Well the book is in two parts and because I was blogging so late at night and I was exhausted from decorating, my thoughts on the book are in two parts too because I forgot to mention Lady Laura.
Lady Laura is a young woman and she was wealthy until she paid off her brother’s debts. Her brother, Lord Chiltern is a ne’erdoweel with a reputation for violence and drinking as well as gambling. Like many a young woman before her, and after, life at her family home became so uncomfortable for Laura that she decided to accept an offer of marriage from Robert Kennedy who was an influential and very wealthy Cabinet Minister about twice Laura’s age. As well as his house in London’s Grosvenor Place he had a very large and beautiful estate in Scotland, his homeland.
Unfortunately Lady Laura had married a man she hardly knew. She certainly was completely unaware that her husband was a strict Presbyterian which meant that he was a strict sabbatarian, Sunday was kept as a day of worship only and the only thing that you could do really was go to church and read the bible. Novel reading was very much frowned upon so Laura was bored stiff on Sundays even when she was in London. The house in Scotland was even worse as she couldn’t go out for walks around the estate or anything.
Her husband Mr Kennedy was the sort of man who thought that he owned his wife body and soul and so he expected her to do his bidding at all times, otherwise she wasn’t being a dutiful wife. Well folks, you know what happens if there’s no compromising in a relationship, it’s going to be a disaster – which it was.
I think that Trollope must have been a really enlightened man for the times because he’s so obviously on the side of Laura and dead against Robert Kennedy’s attitude to his wife. I’m just a wee bit sorry for the husband though because I see him as a disappointed man who got married expecting to become a father which is what most wealthy men want, founding a dynasty of their own, but Laura didn’t get pregnant, which is a shame because their relationship would have been entirely different and as a mother Laura would have had far more power over her situation with her husband. He revered his own mother which somehow is never a good sign.
Anyway, I’m probably over thinking the book but what I’m really saying is that Trollope seems to be a good guy, I don’t know anything about his personal life, I must get a biography of him, but at least he knows how decent men should behave, I just hope that he actually was decent. I’d hate to think that he was anything like Charles Dickens who was so horrible to his wife that I can’t read any of his books.
On the subject of Presbyterian Sundays, I’ve had quite a lot of experience of those as a child and they were terrible. There was nothing to do at all as there were no shops open, nothing at all on TV, the radio had Two-Way Family Favourites on it and in the evening when TV was on it was The Black and White Minstrel Show! If the weather was alright you could go for a walk but that was about it. I think gardening would have been acceptable as a Sunday occupation but no DIY.
Things were even worse for people further north. We had friends on the Isle of Skye and they didn’t even have hot food on a Sunday as they were such strict Sabbath keepers that they couldn’t cook any meals. You’ll laugh at this but really it’s true, they didn’t have running water and had to get their water from a well. Every Saturday night they had to fill all their buckets with water for drinking and washing as they weren’t allowed to fill the buckets on Sunday – too bad if they used too much water, they went thirsty! I think some people are still like that up north as there was a bit of a stooshie not so long ago when a ferry operator started up a ferry service on Sundays – it’s another world!
I think we American Presbyterians were a little less strict. I remember church and Sunday school and another Sunday evening service. We also had an evening service on Wednesdays. But on Sunday, my mother cooked a big lunch and then we could do whatever we wanted: read, watch TV, play with our toys, visit friends, etc.
I also grew up in Amish country in Pennsylvania and, if I remember correctly, the Amish observe the Sabbath more as you describe, no cooking, etc.
Agree…far less doctrinaire in the US in the 60s. I was raised Presbyterian, and while we never missed Sunday church, it was just the morning service for the parents while the kids went to “Sunday school” (Christian education).
We, too, had a big Sunday meal at noon followed by an afternoon of watching whatever-sport-was-in-season on the TV. I am not much of a sports fan, but I still get a nice comfy, safe feeling when there are the sounds of a game going on in the background of whatever I’m doing of a Sunday. Reminds me of my very pleasant childhood.
Joan and Pearl,
In Scotland the kids sit through the first half of the church sermon and then go into the hall for Sunday school. My parents never went to church but the kids had to go! We had a big meal, roasted something and I always loved that as my Dad cooked it and he was a better cook than Mum was! I don’t know how the people up north in the Highlands can stand not having a hot meal, esp. during the winter. Sunday is almost like any other day of the week now but shops have only fairly recently been able to open, it was actually even more strict in England.
The Free Church of Scotland is still very strict, they don’t even use music in church apart from human voices sort of howling psalms, very strange. They don’t allow Christmas trees either as they’re seen as being pagan.