An Orphan's Journey

by Rosie Goodwin

  ‘What?’ Pearl’s mouth gaped with surprise, as Molly gulped and squirmed uncomfortably.

  ‘Well, the thing is, as yer already know there’s gonna be another mouth to feed soon so . . .’ She patted her flabby stomach and forced herself to go on. ‘Lil told me about a scheme they’ve got goin’ wi’ the work’ouse an’ the orphanages. See, it seems that some o’ the older kids in them places are bein’ transported abroad. Just think o’ that, a life in the sunshine. No more cold or snow.’

  Secretly, Molly very much doubted that Pearl would be chosen to go with her lame leg, but even if she wasn’t, she would at least be assured of a good meal each day and it would be one less mouth to feed and worry about. It was usual for the people thereabouts to send the younger children away to such places if things got too desperate, for the older ones could normally be sent out to earn a wage – but there was little chance of Pearl doing that and the younger ones could earn more begging; people had more sympathy for smaller children. She was only sorry that Eliza, the girl next to Pearl in age, who was always away with the fairies, wasn’t there too, as she could have gone with her – but as usual she had wandered off early that morning.

  Pearl was so shocked that she couldn’t even answer for a moment, but eventually she found her voice to ask, ‘An’ what happens to the kids when they get there?’

  ‘Apparently the settlers take ’em into their homes to help wi’ the chores. I’m sure you’d soon find a place ’cause you can cook an’ clean along wi’ the best o’ them. An’ they have schools there an’ all. Yer could learn to read an’ write. You’ve always wanted to, ain’t yer?’

  This had come like a bolt from the blue and Pearl was so stunned when she realised that her mother meant it that she was rendered temporarily speechless. Eventually she blurted out, ‘But I don’t want to go away . . . this is my ’ome an’ yer all me family!’ Tears started to roll down her cheeks. It might not be the best of homes, but it was the only one she had ever known and the thought of leaving it was terrifying.

  But Molly’s mind was made up. ‘It’ll be fer the best,’ she said gravely, guiltily looking away from the stricken expression on her daughter’s face. ‘You’ll get the start there that yer’d never get ’ere, an’ one day yer can come back an’ see us all again. So go an’ get your stuff together, an’ I’ll have no more arguin’.’

  Somehow Pearl managed to do as she was told, despite the fact that she was blinded by tears. In truth there was very little to collect and soon she carried her small bundle to her mother, who had wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, ready to leave. Lil upstairs had taken the baby for now.

  ‘B-but surely you ain’t takin’ me there now?’ Pearl was panicking. ‘I ain’t even ’ad time to say goodbye to everyone an’ it’ll be Christmas in a few weeks’ time. Surely it can wait till after then?’

  ‘It’s better this way.’ Molly stroked a tear from her firstborn daughter’s cheek with her thumb. ‘Come on, let’s get it over wi’.’

  And before Pearl knew it, they were striding through the fast-falling snow towards the workhouse and Pearl’s new life.

  Chapter One

  P

  earl and her mother had gone no more than a few steps from the house when Molly spotted Eliza coming towards them with her head bent against the snow. Like Pearl, Eliza was small for her age; added to this she had the disadvantage of being sickly, and most people thought her quiet, always lost in her own world. Although she was eleven years old, she behaved as a much younger child would, and as Molly’s eyes settled on the girl, it came to her in a flash that this was the perfect opportunity to leave Eliza at the workhouse too. After all, Eliza could only ever be a burden – she couldn’t be trusted to work, or even help out properly around the home – and with both of the older girls out of the way there would be two less mouths to feed. It would make things easier for Pearl too if she had someone close with her, she reasoned, trying to ease her conscience.

  As if Pearl could read her mother’s thoughts, she stared up at her. ‘You can’t send Eliza to the workhouse, Ma,’ she muttered, deeply distressed. ‘She ain’t good wi’ people she don’t know an’ she wouldn’t cope wi’ being sent away.’

  ‘Rubbish! It might be just what she needs,’ Molly told her. ‘There’ll be far more opportunities fer both o’ yer in a new country an’ you’ll be company fer each other.’

  Pearl was so horrified that she found she couldn’t utter a single word as Eliza came abreast of them and her mother caught her arm.

