little miss austin

Henry felt that the little sister's foolish ideas were really one set, and he didn't know how she came up with them.

Alice triumphantly accepted her brother's compliment, but still said modestly, it all depends on you to achieve it, and I'm only responsible for planning.

Indeed, there are too many things to do to start a business without watching them yourself.He often sneaks away from the barracks, and his boss has already talked to him, saying, young man, do you have any ideas, let us hear them.So Henry said, I want to be promoted, why I have been in the militia for several years, should I be promoted from lieutenant to captain?

The boss said he would consider it at his discretion.

This Christmas, Jane is very unhappy, because Tom Lefroy said that he can't come to see her for Christmas, and he won't be able to come until March next year.Mom asked, is he coming here in March to discuss marriage matters?

Jane was speechless, “Tom didn’t say it.”

My mother was dissatisfied, "He has been back in Dublin for more than a year, how long does he want you to wait?"

"Mom!" Jane shouted, and suddenly became discouraged, "I'm not in a hurry...to get married." The voice became smaller and smaller.

"What if he met some lady in Dublin and broke off the engagement with you?" Mom said sadly: "It's so far away, and something really happens, what would you do? Cathy is enough to break my heart, if If anything happens to you, my heart will be broken."

"No, mother, Tom is not that kind of man, and I trust his character."

"You are such a silly boy! Don't trust men too much, not everyone is a gentleman."

Jane didn't understand, so she stared at her mother with wide eyes.

Alice, who pretended she didn't exist beside her, thought that Jane is really innocent. She lives in a simple village and goes out to visit her relatives, who are also kind and good people. She has hardly encountered traditional "bad people". , that is, the characters in her novels are at best too secular and greedy for money, and there are very few real bad guys; so she doesn't understand that if a man is a scumbag, he can really do anything!

Of course, this does not mean that Tom will be a scumbag, but it is normal for a mother to think more about her daughter.If there is already a daughter in misfortune in the family, the mother will magnify the danger countless times and always think of the bad, so she is very anxious.

Pastor George was also very worried about his daughters, but he didn't want to show it, he just expressed his support silently.Last year he tried unsuccessfully to get Jane's novel published.Now he has turned to support Henry's new business, and only hopes that Henry will be rich in the future, so he can provide more financial support for his younger sisters—it doesn't need to be too much, 200 pounds per person per year is enough for them to live well.

Henry relayed the words of Pastor George to Alice, and Alice thought that if Dad knew that the typewriter was a profitable product, he would not be too worried.

"Needless to say, as long as there is a profit of 2 pounds a year, after dividends, I can give Cathy and Jane 500 pounds a year."

This is 250 pounds per person. For a single woman like Cathy, 250 pounds is enough for a year.The brief is that if there are many children in the future, it may not be enough, but there is Tom, he can't make no money.

Alice thought for a while, "Yes. I can also give them 100 pounds each."

They divided the shares of the Austin Typewriter Company into 100 shares, Wesley 1 pounds, accounting for 1000% of the shares, Eliza 25 pounds, accounting for 5300% of the shares; Henry was responsible for management, accounting for 12% of the shares; 8%; Mr. Hastings 10 pounds, accounting for 5500% of the shares; cousin Thomas is in charge of the factory, accounting for 10% of the shares; 2% emergency reserve funds; the remaining 3% is reserved for expansion and reproduction funds.

Based on the annual profit of 2 pounds, Henry can get 1600 pounds in dividends, give Cathy and Jane 500 pounds, and have an annual income of 1100 pounds. Without Eliza's money, they can live comfortably.

This is a simple family joint-stock company, and there is no need to use shares to attract senior managers and technology developers like many companies in later generations. The distribution of shares is very simple. Whoever contributes money will get dividends, and whoever contributes will get dividends.Neither Alice nor Henry wanted to share the shares anymore. The existing funds and Mr. Hastings' investment have not been negotiated. Eliza's investment has been used to pay the down payment of the foundry factory, and the factory is starting.

Although the money has not been earned yet, the Austin brothers and sisters have happily planned how to use it.

Henry wanted to buy the small villa where Eliza lived now, or if there were houses in a good location in London now, a small two-story building in London.Eliza wanted to buy a house in London when she fled back from France, but she couldn't find a suitable one at that time, so she just rented a small building. Later, she and her mother, Frieda Fia, went to the vicinity of Steventon, where No idea of ​​buying property in London.

Alice also wants to buy a house in London, but that's a matter of years to come.

