The Indianapolis journal., 1884-10-08
EXPERIENCE OF AN ENGLISH WOMAN.
Respective Cost and Condition of Living
Under Free-Trade and Protection.

Respective Cost and Condition of Living
Under Free-Trade and Protection.
Correspondence Philadelphia Press.
have read in the Press Mr.. Porter's state
ments in regard to the difference of the rates of
workmens wages and the cost Of living in Eng
land and this country and have seen them con-
tradicted in other papers. | am the wife of an
English carpenter and joiner. We came to this
country three years ago having kept house for
fifteen years on the other side and three on this,
my husband having made living on both by
his trade. l feel that my experience justlhes
Mr.. Porter's assertions.
My husband is good workman but at no
time when in England earned more than
twenty four shillings, or So per week small
house, with poor accommodations, cost five
shillings, or l.25 per week, rates extra. Food
for ourselves and three growing boys had to be
the plainest kind. We bought piece of beef or
pork for our Sunday dinner and this had to last
over two or three days into the week. Mutton,
veal or fowls were quite out of our reach, and a
beefsteak was an impossible extravaganza. VI
butter we had but half pound per week; pota-
toes and cabbage were the only vegetables we
tasted from one years end to another, and apples
the only fruit
When work was scarce, as it usually was in
early winter, we were thankful to get the barest
necessaries of life Our clothes were of the cheap
est sort, and it took the utmostcare and economy
to present even a decent appearance; The boys
had no overcoats and my own best dress was
lindsay, at four pence half-penny yard.
Having been brought up for different po-
sition in life, felt my surroundings keenly, not
on account of physical deprivation, but for my
boys, who had no future the eldest being able
to earn but two shillings, or fifty cents per
week, as errand boy, with no prospects Of rise,
and all of them treated as the laboring class is
in England-with contempt and indifference
by their social superiors, until they had no self
respect. We were advised to come to America.
when we landed we had little money. My
husband, in two days, without any reccmmenda
tion found employment, In which he has re-
mained to this day He earns $lS per week
My eldest boy, lad of seventeen years,
gets Sc week as clerk and the second a boy Of
fifteen, gets 81 week as elevator boy.
We pay $40 per month for cosy six-roomed
house with capital bathroom, hot and cold Wa
ter, good cooking range, Latrobe, large cellar-in
short every convenience We live on the best
of food Fresh meat and vegetables delicious
fruits and butter are on the table not only one,
but every day in the week. We have all neces-
sary furniture and neat parlor (by the way,
had so little in England forgot to name it) from
my savings l have a first rate sewing machine
and an organ that is worth $780,, My husband
can afford to dress well and suitably. A nice
suit of grey mohair, costing from SO to $40, with
neatly made shoes, plenty of clean shirts and
collars enable him to work comfortably in sum
mer. For winter they all have good overcoats
and warm suitable clothing of far more
stylish and well made character than anything
we ever bought in England. He is respected for
his honesty and capability and treated with con-
sideration by his employer and by the people at
whose houses he works. Our boys are begin
ming to feel and act like men: they no longer see
life of drudgery and semi-slavery before them
Instead of being snubbed and repressed they
meet with kind treatment and encouragement
from persons better off than themselves. My
twelve -year-old son bids fair to become good
scholar, and has free access to library belong
ing to a school he attends.
My youngest, boy of four, is the first of my
children have been able to dress and care for
as mothers heart dictates. In short, when |
think of what our lives werc in England and
what they are here. say God bless America