介绍:
Leaving Gateshead and going to a Charity School
I woke up to find the doctor lifting me very carefully into my own bed.
he asked, 'What really made you ill? '
How could I tell him all the reasons for my unhappiness! 'I have no father or mother, brothers or sisters, ' I began.
'Don't you like living at Gateshead, in such a beautiful house? ' he asked. 'I would be glad to leave it, but I have nowhere else to go. '
'Would you like to go to school? ' he asked finally.
I knew very little about school, but at least it would be a change, the start of a new life. 'Yes, I would like to go, ' I replied in the end.
'Well, well, ' said the doctor to himself as he got up, 'we'll see.
On the morning of the fifteenth of January, Bessie rushed up to my room, to tell me a visitor wanted to see me. Who could it be?
When I nervously entered the breakfast-room, I saw a tall, thin man dressed all in black, with a cold face. 'This is the little girl I wrote to you about, ' said Mrs Reed to the stranger.
'Well, Jane Eyre, ' said the stranger heavily, 'and are you a good child? ' Do you enjoy reading the Bible? '
'Yes, sometimes, ' I replied, hesitating. 'That is not enough. Your answers show me you have a wicked heart. You must pray to God to change it, if you ever want to go to heaven. '
'Mr Brocklehurst, ' interrupted Mrs Reed, 'I mentioned to you in my letter that this little girl has in fact a very bad character.
It was not surprising that I had come to hate her. Now she was accusing me of lying in front of a stranger.
I felt I had to speak. Anger was boiling up inside me. I walked up to Mrs Reed and looked straight into her eyes.
'I do not deceive people! If I told lies, I would say I loved you! But I don't, I hate you! I will never call you aunt again as long as I live.
If anyone asks how you treated me, I will tell them the truth, that you were very cruel to me. People think you are a good woman, but you are lying to them! '
Send me to school soon, Mrs Reed. I hate living here. '
Mrs Reed arranged for me to leave soon, on the nineteenth of January.
on that day, I had to get up very early to catch the coach, but Bessie helped me to get ready. 'Will you say goodbye to Mrs Reed, Jane? ' she asked.
'No, she said I shouldn't disturb her so early. Anyway, I don't want to say anything to her. She's always hated me. '
The coach arrived, pulled by four horses. The coachman took my luggage and called me to hurry up.
What a strange feeling to be leaving Gateshead, my home for the whole of my childhood! Although I was sad to say goodbye to Bessie, I was both excited and nervous about the new place I would see, and the new people I would meet.
After a long journey, the coach arrived at the school. I followed a servant into a large building, then I was taken by a teacher, Miss Miller to the long, wide schoolroom. There, about eighty girls, aged from nine to twenty, sat doing their homework.
I sat on a bench near the door. 'Put away the lesson-books and fetch the supper-trays! ' called Miss Miller.
Four tall girls removed all the books, then went out and returned with trays. Each child could have a drink of water out of the shared cup, and could take a small piece of biscuit.
Then we all went quietly upstairs to 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 morning the ringing of a bell woke me, although it was still dark. I was so hungry that I was very glad when it was time for breakfast! I had hardly eaten anything the day before.
But the only food served to us was porridge, which was burnt. It was so disgusting that we could not eat it.
After breakfast came the one happy moment of the day, when the pupils could play and talk freely. I saw a girl near me reading a book. I felt brave enough to speak to her, since I too liked reading.
What sort of school is this? ' I asked.
'It's called Lowood school. It's a charity school. We're all charity children, you see. I expect your parents are dead, aren't they? All the girls here have lost either one or both parents.
'Don't we pay anything? Is the school free? ' I asked.
'We pay, or our relations pay, ￡15 a year for each of us. ‘ she answered.
After the short talk with the girl our lessons began. After the afternoon lesson we had a small cup of coffee and half a piece of brown bread, then half an hour's play, then homework.
That was my first day at Lowood.
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