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My first quarter at Lowood seed an age; and not the goldeher; it prised an irksle with difficuies in habituatio new rules and unwoasks. The fear of failure in these points harassed worse than the physical hardships of lot; though these were no trifles.
During January, February, and part of March, the deep snows, and, after their ing, the alst iassable roads, preented our stirring beyond the garden walls, ecept to go to church; but within these lits we had to pass an hour eery day in the open air. Our clothing was insuffit to protect us frothe seerld: we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes aed there: loed hands beued anered with chilbins, as were our feet: I reer well the distrag irritation I endured frothis cause eery eening, when feet infd; and the torture of thrusting the swelled, raw, and stiff toes into shoes in the They supply of food was distressing: with the keen appetites of growing children, we had scarcely suffit to keep alie a delicate inalid. Frothis deficy of nourished an abuse, which pressed hardly on the younger pupils: whehe fashed great girls had an opportunity, they wou or he little ones out of their portion. Many a ti I hae shared between two ts the preorsel of brown bread distributed at tea-ti; and after relinquishing to a third half the tents of g offee, I hae swallowed the reinder with an apa of secret tears, forced fro by the eigency of hunger.
Sundays were dreary days in that wintry season. We had to walk two les to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated. We set ould, we arried at churclder: during the serice we beca alst paralysed. It was too far to return to dinner, and an allowance of eat and bread, in the sa penurious proportion obsered in our ordinary als, was sered rouween the serices.
At the close of the afternoon serice we returned by an eposed and hilly road, where the bitter winter wind, blowing oer a range of snowy suits to the north, alst fyed the skin froour faces.
I reer Miss Tele walking lightly and rapidly along our drooping line, her pid cloak, which the frosty wind fluttered, gathered close about her, and eng us, by precept and eale, to keep up our spirits, and rch forward, as she said, “like stalwart soldiers.” The other teachers, poor things, were generally theeles too ch dejected to attet the task of cheering others.
How we longed for the light a of a bzing fire whe back! But, to the little o least, this was denied: each hearth in the schoolroowas iediately surrounded by a double row of great girls, and behind thethe younger children crouched in groups, ing their stared ar in their pinafores.
A little soce ca at tea-ti, in the shape of a double ration of bread—a whole, instead of a half, slice—with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdodal treat to which we all looked forward froSabbath to Sabbath. I generally tried to resere a iety of this bounteous repast for self; but the reinder I was inariably obliged to part with.
The Sunday eeni iing, by heart, the Church Catechis and the fifth, sith, ah chapters of St. Matthew; and in listening to a long sern, read by Miss Miller, whose irrepressible yawns attested her weariness. A frequent interlude of these perfornces was the enat of the part of Eutychus by so half-dozen of little girls, who, oerpowered with sleep, would fall down, if not out of the third loft, yet off the fourth for aaken up half dead. The redy was, to thrust theforward into the tre of the schoolroo and oblige theto stand there till the sern was finished. Sotis their feet failed the and they sank together in a heap; they were then propped up with the nitors’ high stools.
I hae not yet alluded to the isits of Mr. Brocklehurst; and i;bdi;/bdied that gentlen was froh the greater part of the first nth after arrial; perhaps prolonging his stay with his friend the archdea: his absence was a relief to . I need not say that I had own reasons for dreading his ing: but e he did at st.
Oernoon (I had thehree weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a ste in hand, puzzling oer a suin long diision, eyes, raised in abstra to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing: I reised alst instihat gaunt outline; and when, two nutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose e was not necessary for to look up in order to ascertain whose entrahey thus greeted. A long stride asured the schoolroo and presently beside Miss Tele, who herself had risen, stood the sa bn which had frowned on so onously frothe hearthrug of Gateshead. I now gnced sideways at this piece of architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and d than eer.
I had own reasons for being disyed at this apparition; too well I reered the perfidious hints gien by Mrs. Reed about disposition, c.; the prose pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Tele and the teachers of icious nature. All along I had been dreading the fulfilnt of this prose,—I had been looking out daily for the “ing Man,” whose infortion respeg  ast life aion was to brand as a bad child for eer: now there he was.
He stood at Miss Tele’s side; he eaking low in her ear: I did not doubt he was king disclosures of iliny; and I watched her eye with painful ay, epeg eery nt to see its dark orb turn on a gnand pt. I listeoo; and as I happeo be seated quite at the top of the roo I caught st of what he said: its iort relieed froiediate apprehension.
“I suppose, Miss Tele, the thread I bought at Lowton will do; it strubsp; that it would be just of the quality for the ca cheses, and I sorted the needles to tch. You y tell Miss Sth that I fot to ke a randuof the darning needles, but she shall hae so papers sent i week; and she is not, on any at, to gie out re tha a ti to each pupil: if they hae re, they are apt to be careless and lose the And, O ’a I wish the woollen stogs were better looked to!—when I was here st, I went into the kit-garden and eahe clothes drying on the lihere was a quantity of bck hose in a ery bad state of repair: frothe size of the holes in theI was sure they had not been well nded froti to ti.”
