He's a doctor, and can afford a big house with many servants...and seems like a nice man (well you know), and yet he makes his help share their beds?
What's wrong with that picture?
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
In those days it was very common for housemaids to share beds. Only the upper servants like the butler, housekeeper and maybe the cook would have rooms and beds of their own.
shareIt was pretty standard for servents to share rooms and often beds. Women in one part of the house, men in another (except for married couples).
I was down at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, N.C., recently which was built in about this era (late 19th century). One of the unusual features was that it was designed so that each servent got a private room. The standard was to have them share rooms.
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Wow, it was common to share beds?! That must have sucked!
I could see sharing a bedroom, no problem. But a bed? Good Lord help us all.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
[deleted]
This would have been a luxury for many servants at the time. Common accommodations for the working poor in Britain at the time were doss houses, where people would pay 6 pennies to share a bed with three or 5 other people. Even cheaper than that were places where men would line up against one wall, and women against another, and a rope was strung across their chests to hold them against the wall while they slept. In the morning the proprietor would undo the rope and people would topple to the floor. Providing a single bed for two people to share would have been considered generous.
share