A SLICE OF VICTORIAN LIFE - PART I By Pam North Strolling through Central City, with its well-preserved vintage buildings projecting an ambiance that manages to overshadow the presence of the gaming industry, one conjures up images of what life was like back in Victorian times. This is the first of several articles on various facets of living in that time period. The Victorian Wonder Woman How she did it all is amazing; her life was demanding and filled to the brim with exhausting responsibilities, so much so that it was critical for her to improvise tricks to save time, and to establish interlocking routines that allowed her to accomplish more than one chore at a time. Her day began at sun-up (or even slightly before), both to beat the heat in the summer and to have enough time to accomplish all her daily tasks. Each week in her life typically had a certain rhythm, with each day set aside for specific chores. Monday (also known as "Blue Monday") was wash day. Soaking soiled laundry was begun well before, even as early as Saturday if her religious beliefs forbade any labor to be undertaken on Sunday. Basics taken for granted today (electric washers and dryers, rubber gloves, detergent powder, liquid bleach, fabric softener and spray starch) did not exist for the Victorian woman. Her laundry room was stocked with bars of strong yellow soap, cubes of hard-packed blue powder (bluing), a washtub accompanied by a corrugated metal washboard, a wringer and a scrub brush. The articles that had been soaking were put through the rubber rolls of the wringer as she turned the iron wheel. All laundry was then put through two scrubbings on the washboard, boiled for twenty minutes in another tub of soapy water, rinsed in clear water with some bluing added, then passed through the wringer. Items that were to be starched were set aside for that process, one in which the water was so hot that she managed to avoid scalding her hands only by continually dipping them in cold water. When the washing was done, the laundry was taken outside (or to the attic on rainy days), and hung with wooden pegs on clotheslines. Adding to this labor was the fact that many clothing items were trimmed in fragile laces, trims and buttons that had to be removed for washing and sewn on again afterwards. The leftover wash water was used to clean the floor. Later, the dry laundry earmarked for ironing was sprinkled and rolled up to await that process on Tuesday. Because of the intensive all-day labor of washday, Monday's meals usually involved as little preparation as possible, and often were comprised of leftovers from the Sunday before. Tuesday was ironing day. Supplies for this endeavor included an ironing table, a supply of flatirons (weighing from 5 to 10 pounds each) and potholders to wrap around their handles, skirt board, bosom board (for shirt fronts), sleeve board, fluting iron and fluting scissors for ruffles, starch and a sponge to wipe away any excess, and a cloth-wrapped piece of beeswax to keep irons from sticking to fabric. With the constant reheatings of the irons on the stove, the endless substitution of the proper boards and correct-weight irons required for each type of fabric, and the bulkiness of the materials, ironing was an arduous task. The intensely hot handles of the irons were often a source of burns for their owner, and the irons had to be constantly checked for soot, which would soil the fabrics. Electric irons weren't introduced until 1882, and those were dangerous, emitting flying sparks, weird noises and flashes of light; safer ones were not sold in America until 1904. Taking care of the household's laundry was a formidable job in itself, but it was only a part of all that a Victorian woman was required to accomplish. Next week: More on a Victorian housewife's typical week. Illustration for article may be found at: http://www.geocities.com/victorianlace10/chores.html Use first black-and-white illustration of washing scene (Blue Monday) Caption:  Washing was hard work in Victorian times.