Tom Browning's Schooldays
By
Joel
Chapter EightyThree
I heard the clock strike six and lay quiet to contemplate what had occurred over the past two years. My position in School now was one of authority. Would I be worthy of the trust placed in me as a Praepostor? I had my dear Robin and my good friend Aubrey Bayes with me in that position, too. I could not fail them. I wondered how much Mr Ridley knew of our involvement in the evilness and the demise of Jack Lascelles? I was sure my Uncle Digby must have written to him to close that chapter for the School. Nothing had been said but I wondered if the trust placed in us was a reflection of what might have been conveyed in confidence. I and my fellows had been sure that Aubrey was destined for great things for he had already shown a mastery of mathematics and that strange world which we had learned to call natural philosophy or science. My Robin was without doubt a fine scholar also in the field of mathematics. His scribbling of arcane symbols in Aubrey's company was like the hieroglyphics that were now captivating Natty Dyer. Another whose life might be turned if he persevered in that study. What of our new companion, young Harry Lawson? He had shown already he was a studious lad. He was also one who took pleasure as we had found all boys did? He would be nurtured. Not for that accomplishment but for his schooling!
My musings were brought to a halt as the half-hour struck. The privy! I smiled to myself. I would continue in George Lascelles' footsteps, even in the second set of slippers which he had made me which were now more than a little tight on my growing feet. I slid out of bed and cast off my nightshirt. The room was cool as I donned a shirt and old britches and stockings. Robin was nudged awake. "Privy," I whispered in his ear as he turned towards me. He was awake immediately and was out on his side in a trice. My! I had a good view of that burgeoning peg, upright and solid, even in the half light as his nightshirt came off and he dressed quickly as I was. He nodded at the sleeping lad.
"Time he awoke, eh?" he said with a grin. We had warned Harry the night before of the need to rise early or suffer a possible shit-stained seat. He had raised an eyebrow at that. We did not jest, we told him. Being there first might mean a cold seat but it would be clean and the place would not be evil-smelling!
I saw a toe peeping out from under the coverlet. I tweaked it and he responded with quite a kick. It did wake him and there was not the usual smiling Harry staring at the pair of us. He pulled the coverlet over his head so exposing more of his legs. It took but a smart pull for him to be held up like a rabbit to be skinned. I had one leg and Robin the other. His nightshirt fell about him and here was another lad who woke with a stiff peg. Robin slapped his bare backside. "Up, up! Harry my boy. Last one to the privy wipes everyone's arse!" Where he got that sentiment from I do not know but we let Harry down and supervised his dressing. "Here, you will need this," said Robin handing him a wad of the soft paper and a towel I had left in the cupboard at the end of last term. He was barely awake so we more or less carried him down the stairs where an attentive Sharpin opened the door and we were soon seated and performing that easeful function.
Finished we made our way to the washroom. Young Potts was there with a copper of hot water ready and waiting. He must be our age I thought, but like his brothers he was not growing taller. He greeted us and poured ladles of hot water into the bowls ready for our ablutions. Harry was more awake then and was soon stripped and lathering himself with the soap Robin passed to him. "Mek him sweet and clean," was the cheeky remark from young Potts. "I do know thee," he said to Harry who was towelling himself vigorously. "You'm t'lad with th'apple in your drawers, eh? Don't much need that now."
I had not known that Potts or other serving-boys had witnessed the play but they must have been present to hand around the refreshments. Looking at Harry with his almost erect peg the apple would soon be quite superfluous if another play by Mr Shakespeare was to be mounted.
That observation made Harry laugh as well as us. "I know you, too, Master Potts, you have a fine peg yourself. You showed that when you pissed behind the bush below our room at Mr Pretyman's!" Poor Potts blushed. It was Robin's turn to comment.
"We have not witnessed that but if a servant is required in another play you will be recommended for a role in tight hose." He turned to Harry. "Would he require a fruit or two?"
"Nay, 'tis a fair-sized carrot in itself!" said a grinning Harry to an even more reddening lad. To reduce his embarrassment Robin passed him a couple of copper coins.
"You have heard worse, no doubt, and be thankful you have that to show." The lad did smile then.
We were disturbed by others entering and requiring hot water. Aubrey Bayes and Coulson were also up and about early. I said I usually woke early and would take over George's task as awakener. Aubrey said he had a scheme to discuss with Robin which could be more reliable. I gave him a good-natured sneer for I knew he was making but a friendly retort. We three were then ready washed and dried, even on our bellies and underneath, so we made our way back to our room to dress more formally. Robin and I in our sets of trousers and jacket we had carried in our bags. I had my dark green, he his brown. Britches now only for mundane tasks and for riding!
