Carnegie's Maid

by Marie Benedict

What did it say about society that the best a lowborn, educated girl could hope for was respectable servitude? It was as if all of Dad’s teaching gave me a glimpse into a world for which I longed but had no means of entering.

I learned that when you’ve gone astray, a helping hand will always emerge from the darkness.”

ambition is not only encouraged but rewarded. For men, I mean.

“We all tell tales, Clara. Sometimes for ourselves, and sometimes for others.”

“These old New York society people maintain that all people are not equal, that they are superior to all other classes. I thought you believed in freedom and opportunity for all people. That view is the antithesis of what these people espouse.”