This sure brought back memories for me also. I was taught to always hang the "heavy" items such as rugs and blankets at the ends of the clotheslines so they wouldn't "sag" the middle of the line. And many times for heavy blankets and bedspreads we used 2 lines with the curve on the bottom. Our cats would love to get up in the curve for an afternoon nap!
And when we brought the clothes in, another job was to sprinkle and roll up the starched clothes and put them in the icebox for ironing the next day. I have clotheslines up at my house and will sometimes look out and see neighbors' blankets, etc., hanging on them. It's a wonderful sight!