Schools and schoolmasters

Front matter

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SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS

FROM THE WRITINGS OF

Preface

threads in his narratives are so interwoven, that it is next to impossible to draw out one without breaking it. We find that we have sometimes broken them ; but we have preferred to present them fragmentary as they may be, to changing any w’ord or expression of our author. The language we give is the lam guage of Charles Dickens.

We now present this little compilation to the public, — especially to the pedagogical part of it, — confident that it will be found both entertaining and instructive.

T. J. C.

OOE'TEljJ'TS

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rK)THEBOT’S HALL 9

THE SCHOOL. AT DR. STRONG’S. 205

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DOTHEBOYS HALL.

[from " NICHOLAS NICKLEBT.”]

Chapter I

M r. SQUEERS’S appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two. The eye he had was unquestionably useful, but decidedly not ornamental, being of a greenish gray, and in shape resembling the fan-light of a street door. The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up, which gave him a very sinister appearance, especially when he smiled, at which times his ex]3ression bordered closely on the villanous. His hair was very flat and shiny, save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protrudi-ng forehead, which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner. He was about two or three and fifty, and a trifle below the middle size ; he wore a white neckerchief with long ends, and a suit of scholastic black, but his coat-sleeves being a great deal too long, and his trousers a great deal too short, he appeared ill at ease in his clothes, and as if he were in a perpetual state of astonishment at finding himself so respectable.

Mr. Squeers was standing in a box by one of the coffee-room fire-places, fitted with one such table as is usually seen in coffee-rooms, and two of extraordinary shapes and dimensions made to suit the angles of the partition. In a corner of

DOTIIEBOYS HALL.

the seat was a very small deal trunk, tied round with a scanty piece of cord : and on the trunk was perched — his lace-up half-boots and corduroy trousers dangling in the air — a diminutive boy, with his shoulders drawn up to his ears, and his hands planted on his knees, who glanced timidly at tlie schoolmaster from time to lime with evident dread and apprehension.

“ Half-past three,” muttered Mr. Squeers, turning from the window, and looking sulkily at the coffee-room clock. “ There will be nobody here to-day.”

Much vexed by this reflection, Mr. Squeers looked at the little boy to see whether he was doing any thing he could beat him for ; as he happened not to be doing any thing at all, he merely boxed his ears, and told him not to do it again.

“At Midsummer,” muttered Mr. Squeers, resuming his complaint, “I took down ten boys ; ten twentys — two hundred pound. I go back at eight o’clock to-morrow morning, and have got only three — three oughts an ought — three twos six — sixty pound. What’s come of all the boys ! what’s parents got in their heads ? what does it all mean ? ”

Here the little boy on the top of the trunk gave a violent sneeze.

“ Halloa, Sir ! ” growled the schoolmaster, turning round. “What’s that. Sir?”

“ Nothing, please Sir,” replied the little boy.

“Nothing, Sir?” exclaimed Mr. Squeers.

“ Please Sir, I sneezed,” replied the little boy, trembling till the little trunk shook under him.

“Oh! sneezed, did you?” retorted Mr. Squeers. “Then what did you say ‘ nothing ’ for. Sir 1 ”

In default of a better answer to this question, the little boy screwed a couple of knuckles into each of his eyes and began to cry, wherefore, Mr. Squeers knocked him off the trunk with a blow on one side of his face, and knocked him on again witli a blow on the other.

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U

Wait till I get you down into Yorkshire, my young gentleman,” said Mr. Squeers, “ and then I’ll give you the rest. Will you hold that noise. Sir ? ”

“Ye — ye — yes,” sobbed the little boy, rubbing his face very hard with the Beggar’s Petition in printed calico.

** Then do so at once. Sir,” said Squeers. “ Do you hear ? ”

As this admonition was accompanied with a threatening gesture, and uttered with a savage aspect, the little boy rubbed his face harder, as if to keep the tears back ; and, beyond alternately sniffing and choking, gave no further vent to his emotions.

“ Mr. Squeers,” said the waiter, looking in at this juncture ; “ here’s a gentleman asking for you at the bar.”

“ Show the gentleman in, Richard,” replied Mr. Squeers in a soft voice. “Put your handkerchief in your pocket, you little scoundrel, or I’ll murder you when the gentleman goes.”

