Harry Hareston’s Family & Their Lifestyle
The Hareston family lived in Greenwich, Ct, – but don’t get excited, their home was not a mansion or estate. They lived in the beautiful but relatively humble guest house or ‘gardener’s place’ behind the Big House.
Part 2 of (4) – Harry Hareston from the forthcoming novel by Rasa Von Werder: “Church of Women” copyrighted Rasa Von Werder, all rights reserved
And Maude Hareston was not an ‘elegant, refined snob’ like the Lady of the Manor but a housekeeper/maid who was on call 24/7, six days a week.
She begged off for Sunday as she was religious & wanted to spend the day with the Lord, Church, prayer & meditation. But they insisted that if they had an emergency, like one of the kids got sick, she had to help, & of course she agreed.
Maude worked hard. On record, her job was supposed to be eight hours a day but in reality she ended up working, most days, twelve hours a day. It wasn’t a hardship on her family as Harry Sr was also on call all week & gone except for meals & sleep, while the kids were either in school, playing sports or hanging with friends. She took care of her own family & the rich Narthers – a formidable task but she was strong as an ox & determined.
And what did she get for her efforts? It started in the 60’s when she was granted $250 a month. Sounds awful today but in 1965 this was for 2022 $2,309 a month & $27,708 a year. They got this lovely home to live in free {all utilities paid} & lots of perks. The perks were, for one thing, so much food from the house they scarcely had to buy groceries. Maude was the 2nd in Command cook, Mr. Franz was hired three days a week for the dinners, Maude was ‘Sous Chef’.
Maude’s duties were as follows: Make the Master’s beds {they had adjoining rooms}every day, hang up their clothes, dust & vacuum. Do all the food shopping daily, groceries & bakery. Any other basic items Boss Lady needed that day were purchased by her –Nancy Narther was busy with charity work, health spa & special purchases for the house, family & herself.
Second, she was responsible for the breakfast & lunch every day & on the days Chef Franz was there. Everyone ate breakfast. It was eggs, potatoes & pancakes, & sometimes the kids, when they were young, wanted corn flakes or oats with milk & bananas or strawberries. Lunch was sparse as the kids were in school, the Boss was at work & Nancy was on a diet or out. On weekends they were there for most meals, especially dinner, always breakfast, sometimes lunch. Dinner was formal, Maude made it: Meat {chicken, steak or prime rib, fish} & potatoes {baked, boiled or mashed} or rice or pasta, vegetables, various salads like Cesar Salad with anchovies & raw egg yolks, or Waldorf Salad (Romaine, walnuts, apples) or American Salad with tomatoes; always cake, pie or other desserts as the kids demanded it, the adults passed. {Rich people don’t get fat, their motto being, “You can’t be too thin or too rich.”}
When Mr. Franz was there Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday {he worked at a posh French bistro he owned Friday & Saturday, – his wife, also a French Chef, cooked the other days} he only made the dinner, for which he was paid $300 the month {this figures from 1965 to 2022 – $2771 per month for 12 days work, $33,252 a year – $231 per day he worked…his day also was not the full eight hours but five or six at the most} – way more than Maude but then, French Chefs don’t come cheap. He also prepared the parties or special meals they had – even his wife participated in some of these. They had dignitaries, politicians & tycoons at the table. At these times Maude helped & as usual did the ‘dirty work’ of washing, slicing, grating, prepping & then cleaned the kitchen & washed the dishes & pots & pans. She never complained. Mr & Mrs Franz treated her like an underling & she called them ‘Sir’ & ‘Ma’am’ just like she did all the others on top.
Also Mr. Franz made double the portions needed at each service, the second half being housed in their huge freezers, which were utilized by Mrs. Nather for Sundays, when Maude was off. Or else Maude, at their request would sometimes take out these dinners for weekends instead of the usual American fare. {Mrs Nather knew how to cook, just didn’t want to – unless you love it, it can be drudgery.}
When meals were finished Maude hit her bonanzas as she got all the leftovers she wanted – good stuff. Kids would take one bite from a croissant, leave the rest. Half a piece of cake, leave the rest. She could take these home, cut off the bitten piece & throw it to the birds & the rest was good. And a big salad, sometimes half was left behind. They didn’t want it on the table again, she could have it. Same with soup. Soup left over she could have. They rarely ate leftovers – usually on Sunday when no help was there. Then they only ate bread that was no more than two days old – past that time she could have it. She never stole or took anything not allowed her – she was as honest as a saint – {that’s why the owners trusted her} but with these handouts she saved half the money she would have for food.
