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ANNALS OF NEEDLEWOMEN, 77
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
_ Chapter I. That Tlie Realities Of Life...
several relieving officers in different districts , invariably with _, the same resultwalking * milesfootsore and wearyand at a sad loss of
, , , time , in the vain hope of discovering * some humane district that would own her—not one was forthcoming-. At Marylebone they
told her , " if she chose to go to Kensington they believed she "belonged there , and that if so , herself and children would be
admitted into the union . " She went to Kensington ; they ignored having * anything to do with her ; she returned to the parish in
which she resided , and there , -while attempting personally to make her story heard by the relieving officer , as he passed on his way to
the court , she was given into custody for begging . Nearly driven to despair by the trials that surrounded her , and
the non-recognition of her rights as a human being , she gave up the hope of being relieved , and once more tried to defy starvation
by the exercise of her needle . Finding she could not satisfy her children ' s wants singlelianded , she sold , _23 ieee by piece , her
remaining floor empt furniture y for ro a om bed , and save for her a herself c clothes hair and , table to her satisf , three and y their one children cries mattress for were bread on at ; last the an
all that remained to her . Another year ' s bitter strugg , le , hour by hour 4 s . 6 d fi . g per hting week with at want most , , ) ( broug her earnings ht her before to never the her verge realizing of " de mor ath with e from than its
starvation , " yet further misery was ; machinery , iron slack power , and , her swep emp t from loyer her no the longer shoe- required binding "work her . services Trade , _" . too Wh , was at
was to be done ? Into the union she _tvould not go . "With all her difficulties her children had been well and carefully nurtured . The eldest was nearlold h for service . For eight years she
had been their staff y , stay enoug , and example , and separate they would not whatever happened . For months they had rarel the y had more
traits than , one she meal told me a day of , now thelittle that was ones curtailed ' self-denial ; and and , oil ! patience affecting , and the strong sisterly love , they had for each other ! At last fresh
breathings work after was working found of the sixteen , but three liours irregularl children , when y alone and the oppressivel disturbed room was the y hushed paid silence . , and It of was the the
famil niglit , that washing the widow and , mend by her her one own rushli and ght her , made children time ' s to clothes do the ;
y , neither a blanket they to cover nor herself them . having On Saturday a single ni change ght she of never garment went , or to even bed .
She assured me that often and often she had been so reduced as to day divide ' s food a penny At roll the best among of her times three butter little was ones never for their known entire at
. , three their humble pennyworth boar of d , butchers a pennyworth ' scraps of being treacl boiled e on down their into bread broth , or
for their dinner . To know and talk to this woman was to dismiss any doubt as to l
the veracity of her description , of want . Without being deepy
Annals Of Needlewomen, 77
ANNALS OF NEEDLEWOMEN , 77
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1862, page 77, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041862/page/5/
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