Why Did Bridget Want to Leave?

[NESpinster]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I had no idea how to "search" for it since about 2000 answers probably would have popped up!

Anyway...according to Bridget's testimony, everything was just fine at the Borden residence. She was paid reasonably well, not mis-treated, had plenty of time off (compared to lots of other young Irish maids), and she swore that all was bliss--or nearly so--in the Borden home.

So why did she ask repeatedly to leave? Maybe I'm being dense, but if her testimony was true, she had it pretty good. Yet I've read that more than once she asked permission to be "let go". The only thing that kept her there, apparently, was Abby, who would say she was lonely and begged Bridget to stay. Which I find odd in itself. I imagine poor Abby was often lonely, and Bridget seems to have been a kind-hearted young woman (which is allegedly why she agreed to stay)--but how many maids and ladies of the house acted more like dear friends than employer/employee in that day and age?

So why was Bridget so eager to leave an apparently decent job? Why did Mrs. Borden plead for her to stay? And exactly why did Bridget always defer to Abby despite her obvious desire to get out of that house???

[debbiediablo]

This is one of my major questions, too, and yes, we have discussed it. I think Andrew was a problem for the maids in the household for reasons we don't know. But that they stayed on because of Abby. At the time Bridget worked there she was making more with far less work than a woman who worked in a mill but then had to pay room and board.

[Curryong]

I think Abby was a homely sort of person and not one to stand on ceremony. It wasn't as if she was directing a horde of servants in some mansion. She did some of the housework and so did Bridget. I think, in spite of the age difference and mistress-servant status, they were friendly.

We don't know how many times Bridget wanted to leave. It might only have been a couple of occasions. There might have been lots of things.

Bridget seems to have been periodically homesick for Ireland. There were times, I'm sure, when she wished she was in a livelier house than one shared with an elderly couple and their spinster daughters, none of whom entertained. Few people came to the house.

In spite of having light duties I think there were times when Bridget was probably bored. She may have wished to try another job besides housework, something in a factory perhaps, that would leave her free every evening.

The food at the Bordens wasn't anything to write home about. She and Lizzie apparently exchanged a smile in court when the mutton broth was mentioned. Bridget might have wanted to see other parts of the U.S.. The atmosphere of tension and hidden dislike between Abby and her stepdaughters might have got her down after a while.

i don't think Bridget ever raved that the Borden household was sheer bliss, did she? If you read through her trial testimony there are several hints that show she knew that a lot in that house wasn't overly pleasant, such as when she described how often Emma and Lizzie didn't share meals with their parents.

[irina]

It has been mentioned that Bridget wanted to go back to Ireland but I have also seen the opinion given here a number of times that the cost of the trip back would have been more than Bridget could have afforded. I have mentioned before that a job such as Bridget had would have discouraged her from getting married. At age 26 she may have felt her biological clock ticking. Perhaps Bridget threatened to leave so Abby would raise her wages. If it inadvertently worked once it may have been something to try once a year.

It sounds like Bridget had a friendly relationship with Abby at least. On the other hand I think I have detected something in witness statements and testimony that is interesting. Sometime I will try to collate various comments that make me think what I do. What I think I see is that Bridget talked freely with police and others of that class after the murders but not with people like Alice Russell who says Bridget didn't say anything. It's possible Bridget only responded if she was addressed by someone. Alice was asked if Bridget said anything and I think if Alice asked Bridget any questions. I think though there are other statements from people of the Bordens' class who said Bridget wasn't talkative but police and others on the scene found her to be talkative and helpful. So I wonder what kind of friendship Bridget had with Abby and what that might tell us. How severe was any class divide in that society?

[Curryong]

We really don't know what Bridget's savings were like. If she had been in continuous work since being in the US she may have had a little tucked away, with hopes of saving some more.

Abby was the daughter of a tin peddler who'd sold his wares in the street, probably one of the reasons her stepdaughters felt she was beyond the pale. That doesn't mean of course that she wasn't respectable or that she was vulgar, but I don't think Bridget would have mistaken her for Mrs Vanderbilt or Queen Victoria, if I can put it that way!

I think both women had a cordial friendship within the limits of the mistress-servant relationship, and I believe they were fond of each other. I think they worked together on their domestic tasks cooperatively. Abby didn't have a fleet of servants and many women in the 19th century, with only one servant girl who'd been with them for a while, would have had the same sort of relationship as existed between Abby and Bridget.

[irina]

I did just re-read the threat "Andrew at the side door" which has Bridget's testimony about only having her key to the side door for about a year. Perhaps she threatened to quit, as I suggested earlier here, and it sufficed to open labour negotiations. "What can I offer you to stay", Abby asks. "It's awful hard to have an 8:00 pm. curfew since I don't have a key to the door..." Think about it.

[snokkums]

I don't think she was as happy as she claimed to be. I just think she was looking thru "rose colored" glasses. That I think she was smarter than the average bear and realized she had lots better off than many maids had it.

[Curryong]

Yes, after the murders she didn't offer to stay on. She was frightened of course, as anyone would be, too scared to sleep at the house,and was given another job by the authorities, but but she moved away after the trial anyway.

[debbiediablo]

Somewhere I read a comment by an interested observer that Bridget was the best dressed person in the Borden household. Maybe we can give Lizzie credit for mentioning the fabric sale to her (in order for Lizzie to burn down the house with the bodies of Andrew and Abby in it!) in Emma's absence. Truth is Bridget had a relatively easy position with Abby and the sisters taking care of a substantial part of the work compared to many households of that era.

I'm guessing that Abby and Andrew were a well-matched pair: both came from families with wealthy branches; both grew up poor and learned to work hard; both continued to work hard as adults and also to save money and live without luxury even when affordable. Bridget had more in common with Abby, who grew up poor, than she did with either of the sisters.

Bridget had room and board, so her wages were spent on personal expenditures or saved. See Snokkums above who says this better than me. So if Bridget wanted to leave it was for reasons beyond financial or getting along with Abby. Maybe she got sick of being called 'Maggie' or maybe she disliked the atmosphere in the household. If Lizzie did it, there was double parricide simmering on the back burner of that wood stove in the kitchen.