The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-07-06
TIE SQUEERS SCHOOL.
DOTHEBOYS HALL, WHICH CHARLES
DICKENS PEN BROKE UP.


lage Is Going to Conflicting Tcs-
ts.sony.
A word Of advice here to Intending
pilgrims: Do not allude to Charles Dick
ems or to Squeers' school. except In the
presence of those whom you know to be
above common prejudices and animosi-
ties. These subjects may be said, to use
an expression more forcible than ele-
giant, to stink In the nostrils of your true
Bowes man He believes that the vii
lage owes its decay entirely to the aboli-
ton of Yorkshire schools in general and
of Dothcboys Hall in particular He
points to the fact that whereas half
century ago Bowes had close upon 900
Inhabitants, it has now short of 400. He
has never read Nicholas Nickleby,"
nor would he If copy could be found In
the place. If you question him about
the school. he will either tell you fatty
that he knows nothing about it, or will
evasively refer you to other places in
famous from their schools.
OF course, all Bowes folk do not share
these prejutlices. 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 elsewhere
by the withdrawal of the stage coaches.
must be humored if the visitor hopes to
reap any profit from his exploration
We pass by grand old inn. once
known as the George, now the Unicorn,
and, with the little Norman church and
the grim keep of the Old Norman castle
on our left push on to Dotheboys Hail,
which is the last house In the village
"A long. cold looking house, one story
high, with few struggling outbuiidngs
behind and barn and stable adjoining"
So we read. The house itself is unal-
tered, save that it is now decidedly the
pleasante5t and most cheerful looking
dwelling in the village, with its creeper
embowered windows looking on to q
trim and well kept garden. The stable
and barn, too remain, but the outbuild-
ings, in which was comprised the school
house proper-the scene of the merciless
thrashings, the starvation, the breaking
of young hearts, the wrecking of young
lives, the revolving misery and the blood
stirring barbarity-thoy have long dis
appeared.
A woman's face looks out from.a lower
window, and we are about to turn in at
the front gate, but our guide stops us,
saying: mot that wayl No admittance
there! You would be asked if you wanted
to buy the house, and have the door
slammed in your face"
So we follow the path and turn in
through the barn door. This leads us
into n yard, where still stands the ideil-
teal pump which 1t may be remembered
Mr.. Squeers discovered to be frozen the
morning after the long coach ride from
London.
From here we enter the kitchen-cau-
tiously and silently, for the servant tells
us that If her master discovered us we
should assured1y be turned out with
ignominy. There is nothing remarkable
In the kitchen-a large, low, heavily
raftered apartment-nor in the little
room leading from it, which IVES the
schoolmasters study.
But wo linger long while as we gaze
at the marks on the wall by the modern
cooking range, where stood the coppers
wherein were boiled the potatoes which
formed a principal part OF the young
noblemen's" food, and as we peer through
the study window, which the boys wcre
set 10 clean when they had satisfactorily
spelled "w-i-nd-e-r, winder,' on to the
garden, whittier they were dispatched
to hoe and rake on the attainment of tho
word "bottiney." we ask if great num-
Der of people do not come here bound
upon the same errand as ourselves2 The
reply is that great many come; but
that as they so to the front door they do
not get in at all, but have to content
themselves with an exterior view of
Dotheboys Hail, SO that we may deem
ourselves lucky to have .secn even the
little we have. -
WHAT THE RESIDENTS SAY.
So much for Dotheboys Hall itself
Still more interesting is the information
we managed to pick up from various
sources concerning Squeers and his
school
All our informants. country clergy
men, intelligent residents, oldest inhab-
itants," 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
monstrous and iniqutous to an incrcd-
ible extent; that frightful cruelties were
practiccd upon the boys-who were
chiefly the illegitimate offspring of Lon
don parents-but that the school typitied
by Charles Dickens was the only one to
which he could gain access. and was the
best Of the lot.
But in other respects the evidence was
SO conflicting that we must simply give
it without pronouncing any opinion on
its value or the reverse. For instance,
one woman, a native of Bowes, whose
sympathies one would naturally imag-
inc to be with the maligned Squeers, told
US that she distinctly remembered the
boys coming III summer time to her IA
Tiers field to help get in the hay, gcadcd
to the work C horses ty ushers armed
with whips.
On the other hand, a gentleman whose
father, being a schoolmaster, used 10 go
up to the Saracen's Head with and on the
same errand as Squeers, declared that
the one eyed schoolmaster was an est-
mable man, who cared for his pupils
properly and WAS generally respected
and liked He further stated that his
father related to him how he happened
to be at the Saracens Head with Squeers
after the Dotheboys Hall number of
Nicholas Nicklebe" had taken the pub
lie by storm; that the crowd literally be-
sieged the inn, with the intention of
llynching Squeers; that the connection
had such an effect upon the schoolmaster
as to deprive him of reason, and that
Mrs. S0ueers died of a broken heart
Temple Bar