The schoolmaster had scarcely uttered these words in a fierce whisper, when the stranger entered. Affecting not to see him, Mr. Squeers feigned to be intent upon mending a pen, and offering benevolent advice to his young pupil.

“ My dear child,” said Mr. Squeers, “ all people have their trials. This early trial of yours that is fit to make your little heart burst, and your very eyes come out of your head with crying, what is it ! Nothing ; less than nothing. You are leaving your friends, but you will have a father in me, my dear, and a mother in Mrs. Squeers. At the delightful village of . Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire, where youth are boarded, clothed, booked, washed, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries — ”

“It is the gentleman,” observed the stranger, stopping the schoolmaster in the rehearsal of his advertisement. Mr. Squeers, I believe. Sir ? ”

“The same, Sii,” said Mr. Squeers, with an assumption of extreme surprise.

DOTHEBOTS HALL.

“ The gentleman,” said the stranger, “ that advertised in the Times newspaper — ? ”

“ Morning Post, Chronicle, Herald, and Advertiser, regarding the Academy called Dotheboys Hall, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire,” added Mr. Squeers. “You come on business. Sir. I see by my young friends. How do you do, my little gentleman ? and how do you do. Sir ” With this salutation Mr. Squeers patted the heads of two hollow-eyed, small-boned little boys, whom the applicant had brought with him, and waited for further communications.

“ I am in the oil and color way. My name is Snawley, Sir,” said the stranger.

Squeers inclined his head as much as to say, “ And a remarkable pretty name, too.”

The stranger continued. “I have been thinking, Mr. Squeers, of placing my two boys at your school.”

“ It is not for me to say so, Sir,” replied Mr. Squeers, “ but I don’t think you could possibly do a better thing.”

“ Hem ! ” said the other. “ Twenty pounds per annewum, I believe, Mr. Squeers } ”

“Guineas,” rejoined the schoolmaster, with a persuasive smile.

“ Pounds for two, I think, Mr. Squeers,” said Mr. Snawley solemnly.

“ 1 don’t think it could be done. Sir,” replied Squeers, as if he had never considered the proposition before. “ Let me see ; four fives is twenty, double that, and deduct the — well, a pound either way shall not stand betwixt us. You must recommend me to your connection. Sir, and make it up that way.”

“ They are not great eaters,” said Mr. Snawley.

“ Oh ! that doesn’t matter at all,” replied Squeers. “ We don’t consider the boys appetites at our establishment.” That was strictly true ; they did not.

DOTHEBOYS HALL.

“Every wholesome luxury, Sir, that Yorkshire can afford,” continued Squeers ; “ every beautiful moral that Mrs. Squeers can instil ; every — in short, every comfort of a home that a boy could wish for, will be theirs, Mr. Snawley.”

“ I should wish their morals to be particularly attended to,” said Mr. Snawley.

“ I am glad of that. Sir,” replied the schoolmaster, drawing himself up. “They have come to the right shop for morals, Sir.”

“ You are a moral man yourself,” said Mr. Snawley.

“ I rather believe I am. Sir,” replied Squeers.

“I have the satisfaction to know you are. Sir,” said Mr. Snawley. “ I asked one of your references, and he said you w^ere pious.”

“Well, Sir, I hope I am a little in that way,” replied Squeers.

“ I hope I am also,” rejoined the other. “ Could I say a few words with you in the next box ? ”

“ By all means,” rejoined Squeers, with a grin. “ My dears, will you speak to your new playfellow a minute or two ? That is one of my boys. Sir, Belling his name is, — a Taunton boy that. Sir.”

“ Is he, indeed ? ” rejoined Mr. Snawley, looking at the poor little urchin as if he were some extraordinary natural curiosity.

“ He goes down with me to-morrow. Sir,” said Squeers. “ That’s his luggage that he is sitting upon now. Each boy is required to bring. Sir, two suits of clothes, six shirts, six pair of stockings, two night-caps, two pocket-handkerchiefs, two pair of shoes, two hats, and a razor.”

“ A razor ! ” exclaimed Mr. Snawley, as they walked into the next box. “ What for ? ”

“ To shave with,” replied Mr. Squeers, in a slow and measured tone.