  ‘Come along wi’ me an’ Pearl now, there’s a good girl,’ Molly encouraged, as she turned her about and Pearl’s heart dropped like a stone in her chest as she realised that this was exactly what her mother intended to do.

  She still hadn’t had time to come to terms with what was about to happen to herself, but the thought of Eliza being sent away from everything familiar was even worse. Eliza had a habit of wandering off, for she had no sense of danger whatsoever, and sometimes Pearl felt as if she spent half her life looking for her, but she loved her dearly all the same. She opened her mouth to protest, but one glare from her mother silenced her and her tears began to flow faster as Eliza slipped her hand trustingly into hers.

  ‘Are we goin’ somewhere nice?’ Eliza asked hopefully, as she ran to keep up with her mother and sister.

  ‘Aye, you are, pet.’ Molly flashed her a smile, moving on quickly so the two girls followed meekly, knowing that they had little choice.

  All too soon the bleak façade of Poplar Workhouse loomed ahead of them in the snow and Pearl was so frightened that she feared she was going to be sick. She had known other families who had sent their children here when their homes became overcrowded, and as far as she knew their families had never bothered to see them again. Sometimes Pearl had had nightmares imagining how the poor abandoned souls must be feeling, but at least they hadn’t been sent far away as she and Eliza might be.

  ‘Please, Ma let us come home. I’ll find a job, I promise!’

  But Molly merely strode on, her face set with determin-ation. As the snow fell gently about them, they stopped in front of the huge wooden doors that were the entrance to the dreaded place. Only then did Molly hesitate, but only for a moment.

  Taking a deep breath, she stroked their cheeks, then, with a catch in her voice, she nudged them towards the doors. ‘Go on then, no use in standin’ outside ’ere in the cold. Just tell ’em yer ma sent yer ’cause of overcrowdin’.’ She turned then, and the protest that was on Pearl’s lips was lost as she disappeared into the crowds of people milling about the pavements.

  ‘But why are we ’ere, Pearl?’ Eliza asked in a timid voice. Her big sister was crying and it frightened her.

  With a huge effort, Pearl pulled herself together enough to force a weak smile to her face. Just for a moment it had occurred to her that they could run away, but then what would happen to them with nowhere to go? Eliza wasn’t strong enough to endure sleeping in shop doorways and at least here they would have somewhere warm and dry to sleep and they might be given their first proper meal in days.

  ‘We’re goin’ to stay ’ere for a while,’ she told her sister brightly. ‘An’ we’re goin’ to be just fine. So come along o’ me now.’

  Taking a deep breath, she stepped forwards and rang the large bell that hung at the side of the door, and seconds later she heard the creak of bolts as it was swung open.

  A young woman in what appeared to be a nurse’s outfit opened the door and looked at them enquiringly, before asking, ‘Can I help you?’

  Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, Pearl nodded. ‘Yes please, miss. We, er . . . we needs to stay ’ere for a while.’

  ‘Ah, then you’re in the wrong place.’ The young woman gave her a sympathetic smile, making Pearl feel a little more reassured. If all the people here were as kind as her, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad after all? ‘You need to go further along to the door marked “Admittances”. Can you read?’ When Pear
l remained silent she stepped outside and pointed down the street. ‘You can’t miss the door and they’ll help you there.’ And without another word she quietly went back inside and closed the door.

  Eliza began to sniffle. ‘I don’t like it ’ere, Pearl,’ she whimpered. ‘It smelled funny inside when that lady opened the door. Why can’t we just go ’ome?’

  Pearl opened her mouth to answer, but quickly snapped it shut again. In truth she didn’t have an answer, so without a word she gripped Eliza’s hand more tightly and began to haul her in the direction the nurse had pointed. Sure enough, they soon came to another entrance that looked even more forbidding than the first, and with her heart in her mouth Pearl approached it and once again rang the bell. This time she was answered by a stout woman of indeterminable age who looked none too friendly.

  ‘Yes?’ she snapped as she eyed the two girls up and down.

  ‘I . . . that is, we . . . need to stay ’ere, please.’

  The woman sighed but stepping aside quickly she opened the door wide enough to allow them to enter, before slamming it behind them to stop the cold air from entering. It didn’t seem to do much good, for Pearl felt it was as cold inside as it was out and their breath hung on the air in front of them.

