[This is written for my daughter Trinity, and my mother Katrina]
“Lady Ada – these cucumber sandwiches are a delight!”
Ada looked at her earnestly, and then became thoughtful.
“Thanks you Miss Penny. How is the new job treating you? Surely you like working as a com-putaire?”
“Miss Lovelace I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. I am very thankful for this opportunity. But I trust, with you I can speak plainly. Oh it is drudgery! “
“But you’re out of the accounting office, you get to work using your brain – and get to use the mathematics you had worked so hard to master. “
“Something is wrong with this Age, Miss Lovelace. Everyone seems to be working 14 hour days or more, at jobs that destroy our souls. “
“Surely making great books of logarithmic tables, that help our glorious empire span the globe, surely that is a noble cause worth labouring for?”
“Oh you don’t see Miss Lovelace, the books have tens of thousands of logarithmic entries, each one taking an age to calculate. Then they complain they’re full of mistakes. So we have to check and re-check every one.”
“Oh dear, Miss Penny..“
“Miss Lovelace, after that they want copies for every ship, and so we are copying them over and over, and someone must check those for mistakes. It is such a frustrating task.”
“Well Mister Babbage is working on a steam-tabulator. When he gets it working – it will churn out logarithmic tables by the dozen! He calls it – The Difference Engine!”
“But that will just put us out of a job!”
“I see what you mean.“
Ada paused for a moment.
“I will speak to Lord Byron about it. He may have some ideas.”