Amelia Haylor

A Tragic Childhood

                                                             

A Tragic Childhood

          My name is Amelia Hayler and this is my story. My story begins from when I was born; I was born in the city of London in the middle of October in 1850. My mother, Rachel Hayler, died suddenly after giving birth to me and I had no father. My aunt told me that my mother never spoke of him; I reckoned that he did not love my mother and I became an orphan. After the death of my mother I was taken in by my aunt, my mother's sister.

           My aunt, Millie, was a very kind woman, but she was a poor washer woman and hardly earned enough money for food, but she still cared for me no matter what. I loved my Aunt Millie and she loved me. When I turned four years old Aunt Millie taught me everything about housework like cleaning, cooking and sewing. At first I found it really hard to do, but I couldn't stand not being to do anything while my aunt was doing a lot of hard work. So I worked hard doing a lot of the housework for Aunt Millie.

          I never went to school that time; I was too poor to go to school. I just stayed at home to do the housework, but when I turned seven I got myself a job. I got a job washing bottles at the glass bottle factory, which was near my home. The payment I got was a little more than my aunt had and we were able to get some more food at that time.

          "I'm sorry that you have to work instead of going to school" my aunt once said to me.

          "It's all right aunt" I said "at least this way we can get more food to eat". My aunt smiled at me and was happy that she had me with her. "You remind me so much of your kind and sweet mother" she used to say.

          Every night, after supper and before bedtime, I would ask Aunt Millie to tell me about my mother. I liked it when my aunt told me stories about my mother; I liked hearing about how beautiful and kind she was. My favourite story was always about how she loved me until the last breath she took, that made me love her too.

          I lived a happy life with Aunt Millie, but three months after I turned eight years old tragedy struck. My aunt became very ill with tuberculosis. At first she started coughing lots of times and then she started to cough up blood. Her illness was so bad she couldn't get better. To look after my aunt I stayed at home, I could not go to work and leave my aunt like that. On the day she died I stayed at her bedside.

          "Amelia, my niece" she said to me "I'm afraid I will be going to heaven where your mother is. We will watch you from there always and wait for you to join us".

          "No Aunt Millie" I cried, with tears starting to appear in my eyes, "please don't say that. I don't want you to die and leave me". Aunt Millie held my right hand and said: "Be happy my niece" then she closed her eyes and died. I cried at her bedside all the rest of that day.

          My aunt was buried next to my mother in the churchyard. I placed some flowers on both my mother's and aunt's grave. "Mother, Aunt Millie" I whispered "please wait for me in heaven".

          As I had no other relatives to take me in, I was sent to an orphanage after my aunt's funeral. The orphanage was called 'St Victoria Orphanage'. It was a big brown building, with big green areas, ten miles outside of London. When I arrived there I was introduced to Mr and Mrs Reed, the owners of the orphanage.

          "What is your name child?" Mr Reed asked me.

          "Amelia Hayler sir" I answered".

          "We have been told have your mother died when you were just a baby and your aunt has also died, is that correct?" said Mr Reed.

          "Yes sir" I answered.

          "Very well, you are eight years old now and you will be staying here until you are eighteen that is unless you will be adopted before then, we hope that you enjoy the ten years of your life here" said Mr Reed "dear show this girl around the orphanage".

          Mrs Reed showed me all around the orphanage; first she showed me the classrooms where they all studied. I told her I didn't go to school and didn't know how to read and write. Mrs Reed told me not to worry because they taught everything children need to know there. Then she showed me the fields outside the area. I was told that everyone played out on the fields and in the warmer season they ate lunch on the fields. Then at last she showed me the room I would be sleeping in. It was a bed room with sixteen beds. Mrs Reed told me that boys and girls sleep in separate rooms, which meant I would be sharing this room with fifteen other girls.

          After showing the bed room Mrs Reed left me there so I could settle down. I walked over to a bed that had my name written on the side. On the bed was a uniform I had to wear during the day; a dark brown dress with a white apron and dark brown shoes, and a white nightdress I had to wear at night time. I placed a small brown bag I had brought with me down on the bed. I didn't bring much with me, just five special treasures of mine; a small doll I found on the street when I was six years old, an old purse of mine with a few pennies in it, two handkerchiefs that I sewed myself and a special silver flower pendant that my Aunt Millie gave to me before she died. She told me that it was my mother's and now it was mine to keep.

          "Hello there" said a voice behind me. It was a girl the same age as me. "I'm Jessica Thomas, who are you?"

          "Amelia Hayler" I replied.

          "What's in your bag?" Jessica asked. I showed her my five treasures. "Wow I wish I had special treasures like that. We do have toys and other precious things here, but they are old hand me downs from people that didn't want them anymore".

          "My small doll is a hand me down though," I said "I found her on the streets and no one seemed to be looking for her".

          "I still say your doll looks nice though" said Jessica.

          I was just about to ask her about how she became an orphan when a bell rang. "That bell means it's almost time for lessons" Jessica explained "you better put your uniform on now". I quickly put on my uniform, put my treasures back into my bag and went downstairs with Jessica. This was the start of my life at the orphanage.