Mr Bowser Talks to the Headmistress About Ruth and Naomi

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12390, 30 July 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

Mr Bowser Talks to the Headmistress About Ruth and Naomi

Mr T. Thompson, in his new novel “Cuckoo Narrow” shows that so far as interpretation of Lancashire is concerned he is probably supreme amongst modern novelists. He is one of the few writers of whom it 'Can be said that the people of his novel are more important than the plot. He knows hi.s Lancashire and her people, and the following talk between Mr Bowser and the schoolmistress on the subject of the education of his two girls speaks for itself: — “What’s good o’ keeping childer at schoo’ until they grown gawmless? What’s th’ good o’ putting all our best brains in safe jobs? Them sort ought to be adventuring like they used to in the owden times. It’s all wrong chaining th’ good ’uns up.’ And Joe paused aghast at his own revolutionary attitude. “ ‘Tak no notice on him,’ said Mrs Bow.-er. ‘We’re keeping Naomi at school. Ah’d liek her to be a teacher.’ “ ‘Some good honest wark’d do her a seet more good,’ said Joe. “‘Mr Bowser!’ expostulated the headmistress. “ ‘Ah didn’t quite mean it that way,’ said Joe. ‘But there’s only one in a hundred worth spending a lot o’ schoo’ money on an’ he’d .sharpen his wits a lot better outside.’ “ T do not agree with you, Mr Bowser,’ said the headmistress. ‘ln many ways a teacher is the best judge of what a child is capable of.’ “ ‘There’s nobody knows what a child is capable of until it’s about forty,’ said Joe with a grin. ‘An’ Ah’ve known ’em play owd Harry wi’ th’ prophets after that.’ “.‘I think yo uought to make Ruth take the scholarship.’ said the headmistress. ‘She will thank you for it later.’ “‘Ah shall-do nowt o’ th’ sort as force her,’ said Joe spiritedly. ‘They han to live their own lives. If hoo’s determined to ta’ on a job hoo’ con tak’ it for me.’ “ ‘Ruth’s a dakesey to drive,’ said Mrs Bowser. ‘Hoo’ll happen be a bit tamer if hoo gets some reg’lar wark.’ “ ‘What does she propose to do?’ asked the headmistress. “ ‘Hoo’s been to see Nathan Unsworthi manager o’ th’ Chanticleer, an’ hoo’.s getten a job at the Chanticleer office,’ said Joe. ‘ln the printing line. Sewing books and' folding paper, and’ sich-like.’ “ ‘Are there any prospects for the girl?’ asked the headmistress. “ ‘There’s prospects anywheer for gradely folk,’ said Joe. ‘lt’s t’other .tort as wants th’ ladder howding for ’em.’ “The headmistress laughed. ‘You seem to know your own mind at any rate,’ she said. T am sure that I wish both the girls luck. both deserve it.’ “ ‘Naomi does,’ said Mrs Bowser. ‘Hoo’s a real Bowser. Hoo never needs driving to do her home-work.’ Billy and Ephraim “ Ah shouldn’t say mich about th’ Bowsers as far as schoolin’ goes,’ said Joe. ‘When Ah wo at th’ school Al\ used to feight for Billy Jackson, an’ he used to do mi horae-wark. If wor better for both on us. Ah’d greight knobby fists, an’ he had brains welly bulging his e’en out. He wor alius good at reckoning wor Billy. He’s a tram conductor now.’ “ ‘There are better opportunities to-day,’ said the headmistress. “ ‘There wor Ephraim Crankshaw,’ said Joe, ignoring the interruption. ‘There never wor a bigger numbskill in that schoo’ ner Ephraim. But he could whistle as weel as any bird as ever fluttered in a tree .top. He never did any home-work, and he wor alius at th’ bottom o’ th’ class. He never did any gradely wark, an’ he never looked for any Jackson did Epjhraim’s home-wark, once heard him whistle >and now he’s getting more nor twenty pun a week for doing nowt but whistling. It makes a foo' o’ -working all day in a forge wri’ sweat rowling off th’ end of nose fro’ morn to neet.J Billy

Jackson did Ephraim’s home-work, too, an’ Bill’s running up an’ down tram steps like a skawded cock punching tickets all day. An’ Ephraim did nowt but whistle an’ he s getting more nor twenty pun a week. Wheer’s it all come in?” “ ‘That’s just luck,’ said the headmistress. ‘We cannot all whistle for a living.’ “ ‘Ah never wanted to wear a tophat,’ said Joe- irrelevantly. “ ‘A good many people want to do too many things,’ said the headmistress. ‘You cannot do two things at once and do them well.’ " ‘Ah’ve done three many a time when Ah wor a lad,’ said Joe triumphantly. ‘Ah’ve whistled, an’ Ah’ve rickered (rattled the bones), and Ah’ve fetched th’ cows up.’ “ ‘When yo’ne getten round Joe,’ .raid Mrs Bowser in admiration, ‘yo’ne only th’ owd lad to lick.’ “ ‘Ah tak things as they come,’ said Joe modestly. “The headmistress rose to leave. T hope at any rate that what does come of it will be the benefit of the girls,’ she said; 'for both of them.’ “ ‘That’s not in our hands,’ said Joe. ‘They’ve just as likely to do weel one road as another. When Ah ■wor a lad Ah used to try hard for things an’ never as mich as get a smell cn ’em. And as soon as Ah ga’en o’er trying for ’em they come a-meeting me.’ “ ‘Ah con promise yo’ this,’ said Mrs Bowser, ‘Naomi‘ll tak’ her chances.’ ”