Ironing the Old Time Way

When we were kids we had to help with the chores, and ironing was one of them.  I can remember heating an old iron on the heating stove and ironing pillow cases when I was only around 5 or  6 years old.  I didn't know how hot the iron needed to be, sometimes I scorched things and caught a scolding from mom.  We drew water from a well, washed clothes in a wringer washing machine and scrubbed work clothes on a washboard using lye soap.  We didn't care a lot for those chores, we'd much rather been guarding the chicken coop from hawks or sweeping the yard.  We did have a little grass in the yard and mowed it with a rotary blade push mower and cut the taller grass with a reef hook. We hoed the garden and had a hard time telling the young corn from grass and young beans from morning glories.  There were lots of good times, though,  like picking black berries, wild greens, and long walks in the woods.  Playing was a big part of our day.  I remember playing outside in the summertime until it got so dark we couldn't see and had to go inside.  We went to sleep on summer nights watching lightning bugs and listening to whippoorwills and katydids.  What simple times they were back then.