Learn English Through Story ★ Subtitles: The Brontë Family

how earth there was a cold wind this afternoon but the Sun shone for an hour or two I walked out on the moors behind the house the sheep were hiding from the wind under the stone walls and there were gray clouds over the hills to the west it is only November but I could smell snow in the air it will be a cold winter this year of 1855 my name is Patrick Bronte and I am 78 years old I am the rector of the village of how Earth how Earth is a village of small gray stone houses on the side of a hill in the north of England and I live in a house at the top of the hill next to the church and the graveyard I walked through the graveyard to the church this afternoon all my family except Anne are buried there the wind had blown some dead leaves through the door into the church and I watched them dancing in the sunlight near the grave soon I shall be in that grave with my wife and children under the cold grey stone and dancing leaves it is dark outside now and it is very quiet in this house Charlotte's husband mr. Nichols is reading in his room and our servant is cooking in the kitchen only the three of us live here now it is very quiet I can hear the sounds of the wood burning in the fire and the big clock on the stairs there is another sound to the sound of the wind outside the wind has many voices it sings and laughs and shouts to itself all night long last night it cried like a little child and I got out of bed and went to the window to listen there was no child of course only the wind and the gravestones cold in the pale moonlight but I decided then that I would write the story of my children today before it is too late Charlotte's friend mrs. Gaskell is writing a book about her and perhaps she will want to read my story it is a fine story it began in April 1820 when we came to hearth for the first time there was a strong wind blowing that day - out of a dark cloudy sky we could see snow on the moors the road to herethe goes up a hill and there was ice on the stones of the road Maria my wife was afraid to ride up the hill in the carts will walk children she said if one of those horses falls down there will be a terrible accident come on let's go and see our new house she was a small woman my wife and not very strong but she carried the baby and up the hill in her arms I carried Emily she was one-and-a-half years old then the others walked my two year old son Patrick Branwell walked with me and Charlotte who was nearly 4 walked with her mother the two oldest children Elizabeth and Maria ran on in front they were very excited and laughed and talked all the way the people of Howarth came out to watch us some of them helped but most of them just stood in their doorways and watched they are very poor people in this village I was their new rector we had seven carts to carry our furniture up that icy Hill but it was hard work for the horses when we reached our house the wind was blowing hard in our faces my wife hurried inside and began to light fires do you like it my dear I asked her that night when the children were in bed she looked pale and tired I thought it was because of the long journey and the children perhaps it was she held out her hands to the fire and said of course Patrick it's a fine house I do hope it will be a good home for you and the children I was a little surprised by that and for you Maria I said don't forget yourself you are the most important person in the world to me she smiled then a lovely smile Thank You Patrick she said she was a very small woman and she was often tired because of the children but when she smiled at me like that I thought she was the most beautiful woman in England a year and a half later she was dead she did not die quickly she was in bed for seven long months in awful pain the doctor came often and her sister Elizabeth came to to help the children were ill as well it was a terrible time my wife Maria died in September 1821 she was 38 it was my job to bury her in the church our six young children stood and watched quietly afterwards we went back to the house I called them into this room and spoke to them I said you must not cry too much my dears your mother is with God now she is happy one day you will all die and if you are good you will go to God too but why Maria asked why did she die now father we need her this world is a hard place children and we cannot understand everything that God does but God loves us never forget that your mother loved you and perhaps she can see you now we must all try to work hard learn as much as possible and be kind to each other will you do that yes Father they all looked so sad I remember and they listened so carefully little Emily said who will be our mother now Maria is the oldest so she will help me you must all listen to her and do what she says and your aunt Elizabeth is here too perhaps she will stay for a while Elizabeth did stay she was older than my wife and she wasn't married we called her aunt Branwell she came from Penzance in Cornwall a warm sunny place by the sea in the southwest of England it is often cold on the moors behind Howarth and the winds blow all winter aunt Branwell hated health but she stayed here all her life to help me with her sisters children she was a good kind woman I was very proud of my little Maria she was only eight years old but she worked all like an adult she helped the little ones to get washed and dressed she helped them to play and draw and read she was like a little mother to them she could read very well herself we always had books and newspapers in the house and I talked to the children about them every day I talked to them about adult things the Duke of Wellington and the important things that he was doing in London the children listened carefully and tried hard to understand Maria often read to the others from the newspaper and asked me questions about it she understood it better than most men I was sure my children were very clever but I did not have time to talk to them all day I had my work to do so in 1824 I sent them to school [Music] Koen bridge school I was born in a small house in Ireland there were only two rooms in our house and I had nine brothers and sisters my parents were very poor we had no money and only a small farm but we did have