Helen squinted in the direction that her older sister had pointed, but as hard as she tried she could not distinguish the figure of a deer from the blur of the tree trunks. She knew her eyesight was not as good as her brother or her sisters, but recently it seemed that she could see less and less of anything that was even a slight distance away from her. And last week, when she was helping the main housekeeper dust Lord Waddington’s library she was severely reprimanded for missing a number of dusty areas. It just wasn’t fair that at only nine years of age her eyesight seemed to be so poor.
Fortunately her 14 year old sister, Marsha, had eyes like a hawk. She quickly fitted an arrow to her bow, and with a quick dispatch the arrow brought the deer down. Now they would have meat to eat for a while because they would trade some of the meat to other families who lived on the estate of Lord Waddington and then the other families would bring them food from their kills or from their gardens. This form of helping others had been going on for many years, and now in 1799 Helen was old enough to be able to see how well the time honored system worked. She was definitely going to need the help of others as she grew older because the status of her family was only that of servants on the estate, and while their housing costs were paid for, the wages that they earned from working for Lord and Lady Waddington didn’t allow her family to put much money aside.
Helen’s older sisters both served Lady Waddington and her two daughters. Her older brother James worked in the stables with their father, who was in charge of the horses. Lord Waddington had a lot of horses, as the Clydesdales were needed for pulling the plows and other farm equipment, and the other horses were kept for riding, pulling the carriage and even fox hunting along with some horses that were specially raised for playing polo.
James was only 12, and he had finished his schooling when he was 10, just as Marsha and 16 year old Beatrice had. Lord Waddington insisted that his servants must learn to read and write, so he had set up a classroom on the estate. Children of all the servants attended school from the age of 6 until they were 10, and it didn’t matter if they were smart enough to go further in school or not. By the time they turned 10 they were expected to work on the estate like their parents did. The teacher was Lord Waddington’s oldest daughter Mildred, who was mostly called Milly by everyone behind her back. To her face the students and the servants all called her Madam.
Helen was really fascinated by Lady Waddington and her 3 children. Mildred was only a couple of years older than her oldest sister Bea. Then the next girl was 15 year old Joyce. The son, Jonathan, was 13, and was a year older than her brother James. The thing that fascinated Helen though was that Lady Waddington and her 3 children all wore glasses. Before Helen started to notice that she couldn’t see as well as she used to be able to see she could tell that the glasses that Lady Waddington wore looked to be quite strong and they really made her eyes look very tiny behind the lenses. The glasses that Milly wore were similar to her mother’s in that they also made her eyes look smaller, but the lenses were not nearly as thick. Joyce wore similar glasses as well, but they seemed to be thicker than Milly’s were. And the glasses that Jonathan wore were not thick at all, but he also wore them all the time like his sisters and his mother did.
By the time Helen turned 14 she had been working on the estate for 4 years. The main housekeeper and her mother had noticed that Helen seemed to have very poor distant eyesight, so her mother had trained Helen to be a seamstress. Helen liked this job, and she enjoyed sewing the clothing for the workers on the estate with only a needle and thread. Her distance vision had gradually diminished more and more so that when she looked up from her sewing and tried to focus on anything more than a few feet away she only saw a blur. Milly, her former teacher, had also noticed that Helen had poor eyesight, and she had told Helen that she was quite likely nearsighted, just as she and her sister were. Milly also told Helen that if she went to London, like her family did, Helen could probably get glasses that would allow her to see much better for only 4 or 5 pounds. Helen had been saving pence and shillings now for the 4 years that she had been working and she had saved almost 3 pounds. But Helen knew that she would also have to save up for the train fare, as well as for lodging while she waited for her glasses to be made, and this would take another pound or two. At this rate Helen wouldn’t be able to get herself a pair of glasses for at least another 4 years, and she was worried that her eyesight might get so much worse in that period of time that she might be fired because she could no longer do her job.
But as poor as her eyesight was getting to be Helen was still able to do her job while she saved for her glasses. She adapted to her ever increasing myopia by drawing closer and closer to her sewing, until she reached a point where she had to close one eye and bring her sewing almost to the tip of her nose to see what she was doing. Of course she had to pull her work away from her eye and work almost blind for a minute when she brought the needle towards her, but she managed without glasses until the day that Lady Waddington called upon her to sew the hem of a new dress that Helen had made for her. As Helen was pinning up the hem Lady Waddington noticed that Helen could only see what she was doing if she drew her face very close to her work.