He paused.
“Your dires shall be atteo, sir,” said Miss Tele.
“And, ’a” he tinued, “the uells so of the girls hae two tuckers in the week: it is too ch; the rules lit theto one.”
“I think I epin that circe, sir. Agnes and Catherine Johnstone were io take tea with so friends at Lowton st Thursday, and I gae theleae to put ouckers for the oasion.”
Mr. Brocklehurst nodded.
“Well, for o y pass; but please not to let the circe our too often. And there is ahing which surprised ; I find, iling ats with the housekeeper, that a lunch, sisting of bread and cheese, has twice been sered out to the girls during the past fht. How is this? I looked oer the regutions, and I find no such al as luntioned. Who introduced this innoation? and by what authority?”
“I st be responsible for the circe, sir,” replied Miss Tele: “the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupiluld not possibly eat it; and I dared not allow theto rein fasting till dii.”
“Mada allow an instant. You are aware that  n in bringing up these girls is, not to ac theto habits of luury and indulgence, but to rehehardy, patient, self-denying. Should any little actal disappoi of the appetite our, such as the spoiling of a al, the under or the oer dressing of a dish, the i ought not to be ralised by repg with sothing re delicate the fort lost, thus paering the body and obiating the aiof this institution; it ought to be iroed to the spiritual edification of the pupils, by eng theto eince fortitude ueorary priation. A brief address on;q;/q those oasions would not be stid, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the pritie Christians; to the tornts of rtyrs; to the ehortations of our blessed Lord Hielf, calling upon His disciples to take up their cross and follow Hi to His warnings that n shall not lie by bread alone, but by eery word that proceedeth out of the uth of God; to His diiions, “If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye.” Oh, da when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt pe, into these children’s uths, you y indeed feed their ile bodies, but you little think how you stare their iortal souls!”
Mr. Brocklehurst again paused—perhaps oere by his feelings. Miss Tele had looked down when he first began to speak to her; but she now gazed straight before her, and her faaturally pale as rble, appeared to be assung also the ess and fiity of that terial; especially her uth, closed as if it would hae required a sculptor’s chisel to open it, and her brow settled gradually into petrified seerity.
Meanti, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, jestically sureyed the whole school. Suddenly his eye gae a blink, as if it had t sothing that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in re rapid ats than he had hitherto used—
“Miss Tele, Miss Tele, what—what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ’a curled—curled all oer?” Aending his e he poio the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so.
“It is Julia Seern,” replied Miss Tele, ery quietly.
“Julia Seern, ’a And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of eery precept and principle of this house, does she to the world so openly—here in an eangelical, charitable establishnt—as to wear her hair one ss of curls?”
“Julia’s hair curls naturally,” returned Miss Tele, still re quietly.
“Naturally! Yes, but we are not to to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I hae again and again ihat I desire the hair to be arranged closely, destly, pinly. Miss Tele, that girl’s hair st be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-rrow: and I see others who hae far too ch of the ecresce—that tall girl, tell her to turn round. Tell all the first forto rise up and direct their faces to the wall.”
Miss Tele passed her handkerchief oer her lips, as if to soth away the inoluntary sle that curled the she gae the order, howeer, and when the first csuld take in what was required of the they obeyed. Leaning a little bay bench, uld see the looks and grices with which they ented on this ity Mr. Brocklehursuld not see thetoo; he would perhaps hae fe that, whateer he ght do with the outside of the cup and ptter, the inside was further beyond his interferehan he igined.
He scrutihe reerse of these liing dals so fie hen pronounced sentehese words fell like the knell of doo
“All those top-knots st be cut off.”
Miss Tele seed to renstrate.
“Mada” he pursued, “I hae a Master to sere whose kingdois not of this world: ssion is to rtify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach theto clothe theeles with sha-faess and sobriety, not with braided hair anstly apparel; and each of the young persons before us has a string of hair twisted in pits whiity itself ght hae woen; these, I repeat, st be cut off; think of the ti wasted, of—”
Mr. Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other isitors, dies, ered the roo They ought to hae e a little sooo hae heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired i, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of siteen aeen) had grey beaer hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plus, and frouhe briof this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, eborately curled; the elder dy was eneloped in stly elet shawl, tried with erne, and she wore a false front of French curls.
These dies were deferentially receied by Miss Tele, as Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst, and ducted to seats of honour at the top of the roo It see they had e in the carriage with their reereie, and had been dug a ruaging scrutiny of the rooupstairs, while he transacted business with the housekeeper, questiohe undress, aured the superihey now proceeded to address diers rerks and reproofs to Miss Sth, who was charged with the care of the linen and the iion of the dortories: but I had no ti to listen to what they said; other tters called off aed attention.