When the business of the typewriter company developed and occupied this blank market, it was time to consider starting a publishing house.The brothers and sisters agreed that instead of letting Henry spend several years or even ten years in the small circle of the publishing industry, it is better to directly acquire a small publisher. There are many small publishers with small businesses in London, and they will surely find them who are willing to cooperate. Yes, it means that Austin used money to buy shares and formalized and scaled up the publishing business. The scope of business started with printing religious books. I don’t know how many versions of the Bible are popular on the market. over the bible.

Henry also learned that the publisher in London had rejected Jane's manuscript and was very annoyed.He thinks Jane's handwriting is great!But that person refused without even looking at it!

Alice said angrily that when Jane's novel is published in the future and is popular with readers, she must send a special copy to the publisher to shame him and let him know what kind of treasure he has missed.

Although it is a very childish approach, Henry actually thinks that this is cool enough!

After arranging the company's development route for the next few years, Henry thought, "My lovely little Alice, tell me, how do you know so much?"

"Read books, and what Mr. Hastings told me about the East India Company and other companies' business practices. And, I'm a genius!" She raised her face.

Henry had long acquiesced that she was smart, so he happily accepted her statement.He also said: "Is the annuity for Cathy and Jane too small, or, if you earn more in the future, it will increase every year."

"As long as Jane's novel is published, it will definitely make a lot of money, and then we can give her all the net profit excluding costs." But she quickly changed her mind, "No, it's better to share my dividends with yours. I have a hunch that her novels will be very popular. When she earns 1000 pounds a year, it is guaranteed that Tom will go home and say hello to his wife first. If the wife is in a bad mood, he will have to try his best to coax her happy."

Henry couldn't help but laugh.

Jane didn't know that her brothers and sisters had clearly arranged the question of who had the final say after her marriage. Suffering from lovesickness, she devoted all her energy to writing, and at the same time spent a lot of time writing letters and writing. To Cathy, Tom, Mrs. Lefroy, etc.She wrote the most letters to Cathy, and she would tell Cathy everything, even everyone she met when she went out for a walk.

Alice also has a good girlfriend, and Lucinda writes her one or two letters almost every week. The entire letter paper is densely written, and the content is the same as the letter Jane wrote to Cathy. Talk to Alice.

Like the addition of a little sister to the family, Mr. and Mrs. Gleason are almost desperate - Lucinda's last name is Gleason - whoever wants a son, but in the end, 7 children in a row are all daughters , will also despair to doubt life.

Mr. and Mrs. Gleason quarreled all day long. Mr. Gleason felt that the quality of Mrs. Gleason's "laying hen" was not good. She could only produce daughters and could not bring him an heir; You want your son to be crazy, but you look like a father-in-law.After the quarrel, Mr. Gleason usually slammed the door and went somewhere to get drunk before returning; Mrs. Gleason would cry at home.

Lucinda complained, saying that even the royal family has a queen, why is Dad so obsessed with having a boy.

Things like bloodlines are indeed very important to many people, especially rich people.

The Austin family knows this well.My relative Mr. Knight has no children, but his land property is a limited heir, that is, there must be a male heir. This involves the military service obligation of the land lord to the king stipulated by the law. Although the current military service obligation has existed in name only, the law is the law. The Knight family must have a male heir, so Mr. Knight chose the third son of the Austin family, Edward, as the heir.

The same might be the case with the Gleasons.

Alice wrote back to Lucinda, saying that she can't take care of her parents' problems, as long as she behaves well, Mr. Gleason will take good care of his children, as long as the Gleason family doesn't go bankrupt , each daughter can have a dowry of 800 pounds annuity, of course, this amount may continue to decline due to the increase in the number of children.

Thinking about it this way, Alice felt that the current status of women was really too low. They couldn't get married without money, and they would become reproductive machines after marriage. So, what's the point of getting married?

I really do not understand.

Jane said: "Marriage must be for love. Think about it, if you don't love your future husband at all, what a sad thing it would be!"

"Then I might love his money, too."

"You will not."

"If he has - 10 pounds, maybe I will be tempted."

"Little money fan!" Because the figure of 10 pounds was too huge, Jane didn't take Alice's words seriously at all.

"If you don't have money, you can't. Without a lot of money, you can't buy my love!"

Jane pressed her and scratched her waist again, "You are always money!"

"Money is a good thing, everyone needs it." Alice dodged, couldn't breathe with laughter, and said intermittently.

"Hey! I know that!" Jane is not so lofty that she looks down on money. Only those who have money can be arrogant, but those who have no money can't. talked about.

Alice thought about it, but decided to hold back and say nothing.

Jane's observation ability is undoubtedly very strong. Of course, she has long understood what it means to be a wife: she has to work hard for three meals a day, and she has to face the constant arrival of children. Constantly quarreling, how much love will be left by then?

Therefore, a woman must be rich. If she is rich, at least she doesn't have to worry about what to eat every day.

