PART TWO----THE SCHOOLGIRL
CHAPTER THREE My First Impressions of School
Finally, in the middle of January. I left Gateshead for Lowood School. Bessie helped me to get ready, even though I had to get up very early to leave.
“Will you say good-bye to Mrs. Reed, Jane?” Bessie asked.
“No, she doesn’t want to wake up. Anyway, I don’t want to say anything to her, or the Reed children. They’ve always hated me.”
“Oh, Miss Jane, don’t say that!”
“Well, it’s true. Good-bye to Gateshead!” I shouted happily, as we left the house and walked towards the road to wait for the coach. Soon it arrived. It was full of people. The driver took all of my clothes and things, and told me to get in quickly. Bessie kissed me for the last time as I held tightly to her.
She told the driver, “Make sure you take care of her! Fifty miles is a long way for a young child to travel, when she is alone.”
“I will!” he answered. The door was closed, and the coach rolled off. It felt strange to be leaving Gateshead. Even though I hated life there, it had been my home for as long as I could remember. I was sad to leave Bessie, but I was excited about the new school and the new people I would meet there.
The journey was much too long and not very interesting. I did not have any books to read, so I looked out of the window, thinking about my new life. Then I slept for a short time. When I woke up the coach had stopped. The door opened and a servant called in.
“Is there a little girl called Jane Eyre here?”
“Yes!” I said. The servant helped me out of the coach and took my bags. We went into a large building, and the servant she left me in a sitting room. I was very tired after the long journey, so I sat in one of the comfortable chairs. In a few moments the door opened and a tall lady came into the room. She was pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes. The lady told me that she was Miss Temple, the headmistress of Lowood School. She looked at me carefully.
“You are very young to travel alone. Are you tired?” she asked, putting her hand on my shoulder kindly.
“Yes, Miss Temple, I am a little tired,” I said.
“How old are you, and what is your name?”
“I’m Jane Eyre, ma’am, and I’m ten years old.”
“Well, Jane, I hope you will be a good child, and work hard,” she said, touching my cheek gently with her finger.
Another teacher named Miss Miller took me to the schoolroom. In this large room there were about eighty girls sat doing their homework. The oldest girls looked about twenty years old. I sat on a bench near the door and watched them quietly.
After the homework was done we each had a small piece of bread for supper. Then we all went upstairs in the long, crowded bedroom, where two children shared every bed. I had to share Miss Miller’s, but I was so tired that I fell asleep immediately.
In the early morning, someone rang a bell to wake us up, although it was still dark outside. I got dressed quickly in the cold room, and washed when I could. There was only one bowl of water for six girls. When the bell rang again, we all went downstairs to the cold, dark schoolroom for prayers. When the bell rang a third time, it was time to begin our lessons. Everyone moved into four groups around four tables, and the teachers came into the room to start the Bible class. I was in the class for the youngest girls. I was so glad when it was time for breakfast! I had eaten only a little food the day before. But on that morning, the only food we got was burned porridge. It was so awful that we could not eat it, so we left the dining room with empty stomachs. After breakfast came a happy time of day, when the students could play and talk together a little. Everyone agreed that the breakfast was terrible. At nine o’clock, the lessons started again and finished at twelve. After the lessons Miss Temple stood up to speak to the whole school.
“Girls, this morning you had a breakfast which you could not eat. You must be hungry, so I have asked for a lunch of bread and cheese for all of you.” The teachers looked at her in surprise.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for it,” she said to them.
We were very happy, and ran out into the garden to eat our lunch. None of the other girls had spoken to me yet, but I did not mind. I stood alone outside, eating my bread and cheese and trying to forget how cold it was. I thought about my new life. Gayeshead was far away, and I did not yet have friends at school.. what sort of future would I have?
As I thought about these things, I watched a girl near me reading a book. Soon I felt brave enough to speak to her, because I too liked reading.
“Is your book interesting?” I asked.
“Well, I like it,” she said. “would you like to look at it?” the book was too difficult for me to understand, so I gave it back.
“What sort of school is this?” I asked.
“Lowood school is a school for girls shoes parents have died. We are all charity children here.”
“Do we have to pay anything to live here?” I asked.
“Our relatives pay 15 pounds a year for each of us. Some kind ladies and gentlemen in London pay the rest of the money.”
“Who is Mr. Brocklehurst?” I asked her.
“His mother built the school, and he is the manager. He lives in a large house near here.”
I did not see the girl again until the afternoon, when I saw that she was being punished in the schoolroom. I did not know what she had done wrong. The girl did not look upset, though. She was standing in the corner of the room, and did not seem to know that everyone was staring at her.
“If that happened to me,” I thought, “I would be so embarrassed!”
After our lessons, we had a small cup of coffee and a piece of brown bread, then half an hour’s play, then homework. Finally, after the evening biscuit and drink of water, we said our prayers and went to bed. My first day at Lowood had ended. |