On our hour-long guided tour, I was surprised at the economic references that crept into our tour. Our guide tried to justify the MacNab family's use of child labour. She mentioned that the servant who did the dishwashing for the MacNab family was likely eight or ten years old and worked ten-hour days. But she qualified this by mentioning that her working conditions were far better than many other jobs at the time, given that it she had a brick floor, a window and running water to work with.
Our guide also gave a neat example of an unintended consequence of tax policy. In those days, taxes were assessed based on how many rooms a person had in their house, with a room being defined as having a door. Therefore, closets were considered rooms. So the house had no closets, instead making liberal use of dressers, until the law was changed so that closets were no longer considered rooms.
It's a reminder that people respond to incentives, even in the 19th century.
We spent the day at Dundurn Castle last Summer with our young kids, we packed a lunch and ate at a park nearby. We were all impressed with the knowlage of our tour guide.
ReplyDelete