Akenfield

by Ronald Blythe

  My main job now is making big elevator canvasses for the pea-harvesting machines. I also make canvas covers for trollies on which to collect the game at shooting parties and halters for Tattersall’s at Newmarket. I don’t see that any craftsman has to stop; he has to develop.

  9. THE SCHOOL

  Our village school was poor and crowded, but in the end I relished it. It had a lively reek of steaming life: boys’ boots, girls’ hair, stoves and sweat, blue ink, white chalk and shavings. We learnt nothing abstract or tenuous there—just simple patterns of facts and letters, portable tricks of calculation, no more than was needed to measure a shed, write out a bill, read a swine-disease warning. Through the dead hours of the morning, through the long afternoons, we chanted away at our tables. Passers-by could hear our rising voices in our bottled-up room on the bank: “Twelve-inches-one-foot. Three-feet-make-a-yard. Fourteen-pounds-make-a-stone. Eight-stone-a-hundred-weight.” We absorbed these figures as primal truths declared by some ultimate power. Unhearing, unquestioning, we rocked to our chanting, hammering the gold nails home. “Twice-two-are-four. One-God-is-love. One-Lord-is-King. One-King-is-George. One-George-is-Fifth . . .” So it was always; had been, would be for ever; we asked no questions; we didn’t hear what we said; yet neither did we ever forget it.

  LAURIE LEE, Cider With Rosie

  . . . to be worth one’s salt in school one has always to be actively engaged in the process of educating oneself until the day one is presented with a wheelchair by the old pupils as a mark of merit for long and faithful service; it means an open mind on such subjects as space travel, and humility enough to learn from one’s pupils. . . . How the children of my generation ever sorted from the bushels of verbal chaff under which they were buried for five solid hours a day the few grains of the wheat of knowledge they managed to assimilate, I cannot understand. . . . Those who regret the wholesale-instruction methods of their own schooldays, no doubt also regret the lack of the bedside manner of the modern physician. They would be better employed if they spent their time thanking God that there is less and less need for either. However, when all is said and done, the day has not yet come when the doctor tells the patient “I am only here to see that you cure yourself,” nor is the teacher in school just to mark the register and to see that the children teach themselves. He is there to see that they learn, and the difference, though subtle, is enormous.

  —SYBIL MARSHALL, An Experiment in Education

  THE SCHOOL at Akenfield was built immediately after the passing of the 1870 Education Act on land given by the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, hence the fine entablature of his arms on the east wall. It is a stark, knife-edged building constructed of Suffolk white-brick, slates and plate-glass, and it stands on sloping tarmac which is fenced in by a hooped iron railing. It consists of two tall classrooms, a spiky porch and bell-loft, a lobby, the headmistress’s house—now disused—and scattered, trellis-covered lavatories, Boys one end of the playground, Girls the other. It is a building which says a very great deal, perhaps more than it should, about East Anglian austerity, benevolence, hope and apathy. The oldest and the youngest people in the village, just on a century of children, have sat in these two steep rooms and watched the hard local light framed in the pointed windows, the tree-tops and an occasional free uncaring bird. Fresh white emulsion paint has cured the green and cream distemper, and cancelled out the dado. Free expression pictures of ski-ing fill the spaces where meticulously shaded Cubes, Pyramids and Cylinders hung from precious (counted every Friday) drawing-pins. And the great iron snapping desks which trapped sixty acrid children aged between three and fourteen have vanished, along with powdered ink, liquid paraffin (for verminous hair), Readers which guaranteed a hatred of books for life and Silence. Instead, there is the new covenant decreeing reasonableness between the teachers and the taught. The children play recorders, model Stonehenge out of balsa-wood, do algebra for homework, write poems and stories and like Science best. They all read a comic, seventy-five per cent of them go to chapel or church Sunday-school, sixty per cent have been to London—up the Post Office Tower, down the river on a waterbus, fed and photographed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square; though none had been to Westminster Abbey, the Zoo, the Tower or St. Paul’s—they all possessed animals and all spoke with restraint, shyness and delicacy. Not communicators. Remote children. Children on an island. Their mother’s sons? Their father’s daughters? Or leaven for a new kind of rural bread?

  Stephen has written a story called “As I Waded Ashore I said, ‘Never Again.’ ”

  Alan is writing, “I could see the shell hitting the fuselage of the Messerschmitt. The next moment it burst into flames and plummetted downwards. ‘One down, five to go,’ I murmured between my teeth.” He is ten.

  What is your favourite television programme, Gillian?—“Be-witched.”

  Susan, “My daddy is the policeman.”

  Crispin, “I read Biggies until I’m interrupted.”

  John, “Gerald and I made Stonehenge but we let the girls make the plasticine men.”

  Michael is writing, “Sailors were shouting for mercy. The wind was blowing a gale . . . terror and confusion reigned. . . . Lost! . . . lost!”

  Mrs. Sullivan, “That is enough for today, children. Let us pray. Our Father.”

  Everybody, “Our Father . . . Kingdom come . . . ever and ever . . .”

