Historical Tidbits: Servant - Mistress Relations

Daily Diary, May 2, 2022, Day 610: While it is taking longer than I thought it would (surprise, surprise), I did make progress on my task of reviewing the first chapters of the novella this weekend. I completed my edit of chapters 1-6, doing a lot of to fill in details, cut extraneous sentences, and expand on a minor plot thread. The result was just shy of 1000 new words written.

Husband and I are watching Around the World in 80 Days on PBS (thanks to a suggestion from one of you to watch, quite enjoying it.) In the third episode we watched last night, the main character (snooty Englishman) expects his “valet” to unbutton his shirt for him as he gets ready for bed (and has difficulty doing it on his own when the man leaves in a huff.) Coincidentally, earlier in the day I had edited the following paragraph from my work in progress that touched on the similar issue about the odd intimacy between servants and their employers.

The following section is from Esther Stein’s point of view. She is a German immigrant,  now wealthy, who lives in the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse with her husband Herman. Kathleen Hennessey is the main servant in the household.

“Kathleen, the dear girl, had waited up for Esther to arrive home in order to help her get ready for bed. To do so, she first unfastened the long row of ivory buttons on the bodice of Esther’s maroon silk, buttons that Esther’s arthritic fingers found increasingly difficult to manipulate. Then she helped her get out of her underskirt, petticoats, drawers, and corset, before sliding the soft flannel nightgown over Esther’s head and shoulders. Finally, Kathleen had unpinned and gently brushed and re-braided her hair, before leaving to go across the hall to the nursery where she slept with Abigail.

There was a time when Esther angrily rejected the idea that as a proper lady she needed a servant to take care of her in this fashion. She had preferred to do these simple tasks for herself…or better yet…let her husband do them. Now she truly appreciated Kathleen’s help, especially when Herman was out of town.” ––Mrs. Stein Solves a Crime

In my first book, Maids of Misfortune, in a similar fashion, I addressed the contradiction between the strict ideas about propriety held by middle class Victorians and their relationships with their servants. In the scene below, Annie (my main protagonist) is pretending to be a servant to find out who killed the head of the household. In this servant role, she has brought the young man of the household water to wash with so he could sober up for dinner.

“All of a sudden, the complete impropriety of her thoughts struck her. Looking up, she saw that Jeremy had finished toweling his hair and was staring at her. Annie immediately blushed, which Jeremy seemed to find quite amusing. Furious with herself, she snatched up the basin and pitcher, thereby spilling some of the water, and fled the room.

The sound of Jeremy’s laughter wafted after her. Once out of Jeremy’s sight, she slowed down, in part because it was awkward to carry a basin filled with water and a pitcher at the same time but also because she was wrestling with thoughts she found contradictory and confusing. It had occurred to her that no one would find it terribly immoral for a servant to be alone with a half-dressed man. Female servants routinely were expected to serve their masters in the privacy of the bedroom, lighting the fire, bringing up the water or perhaps a cup of coffee in the morning, even if the master was still in bed. There had probably been ample opportunity for Jeremy to become intimate with Nellie if he had wished, and, from her boyfriend’s description, Nellie might have welcomed these attentions. Jeremy definitely could be the gentleman who was giving her gifts.” ––Maids of Misfortune

PS. I am still trying to figure out which of these daily posts (or topics) most of you are enjoying. I’ve never tried putting in snippets of my writing before, so I wondered whether you liked getting them, so a like or a comment would be much appreciated.