There would be little to occupy us today other than a simple morning service at ten o'clock as lessons themselves would not commence until the morning. We did have duties to perform in checking that all pupils were either already in residence or would be arriving today but Bristow said he would be happy to take over that task. He suggested we went the rounds so we would know all those who had joined our part of Middle School. There was one lad, Carnforth, who, like me, was joining the School at fourteen. He had been destined for Rugby School but his father had been at Oxford with Mr Prior so he had been sent here instead. Not to Mr Prior's House but to Mr Ridley's! He was another well-set up sturdy lad and said he was a good rider. His father's property was only some thirty or so miles away near Buxton so I suggested he might ask if a suitable mount might be stabled here for him. I said Robin and I would be riding most days and he would be most welcome to join us.
We found out Aubrey Bayes' scheme at luncheon. He thought it might be possible to set up an electric device with wires from the clock tower attached to the House. When the mechanism was ready to strike the hours or quarters so a circuit could be made with the electric force supplied by a Voltaic cell and a small hammer would strike a bell by his bed head. There would be no problem of being awoken in the night as the mechanism for striking was only active from six in the morning until ten at night. Robin was most enthusiastic and said we should have a bell in our room as well. Mr Pretyman who was sitting with us at the Praepostors' table was most amused and said he would consult Mr Ridley and obtain his permission. He said he certainly did not need a bell for the tower was close to his own upper rooms. My objection was that the bell would ring all through the day. I was told firmly there were devices called switches which when opened would not allow the electric fluid to pass and these would be opened after the first bell was heard and closed again when ready for bed in the evening!
We took the opportunity to ride out on Blaze and Silver that afternoon and found two others from Prior's and Carstairs' Houses had also brought their mounts to School. Both were skilful riders and were in their Second Year at Ashbourne. Mr Darlow had warned them to ride carefully and I think he was pleased Robin and I would be accompanying them. We found their names were Barrington and Ramsey and were related in some way. With Natty also accompanying us we rode with them on many occasions after that first day.
We found Radcliffe had arrived when we returned from our excursion. He, too, had grown taller over the two or so months of the summer holiday. There was also no doubt he had grown more elsewhere as he displayed an even greater length when he bathed in the washroom after the football on Saturday and every occasion after that!
Radcliffe was, of course, another Henry but he preferred that to being called Harry. I still felt certain pangs of affection toward him and I knew Robin felt the same. He was quite openly affectionate to us and also to a more reticent Bayes but we all, including our fags, were good friends. Robin and I knew there was a close affection between Radcliffe and Laidlaw but we did not comment on it.
Robin and I, with Bayes and some eight others, found we were no longer with Mr Martin other than for History, Greek New Testament and verse. Our new beak was Mr Greatorex who was a mathematical Wrangler from Cambridge and would prepare the likes of Robin, Aubrey Bayes and the Johnson twins for further studies in mathematics. He was also an enthusiast for play-acting so we would also study many of the most famous plays. These he listed to us extended from ancient Greeks such as Aeschylus and Euripides to our own old English writers like Marlowe and William Shakespeare and coming forward in time to more recent playwrights such as Henry Fielding and Brinsley Sheridan. With several of us either fluent or reasonably fluent in French we would also read and act amongst ourselves oeuvres by Racine and MoliŠre. I was rather in doubt about my inclusion in this select band of pupils for mathematics but I was sent off to Mr Scrimshire for further instruction on the organ when such topics as conic sections and the theory and use of fluxions was being discussed!
So term began. The announcement of our joining the band of Praepostors was met with general approbation. Robin and I had become known through our accompaniment at Sing-Songs and playing the organ in Chapel as well as my setting the trails for Hare and Hounds and Robin for his fearless games at football. There would be all three of those on the first Saturday. We were a little concerned in case our chests did not arrive with our instruments and our clothing but Rowley and Peters arrived on Friday morning after losing a wheel somewhere near a place called Kegworth. Natty had ridden on and found a wheelwright in the next village and all was repaired within a few hours but Rowley had decided a slower pace would then prevent any other mishaps. Harry Lawson's eyes opened wide when he saw the good things which had also been sent with our clothing and books. There were the usual two good smoked hams each but Mr Clements had included half a dozen bottles of claret and two of port carefully packed in separate wicker baskets. Later that day the common carrier brought the parcels from London. There was much merriment as we displayed all our new clothing especially the tight underdrawers like those we had bought for Jabez. Both Robin and I were now rather low hanging and these would keep our ballocks snug when running! Harry was delighted with the gift of a blue and white spotted neckerchief to wear when comporting as a Hare or Hound. There were striped stockings for him, too, which matched Robin's for playing football.
Of course, no comment was made about Harry's, or our, nightly activities after the candles were snuffed and we were in bed. We made no issue of it but found a loose joint at the head of the truckle-bed and Japhet soon made that tight. There was rarely a night when we were not aware of Harry gaining release and we matched him in that just with us lying side by side. We did manage to use our hidey-hole for savouring each other's outpourings a good number of times. Like good Praepostors we found a key and kept it locked to keep others from temptation! We did have second thoughts later in the term for we decided we were mean-hearted towards those who might also find the room useful. Our consciences were clear even though accumulated evidence of regular usage became most apparent!
