The Gilded Age

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius found Grace again and smiled at her gently. "How has your day been? The foremen give you trouble?" he asked. He offered her his elbow to hook around. "If I might be so bold, would you like to come eat dinner with me? We could pick up your sister along the way."


He was always wondering how the "other half" lived, especially after seeing the images Mr. Riis had captured. They had been the first wake-up call for Marius. They were a reminder at how good he had it, being able to choose what he wanted to do with his life for the most part. He had entered law to aid in ensuring that the poor would be safer and ensure that they were treated equally by the police. Now that he seemed to be trapped among the businessmen, the least he could do was to continue to be aware and attempt to fix it within his own small sphere.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace smiled softly when she saw Marius.


"Hello, sir," said Grace. "The foreman didn't bother me too much." Grace was shocked when he offered to take her to dinner and take her sister with them. "Where would we go, sir?"


She was completely shocked by how kind he was to her. She had known very few people who had ever been kind to her, and not one of those people who had been kind to her had been of a higher social status than her and she was very grateful that this man was being kind to her. She was even more shocked that he wanted to learn more about what kind of life she lived. She had never met anyone who wanted to learn more of the lower class.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"No need for the formalities," Marius said, waving a dismissive hand. "We're heading back to my place. I'm sure the cook can make something nice."


He hummed a slight tune as he led her out towards his car and opened the door for her. "I have friends that are striving to aid the poor," he explained, climbing into the driver's side and turning the car on. "They're trying to get the news out of how poor your conditions can be. We're hoping to drum up some more sympathy. Mr. Riis was an excellent photographer that got New York City rolling, we figured we could do it elsewhere as well. After all, a happy community is a healthy and wealthy one."

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace was shocked when he said that there were more people trying to make life better for the working class. She wanted to support this cause. She was also shocked when he said they would be going to his house. She was terrified she would make a fool out of herself. Clearly he lived in a fancy house. She would never be able to fit in at a house like that.


"Are you sure it's a good idea to go to your house, sir?" Grace asked, ignoring him when he said that she should not be so formal. It would not be proper for someone of her status to call someone of his status by anything other than 'sir.' "I'm hardly dressed appropriately enough for that.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Why would it not be?" Marius asked, driving along the road. "Now, where is your sister? And once again, please just call me Marius. I hate formalities; they make me feel like some schoolboy again."

 

[SandraDeelightful]

"It would not be proper for me to call you anything else but 'sir,' sir" said Grace. "Ada's at my apartment, a few blocks straight ahead. And I am not dressed appropriately to go to a house so fine."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius waved his hand airly. "I have no bothered with what is proper and what is improper for most of my life," he said dismissively. "I hardly intend to start now. Sure, there is the place and time for formalities but when I am not required to be in a strict setting, I see no problem in loosening it up a little."


Marius drove his car quietly down the road, glancing at the apartments that were so worn down, furrowing his brow in concern over their state. "Which one?" he asked.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

"When you are in my place, everyone is above you," said Grace quietly and slightly sad. "It is best to just be formal with everyone, sir. Call everyone 'sir' or 'ma'am." No one had ever been formal with Grace. True, Mr. Gregson called her 'Miss Harris' but no out of respect. He always said it in a mocking tone, as if he knew she would never be considered a 'Miss,' which she probably would be. She turned her attention to the apartments. She pointed to the one in the middle of the block. "That one."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius pursued his lips but said nothing more. He had never interacted with someone in the working class for an extended amount of time and he had missed, as a result, all the bits and pieces that came with being poor and on the bottom rung.


"Alright," Marius said, turning the ignition off. "Go get her and bring her in so I can take you both for dinner."

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace smiled before getting out of the car. She quickly walked inside and went to Ms. Cassidy's apartment. She collected Ada and thanked Ms. Cassidy for taking care of her.


"Come on, Ada," said Grace, "we're going to have dinner with a frie-someone I know." Grace wanted say that Marius is a friend, but people of her status were not friends with people of his status. "Now you must promise to be on your best behavior. Do you promise."


"I promise," said Ada. "What's she like?"


"He is--"


"He?" Ada asked."Is he handsome? Like the prince in the stories you tell me?"


"Ada, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on such thing," said Grace.


"Do you love him?" Ada asked.


"Ada, I have only just met him today," said Grace as they exited the building.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius waited patiently in his car, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. It was strange, seeing where someone who worked at the factory lived and how they acted. She was obviously somewhat uncomfortable with the whole situation, feeling as though the laws that dictated their lives had been switched. He could understand that; he had been raised to assume the working class were there to simply work and only the middle and the rich were worth much.


But they had lives too and family to look after. They deserved to be treated well and deserved a life full of fortune. He knew that economically, there would always be a working class. There had to be to make things work. However, Marius didn't think the working class had to be tossing their children into the workforce before they had a proper education or had gone to school.


He stepped out of the car when Grace reappeared with her sister, smiling at the younger girl and opening the back door for her. "Hello there," he said lightly. "What's your name?"

 

[SandraDeelightful]

"Hello!" Ada said happily, smiling brightly, revealing that she was missing her two front teeth. She slid into the backseat of the car. "I'm Ada." She motioned for Grace to lean in, which Grace did. "He must be a prince if he has a car," Ada said in a whisper.


