abuses they underwent in that female Dotheboys Hall. The eldest sister
died, and the second became very ill; yet still Mr. Bronte, who believed
in the hardening process for children, kept them there until the health
of each one failed in turn, and they were permanently injured by their
privations. The food, which would perhaps have been wholesome enough if
properly cooked, was ruined by a dirty and careless woman, who served it
up in such disgusting messes that many a time the fastidious little
Brontes could not eat a mouthful, though faint with hunger. There was
always the most delicate cleanliness in the frugal Bronte household, and
the children had early learned to be dainty in such matters. Their fare
at home was of the simplest nature, but always well cooked; and they
simply fasted themselves ill at Cowan's Bridge because they could not
eat what was set before them.

There was another trial of health to the girls, and that was being
obliged in all kinds of weather to attend church, which was two miles
away. The road was a very bleak and unsheltered one, where cutting winds
blew in winter and where the snows were often deep. The church was never
warmed, as there was no provision made for any heating apparatus; and
when the ill-fed and half-clothed girls had reached its shelter, they
were often in actual chills from the exposure, and could not hope to
gain any additional warmth there. Colds were taken in this way, from
which the girls never recovered. They also suffered from cold in the
school itself, and from the tyranny of one of the teachers, whom
Charlotte has mercilessly depicted as Miss Scatcherd in "Jane Eyre." To
the day of Miss Bronte's death, she would blaze with indignation at any
mention of this school; and who can wonder?

After the death of the second daughter, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily
were taken from Cowan's Bridge, and spent some time at another school,
where they were much happier, and where they made a few life-long
friends, particularly Miss Woolner, the principal. One of her
schoolmates gives this description of Charlotte's arrival at the
school:--

"I first saw her coming out of a covered cart, in very
old-fashioned clothes, and looking very cold and miserable. When
she appeared in the school-room her dress was changed, but just as
old. She looked a little old woman, so short-sighted that she
always appeared to be seeking something, and moving her head from