra and permanent press. Washing clothes was a two-day ordeal in our grandmothers' time. Start with boiling water, add soap flakes, cottons and stir. Then it's time to wring them through the “wringer”— at least an another hour's work. Great for the pecs, though. Clothespin on line to dry and pray for sunshine. Finally, the fun part — ironing cotton. In between, there's sweeping, dusting, beating rugs and errant children, shopping at the market and preparing meals on a black iron stove that resembles Thomas the Tank Engine. Evening entertainment might include a game of charades or reading aloud. I would assume bedtime would be around 8 p.m. so the “lady of the house” could rise with the chickens the next morning for the next round of chores. No wonder a woman's life span was so short. She literally worked herself to death! I wonder if in another 100 years, there will be a sequel called “2000 House.” Imagine a Jetson-like family shaking their heads as they watch Mom bustling around the kitchen, frantically pressing buttons on the microwave, talking on the cordless phone and popping ice cubes from the refrigerator door into a glass simultaneously. Dad is parading an archaic machine called a lawn mower from left to right in the front yard and the children are huddled around a gigantic box called a television watching animated figures punch each other out in the name of entertainment. Ah, life in the year 2000. Can it get any better than this?
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