  Glancing about, she found they were in what appeared to be a large entrance foyer, which was bigger than the whole of the sooty little terraced house she had been brought up in. A young, underweight girl in a drab brown dress was mopping the black-and-white floor tiles as if her life depended on it, but she didn’t look up. There was a large, highly polished desk to one side of the door and the woman ushered them towards it and opened a large ledger.

  ‘Names!’ she barked.

  ‘P-Pearl Parker, miss. An’ this is me little sister, Eliza.’

  ‘Ages?’

  ‘I’m twelve an’ Eliza is eleven.’

  ‘Dates of birth?’

  Pearl shrugged. ‘I only know mine is sometime in December an’ Eliza’s is in October.’

  ‘And the reason you wish to be admitted?’

  Colour flamed into Pearl’s cheeks and she bowed her head in shame as she mumbled, ‘Me ma is to ’ave another baby an’ . . .’

  ‘Overcrowding!’ The woman shook her head. ‘If only these women would stop breeding like rabbits, this place wouldn’t be so full,’ she spat in disgust as she wrote in the ledger. ‘Address?’

  In a choked voice Pearl quickly told her.

  ‘Right, sign your names there.’

  ‘Please, missus . . . I, er . . . can’t write,’ Pearl mumbled in embarrassment.

  ‘Yet another illiterate,’ the woman snapped, to no one in particular. ‘Then just make a cross next to the names I’ve written.’

  Pearl hastily did as she was told.

  ‘Wait there,’ the woman told them. And with that she was gone, leaving Pearl and Eliza quaking with fear.

  From somewhere they could hear screams, and as the young girl mopping the floor grew closer, she hissed, ‘That’s the lunatics yer can ’ear. They’re locked up up there.’ She nodded towards a sweeping staircase that led to the first floor, but before she could say any more, the sound of footsteps echoed hollowly on the tiles and she immediately turned her attention back to the job in hand.

  The same mean-faced woman who had let them in appeared with another equally drably dressed woman beside her. ‘Go with Mrs Bates here,’ the first woman told them. ‘And make sure you behave yourselves. When she has you ready and clean I shall come and tell you what your jobs will be.’

  Pearl looked at her enquiringly. ‘Jobs?’

  Unused to being questioned, the woman scowled at her. ‘Well yes, of course you’ll be expected to work for your keep. This ain’t a hotel, yer know! Now get off with you.’

  Eliza was openly crying now and as Pearl dragged her along the corridor behind Mrs Bates, the woman snapped, ‘Stop that snivelling at once. We don’t tolerate that sort of behaviour in here, girl.’

  Pearl’s first instinct was to tell the horrible woman not to talk to her little sister like that. Surely she could see how frightened Eliza was? But the woman looked so forbidding that she merely gave Eliza’s hand a reassuring squeeze instead.

  At the end of the seemingly endless corridor they came to yet another staircase, this one nowhere near as impressive as the one in the entrance foyer. Opposite was a door and they followed the woman through it to find themselves in a room where a number of tin baths were propped against the far wall. A large boiler stood in a corner and nodding towards it, Mrs Bates told them, ‘Fill one of the baths from out of there. I’ll be back in five minutes.’

  Both girls immediately leapt into action. Fetching one of the baths and standing it by the boiler, Pearl began to fill it with water with a bucket that stood to one side of it.

  The water was very hot and once the bath was half full, she looked around for a pump or somewhere where she might find some cold water to cool it down. She was still looking about when Mrs Bates reappeared holding a bar of carbolic soap, a pair of scissors and a couple of threadbare towels.

  ‘Is it ready?’ she barked.

  Pearl shook her head. ‘Not quite. I can’t find the cold water,’ she explained.

  By this time Eliza was so frightened that a puddle of urine had pooled on the floor between her legs. Back at home the most they had ever been able to do was wash in cold water; never in her life had she been totally submerged in a bath, and the sight of this one with the steam rising from it was enough to terrify her.

  ‘How disgusting, you filthy little guttersnipe!’ Mrs Bates lip curled with contempt and, leaning forwards, she cuffed Eliza’s ear soundly, making the poor child howl with pain and shrink into her sister’s side.

  ‘She couldn’t ’elp it; she’s frightened,’ Pearl said indignantly before she could stop herself, and that earned her a cuff about the ear too.

  ‘That’s enough of your lip or you’ll feel the strap on your backside. Now strip off the pair of you. Who’s going in first?’