“My goodness child you seem to be unable to see what you are doing. Have you not got glasses?” Lady Waddington asked sharply.
“No my lady, I do not. I have almost enough saved to go to London to have my eyes examined by a doctor and to buy myself glasses.” Helen told her.
“Well, the way you are holding everything so close to your eyes indicates to me that you are at least as nearsighted as I am. I will go to my bedroom and bring you a pair of my old glasses to try on.” She said.
Lady Waddington was back in a few minutes while Helen sat waiting in her normal blur. During this time Helen wondered what it would be like to be able to put on a pair of glasses and see everything clearly again and she soon found out how much better things looked when she had a pair of glasses on. She looked around in amazement as she could now see things that had previously only been a complete blur. But as she looked around the room she could see that things at the other side of the room were still a bit fuzzy and she told Lady Waddington that.
“That tells me that my glasses are not quite strong enough for you. But at least you can wear my old glasses until you are able to save up enough for a pair of your own.” Lady Waddington said.
“You are going to let me keep these?” Helen questioned in amazement.
“Why yes child. You do good work in making my dresses and I would hate to lose you as a seamstress. I can only imagine how much better and faster you will work now that you can see a lot better.” Lady Waddington replied.
Helen finished hemming the dress, and for the first time when she was done she was able to stand back and look at the finished product on Lady Waddington. She told Lady Waddington that she looked very beautiful wearing the dress and the dress looked lovely on her. After she was dismissed she went downstairs where the housekeeper spotted her and commented on the fact that she was now going to be able to see well enough to keep her job. That night when she was eating with her family everyone was amazed at the fact that her eyesight was so bad that she could see so much better when she was wearing Lady Waddington’s thick glasses. But they were pleased for her that she now had glasses and could see fairly well again.
Another 2 years went by. Helen had worn Lady Waddington’s old glasses from the time she woke up in the morning until the time she blew out her candle at night. She knew her eyesight had gotten worse over the past couple of years, because the blur in the distance had increased considerably. But without the glasses she really could see nothing, so even though distant things were blurred again the glasses still were necessary to allow her to do her job. She managed to go almost another year before she announced to her family that she was going to have to go to London now and get a pair of her own glasses. She had managed to save almost 10 pounds and she felt that this would be enough, but her family gave her some money that they had saved so that she now had 11 pounds, and for sure that would be enough.
Helen had never been off Lord and Lady Waddington’s estate and she waited at the front entrance for the carriage that was taking her and some other member of the Waddington family to the train station. Helen hoped it would be Milly, because she knew her from her being her teacher, but she was surprised when Jonathan turned out to be the one going to London. Her dad was driving the carriage, and Helen had to sit up on the seat in the open with him, while Jonathan Waddington rode inside. Once they had been dropped off at the station Helen was surprised when Jonathan helped her put her small bag on the luggage cart and he wheeled it to the luggage car along with his considerable luggage.
“What is your name young lady?” Jonathan asked.
“I am Helen and I am the second youngest daughter of Jacob, the driver of your carriage.” Helen told him
“Why are you going to London? Have you found another position?” Jonathan queried.
“I need to have my eyes tested and I need new glasses. These old ones your mother gave me are no longer strong enough. And, no I am not leaving. I will only be gone long enough to get my new glasses.” Helen told him.
“Oh, those are Mother’s old glasses are they? I remember her telling us that she had given a pair of her old glasses to one of the seamstresses so I guess that was you. You look very pretty wearing them. Did you make that beautiful dress?” Jonathan asked.
“Thank you for the compliment Sir. Yes, I did make my dress and I even sewed the shirt you are wearing.” Helen replied.
Jonathan called a porter to push the luggage cart to the train, and the porter loaded Helens small valise into the luggage car along with Jonathan’s trunk and other items. Then Jonathan and Helen went to the ticket office to pay their fares. Once the tickets had been purchased Jonathan asked Helen if she would like to sit with him, and she accepted his invitation. As the train steamed towards London Helen found out that Jonathan was also going to have his eyes examined and was going to be attending school in London for at least another year. When the train pulled into the station Jonathan asked Helen where she would be staying, and Helen told him that she was going to have to find inexpensive lodgings for about 2 weeks while her new glasses were being readied. Jonathan suggested that she could stay at the Waddington city residence, where he was going to be living. Helen told him that she couldn’t do that.
