The Bronte sisters gave the world enduring literature while living the most fleeting, fragile lives imaginable.
The Bronte legend is of wild genius dying young. Death stalked this family. But there was a clear reason — they lived in a blighted village. Hayworth was shockingly unsanitary. 42% of children died by age 6. The average lifespan was less than 26 years.
The village shared a handful of public privies. They were shallow, and during rain, they overflowed into the streets. A public water tap lay 6 feet from one of the worst cesspits.
Their own home was even worse. It sits right below an overcrowded graveyard. The heavy slate soil meant graves were shallow. Water tended to seep downhill rather than go down into the soil. It ran directly into their well.
The Bronte family lived with death and decay every day in the most real sense possible.
