Name: Jane Eyre by Charlotte BRONTË Chapter 09
Uploaded: 2023-07-20T11:42:39.000Z
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CHAPTER NINE of Jane Eyre This is a Librivox recording.

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Recording by Elizabeth Klett Jane Eyre by Charlotte BRONTË Chapter Nine

But the privations, or rather the hardships, of Lowood lessened.

Spring drew on: she was indeed already come; the

frosts of winter had ceased; its snows were melted, its cutting winds ameliorated.

My wretched feet, flayed and swollen to lameness by the sharp

air of January, began to heal and subside under the gentler breathings of

April; the nights and mornings no longer by their Canadian temperature

froze the very blood in our veins; we could now endure the play-hour

passed in the garden: sometimes on a sunny day it began even to

be pleasant and genial, and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which,

freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night,

and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.

Flowers peeped out amongst the leaves; snow-drops, crocuses, purple auriculas, and

On Thursday afternoons (half-holidays) we now

took walks, and found still sweeter flowers opening by the wayside, under

I discovered, too, that a great pleasure, an enjoyment which the horizon

only bounded, lay all outside the high and spike-guarded walls of our

garden: this pleasure consisted in prospect of noble summits girdling a

great hill-hollow, rich in verdure and shadow; in a bright beck, full of

How different had this scene looked when I viewed it laid out beneath the iron

sky of winter, stiffened in frost, shrouded with snow!--when mists as

chill as death wandered to the impulse of east winds along those purple peaks,

and rolled down "ing" and holm till they blended with the frozen fog

That beck itself was then a torrent, turbid and curbless: it

tore asunder the wood, and sent a raving sound through the air, often

thickened with wild rain or whirling sleet; and for the forest on its

banks, _that_ showed only ranks of skeletons.

April advanced to May: a bright serene May it was; days of blue sky,

placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its

And now vegetation matured with vigour; Lowood shook loose its

tresses; it became all green, all flowery; its great elm, ash, and oak

skeletons were restored to majestic life; woodland plants sprang up

profusely in its recesses; unnumbered varieties of moss filled its

hollows, and it made a strange ground-sunshine out of the wealth of its

wild primrose plants: I have seen their pale gold gleam in overshadowed

spots like scatterings of the sweetest lustre.

All this I enjoyed often and fully, free, unwatched, and almost alone:

for this unwonted liberty and pleasure there was a cause, to which it

Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak of it

as bosomed in hill and wood, and rising from the verge of a stream?

Assuredly, pleasant enough: but whether healthy or not is another

That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred

pestilence; which, quickening with the quickening spring, crept into the

Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and

dormitory, and, ere May arrived, transformed the seminary into an

Semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to

receive infection: forty-five out of the eighty girls lay ill at one

The few who continued well were allowed almost unlimited license; because

the medical attendant insisted on the necessity of frequent exercise

to keep them in health: and had it been otherwise, no one had leisure

Miss Temple's whole attention was absorbed by the patients: she lived in

the sick-room, never quitting it except to snatch a few hours' rest at

The teachers were fully occupied with packing up and making other

necessary preparations for the departure of those girls who were

fortunate enough to have friends and relations able and willing to remove

Many, already smitten, went home only to die: some died at the school, and were

buried quietly and quickly, the nature of the malady forbidding delay.

While disease had thus become an inhabitant of Lowood, and death its

frequent visitor; while there was gloom and fear within its walls; while

its rooms and passages steamed with hospital smells, the drug and the

pastille striving vainly to overcome the effluvia of mortality, that

bright May shone unclouded over the bold hills and beautiful woodland out

Its garden, too, glowed with flowers: hollyhocks had sprung up

tall as trees, lilies had opened, tulips and roses were in bloom; the

borders of the little beds were gay with pink thrift and crimson double

daisies; the sweetbriars gave out, morning and evening, their scent of

spice and apples; and these fragrant treasures were all useless for most

of the inmates of Lowood, except to furnish now and then a handful of

But I, and the rest who continued well, enjoyed fully the beauties of the

scene and season; they let us ramble in the wood, like gipsies, from

morning till night; we did what we liked, went where we liked: we lived

Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now:

household matters were not scrutinised into; the cross housekeeper was

gone, driven away by the fear of infection; her successor, who had been

matron at the Lowton Dispensary, unused to the ways of her new abode,

Besides, there were fewer to feed; the sick could eat little; our breakfast-basins

were better filled; when there was no time to prepare a regular dinner,

which often happened, she would give us a large piece of cold pie, or

a thick slice of bread and cheese, and this we carried away with us to

the wood, where we each chose the spot we liked best, and dined sumptuously.

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte BRONTË Chapter 09

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