“I insist that you come to the house with me. There will be a room in the servant’s quarters that you can stay in. After all, you are employed by my father.” Jonathan said.
“That is very kind of you Sir. Possibly there is some sewing I can do to pay my way.” Helen replied.
“That is quite possible, as there is only the butler and his wife, who is the housekeeper, living there. Father has to come to the city quite often, so he maintains the house in readiness for his visits.” Jonathan responded.
‘Do you know how to find where this eye doctor that your sister Millie told me I should see is located?” Helen asked.
“I do. I am going there in the morning, so I will take you with me.” Jonathan replied.
The following morning Helen and Jonathan rode in a lovely horse drawn carriage to the offices of the eye doctor. Jonathan’s family name pulled enough weight that Helen was ushered into the eye doctor’s examination room even before the doctor was finished with Jonathan. Helen was surprised to find Jonathan waiting for her when she came out and he told her that they were going to go to the optician’s together. He was interested in seeing what Helen required for a prescription and when Helen showed him the slip of paper with the numbers written on it she heard him mutter “That’s really strong” under his breath.
“What is really strong?” Helen asked.
“Your prescription is. Mother is around -18D, and my sister Joyce has a prescription that is around -15D. Millie and I are both around -12D, but now I need an increase to -13.50D. But your prescription is -23D, and I had learned in school that you couldn’t get anything stronger than -20D. It will be interesting to find out how the optician can make your glasses in the power that you require.” Jonathan said.
Jonathan was finished with ordering his new glasses much sooner than Helen was. She was in a discussion with the head optician for quite a while. Apparently Jonathan was correct in suggesting that -20D glasses were about the strongest glasses that the optician could make and the optician was explaining that for -20D he would use a -10D wheel on both sides of the lens to make it a -20D lens. He explained that once a prescription got over -10D then he had to go to a minus curve on each side. For example, Jonathan’s new -13.50 D glasses would normally be created by using a -3.50D wheel on one side and a -10D wheel on the other side. The old glasses of Lady Waddington that Helen was wearing had been created with a -8D wheel on the front side and a -10D wheel on the backside.
“If you could wear a -22D lens I could create it, because last month a lady who was very vain and wanted her glasses to have flat fronts paid me to create a wheel that could grind a -12D on only one side. So for a -22D lens I could use a -12D and a -10D. But this would not give you your full correction. I could also make you a -24D lens by using the -12D wheel on both the front and the back, but that would be too strong for you.” The optician told Helen.
“Maybe the -22 would be the best. I am a seamstress and I need close up vision worse than I need distance vision.” Helen said.
Jonathan had been listening to the conversation and spoke up, “Make her both pairs.”
“But I can’t afford 2 pairs of glasses.” Helen replied.
“I will pay for one pair. Just make her both pairs. She can wear one pair for close work and the other pair will give her good distance vision.” Jonathan replied.
“I can’t let you do that for me.” Helen said.
“Why not? You work for my father and you need to get glasses to be able to do your job. You are very nearsighted anyway, but if you ordered the -24D glasses and used them for close up work then you would soon find that you needed even stronger glasses for your distance vision. I am paying for them to make a special wheel for me so that I can have flat fronts on my new glasses, but if they were to use that wheel then the next stronger pair of glasses they could make would be -25.50, and that wheel won’t be ready for about 2 weeks. Oh, and I guess they could use that wheel with a -10 wheel to make you a pair that was -23.50D, but again you would need to stay in town for a much longer period of time.” Jonathan said.
“I can’t be away any longer than two weeks. It cost me a pound for the return trip train ride. You are giving me free lodging so I don’t need any more of my money. I have 10 pounds left. Can I buy 2 pairs of glasses for 10 pounds?” Helen asked the optician.
“Sorry Miss, but glasses as strong as you need will cost you at least 6 pounds a pair.” The optician replied.
“Let me give you 3 pounds towards your 2 pairs of glasses Helen. That way you will have a pound left to pay for necessities.” Jonathan said.