Hitherto, while gathering up the durse of Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Tele, I had not, at the sa ti, ed precautions to secure  ersonal safety; which I thought would be effected, if uld only elude obseration. To this end, I had sat well ba the for and while seeng to be busy with su had held ste in such a nner as to ceal face: I ght hae escaped notice, had not treacherous ste sohoeo slip fro hand, and falling with an obtrusie crash, directly drawn eery eye upon ; I k was all oer now, and, as I stooped to pick up the twnts of ste, I rallied forces for the worst. It ca.
“A careless girl!” said Mr. Brocklehurst, aely after—“It is the new pupil, I perceie.” And before uld draw breath, “I st not fet I hae a word to say respeg her.” Then aloud: how loud it seed to ! “Let the child who broke her ste e forward!”
Of own rd uld not hae stirred; I aralysed: but the two great girls who sit on each side of , set on legs and pushed towards the dread judge, and then Miss Tele gently assisted to his ery feet, and I caught her whispered sel—
“Don’t be afraid, Jane, I saw it was an act; you shall not be punished.”
The kind whisper went to heart like a dagger.
“Another nute, and she will despise for a hypocrite,” thought I; and an iulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and . bounded in  ulses at the i. I was no Helen Burns.
“Fetch that stool,” said Mr. Brocklehurst, pointing to a ery high one frowhich a nitor had just risen: it was brought.
“Pce the child upon it.”
And I ced there, by whoI don’t know: I was in no dition to note particurs; I was only aware that they had hoisted up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst’s hat he was within a yard of , and that a spread of she and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silery pluge etended and waed below .
Mr. Brocklehurst heed.
“Ladies,” said he, turning to his faly, “Miss Tele, teachers, and children, you all see this girl?”
Ourse they did; for I fe their eyes directed like burning- gsses against rched skin.
“You see she is yet young; you obsere she possesses the ordinary forof childhood; God has graciously giehe shape that He has gien to a;bdo?;/bdoll of us; no signal deforty points her out as a rked character. Who would think that the Eil One had already found a serant and agent in her? Yet such, I griee to say, is the case.”
A pause—in which I began to steady the palsy of neres, and to feel that the Rubi assed; and that the trial, no loo be shirked, st be firy sustained.
“My dear children,” pursued the bck rble clergyn, with pathos, “this is a sad, a ncholy oasion; for it bees duty to warn you, that this girl, who ght be one of God’s own s, is a little castaway: not a er of the true flock, but eidently an interloper and an alien. You st be on yuard against her; you st shun her eale; if necessary, aoid her pany, eclude her froyour sports, and shut her out froyour erse. Teachers, you st watch her: keep your eyes on her ents, gh well her words, scrutinise her as, punish her body to sae her soul: if, indeed, such salation be possible, for ( tongue faers while I tell it) this girl, this child, the natie of a Christian nd, worse than ny a little heathen who says its prayers to Brah and kneels before Juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!”
Noause of ten nutes, during which I, by this ti in perfect possession of wits, obsered all the fele Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply theto their optics, while the elderly dy swayed herself to and fro, and the two younger ones whispered, “How shog!” Mr. Brocklehurst resud.
“This I learned froher beress; frothe pious and charitable dy ted her in her orphan state, reared her as her own daughter, and whose kindness, whose generosity the unhappy girl repaid by an ingratitude so bad, so dreadful, that at st her eetlent patroness was obliged to separate her froher own young ones, fearful lest her icious eale should iheir purity: she has sent her here to be healed, een as the Jews of old sent their diseased to the troubled pool of Bethesd and, teachers, superinte, I beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round her.”
With this subli clusion, Mr. Brocklehurst adjusted the top button of his surtout, ttered sothing to his faly, who rose, bowed to Miss Tele, and then all the great people sailed in state frothe ro at the door, judge said—
“Let her stand half-an-hour longer on that stool, a no one speak to her during the reinder of the day.”
There was I, then, unted aloft; I, who had said uld n;cite..;/citeot bear the sha of standing on natural feet in the ddle of the roo was now eposed to general iew on a pedestal of infa. What sensations were no nguage describe; but just as they all rose, stifling breath and strig throat, a girl ca up and passed : in passing, she lifted her eyes. What a strange light inspired the What araordinary sensation that ray sent through ! How the new feeling bore up! It was as if a rtyr, a hero, had passed a se or icti and iarted strength iransit. I stered the rising hysteria, lifted up head, and took a firstand oool. Helen Burns asked so slight question about her work of Miss Sth, was chidden for the triiality of the inquiry, returo her pce, and sled at as she agai by. What a sle! I reer it now, and I know that it was the effluence of fiellect, of true ce; it lit up her rked lis, her thin face, her sunken grey eye, like a refle frothe aspect of an angel. Yet at that nt Helen Burns wore on her ar“the untidy badge;” scarcely an ho I had heard her ned by Miss Scatcherd to a dinner of bread and water on the rrow because she had blotted an eercise ipying it out. Such is the ierfeature of n! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest p; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd’s only see those nute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb.
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