This is a typical esoteric meal Mr. Franz would make:
*Leek and potato soup
*Grated beet salad {grated, boiled beets tossed with garlic, seasoning & wine, oil & vinegar – cooled. Then tossed with salad greens & endive}
*sautéed mushrooms: sautéed in butter, add tbs of chopped shallots
*Deviled game hens: ‘butterfly’ & broil hens, make a mayonnaise-like sauce, 1/3 cup mustard, minced shallot, pinches of dried tarragon or rosemary, drops of Tabasco sauce & 3 tbsp pan seasonings. Paint this on skin of hens, pat on a layer of white bread crumbs. Baste with remaining juices. Finish cooking in broiler.
*Caramel Custard for dessert
The most important aspect of Maude’s presence to the Nather family was care of their children, especially when they were small. Maude was reliable in all ways & good for emergencies, like when the kids got hurt. She knew how to tend a wound properly & bandage it, she knew how to bind up a sprain, & she would keep the children as safe as possible. At the time we are speaking of now, the kids went from 15, the female, to 18 & 20 for the boys – they didn’t need baby sitting but they sometimes needed help.
What did Harry Sr. think of all this? He hated it. He looked at the Big House with sad envy. He was ashamed his wife was their maid – he never told anyone. When he had to, he called her ‘housekeeper’ which was fairly accurate.
Being a ‘servant’ gave him bad memories of his childhood. His own Dad had been a truck driver, never graduating to a higher place. {His Mom was a waitress at a diner.}
Harry got a job as a janitor at the plant after school. He saw how his Dad was treated. When he went into the office, the Boss didn’t even raise his head to acknowledge
him, spoke to him looking at the desk, like he was irrelevant. When they passed each other in the plant Boss Man didn’t say hello, just acted like he was invisible – a typical trait of those who think they are above someone.
Harry was hurt. And although Dad never said anything about this, Harry noticed that when he came home from work at the plant he was grumpy & not only that, but cruel. He’d criticize Harry for the slightest things, yelling,
“Haven’t you learned anything about being a janitor? Clean this place up!”
Harry suffered & wished for kindness, but instead of being sensitive to his own son, he became just like his Dad. He infested his son with the same insecurity & low self esteem.
His ambition to lift their station in life rested on his kids. He put Helen in that posh girl’s school at twelve, & he began to work on Harry age 16. Harry would never be the same. He worked hard as a Caddy at the Country Club, he & sis both took tennis lessons & practiced a lot because the Nathers had a tennis court, & two sons that liked to play.
One of the sons, Jonathan, in time, developed a crush on Helen. He was twenty – Helen seventeen when it started, all on the tennis court.
He imagined he had a chance. His Mom had said he was handsome, people were nice to him but that’s because he was rich. Personally, he was not good looking, in fact, goofy. He had reddish hair, freckles & buck teeth. He was tall & gangly, not much muscle or sex appeal. His tennis was average, his golf worse, not like Harry Jr who excelled at all sports.
But Helen had turned into a Gene Tierney, even better some said. She was 5’8” with a perfect figure, 34-24-36. She carried herself well, spoke with polish, laughed easily & radiated charm, played great tennis & danced gracefully. She was all things to all men, a centerpiece.
During the hottest days of summer the Nather boys invited her & Harry to their pool, & then invited their friends for a party. Pizza & ice cream were served. Here Jonathan reveled in Helen’s beauty & all the guys stealing glances at her, while the other females felt envy & gossiped about her in a catty fashion,
“Oh, look at her putting on airs. Her Dad is the chauffer & her Mom is the maid, haha! Shell never be anybody.”
But oh, how wrong they were.
One day Jonathan decided to make a serious pass at Helen, in fact, his imagination was so strong that because Helen was nice to him, he thought she had feelings. He took her to the side by a bench she was on & said,
“Helen, I am mad abut you. How’s the two of us dating & maybe getting engaged?”
She was taken aback but her composure & rebound was quick,
“Well, John, I must confess. I am already spoken for to another. We haven’t made an announcement yet.”
She was lying, but it was the only retort that would work. Anything else, like,
“Let’s just be friends,”
would have been, to him, an insult. Can’t insult the employer of your Mom.
Downhearted, he walked away & pretended to be happy but he was as sullen as could be inside.
Strangely enough, this statement of hers was soon to come true.
