Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1889-06-27
THE SQUEERS SCHOOL.
DOTHEBOYS HALL, WHICH CHARLES
DICKENS PEN BROKE UP.

The Old Institution of Torture for Sale.
Situated in Bowes, Y"rkshire-The viii
lage Is Going to Decay--Conficting Tes-
timony.
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 it's decay entirely to the aboli- |
ton of Yorkshire schools in general and |
of Dotheboys Hall in particular. He
points to the fact that whereas half a
century ago Bowes had close upon 1900
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 prejudices, 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 Hall,
which is the last house in the village.
"a long, cold looking house, one story
high, with few struggling outbuildings
behind and a barn and stable adjoining"
So we read. The house itself is unal-
tered, save that it is now decidedly the
pleasantest and most cheerful looking
dwelling in the village, with its creeper
, uncovered windows looking on to a
. trim and we'll 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
furnishings, the starvation, the breaking
of young hearts, the wrecking OF young
f lives, the revolving misery and the blood
2 stirring barbarity-they have long dis
4 appeared.
] A woman's face looks out from lower
S window, and we are about to turn in at
4 the front gate, but our guide stops US,
a saying: mot that way! No admittance
2 there! You would be asked if you wanted
e to buy the house, and have the door
T slammed in your face"
:. So we follow the path and turn il
through the barn door. This leads us
into yard where still stands the iden
d teal pump which it may be remembered
/, Mr.. Squeers discovered to be frozen the
>, morning after the long coach ride from
n London.
y From here we enter the kitchen-cau
Ii tiously and silently, for the servant tells
, us that if her master discovered us WI
IS should assuredly be turned out will
'e ignominy. There is nothing remarkable
1t in the kitchen-a large, low, heavil.
lie raftered apartment-nor in the littl
al room leading from it, which was tn
er schoolmasters study.
e. But we linger long while as we gaz
at at the marks on the wall by the moder1
i cooking range, where stood the copper
a. wherein were boiled the potatoes whicl
in formed principal part of the 'youn
noblemen's food and as we peer throug
in the study window, which the boys wer
IL set to clean when they had satisfactory
ed spelled "w--n-d-e-r, winder," on to tn
ne garden. whittier they were dispatche
Is to hoe and rake on the attainment of tn
al word ''bottiney," we ask ii a great nun
ne Der of people do not come here boun
Id upon the same errand as ourselves? TIL
IT. reply is that great many come; bu
ly that as they go to the front door they d
or not get in at all, but have to confer
as themselves with an exterior view {
he Dotheboys Hall, SO that we may dee1
re ourselves lucky to have seen even til
lie little we have.
ne WHAT THE RESIDENTS SAY.
Dr. So much for Dotheboys Hall itsel
lie Still more interesting is the informatio
we managed to pick up from variou
sources concerning Squeers and h
-. school.
a' All our informants, country clergy
men, intelligent residents, ''oidest inhal
itants," and such natives as did not fe'
- themselves in honor bound to keep the
% mouths shut, agreed on one point, tn;
q the system of Yorkshire schools We
~, monstrous and Ubiquitous to an incret
:" ibse extent; that frightful cruelties wei
practiced upon the boys-who wei
chiefly the illegitimate offspring of Lol
VI don parents-but that the school typifie
by Charles Dickens was the only one
'ei which he could gain access. and was tt
best of the lot.
But in other respects the evidence Wa
- SO conflicting that we must simply gl'
it without pronouncing any opinion c
'1i its value or the reverse. For instanc
oie one woman, native of Bowes, who's