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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sally Sad Iron's Saga Starts


Hi! I'm Sally and I'm a sad iron. "Sad" is an old English term for 'heavy or dense'. I'm made of iron and am quite heavy. But.... I am also unhappy sad, because of the bum rap I've been given in some museums.


My sisters and I live in museums now, because modern women have the luxury of electricity. No one today would want to heat a piece of metal on an open fire or wood stove so that she or he could press clothes.


Back in the early 1900's, my owner was glad to have more than one sad iron so that she could use one for ironing while the others were heating on the stove. (Yes, a female would have most likely to have been my user back then, but men may have used me too!)

Museums don't like to have more than one of me unless we have a story associated with us. So I am asking you for your support to help save me in our museum. I need your stories that will help glamorize me. Please e-mail our museum cmmmcutknife@gmail.com with your story or post a comment below to help my cause. What might have I been used for other than ironing? Was I implicated in a crime? Did I have a famous or infamous owner?

Your stories will make up a new display next summer in our museum so that I won't have to be removed from the museum's collection. :(

Also watch for further postings as I am going out in the world to gain support for my cause. Watch out world, here comes Sally Sad Iron!
Note: The Sally Sad Iron Saga is a lighthearted attempt to engage interest in our museum. All stories will be noted as fiction.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sally could have been used on Tuesdays. Mondays were washdays. Tuesdays were ironing days. By then the wash would have dried on the outdoor lines. The woodbox would need to be filled from a large woodpile. The stove needed to be started to heat water and the sad irons. Before the invention of a wooden iron handle, the metal handles were wrapped. There were lots of burns anyway. The term 'household chores' were really chores back then, but necessary ones. It took a lot of labour to keep a household running. Sally, you were an important part of early homes.

Anonymous said...

My friend Myrt (God rest her soul) used Sally and her ilk for the obvious doorstop duties.

But then, every morning she'd pick one up in each hand and raise them up like dumb bells for muscle strengthening exercises! Curls for her biceps and wrists kept her strong!

Then Sally and her sister were retired to keep the door from swinging closed for another 24 hours.

True story!