I received your paper on Maternity Scheme, and I can assure you it brought back to me many painful hours of what I have passed through in twenty-one years of married life. For one thing, I have had a delicate husband for fifteen years, and I have had nine children, seven born in nine years. I have only one now; some of the others have died from weakness from birth. I only had a small wage, as my husband was then a railway porter. His earnings were 18s. one week and 16s. the next, and I can say truthfully my children have died from my worrying how to make two ends meet and also insufficient food. For many of my children I have not been able to pay a nurse to look after me, and I have got out of bed on the third day to make my own gruel and fainted away. My little girl which is just fourteen years old, from the first month of pregnancy until my nine months were up I attended the hospital and had a hospital nurse in to confine me.... A woman with little wage has to go without a great deal at those times, as we must give our husbands sufficient food or we should have them home and not able to work; therefore we have to go without to make ends meet. Before my confinements and after I have always suffered a great deal with bearing down, and doctors have told me it is weakness, not having enough good food to keep my health during such times. My little girl I have was under the doctor for seven months, being a weak child born, and I for one think that if I had a little help from someone I should have had my children by my side to-day. It has only been through weakness they have passed away. It is with great pleasure I write this letter to you. I could say a deal more on sufferings of women if I saw you.
Wages 16s. to 18s.; nine children, one still-birth, one miscarriage.
3. Hospitals—A Crying Need.
A neighbour of mine called in the doctor, who after examining her said she must be got into a Lying-In Hospital at once, as she was in such a critical condition. She needed to be under medical care all the time; the doctor expects when the birth takes place there will be twins. The woman was taken by cab several miles, and after being there two days was sent home, as the birth was not expected till March, and this was about the middle of February; but she was to be taken back by February 27, as she is in such a state that the children will have to be removed before they attain their full size. A few days after she was home, she was so ill that her doctor got a cab and sent her to another hospital, as he said if anything occurred when he was not able to get to her, her life would be lost. She must be where there were doctors in constant attendance.
After putting her through an examination and bullying her for going there, she was informed they had no maternity ward, and sent her home again, and all the time she was in the greatest of pain and vomiting blood; she is now at home, and will have to be taken to the first hospital at the end of the week, if nothing happens before.
Now for her circumstances. Her husband has worked for his present employer for thirteen years, and earns the magnificent sum of 23s. per week. The conveying of her to hospitals and back the two times has cost 25s., and the husband had to lose a day and a half. When the foreman asked the master to allow the man to have his pay for the lost time owing to the expense he had had, he replied: “He will get 30s. when the job comes off; let him pay it out of that.” This man is a Church warden and a prominent Church worker and Christian! The husband’s fellow-workers who earn no more than him, and some of them less, have had what they call a whip round, and have managed to raise 19s. for him.
Our District Nurse goes in each morning and does what she can for her, and one morning she asked how she had got ruptured; and she said she was not sure, but she thought it was when she was at the factory. And it transpired that her eldest boy is very bright, and he managed to win a scholarship, but his mother said she could not manage to get the clothes for him that he ought to have at such a school, and so she got work at the factory to try and clothe him better. She was only there two months when she was taken ill and had to leave. (What mothers put up with for their children!) She has been paying 3d. a week into a Sick Loan, and Dividing Society, in connection with a Church, but she can have no help from it, as her illness is through pregnancy.
4. “All Day Washing and Ironing.”
In answer to your letter, in my opinion the cause of women suffering from misplacements and various other inward complaints, is having to work during pregnancy, and I am the mother of three children. When the youngest was coming my husband was out of employment, so I had to go out to work myself, standing all day washing and ironing. This caused me much suffering from varicose veins, also caused the child to wedge in some way, which nearly cost both our lives. The doctor said it was the standing and the weight of the child. I have not been able to carry a child the full time since then, and my periods stopped altogether at thirty-four. Then I have a niece of twenty-five, who is at present in hospital undergoing a serious operation through getting up too soon after her confinement. Once we can make men and women understand that a woman requires rest when bearing children, we shall not have so many of our sisters suffering and dying through operations, or, on the other hand, dragging out a miserable existence.
My husband’s wages was 19s. 10d. He was compelled to lose time in wet or frosty weather, and I was very lucky to get my share, 18s., four weeks in succession.