[Pride and Prejudice] Stupid life in the 18th century

One day not long afterward, Baldwin Stocker invited Mr. Gardiner's family and Bennett's mother and daughter back.The Stocker family also has a widowed mother, Mrs. Stocker, and a pair of 11-year-old twin girls, Blanche Stocker and Hulda Stocker.The two sisters have fair skin, darker red hair, and green eyes with deep-set sockets.It's still a little baby fat because it hasn't grown yet.

They were very glad to see the Miss Bennets. "We heard from my brother about your afternoon tea party, and my brother said that the dim sum is very delicious; this time you come to try our craft."

"It's an honor."

Young girls who are younger can always talk about it, nothing more than the things they have learned, piano, painting, embroidery, and cooking.While talking, they also walked to the piano. The twins' performance is undoubtedly outstanding; but when it comes to embroidery, the two ladies of the Bennett family are also good. The color scheme is also very novel.

Hearing that the Bennett family did not hire a tutor, the twin sisters expressed their regret. "Your mother must have spent a lot of effort in educating you. But for the attainments of piano and painting, it is better to hire a professional tutor."

So the little ladies chatted about the girls' boarding school again, and the twins relayed what the adults said; "It's a place where you can get a little education and there is no danger of becoming a genius." Several people laughed together.

"You still need to have some hobbies, not to mention learning how to manage the house." Elizabeth said, a little lamenting the ease of girls in this era.

"Yeah, but my mother will definitely not let us go to boarding school. The environment is still comfortable at home." One of the twins said.

"Well," added the other; "mother's going to have another governess when we're thirteen, maybe learn a little Latin or French, and dance too."

"Hey, now our father teaches writing and calculation, and our mother teaches us embroidery and cooking." Not knowing, Jane felt a little sad.

For dinner in the evening, Mrs. Stocker's maid made a curry stew, with chicken nuggets, potatoes, carrots, and curried beef soup. (Sure enough, it is a versatile curry~!) There are also some fresh fruits and vegetables, and the dessert is pudding cake.

The adults drank some wine, and the young ladies all drank milk tea.After the meal, the men went to smoke cigars again, and the ladies drank tea. After everyone talked about the news in the newspaper, the visit ended.

And Jane also moved the idea of ​​wanting a tutor.

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Seeing that Mr. Bennett will come to pick them up in two days, the Bennett sisters are eager to go for a stroll in the street.Mrs. Gardinal then took little Ellen as a companion, and Mrs. Bennett was also in good spirits.

While shopping, I ran into Barry Weir, who was shopping for a new home with his sister Ida Weir.With this income, Weir's family has moved from the East District to a place close to Gardinal's house. The rent is only one year, which is enough for Weir to go to India for two or three round trips.Barry Weir also has a younger sister and younger brother.The two Bennett sisters immediately felt a desire to visit, and the children were no different.Mrs. Gardenal and Mrs. Bennett considered that it was not convenient for Weir's house to entertain them at present, so they told Barry Weir to send them home later.

The four of them walked towards Weil's house, which was indeed closer to the market on the edge of the East District. Although the street was crowded and the houses were not too big, the sun could still shine.

The gate is on the street, and there is a dining room next to it, which is connected to the kitchen. Although it is a little old, it is clean. It seems that their family has been busy cleaning up these two days.

Ida Weir walked ahead with a large bundle of coarse cloth, and brought the two Miss Bennetts into the room of himself and his sister.

There are three rooms on the second floor, two bedrooms and a living room.The living room has not been tidied up. Ida Weil put the coarse cloth in and closed the door.Barry Weir followed behind and put the small round table brought back into the window of his sister's bedroom.

Ida Weil looked at the soft skirts of the two ladies and smiled shyly. "I just moved and haven't tidied it up yet, but this place is much better than where we live in the East District. The two ladies can just sit on the bed." While wiping the small round table with a rag from the window sill, she got up and went downstairs to boil water .

Barry Weir talked about their residence in the East District with a calm expression.There is only one room, but fortunately it has windows; there is not much furniture, so there is nothing to move.A few stools are placed in the current downstairs dining room, as well as a teapot, several pots, and a few knives and forks; at any rate, I have bought a bed now, and I used to sleep on straw in the East District.

