Posted by Peter H on April 10, 2002 at 17:48:00 from 213.122.178.221:
In Reply to: Re: Casual Elitism posted by Adam Quinan on April 10, 2002 at 12:49:13:
As to Prue Eckett's statement that hiring a nurse is 'something only the very wealthy would consider nowadays'
I don't see what relevance this is, whether it's true or not. What people do 'nowadays' has nothing to do with Ransome's influences when he wrote the books. It's what people did then that matters. If in 1930 comfortably-off people like the Walkers would, typically, have engaged a nurse, then Ransome was justified in writing one in. Surely it's as simple as that? You can't blame Ransome merely for reflecting the customs of his time.