I awoke from a confused dream of having a quarrel with Aunt Matilda at
Tapioca Villa about taking the tea-tray up to the parlour, and, in my
passion at being condemned to exercise Molly's functions, kicking over
the whole equipage, and sending all the cups and saucers flying down the
kitchen stairs--where I could hear them clattering and crashing as they
descended--to the far different reality that, instead of being still
under my uncle's roof at Islington, I was actually at school at Dr
Hellyer's. And that dreadful gong which had interrupted my slumbers,
and which must once have belonged to a mandarin of the most warlike
tendencies, and of three buttons at least, judging by the din it was
capable of, was banging away down-stairs and reverberating through the
house; while the score of boys or so, who occupied the dormitory along
with Tom and myself, were jumping out of bed and dressing as hurriedly
as they could in the semi-darkness of the wintry morning, which the
twinkling of the solitary gas-jet, still alight near the door, over
Smiley's couch, rendered even more dusky and dismal by contrast.
The windows were shrouded in a thick white fog, that had come up with
the rising tide from the sea, which I was thus prevented from seeing had
I the time to spare to look out; although, the thought of doing so never
crossed my mind, for, independently of the noise of the gong and the
scurrying of the other fellows out of the room as soon as they were
partly dressed, being suggestive of my also hurrying on my clothes as
quickly as I possibly could, I hardly needed Tom's reminder to "look
sharp!" Really, no sooner had I stood on my feet and been thoroughly
roused, than I was assailed by such a feeling of ravenous hunger that it
would have been quite sufficient inducement for me to make haste without
any further spur to my movements. I certainly did not intend to be late
for breakfast--this morning at all events--and so I told Tom!
Within less than two minutes, I think, I had scrambled into my shirt and
trousers; and, throwing my other garments over my arm in imitation of
Tom, I was racing along with him down to the lavatory in the lower
regions where our ablutions had to be performed. Thence, there was
another mad rush up-stairs again to the refectory, which we reached
before the second gong, calling us to the matutinal meal, had ceased to
sound.
Porridge, with mugs of skim sky-blue milk-and-water, and a couple of
slices of bread-and-butter for each pupil, comprised the bill of fare;
but it might have been a banquet of Lucullus from the way I did justice
to it after my prolonged fast. Noticing my voracity, the old woman,
who, as on the evening before, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, gave
me an extra allowance of porridge, which made me her friend
thenceforth--at least at meal-times, that is!
On breakfast being cleared away, the "refectory," by the simple process
of removing the dirty table-cloth from the long table occupying the
centre of the apartment, was converted into a school-room, Dr Hellyer
coming in immediately after a third gong had rung for a short interval,
and taking the armchair at the head--that seat of honour which had been
temporarily filled by "the Cobbler" during our meal being vacated by
Monsieur Phelan with much celerity as soon as the Doctor's expansive
countenance was seen beaming on us through the doorway, "like the sun in
a fog," as Tom whispered to me.
The great man had not long taken his seat before he called me up to him,
and, with many "ah's," interrogated me as to my acquirements. He was
evidently not greatly impressed with my proficiency; for, severely
commenting on the ignorance I displayed for a boy of my age, he
relegated me to the lowest class, under Mr Smallpage, or "Smiley," who
set me tasks in spelling and the multiplication table, after which
school regularly began for the rest.
Books were produced in the most extraordinary and mysterious fashion
from hidden cupboards, and desks improvised out of hinged shelves of
deal affixed to the walls, and supported by brackets likewise movable,
one of the forms along the centre table being shifted for the
accommodation of those taking writing lessons; and, at intervals, Dr
Hellyer had up a batch of boys before his throne of office, rigidly
putting them under examination, varied by the administration of
"pandies," and the imposition of ever so many lines of Caesar to be
learnt by heart, when they failed in construing it.
At sharp eleven, a large clock over the fireplace, with a round face
like that of our podgy preceptor, telling the time, Dr Hellyer pushed
back his chair as a sign that our morning studies were over; and the
boys then all trooped out into the playground for an hour, coming back
again punctually at twelve to dinner in the re-transformed room, at the
summons of the inveterate gong.
As the butcher had been lately conciliated apparently, there was no
recourse to tinned meats of Australian or South American brand on the
first occasion of my partaking of this meal at the establishment. Roast
beef, and plenty of it, was served out to us, with the accompaniment of
potatoes and cabbage, vegetables being cheap at that time on account of
the watering-place's season being ended; while such of the pupils whose
parents paid extra for the beverage, in the same way as they did for
French and dancing lessons from the "Cobbler," were supplied with a mug
apiece of very small beer--the remainder, and far larger proportion of
us, being allowed cold water "at discretion."
After dinner came afternoon school, lasting till four o'clock; when
followed another hour's diversion in the playground; and then, tea,
similar to the repast I had been a spectator, but not partaker of, the
evening before. After tea a couple of hours' rest were allowed for
reflection, in the same apartment, during which time the boys were
supposed to learn their lessons for the next morning, but didn't--Dr
Hellyer relegating his authority at this period of the day generally to
Smiley, who went to sleep invariably when in charge of the room, or the
Cobbler, who as invariably sneaked out and left the pupils to
themselves, when the consequences may be readily imagined.