  FROM THE LOG BOOK:

  1875 1 mistress; 62 children. Total Grant: £30 10s.

  Average attendance, 31.

  List of songs taught: Sleep, little brother; Come down into the harvest field; Oh the sunny summertime; Through lanes with hedgerows pearly.

  1876 Attendance very thin.

  Elizabeth Wells appointed monitor.

  Total Grant: £28 9s.

  1878 Attendance very poor.

  Songs taught: All the day long in the cornfields so weary; I will not hurt my little dog; Cheerful in duty.

  Recitation: The Destruction of Sennacherib.

  Report of the Diocesan Inspector: “The children progress on the whole. There is a fair amount of religious knowledge and the mistress appears to be painstaking in her teaching. Many, however, of the children have learnt imperfectly.”

  1881 From the Vicar’s Report: “The instruction is again unsatisfactory, for although there has been a slight improvement in arithmetic, I could not have recommended an undiminished Grant. It is true that 5 standards and an infants’ class, with only one Monitress as assistant, constitute an arduous task, but it is difficult to believe that the results need have been so poor. . . . Animal pictures are wanted for the children and desks for the infants would be useful. An easel, stand and maps are also wanted. My Lords will look for a much more favourable Report next year as the condition of an undeserved Grant.” Total Grant: £20 1s.

  1886 The children won’t come to school. Only one out of the above list [twelve names] attended this week. Such irregularity is very disheartening.

  Songs taught: Make hay while the sun shines; Will you sign the pledge?

  1889 There is now a Night School for the children who must work in the day-time.

  Attendance bad. Picking stones has ended and weeding in the fields still continues. The school has been open 30 times this month [June] and Frederick Walls has attended half a day. Twenty boys hardly ever attend and are seen working. The law is broken here with impunity. It is impossible to obtain a merit grant. Work how you will, it is uphill work in rural schools—the irregularity is something fearful.

  1890 April 23rd. Field-work, gathering stones, cow-keeping and farm-work has reduced the average. 35 out of 61 attended. It is impossible, in my opinion, to teach either Geography or Grammar owing to the bad attendances caused by the farmers sending the children out on the fields. Many children are always ill with coughs and colds and stay at home half the year.

  December: Many boys away brushing for the shoots.

  Poem taught: Casablanca.

  1891 Mr. Goodly called and took a list
of the absentees with the intention of bringing them before the Magistrates.

  November: Most of the boys in the upper standards have been brushing for the sportsmen. Several children are away with ringworms. Sent Mr. Goodly the school bill for children who are paid for by the Board of Guardians.

  From the Inspector’s Report: “The order is good and the improvement well sustained. Needlework is fair and English may be classed as good with hesitation. The condition of the Infants is unsatisfactory, the Mistress sorely needing help. The books are in a very bad state of repair.” Grant: £48 5s.

  From the Vicar’s Report: “There is an improvement in the Scripture Repetition but I should like to see more intelligence shown in the Catechism . . . the children do not seem to understand.”

  (November) 10 children stayed away to pick up stones.

  1896 (March 31st) I, Dora Jane Berrington, holding 1st class Certificate, commenced my duties as Head Teacher in Akenfield National School. The children have been most unruly, so I attended to the discipline. Spoke to Infants’ Room teacher about being a good disciplinarian on Wednesday. This she evidently resented . . . for she sulked for nearly 10 minutes. I gave lesson on The Hedgehog, and taught Standard III the Division of Factors. Cautioned 5 children not to go stone-picking in school hours. Took word-building with upper standards.

  (May) The four children who have obtained their Labour Certificate have taken advantage of it and left the school.

  1897 The glorious reign of Queen Victoria, the Year of Jubilee, the 21st of June 1897, was celebrated. The greatest progress in popular education was made during the last half century. Still, it is very defective, especially in this school.

  Had cause to speak to Provisional Teacher about her striking and shaking some of the children. Colonel Manvers visited the school and cautioned P.T. Infants simply do as they like in her presence.

  1898 Education Department,

  Whitehall, London, S.W.

  10th Jan: 1898

  Sir,

  . . . I am directed to inform you . . . that a Grant of £10 0s. will be paid as soon as possible. This Grant is made for providing additional apparatus and meeting the deficit which would otherwise necessarily be incurred in maintaining the efficiency of the school, and my Lords will require to be satisfied that it has been so expended. . . . It must not be assumed that the school will necessarily receive a similar grant in future years . . .

  1899 Attendance improved, upon two occasions every child

  present. Taught song, You can’t play in our yard. The

  Duchess kindly visited the school and gave prizes of pocket-handkerchiefs and sweets, and expressed herself delighted with the singing drill. Taught Shape of Cube and Brick. Allowed children to take their examination books home, that parents may see progress.

  Inspector’s Report: “There are points which call for praise here, and the standards’ attainments are on the whole sound and satisfactory. The Mistress spares no pains. . . . My Lords have consented to the Grant.”

  Mistress had occasion to speak to Monitress about striking a child with a slate, whereupon she put out her tongue and made grimaces.

