Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

In the early morning of the next day, Philip was awakened by the tinkling of the bell. He opened his eyes and looked at his small room in surprise.At this time, a call sounded in his ear, reminding him where he was at the moment. "Are you awake, Singer?" The small bedroom is divided by polished pine wood, and a green curtain is hung on the front of the bedroom.At that time, people seldom considered the issue of ventilation in the house. The windows were always closed tightly, and they only sweated for a while in the morning to let some fresh air in the dormitory. Philip got up from the bed, knelt down and said his prayers.Philip shivered in the cold morning: but his uncle had taught him that it was more God-like to pray in his pajamas than to wait until he was fully dressed.This did not surprise Philip very much, for he began to realize something himself: he was a creature of God, a Creator who had a special appreciation for the sufferings of faithful men and women.After saying his morning prayers Philip began to wash.There are two bathtubs in the dormitory, which are used by 50 boarders in turn, and each student can take a bath once a week.Usually, I wash my face and wipe my body with the small washbasin placed on the washbasin stand.This wash-stand, together with the bed and a chair, is all that is needed in every small bedroom.The children gossiped happily while they dressed.Philip pricked up his ears and listened.At this time, there was another bell, and the children rushed downstairs.They entered the classroom and sat down on the benches beside the two long tables.Mr. Watson came in and sat down, followed by his wife and some fellow workers.Mr. Watson began his prayers with some authority, a thunderous voice that seemed to be a personal threat to each child.Philip listened anxiously.Afterwards, Mr. Watson read a chapter from the Bible, and the workers filed out.After a while, the disheveled young workman brought two large pots of tea, and then came again, bringing in several large plates of bread and butter.

Philip was afraid of greasy food, and the sight of the thick layer of bad butter spread on the bread made him sick to his stomach.But he saw other kids scraping that layer of butter off, so he did the same.They all have their own food such as cans of meat, which are brought in in the daily necessities box.Some students also enjoy an egg or meat "additional dish", which Mr Watson earns extra money from.Mr. Watson also asked Mr. Carey if he would let Philip have an "extra", but Mr. Carey refused, saying that he did not think the child should be spoiled.Mr. Watson agrees very much——he thinks there is nothing better than bread and butter for a developing boy—but some parents are too pampering and insist on giving them "Add vegetables".

Philip, noticing the prestige of some of the children, made up his mind that when he wrote to Aunt Louisa, he would ask for an extra for himself. After breakfast, the children all went outside for a stroll on the playground.Day students also came to school one after another.Their father was either a local priest, or an officer in the military depot, or a factory owner and merchant who settled in this ancient city.After a while, the bell rang loudly, and the children rushed to the classroom.The lecture hall consists of a long great room and a small suite.At both ends of the big room, two teachers teach the middle and lower classes respectively; the small suite is used by Mr. Watson, who teaches the upper class.In order to show that this school is a preparatory school attached to the Royal Public School, at the annual awards ceremony, in the official document report, these three classes are officially called the preparatory senior class, the preparatory middle class and the preparatory lower class.Philip was placed in the lower shift.The teacher of this class is named Rice. He has a flushed face and a melodious voice. He is lively and funny when teaching the children.Time slipped by, and it was a quarter past ten, and Philip was amazed at how quickly it passed.During breaks, the children were put outside the classroom for a ten-minute break.

All the students in the school rushed to the playground in a row.The new students were ordered to stand in the middle of the playground, and the other students were separated along the wall to the left and right.They began to play the game of "catch and clear". The old classmates ran from one wall to the other, and the new classmates in the middle tried to go up and intercept them. If they caught one, they said the mantra: "One, two, Three, the pigs belong to us. "So the boy who was caught became a prisoner, and in turn helped the new classmate to catch those who were still running. Philip saw a boy running by and tried to catch him, but he was limping. With a turn, he let him slip away; at this moment, the running children took advantage of the opportunity to run towards the territory under his jurisdiction. One of the boys had an idea and imitated Philip's strange running. The other children grinned when they saw it. Then they followed the boy's example, running around Philip in a grotesque way, screaming and laughing at the top of their voices, and they were choked with joy at the new gadget. One of them The child tripped Philip, and Philip fell, as he always did when he fell, and broke his knee. Philip struggled to get up, and the children laughed even more. A boy Philip was shoved from behind, and if another boy hadn't caught him, he would have thrown himself on the ground again. They were so busy making fun of Philip's disability that they forgot to play games. One of the boys even It was ingenious, and he made a weird swaying and painful step, which made people feel very funny. Several children were so happy that they rolled on the ground laughing: Philip was so scared that U was dumbfounded. He really didn’t understand everyone Why taunt him like this. His heart was beating so fast that he could hardly breathe. Philip had never been so frightened since his mother's womb. He stood transfixed, while the children There was loud laughter all around him, imitating his gait, running to and fro. They shouted at him to make him catch them, but Philip did not move a muscle. Philip did not want them to see him running again. With all his might, Suppressed not to cry out.