The most important thing in life is "what to eat in the morning, what to eat at noon, and what to eat at night." No matter in Gresham Manor or Becker House, rich people are very particular about their diet, which is an attitude towards life.Although there is a maid in the Austin family, she does almost all the housework. She is not a professional cook, and she is not very skilled in cooking.My mother also grew up in a well-to-do family. She has cooking skills, but if you want to say how delicious the cooking is, you can't brag about it without conscience.

Cathy, on the other hand, is not bad at cooking, and she is best at making small snacks, but since Cathy is not at home now, Alice feels a little disgusted with her mother's cooking skills.

The large box of spices that she brought back two years ago, Austin’s family couldn’t use them up at all. The trustee sold a lot of them, and gave some to relatives and friends. It has long since been used up.My mother bought a cookbook and marinated beef and pork according to the above recipes. Later, she wanted to marinate all kinds of meat. Anyway, the family raised several pigs, and killing a big pig a year was enough to eat all winter.The marinated meat is more delicious than ordinary bacon, after all, the spices are spared no expense.

Spices can also be used to make cakes and biscuits.Austin's family is not poor, and they can afford wheat flour, and white bread is not mixed with other ingredients, unlike many farmers' homes, where wheat flour has to be mixed with oats or rye.I can also afford meat, and there are at least two meat dishes in the daily dinner.

Alice is used to eating wheat bread, beef, pork, and chicken. It was the last time when I went to the house of my playmate Jacob in Oxford, I realized for the first time that ordinary people eat very little meat, and it is not possible to eat pure wheat bread every day. ——Wheat bread is soft enough and very fragrant. Only those who are used to refined food in later generations will shout to eat coarse grains and eat more vegetarian dishes all day long. There is too much oil and water in it, and there is a panic.

Alice was still very strange at the time: Didn’t Europeans already live a life of drinking big bowls and eating meat?

Mr. Hastings told her briefly that the common people in the Middle Ages did eat more meat than the common people today. The reason for this is probably related to the explosive population growth in England in the past hundred years.Before the industrial revolution started, England had already begun to accelerate the pace of population growth. After the industrial revolution, due to the large-scale cultivation of potatoes and corn, the arable land increased, while the wild land used for grazing decreased. Struggling civilians can’t buy pig feed to feed pigs like the Austin family. They are all free-range. The land area is so large. The increase in arable land will definitely lead to a decline in the production of livestock. Therefore, the current civilians are gradually unable to eat meat. It is a variety of vegetables, as well as high-yielding crops such as potatoes and corn.

Oh, and peanuts!

Alice didn't know that peanuts are also native to South America. After accidentally finding peanuts on the dining table at home, she was overjoyed and expressed her love for them.Austin’s family grows a lot of peanuts, the main purpose is to extract oil, and the residue left after oil extraction can be used to feed pigs, chickens, or as fertilizer.When the peanuts were not old enough, my mother would dig a few trees and cook tender boiled peanuts for Alice to eat. But Alice is in London most of the time now. Mrs. Baker thinks that peanuts are not delicious on the table, no Let her eat more.

A villager in Steventon has dairy cows. During the spring and summer seasons, the farmer’s wife would bring a bucket of milk to Austin’s home every morning. The three Austin sisters are used to drinking at least one glass of milk every day.Alice doesn't like to drink raw milk, insisting that it be boiled and cooled before drinking, and she also wants her sisters to drink boiled milk.

As for freshwater fish, Austin's family often eats them too, but Alice doesn't like to eat freshwater fish because she doesn't know how to spit out fishbone and get stuck in fishbone whenever she eats fish.However, because of transportation problems, it is difficult for sea fish to be transported inland freshly, and she does not eat much sea fish.When Francis was at home, she often mentioned to her that the sea fish eaten on the warship was very fresh, pollution-free, very tender and delicious, but the level of the cooks on the warship was limited. You can only eat delicious sea fish prepared by professional chefs for dinner.

There are many kinds of beans on the table, some she likes to eat and some she doesn't like. Relatively speaking, she is the pickiest eater among the three girls.

There is another important food: wine.

Priests of the Anglican Church do not prohibit alcohol, and the price of "church wine" far exceeds the price of wheat in most years, and even 20 times the price of wheat at the highest point.England does not produce grapes, and most of the wine is imported from France, Spain, and Italy. The common people drink home-brewed beer, cider, brandy and strong schnapps, while the rich drink imported wine.Austin's family also drinks wine. Mom and Cathy make some cider and orange wine every year. They also like to ask who has good wine making recipes to improve their own wine making recipes - moonshine recipes are like private recipes , can be passed on to future generations, is a precious wealth.