  ‘B-but it’s too hot,’ Pearl hiccupped as she pressed her hand against her stinging ear.

  ‘Rubbish. Now get those clothes off or do I have to take ’em off for you?’ Mrs Bates threatened.

  Too afraid to disobey, Pearl hastily began to do as she was told until she stood there naked with her face glowing with embarrassment and humiliation. Hands on hips, the woman nodded towards the bath and Pearl warily climbed in, gasping as the hot water covered her feet. She watched as they turned bright pink from the heat, imagining blisters appearing. She was steeling herself to lower the rest of her body slowly into the water when Mrs Bates roughly pushed her in.

  Before she could even fathom what had happened, the woman said nastily, ‘Right, we’ll get some o’ that filth off you now.’

  Grabbing a jug from a nearby table, she filled it with water from the bath and without warning tipped the lot over Pearl’s head. Poor Pearl was coughing and spluttering, unable to catch her breath, but she had no time to react or object before Mrs Bates began to rub the carbolic soap into her hair. She was so rough that Pearl’s head wobbled from side to side and her scalp felt as if it was on fire. The worst wasn’t over, though, for next Mrs Bates produced a fine-toothed comb and began to drag it through Pearl’s matted hair. Pearl was so shocked and humiliated that she could hardly breathe, and in that moment she hated her mother for leaving them there.

  ‘Look at this, you’re crawlin’ with head lice,’ the woman said triumphantly as she held up the comb. ‘Let’s make the job a bit easier, eh?’ Now she was wielding the scissors, and before Pearl could object, she took a length of hair and hacked it off to just below Pearl’s ears. Tears were rolling down Pearl’s cheeks now but she was too afraid of what the woman might do next, and she was desperate not to upset Eliza anymore, so she just sat there trying not to cry out.

  The torture seemed to go on forever but at last, her cheeks red with exertion, Mrs Bates sat back and smiled with satisfaction. ‘That�
�s got rid o’ most o’ the little buggers,’ she said. ‘Now get out an, you’ – she pointed at Eliza – ‘you’re next, so strip off.’

  Too terrified to do anything else, Eliza did as she was told. Thankfully the water had cooled a little by then and so getting into the bath was not quite such a painful experience for her. Although she did cry out in pain when Mrs Bates attacked her long, tangled hair roughly with the comb and then hacked at it too. Pearl watched on, helpless, wishing she could protect her sister but knowing anything she said would just make matters worse.

  Eventually the two sisters stood side by side looking like two shorn little lambs, wrapped in the shabby towels Mrs Bates had thrown at them.

  ‘Wait there an’ don’t move while I go an’ get you some clothes,’ she ordered.

  Once she was gone Eliza sagged against her sister. ‘I don’t like it ’ere, Pearl,’ she whimpered pathetically. ‘I want to go ’ome.’

  ‘We won’t ’ave to stay for long,’ Pearl answered with a catch in her voice. After the heat of the water, the room felt unbearably cold, and by the time Mrs Bates reappeared their teeth were chattering and they were shivering with cold.

  ‘Get these on.’ She threw them each a drab, ill-fitting brown dress exactly the same as the one the girl they had seen in the foyer had been wearing, and some underwear made of a rough cotton that made them itch.

  ‘Shall we wash our own clothes now?’ Pearl dared to ask.

  The woman snorted. ‘Wash them? Why, it’s only the filth keepin’ ’em together. They’d fall apart if they went into water. No, they’ll be thrown away. Now get all this mess cleaned up and then you can both follow me. I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.’

  Pearl hastily swept their shorn locks into a pile with the broom the woman threw at her then the two girls followed meekly. Pearl was shocked to see that her skin was now a soft pink, nothing like the grubby colour it had been, so she supposed that something good had come from the bath, although she wasn’t looking forward to the experience being repeated. Her head felt lighter too now that her hair had been cut. Eliza’s was already springing into soft little curls as it dried and Pearl hoped that hers would do the same. She had never realised what a pretty colour Eliza’s hair was before and as she followed Mrs Bates through a labyrinth of twisting corridors, she tried to be optimistic. After all, once her mother realised that it was she who had done the cooking and cleaning, she was bound to have second thoughts about leaving them here. It had been Pearl who had looked after all the younger children too and she had an idea that her mother would soon tire of that. She was sure to have a change of heart and would come for them soon, wouldn’t she?