"Princes have carriages, Ada," Grace whispered.


"A car will do," said Ada making Grace laugh. She turned to Marius and asked in a louder voice,"Who are you, Mister?"


Grace smiled at her younger sister. Grace adored Ada and she hoped that the world would not corrupt her. She hoped that Ada would stay spunky and energetic, but also sweet and innocent.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"My name is Marius," he said, smiling at her. He had always been the youngest sibling and found it intriguing to see someone else with a sibling that was younger. "It is a pleasure to meet you."


Marius got back into the driver's seat and glanced at Grace. "Alright, strap her in and I'll bring you both to my home for a nice meal."

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace strapped Ada in, quietly reminding Ada to be on her best behavior. Ada rolled her eyes and told Grace she would in an exasperated voice. Grace smiled at Ada and went to the front seat, getting in and strapping herself in.


"Thank you for doing this, sir," said Grace. "It's so terribly kind of you to do so."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Please," Marius said again, pulling out and turning onto the roads, driving past the more dilapidated buildings before he arrived at one of the nicer ones that he recognized, "there is no need for that. I have stated that I want to improve the lives of those that work in the factories."


He glanced at Ada. "Does she go to school?" he asked Grace.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace shook her head sadly. "No, sir," said Grace. "She stays with a neighbor all day while I'm at work. I would send her to school if I could, but I can't. She deserves an education. All children do."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius tapped his fingers on the wheel again, humming his agreement.


He had gone to formal schooling until college and had begun in law until he turned twenty and was forced to switch into business. He still graduated at age twenty-two and now at twenty-three, he was staring down a long road of managing the factory. But at least he had had the opportunity to learn.


He knew schools could be expensive for some though they were attempting to make it cheaper and cheaper for everyone involved.


They came to his house, a large, white building that towered most. He drove up the driveway and parked, stepping out and opening the door for Grace to step out of.


"Welcome to my... ah, home," he said sheepishly. He felt slightly embarrassed that he lived so extravagantly while everyone else was suffering in poverty.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace stepped out of the car. Her eyes widened at how extravagant it was. She had never seen a house that had looked so beautiful. She went to take Ada out of the car.


"You really must be on your best behavior, Ada," said Grace worriedly. Ada rolled her eyes. Grace turned to Marius, a worried look on her face. "Are you sure this is a good idea, sir?"


Grace knew her place, and that place definitely wasn't in a house like this. She was sure that she would make a fool of herself in here. She was worried about Ada. Ada was spunky and energetic. She knew that children in the upper class were made to be seen and not heard. She loved Ada more than anything, but she didn't want anyone here thinking bad things about her, which they probably would, no matter what happened.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Of course," Marius said smoothly. "Guessing about how your lives are in order to improve them is of little use, is it not? Having first hand accounts would make the true problems much more obvious and allow us to really examine what needs to be done."


He smiled at Grace softly. "There is no need to be worried. This is my, ah, home and mine alone. There is a maid and a cook that comes by every now and again, but for the most part, I do my best to keep it myself."


He led Grace up to the front door which he pushed open for her before following and ducking into the kitchen. "You can sit in the parlor for now," he told them, gesturing to a furnished room with floral patterns. He went into the kitchen and informed the cook that he had two guests from the lower class and to make a simple but large meal for them.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Grace was shocked at how fine the house was. She was scared to even touch anything. Ada went to sit on the couch, but Grace stayed standing. There was no possible way she could sit on any of this furniture. It was all so fine. Everything here was finer than anything she had ever owned. She knew that she would never be able to afford anything so fine. Everything she owned was cheap and old and it wasn't nice. She felt so uncomfortable being in such a fine house. She had grown accustomed to living in a crummy apartment, and she had accepted a long time ago that she would never live in a fine house, she had accepted that she would not live in any other place than the crummy apartment that she had spent all of her life in. If she was going to move anywhere, it was going to be the to the streets because she would not be able to pay the rent anymore.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius entered the room with a pad of paper in one hand and a fountain pen in the other, sitting down in a chair and resting the pad on his lap. "You may sit," he said. "There is no need to feel as though you are restricted here. It is my home, after all and all are welcome to do what they please within reason."


He uncapped his fountain pen and jotted down a few notes that he had learned over the day.


"So," he said, examining the pad that listed what he had observed at the factory, "was the previous factory you worked at more or less the same?"

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Cautiously, Grace sat on the couch next to Ada. She put a hand on Ada's leg, as Ada had been kicking them back and forth. Ada stopped kicking. Gracee never thought that she would sit on something so fine and lovely. Grace nodded at Marius' question.


"Yes, for the most part," said Grace. There was really only one major difference from the two factories that Grace had worked at was that the one she was currently at had Mr. Gregson.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"What is the one part that is different?" Marius asked.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

"Mr. Gregson, sir," said Grace quietly, but not too quiet that she could not be heard. "If I had gone back to the old factory, I'm sure I would have met one foreman there who treated me the same way."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Marius paused and looked up at her. He gave her a look of sympathy.


"Has the man been crude or rude to you during your time at the factory?"