第45页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第45页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
for the occasion.'
Mr. Brocklehurst nodded.
'Well, for once it may pass; but please not to let the circumstance
occur too often. And there is another thing which surprised me; I
find, in settling accounts with the housekeeper, that a lunch,
consisting of bread and cheese, has twice been served out to the girls
during the past fortnight. How is this? I looked over the regulations,
and I find no such meal as lunch mentioned. Who introduced this
innovation? and by what authority?'
'I must be responsible for the circumstance, sir,' replied Miss
Temple: 'the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupils could not
possibly eat it; and I dared not allow them to remain fasting till
dinner-time.'
'Madam, allow me an instant. You are aware that my plan in bringing
up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and
indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying. Should
any little accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such as
the spoiling of a meal, the under or the over dressing of a dish,
the incident ought not to be neutralised by replacing with something
more delicate the comfort lost, thus pampering the body and
obviating the aim of this institution; it ought to be improved to
the spiritual edification of the pupils, by encouraging them to evince
fortitude under the temporary privation. A brief address on those
occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor
would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the
primitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to the
exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples
to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God; to His divine consolations, "If ye suffer
hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye." Oh, madam, when you put
bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children's
mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think
how you starve their immortal souls!'
Mr. Brocklehurst again paused- perhaps overcome by his feelings.
Miss Temple had looked down when he first began to speak to her; but
she now gazed straight before her, and her face, naturally pale as
marble, appeared to be assuming also the coldness and fixity of that
material; especially her mouth, closed as if it would have required
a sculptor's chisel to open it, and her brow settled gradually into
petrified severity.
Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands
behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school. Suddenly
his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled
or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he
had hitherto used-
'Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what- what is that girl with curled
hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled- curled all over?' And extending his