Chapter 6 Lowood Orphanage

1 After warming my frozen fingers over the fire, I looked round the room. It was a sitting room, not so splendid as the drawing room at Gateshead, but comfortable enough.

2 A tall lady entered, followed by another.

3 'The child is very young to be sent alone,' said the first. She looked at me for a minute, and then added, 'She had better be put to bed soon. She looks tired. Are you tired?' She placed her hand on my shoulder as she spoke.

4 'A little, ma'am.'

5 'And hungry too, no doubt. Let her have some supper before she goes to bed, Miss Miller. Is this the first time you have left your parents to come to school, my little girl?'

6 I explained that I had no parents. She asked me how long they had been dead, then my age, my name, and whether I could read, write and sew a little. Then she touched my face gently with her finger, and saying that she hoped I should be a good child, she dismissed me with Miss Miller.

7 The lady whom we now left was, as I afterwards learnt, Miss Temple, the head teacher, who was in charge of the orphanage. Miss Miller looked younger, but more ordinary. She seemed tired. Led by her, I passed through rooms and along passages till I heard the murmur of many voices, and shortly after, entered a wide, long room with great tables, two at each end, on each of which burnt a pair of candles. Seated all round was a collection of girls of every age, from nine or ten to twenty. They were all dressed in brown. It was the hour of study, and they were preparing their work for the next day.

8 Miss Miller made a sign to me to sit down. Then, walking to the top of the room, she cried out:

9 'Collect the lesson books and put them away.'

10 Four tall girls arose from different tables, and going round, gathered the books and removed them. Miss Miller again gave the word of command:

11 'Fetch the supper trays.'

12 The tall girls went out, and returned in a short time, each bearing a tray, with pieces of bread arranged on it, and a jug of water and a cup in the middle. The bread was handed round, and those who wanted took a drink of water. When it came to my turn I drank, as I was thirsty, but I was too tired to eat.

13 When the meal was over, prayers were said, and the classes moved off in order, two by two, upstairs. I could hardly keep awake, and I scarcely noticed what sort of a place the bedroom was, except that like the schoolroom it was very long. Miss Miller helped me to undress. Each of the long rows of beds was quickly filled, and in ten minutes the single fight was put out.

14 The night passed rapidly. I was too tired even to dream. When I opened my eyes, a loud bell was ringing. The girls were up and dressing. Daylight had not yet appeared, and a fight burned in the room. I, too, rose and dressed unwillingly. It was bitterly cold. I washed when I found a basin not in use, which was not for some time, as there was only one basin for every six girls. Again the bell rang. All formed in line, two by two, and in that order went downstairs, and entered the cold and badly fit schoolroom. Here prayers were said and Miss Miller afterwards called out:

15 'Form classes.'

16 A great amount of noise and movement followed for several minutes, during which Miss Miller repeatedly exclaimed, 'Silence!' and 'Order!' When it had ended, I saw that the girls were arranged in four half-circles, each before a table and chair. All held books in their hands, and a large book lay on each table. A pause of some moments followed. Miss Miller walked from one class to another, silencing the whisperers.

17 A distant bell sounded. Immediately three ladies entered the room. Each walked to a table, and Miss Miller took the fourth one, round which the smallest children were gathered. I was now called to this lowest class.

18 Work now began with a long reading of the Bible. By the time that was over, daylight had come. The bell sounded once more, and the classes marched into another room for breakfast. How glad I was at the thought of getting something to eat! I was now nearly sick from emptiness, having taken so little the day before.

19 The dining room tables were set with steaming basins of something hot, but to my disappointment the smell was not inviting. I saw universal signs of discontent, and from the front of the procession the tall girls in the first class began to murmur:

20 'Disgusting! The porridge is burnt again!'

21 A prayer was said, then a servant brought in some tea for the teachers, and the meal began.

22 Violently hungry, and now very faint, I eagerly ate a spoonful of my share without thinking of the taste, but when I had satisfied the first sharpness of hunger, I could eat no more. All around me, the spoons moved slowly. I saw each girl taste her porridge and try to swallow it, but in most cases the attempt was soon ended.

23 When another prayer had been said, we returned to the schoolroom. I was one of the last to go out, and in passing the tables, I saw one teacher take a basin of the porridge and taste it. She looked at the others. All their faces expressed displeasure.

