OLD HOUSEHOLD LEDGER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 December 1924, Page 7

OLD HOUSEHOLD LEDGER.

RECORDS QF 1818

(From a Correspondent in London Times.)

A more than century-old manuscript book has been rescued from the lumberloft of an old family home. It turns out to be the marble-bound ledger of household accounts —a slender thing of yellowed pages, traversed by spidery calligraphy. Once, long ago, a great-great-grandmother made her record of expenditure in those neatly arranged columns, and surely it was her husband who made the simple additions and added, the sum total gt' their foot in his bold masculine handwriting. Foremost in her accounts comes coal, a prodigious item, the cost of a sack being no less than 45., town delivered, and grand-mamma (greats ommitted) must have combined its use with that of a more inexpensive fuel, probably logs of wood. -The butcher’s bill is consoling, however, for in 1818 a loin of mutton was procurable for Bd. the lb., aiid the shpujeler sit 7c1., whilst a leg of of veal worked out at about B£d. And all prime English meat, for the day of Colonial importation had not yet- dawned. Ducks were to be purchased at about- 2s. 6,d. apiece, and a dozen pigeons for os 4d. Mutton suet averaged lOd. the lb. Best English butter was at this'time about lid. the lb., Cheshire cheese about Bd., and the quartern loaf varied between lid. and Is '

In those days the locked tea-caddy wa,s universal, and justifiably so, since the dost of the .fragrant herb (incorrectly named, since, the leaves are taken from a shrub) was very high. The Georgian ladies were more particular about the quality of their beverage than their feminine descendants. They were fastidious about the blending, and dogmatic as to the proportions of the mixture between green and black. A certain admixture of hyson— at Bs. or 10s. the lb.—was considered a necessary addition to the less expensive black variety. The latter might be obtained lor 65., hut was seldom used alone by persons of taste. Loaf sugar, at Is. the lb., invariably dwelt in the teacaddy under safe.lock.and key. Coffee cost a fraction above 4s. the lb., but that quantity of the pure, unadulterated article went farther than the present-day mixtures sold as “French coffee.” Vinegar cost about 8d the pint, mustard Is., when sold by the pound; hut nutmegs were also prohibitive at os the ounce. -.

Great-great-grandmamma’s fruit hills were astonishingly low. ' In the month January one finds the esteemed Chma oranges purchasable at 2s. 3d. for two dozen, a bushel of pears at 3s. 6d., and the same measure of golden pippins priced ss. 6d. Pineapples in the same month could be procured at 3s. 9d. apiece. Lighting, however!, was a serious expense, as is shown hv the record of the (best) candles at 11s. odd the dozen, so it is small wonder that' -“early to bed” was the rule.

Great-great-grandmamma’s personal dress allowance is not specified, but we know that in her day gowns had to undergo practical service before being discarded. Perhaps she fashioned many her own, for there is a note of l s . ■ * or a of 150 assorted needles, lor cambric dresses she paid as much as 10s. the yard, striped linen cost 3s 9t1., whilst the supremely modish India, muslin was as much as 1.65. the yard. Ribbons cost from 3d. a yard m an ascending scale, • sash ribbon being as much as 3s. 6d. French gloves were 6s. 10d., English silk ditto bs 4*d whilst simple thread stockings worked out at a little under 4s. the pair A pair of leather shoes involved the modest expenditure of 3s. 9d., but b’ggcr prices were naid for more fashionable productions. In those years the wages of donmstie.s formed hut an inconsiderable item m the expenditure of income. One could procure an inexperienced maid from ,C 4 per annum upwards, whilst tab secured the services of a welltrained, highly paid servant. Beer of course, was the prerogative of the kitchen staff, or. in Ikm thereof an additional £2 to their wages. TraveHing was expensive in 1818 ojiould the lady choose to make her journey in a genteel manner a. postchaise would cost, her Is. Id. a mile, and, in addition the road expenses, such as inns and meals and the necessary tips. No wonder that our forbears were mostly a home-abidino-race.