My experiences as a young woman were very difficult, for I was the
first child, and had never been brought up with young babies, or
afterwards been where they were. My mother dying when I was three years
old, I had no one to turn to for advice. I had spent all my youth in
the country, and came as a stranger into a strange place, knowing no
one but the man I married. My first child was a very delicate child,
but I have often thought since that perhaps I had not done all things
that were wise, but that would be for want of knowledge. I think a
mother is a peculiarity during pregnancy, for I myself never seemed to
want anything I had cooked myself, and if I went to any other house I
could have eaten the poorest of foods. Then one must not go and buy
what we may fancy, as that is an extra expense to the home; and knowing
there is an additional expense coming, we have to be very careful. I
have not had the Maternity Benefit yet, but that is only a trifle to
the large expense that is incurred, when you have paid £1 1s. for your
doctor, your nurse 10s. per week, a washerwoman 2s. per day (you cannot
get a nurse here under, and if she does the washing she will charge
12s. per week). Then, you never find anyone that makes the money go as
far as you do yourself, so that when you get up, instead of having the
best of support, and very little to do, you have to begin to get pulled
round again, and start and do the household work before you are strong
enough, with an extra one added. Naturally the child either cannot be
nursed by the mother at all, or only partly. The child suffers as well
as the mother.
If it could be made possible, I really think mothers should have
practically nothing to do with heavy work three months before
childbirth and three months after--that is, if life is to be made
worth living. But at present we have to clean down thoroughly ready
for the event, till I have found myself wondering if death would not
be a release. What with worry and feeling bad, I am never surprised
at hearing of an expectant mother committing suicide. If she has two
or three tiny children, she never has a minute’s rest, if she is an
energetic housewife.
I think I won’t write any more, or you will be thinking I am rather a
depressing character, but I shall be glad if anything I have said is
any use to others as a benefit in future time.
_Wages 20s. to 45s.; five children._