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| Rhoda but not THE hat |
Being a parlour maid, meant for three weeks to a month in the year, she and a skeleton staff were left behind to "mothball" the hall, while the family moved to warmer climes. This was a enjoyable period of Mum's life as she and the rest of the staff had it easy. The Housekeeper told them, that as long as they did there jobs, she didn't mind if it got a little lax. This meant that Mum and her friends could examine the rooms in the great house.
They knew it was more than their job's worth, to go into the master and mistress's rooms, but in the attics, they found treasure troves. There was suitcases loaded up with dresses and suits of the families and also diaries and love letters. Mum and her pals, used to hurry through their work, to rush up into the attics. There, they would try on the dresses, and read the diaries and imagine that they were the ancestors. They found out all the indiscretions, skeletons and let their imaginations run wild. The Housekeeper knew all this, for she'd been with the family for years and also been in the attics. So, in a way, Mum and her pals were following a staff tradition.
The family of the house, would hold hold dinner parties and overnight guests would bring their staff with them to not only augment the house staff, but also have servants to look after their needs. This was a mixed blessing for Mum as she'd be roped in to serve at mealtimes, but fortunately, she was taught by the butler. She never actually described these occasions in detail, but what she did describe was, that with the extra staff, came extra gossip. This was frowned upon by the managing staff but the maids used to chat before bed.
She found out all sorts of things. There was many a time she found out, that the lord or gentleman that arrived (fashionably late) had also arrived with a fashionably high class prostitute. She knew if any couple were not getting on and the master of the house, was spending time at his club... It was an underground intelligence and it really made Mum think that "they" were probably as bad as any commoner.
OK going to close, with another Mum tale. On the eve of the family's return to the house, Mum was informed that because of a chambermaid being ill (She remained in Halifax (I'm assuming she was in Hospital) Mum would be promoted to chambermaid for the mistress of the house, for a few days until the other chambermaid got well. Mum didn't mind this, as long as it wasn't a permanent position, as the mistress tended to be a little overtaxing.
The mistress arrived home with plenty of luggage and Mum laid out her mistress's formal gown and garments for her to change into for dinner. (OK getting fed up with typing "Mum" all the while, so going to call her by her given name. so everybody, meet "Rhoda") Now, as the mistress left the room, Rhoda was expected to tidy the bedroom, put the mistress's clothes away for washing and pick up anything else, strewn around the bedroom. She'd got most away and picking up the mistress's traveling hat, she tried it on. She liked how it looked, and so, she placed it into it's hat box and put it on top of the cupboard with all of the mistress's other hats.
Rhoda (and the rest of the staff) had 1 weekend in every month off (it was staggered so that there'd always be enough staff to cope). So, Rhoda and one of the cooks went to Halifax. The cook's family lived there and they invited Rhoda to stop. Now Rhoda hadn't forgotten about the hat, and how good she looked in it. She'd told the cook , and so the very next day, the cook and Rhoda searched the town. Disappointed that they hadn't found it, they were returning to the cook's family home, when Rhoda had an idea. They stopped in a Haberdashery and sure enough, there was a pattern for the hat. Rhoda bought the pattern and fabric and the cook and her returned home.
The weeks went by and each night, Rhoda committed a small amount of time making this hat. It was of great felt and it had a peacock's feather in it. She finally finished the hat, and then she had a brainwave about the feather. She got hold of the boot boy, and persuaded him, to chase one of the hall's peacocks towards the gate of the hall's walled garden. He knew he was going to make sixpence out of it and so, the game was afoot.
Rhoda and the boot boy woke early, and in that misty dawn, they both went in search of the peacocks. Sure enough, they found one and the chase was on. The peacock ducked and dived and cried out but the boot boy had the measure of it, and chased it towards the open gate. It shot through the gate, like "Shit off a shovel" and to it's surprise, Rhoda was waiting behind the wall to pull a feather out of it's bum. With an indignant cry, the peacock flounced off and Rhoda and the boot boy exchanged the money, both smiling happily.
On Rhoda's next weekend off, the hat received it's grand showing. On the way out, Rhoda heard the mistress of the house call her back. "Rhoda, who gave you permission to wear MY traveling hat?", she said. "No one, Ma'am" Rhoda replied. "But it's not your hat", Rhoda said. "Nonsense", the mistress said, and with that she ordered another maid to fetch the hatbox, with her hat in (Fully expecting it to be empty). The maid returned, and with a flourish, the mistress flung open the lid, only to see her hat (an exact copy on Rhoda's head) lying there.
She hastily apologised to Rhoda and asked her where she'd got it. Rhoda told her. "And how much did it cost you?" she asked. Rhoda said, " 3 shillings and sixpence" (3 shillings for the fabric and pattern and sixpence for the boot boy). The mistress look astonished, "I purchased mine for 12 guineas"> With that, Rhoda curtsied and went her merry way.
1 guinea = £1-1s-0d ( £1/1/- ) = one pound and one shilling = 21 shillings
(which is £1.05 in todays money)
shilling (which is 5p in todays money)
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