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The young woman had apparently been in the middle of a washing day, for she wore an apron, her sleeves were rolled up to the elbows and there were soapsuds on her hands. If she had had time to put on her good clothes (her best hat had imitation cherries on it) she would have looked dreadful; as it was, she looked rather nice.
-C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

…he saw a lithe young figure flash out of the kitchen door carrying a clothesbasket. She put it down on the stone pavement by the pump and stooping, took out a roll of cloth and shook it out till it filmed into a curtain, thin and white. With firm brisk fingers she fastened it to the clothesline just a step away. Then she stooped and took out another roll and treated it the same way, till the row of curtains were blowing gaily in the morning breeze.
-Grace Livingston Hill in Time of the Singing Birds

Coming home, I found D hanging up washing…
-from All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C. S. Lewis

She had kilted her skirt above her knees and a brilliant orange diklo was tied over her beautiful untidy hair. Her coral beads swung as she moved, and when she bent over the tub the movement of the sunlit water sent waves of light rippling… She was in a temper and never more beautiful than on her washing day. She dragged the verminous garments into the water and trod them under foot with savage triumph, her hands on her hips and her head flung back. Her full red lips were parted and soon, when the rhythm of the work took hold of her, she would begin to sing.
-Elizabeth Goudge in White Witch

Martha came out of the back door with a basket of clothes and set the basket down hard on the neat turf under the clothesline. She was wearing her working clothes and a large gray cloth pinned firmly about her hair.
-Grace Livingston Hill in Miss Lavinia’s Call

“I loved getting to experience a clothesline all summer long. My family doesn’t have one, but I discovered that hanging laundry is the most relaxing household chore ever.”
-Jessica Elisabeth in “Babies, strawberries, laundry, and asparagus…”