Memories of My Life
From My Early Days in Scotland Till the Present Day in Adelaide
Mrs. J. S. O. Allen
9781465628886
118 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
We did not talk of a "situation" in those days but of a place. My sister, who was a few years older than I, was out at a place five miles from where we lived. She came home, as she had not been well, and my father sent me to tell the people that Mary could not return for a few days. They asked me if I could stay in her stead till she was better. I was quite willing, provided that my father would allow me. They obtained my father's consent, as he said if I was any use they could keep me; so at the age of ten I began to be a house-servant. We had no mother. She died when I was six years of age. The name of the town was Denny, not far from Falkirk. The people with whom I went to live were bakers and confectioners in a large way. With their sons and journeymen and apprentices, in addition to the master, there were, all told, 12 men living on the establishment, and the mistress, with one daughter and myself, did all the work, except that a woman came to help with the washing. Some of the journeymen and two apprentices slept over the granary or store where the flour and other materials were kept. Every night at 10 o'clock those men and boys had to be in their room; one of my duties was to see that the door was locked and to bring the keys to the master. The mistress would bring them to me again in the morning at 4 o'clock, when I had to run up this long stone stair and open the door and tell the men it was time to get up. I always went back to bed again till 6 o'clock. It was a busy house. There was a large shop facing the front street, with two windows filled with beauteous cakes and confectionery. There were five carts to load up every morning, for the establishment served the locality for miles round with bread. Stirling town was not far off, and the neighborhood was full of historical events. The battlefield of Bannockburn was close by, and also an old castle; I was told that once it was the stronghold of Bruce and Wallace. I liked to wander through the old ruins on my way home from Sunday-school. I got to like the place, and they were kind to me. It was not displeasing to me when I learned that I could stop there for a time and that my sister would live at home. I used to go home about once a month. There were no tramcars or conveyance of any kind on that wild moorland. Nothing but heather met the eye all the way from Denny to Slamannan, which was the name of the village I came from. The Edinburgh and Glasgow railway ran through it, and we could see Stirling Castle from our door. I did not have much wages, but the mistress saw to my clothes and made some of them. I was taught to be careful and useful. One of the things I liked was to go into the shop window to hand out all the nice cake and confections. The work of bakers and confectioners has moved forward by great strides since then. For weeks and weeks the daughter of the house and myself had to help in the work-shop while some of the men and one of the apprentices were away ill with measles.
