During the South End Garden Tour (see yesterday's blog post below), an "interpreter" at the South End Community Garden glanced behind him at the elegance lining the streets, and pointed out the kitchens that were attached to the back of the 4 story brick houses, where the servants (in this case, usually, the Irish maids) lived and worked (in the back with the kitchens, NOT in the elegant houses).
"If workers or servants attempted to enter the house through the front door," he commented, "they were told to go to the service entrance at the rear of the house."
"If workers or servants attempted to enter the house through the front door," he commented, "they were told to go to the service entrance at the rear of the house."
That little piece of South End history sounded so familiar. Marash Girl remembers her father telling of such treatment.
At his customer's front door in Newton, Massachusetts, ready to repair a refrigerator/furnace/dishwasher/Bendix, Peter was told to go the back door -- to the service entrance at the rear of the house. His reply? "I enter from the same door you enter, Madam, or you get no service!"
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