Sims 2 Tales

Adelaide spent a year with her old friend Madeline, moving out when Madeline’s own family began to grow. In that time she had taken a six month teaching post at the school that had employed her before she married, and had been able to put a small amount of money into the bank for Nicholas when he reached the age of twenty one. Unfortunately the school had been unable to make her employment permanent, and in spite of her experience and good references no other schools were willing to take on a widow with a young son.

With no job and nowhere else to live, there was only one option left - Adelaide and Nicholas were forced to enter Kent Town Union Workhouse.

 

Life at the workhouse was gruelling, and made even more difficult by the poor living conditions. One of the purposes behind the country’s workhouses was to make life on the inside seem less than favourable when compared with surviving on parish relief outside. This was supposedly a way of deterring those who were more than capable of working and finding employment from entering the workhouse, perhaps in an attempt to avoid any family responsibilities they may have.

Very often children would be taken to the workhouse if they were orphaned, or if a single parent could not afford to look after their child. It broke Adelaide’s heart to think of the number of children who had passed through the doors of the Kent Town Union, some of whom were only a year old - or less - and would never know their own family. She was determined that Nicholas would never share their fate, and although her searches were in vain she clung to the hope of finding employment and escaping with her son.

Over the next three years Nicholas continued to grow more like his father, although Adelaide was separated from him for most of the week. Whenever they were allowed to spend an allotted amount of time together Adelaide would tell him stories, her heart leaping every time he chuckled and asked for another.

Fearful that the dampness in the walls that surrounded them could make Nicholas ill, Adelaide took every opportunity of spending their time in the workhouse grounds when the weather was fine. When it was time to say goodbye until the following week, Nicholas would cry and desperately hold on to his mother until one of the nursemaids was able to prise him away. Once he was out of sight Adelaide would shed her own tears, her heart aching for just a few more minutes with her little boy.

The months dragged on, and Adelaide began to fear that she would never leave the workhouse. Even worse, she knew that as soon as Nicholas was old enough he would more than likely be sent out to work as a farm labourer or an apprentice of some kind, and that she would see him less often than she did already.

Gradually Adelaide sank into melancholia, hardly eating and sleeping even less. On the nights that she did finally get to sleep she would often wake after a couple of hours, her dreams haunted by images of William’s final moments and Nicholas being taken away from her forever. Unable - and to some extent unwilling - to care for herself, Adelaide was moved to the hospital wing where she was supervised day and night. In order to help her sleep she was prescribed small doses of laudanum, strictly administered so that she didn’t become dependant on the drug that allowed her to get some much needed sleep and chase away the worse of the demons that invaded her thoughts.

Adelaide’s condition was very slow to improve and the nurse assigned to watch over her at night, Agnes Phillips, became increasingly concerned. Some weeks later the Reverend Henry Wilson, vicar at the Church of St. James in Kent Town, was visiting the workhouse school when Agnes had an idea. She explained Adelaide’s situation to Reverend Wilson - why she was at the workhouse, and how she had been unable to secure a teaching post due to having a young son that she was unwilling to leave behind - and asked if the church’s Sunday School could benefit from having an experienced teacher on its staff.

"I won’t be able to pay Mrs Le Grande very much, but if it will give her something positive to focus on then of course I will ask if she would be willing to help," replied Reverend Wilson. "I’ll speak to the workhouse master and ask him to let Mrs Le Grande’s son accompany her if she agrees," he added enthusiastically.

As Reverend Wilson walked off toward’s the master’s office, Agnes breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"I just hope Mrs Le Grande agrees to take up the Reverend’s offer," she thought to herself wearily.

Luckily the master gave permission for Nicholas to attend the Sunday School - Reverend Wilson could be very persuasive, in a most gentle way, and convinced the master that it would be of benefit to both mother and son if they were able to spend more time together away from the workhouse. Agnes was overjoyed at the news, and informed Reverend Wilson that Adelaide would be found in the gardens.