"This is the way we..." Trivia Quiz

Answer: The dripping water onto the motor caused short circuits and electric shocks

"This is the way we wash our clothes..."
From pounding clothing with rocks at the water's edge; to dragging clothes in a bag dropped in the ocean; to the washtubs and scrubbing boards; to the first washing machines that caused short circuits and electrics shocks from unprotected motors; to the first wwooden tubs rather than coppper barrel ones, to the introduction of the agitator and the wringers, the washing machine of the twenty-first century has evolved. It is now the highly functional, sleek, brightly colored, push button, or dial twisted, gentle, regular or super, whites, or permanent press machine. It has low, medium, and full water levels. A separate cavity for bleach, and many with an automatic safety lid that can not be opened while the machine spins keeps us from motor shocks and burns of long ago. No longer is the muscle strength needed that once operated scrubbing boards and hand-wringing water from clothes at the wash tub for optimum laundry results. Doing the Monday wash is now just about a "one finger, push, or twist event".
A special thanks to the Beatty Brothers of Ontario, Canada who were the first to produce an agitator washing machine, and were later followed in the United States by the Maytag Company.
..."so early on Monday morning".

Answer: The Vikings

"This is the way we ironed our clothes..."
In European medieval history, the ironing board consisted of using a table or a flat board between two chairs. Prior to that, it is the Vikings who are said to have been the first people to record how they used a flat piece of whalebone as an ironing board and hot rocks to press their clothes. In nineteenth century America, Sarah Boone, an African American, was one of the first to patent her type of ironing board whose shape was tapered. This tapering was to make the ironing of shirts easier. Later the collapsible feature of the ironing board evolved. Most likely the best fact about using an ironing board today is that it is not half as necessary to iron as it once was. Today's fabrics along with the modern improvements in the washing machine have contributed much to lessen the chore of ironing. "Hurrah for permanent press!"
"...so early on Tuesday morning".

Answer: Ox gall

"This is the way we scrub our floors..."
Ox gall is bile from the gall bladder of an ox mixed with water. To scrub a a pine floor in Colonial America, one might use ox gall the night before scrubbing. In the morning, the floor would again be scrubbed with a mixture of water and sand and sometimes ashes were added. Today there are many products available to scrub floors, but it is Thomas Stewart, who in June, 1891 is credited with the invention of the clamping mop which could wring water from a sponge that has enabled we human floor cleaners to rise from our knees and stand tall to scrub their floors.
"...so early on Wednesday morning."

Answer: Buttons, thimble, hook and eyes

"This is the way we mend our clothes..."
In 1846 Elias Howe invented the sewing machine, but it is mostlikely due to the organizing skills of the home maker that the sewing basket was "invented". According to the book, "A 1001 Old-Time Household Hints", a well-stocked sewing basket is a necessity. The book recommends that sewing baskets contain buttons, a thimble, and hook and eyes. Other sewing needs that the book includes for the basket are white and black cotton thread, black silk thread, needles of various sizes, a pair of small and large scissors, pin cushions with pins, a variety of colored threads, and patching material. The patching material is probably not a necessity due to the amount of "holey" bluejeans that are worn today.
"...so early on Thursday morning.

Answer: A lightbulb

Although one can purchase "a darning egg", the site "Frugal Living for Families" recommends the use of a household staple, the light bulb. Not being an authority on sewing, from my reading, a very basic knowledge of how to go about this task was absorbed. One takes the lightbulb, pushing it to the heel of the sock, then takes needle and unknotted thread and stiches around the hole, to make an unragged surface.

A process known as "weaving the hole" begins, using horizontal stitches and then vertical stitches until a tight waffle-like pattern fills the hole.

This is another way to "mend clothes..."

Answer: Sorghum

"This is the way we sweep the floor..."
Prior to Levi Dickerson making a new broom for his wife from the grain sorghum, most brooms in the US were made from twigs, hay, or grass. These brooms fell apart easily. Although the sorghum broom lasted longer, it too did not stay together permanently although it out-lasted the earlier type of brooms. The sorghum broom became popular by "word of mouth" spreading from community to community. In 1810 the treadle broom machine was invented and the broom became stable by having holes punched in the handle, and pegs placed in the wooden handle. The broom head, wrapped three times with twine, was then attached. Thus, the forerunner of the modern broom or perhaps the saying, " A new broom sweeps clean"?
"...so early on Friday morning".

Answer: As a tool for planting spring bulbs

In the 1936 edition of the book, "1000 Helps and Hints For the Home", it suggests that if your broom breaks, take the handle and whittle it into a sharp point. Without having to bend over so much the long handle and sharp point would make a good tool for planting spring bulbs. Now if only the squirrels do not watch this process!

Answer: Fanny Farmer

"This is the way we bake our bread..."
Fanny Merrit Farmer, after attending and later teaching at the Boston Cooking School was the first author who gave precise ingredients to recipes and a standard structure as to how a recipe is written. Eliza Acton and Isabella Eaton of England had previously written more structured cookbooks giving ingredients, quantities and the time allowed for the making of the recipe. In England at that time, a recipe was called a "receipt". Today all recipes in cookbooks follow the way Fannie Farmer wrote them in her "Boston Cooking School Cook Book" which was published in 1896. In Fannie Farmer's cookbook there are recipes for how to make all American white bread, whole wheat oat bread, banana bread, and bread pudding.

"...so early on Saturday morning."

Answer: Japan

"This is the way we..."
It was not until 1986 that a Japanese manufacturing company developed the first one loaf bread machine. Prior to the one loaf bread, bread making machines could mix and knead the dough but not separate it.

American Joseph Lee, shortly after inventing a bread crumbling machine in the late 1800s, developed the first bread machine to mix and knead dough, which modernized industrial bread making. The improvements to the home bread making machine now make it possible to not only make loaves of bread but also pizza dough pancakes, and many varieties of bread. So nice, we can make our own bread and eat it too. Now about cake...

Answer: All of these

"This is the way we go to church..." The first chorus of the game and ditty ends with the way we go to church. In western culture, any of the above prayer gestures would be appropriate for pantomiming "going to church". In the Jewish faith when praying Amidah (which means standing), the Congregation stands straight with feet together, head tilted slightly downward, and inclined toward Jerusalem.

There are a few physical postures of prayer in the Islamic religion some of which include raising one's arms to heaven palms facing out, crossing the palms of your hands over your heart, kneeling and bowing one's head to the floor.

In the Hindu postures of prayer, one begins with the hands clasped palms together in front of your chest. Other physical gestures of the Hindu prayer ceremony may in the beginning include lighting a lamp, and the final pose of their prayer is the kneeling to the floor, bringing your back forward, arms outstretched and head bowed to arms, much like "child's pose" in Yoga, then standing and bowing three times or more.