a chore list that’d choke a horse
Laura Secord’s mother died when she was 8. Naturally — people being even clearer in 1784 than they are now about the indispensability of women — her father married again. A few years later, after his second wife died, he married a third time.
By then, Laura was 14, and had 10 siblings. (I know!)
No doubt as one of the eldest, she was expected to shoulder some of the work then classified as women’s. This included cooking, cleaning and childcare, of course, plus tending orchards, planting vegetables, raising chickens, milking cows, and churning cream.
And there was no mall-hopping in her spare time. That was spent spinning thread, weaving cloth, and sewing clothes.
I know what you’re thinking: no wonder the woman was slim! When would she have found the time to eat?
And yes, it’s becoming only too clear: slipping out of the house that hot June morning in 1813 – even if it was to negotiate a 30-kilometre walk in inappropriate footwear through dangerous territory – might have been a welcome change of pace for the slaving Laura.