The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-04-09 00:00:00

DOTEIEG/RL.: HALL,

In the page; of the "(50:r7itaa7s—Wo—rid and similar
journals there lately aupeared an advertisement
setting forth the many merita of a oertain soh ail for
young ladies. The bait tempted several to write for
the prospectus; and, in one inatance at least, a lady
waa induced to see the proprietress, with a view to
placing a daughter in the establishment am" governess-
student." Before quoting from the proepectua it may
at once b • said that the terms were arranged; the
explanations ae to the " college " not being then quite
piepareil for habitation, being in process of re-decoria•
tom, were saidafactory ; and on the 19th of February
lad the young lady duly entered on the engaoment.
Front the pr. apectus before us we learn that the
principal of 'The College, !fount Plexaant, Sunbury-
on-Thaines," is, or rather wee, Mrs. PAW. The
principal "is assisted by nix resident English and
foreign governesses and an efficient staff of maiden."
The terms indicate that the scholars belong to the
fairly well to-do clam, ranging from forty guineas per
annum for young ladies over fifteen years of age to
thirty guineas for those younger. Governees-studetts,
i e. ;midis who give no many hours weekly to assist in
the tuition of juniors, are charged from twenty•five
guinem for the first year to fifteen for the third.
" The college is delightfully situated. . . The grime&
consist of nearly *even acres of garden and pasture
land, &tardily./ ample apace for outdoor recreation&
It contains hot and cold baths. . . . A p 'fly kept to
ride or drive. . . Home-baked bread; a plentiful
supply if : diet unlimited, and of the best
quality."
. . . . .

At the commencement of the term in February last
the young lathes duly ensemble' to spend • joyous
period in this scholastic pars be at Sunbury A few,
fresh from cheerful ho[lloll, were somewhat disconcerted
at the helloes. within; but them girlith quibble. were
quickly mattered by the principal. Nasurance that, as
as the plasters were out and fresh domestics were
in, and the school furaiture snivel. everything would
bs perfection. Meantime a considerable number of,
if not all, the term-fees ttf the young ladies had been
pad in advance. So anxious, however, woe the
principal to hasten the completion of the domestic
comfort, that she negotiated lane with her juvenile
client.. Certain it Is that the principal borrowed—
being temporarily short of ready cash -sundry sums
from each girl's pocket-money, soarins as high as
twenty-eight shillings in the case of a moneyed
goveroes..s.udent, yet condom:mbar to accept a
humble shilling from a girl barely in her teens. These
transactions were conducted in stri t privacy, until
circumstances occurred rendering mutual confidences
itievit dile. One 04.diesat "foreign governess" there
wet, but then her chief duties were performed in the
copacity of kitchen &mimetic. The tuitiou resolved
deelf into mu ual instruction by the pupils them elves;
but this concerned their happy soul,' for les, than
certain statements in the prospectus. It woe true
that the grounds wets excellent for creating an
Appetite, but there grew a doleful doubt whether the
"pasture lands" were intended to foster the practioe of
vegetarianism, or "the puny" to tempt them to experi-
ments in hippophag v. The hour. of meal. c .me, but not
the 'diet unlimited " For breakfaat at 7.90 there wsa •
thick dole of ne sr bread, innocent of butter, thrown
into bold relief by small befits of tea-tinted fluid.
The dinner-MU
motion consisting of bonemrsoing. overnhe mad in •
mem of potato—quash Dinner-time came occasionally
at two o clock; oftener at four, fire, or six o'clock,
and sometimes not until the day after. Tea was a
repetition of breakfast, and on tine memorable
occasion the whole of the forty-five uuhepoy young.
lady pupils were waved aroued Ara Pa h • private
sitting-room door, knocking for di ir tea; it was
then eleven o'clock at night! The girls had no pocket
money left to buy their own loaves as they did at -
first All their letters passed through the principal's
bands, and there remained, for not one escaped to the
poet-office. lu • fortnight the girls became weak and
spiritism One (Mated four times in a day, and,
being unable to rise from her bed on Sunday iruing,
February 24, the principal sent up a single bit of
dry toast without anything elel, saying, "If she wee
hungry she would eat that. Other girls fainted
frequently, and one poor orphan went delirious,
repeating with painful swished., "1 via have bread;
papa said 1 was to have bread l" Almost erased
with the treatment, one young lady risked her secretly.
kept last shilling on her telegram to her parents sixty
miles away. No response came. But • desperate
strategy she herself crawled with • solu4gled letter to
the poet, and by tie earliset train her mother hurried
to the rescue. It was 430 P.M. on her arrival, an
the lady fund 46 girls clamouring for their dinner,
• was not even then forthcoming. A ghostly
regiment they looked. Mrs. Patti pi...sieved her cool-
ness throughout this scene with wonderful success.
On the telegram being mentioned and her charged
with keeping the shilling, it was reluctantly returned.
The young lady's clothes were out at wash, and would
be sent home in due course; but no palmy of the
prepaid fee for the term could be extorted. Glad to
escape the painful scene of the emaciated girls, the
lady left the house with her daughter, whose health
has been cruelly undermined by that fortnight of
starvation and robbery. Her companion,' shed bitter
tears at her good fortune in leaving them.
The sequel may be told briefly. Upon eneegetit
measures being taken to communicate from without:
with friends of the unhappy pupils, it transpires that
there are not a few orphan girls placed in Mrs. Pates
care, and others whose parent. are abroad: these
have all paid the full fees in advance. A colonel in
Ireland paid twenty-eight guineas with one young
lady, who was • sever* sufferer by the treatment.
Upon another parent going to demand the fees and
the linen of his daughter last week (March 19), he
learned that • day or two before the principal had
coolly informed her pupils one morning that the bailiffs
were in the house, and that they must collect their
things and get out. They gladly did so, most of them
without money; and that day the railway elation wee
crowded with careworn young ladies, who were
assisted by villagers and tradesfolk to pay their fares
home. One or two friendless orphans were taken in
charity by resident. in the neighb turhood. The
furniture of the "college" we, hired from a London
firm, and not a stick remained to pay petty debta for
bread and milk and servants' wages. One gentleman
! paid ten climes with his daughter • few days prior
to the craeh. On returning to the station, he heard
enough to make him go back and demand his child and
his money. Only ten sovereigns could be mustered,
the rest having been quickly spent; but his escape
was cheap at the prim. A just reward is offered to
any one who will elre information that will lead to
ths apprehension of Mrs. Patti and her husband, who
played a subordinate but an astute part in the swindle.
Comment may be left to the reader; but the disclosure
of "atrocities" of this kind, in a charming spot
bordering upon the greatest city in the civilised work!,
ought to arouse the attention of the public, and move
them to take measures by which the bare possibility
of the recurrence of such an outrage shall be prevented.
World.

