] a
year. Those who sewed got additional pay for this work. There was
no great chasm between the family and the servants. They did not
segregate into a parlor class and a kitchen class. The top
servants were as educated as their masters and ate at the same
table. Great households had a chaplain and a steward to oversee
the other servants. There was usually a cook. Lower servants ate
together. Servants were disciplined by cuffs and slaps and by the
rod by master or mistress. Maids wore short gowns, a large apron,
and a gypsy hat tied down over a cap. Chamber maids helped to
dress their mistresses. Servants might sleep on trundle beds
stored under their master's or mistress's bed, in a separate room,
or on the straw loft over the stables. A footman wore a blue tunic
or skirted coat with corded loop fasteners, knee-britches, and
white stockings. He walked or ran on foot by the side of his
master or mistress when they rode out on horseback or in a
carriage and ran errands for him, such as leading a lame horse
home or running messages. A good footman is described in this
letter: "Sir, - You wrote me lately for a footman, and I think
this bearer will fit you: I know he can run well, for he has run
away twice from me, but he knew the way back again: yet, though he
has a running head as well as running heels (and who will expect a
footman to be a stayed man) I would not part with him were I not
to go post to the North.
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