There was not much in these three words, but there must

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have been something in the manner in which they were said to attract attention, for the schoolmaster and his companion looked steadily at each other for a few seconds, and then exchanged a very meaning smile. Snawley was a sleek, flatnosed man, clad in sombre garments, and long black gaiters, and having in his countenance an expression of much mortification and sanctity, so that his smiling without any obvious reason was the more remarkable.

“Up to what age do you keep boys at your school, then ? ” he asked at length.

“Just as long as their friends make the quarterly payments to my agent in town, or until such time as they run away,’’ replied Squeers. “ Let us understand each other ; I see we may safely do so. What are these boys ; — natural children ? ”

“ No,” rejoined Snawley, meeting the gaze of the schoolmaster’s one eye ; “ they ain’t.”

“ I thought they might be,” said Squeers, coolly. “ We have a good many of them ; that boy’s one.”

“ Him in the next box ? ” said Snawley.

Squeers nodded in the affirmative, and his companion took another peep at the little boy on the trunk, and turning around again, looked as if he were quite disappointed to see him so much like other boys, and said he should hardly have thought it.

“ He is,” cried Squeers. “ But about these boys of yours ; you wanted to speak to me ? ”

“ Yes,” replied Snawley. “ The fact is, I am not their father, Mr. Squeers. I’m only their father-in-law.”

Oh ! Is that it ? ” said the schoolmaster. “ That explains it at once. I was wondering what the devil you were going to send them to Yorkshire for. Hal ha! Oh, I understand now.”

“You see I have married the mother,” pursued Snawley; “it’s expensive keeping boys at home, and as she has a little money in her own right, I am afraid (women are so foolish,

DOTHEBOYS HALE.

Mr. Squeers) that she might be led to squander it on them, which would be their ruin, you know.”

“ I see,” returned Squeers, throwing himself back in his chair, and waving his hand.

“And this,” resumed Snawley, “has made me anxious to put them to some school a good distance off, where there are no holidays — none of those ill-judged comings home twice a year that unsettle children’s minds so — and where they may .rough it a little — you comprehend ? ”

“ The payments regular and no questions asked,” said Squeers, nodding his head.

“ That’s it, exactly,” rejoined the other. “ Morals strictly attended to, though.”

“ Strictly,” said Squeers.

“ Not too much writing home allowed, I suppose ? ” said the father-in-law hesitating.

“ None, except a circular at Christmas, to say that they never were so happy, and hope they may never be sent for,” rejoined Squeers.

“ Nothing could be better,” said the father-in-law, rubbing his hands.

“ Then, as we understand each other,” said Squeers, “ will 3"OU allow me to ask you whether you consider me a highly virtuous, exemplary, and well-conducted man in private life ; and whether, as a person whose business it is to take charge of youth, you place the strongest confidence in my unimpeachable integrity, liberality, religious principles, and ability ? ”

“ Certainly I do,” replied the father-in-law, reciprocating the schoolmaster’s grin.

“ Perhaps you won’t object to say that, if I make you a reference ? ”

“ Not the least in the world.”

“ That’s your sort,” said Squeers, taking up a pen ; “ this is doing business, and that’s what I like.”

DOTHEBOYS HALL.

Having entered Mr. Snawley’s address, the schoolmaster had next to perform the still more agreeable office of entering the receipt of the first quarter’s payment in advance, which he had scarcely completed, when another voice was heard inquiring for Mr. Squeers.

“ Here he is,” replied the schoolmaster ; “ what is it ? ” Only a matter of business. Sir,” said Ralph Nickleby, presenting himself, closely followed by Nicholas. “There was an advertisement of yours in the papers this morning ? ”

“ There was. Sir. This way, if you please,” said Squeers, who had by this time got back to the box by the fire-place. “ Won’t you be seated ”

“Why, I think I will,” replied Ralph, suiting the action to the word, and i^lacing his hat on the table before him. “ This is my nephew. Sir, Mr. Nicholas Nickleby.”

“ How do you do. Sir,” said Squeers.

Nicholas bowed : said he was very well, and seemed very much astonished at the outward appearance of the proprietor of Dotheboys Hall, as he indeed was.

“ Perhaps you recollect me,” said Ralph, looking naiTowly at the schoolmaster.

