The Rainbow

When he punished one of her children as he had punished the

boy Hill, for an offence against himself, he made the

punishment extra heavy with the significance that the extra

stroke came in because of the weak teacher who allowed all these

things to be. When he punished for an offence against her, he

punished lightly, as if offences against her were not

significant. Which all the children knew, and they behaved

accordingly.

Every now and again Mr. Harby would swoop down to examine

exercise books. For a whole hour, he would be going round the

class, taking book after book, comparing page after page, whilst

Ursula stood aside for all the remarks and fault-finding to be

pointed at her through the scholars. It was true, since she had

come, the composition books had grown more and more untidy,

disorderly, filthy. Mr. Harby pointed to the pages done before

her regime, and to those done after, and fell into a passion of

rage. Many children he sent out to the front with their books.

And after he had thoroughly gone through the silent and

quivering class he caned the worst offenders well, in front of

the others, thundering in real passion of anger and chagrin.

"Such a condition in a class, I can't believe it! It is

simply disgraceful! I can't think how you have been let to get

like it! Every Monday morning I shall come down and examine

these books. So don't think that because there is nobody paying

any attention to you, that you are free to unlearn everything

you ever learned, and go back till you are not fit for Standard

Three. I shall examine all books every Monday----"

Then in a rage, he went away with his cane, leaving Ursula to

confront a pale, quivering class, whose childish faces were shut

in blank resentment, fear, and bitterness, whose souls were full

of anger and contempt for her rather than of the master, whose

eyes looked at her with the cold, inhuman accusation of

children. And she could hardly make mechanical words to speak to

them. When she gave an order they obeyed with an insolent

off-handedness, as if to say: "As for you, do you think we would

obey you, but for the master?" She sent the blubbering,

caned boys to their seats, knowing that they too jeered at her

and her authority, holding her weakness responsible for what

punishment had overtaken them. And she knew the whole position,

so that even her horror of physical beating and suffering sank

to a deeper pain, and became a moral judgment upon her, worse

than any hurt.

She must, during the next week, watch over her books, and

punish any fault. Her soul decided it coldly. Her personal

desire was dead for that day at least. She must have nothing

more of herself in school. She was to be Standard Five teacher

only. That was her duty. In school, she was nothing but Standard

Five teacher. Ursula Brangwen must be excluded.