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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
6
I
imagine
that
a
few
of
the
gentlefolks
of
Cranford
were
poor,
and
had
some
difficulty
in
making
both
ends
meet;
but
they
were
like
the
Spartans,
and
concealed
their
smart
under
a
smiling
face.
We
none
of
us
spoke
of
money,
because
that
subject
savoured
of
commerce
and
trade,
and
though
some
might
be
poor,
we
were
all
aristocratic.
The
Cranfordians
had
that
kindly
esprit
de
corps
which
made
them
overlook
all
deficiencies
in
success
when
some
among
them
tried
to
conceal
their
poverty.
When
Mrs
Forrester,
for
instance,
gave
a
party
in
her
baby-house
of
a
dwelling,
and
the
little
maiden
disturbed
the
ladies
on
the
sofa
by
a
request
that
she
might
get
the
tea-tray
out
from
underneath,
everyone
took
this
novel
proceeding
as
the
most
natural
thing
in
the
world,
and
talked
on
about
household
forms
and
ceremonies
as
if
we
all
believed
that
our
hostess
had
a
regular
servants’
hall,
second
table,
with
housekeeper
and
steward,
instead
of
the
one
little
charity-school
maiden,
whose
short
ruddy
arms
could
never
have
been
strong
enough
to
carry
the
tray
upstairs,
if
she
had
not
been
assisted
in
private
by
her
mistress,
who
now
sat
in
state,
pretending
not
to
know
what
cakes
were
sent
up,
though
she
knew,
and
we
knew,
and
she
knew
that
we
knew,
and
we
knew
that
she
knew
that
we
knew,
she
had
been
busy
all
the
morning
making
tea-bread
and
sponge-cakes.
There
were
one
or
two
consequences
arising
from
this
general
but
unacknowledged
poverty,
and
this
very
much
acknowledged
gentility,
which
were
not
amiss,
and
which
might
be
introduced
into
many
circles
of
society
to
their
great
improvement.
For
instance,
the
inhabitants
of
Cranford
kept
early
hours,
and
clattered
home
in
their
pattens,
under
the
guidance
of
a
lantern-bearer,
about
nine
o’clock
at
night;
and
the
whole
town
was
abed
and
asleep
by
half-past
ten.
Moreover,
it
was
considered
“vulgar”
(a
tremendous
word
in
Cranford)
to
give
anything
expensive,
in
the
way
of
eatable
or
drinkable,
at
the
evening
entertainments.
Wafer
bread-and-butter
and
sponge-biscuits
were
all
that
the
Honourable
Mrs
Jamieson
gave;
and
she
was
sister-in-law
to
the
late
Earl
of
Glenmire,
although
she
did
practise
such
“elegant
economy.”
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