“You paid me a small account at each of my half-yearly visits to town, for some years, I think. Sir,” replied Squeers.

“ I did,” rejoined Ralph.

“ For the parents of a boy named Dorker, who unfortunately — ”

“ — unfortunately died at Dotheboys Hall,” said Ralph, finishing the sentence.

“I remember very well. Sir,” rejoined Squeers. “Ah! Mrs. Squeers, Sir, was as partial to that lad as if he had been her own ; the attention. Sir, that was bestowed upon that boy in his illness — dry toast and warm tea offered him every night and morning when he couldn’t swallow any thing — a candle in his bed-room on the very night he died — the best

DOTHEBOYS HALL.

IT dictionary sent up for him to lay his head upon. — I don’t regret it though. It is a pleasant thing to reflect that one did one’s duty by him.”

Ralph smiled as if he meant any thing but smiling, and looked around at the strangers present.

“These are only some pupils of mine,” said Wackford S queers, pointing to the little boy on the trunk and the two little boys on the floor, who had been staring at each other without uttering a word, and writhing their bodies into most remarkable contortions, according to the custom of little boys when they first become acquainted. “ This gentleman. Sir, is a parent who is kind enough to compliment me upon the course of education adopted at Dotheboys Hall, which is situated, Sir, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire, where youth are boarded, clothed, booked, washed, furnished with pocket-money — ”

“Yes, we know all about that, -Sir,” interrupted Ralph, testily. “ It’s in the advertisement.”

“ You are right, sir ; it is in the advertisement,” replied Squeers.

“And in the matter of fact besides,” interrupted Mr. Snawley. “ I feel bound to assure, you Sir, and I am proud to have this opportunity of assuring you, that I consider Mr. Squeers a gentleman, highly virtuous, exemplary, well-conducted, and — ”

“ I make no doubt of it. Sir,” interrupted Ralph, checking the torrent of recommendation ; “ no doubt of it, at all. Suppose we come to business ? ”

“ With all my heart. Sir,” rejoined Squeers. “ ‘ Never postpone business,’ is the very first lesson we instil into our commercial pupils. Master Belling, my dear, always remember that ; do you hear ? ”

“ Yes, Sir,” repeated Master Belling.

“ He recollects what it is, does he ? ” said Ralph.

DOTHEBOTS HAEL.

“ Tell the gentleman,” said Squeers.

“ Never,” repeated Master Belling.

“Very good,” said Squeers; “go on.”

“ Never,” repeated Master Belling again.

“ Very good indeed,” said Squeers. “ Yes.”

“ P,” suggested Nicholas good naturedly.

“ Perform — business ! ” said Master Belling. “ Never— perform — business ! ”

“ Very well. Sir,” said Squeers, darting a withering look at the culprit. “ You and I will perform a little business on our private account, by and by.”

“ And just now,” said Ralph, “ we had better transact our own, perhaps.”

. “ If you please,” said Squeers.

“ Well,” resumed Ralph, “ it’s brief enough ; soon broached, and I hope easily concluded. You have advertised for an able assistant. Sir ? ”

“ Precisely so,” said Squeers.

“ And you really want one ?

“ Certainly,” answered Squeers.

“ Here he is,” said Ralph. “ My nephew Nicholas, hot from school, with every thing he learnt there, fermenting in his head, and nothing fermenting in his pocket, is just the man you want.”

“ I am afraid,” said Squeers, perplexed with such an application from a youth of Nicholas’s figure, “I am afraid the young man won’t suit me.”

“ Yes he will,” said Ralph ; “ I know better. Don’t be cast down. Sir ; you will be teaching all the young noblemen in Dotheboys Hall in less than a week’s time, unless this gentleman is more obstinate than I take him to be.”

“ I fear. Sir,” said Nicholas, addressing Mr. Squeers, “ that you object to my youth, and my not being a Master of Arts?”

DOTHEBOY& HALL.

"The absence of a college degree /Van objection,” replied Squeers, looking as grave as he could, and considerably puzzled, no less by the contrast between the simplicity of the nephew and the worldly manner of the uncle, than by the incomprehensible allusion to the young noblemen under his tuition.

" Look here. Sir,” said Ralph ; " I’ll put this matter in its true light in two seconds.”

" If you’ll have the goodness,” rejoined Squeers.

