Chapter 8 Chapter Six

The next day began the same as the previous day, getting up and dressing by the light of the rush-wick candles.Only this morning we had to skip the ritual of washing our faces because the water in the jug froze.From the evening of the first day, the weather changed. Throughout the night, the piercing northeast wind gushed into our bedroom through the cracks in the window, making us shiver in bed and freezing the water in the pitcher to ice. Before the long hour and a half of prayer and Bible reading was over, I felt like I was going to freeze to death.Finally it was time for breakfast. The porridge this morning was not burnt, and it was still edible in terms of quality, but the quantity was too small.How little my portion seemed!Wish I could double it.

On this day, I was assigned to the fourth class, and I was given formal homework and homework.Before this, I have been just a bystander in various activities of Lowood, and in the future, I will also become one of the actors.At the beginning, I was not used to reciting. I always felt that the texts were long and difficult, and the courses changed from time to time, which made me dizzy.Thus, when Miss Smith, about three o'clock in the afternoon, thrust into my hand a strip of cloth two yards long, with needles, thimbles, etc., and ordered me to sit down in a quiet corner of the room to hem the cloth, I was There is indescribable joy.At this time, most of the others, like me, were doing needlework.But one class was still reading around Miss Scatcherd's chair.The surroundings were quiet, and one could hear the content of their texts, the situation of each girl completing her homework, and Miss Scatcherd's reproach or praise to them after hearing it.They were studying British history.Among the people reading the text, I saw the girl I had met in the corridor.At the beginning of class, she was at the top of the class, but she was suddenly dropped to the bottom because of a wrong pronunciation or inappropriate intonation.Even in this position of inconspicuousness, Miss Scatcherd continued to want her to be the object of attention, and she kept addressing her with the following words:

"Burns," (this seems to be her last name, girls here are all called by their last names, just like boys elsewhere), "Burns, you stand there with your feet on one side, and the top of your shoe is on the ground. Straighten your feet." "Pence, you stick out your chin, it's so ugly, draw it in." "Pence, I must make you keep your head straight, I won't allow you to stand in front of me like this." etc. ,etc. After reading a chapter twice from beginning to end, he closed the book and began to question the girls.The lesson covers part of the reign of Charles I, and various questions about tonnage and shipbuilding duties, which most people seem to be unable to answer.However, no matter what small problems, they were solved immediately when they arrived at Burns. She seemed to have memorized the contents of the whole class in her mind, and she could answer every question fluently.I had been expecting Miss Scatcherd to compliment Burns on his diligence, but instead of doing so, she suddenly exclaimed:

"Look at you dirty, nasty girl! You must have never washed your nails this morning!" Pence didn't answer.I was surprised by her silence. "Why doesn't she explain?" I thought to myself, "because the water is frozen and she can't wash her nails or her face." Just then my attention was distracted by Miss Smith, who asked me to hold a string for her.While winding the thread, she talked to me from time to time, asking me if I had gone to school before, whether I could embroider, sew, weave, and so on.Until she let me go, I could no longer observe Miss Scatcherd at all.When I got back to my seat, the lady was giving an order. I didn't understand the content of the order. I saw Burns immediately left the classroom, went into a small back room next door to the books, and came back after a while. , holding a bunch of branches tied together at one end.She curtseyed respectfully, presented the ominous instrument to Miss Scatcherd, and silently unfastened her apron without waiting for an order.The teacher immediately gave her a dozen or so lashes on the back of the neck with the bunch of twigs.Not a single tear welled up in Pence's eyes.Witnessing this scene, I couldn't help feeling futile anger, my hands trembling with anger, so I had to stop what I was doing, but the expression on her pensive face remained the same, without any change .

"Stubborn girl!" cried Miss Scatcherd, "you can't change your dirty habits. Take the broom away!" Pence complied.I looked her over carefully as she came out of the library.She was putting her handkerchief back into her pocket, and a trace of tear glistened on her thin cheek. The game time in the evening, I think it is the happiest moment of Lowood's day.The little bread and coffee I had at five o'clock, though not enough to satisfy my hunger, gave me some refreshment.It was time to relax after the long day's restraints, and the classroom seemed warmer than it had been in the morning, for the fire was now allowed to burn a little more vigorously, so as to somewhat replace the unlighted candles.The red twilight, the permissive noise, and the noisy human voice give people a pleasant feeling of freedom.

