Chapter 16 "India? I know..."

“India? I know where it is. My dad taught me how to use a globe, and I’m curious about it too. As for the merchant ship capsizing, I think I overheard my dad talking to my brother about it recently. Based on my experience, it definitely won’t have much of an impact. If it were serious, my dad would be frowning the whole time at home.” Charlotte found it a bit strange. “Mary, why are you asking about this?”

Mary and Susan exchanged a glance, then pulled Charlotte aside and whispered, "We've been keeping a secret from you. I designed the hats for Taylor's tailor shop, and now we need to find a reliable fabric supplier..."

Before Mary could finish speaking, Charlotte's eyes lit up as she pressed on, "Mary, do you mean those beautiful hats were all your ideas? Is that true?"

Seeing that Charlotte didn't seem to care about being kept in the dark by her friends, Mary nodded. Charlotte became even more excited: "It's amazing! How could you come up with so many beautiful designs! Good heavens, my friend designed my favorite hat. No wonder the shopkeeper only charged my mother eight shillings that day. My mother was wondering why a new hat was half price; she usually pays five or six shillings for the most ordinary hat at the hat shop! Susan, you can change your hat whenever you want! If I were you, I'd wear a different hat to school every day! Are you hiding anything from me?"

“I have nothing else to hide from you. This secret has been killing me for so long, but please don’t tell any of your classmates.” Susan said urgently, her face flushed. “Our supplier recently raised prices, so I wanted to ask you if fabric prices have gone up.”

"Don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone. As for the price of the fabric, I don't know anything about that. Dad never talks about business with Mom or me, and I've never heard him or my brother mention it at home. How about I go back and ask? Do you want to buy fabric from my family? Don't worry, I'll make sure Dad gives you the best price."

Mary shook her head: "Thank you for your trouble, Charlotte, but there's no need to ask your father for us. Business people have their rules. We'd like to know the market price of fabric first. Mr. Brown, just give us a market price."

Before they could finish their conversation, the next class was about to begin. Charlotte had no interest in the lesson at all; her little head kept turning, and her eyes kept darting towards Mary or Susan. If it weren't for the fact that this was Mrs. Abbott's history class, she would have definitely continued to secretly discuss the big secret she had just learned with the Price sisters.

At noon, the school provided a light meal, which was their lunch.

"Sure enough, it's another sandwich. I can't stand eating bacon sandwiches every day. I really want to try something else," Charlotte complained.

“I also hope that Mrs. Abbott can try buying from a few different restaurants. Even if they're all sandwiches, at least the taste will be different.” Mary took a bite of her sandwich, looking equally annoyed.

At this time, middle-class lunches were often quite simple, usually consisting of bread or sandwiches to barely fill their stomachs. The Price family didn't have this meal, not because they wanted to save money. Mr. Price was always very generous when it came to food and drink, and Mrs. Price would have the maid prepare many refreshments every afternoon.

The real reason was that since Mr. Price stopped working, he got up late in the morning and ate too much, so by noon he couldn't eat anything. He never considered whether others were hungry at noon, but took it for granted that since he wasn't hungry, no one else could be.

During lunch, Mary and Charlotte made an appointment to go to Mr. Brown's shop on Saturday afternoon, which is tomorrow, to look at fabrics.

The two afternoon classes were Miss Williams' music lesson and Miss Hawthorne's sewing lesson. Almost all the girls loved the music lesson, and even the serious Miss Williams displayed femininity when playing instruments and singing. Elizabeth Wesley was always the most proud, because she had a harp at home and could practice every day, and Miss Williams always made her the first to demonstrate.

Susan unfortunately became the worst pianist in the class, and she was extremely frustrated. Wesley and Green's group always liked to laugh at her. To Elizabeth Wesley's disappointment, another Miss Price played the piano quite well.

Although Mary, like Susan, had no opportunity to practice, she was no stranger to the piano. She had already become familiar with the square piano at the General's mansion. She was naturally outgoing and unlike some girls who were timid, she could calmly play a piece even in the face of Miss Williams' serious expression, so her grades were not bad.

After the somewhat grueling music lesson for Susan, the last sewing lesson was much more enjoyable. Girls with poor sewing skills weren't criticized in Miss Hawthorne's class, and those with good skills like Mary were showered with praise. Even Miss Wesley, who thought sewing was no big deal, had to sew her own buttons; her father was barely a gentleman, not as wealthy as the young lady appeared.