a church near us and that church had a school that school gave me my one chance of success I worked very hard there and when I was 16 I became a teacher then I went to San John's College Cambridge to study some more I became accurate when I married I was able to get a good job and a house for my family I got all that because I worked so hard at school I wanted my children to go to the best school that I could find Cowen Bridge school was a school for the daughters of church men it belonged to a church man mr. Wilson he was a good man I thought I liked the school and it was not too expensive so in July 1824 I took Maria and Elizabeth there in September I took Charlotte and in November Emily as well emily was just six then and Charlotte was eight I remember how quiet the house was that autumn in the evenings I taught my son bran well and my wife's sister looked after the youngest child and I often thought about the girls my eldest Maria was a good clever girl I thought she must be the best pupil in the school I waited for her letters and wondered what new things she was learning she did tell me some things in her letters but not enough she told me she liked the schoolwork and I was pleased but she did not tell me about the food or the cold or the unkind teachers Charlotte told me those things later I know Maria did not tell me that the food was often burnt and uneatable or that they could not sleep because the beds were too cold she did not tell me that the poor hungry children had to wash with ice in the mornings and walked through wet snow to sit for two hours with icy feet in a cold church on Sundays she did not tell me that many of the children at the school were ill you didn't tell me that did you Maria did you what did you try to write something and stop because you were afraid of the teachers you were a good brave child and I was so proud of you so pleased because you were at school I wanted you to learn everything I didn't want you to be poor like my sisters God helped me I thought you were happy at cowan bridge school there were no Christmas holidays at the school and it was too difficult to travel over the cold windy hills to visit my little girls so I sat at home here in hearth with aunt bran well my son and the little girl and outside the wind blew snow over the gravestones and there was ice on our windows on Christmas Day little Anne looked lonely she asked me about her sisters don't worry my dear I said they are happy with the other girls at school you shall go to Cowen bridge - when you are older I remember how strangely she looked at me then she was only four and very pretty she smiled at me but her face went very white and her hands started to shake I don't know why I thought she was cold and I put some more wood on the fire then aunt bran well read her a story from the Bible and I forgot about it in February a letter came it was in an adult's handwriting not Maria's dear mr. Bronte it said I'm afraid I have some bad news for you many children in the school have been ill and your daughter Maria my hand began to shake badly and I dropped the letter on the floor as I picked it up I could see only one word dead if your daughter Maria does not come home soon she will be dead I went over to the hills to bring her back my Maria was in a small bed in a cold room upstairs coughing madly Elizabeth and Charlotte and Emily's stood beside her waiting for me they looked so sad and ill and frightened I remember the big eyes in their small white faces but I did not bring them home then the school doctor said it was not necessary so I took Maria home across the cold windy Moors to health i sat beside her in the coach and held her hand all the way I remember how cold her hand was in mine thin cold fingers that did not move at all it was too late to save her she lay in bed upstairs for nearly three months but she was too ill to eat her poor face was white I remember and it seemed thin and small like a dead child's only her eyes looked alive big dark eyes in a thin white face don't cry father she said to me once I shall be with mother soon you know and with God I buried Maria beside her mother and a month later I buried Elizabeth there too she became ill at school and a woman from the school brought her home I brought Charlotte and Emily home two weeks later they were here when Elizabeth died her body lay all night in a wooden box on the table and her little sisters and brother kissed before she was buried I had wanted so much for those two girls and now I had nothing I stood in the church and looked at the summer flowers I had put on their grave I remembered how my wife had held the girls in her arms and how she had smiled at me when we looked at them they have come back to you now Maria I said I am sorry I am so sorry my love [Music] the little books I had for children now Charlotte ran well Emily and Anne I did not send them to school again for many years God's ways are hard to understand I thought perhaps God was not pleased with me perhaps he wanted Maria and Elizabeth for himself I decided to keep the others at home aunt bran world could teach them and I could help when I had time they were clever children quick at learning they loved to write and draw and paint and they talked all day long and thank God they were not ill in the afternoons my servant tabby took them for long walks on the moors behind the house they walked for miles on the hilltops in the strong clean wind alone with the birds and the sheep I think it was good for them they grew stronger and there was a bright light in their eyes I was not the only sad father in hearth many many children died and I had to bury them all the water in hearth was bad so many children died from illness and many more died from accidents I saw a hundred children die from fire in my house I was always very careful I had no curtains no carpets because I was afraid of fire my children never wore cotton clothes because they burn so easily one day in 1826 I brought a box of toy soldiers home from Leeds next morning the children began to play games with them this one is mine Charlotte said he's the Duke of Wellington and this is mine said Branwell he's Napoleon Bonaparte the children liked the wooden soldiers and began to tell a story about them it was a very exciting story I