ABSTRACT
Other tilings lniglit also have stat~led a strangcr, for the relationship bctwccn husl)and and wife, and between parents and chil~lrcri, was an ucir~sual one for the tirncs in which they lived. Tlic avcragc Vic~olian I~ouscliolcl of tlie early forties probably fc~l1o~vc.d a milcli Icss rigid pattern than fanlily lifc was to acllicve in thc sixties, but cvcn so the cltlcr Joscph was a more familiar ant1 approachable person to his children than most coritcrnporary fathers. Nor did Saral: Rowntree ever pretend to be the gentle, clinging type of woniari who was sure tliat 'Papa knew best' and left all the dccisioris to him. Neither parent subscribed to the theory that children should be seen and not heard; and soriiehow, in tllc crowtlcd quartcrs above the shop, and in spite of domestic and co~nmercial preoccupations, they managed to make for their family a life whicli thc boys wcre always to remember as satisfying and exciting.