At eight o'clock, to bring this category of our day's doings to a close,
the final gong sounded a tattoo, sending us all aloft, like poor Tom
Bowling, to the dormitories to bed.
Such was the ordinary routine of our life at the Doctor's, according to
my two years' experience, the only exception being that our meals
varied, as to quantity and quality, in direct proportion to the Doctor's
credit in the neighbouring town; for, I will do our preceptor the
justice to state that, should fortune smile on him, in respect to the
facilities afforded him by the tradespeople with whom he dealt, he
treated us with no niggard hand and we fared well; while, should the
fickle goddess Fortune frown, and provisions be withheld by the cautious
purveyors thereof until ready money was forthcoming, then we suffered
accordingly, there being a dearth upon the land, which we had to tide
over as best we could, hoping for better times. Every Wednesday and
Saturday, too, there was no afternoon school, the boys on these half-
holidays being either allowed additional exercise in the so-called
"playground," or taken out for long dreary walks under the escort of
Smiley or the Cobbler; and on Sundays we were always marched to church
in state, be the weather what it might, wet or fine, Dr Hellyer leading
the van on these high parade occasions--in full academical costume, and
wearing a most wonderful sort of archdiaconal hat that had a very
imposing effect--with the two assistant masters acting as the rearguard,
and closing the procession.
In summer we used to have more latitude in the way of outdoor exercise,
the boys being taken down every morning to bathe in the sea, when the
tide allowed, before breakfast; or, if the far out-reaching sands were
not then covered with water, later on in the day. We had also cricket
and football on the common during the hours of relaxation spent in
winter on the barren playground in the rear of the house. Sometimes, in
our solemn walks under charge of the under-masters, we occasionally
encountered "the opposition school" or college fellows belonging to a
large educational institution near us, when it was no rare occurrence
for a skirmish to ensue between the two forces, that led to the most
disastrous results, as far as subsequent "pandies" and impositions from
the Doctor were concerned, or, rather, those who had to undergo them!
This, of course, was in the working terms--when the school was in full
blast, so to speak, and everything carried on by rule in regular
rotation; but, at vacation time, when all the boys had dispersed to
their several homes and were enjoying themselves, as I supposed, to
their heart's content, in their respective family circles, the life that
I led was a very different one. As at my uncle's house, I was still the
solitary Ishmael of the community, doomed to spend holidays and periods
of study alike under the academical roof.
The first of those educational interludes during my stay at the
establishment occurred at Christmas, shortly after I had taken up my
residence there, and the thought of all the jollity and merry-making my
more fortunate schoolfellows would have at that festive season, about
which they naturally talked much before the general breaking-up, made me
feel very lonesome when left behind at Beachampton; although I did not
for a moment desire to return to Tapioca Villa, in order to share the
delightful society of my relatives there. However, this feeling wore
off in a few days, and long before the boys came back I had learnt to be
pretty well contented with my solitary lot.
But, when the midsummer recess came round, in due course, matters had
altered considerably for the better on my being again left behind in my
glory; and, but for the fact of being deprived of the close
companionship of my constant chum Tom, I can honestly say that my life
was far happier than when the school was going on as usual.
I was alone, it is true, but then I had the great counterbalancing
advantage of almost entire liberty of action, being allowed to roam
about the place at my own sweet will and pleasure, with no lessons to
learn, and the only obligation placed on me that of reporting myself
regularly at meal-times; when, as the penalty for being late consisted
in my having to go without my dinner or tea, as the case might be, and I
possessed an unusually sensitive appetite which seldom failed to warn me
of the approach of the hour devoted to those refections, even when I was
out of earshot of the gong, I earned a well-founded reputation for the
most praiseworthy punctuality--the lesson I had when I first arrived at
the school having given me a wholesome horror of starvation!
In my wanderings about the neighbourhood I explored the country for
miles round. As for the beach, I investigated it with the painstaking
pertinacity of a surveying officer of the hydrographic department of the
Admiralty mapping out some newly-discovered shore. I knew every curve
and indentation of the coast eastwards as far as Worthing, with the
times of high and low water and the set of the tides, and was on
familiar terms with the coastguardsmen stationed between Eastbourne and
Preston and thence westwards. Crabs, too, and zoophytes, sea anemones,
and algae, were as keenly my study as if I were a marine zoologist,
although I might not perhaps have been able to describe them in
scientific language; while, should a stiff south-westerly gale cast up,
as it frequently did amongst other wreckage and ocean flotsam and
jetsam, fresh oysters torn from carefully cultivated beds further down
the coast, none were sooner acquainted with the interesting fact than I,
or gulped down the savoury "natives" with greater gusto--opening them
skilfully with an old sailor's jack-knife, which was a treasure I had
picked up amidst the pebbly shingle in one of my excursions.
My chief resort, however, when I could steal away thither without being
perceived from the school, was the quay close to the entrance to the
harbour, at the mouth of the little river which there made its efflux to
the sea.
Here the small coasting craft and Channel Island steamers of low draught
of water that used the port would lay up while discharging cargo, before
going away empty or in ballast, as there was little export trade from
the place; and it was my delight to board the different vessels and make
friends with the seamen, who would let me go up the rigging and mount
the masts to the dog-vane, the height of my climbing ambition, while
telling me the names of the different ropes and spars and instructing me
in all the mysteries of shipping life, in which I took the deepest
interest.