remember they read it to me and Arndt Branwell and tabby our servant the next day they invented another story and then another and then for several days the children were very quiet and I wondered what they were doing I went upstairs and opened their bedroom door inside they were all busily writing or drawing on small pieces of paper the wooden soldiers were in the middle of the room in front of them what are you doing I asked Emily looked up Oh father please go away she said we're writing our secret books I suppose I looked said what can't I see them I asked they all thought for a minute then Charlotte said very seriously you can see some of them of course papa but they aren't easy to read because it's very small writing will show them to you when we are ready these toy soldiers opened a new world for my children they showed me some of their stories but there were hundreds that they kept secret they all began writing so young Charlotte the oldest was only ten and Emily was eight I don't think they ever stopped mr. nickles has all Charlotte's little books now in a cupboard in his room some of them are no more than five or six centimeters high they are beautifully made and full of small pictures and tiny writing there is one on my desk now but I can't read it my eyes are too bad Charlotte and Bramwell wrote about a country called angrier while Emily and n wrote about a land called gondol the people in those countries fought battles and fell in love and wrote letters and poems my children wrote these poems and letters and they wrote books about angrier and Gondo they drew maps of the countries wrote newspapers about them and drew pictures of the towns and people in their stories they invented a new world for themselves they wrote many of these stories when I was in bed I used to read to the family and pray with them in the evening and then I usually went to bed at nine o'clock one night I remember I woke up and came down again at 10:00 there was a noise in my room this room where I am writing now I opened the door and saw Charlotte and Branwell with a candle looking at a picture on my wall what are you doing here I asked that we're looking at the picture Papa Branwell said it's the Duke of Zhou Mona and the Duke of Northumberland fighting in glass town I looked at the picture it's here now behind me it's a picture of a story in the Bible with the town mountains and hundreds of people in it what do you mean I asked it's one of our stories Papa Charlotte said we have to come in here to look at the picture then we invent what happens tell me then I said they both looked very excited their faces were pink and their eyes were bright in the candlelight but they looked happy too I put my candle on the table and sat down here where I am sitting now to listen to their story it was a wonderful story Charlotte's wooden soldier that Duke of Wellington had had a son Arthur Duke of zamana bran wells toy soldier Bonaparte had become the strong bad good-looking Duke of North angle and the two Dukes were fighting a terrible battle in a city called glass town there were soldiers who died bravely and beautiful women who fell in love i listened until two o'clock in the morning there was much more but i have forgotten it now but i remember the excitement in my children's face sometimes I thought they could actually see these people as they talked next day they said no more about it and I did not ask it was their own secret world and they did not let me into it again but I was pleased they had told me about it once and sometimes they showed me drawings of places in angrier or gondol all my children could draw and paint beautifully Charlotte used watercolors and often spent hours painting small pictures Branwell used oil paints as well [Music] growing up when Branwell was 14 or 15 he did a lot of oil paintings he painted people in the village and it was easy to recognize the faces in the pictures later he did a fine painting of his three sisters I was very proud of him we all decided he would become a famous artist Charlotte went to school again when she was 15 it was a much better school miss woola's school at roe head I don't think Charlotte liked school but she wanted to be a teacher a governess so she worked hard I taught bran well at home and aunt Bramwell taught Emily and Anne the girls and Bramwell were learning to play the piano and bran well played the music in church Emily and Anne had dogs and they used to take them for walks on the moors Anne's dog was called Flossie and Emily had a big strong one called keeper keeper went everywhere with her I think Emily loved that dog more than any person emily was sometimes a difficult child she was very shy and did not often speak to anyone outside the family when she was older I sent her to school with Charlotte but she hated it so I brought her home and sent an instead Branwell was not shy he could talk to anyone for hours everyone in Howarth liked him I remember the day in 1835 when Branwell went to London he was 18 years old and he was going to the Royal Academy in London to learn to be an artist he walked down the hill in hearth with a bag of his best paintings on his back and everyone in the village came out to see him go that was a great day for me something terrible happened in London but I don't know what it was bran well came back two weeks later his face white his clothes dirty I don't know where he went or what happened in London he refused to tell me he just sat upstairs alone in his room four hours later I paid for a room in Bradford for him to work in he could paint pictures of famous people there I thought it was easy work for him but he couldn't do it he spent all my money and came home again after a while this was a sad time for me my eyes were very bad and I had to pay a young curate to help me with my work for the church my old servant tabby broke her leg and was very ill and then one day I got a letter from Miss woola's school my curate read it to me dear mr. Bronte the letter said I'm afraid that your daughter Anne is very ill and I don't think I ever moved so fast in all my life six hours later I was at ro head the next day Anne and Charlotte were home and was still alive thank God a month later she was well again thank God all my children were safe at home I was happy to have