‘Was not that the
breakfast bell? Why does not your papa get a gong? — it is so hard to know one
bell from another.’
Sheridan Le Fanu - Uncle Silas (1864)
The things we don’t notice. Until I came across this quote
it had never occurred to me that bells generally summoned those below stairs
while gongs summoned those above. They must be easily distinguished - can't have guests bumping into servants.
We never had either - a raised voice was generally adequate.
3 comments:
bells generally summoned those below stairs while gongs summoned those above.
John Betjeman was famously "Summoned by Bells", but I bet he didn't bump into any servants. I suppose people today with butlers and servants (almost exclusively Saudis and Russians) just contact them by mobile.
This is cause for concern in 'Upstairs downstairs'...
'Rawse, will ye take this in yer hand and sound it for ma''
'Oooooh Mr 'Udson, you'm so big an' strong'...
Sam - are servants allowed mobiles?
Scrobs - I missed all that although over the years I've come across so many references to it I feel as if I watched it after all.
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