This section is from the book "The Complete Home", by Clara E. Laughlin. Also available from Amazon: The Complete Home.
The home laundry must be well ventilated and lighted, and in the basement if possible, for obvious reasons, the chief being the relief thus afforded to the otherwise congested kitchen and overburdened kitchen stove, while at the same time one other menace to health - the steam generated by the washing and drying - is removed from the main part of the house. It is highly essential that the laundry be properly and completely equipped for the work of washing, boiling, drying, and ironing. Stationary tubs are much to be desired, those porcelain-lined being more sanitary than either soapstone, which has a tendency to absorb grease, or wood, which absorbs the nncleanness from the soiled linen. It is especially necessary that the tubs be as impervious as possible when the linen is soaked overnight. If tubs are to be bought, the paper ones have a decided advantage over the more well-known cedar ones in being much lighter and consequently more easily handled, with only a slight difference in price. It seems so well worth while to minimize the strain of heavy lifting when and wherever one can, since washing at best involves much hard work and fatigue.
 
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