The social circle in the English countryside is small, and one of the ways to quickly introduce someone and make people remember at once is "This is Jack who has a cow at home", or "Jack who can make excellent apple pie Aunt Penny."

Then mother is like "the parson's wife".

After two months at home during the Christmas holidays, Alice gained weight again.There is no way around it, "gaining three pounds every festive season" is inevitable for her every winter, but because of her young age, gaining a little weight will only make her look more cute, and it is far from the time to worry about weight.

At the beginning of February, Pastor George took her to London in the family carriage. On the way back to Steventon, he visited the Austin factory in the suburbs of London.

Cousin Thomas showed him around the factory.The foundry has already delivered part of the goods, and they are all piled up in the warehouse. Most of them are metal castings. A typewriter is quite heavy.

When Pastor George learned that a typewriter was actually sold for a sky-high price of 299 pounds, he was also shocked.However, I heard that someone has already paid a deposit, and half of the 100 typewriters have been booked out, so I thought, hey!This business can really be done!

The Gleason family ordered the typewriter. Mr. Gleason still loves Lucinda very much. He has seen how Alice uses the typewriter and thinks it is indeed a fashionable machine. There is such a machine on the desk at home. Typewriter, I suddenly feel that my cultural level has improved.The Gleasons ordered 3 units at once, which is considered a big customer.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief when she got the list of scheduled customers: as long as half of the sales can be made, it is actually a steady profit.

I studied the client list for a long time. Some of them were old acquaintances of Mr. Hastings, some were tutors from Lincoln Law School, some nobles, and many wealthy upstarts, that is, post-industrial revolution like Mr. Gleason. bourgeois nouveau riche.

Unexpectedly, William attracted many customers for her. William's family name was Kingsley, and Kingsley's family also ordered 3 sets.There are also William's cronies. In this way, by the end of February, 2 of the 100 typewriters were open for pre-order, and all of them had been pre-ordered.

When advertising in the newspaper, Alice deliberately didn't say what was going on from No. 001 to No. 010, but only said that reservations would be open from No. 011.Customers can't help asking, who are the first 10 units left for?

At the beginning of March, someone from Kensington Palace finally sent a message to Henry Austin, who was in London, asking him to visit Kensington Palace.

Henry cautiously did not send someone to deliver a letter to Alice in advance, so he followed the palace attendant to Kensington Gardens.

When he came out of Kensington Palace, he went directly to Alice and told her that he had seen His Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales.

His Royal Highness George’s wife is Princess Caroline who was escorted to England by Francis’s warship last time. As a low-ranking officer at the time, Francis also received a small gift from the princess, so he spoke highly of the princess. Not beautiful, but very dignified and generous, a veritable princess.

At that time, people didn't think highly of the Prince of Wales, because the first heir to the throne was ridiculous and overeating without restraint. His weight has now reached 245 pounds. To put it bluntly, he is just a pile of moving meat.

He is 36 years old. He fell in love with a widow with two husbands when he was 21 years old. They got married without the permission of the parliament. Both the church and the parliament considered the marriage between the prince and the lady illegal, so their Children also have no right to succession to the throne.The prince was extravagant and had a lot of debts. Finally, the parliament threatened him by helping him repay the debts and asked him to marry Princess Caroline of Brunswick in order to give birth to a legal heir to the throne.His Royal Highness George, bent over a debt of more than 20 pounds, was forced to agree to the marriage.

The author has something to say:

* In "Downton Abbey", why the eldest cousin can inherit Downton's property is because of the "limited inheritance" law. Master Downton's family only has 3 daughters, which do not meet the legal requirements. The eldest cousin, a distant relative, can inherit Downton manor.

*As for why you have to boil milk before drinking it, raw milk is not hygienic.According to Jane Austen's illness, some modern medical researches believe that Jane may have bovine tuberculosis, which is caused by drinking unpasteurized raw milk for a long time.Jane is the shortest of the 8 siblings, Francis is 91 years old, Edward is 84 years old, Henry is 79 years old, Cathy is 72 years old, even brother George lived to be 72 years old, Pastor George is 74 years old, and mother Cassandra is 88 years old .It can be seen that the Austins are all in good health, and their parents are also very healthy. Jane should have a high probability of longevity.

* Peanuts are generally recognized as originating in South America, and there is not enough archaeological evidence to support the origin of peanuts in China.

* "What did Europeans eat in the 17th and 18th centuries" is from the fourth volume of "Cambridge Economic History of Europe".

*Home brewing is mentioned in the letter she wrote in Jane's biography.

*George, Prince of Wales, will be the "Prince Regent" in the future. During his regency, it is called the "Regent Era".Jane Austen sympathizes with Princess Caroline and hates the Prince Regent very much.