Bellamy, a Praepostor in Carstairs' House, was put in charge of arranging our sporting life. Not hunting, shooting and fishing as the wags were wont to despair but in this Michaelmas Term the Football and the Chases. Robin was most pleased when he was asked to aid in the enterprise of setting up the games between the Houses. There was great rivalry between pairs of Houses from years back and we in Ridley House were sworn enemies of Prior's House, or so it was maintained. It was a friendly enmity all round for after having led the Chase on several occasions with Radcliffe I was called on to minister to cuts, bruises, sprains and, on one occasion, a wrenched arm from its socket, for football players whether they were from Ridley House or any of the others.
I was successful in getting the joint back into its socket. Lancelot had shown me what to do when I was with him on one of his visits to patients. A labourer had been leading a young bull which had spied a heifer in the next field and made a dash dragging the fellow behind. The fool did not have the wit to let go the rope until too late. He suffered a dislocation and the bull a disappointment for a stout hedge was in the way! With two of his fellows holding him fast Lancelot with a twist and a push deftly replaced the ball in its socket and bound the man's arm to his chest to keep it firm. In this instance I instructed Bellamy and the great oaf Henderson to hold Vanstone still while I manipulated his hanging arm and with probably more luck than judgement the joint clicked into place. His torn shirt was used to bind his arm and I gave him a drop or two of poppy juice in a tankard of cordial to ease any pain. I knew Dr Dimbleby was with his parents and sent him there but could not go with him for two others were craving attention for bruising and a bleeding nose. That was a game between Carstairs' and their arch rivals in Parker's House.
Both Harry and Coulson, who we found was a Matthew, were chosen with two others to join Mr Ridley's Friday classes. They were somewhat overawed when given the summons to attend but during the term we found them to be ready to answer and to question. It was strange not having Megson with his constant criticism of anything which did not fit his most rigid views but we each seemed to take it in turn to question and probe which did extend the way in which we thought and our approach to many different matters. I was exercised to choose a topic for my presentation but thought of the interest Francis Clifford had shown when he saw the inside of our church organ. That decide me for I had seen two old pipes behind the Chapel organ. One was metal and the other wooden. I asked Mr Scrimshire if I might borrow them and he was most amused when I said I wanted to demonstrate the different sounds and also how the length changed the pitch as well if the pipe were stopped or not. He said I should talk first of the invention of the hydraulis which must have been a row of pipes which whistled when water caused air to flow through and make them sound. He said all he knew about this strange instrument was that it was constructed sometime before the birth of Christ but from Roman authors such as Cicero and Petronius there were descriptions of organs being used in amphitheatres and circuses to accompany the ceremonies and entertainments being held there. He told me that some form of organ was in Winchester Cathedral before William the Conqueror's time but he knew little about it. I consulted Mr Pretyman who shook his head and said he did not think he had any books with organs in them however he let me search his shelves and I found nothing. I was left to my own devices.
I do not think I did too badly as I started by saying what I already knew about Pythagoras and his study of the lengths of strings. I explained that if the vibrating string was halved in length the octave sounded; if shortened in proportions then notes in between were created. Robin helped me and played notes on his violin to confirm this. I then turned to wind instruments and said here a column of air was set in vibration rather than a string. I took up my flute and blew across the mouthpiece hole to show that the vibrations were set up from the air striking the opposite lip of the hole. I brought out the two organ pipes which were almost the same length as each other, some four feet, according to the rule I placed against them, from their open mouths to the top. I explained that air from a bellows was allowed to pass from the foot-hole to a narrow airway before hitting the shaped lip above it within the open mouth of the pipe. There was some merriment at the use of lips and mouth as well as foot. I said these were the words the organ builders used. I blew into each in turn and as they were of a similar length I was able to make them sound almost the same pitch. It was quite apparent though that the sounds were quite different because of the materials used: the wooden pipe a more hooting sound and the metal a clearer whistling sound. I was able to show some drawings with many different shapes and diameters especially of metal pipes. I then caused a little wonderment when I placed a stopper in the wooden one and it dropped near an octave. I had been somewhat at a loss to explain this but Mr Skrimshire said he had been told the vibrating air had to travel twice the distance so that a four foot pipe became an eight foot pipe. The air could not emerge from the top as when the pipe was open, but still vibrating, returned to escape from the open mouth below. I explained that in the Chapel organ there were many open pipes but also those with stoppers such as one labelled Stopped Diapason.