On the evening of the evening when Miss Scatcherd flogged her pupil, Burns, I wandered, as before, among benches and tables and laughing crowds, without a companion, and yet not feeling alone.From time to time, as I passed the window, I lifted the curtains and looked out.It was snowing heavily outside the window, and snow had already accumulated on the panes below.I put my ear close to the window, and from the laughter and laughter in the house, I can still distinguish the wailing of the strong wind outside. If I had just left a warm home and loving parents, perhaps this moment would cause me the most sorrow of parting, this shrill wind would make me sad, this tumultuous noise would disturb my peace.But in fact, these two aroused in me a strange excitement and a desperate frenzy. I hoped that the cold wind would howl more fiercely, that the twilight would thicken into darkness, and that the uproar would turn into uproar.

I hopped over some benches, passed some tables, and came to a fireplace; I saw Burns kneeling by the high wire grate, reading in silence and rapt attention by the dim light of the embers, Forget about everything around you. "Is it still the Rasselas?" I asked, coming up behind her. "Yes," she said, "I'll finish it right away." After only five minutes, she closed the book.I'm happy about it. "This time," I thought to myself, "I might be able to get her to talk." I sat down on the floor beside her. "Your name is Burns. What's your first name?"

"Helen." "Do you come from far away?" "I come from further north, almost to the Scottish border." "Are you going back?" "Hopefully I can go back. But the future is anyone's guess." "You must want to leave Lowood?" "No, why should I want to leave? I was sent to Lowood to be educated, and it's no good to leave without getting what I want." "But that teacher, Miss Scatcherd, was so cruel to you." "Fierce? Where is it! She is strict. What she hates is my shortcoming." "But if I were you, I would hate her and rebel against her. If she hits me with that whip, I'll take it from her and break it in front of her."

"You may not do that. But if you do, Mr. Brocklehurst will expel you from school, and it will be very painful to your relatives. Rather bear with the fact that everyone but yourself Pain that you can’t feel is much better than acting recklessly and making everyone related to you suffer. Besides, the Bible also teaches us to repay evil with kindness.” "But it's humiliating to stand and be beaten in the middle of a room full of people. Besides, you're such a big girl, and I'm much younger than you, so I can't bear it." "But since you can't hide, you have to endure it. It's weak and stupid for you to say that you can't bear what you are destined to endure."

I was very surprised when I heard her words. I couldn't comprehend this theory of patience, and I couldn't understand and agree with her tolerance for those who punished her.But even so, I feel that Helen Burns sees things in a light that I cannot see.I suspect that maybe she's right and I'm wrong, but I don't want to get to the bottom of it.Like Felix, I leave this aside for a while. "You said you have flaws, Helen, what flaws? I think you're pretty good." "Then I'll tell you, don't judge people by appearances alone, as Miss Scatcherd says, I'm very sloppy. I seldom put things in order, and never keep them tidy; I'm careless, and always Forgetting the rules; I read idle books when I should be doing my homework; I'm disorganized; sometimes, like you, I say I can't stand so many rules, that kind of routine life. These all make Skecher Miss De is angry because she is tidy by nature, keeps time, and is meticulous."

