A SWISS FAMILY'S LAUNDRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 9894, 26 January 1911, Page 5

A SWISS FAMILY'S LAUNDRY.

Swiss methods of laundering are original, practical, aud labour-saving. The women there have learned well how to make the best use of their opportunities with the least exertion. How they nse the tourists, 'everyone who has travelled >n the country of the Alps knows. They al"o kuow how to make Nature do their housework.

In most of the towns everything that is washed or cleaned is washed or cleaned in one of the big watering troughs that staud at regular intervals along the main thoroughfares. Into it goes everything, from potatoes to human beings, aud the ouly sanitary regulation existent is that it must be cleaned out with a large broom made of bush or twigs after the potatoes have had their bath. But when it rains, then everything else gives way to the family wash— no matter if it is Thursday, or Sunday, or Saturday, or Wednesday—for in Switzerland they seek the rainy days for wash days, instead of deploring a cloudy Monday. The steady downpour provides running water in the village washtub. Into the sweeping current the family linen goes, and there it is whirled and twirled about uuti< every speck of dirt is thoroughly rinsed away. The scrubbing-board is not put into commission at all. Occasionally the good housewife, protected under the family umbrella held over her head by oue of her youngsters, who is allowed to enjoy the drips from tho same umbrella, takes a look at her wash, and eucourages it with a gentle poke with her husband's bast cane. But the rest of the clay she enjoys to the full iv her snug chalet, while the elements do her work. Iv fact, with her conscience at rest that her day's tasks will be done, she can spend her time gossiping with her neighbour, whose conscience is also at peace.