Jonathan continued his urging for Helen to accept the 3 pounds that she required from him, and finally he wore her down. They left the optician’s together and instead of calling for a carriage to take them back to the Waddington home Jonathan suggested that since it was such a nice day they should walk. He also suggested that because Helen could not see very well until she got her new glasses then possibly it would be better if she took his hand, and they walked hand in hand back to the house. When they got back to the Waddington residence Helen had a very strong feeling that Jonathan was quite interested in her as a girl, but she dismissed that thought because her station in life was so far below his that they would never be allowed to get married.
After a little over a week had passed a note came from the optician telling Helen that one of her pairs of glasses had been finished. She was very excited and she rushed to tell Jonathan, who had just come home from his schooling. Helen had not realized that Jonathan was in his final years of study to become an eye doctor, but when she found that out she realized that this was why he knew so much about her myopia, and of glasses. Johnathan seemed to be as excited as she was to see her new glasses on her face, so he had the butler, who also doubled as the horseman, hitch up the horses to the carriage. They arrived at the opticians and when the optician brought Helen her glasses he explained that she might have a spot of trouble getting used to them because they were much stronger than her old glasses.
Helen put the new -24D glasses on her nose and slipped the gold spring temples around the back of her ears. Immediately objects that had only been a blur jumped out at her in perfect clarity. All she could say was “Wow, I can see everything so clearly now.”
The extra diopter of power didn’t seem to be a problem for Helen to accept, and after her glasses were fitted she and Jonathan walked back out to the carriage. Helen was looking around in wonderment as everything was “ever so clear.” And now that Helen could see Jonathan clearly she could tell that he was an amazingly handsome man.
For the rest of that week Helen spent her days walking around the neighborhood, taking in all the sights that she had never seen before. Then when Jonathan came home he would join her for supper and they would spend the evening in the drawing room talking about what Helen had seen.
That weekend Lord Waddington came down to the city house. The note had arrived from the optician telling Jonathan and Helen that his new glasses and her near point glasses were ready to be picked up, and Helen wanted to go to the optician and get them as soon as Jonathan could go with her. Now that Lord Waddington was in residence Helen knew that she and Jonathan would go back to being servant and master, and Helen had already felt that she had fallen in love with Jonathan, She could not bear to leave him, but she also knew she had to get back to her job at the Waddington estate or she would lose it. They again took the carriage to the optician’s on Friday afternoon after Jonathan had returned from school.
Helen could tell that it was easier for her to wear the weaker powered glasses for reading and doing near point tasks. Her eyes felt a little strained when she had tried to read with her stronger glasses. But the thrill of being able to see everything was not the same as it had been with her stronger glasses. Helen’s thrill was when she saw Jonathan wearing his new glasses. The gold oval frames were the same, but the flat front of the lenses made for interesting reflections and Helen thought that Jonathan looked so dashing wearing his new glasses that her heart broke at the thoughts of leaving him on Monday.
Helen was very surprised when Lord Waddington requested that she sit with him and Jonathan for the evening meal. Housekeeper had apparently told him that she had been doing so at Jonathan’s request for the past couple of weeks. During the meal Helen felt that Lord Waddington couldn’t stop staring at her. Jonathan had told her she was very beautiful, but Helen hadn’t really believed him. But now his father couldn’t keep his eyes off her. After the meal was finished Helen went to help the housekeeper clear the table, but Lord Waddington stopped her from doing so.
“You are a guest, not a servant here my dear girl. Enjoy yourself for the next little while, as Jonathan wishes to discuss something with me. We won’t be long.” Lord Waddington told her.
Jonathan and his father retired to the drawing room. Helen was left on her own so she went to the library and looked at the various books on the shelves. There was one she was interested in so she took her reading glasses from her little pouch and put them on. She was thrilled that she could hold the book a reasonable distance from her eyes and all the words looked so very clear to her. She had read the first two chapters when Jonathan came into the library.
“Father would like to speak to you in the drawing room. Could you please go to him.” Jonathan said.
“Why, yes of course. What is this about?” Helen asked.
“I told him that I loved you and asked for his permission to marry you.” Jonathan said.
Helen was floored. She had no idea. But now she was terribly unnerved. Lord Waddington would never let his only son marry a commoner, especially a commoner with such terrible eyesight that she had to wear very thick glasses that made her eyes look really tiny and ugly. There was no way she could get out of it and she had to go to the drawing room to talk to him. She had been summoned.
“I can see why my son feels that he has fallen in love with you my dear. You are a vision of loveliness. But how do you feel about marrying my son?” Lord Waddington asked.
