The Down and Out King - 5

  EMILY

Kind folks all list to my ditty,

And afford me if you can some pity

I’ve escaped from a place where they try to burk us,

I mean the Poor Law Union Workhouse

I thought I’d best start doing what I suggested straight away, and first went into the kitchen and found the main cook, Hannah Martin. She showed me the recipe she had for porridge, and it did say to let the porridge stand overnight. However, the recipe which I had found
from the 'Aberystwyth Workhouse sounded more promising.

Milk Porridge – makes a gallon
 

16 oz oatmeal

4 pints water

4 pints milk

I suggested that she make the milk porridge for the time being, without adding any treacle to it, to see how it worked out.

“But for 100 portions that will take almost all the milk that I have available,” she complained.

“I will have a word with the dairyman and order extra milk. I want the food to be nutritious and if it costs a bit more, no matter. We will find some other way of saving.”

I suggested that she make up the recipe at about 4 p.m. this afternoon, and then it will be ready and still tasty for when the evening meal is available for the casuals and the house paupers. (I don’t know
what to call them. Pauper sounds so unkind, and inmates makes it sound like a prison. And I can’t call them guests. I think I will call them Regulars, which will distinguish them from the Casuals, and
it doesn’t seem to have such a negative connotation.)

Then I had to find a woman with children who would be willing to help in the schoolrooms - both for the main group of children, and also for the ones in the industrial school.

First I approached Mary Ann Reeves. I noticed from the record that she is a married woman, aged
40, with two children, William, aged 7 and Eliza aged 4. I found her scrubbing the floor in the women’s dayroom.

“Hello, Mrs. Reeves. I am the new Matron, Mrs. Stanley. Please stop doing that for awhile, as I
wish to speak with you about something.”

“I am doing it as fast as I can,” she said, expecting that I was going to criticise her in some way.

“I’m sure you are doing a fine job. But I noticed from the listings that you have two children
here.”

Immediately she became very apprehensive. “Are they all right? Have they been naughty?”

“No, please don’t fret. They're fine. I had a meeting with the school teacher and got him to
agree to have a helper in the schoolroom, and I thought one of the mothers might make an ideal person for this purpose. May I ask you, have you had any education yourself?”

“Not really, ma’am. Not as you would call education. And my husband, he was just an agricultural
labourer with not much need for book learning. I can read a bit and write my name, but that is about all. I couldn’t help the children to learn. But thank you for asking me.”

“Well, I will see who else I can find, and I might come back to you. You perhaps could be mainly used to help the younger children to write their first letters, and you could be learning along with them. I will let you know later if I have found someone more suitable.”

So I went back to my list. I had to eliminate Jane Gingell, although she is listed as having two
children here, she is also listed as being an imbecile from birth. I must make a note of visiting her later to assess for myself her current condition. I wonder what her children are like.

There seems to be another Gingell woman, Hannah, also with two children, hopefully not also an
imbecil. I will go and see what I can about her.

I found her helping out in the scullery, doing the breakfast dishes. I again introduced myself and
asked her to tell me a bit about her background.

“I came here when I fell for a baby,” she said. “That was eight years ago and I had Sophia, and
since I had another baby, Ellen who is six. My mother was a poor widow, and my brothers all worked as agricultural labourers to help support the house, but when I got caught, they said I had to come
here.”

I explained that I wished someone to help with the children in the school, and she seemed overjoyed at the possibility.

“But what about your education. Can you read and write?”

“Oh, yes, Ma’am. I went to school until I was 11. Then I had to quit and become a servant to
help pay for the household, you know, but I can read quite well, and write a fair hand when I need to. Not that I have written anything for years.”

So I thought I had probably found my school helper, and I told her next morning to report to the main teacher, Mr. George Parker. “He will instruct you in what he wishes you to do to help with the children. You must be careful not to play favourites with your own children, or this scheme won’t work.”