Suddenly the bell rang, and the students rushed back to the lecture hall.Philip's knees were bleeding, his hair was loose, his clothes were disheveled, and he was covered in hair.For several minutes, Mr. Rice could not control the order of the class.The children were excited by the novelty; and Philip, seeing one or two of his schoolmates furtively examining their lower limbs, drew his feet under the bench. In the afternoon, the children are going to the field to play football.Philip was going out after lunch when Mr. Watson called him up. "I suppose you can't play football, Carey?" Mr. Watson asked Philip.

Philip flushed with embarrassment. "No, sir." "Then don't kick it. You'd better get on the field too. You can always go this way, can't you?" Philip did not know where the football field was, but he answered as before: "Yes, sir." The boys set off, led by Mr. Rice, who caught a glimpse of Philip being undressed, and asked him why he wasn't going to play. "Mr. Watson says I needn't kick, sir," said Philip. "why?" Many children surrounded Philip, looking at him curiously.Philip felt a twinge of shame, and dropped his eyelids and said nothing.The other children answered for him.

"He's a cripple, sir." "Oh, I see." Mr. Rice is young, having just completed his degree a year ago.He was suddenly embarrassed.Instinctively he wanted to apologize to Philip, but he was too embarrassed to say so.He yelled at the other children in a rough voice: "Hey, kids, what are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Some students had already set off, and those who stayed left also left in twos and threes. "You'd better come with me, Carey," said the teacher, "you don't know your way, do you?" Philip guessed the teacher's kindness, and a sob broke out in his throat.

"I can't go fast, sir." "Then I'll walk slowly," the teacher said with a smile. A thoughtful remark from the ordinary, red-faced young man won Philip's good opinion at once.Suddenly he didn't feel so sad anymore. But at night when the children went up to bed and were undressing, the boy who was called Singer came out of his cubicle and put his head in Philip's. "Hey, stick your feet out and let's see," he said. "No," Philip answered. He jumped on the bed and crawled under the blankets. "Don't say no to me, word," Singer said. "Come on, Mason."

The child in the next bedroom was poking around the corner of the door, and slipped in as soon as he heard the call.They came up to Philip and tried to lift the blanket off him, but Philip held on tight. "Why are you begging me for nothing?" cried Philip. Singer grabbed a brush and tapped Philip's hand clutching the blanket with the back of it.Philip cried out. "Why don't you stick your feet out obediently for us to see?" "I won't let you see it." In desperation, Philip clenched his fist and punched the child who was torturing him, but he was alone, and Singer grabbed Philip's arm and twisted hard.

"Oh, it's awkward," said Philip, "it's going to break an arm." "Then just lie still and stick your feet out." Philip gave a twitch and breathed a sigh of relief.Singer twisted his arm again.Philip was in unbearable pain. "Well, I stretch, I stretch," Philip said. Philip put his foot out.Singer still held Philip's wrist.He eyed the lame curiously. "It's disgusting!" Mason said. At this time, another child came in to join in the fun. "Bah, bah," he said with disgust. "Oh, that's a queer look," said Singer, making a face. "Is it hard?"

He touched the foot with the tip of his index finger apprehensively, as if it were a living monster.Suddenly they heard Mr. Watson's heavy footsteps on the stairs.They threw back the blanket to Philip, and scurried like rabbits back to their bedroom.Mr. Watson walked into the student dormitory.He only had to stand on tiptoe to see what was going on inside from above the pole hung with a green curtain.He inspected two or three student bedrooms.The children were all asleep, so he turned off the lights and went out. Singer called to Philip, but Philip ignored him.He clenched his teeth on the pillow so that no one could hear him sobbing.At this moment, he was weeping secretly, not because he was beaten and hurt, nor because he let them see his crippled foot and suffered shame, but because he hated himself for being cowardly, unable to stand the torture, and finally obediently put his foot down. Stretched out. At this time, he felt the bitter wind and rain on the road of life.From the perspective of a child who has just begun his life, there must be boundless suffering in the future.Somehow, he suddenly remembered how Emma carried him from the bed to his mother that cold morning.After that, he never recalled that scene; at this moment, he seemed to feel the warmth of snuggling in his mother's arms again.He suddenly felt that everything he had experienced, his mother's sudden death, life in the Vicarage, and these two days of misfortune at school, seemed like a dream; and when he woke up tomorrow morning, he was at home again. .As Philip thought about it, his tears gradually dried up.He was so unlucky that it must all be a dream; his mother was still alive, and Emma would be up-stairs in a moment to sleep.He fell asleep. However, the next morning, he woke up in astonishment to the tinkling of the bell, and the first thing that caught his eye was the green curtain in his small bedroom.