Читать книгу Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 1901–1910 in Their Own Words - Max Arthur, Max Arthur - Страница 108

I owe a lot to the headmaster of the Colliery School, Mr Alcock. When I was supposed to be leaving school at thirteen, my mother went to see him and said that I was worth something better than going down the coal mine. She asked if I could stay on at school. The headmaster said yes. Another person stayed on at school – a girl called Mary Carr. We sat together at an old iron-framed desk made for two at the back of one of the classes. We didn't have a teacher so the headmaster gave us a book that he called a ‘classic’. He told us to read the book and write an essay on it. Mr Alcock was very painstaking. He corrected our spelling and phrasing and then he would make us write the essay again. Sometimes I had to write it a third time. Mary Carr never had to. She was brighter than me.