Below Stairs, Part 2

The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey

By Margaret Powell

First published in Great Britain in 1968. 

I had so much to write about this book, I couldn’t fit it all in to the previous post, so here is Part 2 of my thoughts on Below Stairs.  See the original post on this book here.

Margaret Powell had to leave behind her desire to teach when she was forced to begin earning a living at age 14.  She didn’t, however, lose her desire to read and learn. 

 

One time, she was in a particularly pleasant temporary position as a cook.  She was surprised to hear the employers call their servants by their Christian names.  The servants hall was decorated comfortably, not just with cast-offs.  Lady Downhall would come down to the kitchen and kindly ask Margaret if she had suggestions for menus.  Margaret even felt so comfortable there that she once asked Lady Downhall if she could borrow a book from her personal library. After looking surprised, Lady Downhall replied,

“’Yes, of course, certainly you can, Margaret,’ adding, ‘but I didn’t know 

you read.’ They knew that you breathed and you slept and you worked,

 but they didn’t know that you read. 

 Such a thing was beyond comprehension.”

Eventually, Margaret married, left domestic service, and had three sons.  The family always struggled financially.  She, however, was determined that her boys remain in school.  When they began to learn about things she couldn’t discuss with them, she became determined to learn on her own.  She was told about a series of inexpensive lectures on history, and attended all twenty-four of them.   

This was just the beginning.  After passing all her “O” levels at the age of fifty-eight, her education continued on.

I’m inspired by her words, “The seeds are in you and although it may take ten, twenty, or forty years, eventually you can do what you wanted to at the beginning.”

It’s never too late to learn about or try something that interests you. The seeds that were in you years ago may just need a little water and sunshine to grow!