"Yes. Miss Hall used to come every day from Tewkesminster; but I had a
few lessons from Mother as well, in drawing, and Greek history, and
English literature. We used to read books aloud in the evenings--Shakespeare,
or Dickens, or sometimes Tennyson or Wordsworth. We got through a
tremendous amount of poetry in the winter, when it was dark early, and
we had nothing else to do, except sit by the fire. We read all _Marmion_
and the _Idylls of the King_ and _Lalla Rookh_, as well as shorter
pieces. Mother reads aloud most beautifully; it's delightful to listen
to her. Then in summer-time we used to go country walks, and find wild
flowers, and bring them back and hunt out their names in the botany
book. I kept a Nature Calendar, and put down everything I noted--when
the first violets were out, and when I heard the cuckoo, or saw a
swallow for the first time in the year; and what birds' nests I found,
or butterflies, or moths, or caterpillars. Sometimes I drew pictures of
them as well. I had a whole row of specimen sheets pinned round the
school-room at home. Then one day a wretched doctor told Mother that
Tewkesminster was too relaxing a place for me, and recommended
Chessington. I begged and implored not to be sent away, but Mother said
the doctor was quite right, and that I was far too grown-up for my age,
and an only child ought to have young companions, so I must certainly go
to school at once. I was absolutely miserable my first term. I'm a
little more used to it now, but I begin to count the days to the
holidays directly I get back to St. Chad's. There are still eight weeks
before we break up!"
Janie spoke of home with the intense longing of a girl who is not
naturally fond of the social side of life. She was out of her element
at Chessington, and the strenuous bustle and stimulating whirl of the
place, which began to mean so much to Honor, were repugnant to her
quiet, reserved disposition. In every big school there are Janies,
isolated characters not quite able to run the pace required by the
inexorable code of public opinion, interesting to the one or two who
may happen to discover their good points, but to the mass of their
companions merely names and faces in class. Some of them do fine work
in the world afterwards, yet the very qualities that help them to
future success are not those to bring present popularity. They are not
for the many, but for the few, and only show their best to an
occasional friend whose sympathy can overstep the wall of shyness that
fences them round.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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