All in the class wanted to try blowing and most blew too hard on their first attempt and squawks were heard. I pointed out as with my flute a gentle stream of air was necessary. My flute was passed round but few could produce a good sound and I also had to explain about the use of my fingers over the holes which set the pitch of the note played. Coulson asked if he might show us something. He clasped his hands together with fingers laced and his thumbs together. He blew gently across his thumbs and a sound like an owl hooting was heard. Others said they could do it, too, and a veritable cacophony of owls ensued. Mr Ridley waved his hand to silence the noise and said he would make us all stand in a row and we could be an orchestra at the next Sing-Song which caused a few sneers and shrugging of shoulders.
I finished by saying there were other pipes in the organ which had a piece of metal in the foot which was made to vibrate by the air passing against it. When I said these were called reed stops a hand shot up. "Please sir," I assumed that title was meant for Mr Ridley, not for me, "If you place your hands as Coulson did with a strong piece of grass between your thumbs that will make a good sound!" Again, several of the fellows said they had also tried that. Another said he had often wondered what went on in the organ with all its different sounds and it seemed most complicated. Mr Ridley then suggested our next Friday class might meet, with Mr Skrimshire's permission, around the organ in the Chapel and all could see inside and see all the mechanisms of bellows, keys and pipes. That happened and all said they had learned a deal especially when Robin played and Pederson pumped and I pointed to bellows, keyboards, stops and the wires moving up and down allowing air to pass as keys were pressed.
Towards the end of term both Robin and I received letters from Erasmus with news of Timmy and the choirboys as we now termed the waifs. All three were making good progress and the other news was that Erasmus was likely to be installed sometime within the next year as Chaplain to St Mark's College for the holder of the post was now most aged and was more than addled in his wits. This was not said direct but when we had met him on our visit he seemed quite vacant at times. This appointment would happen as soon as Erasmus was awarded his Doctor of Divinity degree and he was confident his thesis would be ready within a twelvemonth. There was a letter also from our George who said his days were filled with riding, learning drills and much pomp and ceremony with no Greek or Latin to worry his head! A letter from Uncle Digby Wright was quite short. After the general greeting he wrote that particular affairs in France had been finalised which could only mean that the man Fortescue and his confederates had been dealt with appropriately. He continued by saying other consciences must have been stirred for a certain eminent gentleman had provided a little more in the expense accounts. We surmised that others in government had been apprised of the events with the three boys and Sir Robert had been instructed.... Those instructions must have included us, for when we returned to Careby there were missives awaiting us detailing the payment of another two hundred pounds each in the Three per Cent Consols. My father's remark that we were set up better than some brides with their dowries was met with a slight sneer. However, in the last week of term came a letter from my Aunt Fanny with the joyful news that Rosamund and Geoffrey now had a son, Arthur Digby Lascelles-Wright!
Robin came back from the stables one day with the information that Cratchitt, who had almost stabbed the constable and argued with Mr Darlow over employment, had been sentenced to four years hard labour. Robin said at least he would be free at sometime not like those he had worked with who had paid the extreme penalty for their deeds.
The end of term seemed to come with great rapidity. Mr Greatorex had chosen 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' by Mr Shakespeare as the play to be performed in Big School. The Johnson twins were chosen for the roles of the two gentlemen, Valentine and Proteus, and performed in matching doublets and hose which caused both merriment and consternation as they were almost indistinguishable. One did have a red feather and the other a green one stuck in their conical hats. Radcliffe and Laidlaw were again chosen for the roles of the ladies involved. Though now taller they looked most elegant in their long dresses and robes as Julia and Silvia and even though their voices were no longer boyish they spoke their parts well. Young Lawson and Coulson were the two outlaws and Harry got his bare arse slapped once again when he tried to put two apples into his hose when he showed Robin and me his costume in our room. He did go bare within the hose on the stage and there was a clear outline of his youthful peg. Robin and I were again musicians and had to prevent Coulson from stroking the young scoundrel's leg as it would have had an immediate unwanted effect! Robin said that with Harry displaying his weapon, Farley with unbroken voice as Lucetta the serving-maid and Radcliffe and Laidlaw in their feminine finery, there were many most unseemly remarks on the afternoon after the first performance when muddy bodies were being washed following the football. Radcliffe, who had played and was well-muddied, had responded with a display of his lengthy prick which he held and asserted that anyone who attacked him would be stabbed by his trusty sabre! Robin did say he was minded to stroke more than young Harry's leg and thought Radcliffe's poniard needed polishing and was slapped for those indelicate remarks and the actions he had made!
We were ready with our chests packed when Rowley and the carriage arrived for the journey back to Careby. There had been no great misfortunes for us in our first term as Praepostors. There had been one incident where two living on the lower floor had held their less than industrious and most disrespectful fag with his head in the bowl of the piss-trough while they poured ladles of water over him. We heard his shouts and arrived to hear that if he did not mend his ways he would have more than pure water cascading over his carrot-top. Who to punish? He for waywardness? They for summary judgement? He was made to prepare the next full satchels of torn paper for the Hare and Hounds and they to lead the field of Hounds following me and Radcliffe as the Hares for we knew they detested running. We left Ashbourne in a snowstorm and took an extra day to reach Careby. Oh for a railway, for we heard that little prevented their travel.