24 A quarter of an hour passed before lessons began again, during which everyone talked loudly and freely. Every conversation was about the breakfast. I heard the name of Mr Brocklehurst mentioned by some. Miss Miller shook her head disapprovingly, but she did not attempt to stop the general complaints. No doubt she sympathised with us.

25 At nine o'clock there was a sudden silence. The head teacher had entered. She called the first class around her, and gave a lesson on countries of the world. The lower classes worked with the other teachers at history and grammar, then writing and arithmetic followed, and music lessons were given to some of the elder girls by Miss Temple.

26 At last the clock struck twelve. Miss Temple rose.

27 'I have a word to address to the pupils,' she said. 'This morning you had a breakfast which you could not eat. You must be hungry. I have ordered that a meal of bread and cheese shall be served to all.'

28 The teachers looked at her in surprise.

29 'It is to be done on my responsibility,' she added, and immediately afterwards left the room.

30 The bread and cheese were soon brought in and handed round, to the delight of the whole school. The order was then given, 'To the garden!' Following the crowd, I found my way out of doors.

31 The garden was a wide enclosure with high walls around it. A middle space was divided into a number of little squares, which were given to each pupil as gardens to cultivate. When they were full of flowers, they would no doubt look pretty, but now all was wintry. The stronger girls ran about and played games, but many pale and thin ones crowded together for shelter and warmth in a covered space at the end, and I often heard these coughing in the damp and misty air.

32 I had not yet spoken to anyone, nor did anyone take any notice of me. I stood lonely enough, but I was used to being apart from others. I leaned against a pillar of the shelter and watched, trying to forget the cold. I looked up at the house. Over the door the following words were cut in stone:

LOWOOD ORPHANAGE. THIS SCHOOL WAS BUILT BY NAOMI BROCKLEHURST, OF BROCKLEHURST HALL.

33 I read these words over, and as I did so, a cough sounded behind me. I turned my head and saw a girl sitting on a seat reading. In turning over a page, she happened to look up, and I said to her directly:

34 'Is your book interesting?'

35 'I like it,' she answered, after a pause of a moment or two in which she examined me.

36 'What is it about?'

37 'You may look at it,' the girl replied, offering me the book.

38 I, too, liked reading, but I soon saw that this was too difficult for me. I returned it to her, and she received it quietly. She was about to go on with her story, but again I was so bold as to disturb her.

39 'Can you tell me what the writing on that stone over the door means? What is Lowood Orphanage?'

40 'This house that you have come to live in. I suppose you are an orphan, aren't you?'

41 'Both my parents died before I can remember.'

42 'Well, all the girls in this school have lost either one or both parents. This is a place for educating orphans.'

43 'Do we pay no money? Do they keep us for nothing?'

44 'We pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each. It is not enough, and the rest is supplied by generous ladies and gentlemen in this neighbourhood and in London.'

45 'Who is Naomi Brocklehurst?'

46 'The lady who built most of this house, and whose son controls and directs everything here.'

47 'Then this house does not belong to the tall lady who said we were to have some bread and cheese?'

48 'To Miss Temple? Oh, no! I wish it did. She is responsible to Mr Brocklehurst for all that she does here. He buys all our food and clothes.'

49 'Is he a good man?'

50 'He is a clergyman.'

51 'Do you like the teachers?'

52 'Well enough.'

53 I asked for their names and characters, how long she had been at the school, and last of all, whether she was happy there.

54 'You ask rather too many questions. Now I want to read.'

55 But at that moment the bell rang, and all re-entered the house. Dinner was served in two huge tin dishes, from which arose a strong smell of bad fat, not much better than that at breakfast time. The mixture was made up of not very good potatoes and strange bits of greasy brown meat cooked together. I ate what I could, and wondered whether the meals would be like this every day.

56 After dinner, there were more lessons till five o'clock.

57 The only event of the afternoon was that I saw the girl with whom I had talked, dismissed in disgrace from a history class and sent to stand in the middle of the large classroom. The punishment seemed to me deeply wounding to one's pride, and especially for such a big girl—she looked thirteen years or more. To my surprise, she neither wept nor became red in the face.

58 'How can she bear it so quietly?' I asked myself. 'She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment. She is looking at what she can remember, not at what is really present. I wonder what sort of a girl she is—whether good or bad.'

59 Soon after five o'clock, we had another meal. This was a cup of coffee and half a piece of brown bread. I ate eagerly, but I remained hungry. Half an hour's play followed, then study, then the cup of water and piece of bread, prayers, and bed. Such was my first day at Lowood.