Chapter 6

The following day contained fewer such excitements. They watched lessons in French, Poetry and Domestic Value (lessons in ensuring the housekeeper was not cheating, the maids were staying in their own beds, and the tradesmen were honest. There were few lessons in actual cooking since the girls were not expected to actually sully their own hands with food preparation). The one lightening on a boring morning was that the three girls forced to bare their bodies to the inspectors’ lascivious gaze (for it had to be admitted that Miss Bellingham had enjoyed the viewing too) were in the Domestic Value class and fully aware that their bodies (their lower bodies at least) were an open book to the two visitors. Their embarrassment was a slight enjoyment to view.

Then they travelled back on board the train to the County town of South Hampton; there they would work together to prepare the report. Or leastways, Mr Small would write it, have it typed in draft and then ask Miss Bellingham to check it. She suggested some changes and these were all accepted. Two more schools were thus reported upon. A weight of knowledge was beginning to appear concerning the county’s education; and in that knowledge could be extracted better planning for the future.

The following visits to schools around the county proceeded with no remarkable incident except one. During these inspections, a visit, unannounced, to Miss Havers found her a reformed young lady and a veritable paragon. The children venerated the new Miss Havers, who had learnt some humility and empathy with her charges; even when Lucinda and Maggie were found at the back of the playground charging a penny a look (informed on by a boy who had not a penny); she was not as violent in her response as she had been. She told the girls to have more self-respect and told the boys that any caught paying would be made to similarly display themselves to the class. Though she implied that she would expect the punishment visited upon her previously, in gratitude for keeping her job, Jack Small was more of a gentleman than to take up the tempting offer. She suggested that perhaps he might choose to make another unexpected visit at a more convenient time – say the end of the school day. From this he assumed she was in fact offering herself for the punishment rather than debasing herself.

The exception mentioned above was the visit to the small Doctor Phineas’ School for Boys. A private institution which meant Mr Small could only advise rather than command, but which the county insisted must allow inspections, nevertheless. The discovery that the young boys – 11 and 12 – were subject to a regimen of sodomy and beating was a distressing surprise to Jack Small. “Sir” he said to the head “this is the nineteenth century! Not some past medieval era! We do not allow boys to be thus treated even if the ones doing so were thus treated when they were young! You will desist from allowing this shameful practice”

“Mr Small” came the equally forthright reply “you are invited to advise, not command. We are not under the yoke of the local authority to follow the liberal ways of modern educationalists.”

“Well, sir. We shall see!” Mr Small knew the head was correct. The school was independent and not required to follow local authority rules. Mr Small found it hard to know what to do; until he spoke to Mrs Domaine and Miss Bellingham one day. He had found it hard to bring up the subject and had approached it slowly and elliptically; but he found both women better informed than he expected.