Cold and travel-worn our arrival was saddened by the news that Miss Barnes had succumbed at last to old age and had died two days before. There seemed to be no immediate family to mourn her passing. On a cold and wintry Saturday she was committed to her eternal resting place with almost all the village, whether Church of England, Methodist or Baptist attending the service in the church and following her coffin to her grave in the churchyard. She loved our Village Band and we played the Old Hundredth with as much love as we could as her coffin was taken from the church. Quiet and gentle in manner she had been a most-loved and respected member of our community for she had employed many who needed positions and had never stinted in her alms-giving to the poor and needy. When Mr Grindcobbe read her Will in public at the Varley Arms we found she had made provision for pensions for her old employees and sums of money were left to those who had done some form of work around her house and gardens which had pleased her. For example, Reeve the bricklayer who had repaired a wall some ten years ago was more than paid again with the magnificent gift of ten pounds. Even Mr Barker had the same for some forgotten almost trivial service he had rendered. Each of the three Goodhew boys received five pounds as did at least six other boys and girls from the village who had worked in her house or had run errands for her. Timmy was not forgotten for another five pounds was his. Jacob and Isaac Barker were rewarded in the same way. She also made provision for a dozen of the young girls in the village to receive a present of a new dress and the same number of boys to have boots, these to be chosen by the Rector's wife, my Aunt Matty. She wanted no memorial but that a new pedestal for the font should be carved in suitable stone by Mr Steven Goodhew in the sum of thirty pounds for the material and his work. This was an immense sum but he said he would make sure it was a memorial for her love and kindness.
My sisters, Hatty and Meg each received fifty pounds but I and my brothers did not receive as much money. Torquil and Terence were given: 'twenty-five pounds to each and all my furniture to be divided as required which they might need to furnish their own households'. This caused some amusement. My father said it was better than Shakespeare's will where he had left just his 'second-best bed' to his wife Anne Hathaway. My mention was quite simple, bequeathing me the same sum and 'all pictures and other like artefacts as Thomas Browning may wish'! I knew what I had always wanted and somehow Miss Barnes must have known.
There remained the house she had lived in. Mr Grindcobbe had calculated that with the money deposited with her bankers and the sale of the house all her bequests could be met with a sum over. Her Will had decreed that the residue should be used 'to help erect a school for the education of any child within the boundaries of Careby village'. I knew this was a great wish of my Aunt Matty. She employed a schoolmistress who came from Stamford to teach three days a week in the Dame School held in the small room off the Assembly Rooms but this she felt was less than satisfactory. A proper school with a full-time schoolmaster or schoolmistress was her desire. Who would buy Miss Barnes's house?
This was soon solved. My Aunt Fanny easily persuaded Uncle Digby that they would benefit from better air in the countryside especially when the railway was completed. A private train could convey Uncle Digby in comfort in just a few hours from London through Peterborough to the halt to be constructed at Careby. They could travel back and forth 'like puppets on a string whenever the fancy took them', as Uncle Digby's remark was conveyed to my most amused father. "Or whenever Fanny wishes," was my father's opinion.
The Christmas celebrations in the village did manage to dispel some of the cold of the weather. There were several deaths amongst the elderly even though much wood and food had been distributed under the orders of my mother and my aunt. Lancelot was more sanguine and said that winter deaths were always to be expected for there was little a doctor could do other than to ease the passing. I accompanied him on a number of visits to patients and learned the use of preparations to soothe sore throats and help laboured breathing. I was with Lancelot when Goodman Gratton breathed his last. He had two daughters who had cared for him throughout his final illness with great care and attention. Lancelot had explained to them he could do no more for the old man's heart was not strong enough but he made sure there was no suffering. Gratton had been a ploughman all his life and until his last birthday, his seventy-fifth, had followed the pair of Punches he had raised from foals for his master who was one of our tenant farmers. His funeral was at the Methodist Chapel which was crowded and as my father was suffering from a chill I made it my duty to attend. It was a most solemn and expressive service and I sat with the Barker family with Robin by my side.
There was the usual Village Dinner and Dance but there was little other entertainment for there was a heavy fall of snow which stopped the New Year's Hunt. It also delayed the digging of the final stretches of the bed for the rail track. We heard the investors were getting restless for their money was returning no interest and there were pleas for more finance as money was running low. My father said he already had one hundred pounds in the enterprise and no more would be forthcoming. He was having to pay for the building of the halt and the siding as it was called. My mother said she had been told once it was all constructed it would be possible to travel to London and back within a day. My father just grunted. Still, all this cold outside meant we had to keep warm inside so Robin and I spent much time in each other's company in our room, reading and just being loving and companionable.
