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Question:

My grandmother says kids have it easy today and that some kids used to have to live with other people and work hard in order to help their family. Where can I send my brother Derek? (Ha Ha!)

Answer:

I hope Derek doesn't see this; your grandmother's right. It didn't happen by the time your grandmother was a young girl, but back in Village times (1830s New England) when families were larger, some children left home at an early age to live in other house-holds. Especially children from poorer families--sometimes as young as age 8--were "bound out" to live and work in wealthier homes. Mostly they had to do farm chores or perform household services. They were given food and shelter in return. (Parents could bind you out on their own until you were 14; after that, you had to give your consent.)

Whatever wages these children earned went to their fathers. This arrangement wasn't all bad, though. Starting at the age of 14 or 15, some boys were apprenticed to learn a real trade - like printing or blacksmithing. After completing an apprenticeship to age 21, they could go on to open up shops and businesses of their own as master craftsmen.

Girls had fewer choices. A few of them apprenticed to women to learn dressmaking or millinery (hat and bonnet making), but most worked out as domestics or dairymaids, at least until the textile mills came along. (But that's a whole other question and answer!)

As to having it easy today, talk to your grandmother about what chores she had to do as a young girl and what chores her parents (and your parents) had to do at your age. It depends on the household, of course, but chances are you don't have to pump water and chop wood, or collect eggs, or milk the family cow for your dairy products. On the other hand, maybe you can do some things your grandmother can't!

Ask if she'll teach you to knit or how to make cookies; then you can show her how to "log on" to the Internet. Make some cookies and share them with Derek. He's probably worth keeping as a brother. (Ha Ha!)