" This is a boy, or a youth, or a lad, or a young man, or a hobbledehoy, or whatever you like to call him, of eighteen or nineteen or thereabouts,” said Ralph.

" That I see,” observed the schoolmaster.

" So do I,” said Mr. Snawley, thinking it as well to back his new friend occasionally.

" His father is dead, he is wholly ignorant of the world, has no resources whatever, and wants something to do,” said Ralph. “ I recommend him to this splendid establishment of yours, as an opening which will lead him to fortune, if he turns it to proper account. Do you see that } ”

" Everybody must see that,” replied Squeers, half imitating the sneer with which the old gentleman was regarding his unconscious relative.

" I do of course,” said Nicholas eagerly.

" He does, of course, you observe,” said Ralph, in the same dry, hard manner. " If any caprice of temper should induce him to cast aside this golden opportunity before he has brought it to perfection, I consider myself absolved from extending any assistance to his mother and sister. Look at him, and think of the use he may be to you in half a dozen ways. Now the question is, whether, for some time to come at all events, he won’t serve your purpose better than twenty of the kind of people you would get under ordinary circumstances. Isn’t that a question for consideration ? ”

DOTHEBOYS HALL.

“Yes, it is,” said Squeers, answering a nod of Ralph’s head with a nod of his own.

“ Good,” rejoined Ralph. “ Let me have two words with you.”

The two words were had apart, and in a couple of minutes Mr. Wackford Squeers announced that Mr. Nicholas Nickleby was from that moment thoroughly nominated to, and installed in, the office of first assistant-master at Dotheboys Hall.

Your uncle’s recommendation has done it, Mr. Nickleby,” said Wackford Squeers.

Nicholas, overjoyed at his success, shook his Uncle’s hand warmly, and could have worshipped Squeers upon the spot.

“ He is an odd-looking man,” thought Nicholas. “ What of that ? Porson was an odd-looking man, and so was Doctor Johnson ; all these bookworms are.”'

“ At eight o’clock to-morrow morning, Mr. Nickleby,” said Squeers, “ the coach starts. You must be here at a quarter before, as we take these boys with us.”

“ Certainly, Sir,” said Nicholas.

“ And your fare down, I have paid,” growled Ralph. “ So you’ll have nothing to do but to keep yourself warm.”

Here was another instance of his uncle’s generosity. Nicholas felt his unexpected kindness so much, that he could scarcely find words to thank him ; indeed, he had not found half enough, when they took leave of the schoolmaster and emerged from the Saracen’s Head gateway.

Regarding with no small curiosity and interest all the busy preparations for the coming day which every street and almost every house displayed; and thinking now and then that it seemed rather hard that so many people of all ranks and stations could earn a livelihood in London, and that he should be compelled to journey so far in search of one, Nicholas speedily arrived at the Saracen’s Head, Snow Hill. Hav-

DOTHEBOTS HALL.

ing dismissed his attendant, and seen the box safely deposited •in the coach-office, he looked into the coffee-room in search of Mr. Squeers.

He found that learned gentleman sitting at breakfast, with the three little boys before noticed, and two others who had turned up by some lucky chance since the interview of the previous day, ranged in a row on the opposite seat. Mr. Squeers had before him a small measure of coffee, a plate of hot toast, and a cold round of beef ; but he was at that moment intent on preparing breakfast for the little boys.

“ This is twopenn’orth of milk, is it, waiter ? ” said Mr. Squeers, looking down into a large blue mug, and slanting it gently so as to get an accurate view of the quantity of fluid contained in it.

“ That’s twopenn’orth. Sir,” replied the waiter.

“ What a rare article milk is, to be sure, in London ? ” said Mr. Squeers with a sigh. “ Just fill that mug up with lukewarm water, William, will you ? ”

“ To the wery top, Sir ? ” inquired the waiter. “ Why, the milk will be drownded.”

Never you mind that,” replied Mr. Squeers. “ Serve it right for being so dear. You ordered that thick bread and butter for three, did you ? ”

“ Coming directly. Sir.”

“ You needn’t hurry yourself,” said Squeers ; “ there’s plenty of time. Conquer your passions, boys, and don’t be eager after vittles.” As he uttered this moral precept, Mr. . Squeers took a large bite out of the cold beef, and recognized ? Nicholas.