We had a another cold and dismal journey on our return to Ashbourne. The weather remained cold until well into March and there was much illness in School. One of the Whelps in Carstairs' House had croup and quinsy so bad he died within a week. A great sadness swept over the School and much had to be done to raise spirits. I was called on by Dr Dimbleby to help him in the Sick Room and I was fortunate I did not catch any of the colds, coughs or hot fevers which brought down many who needed constant medicaments. I gained a good reputation for my use of hot compresses around throats and for earthenware bottles filled with hot water to keep beds warm and free from damp. Dr Dimbleby said that boys needed exercise and with the lack of football and chases the main hall in Big School almost became a running track. Bristow and Bastable made use of our dining hall and had us all engaged in learning soldierly drills which kept us busy vying to be the best with wooden sabres or makeshift lances. Robin and Aubrey Bayes kept the Pups and Whelps active with acrobatics, headstands, cartwheels and other diversions and earned grateful thanks from Mr Pretyman who said he was getting too old to demonstrate he could walk on his hands along a passageway! Those in Pratt's House laughed at all these efforts in the other Houses and we heard their major occupation was, as usual, to see who was quickest in quaffing a tankard of ale, or when available, a bumper of claret.
Harry Lawson proved to be an excellent fag, nay, companion. With all Robin's and my duties we were constantly away from the room unless preparing for the next day's lessons. Harry made sure the fire was always kept burning and a kettle of hot posset ready on the trivet not only for us but for visitors who came for advice or treatment. He and Coulson worked well together and were even in demand to hear others' construes or parsing for they were already good scholars. We learned from Harry that his brother Richard, - Dickon as he called him which was his family name -, had embarked on his uncle's ship and had made a first voyage down to Spain and back. Harry said his brother had been seasick just like Lord Nelson and he wondered if he had made the right choice of a career. We surmised that might have been the opinion given by his father who seemed to spend his time hunting and laying wagers.
With the wind whistling down from the fells many nights were very cold and even a good fire did not allay draughts which seemed to creep in through any crevice. Harry was shivering under his coverlet one night and Robin said he should join us in our bed with the curtains drawn about. The poor boy, being near the door had endured a cold blast and was most grateful for the suggestion. There was no relief for any passions felt that night and he slept quite companionably between us and that was repeated several times until the bad weather abated somewhat.
Aubrey's idea for a electric circuit to ring a bell did not come to fruition. He demonstrated how it might be constructed in one of Mr Ridley's classes and there was much clamour for all present wanted to have such a device by their beds. The problems turned out to be insurmountable. Each bell would need the power of several Voltaic piles and as these needed a weak preparation of sulphuric acid it was considered too dangerous. This was highlighted for one of the containers was knocked over and the acid caused a stain on the table which was only stopped from spreading by Aubrey diluting the acid further with a wash of water. Mr Ridley was used to such accidents and had an old much scarred table for us to use in his study. I had already bloodied it when showing the valves within the ox heart.
I think we were all glad when term came to an end. In the inns we visited for sustenance and beds for the night on our journey back to Careby we heard sorry tales of the poor spring season where planted seeds were not sprouting while potatoes were rotting in the ground for it was most wet. The land around Careby was also in the same condition. My father said he would have to reduce rents if the harvest was bad again. It did no good to demand money which could not be paid. Our own income was secure, he said, for mares foaled in rain, snow or sunshine. The wintry weather must have kept a good few of the village couples abed so Robin informed me after he had made a visit to his mother. "There are at least nine swellings to be noted, so my brother James said. That boy is too forward with such statements."
The weather did improve and Blaze and Silver were given the exercise they had missed during the past few months. We saw that Lancelot's idea of the brick tunnels had set an improved flow to the river. We met one farmer who said the tunnels were a great blessing for his fields would not have dried otherwise until mid summer. There was an air of despondency wherever we took our rides for everyone knew crops would be poor. We did visit Colonel Neville for Lancelot was still advising on the mill and the drawing out of gravel. Both these enterprises were providing him with much-needed income. Sadly, for he had enjoyed hunting, he had decided he could no longer ride to Meets. He was no longer plagued with gout but was much weaker, for he said he was near his three score and ten and ready to meet his Maker. He averred he was much heartened to meet us again and was full of the accounts of young Freddy's progress. My Aunt Fanny was writing to him almost each week and there were glowing reports. We had the understanding Freddy was impressing Mr Sterndale Bennett with his commitment to practice not only on the pianoforte but also playing the flute I had lent him. In one letter the Colonel displayed to us with great pride my aunt mentioned Frederick was also writing down much of the music he heard in his head!
