8. Servants Changed Sheets Twice Per Day
As you may be coming to see, the excessive extravagance of the Gilded Age’s wealthy elite wasn’t so much about having anything you wanted. That was pretty much a given, as long as you weren’t a woman wanting equal rights as men or any other nonsense like that. It was about showing off. The name of the game was proving to everyone else that what you had was more prominent, shinier, and more luxurious than what your neighbors had, especially if you were of the “crass” new rich, like the Vanderbilts, trying to prove yourself to the old rich.
The large homes that were owned by these wealthy people were run by a large staff of servants who, for the most part, carried out their duties in such a way that they were invisible to the owners and any guests. In fact, many chambermaids had “hidden entrances” into rooms via “secret passageways” so that they could go in and out without being seen. They would inconspicuously go into the bedrooms to change the sheets twice a day, whether they had been slept in or not. Towels were changed after every use. Carrying out these menial tasks took up most of their days while their masters lived in unbridled, unprecedented luxury.