Part I, Chapters 11-12

[Tristram]

What a tragedy this could have become, had the husband not come home. After all, the disinfectant theory seems quite convincing to me, and apparently in former times, people were quite happy-go-lucky about keeping poison or poisoned food for everyone to "reach" ;-)

[Everyman]

Tristram wrote: "What a tragedy this could have become, had the husband not come home"

Tragedy? Or blessing?

[Tristram]

Does it say anywhere how long they have been married? This bit of information might help to tell whether it would have been a tragedy or a blessing ... ;-)

[Bionic Jean]

I can see where you're all coming from, but I think that working people did sometimes have a best outfit. Flat caps were ubiquitous (you only have to look at photos of my Granddad and his workmates, around the turn of the century) but a little earlier I think there was a sort of squashed and battered top hat - I'm thinking of the Artful Dodger. Not sure really. In any case, they looked much more worn than the rather spruce illustration LOL! All clothes were kept - and darned and patched until they wore out - and were handed down to the next family member.

Certainly bare feet were common. My mum remembered that. But she also remembered having to polish her Dad's working boots every morning until they shone. (Her family job as a little girl was to clean everyone's shoes.) It was a point of pride. He worked all day in a brass foundry, so most workers would not bother and just have mucky boots all the time.

I think she would have been very judgemental about those pictures of poverty. I think she was rather like the Rachael of this story - poor but proud, and that is what the Protestant work ethic of that time was about. However poor you were, you kept yourself clean and tidy, and where you lived clean and tidy, even if all there was in it was a couple of sticks of furniture and nothing to cover the floor.

She would have been appalled by all the litter surrounding the doors, or evident in the rooms, and feel that there was "no need to be like that". She used to say they spent their little bit of money on the wrong things too, not cheap nutritious food like potatoes but something quick out of a packet like crisps (thinking of the more recent photos from the 1960's now).

I think there is some truth in her view, but also true is that when poor folk are so ground down by their poverty, they lose all the will to clear the place up a bit - or even stay clean.

[Kim]

Jean wrote: "I can see where you're all coming from, but I think that working people did sometimes have a best outfit. Flat caps were ubiquitous (you only have to look at photos of my Granddad and his workmates..."

I like your idea of looking at old photos of family members. My dad was born in 1917 and I remember seeing old family photos, I'll have to go look for them sometime, I can't remember now what happened to them all. Around here there were and still are a lot of farms, but back when my dad was young I think most of the men worked either in the coal mines or one of the tool factories, making taps, and screws and things like that. And many women, all of them in dad's family, worked in the "shirt factories" we called them. By the time I was growing up most of the shirt factories were closing and coal mining isn't done the way it used to be, many of the coal companies have shut down. But I'll have to look for the old photos to see what they wore back then.

Oh Jean, I was thinking of you a few weeks ago when I was going through some of my dad's papers. In them I found the marriage license of his parents, his father was shown as being from Williamstown, Pennsylvania and at his mother's address it just said "England" where in England we will now never know, it's the first time I knew that much. :-)

[Bionic Jean]

Oh isn't that intriguing though Kim! Yes, I should think your family photos will be very similar, as your Dad is the same age. The headgear always surprises me. Everyone always wore a hat of some type, unless they were destitute.