“ Sit down, Mr. Nickleby,” said Squeers. “ Here we are, a breakfasting you see.”

Nicholas did see that anybody was breakfasting except Mr. Squeers ; but he bowed with all becoming reverence, and looked as cheerful as he could.

DOTHEBOYS HALL.

“ Oh ! that’s the milk and water, is it, William ? ” said Squeers. “Very good; don’t forget the bread and blitter presently.”

At this fresh mention of the bread and butter, the five little boys looked very eager, and followed the waiter out with their eyes ; meanwhile Mr. Squeers tasted the milk and water.

“ Ah ! ” said that gentleman, smacking his lips, “ here’s richness ! Think of the many beggars and orphans in the streets that would be glad of this, little boys. A shocking thing hunger is, isn’t it, Mr. Nickleby ? ”

“ Very shocking, Sir,” said Nicholas.

“ When 1 say number one,” pursued Mr. Squeers, putting the mug before the children, “ the boy on the left hand nearest the window may take a drink ; and when I say number two the boy next to him will go in, and so till we come to number five, which is the last boy. Are you ready ? ”

“ Yes, sir,” cried all the little boys with great eagerness.

“That’s right,” said Squeers, calmly getting on with his breakfast ; keep ready till I tell you to begin. Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you’ve conquered human natur. This is the way we inculcate strength of mind, Mr. Nickleby,” said the schoolmaster, turning to Nicholas, and speaking with his mouth very full of beef and toast.

Nicholas murmured something — he knew not what — in reply, and the little boys dividing their gaze between the mug, the bread and butter (which had by this time arrived), and every morsel which Mr. Squeers took into his mouth, remained with strained eyes in torments of expectation.

“ Thank God for a good breakfast,” said Squeers when he had finished. “ Number one may take a drink."'

Number one seized the mug ravenously, and had just drunk enough to make him wish for more, when Mr. Squeers gave the signal for number two, who gave up at the same interest-

DOTHEBOTS HALL.

^23

ing moment to number three, and the process was repeated till the milk and water terminated with number five.

“ And now,” said the schoolmaster, dividing the bread and butter for three into as many portions as there were children, “ you had better look sharp w'ith your breakfast, for the horn will blow in a minute or two, and then every boy leaves off.”

Permission being thus given to fall to, the boys began to eat voraciously, and in desperate haste, while the schoolmaster, who was in high good-humor, picked his teeth wuth a fork, and looked smilingly on. In a very short time the horn was heard.

“ I thought it wouldn’t be long,” said Squeers, jumping up and producing a little basket from under the seat ; “ put what you haven’t had time to eat, in here, boys ! You’ll want it on the road ! ”

Nicholas was considerably startled by these very economical arrangements, but he had no time to reflect upon them, for the little boys had to be got up to the. top of the coach, and their boxes had to be brought out and put in, and Mr. Squeers’s luggage was to be seen carefully deposited in the boot, and all these offices were in his department.

* ******* *

A minute’s bustle, a banging of the coach doors, a sw^aying of the vehicle to one side, as the heavy coachman, and still heavier guard, climbed into their seats ; a cry of all right, a few notes from the horn, a hasty glance of two sorrowful faces below- and the hard features of Mr. Ralph Nickleby — and the coach was gone too, and rattling over the stones of Smithfield.

The little boys’ legs being too short to admit of their feet resting upon any thing as they sat, and the little boys’ bodies being consequently in imminent hazard of being jerked off the coach, Nicholas had enough to do to hold them on : and between the manual exertion and the mental anxiety attendant upon this task, he was not a little relieved when the coach stopped at the Peacock at Islington. He was still more re-

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lieved when a hearty-looking gendeman, with a very good-humored face, and a very fresh color, got up behind and proposed to take the other corner of the seat.

“ If we put some of these youngsters in the middle,” said the new-comer, “ they’ll be safer in case of their going to sleep ; eh.?”

‘‘ If you’ll have the goodness. Sir,” replied Squeers, “ that’ll be the very thing. Mr. Nickleby, take three of them boys between you and the gentleman. Belling and the youngest Snawley can sit between me and the guard. Three children,” said Squeers, explaining to the stranger, “books as two.”