The Helena independent., 1889-05-05
A Visit to the Village Made Famous
by Dickens Novel. "Nieho-
las Niekleby.'
The Building Where Squeers Tortured
the Young With Birthstone and
Treacie.
orivtn.l. Of a Romance That Performed
Great GoOd-Ths School for
sale.

AnlmOeltlte. lutse sublcc may Dc oalOf
70 use an expression more forcible than
elegant, TO stink in the nostrils OF your true
Bowes man. be believes that the village
owes its ecay entirely TO the abolition Of
Yorkshire schools in general, and Of DOthe-
boys hall in particular He points to the
fact that whereas half a century ago
Bowes had close upon two thousand in
hahitants- it has now short of four hun
dred. He has never read nicholas Nickle-
by" nor wonld he if copy could be found
in the place. IL you question him about
tle school. he will either tell you fatty
that he knows nothing about II, or
will evssiveIy refer you TO Othe!
places infamous from their schools. II
you mention the name OF Dickens ne Will
fush up and relate with glee the popular
story that the grr at novelist, upon the Occa-
sion of a subsequent 5 To Bowes, was
. jumped on and thrsshed by The infuriAted
Inhabitants. OF course. ali BOwes folk DO
not share these pTejudices, as We shall
afterwards see; but the broad fact remains
that BOWes, which WAS ruined in common
with many hundreds OF country places
standing ON our great roads else " here by
the Withdrawal of he Stage coaches, must
be humOred II the visitor hopes to reap any
Or INT from his exploration
We pass by d grand old Inn, once known
as the George, now the JnIcoTn, Whtreat
road brtwern London and ScOtland-a
typical inn OF the old sort, with laby rlEths
OF rooms, huge Kitchen, a large court
yard, and acTrs OF OutnuuSeS-and, With
The lIite Norman church aud The grim
kepp Oi the O'd Norman castle On our left,
push on To DOtheDoys Hall, which Is the
last hause in the village
a long, cOld-loOking house, one story
nigh. WIN a few struggling Outbu1ld.ngs
behind, and barn ana stable adjoining"
50 We read. The house itself IS unaitered.
save that It is now decidedly tie pleasant
est and most cheerful-loOsing dwelling IN
the village, with its ereeper embOwered
windows looking on to a trim and we'll
kept garden. The stable and barn, too, re-
main; but the OutbuildinGs. Ia which was
comprised the school house prOper-the
scene of the merciless thrashings, the
starvation, the breaking of young hearts,
the wrecklng of young lives. the revolving
misery and the bloOd-stirring barbarIty-
they have long disappeared.
A wOman's face looks out from lower
window and we are about to turn in at the
front gate, but our guide stops US, saying:
Not that way, No admittanee there 0ou
would be asked II you wanted to buy the
house, and have the door slammed IN your
face
SO we followed the path and turned in
through the barn door. This leads us into
a yard, where still stands the identical
pump which. il may be remembered. Mr..
Sgueers discovered to be frozen on the
morning after the long coach ride from
London.
From here we enter the kitehen-cau-
tiOusly and silently, for The servant tells
Us that If her master discovered us We
should assuredly be turned out with ignO-
miny. There Is nothing remarkable in the
kitched-a large, low, heavily raftered
apartment; nor in the little room leading
from IT, which was the schOOlmaster's
study. but We linger a long while we
gaze at the marks on the wall by the mod
ern-cOOklng range, where stood the
coppers wherein were boiled the potatoes
which formed principle part OF The
young DOblemen's" food, aud we peer
through the study window. which the boys
were set to clean when they had sRtlsfac-
tOrily spelled xvi n-d-e-r. Winder." on TO
the garden, whittier theY were dispatched
o. hoe and rake on the attainment of the
word ''bOttiney," we ask IL a great number |
Of people do not come here bound upon the |
same errand as ourselves The reply Is |
that a great number come; but that as they /
60 10 the front door khey do not get in at |
all, but have 10 content themselves with an /
exterior view of DOthebOys Hall, so that |
we may deem ourselves lucKy TO have seen |
even the little we have.
So much for the Dotheboys Hall itself.
Still more interesting is the information
we managed TO pick up from various !
sources concerning Squeers and his school. |
All our infOTmants-country clergymen,
intelligent residents, ''OldeSt Inhabitants" |
and such natives as did not feel themselves |
in honor bound To keep their mouths shut |
agreed on one point. that the system of |
Yorkshire schools was mOustrous auu III i
iquitOus 10 an incredible extent. that /
fl ghtful craeltles were practiced upon the /
D ys-WhO were chic ily the llegitiuate OF |
springs OF London psrrnts-but that the |
the school typited by Cha Ties Dlckeds was /
the only one 10 which be could gain access,
and was the best Of the lot There were /
two other schools al BOWes. one at Gll- /
mOnby. one at Cornerstone and one at i
Barnard Castle; and the prOprietOrs OF /
these, suspectlng tie presence OF famous
literary Lon iouer am lug them, refused /
him admittauce, but at Shaw's he was made /
welcome and shown over the premises
But in other respects the evidence was 50
clnnicting that We must simply give 1t
without pronOuncing any opIulon ON Its i
value OF the reverse. For instance, one 4
woman. n native OF BOWeS, whose sYmpa-
thies one would naturally imagine to be
with the maligned Squeers. told US that
she distinctly remembered the boys coming /
in samm r time to her fathers field 10 help i
get in the hay, gOaded TO the work OF /
b rises by ushers armed with whips. On Il
the other hand, a gentleman whose father,
being SchoOlmaSter, used 20 20 up To- the /
Saracen's Head with and on the same er-
rand Is Squeers, declared that the one-eyed /
schOOlmaster was an estimable man, who /
cared for his pupils property, and waf gen
orally respected and liked. He further /
stated that his father related To him how
he happened to be at the Saracen's Head i
with SQIeers after tie D0thrboys Hall Il
mum Der Of NICHOLAS Nlekleby had taken Il
{ IL public By storm; that the crowd literal \
ly besieged the inn with the intention of 4
lynching Sq0eers; that the commoIion had 4
such An effect upon the schOOimRster as u 1
deprlv- him n reason, and that Mrs. /
SQneerS dies Of a broken heart.
Another gentleman-once III holy orders .
told us thai he was at BOwes Grammar
School cOniempOraneously with the exist
ence of Shaw's School, that shaw was
known as the king of the Road" [" because
every half year be hired a special coach 10
bring has pupils from London. and that the
arrival of this coach at BOwes was the occa-
sim OF universal excitement and enthusi-
rs n He furthermore cited. as proof that
shaw was maligned as TO his treatment OF
his pupils. that great rivalry always exist
ed between the Grammar-SchOol boys and
those OF DOthebOys Hall; that they played
tremendous football matches together, and
that every Easter Sunday IL was q custom
20 appear ia new suits and To pelt each
other with Easter eggs. A fourth inform
ant told Us that the deaths at Shaw's school
were frequent, that a large proportion of
the boys were MANNED by ill-usAge and that
the neighboring cOttagers were continually
giving shelter 20 runAways. 6fth spoke
of the prototype of Fanny SQueers as 8
woman universally beloved and respected. ]