The Morning in Question(s)

[Lorcan]

Abby is supposedly facing 3 tasks in a fairly tight morning window:

1. She has to get the meat home in enough time for Bridget to prepare the noon meal.
2. She is supposedly going on a sick call, which is the most important errand, and may also be time-sensitive.
3. And in the middle of that, she is supposedly still fussing upstairs with decorative pillowcases for a bed that won’t be needed until Monday, and Lizzie suggests maybe she decided to sew new cotton pillowcases not just slip existing pillowcases on the throw pillows at the foot of the bed.

The meat errand is the most concretely time-sensitive. It is already after 9 a.m. If Abby is going out, visiting someone sick, shopping for meat, and getting back in time for dinner (noon meal term back then, supper to them is what we call dinner now) preparation, how much spare time does she really have? And if the sick call matters, how long can she politely stay when she still has shopping to do and the household dinner schedule is bearing down on her?

So why, under those constraints, would she choose that moment to go back upstairs and mess with pillow slips or possible sewing work for a room not needed for three more days?

And if this is really the household situation, wouldn’t the practical thing be one of these:

“Bridget, the windows can be done another time, go get the meat for dinner.” or, “Lizzie, instead of reading magazines and idling, go get the meat. Bridget is busy with the windows and I have to go out.”

That seems far more natural than:

- Bridget is occupied,
- Abby has an outside errand,
- noon meal logistics are pending,
- All this and Abby is still devoting attention to upstairs pillowcase business.

To me this makes the pillowcase story feel less like a natural household priority and more like a narrative filler for Abby’s missing time.

I'm off to Fall River for the first time tomorrow. I'll try to get plenty of relevant photos, including camgarsky's request of the view from the sink area door by the screen door back into the kitchen.

[Lorcan]

For reference, from different times during Lizzie's Inquest testimony.

Hosea Knowlton: Well enough to eat pears, but not well enough to eat anything for dinner?

Lizzie Borden: She asked me if I wanted any meat.

Hosea Knowlton: Never mind about yesterday. Tell me all the talk you had with your mother when you came down in the morning?

Lizzie Borden: She asked me how I felt. I said I felt better, but did not want any breakfast. She said what kind of meat did I want for dinner. I said I did not want any. She said she was going out, somebody was sick, and she would get the dinner, get the meat, order the meat. And I think she said something about the weather being hotter, or something; and I don't remember that she said anything else. I said to her: "Won't you change your dress before you go out?" She had on an old one. She said: "No, this is good enough." That is all I can remember.

Hosea Knowlton: Miss Borden, I want you now to tell me all the talk you had with your mother, when you came down, and all the talk she had with you. Please begin again.

Lizzie Borden: She asked me how I felt. I told her. She asked me what I wanted for dinner. I told her not anything, what kind of meat I wanted for dinner. I told her not any. She said she had been up and made the spare bed, and was going to take up some linen pillow cases for the small pillows at the foot, and then the room was done. She says: "I have had a note from somebody that is sick, and I am going out, and I will get the dinner at the same time." I think she said something about the weather, I don't know. She also asked me if I would direct some paper wrappers for her, which I did.

[Inspector]

If “the room was done”, Abby wasn’t allowed to leave the guest room alive. The sewing, note,going for meat etc. was all gibberish.

[camgarsky4]

Hi Inspector!!

[Inspector]

Hi camgarsky4!! Hope you are well.