Sundays were made very pleasant at Chessington. In the morning the
girls attended the parish church at Dunscar. In the afternoon they
might read, or stroll about the grounds where they pleased, an
indulgence not permitted on weekdays. During the summer term they were
allowed to carry their four-o'clock tea into the garden. All was laid
ready by the servants in the dining-hall, and each girl might pour out
her own cup, and, taking what bread and butter she wished, retire with
a few select companions to some nook under the trees, or a seat in an
ivy-covered arbour.
From half-past four to half-past five was "silence hour", which
everyone was required to devote to reading from a special library of
books carefully chosen for the purpose by Miss Cavendish.
"I won't call them Sunday books," she sometimes said, "because I
consider our religion would be a very poor thing if it were only kept
for one day in the week. What we learn in this quiet time we must apply
in our busy hours, and let the helpful words we read influence our
ordinary life and go towards the building of character, which is the
most invaluable of all possessions."
At half-past six there was a short service in chapel; and the rest of
the evening, after supper, was given up to the writing of home letters.
All the routine of the school was still new to Honor, and she felt very
strange and unusual as, precisely at ten o'clock, she took her place
among the lines of Chessingtonians marshalled in the quadrangle
preparatory to setting off for church. Miss Cavendish gave the signal
to start, and the two hundred girls filed along two and two, all
dressed alike in white serge coats and skirts and best sailor hats,
with their house colours, the blue ribbons of the School House leading
the way, followed by the pink of St. Aldwyth's, and the orange, violet,
and scarlet of St. Chad's, St. Bride's, and St. Hilary's, respectively.
"I believe it's considered one of the sights of the neighbourhood to
see us parade through the lich-gate," said Lettice Talbot, who happened
to be walking with Honor. "Visitors stand in the churchyard and try to
count us. They make the most absurd remarks sometimes; I suppose they
think we shan't overhear what they say. Really, they seem to look upon
us as a kind of show, and I quite expect we shall be put down in the
next edition of the guide-book as one of the attractions of Dunscar. Of
course, we take no notice. We walk along with our noses in the air, as
if we weren't aware that anyone was even thinking of us; but all the
same we feel giggles inside when we catch a whisper: 'They look like
angels dressed in white!' or, 'What a pile of washing they must make!'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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