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.
Through my married life I have had a good, kind partner, which means so much to the wife, and who always provided me with a doctor and a good nurse for my confinements, which goes without saying that the mother and child have a much better chance than other neglected ones. The first five were born with fifteen months between; then there was a wait of eight years for the sixth, and three years for the seventh. I have always worked hard both before and after childbirth. Give a woman a quiet home and an easy conscience and good plain food, and I see no reason why both mother and child should not do well. Personally, I don’t know what I should have done if it had not been for my good old nurse, my dear mother having passed away some years before; but by the grace of God and plenty of common sense, I have brought all my children through so far. I was married in 1884, and knew practically nothing about a child’s entry into the world. I do think there should be somewhere where intending brides could get information that would in some way prepare them for what may take place--those who have no mothers, I mean. But so much depends on the woman herself, whether she is going to make the best of things. Personally, I found it was no good worrying, although I found it much harder than most. I never knew what it was to have a day at the seaside for twenty years. I am not grumbling, only now I am nearly used up. If only the Maternity Benefit had been given when I and many others needed it, I cannot help thinking I could have done much better. My husband is a bricklayer, and you may guess it was a bit of a struggle with my little family.
[Illustration: ELEVEN CHILDREN BORN, ALL LIVING. FATHER A FISH-HAWKER.
This family is not connected with the Women’s Co-operative Guild.
(_Reproduced by kind permission of the Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool._)]
When we were first married my husband’s wages was £1 a week. I have had seven children; one died at birth, one at one year old, and five are living. Each was about two years and three months old when the other was born. I had one miscarriage, which left me very ill for a long time. I found that the money was so little to do on that I must work as well to pay my way and clothe my children. My husband neither drank or smoked, but when rent, coals, gas, and food is taken out, what was left for other things? I had boarders, and was standing on my legs so much that after the birth of my last child a marble leg set in. I went under an operation, but my leg is still very bad. A mother wants good food before the birth as well as after, but how can it be done out of so little money? If father takes his food it must be as good as can be got; then the children come next and mother last.