From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

The way my nose is dripping constantly, I know it would be a smart move to buy extra stock in Kleenex. Is it allergies? Could it be construction dust from this new building we’ve moved to? Is this another type of virus going around that has everyone sneezing and coughing and blowing their nose? Dave has emptied two boxes of tissues this morning! He’s miserable…

Remember the years before we had Kleenex? As a kid, we used hankies. The little squares, often embroidered, had to be laundered, even ironed and stored in a dainty pile in my dresser.

Why didn’t I think of hankies earlier? They could have saved me the discomfort of my chapped, sore and swollen, cred-rimmed nose!

They’ve been in my dresser drawer for years, I simply shoved them to the back unused, yellowed, but oh so soft. Remember hankies? Mom used to tuck the tiny squares into her sleeve, an apron pocket, or in her breast cleavage so the soft hanky was always easy to be found and used to dab at a runny nose.

A gentle hanky can be used to wipe away tears of romances gone bad, job woes, pregnancy blues, graduation goodbyes, funeral sadness or wedding tears of joy. We toss those crumpled, used hankies into our automatic washer and dryer. These new fabrics don’t have to be ironed. Just tuck them into your pocket. No one cares if the hanky is ironed. Most folks know little if anything about ironing! Starch has been totally eliminated from our vocabulary.

Mothers’ Day or birthdays meant a handmade card  with a fresh hankie tucked inside and flowers embroiled in one corner. Hankies in my dresser drawer were usually birthday or confirmation gifts from doting aunts or Mom’s friends, rarely from girlfriends.   

Rosebud embroidery or forget-me-not flowers were my favorites as well as those hankies trimmed with lace or an embroidered initial. Wedding hankies were pure white linen trimmed with wide lace. Valentine hankies often had “Be Mine” or “Love” printed on the hankie. At Christmas  red and green poinsettias or a small trimmed tree decorated the tiny treasure.

The Ben Franklin store downtown carried these treasures at prices we kids could afford. Their huge selection of penny candy, especially the coconut squares of brown white and pink, claimed any change coming to me after I’ve purchased my gift with my weekly allowance.

Naturally hankies needed washing and ironing so Mom tossed hankies in the Maytag washer-wringer in the basement of bath towels and dish towels.  She had a strict routine for wash loads: separate the towels, underwear, colored clothes and work pants.  Our Maytag wringer-washer noisily churned and chugged, dancing on the cement floor under cobwebs attached to the old ceiling pipes from our frightening monster furnace with numerous arms.

Remember that damp smell oozing from the dark, dank basement? I was never comfortable nervously creeping down the rough, wooden stairs to pull that one lightbulb room when Mom had me go down to the basement to get a jar of juice or chokecherry jelly she had canned last fall.

I’d start sneezing. My nose would start dripping… I needed a hanky.

I’m so happy Kleenex is available today!

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.