Both Jane and Elizabeth couldn't imagine that Barry Weir was still a crew member of the British East India Company and had a stable income, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult.

Regardless of ancient or modern times, isn't any company trying to exploit the surplus value of laborers?The vast majority of profits are enjoyed by shareholders and top management.The British East India Company was founded in 1600 with a capital of 7.2 pounds and 125 shareholders.Although brilliant, all the value created belongs to those shareholders.Obviously, this group of entrepreneurial and influential businessmen will not have much kindness.

Barry Weir felt that since the families of the two young ladies did not deliberately let them avoid low-level commoners like himself, it was natural for them to know about these world situations.The daughters of the little gentry's family really have no restrictions in this regard. Even those boarding monastery schools require the ladies to do some very low-level housework, just to smooth the delicateness of the noble ladies.Moreover, the daughters of this era often mend clothes for the poor, especially children.

After listening to Barry Weir's plain statement for a while, there was a knock on the door downstairs, and then another voice came up.It turned out that the other two children of the Weir family had returned, and Ida Weir led them up to say hello to the Miss Bennetts.

One of them is the 11-year-old brother Wendell Weil, and the other is the 9-year-old little sister Daisy Weil.Daisy Weil's eyes were still a little red, and her speech was a little twitching.

Only after Jane asked, Ada, Wendell and Daisy were all child laborers in textile factories.

They often work for 14 to 18 hours in a low-slung factory building with closed doors and windows, where flying flowers often float into their lungs. They only have 40 minutes to eat and 20 minutes to clean the machine.I watched helplessly as children around me had their fingers broken and their limbs were crushed; there were endless accidents in the textile factory.Moreover, the income of child labor is not high, normally less than 7 shillings per week.But this time the three of them didn't work for a full week, and Wendell and Daisy went to settle the settlement, but they didn't even get a penny.

Barry Weir didn't know the mood of his younger siblings, so he just stroked the head of his little sister Daisy and comforted him softly. "It doesn't matter, my brother has made money this time, and he will bring back a lot of things next time he goes to sea. It doesn't matter if he doesn't go to the textile factory." The three little guys worked so hard, and what they got was just a little ration of their own. What can he do with his meager salary?After paying the rent in the East District, I spent a little more on buying things. This time, the private goods I brought back from my hometown were bought together with others, and they were not worth much in India.

Elizabeth Bennett was very surprised at this time.Only then did she realize that the pocket money she asked Mr. Bennett for was really not small, almost two weeks' income of an adult textile worker.And this income may just be enough to survive starvation. What the Weir brothers and sisters said before they didn't even have beds and bedding!No wonder it was the first time I saw Barry Weir so sloppy in the market. For those people in the East who were struggling to survive, how could they dare to have such extravagant expectations?

Before, she only knew that the squires and wives were busy marrying their daughters, and that the most important things for the young ladies were to study and show off their talents, go to balls, and find a husband.Mr. Bennett earns 2000 pounds a year as long as he collects rent; and the income of the first male Darcy and the second male Bentley is even more exaggerated.Those incomes and dowries are just a series of numbers, like Darcy's 1 is just four zeros.

Jane was silent. Both she and Elizabeth had their own pocket money, but they had no plans to give it to the Weil family.There are many people in the East End who don't even have a permanent home. The Weirs have at least moved out.Although moved with compassion, at least not in this way, Jane suddenly admired these children.

Jane Bennett is still only 9 years old, her three views have not yet formed, and her class concept is relatively shallow.It's like she gave the shepherd Gergil a small biscuit casually, his gratitude; but she didn't understand the gap.She has never visited a farmer's house, and even the clothes in the charity basket that she occasionally mends are collected and washed by Mrs. Aphra.She found herself shallow and pale, and Jane Bennett was destined not to be an innocent girl.Reality opened a window for her, allowing her to see more reality.

Britain in the 18th century experienced the development of the industrial revolution. The so-called revolution meant that many lives were sacrificed!