{
 "id": "mary-weston-fordham/the-washerwoman",
 "title": "The Washerwoman",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Mary Weston Fordham",
 "poet_slug": "mary-weston-fordham",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Magnolia Leaves",
 "book_slug": "magnolia-leaves",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 3,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1897,
  "venue": "Magnolia Leaves (1897)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/magnolialeavespo00ford"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/mary-weston-fordham_magnolia-leaves",
  "file": "magnolia-leaves.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/mary-weston-fordham-magnolia-leaves-full-text-1897-preface-by-booker-t-washington",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006775637"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 56,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 48,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "With hands all reddened and sore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With back and shoulders low bent,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She stands all day, and part of the night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till her strength is well-nigh spent.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With her rub⁠—rub⁠—rub,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And her wash, rinse, shake,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the muscles start and the spirit sinks,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the bones begin to ache.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "At morn when the sunbeams scatter",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In rays so golden and bright,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She yearns for the hour of even,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She longs for the restful night.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Still she rubs⁠—rubs⁠—rubs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the energy born of want,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the larder’s empty and must be filled⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fuel’s growing scant.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "As long as the heart is blithesome,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will her spirit bear her up,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And kindness and love imparteth a zest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To sweeten hard life’s bitter cup.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But to toil⁠—toil⁠—toil,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the grey of the morn till eve,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is an ordeal so drear for a human to bear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which the rich can hardly conceive.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What part in the world of pleasure?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What holidays are her own?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the rich reck not of privations and tears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Saying, “she is to the manor born.”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So dry those scalding tears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That furrow so deeply thy cheek,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For rest⁠—rest⁠—rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will come at the end of the week.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yes, even on earth there’s a day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When labor and toil must cease,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The world at its birth received the mandate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the seventh day of rest.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When the sweet-toned Sabbath bells",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Break o’er the balmy air,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then sing⁠—sing⁠—sing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the morning stars may hear.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For the frugal table spread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the crust and the humble bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When He to whom all earth belongs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had not where to lay His head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then toil for thy daily bread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let thy heart like thy hands be clean,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And rub⁠—rub⁠—rub",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till thy bones all ache, I ween.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With hands all reddened and sore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With back and shoulders bent low,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou hast for thy comfort that rest, sweet rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will be found on the other shore.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then they who’ve washed their souls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will dip in the crystal tide",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the fountain clear that was oped to man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the Saviour’s wounded side.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}