"Quick and cruel," I added.But Helen Burns disagreed with my addition, and she was silent. "Is Miss Temple as hard on you as Miss Scatcherd?" At the mention of Miss Temple's name, a gentle smile flickered across her grave face. "Miss Temple was very kind, and she could not bear to be harsh on anyone, not even the worst pupil in the school. She saw my fault, and pointed it out gently to me, if I did something worthy of my credit, My nature is too bad, and it is a strong proof that even her gentle and pertinent advice has not cured me. I value her praise very much, but Even her praise did not inspire me to always be cautious and considerate in situations.” "That's strange," I said, "isn't it easy to be cautious?" "It's easy for you, I don't doubt that. I watched you in class this morning, and saw that you were paying attention. You didn't seem to be distracted at all when Miss Miller was lecturing and asking you questions, but I always It's to distract my mind. When I should have listened carefully to Miss Scatcherd's lecture and memorized everything she said, I often couldn't even hear her voice, and I seemed to have entered some dream. When I thought I was in Northumberland, and the sounds I heard about me were the murmur of the brook that ran through the deep ravine near my house.—So, when it came to my answer, I had to put I woke up. And I was listening to the sound of the creek in my fantasy just now, and I didn’t hear what the teacher said at all, so I couldn’t answer it all of a sudden.” "But you answered very well this afternoon." "It was just a coincidence that I was interested in the content of the text we were reading. This afternoon, instead of dreaming of the ravine, I have been wondering how a man who wants to do good can be like Charles I sometimes So, to do such an unjust and unwise thing, I think it's a pity that a man as upright and upright as he is so short-sighted that he only focuses on the royal power. If he can set his sights farther, It would be nice to see what people call the spirit of the times! Still, I like Charlie—I respect him and pity him, the poor murdered king! Yes, his enemies are the worst A fellow who bled to death from a man they had no right to harm. How dare they kill him." Helen was talking to herself now, and she forgot that I could hardly understand her, that I knew nothing, or almost nothing, of the things she was saying.I pulled her back up to my level. "Does your mind wander when Miss Temple is in class?" "Certainly not, not often. For Miss Temple usually has something fresher to say than mine. Her words are particularly to my liking. Often she imparts exactly what I want to know." "So you behaved very well with Miss Temple?" "Yes, but it was passive. I didn't put in much effort to do it. I just followed my own wishes. It's nothing special." "It's amazing. When people treat you well, you treat others well, which is exactly what I have always wanted to do. If everyone is tolerant and obedient to those cruel and unfair people, then the bad people will have their own way. They will If we no longer have any scruples, we will never get better, but will only get worse. When we are beaten for no reason, we must fight back hard. I would say that we must - hit hard, be good We will teach the person who beat us a lesson, so that he will never dare to beat someone like this again." "I think you'll change your mind when you're a little older. You're still a little girl with no education." "However, I think so, Helen. I cannot help hating people who, no matter how much I try to please them, hate me. I must resist those who punish me. This is a very natural thing, just as some people love me, I will love him, or if I think I should be punished, I will be punished willingly.” "This statement is held only by heathens and barbarians, not by Christians and civilized peoples." "What? I don't understand." "It is not violence that best overcomes hatred, nor revenge that heals most." "Then what is it?" "Go read the New Testament and see what Christ said and did. Make his words your rule and his deeds your example." "What did he say?" "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you and abuse you." "Then I should love Mrs. Reed, which I cannot do. I should bless her son John, too, which I cannot." This time it was Helen Burns' turn to ask me to tell what happened.So I immediately poured out my own thoughts about the abuse and resentment I had suffered.When I got excited, my words became bitter and mean, and I said whatever was on my mind, without restraint, and without tactful tone. Helen listened to me patiently.I thought she should say something, but she said nothing. "Why?" I asked impatiently. "Isn't Mrs. Reed a cruel, wicked woman?" "Of course she wasn't nice to you, because, you see, she didn't like your character any more than Miss Scatcherd didn't like mine. But how much do you remember what she said or did to you?" Detailed! It seems that her injustice has left a peculiarly deep mark on your soul. No ill-treatment has left such a mark on mine. If you try to forget her harshness to you, Wouldn't you live a little happier because of the rage it caused? I always felt that life was too short to spend it in holding grudges and grudges. We are all sinful in this world, and Impossible otherwise. But I believe there will be a day before long when we will shed our rotten husks, and we will be free of these sins. Depravity and sin will leave us with this encumbering body of flesh and blood, leaving only the spirit The spark of life—the invisible trace of life and thought, as pure as when it left the Creator to give life to man. Where did it come from, and where did it return. Maybe it will be endowed with some higher than man Creatures—perhaps ascending through the ranks of glory, from illuminating pale human souls to illuminating the hearts of archangels! Surely it can never be the opposite, falling from man to devil? Yes, I I believe not. I have a creed of my own, which I have never been taught, and which I seldom speak of, but which I love, and hold fast to, for it gives hope to every man, and it makes immortality a A rest--a grand home--instead of fear and abyss. Besides, by believing in this creed, I can clearly separate the sinner from the sin he committed, and can sincerely forgive while hating his sin A criminal. By believing in this creed, I no longer have to worry about revenge day and night, no longer have to hate corruption, and no longer have to bow my head for injustice. I live peacefully and look forward to the end." Helen's head was bowed all the time, and when she finished her last sentence, her head drooped even lower.Judging from her expression, she didn't want to talk to me anymore, but would rather talk to her own thoughts.But she didn't think long, and presently a monitor--a big, rude girl--came up to her, and cried out in a thick Cumberland accent: "Helen Burns, if you don't straighten your drawers and fold your sewing at once, I'll tell Miss Scatcherd to come and see!" Helen's daydreams were dispelled, and she stood up with a sigh, and without answering or delaying, she did as the monitor said.