On Saturdays, a kind of pie, or mixture of
potatoes and meat, was served up, which was made of all the fragments
accumulated during the week. Scraps of meat from a dirty and disorderly
larder, could never be very appetizing; and, I believe, that this dinner
was more loathed than any in the early days of Cowan Bridge School. One
may fancy how repulsive such fare would be to children whose appetites
were small, and who had been accustomed to food, far simpler perhaps, but
prepared with a delicate cleanliness that made it both tempting and
wholesome. At many a meal the little Brontes went without food, although
craving with hunger. They were not strong when they came, having only
just recovered from a complication of measles and hooping-cough: indeed,
I suspect they had scarcely recovered; for there was some consultation on
the part of the school authorities whether Maria and Elizabeth should be
received or not, in July 1824. Mr. Bronte came again, in the September
of that year, bringing with him Charlotte and Emily to be admitted as
pupils.
It appears strange that Mr. Wilson should not have been informed by the
teachers of the way in which the food was served up; but we must remember
that the cook had been known for some time to the Wilson family, while
the teachers were brought together for an entirely different work--that
of education.
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