  (June) Such floods outside the school that although children came in carts they were unable to land. New pump fixed. Object lesson, “Water.” Order in upper department all that could be desired.

  1900 I, Florence T. Spurling, this day commenced duties as Head Mistress of the Akenfield Mixed School. I found the children very backward in every respect. No single standard knew their work. Taught the whole school a new song—The old folks at home. The average attendance is 43–2. Commenced the Royal Copy Books. Gave special attention to Arithmetic.

  (March) Owing to the very cold East winds a large amount of sickness prevails.

  The children went to church for Intercession at 11.15 (The Boer War).

  Peter and Nellie Whittle were kept at home two days this week to go stone-picking with their mother.

  Government Report: “There has been a change of teachers here and the Managers are setting an example to the county by their sensible policy. A handsome gift for the improvement of classroom accommodation has been made by a lady. Everything has improved here.”

  1901 Government Report: “The infants have been kindly and conscientiously taught by Miss Spurling but their classroom should be enlarged without delay. I have found it unhealthily crowded several times. An excellent room for entertainments could be produced by partitioning-off a classroom —and villages are generally admitted to be in need of amusements if the exodus to the towns is to be arrested.”

  Alice Tilney, being 13, left school on Monday to go into service. Charles Deering was caned (four stripes) for repeated disobedience and the Brown brothers were caned (one stripe each) for stealing apples. All the big boys were caned on Wednesday for throwing stones at men working in the opposite field. John Marriage was expelled (November) for refusing to obey me. But he apologized the next morning, so I allowed him to come to school again. I administered corporal punishment to William Brown (December) for insubordination.

  1902 Eight children are still away with the water-pox.

  Average attendance, 72 per cent.

  Government Report: “Sound foundations are being laid here.”

  1904 I have caned James Williams again for misbehaving himself. He is a bad boy and takes easy advantage. His mother refused to send him in the afternoon and sent instead an insolent message. He is the only boy to receive corporal punishment in this school for 3 months.

  83 children are present. H.M.I.s have awarded the school the Highest Grant.

  It is impossible to teach here as one would like. I have to work Standards III, IV, V and VI in different subjects in the same room.

  1906 14 children have received notice that they cannot attend this school after Friday next because of its overcrowded state.

  1907 Empire Day (30th May) was celebrated in school today. Her Ladyship kindly lent 20 flags and the children were taught to salute the Union Jack. Lessons were given on the Union Jack and the “Growth and Extent of the British Empire.” Several patriotic songs were sung, and the afternoon was spent in organised games. Three selected compositions on “Empire Day” were dispatched to one of the colonies.

  1910 The dimensions of the two classrooms are 32 ft x 22 ft, and 22 ft x 17 ft. There are 72 children and no lavatories.

  1911 The jumble sale raised £5 towards a school piano.

  The following Readers have been purchased: Westward Ho!, Among the Bushrangers and The World of Ice.

  The structural improvement has amply repaid the long period of waiting. The school is practically a new school, and the alterations have been carried out in a liberal spirit. It is a pleasure to teach in the bright new classroom. The County Trophy presented by the East Suffolk Education Committee is a decoration on the walls which speaks for itself.

  1912 School gardens have been hired and there is a gardening instructor for the boys. The girls are being taught cookery. Mrs. Ellis brought her own baby to demonstrate the undressing and bathing of an infant.

  From the Annual Report: “The children are unsteady and talkative . . .”

  From the Religious Instruction Report: “The tone and discipline are excellent.”

  1914 September. Economy in paper has now to be practised because of the War. Mr. Peacock, the Assistant, has been called up to serve in the Marines.

  1915 The farmers are taking the boys from school for the threshing and have been told of the illegality of such a proceeding. Bertie Anderson (12) is allowed absence from school for Temporary Emergency Employment.

  (August) Owing to the late harvest and the scarcity of labour through the War, many children are needed to keep on the farms.

  1916 A War Savings Association was started in the school, the subscriptions for this week amounting to 17s. 6d.

  There are 53 children on the register.

  The Headmistress wrote to Her Ladyship the Manager to say that it is impossible to raise the te
mperature in the

  classrooms above 38 degrees with the existing heating apparatus.

  A copy of Our Sure Shield The Navy was received to be used in connexion with the teaching of the use of sea power and Britain.

  The subscriptions to the War Savings Association now amount to £111 6s. (February).

  1917 Received circular 112/1917 re. sugar for children’s cocoa.

  Cocoa is supplied at dinner-time for a penny a week.

  The boys are being kept away from school by the farmers.

  A letter from the Ministry of Food states that no sugar can be supplied for the scholars’ dinner-time cocoa.

  A half-day’s holiday was given for blackberrying.

  1918 The War is over. November—only 30 scholars out of 60 are present, all the rest are sick. They have influenza. The total raised by the children, their parents and friends for War Savings is £1,021 6s. 4d.

  Many things happened at the school during the War, including a bomb dropped from a zeppelin on a neighbour’s field. Standards II and VII were marched out to inspect it in school hours, as an object lesson in science and patriotism.