Clothesline could make a comeback

Jerry Barney

Published Tuesday, July 15, 2008

“Bringing in the sheets. Bringing in the sheets. We will come rejoicing bringing in the sheets.”

My wife Lois said people under age 40 probably don’t remember the old hymn/gospel song, “Bringing In The Sheaves.” Well, I remember it from way back, but as a kid, I didn’t know what “sheaves” were. So I substituted the word, “sheets.” Mom was amused by this because it was a major struggle for her to bring frozen sheets from the clothesline into the house. She didn’t think this was anything to rejoice about.

This nonsense is actually leading up to something, trust me.

Once, it was a common practice to hang freshly-washed laundry on outdoor clotheslines to dry. A number of people do it today, but not nearly as many as before the days of automatic clothes dryers.

Why I’m thinking of all this now is because I read that there is a renewed interest in hanging clothing on clotheslines to dry, as a means of saving energy by not running the drier so much. Well, that makes sense to me. These days, ANY way of saving energy might be more economical, as well as ecological.

But it seems there is another school of thought on the practice of drying clothes on clotheslines.

Apparently some people think that it is too old-fashioned, unsightly and “low-class” looking. As a matter of fact, some communities ban the practice. I won’t get carried away with venting, but let’s just say I strongly disagree with the attitude described in this paragraph.

We personally don’t hang clothes on lines in our own yard, but whenever I see it done somewhere else, it makes me smile. It strikes me as a very nostalgic, friendly-looking thing to do. And clothing that has been dried outside smells so good!

Well, just like changes in the wind can cause clothesline clothes to blow the other way, it seems the wind of public opinion on this particular subject is changing.

Some communities are lifting their bans on the outdoor drying of clothes. And environmentalists are really encouraging it.

There is an organization called Project Laundry List which exists to promote the practice of outdoor clothes drying. Information about it can be obtained at www.laundrylist.org.

While Mom wasn’t crazy about carrying in frozen sheets, she did like to save a buck wherever she could. And Project Laundry List would make her rejoice.

Jerry Barney is a Fergus Falls resident. He is a former Otter Tail County newspaper editor.