My Life in Manchester

My name is Amelia. I have a husband named Robert and two kids, Piper, my lovely daughter, and Benjamin, my darling son. We just recently moved to Manchester because we had to find a place to live. We used to live on a farm and it became to expensive to keep up with the new inventions. We used to pay our workers and we gave them good wages that benefited both of us, but ever since the new inventions like the combine, farming became too expensive got our poor family to keep up. It became expensive because our work at the farm was not in as high of a demand because people began to work at factories which had become more popular than I work as a maid everyday and my husband works at the factories in the city. Sadly, because of our lack of money, my kids have to be sent to work everyday as well. My daughter, Piper, has to go into town to work at a flower shop and sell flowers. My son, Benjamin, has to go into town as well and he works as an errand boy. I wish that they didn't have to work like that and I wish that I could make a difference and change it, but we don't have the right to vote because of our class, and my gender. So, in that case, we try to make their work as safe as it can be. We all have to work about 16 hours a day to try to earn enough money. We are all paid on very low wages and all of our pay checks together barely get us through the day. I see the kids at the house that I work at and I wish that my kids were as fortunate as these kids are. These kids are so lucky because they have nice food and get to stay home and learn. They have private tutors and so they get an education. They also have a wonderful home that is clean and well kept. I only wish that my parents or Robert's parents had more money and more of a status so that they could have passed some of that down so that we would be in a higher, better position than we are now. We live in a small apartment in a filthy alley way. It has rats running around and street fights constantly making a ruckus. We have to walk most of the time to work, and we have dirty clothes that we try to keep as clean and sanitary as we can. If only we were born with "wealthy" blood, then we would be in a better position. Hopefully, over time things will change, and maybe we will eventually get enough money to live in a house that is clean, and still have money left to provide our kids with an education. I feel so bad to be around these kids at work who are ever so fortunate, and then I come home and sometimes my kids aren't even home from their jobs. I can't wait for this to change.