On one of our visits to Robin's parents Steven Goodhew showed us the fine piece of Italian stone from which he would carve the base of the font. He said only the best could commemorate such a kind and gracious lady as Miss Barnes. He averred he would incise a suitable inscription in plain English. "None of that 'Hic Jacet'," he said, "And I know that means 'Here Lies'!" He then pointed to two hessian covered bundles in the corner of the work room. "I have rescued these artefacts for you, Tom, though I fear you will have no place to put them hereabouts." To much laughter from Steven, Robin and Liam a surreptitious look showed what I had expected. My, that stiff peg was more than worthy of a Jabez! And see where it was inserted! My arsecheeks clenched at the thought! Steven said he would keep the blocks safe and away from prying eyes until he had further orders from me. He did say the stone-carver's art outlived any who might commission it!
While there we saw that Liam was preparing some of the dressed stone ready for carrying to a newly-built Meeting House for the Baptists in a nearby village. Though having only been apprenticed for such a short time he was becoming most skilful. He said his brother enjoyed his work for Mr Grindcobbe and Mr Lewsey was teaching him and John Mitchell, one of the other scriveners I knew, how to word a conveyance of a property so that there were no legal pitfalls.
Steven said the orders for work for both new and old buildings was increasing and he would have to look for another apprentice. He thought that the new railway with its ease of travel would entice people to move out of the larger towns and make their homes more in the countryside. He told us he had his eye on one lad in the village who would soon be old enough and big enough to take into his service. He said my Aunt Matty was in agreement for he valued her judgement on whether a family was honest and industrious. I found the lad in question was the youngest of three sons of Truman who was one of father's shepherds and a bellringer in our church. Truman was a noted wrestler as well and won money prizes and trophies at our country fairs battling against other stalwart participants in this age-old sport. His eldest boy had left the village to find work like others in Birmingham or Manchester. The second son had followed in his father's footsteps and was a shepherd's page as the young helper was always known. I pictured the youngest son who was now thirteen or so and remembered a stocky youngster who delighted his fellows by wrestling even with some of the lads who were older than he. He had a shock of black hair and always had an engaging smile on his face. If he were chosen and proved to be skilful he would, like Liam, have a busy and fruitful life.
It was on that visit that we also heard of the attempts to find Liam's and Niall's families in America. When Nicholas and Cornelius had first arrived at Careby my Aunt Matty had asked if they would enquire about the two families who had sailed to America some ten year's previously. Nicholas had written to contacts immediately but all replies were negative. There had been a wreck of one ship which was cast against rocks around that time and all on board were lost but if they had landed from any other ship they had disappeared. One respondent had enquired of the Catholic bishop's office in New York but they had said they had so many immigrants from Ireland and from Liverpool, many were nameless, and the records were scanty. It was also feared that if they had attempted to go on a wagon-train to seek work or obtain land inland they might have been set on by the marauding tribes who were fearful of all these unwanted settlers. Liam was sanguine about these reports. He said that he and Niall had their own now settled lives to live. He said quite forthrightly that for years he had felt abandoned but could now feel blessed with the love and helpfulness he had received in Careby. He was determined he would make recompense for that and hoped to make his home and his livelihood in the village. We knew he had been accepted wholeheartedly by the Goodhews and was looked on more as another son than as a mere apprentice.
One person who was also making progress was Natty Dyer. Uncle Dodd spent a deal of time with him and said he was sure the translations he was making were correct. Natty had spotted several new hieroglyphs and Uncle Dodd was of the opinion he should wait and consult the man in London who Aubrey Bayes' father had recommended. I did not think my uncle was too impressed with the pompous nature of the Cambridge don.
All too soon the holiday came to an end. Our journey back to Ashbourne was much better than the wintry ones we had endured. Robin was particularly excited to return for he knew he would be chosen for the Ashbourne School cricket eleven and three away matches had already been planned. I would be alone those weekends, for Harry Lawson was carrying on his elder brother's passion for the game and would be chosen as well. Harry was now fifteen and sprouting black hair in all places mentionable and unmentionable which pleased him mightily. He was not averse in displaying another sprouting object which never seemed to droop and had his backside slapped numerous times for fingering himself through his britches pocket. We found the rogue had cut a hole in his left hand pocket deliberately for this purpose and even when sitting dealing with his prep in the evening the tip of his peg would be more than peeping from the opening. However, there was no way he could be punished continually for such wantonness for two others confessed, both to themselves and to him, their own constant need to satisfy those bodily urges seemingly even more now we had reached the age of seventeen. The wretch remarked that a discussion of this problem might be suitable for one of Mr Ridley's classes for he knew that others were concerned about such matters as well. We did not enquire what evidence he had for this but had our own observations and overheard conversations which more than confirmed his assertion.