Tux Sna Lactic. et Dundee. has captured 93.000
seels sod is .tol a, it. -

—.-
iIIiOAT AffrOCllollllll AND HCMIUNIISI —All sufferin
from irritation ig the throat and boss-moms will be agree
ably surprised at the elmost immediate mild idlorded by
the use of " Brown. Breachisl Troches," These famous
" loaengee are now sold by most respectable chemists in
this cosam7 al la lid per hoz. People troubled with •
hacking cough; • ' slight cold," or bronchial &Sections,
cannot try them too soon. as similar troubles, if allowed
to progress, result in !parlous Pulmonary and g.sthinatic
atlactiows. Bee that the words "Brown's Bromide.
Trochee uses the Gov•rament Stamp around each box.
—ldaaneasparid by Jowl I. Dawn, sad t2aLllsstia.
Valid Ost DNA ordripins t,

DaSECRATION 01 THI DILD.
The most wholesale deesenstlue of the dead that bassets
bann perpetrated within our rernentbrauce I. now being
carried out in old Borthill Fields Butal Ground, which
wan uuconsecrated, and • private .pecul,tion. Tbe soft-
soil was originally of gravel mad mail to the depth of 30
feet., so that graves were due until the blue cesy 64
reacb....i, and coffins piled one ..n the °the. up to. foot or
so of the surface. It is stated that 5. many as 150.000
coffin, h ore Already been rensurod, and about 2,000 lo .re
remain untouched. The ground hut hoes let for nodding
erareltuuloe, and the plan oloptol 4 to dig out the ground
until thu Idue cetty is reached, and pi,1,1 are then built up
between winch the *dine are placed, and then cowered
with earth and two and a hslf fest a laments. Oa thin
brick are'les are to be boat with eephalto abure them, so
a. to form the door of the wareh area The sanitary
impactor of the district, or one of his ace i simile, is said to
hare beu constantly there soperintendina thl removal.
If so, as should like C. know who pay. the salaries, and
*therm .n is to the other .anitary w..rkl The contrast
betweett the rotttiaa •went of consecrAt• I and tio0011•
ao-r tura ',oriel-trowels is in this, 11111 In WI./ other W.'S,
Sen marked, for is the former n con he reeves...l
without a faculty haring beta first otrained, whilst in the
latter the coffins. and bodies too, apparently become the
Proven,' of the freeholder. to be dealt with by him In
any stray (Ist be most preamble to hi= —TA• Ssaitary
Accord.