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The Life of Charlotte Bronte … Volume 1

by Elizabeth Claghorn Gaskell





CHAPTER I



The Leeds and Skipton railway runs along a deep valley of the Aire; a slow and sluggish stream; compared to the neighbouring river of Wharfe。  Keighley station is on this line of railway; about a quarter of a mile from the town of the same name。  The number of inhabitants and the importance of Keighley have been very greatly increased during the last twenty years; owing to the rapidly extended market for worsted manufactures; a branch of industry that mainly employs the factory population of this part of Yorkshire; which has Bradford for its centre and metropolis。

Keighley is in process of transformation from a populous; old… fashioned village; into a still more populous and flourishing town。  It is evident to the stranger; that as the gable…ended houses; which obtrude themselves corner…wise on the widening street; fall vacant; they are pulled down to allow of greater space for traffic; and a more modern style of architecture。  The quaint and narrow shop…windows of fifty years ago; are giving way to large panes and plate…glass。  Nearly every dwelling seems devoted to some branch of commerce。  In passing hastily through the town; one hardly perceives where the necessary lawyer and doctor can live; so little appearance is there of any dwellings of the professional middle…class; such as abound in our old cathedral towns。  In fact; nothing can be more opposed than the state of society; the modes of thinking; the standards of reference on all points of morality; manners; and even politics and religion; in such a new manufacturing place as Keighley in the north; and any stately; sleepy; picturesque cathedral town in the south。  Yet the aspect of Keighley promises well for future stateliness; if not picturesqueness。  Grey stone abounds; and the rows of houses built of it have a kind of solid grandeur connected with their uniform and enduring lines。  The frame…work of the doors; and the lintels of the windows; even in the smallest dwellings; are made of blocks of stone。  There is no painted wood to require continual beautifying; or else present a shabby aspect; and the stone is kept scrupulously clean by the notable Yorkshire housewives。  Such glimpses into the interior as a passer…by obtains; reveal a rough abundance of the means of living; and diligent and active habits in the women。  But the voices of the people are hard; and their tones discordant; promising little of the musical taste that distinguishes the district; and which has already furnished a Carrodus to the musical world。  The names over the shops (of which the one just given is a sample) seem strange even to an inhabitant of the neighbouring county; and have a peculiar smack and flavour of the place。

The town of Keighley never quite melts into country on the road to Haworth; although the houses become more sparse as the traveller journeys upwards to the grey round hills that seem to bound his journey in a westerly direction。  First come some villas; just sufficiently retired from the road to show that they can scarcely belong to any one liable to be summoned in a hurry; at the call of suffering or danger; from his comfortable fire…side; the lawyer; the doctor; and the clergyman; live at hand; and hardly in the suburbs; with a screen of shrubs for concealment。

In a town one does not look for vivid colouring; what there may be of this is furnished by the wares in the shops; not by foliage or atmospheric effects; but in the country some brilliancy and vividness seems to be instinctively expected; and there is consequently a slight feeling of disappointment at the grey neutral tint of every object; near or far off; on the way from Keighley to Haworth。  The distance is about four miles; and; as I have said; what with villas; great worsted factories; rows of workmen's houses; with here and there an old…fashioned farmhouse and outbuildings; it can hardly be called 〃country〃 any part of the way。  For two miles the road passes over tolerably level ground; distant hills on the left; a 〃beck〃 flowing through meadows on the right; and furnishing water power; at certain points; to the factories built on its banks。  The air is dim and lightless with the smoke from all these habitations and places of business。  The soil in the valley (or 〃bottom;〃 to use the local term) is rich; but; as the road begins to ascend; the vegetation becomes poorer; it does not flourish; it merely exists; and; instead of trees; there are only bushes and shrubs about the dwellings。  Stone dykes are everywhere used in place of hedges; and what crops there are; on the patches of arable land; consist of pale; hungry…looking; grey green oats。  Right before the traveller on this road rises Haworth village; he can see it for two miles before he arrives; for it is situated on the side of a pretty steep hill; with a back…ground of dun and purple moors; rising and sweeping away yet higher than the church; which is built at the very summit of the long narrow street。  All round the horizon there is this same line of sinuous wave…like hills; the scoops into which they fall only revealing other hills beyond; of similar colour and shape; crowned with wild; bleak moorsgrand; from the ideas of solitude and loneliness which they suggest; or oppressive from the feeling which they give of being pent…up by some monotonous and illimitable barrier; according to the mood of mind in which the spectator may be。

For a short distance the road appears to turn away from Haworth; as it winds round the base of the shoulder of a hill; but then it crosses a bridge over the 〃beck;〃 and the ascent through the village begins。  The flag…stones with which it is paved are placed end…ways; in order to give a better hold to the horses' feet; and; even with this help; they seem to be in constant danger of slipping backwards。  The old stone houses are high compared to the width of the street; which makes an abrupt turn before reaching the more level ground at the head of the village; so that the steep aspect of the place; in one part; is almost like that of a wall。  But this surmounted; the church lies a little off the main road on the left; a hundred yards; or so; and the driver relaxes his care; and the horse breathes more easily; as they pass into the quite little by…street that leads to Haworth Parsonage。  The churchyard is on one side of this lane; the school…house and the sexton's dwelling (where the curates formerly lodged) on the other。

The parsonage stands at right angles to the road; facing down upon the church; so that; in fact; parsonage; church; and belfried school…house; form three sides of an irregular oblong; of which the fourth is open to the fields and moors that lie beyond。  The area of this oblong is filled up by a crowded churchyard; and a small garden or court in front of the clergyman's house。  As the entrance to this from the road is at the side; the path goes round the corner into the little plot of ground。  Underneath the windows is a narrow flower…border; carefully tended in days of yore; although only the most hardy plants could be made to grow there。 Within the stone wall; which keeps out the surrounding churchyard; are bushes of elder and lilac; the rest of the ground is occupied by a square grass…plot and a gravel walk。  The house is of grey stone; two stories high; heavily roofed with flags; in order to resist the winds that might strip off a lighter covering。  It appears to have been built about a hundred years ago; and to consist of four rooms on each story; the two windows on the right (as the visitor stands with his back to the church; ready to enter in at the front door) belonging to Mr。 Bronte's study; the two on the left to the family sitting…room。  Everything about the place tells of the most dainty order; the most exquisite cleanliness。 The door…steps are spotless; the small old…fashioned window…panes glitter like looking…glass。  Inside and outside of that house cleanliness goes up into its essence; purity。

The little church lies; as I mentioned; above most of the houses in the village; and the graveyard rises above the church; and is terribly full of upright tombstones。  The chapel or church cl

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