What did cause excitement on three of those Friday meetings was the demonstration by Aubrey Bayes of the way in which solutions of silver salts could be made to blacken by means of the sun's rays. His father had been much taken with the advances made by two Frenchmen in fixing images of places and people as if they were portraits but also by the endeavours of an English gentleman, Mr Fox-Talbot. Mr Fox-Talbot had managed not only to maintain the image, which showed as black where the light had struck and white otherwise, but was able to pass light through to another sensitive surface where the image then appeared as normal. It took not only those three Fridays but several attempts in between where Bayes, with the help of Coulson and Radcliffe, wrestled with getting the correct mixtures and coating thin paper with them and drying them in the dark using their coverlets over their heads. My box which I had used to demonstrate the image on the retina was commandeered and used as the camera obscura to project the image from person or object to sensitive paper. An astronomer in Bath, Mr Herschel, had shown how the image could be fixed permanently by immersing the paper then in a solution of another salt called hypo. Mr Herschel had called the whole process 'photography' from the Greek, 'phos', light, and 'graphein' to draw. The difficulty was to assess how much time should the light from the image be allowed to fall on the paper to cause the silver salt to darken. Then, as the image was in contrast, the almost transparent paper had to be laid over another coated piece to make what was now a correct image. What was marvellous was that this could be repeated and numerous images could be made all being the same. As the handling of the salt solution and the papers had to be done in the dark so heavy light-proof cloths had to be laid over the table in Mr Ridley's study and Bayes, Coulson and their helpers laboured under to shouts of mirth or frustration depending on circumstance.
All was well in the end and we each stood before the box and waited a short time and finally were all proud possessors of our own miniature images of our grinning faces! The casualties though were the fingers of all those helping which blackened with the immersion in the silver salt until Mr Ridley made the excellent suggestion that the solutions be painted onto the paper. His remark that he was not a natural philosopher but a philosopher using common sense was met with grins and shrugs.
Both Robin and I had made great progress with our study of the Greek New Testament and Mr Martin suggested that we might both consider Holy Orders when we graduated after our three years at Cambridge. He would next year, if we wished, give us some instruction in Hebrew. This caused us some consternation for neither of us had any inclination to spread the Gospel nor did either of us feel we had such a firm belief to carry such a responsibility. We could not demur entirely but I did say I thought my path was as a physician. The answer came swiftly that there was a great need for physicians in the mission field. My temper almost got the better of me for I almost said I wished to map my own future as far as possible. We both thought he had been primed to find suitable candidates for the School had several Governors who were clergy themselves and few past pupils had taken that path. No more was said and we found at least four others had had the same discussion.
There was another great celebration as the end of that Summer Term came. There were only four in Ridley House who were off into the wide world and we had over our time had little to do with them for they were known as 'sporting' types and spent their time in attending prize-fights, cock-fights or losing money at gaming with the louts in Pratt's House. One leaving from that House was Henderson who was now twenty and had been allowed to stay, almost as a boarder in a rooming-house, for his parents saw no future for him. Bayes said he had tried to be friendly but Henderson, though not surly, was more than cautious in making any sort of conversation. He was almost unable to read and Bayes wondered what sort of life he would lead when on his father's small estate near York. However, there were festivities for the rest of us. The customary Sing-Song was most popular as usual though we said we missed our Scotch dancers. We averred we might wrap young Lawson and Coulson in old curtain lengths and make them dance. Lawson was most audacious and said he knew that Scotchmen were reputed to wear nothing under their kilts and he would wave his peg in time to the music which he would enjoy doing. Big though he was getting his bare arse was slapped again and he howled with laughter, as did we! However, he and his friends made up two small playlets which parodied scenes from the Iliad and Roman history which caused great merriment for we saw several of the masters laughing as they recognised depictions of themselves. Luckily no-one appeared as Nero though Robin was asked to play his 'fiddle' behind the scenes when the lions ate the Christians and suffered stomach-ache! I wondered where the bottle of Lancelot's Balm, which was held up by the lion keeper, had disappeared to. That received a special cheer!
One surprise for all in Ridley House was on this occasion our sporting members provided all the sustenance for the feast afterwards. Prittlewell boasted he had won twenty guineas at cards just the Saturday before and as we - meaning the Praepostors - had not preached or prevented their activities this was done for all with thanks. Our Praepostoral duties were forgotten that evening for none of us reached our beds until well after midnight and Prittlewell's last, albeit drunken, gesture was to reward each of us with a slobbering kiss!
So ended Robin's and my penultimate year at Ashbourne. Our applications for matriculation at Cambridge would soon have to be made for we had but one more year here. Mr Ridley was most complimentary at the end of the service in Chapel on the last Tuesday before we would begin to leave on Wednesday. Both Robin and I had played the organ, he before the service and me after the final hymn. Mr Ridley congratulated us and said he hoped we felt our three years so far had fulfilled any expectations we may have had. Robin spoke up and said he could not have imagined having such an opportunity to learn but it was all due to the love which had come to him from the Browning family as well as his own mother and foster-father. Mr Ridley smiled and said it was one of the great joys of being a schoolmaster when he saw talents blossom and our heads must not swell if he told us we had been a joy so far. The smile was broader as he said 'so far' and we knew we would have to strive to make our final year our best.
To be continued:
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