“I think Jonathan is wonderful. I would love to marry him, but of course I can’t.” Helen said.
“Why not, my child?” He asked.
“I am just a commoner. I am a servant and I work for you. Even if I was good enough to marry your son I have terrible eyesight and I am almost blind without my glasses.” Helen said.
“My own wife, who I love dearly, once gave you an old pair of her glasses. Would you not consider her to be almost blind without her glasses? You know Jonathan and his 2 sisters also wear very strong glasses. Why do you think it should matter to me that you do not have perfect eyesight? And actually child, I think I need to tell you that I was first attracted to Lady Waddington because she wore strong glasses from an early age. She was also a commoner. Her father was not a servant, but he did work for me here in the city. I can see why Jonathan was attracted to you, and I now know that he has also inherited my affinity for beautiful women who wear strong glasses. Would you stay here in the city and allow my son to court you?” Lord Waddington asked.
“My Lord, I cannot just stay in the city and do nothing. Why can I not return to the estate and continue my dressmaking? Then Jonathan could come home next summer and court me.” Helen said.
“Jonathan does not want you to return to the estate. He wants you to stay here. But I will make a deal with you. I will give you one of my vacant shops and I will purchase whatever supplies you need to set up a milliners shop to make clothing for ladies. You will continue to live here, under my roof until you and Jonathan can be married. I had better warn you that Jonathan wants to be married by Christmas though.” Lord Waddington told her.
“What will Lady Waddington and your daughter’s think about this turn of events?” Helen asked.
“I think they will accept you, because that is what Jonathan wants. And my daughter Joyce is herself getting married to Byron Chambers, who is also a commoner. Millie has recently been courted by another commoner who has his own small farm and seems to be a rather decent chap. My wife just wants one of her children to be married so she can have some grandbabies, so I don’t think there will be any problems at all.” Lord Waddington said.
Helen left the drawing room with her head spinning. The thought of her getting married someday had crossed her mind, and she had fallen in love with Jonathan even though she felt that there was no hope he would be attracted to her. She had been convinced that her poor eyesight and her thick glasses would drive any men away. But Lord Waddington had told her that he found ladies who wore thick glasses to be very attractive, and it seemed obvious that Jonathan did as well.
“What did you tell him?”
“Oh, you scared me coming up behind me in the dark that way Jonathan. I told him I would have to talk to you and think about it.” Helen said.
“How much thinking do you have to do? I love you and I want to marry you.” Jonathan said as he put his arms around her and drew her closer, her rather impressive breasts pressing into his chest, as he kissed her passionately for the first time.
When Jonathan finally released her Helen took a deep breath before she said, “I love you too Jonathan.”
“So it is settled then. We can be married by Christmas.” Jonathan said.
If you lived in London England during the years between 1812 and 1842 you might walk down a London street and see a sign that read Waddington Optometry and Millinery on a storefront. Inside the front door there were 2 separate large rooms, one filled with the dressmakers dummy’s that Helen needed for her trade, and the other room was filled with the instruments Jonathan required for testing the eyes of his clients. Helen had 3 girls working for her and only came in to fill special requests from her clients, because most of the time she was deeply involved in being a mother to the 4 beautiful, myopic grandchildren that were so loved by Lady Waddington. Helen and Jonathan had 2 boys and 2 girls, who were loved beyond the end of the world by Lord and Lady Waddington, who also been given another 6 grandchildren by their daughters Millie and Joyce. Most weekends found the Waddington family all back on their country estate, where all 10 of the very nearsighted grandchildren could romp around all they wanted to. Millie had experienced some increases in her prescription during pregnancy, and her prescription was now exactly the same as her mother’s -18D. Joyce had not experienced the same increases during her pregnancy, but had indeed had her myopia increase so that she now wore -20D glasses in order to see. Jonathan still wore the same -13.50D prescription he had been prescribed when he and Helen had their eyes examined before they married. It seems that Jonathan had a premonition when he paid extra to have his -13.50D glasses made with flat fronts, because now Helen required -27D for her distance glasses and -25.50D for her reading ones and the lensmaker had been able to create the lenses by using the -13.50D grinding wheel that Jonathan had paid for back then.
Jonathan and Helen were still, after 20 years of marriage, very much in love.
Specs4ever Sept. 2015.
https://vision-and-spex.com/waddington-optometry-and-millinery-t805.html