Pity the Servants

I just read 'Longbourn' by Jo Baker. It was my trusty companion on a long flight from Ireland, a distraction from my discomfort in 30A Delta Economy. Poor servants! Up at 4:30am, blacking the grate, heating water, lighting fires...chilblains were the lot of the servant on cold winter mornings. No set hours; they got up before the family and saw them off to bed. One wonders how they endured it; but for many it was better than what they had at home. Many of the young boys and girls in service were fed adequately for the first time in their lives. That is not to say that exploitation in service (which undoubtedly happened) was morally acceptable.

This is not directly related to this, but as a young nurse, I remember an older one telling me that when she came into Nursing (in the 1950's), she 'had as much milk as she wanted.'

Here, Jo talks of why she wrote Longbourn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI51tP1sOxE

While in ireland I spent a lot of hours on buses. When I wasn't looking out the window, I was perusing 'Helen' by our own Maria Edgeworth. I visited Edgeworthstown many years ago, but failed to appreciate it's cultural and literary significance at the time. 'Castle Rackrent' was the only Edgeworth book I had heard of, and having read that, I fail to think how George 3rd said he understood his Irish subjects after reading it. It is satirical.

Home of Maria Edgeworth

But Ireland! Beautiful as usual. Lush green fields, tree tops waving and sighing in the breeze, fresh cool air on the face. And best of all, the Thousand Welcomes.