Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-10-16
THE POSITION 5
OF AGNES 8
WINTERS /
$1,000 .s.e-e-S-s$ Soc. e.s.s.s-e.s-e-st
By Fannie Hurst !

k"NO SciNiCo'I
A CHILD named Ellen, sixteen
"A years of age, with hair in a
1 yellow braid over each shout
der, and faded blue frock that
bespoke poverty, regarded her mother
with eyes dilated in appalled, amaze
ment as her parent Quivering with
rage stood beside a small mean table
in a small mean room and doomed
"No!"
That mo" had deeply rooted be-
ginnings. 1t was mo" that went
back and back into the recesses Of
memory.
1t was mo" addressed to Mrs.
James McRae.
The mother of the girl In the torn
blue frock, Agnes Winters, had worked
In the McRae household as dOmes-
tic servant for period Of thirty years.
There were dark-blue glasses across
the eyes of Agnes Winters, but they
did not prevent her from looking In
ward down those alsles of time.
The McRae's was a big household.
A fOrty-rOOm affair with five acres Of
rose gardens. Garage for ten cars.
Gardeners cottages, and house-staff
Of some fifteen servants.
The position of Agnes Winters in
that household was a dual one Of
chambermaid and personal maid to
Mrs. McRae. There was French girl
who officially occupied the latter ca
pacity, but Agnes did the mending and
the fine handiwork, and the embrOid-
ering of initials on Mrs. McRae's sheer
lingerie and handkerchiefs.
The mother of Agnes Winters had
worked for the mother of Alice McRae
in almost the same capacity. 1t was
sort of dynasty. The Winters serv-
ing the McRaes.
Alice McRae conducted her house
hold with high, efficient hand. She
was accustomed to money, always had
been, and with the manner-born of one
wealthy enough to dare to scrimp, she
conducted the great establishment
along lavish but strictly business-like
lines. There was no waste in the Nc
Rae household. The servants were
given good and sufficient food, but
food of different grade than that Of
the household. Their quarters were
warmed in winter, but to lower tenn
perature than the house proper. Many
a night Agnes Winters had sat in her
small room with its slantlng roof, her
feet wrapped In her coat and a candle
lighted on the table for the warmth
1t gave off.
The servants on the McRae estate
remained for two reasons. Wages
were high, comparatively speaking,
and their children were permitted to
attend, free Of charge, the great Nc
Rae schools which were conducted OH
IN endowment fund contributed by an
ancestral McRae.
Agnes mother had remained In the
Mcliae service until her death for
that reason. After her death, Agnes,
in a sort of dull apathy, also contin-
lled on. She was valuable to Mrs. Nc
Rae. who had discovered in her tai
ent for the most minute and lovely
hand-embrOidery. For years, ever since
Agnes had been fifteen and out of the
McRae schools, Alice McRae had worn
lingerie that was the delight and ad-
mlratiOn Of her women friends. Even
the Mcltae table linen, napkins, tea
cloths, doilies were the subject Of COM
ment
guests, eyelng through lorgnettes the
indescribably minute handiwork Of
Agnes.
If she had had the initiative or ag-
gressiveness, Agnes, as she had so oft
en- been told by her associates, could
have made large sums Of money at her
art-embrOidery.
But Agnes detested the work. The
process of picking with splinter of
needle, through the mcshes of linen or
silk. was maddening to her nerves.
Needle-work tortured her body and
more than that, it tortured her eyes,
sending her to bed night after night
with blazing, tOrturous headaches.
Against these headaches. Mrs. Nc.
Rae supplied spectacles, ground out
from prescription written by local
dealer In opera glasses and binoculars.
They relieved, but did not cure.
And 50, on and on through the years,
Agnes Winters, protesting occasional
ly, but in the main resigned, continued
to create for Mrs. McRae the beautiful
and the sheer In handwork.
When she was twenty she married
ore of tie gardeners. Morris Muir
ply was an architectural gardener,
and had learned his trade from an
American who had taken him to Italy.
lie was n bluff, good-humored fellow
pLd as II by contrast, seemed to ad-
mlre In Agnes Winters the demure,
quiet qualities that were 80 removed
from his own. Has..r.
They were married and continued as
man and wife to live on, in service,
at the McRae's. Hf4
1t became. after u while, terrible to
M0rrls Murphy to see the kind Of flag
G!H.on TO which Agnes was subjected
by the inslstent demands Of Mrs. Nc.
Lac for more and more fine NJ &c.
WORK lie had never realized UP to
tbcn Tie crued kind Of pressure under
"it Il t''s quiet young girl had spent
A.rTyea;!L ,!itr fycs were so tired.
So "l.I i'.r f.re to kiss him
~ " 20. ~ i'"" " re all.j wiz l'il.r