Miss Hawthorne's assignment for today was for everyone to embroider a simple wave pattern on a handkerchief. They'll be starting to learn embroidery in third grade, so Miss Hawthorne has been having them practice some simple techniques. For Mary, this was a piece of cake; after she finished, she'd even have time to help her friend Charlotte. And Susan, ever since she started helping her sister make hats, found these simple needlework tasks a breeze.

After school, Charlotte couldn't wait to tell Mr. Brown the secret she had just learned: "Dad, there's something you'll never guess: the hats that are all the rage in Portsmouth lately were designed by my classmate!"

"Oh? Is your classmate the daughter of some wealthy hat merchant?" Mr. Brown asked curiously.

"No, it's Miss Price."

"No wonder the general's wife wore that hat! Your classmate is not very wise. She is, after all, the daughter of an officer and the goddaughter of General Maxwell. She is not short of money. Why would she do this?" Mr. Brown shook his head. Although he himself made his fortune in business, he was clearly unwilling to accept women doing business.

This era imposed far greater constraints on middle-class women than the dark Middle Ages or the more civilized eras to come, confining them almost entirely to the small circle of the home. Lower-class women like Kate the maid or Aunt Taylor the seamstress could work, but what other professions did middle-class women have to choose from, unless they suffered the misfortune of losing their protectors (the death of their father, mother, or husband) and had to become governesses? Even writing was not allowed openly.

This situation wouldn't change for another four or five decades. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, more and more professions began to open their doors to women, such as nurses, doctors, writers, typists, and telephone operators. But now, Mary Price had to confront a society rife with prejudice.

“Dad, how could you say that? Mary and Susan are my best friends. Didn’t you say that reliable friends should be treated like family? They must be in trouble, and I have to help them. Besides, Mary isn’t running the business herself; she’s consigning her designs. As long as we don’t tell anyone, what’s the problem? Dad, you’ll definitely keep it a secret, right?” Charlotte sat next to Mr. Brown, tugging at his clothes and pleading.

"Alright, alright, since she's your friend, bring them tomorrow!" Mr. Brown thought to himself, "Why bother arguing with a little girl? Maybe it's because Mr. Price is struggling to make ends meet while supporting his large family. When Miss Price grows up, she'll naturally know how to maintain the status of a young lady."

The next afternoon, the Mary sisters, along with Charlotte and the helper sent by Mr. Brown to pick them up, arrived at Mr. Brown's shop.

The shop had a wide variety of fabrics, including more than a dozen kinds of cotton, ranging in price from a few pence to more than ten shillings per yard. There were also linen and wool fabrics. Mary saw a roll of fabric that was carefully stored away and was almost as fine as worsted wool. In stark contrast, several rolls of canvas lay scattered on the floor in a corner, untouched by anyone.

"Mr. Brown, what's the recent trend in cotton fabric prices? Are they going up or down?" After Charlotte gave her introduction and the two exchanged pleasantries, Mary asked.

"Prices rising? How could that be? Do you know how many textile mills there are in Manchester now? A full sixty-four! Those machines are constantly swallowing cotton and spitting out countless sheets of cotton cloth. Now, apart from the highest grade Indian fine-textured cotton cloth, who wants East India goods? Everyone is going to Manchester to buy them. Ordinary cotton cloth is much cheaper than before." Mr. Brown spoke frankly; he disdained to deceive children.

Mary slapped her forehead: How could she have forgotten that the steam engine was first used in the textile industry after its invention, when she had studied humanities in high school? This was precisely the time when the British cotton textile industry had surpassed India to become the world's center of cotton textile production.

Those hat shop owners were clearly lying; they must have discovered that Taylor's tailor shop was using their hats as modifications, and therefore deliberately raised their prices.

Now that she had found the reason, Mary no longer hesitated. She inquired about the prices of several fabrics she liked from Mr. Brown. Besides cotton and linen, she also selected some wool and silk. The problem was, if she bought these fabrics and brought them home, she wouldn't be able to hide them from Mrs. Price.

Buying ready-made hats was definitely not an option, but making them entirely by herself, as she and Susan had suggested, would be far too time-consuming. Neither she nor Susan had time during the day, and they still had to help with housework after school. The time spent decorating the hats alone had already aroused Mrs. Price's suspicions.

Not only is there not enough time, but if the secret is exposed and it gets to Mr. Price, he certainly won't allow them to continue doing these "disreputable" things. Mr. Price might even take all the money they've earned. What should they do?

A note from the author:

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