This was the 2nd of Beatrix's short stories published in the sketch in the space of a month. It was very short, only one page but it was heartbreaking. There were only a few scenes, a rich family with a butler and a brash young boy/man leaving home. A woman coming and picking up her two year old son from a cousin's who had been looking after him for a year. You get the feeling that the mother hadn't seen him at all during that time and was totally oblivious to the fact that the cousin may have grown attached to the boy. And a working class family on a train.
Knowing that Beatrix grew up with a Butler and servants it made that side of the story quite interesting. I also know that her mother left for large periods of time to go and live in America, particularly after Beatrix was born as she was depressed when Beatrix turned out not to be a boy and didn't have much to do with her. The oblivious mother and the separated child seemed especially poignant with that in mind. The fact that the mother seemed oblivious to the people who were actually taking care of her child was a little telling. Interesting story and nice to see that even at 22 Beatrix was still very much interested in class issues. Given that the Sketch is a nice periodical for posh/middle class women the fact that she deals more with these issues seems quite unusual. Further analysis will need to be made, but this was just my first impressions.
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