them here they were so clever and kind and they loved each other so much but I was an old man with bad eyes and aren't bran well and I had very little money my children had to find work somewhere and in order to live but what sort of work could they do [Music] looking for work I do not remember everything they did Charlotte and Anne worked hers governesses for some months teaching rich children in big houses and Branwell got a job like that too for a while but they didn't like their work at home my children were full of talk and laughter but away from home they were shy quiet unhappy they wrote a lot of letters in their search for work sometimes two famous people Branwell wanted to be a writer so he wrote two writers but not many of them wrote back he began to look pale and sad in those days and he was often in the village pub drinking and talking to the people there then he got a job selling tickets on the railways and left home the girls had an idea I remember the day when they told me about it Charlotte and Anne were at home on holiday and we were all in the sitting room after dinner one evening Anne was playing the piano and singing quietly to herself she was the prettiest of the three girls I suppose she had long wavy brown hair and a gentle kind face Emily sat on the floor beside her stroking the ears of her dog keeper Charlotte sat opposite me on the sofa like a little child with a serious thoughtful face she was the smallest her feet were no bigger than my hands she looked at me carefully papa she said we wanted to start a school really my dear we're here but Charlotte my dear we have no room this house is full already oh but we could change the house papa we could build a schoolroom well yes I suppose so I said but why do you want to do this it isn't it better to work as governesses in some big fine house oh no Papa all three girls spoke at once and had stopped playing and Emily looked very angry and frightening I could see they had thought hard about this Charlotte said the life of a governess is terrible papa a governess has no time of her own no friends no one to talk to and if she gets angry with the children they just run to their mother I couldn't possibly be a governess all my life it's true Papa and said it's an awful life we're so lonely away from each other why can't we have a school and all live here then we can take care of you and aren't Branwell when you get old I looked at Emily her eyes were shining I could see that the idea was important to her too but why will people send their children here I asked how Earth is not a big town or a beautiful place how will you find children to teach we have thought of that too papa Charlotte said we must learn more and become better teachers I have spoken to aunt Bramwell and she will give us the money if you agree Emily and I want to go to Belgium to learn French if we can speak French well then parents will send their children to us to learn that Emily will go I said I looked at her Emily had only been away from home twice and each time she had been very unhappy but now she looked excited yes papa she said I will go Charlotte is right we must do something and this will help us to stay together and and I will stay as a governess with the Robinson family and said sadly there's not enough money for us all to go and the Robinsons are not so very bad it was always like that and was a gentle girl she did not fight as hard as the others perhaps her life was easier because of that I don't know but I thought it was a wonderful idea I wrote to Belgium and found them places in a school in Brussels which was owned by a Monsieur Hager I agreed to take the girls there and for a month I wrote down French words in a little pocket book to help me on the journey then one afternoon in 1842 we caught the train to London I had not been to London for over 20 years and my daughter's had never been there we stayed for three days and then we took the night boat to Belgium and arrived at a tall fine school building in the center of Brussels Hague a of himself was a very polite friendly man very kind he did not always understand my French but he showed me around the school and talked a lot very fast I smiled and tried to answer the two girls were very excited when I left them as I came home on the boat I thought this is a good thing a fine thing perhaps my daughter's will start a good school and how earth will become famous I hope branwall can make a success of his life too then my wife Maria will be pleased with us all [Music] Monsieur Hager and mrs. Robinson at first everything went well Monsieur Hager wrote to me often he was pleased with my daughter's he said they were good pupils but life at home in Howarth was hard my curate died and Arendt bran weld became very ill Emily and Charlotte came home to see her but she was dead before they arrived she was a good woman Elizabeth Bramwell she kept my home for more than 20 years and she taught my daughters everything she knew but she never liked how earth I am sure of that she said it was a cold miserable place I hope that God has found somewhere warm and comfortable for her now but how could I live without her my eyes were now very bad and I could not see to read and our servant tabby was older than I was and could not help me she was a governess for the Robinson family and now Branwell had a job there too teaching their young son so Charlotte went back to Brussels alone this time as a teacher in Monsieur a girls school Emily stayed at home to cook and clean for me she did not like Brussels she said she was happy to do the housework and live at home with tabby and me she was a strange quiet girl Emily she was the tallest of the girls and in some ways she was as strong as a man she loved to walk by herself on the wild lonely moors with her dog keeper running by her side sometimes I saw her there singing or talking quietly to herself and I thought perhaps she could see the people in her secret world of Gondar and was talking to them I know that she spent a lot of time writing alone in her room and when Anne was at home she and Emily often talked wrote about the world of Gondar together there were sometimes dangerous people near howarth so I always had a gun in the house before my eyes were bad I taught Emily to shoot she loved that sometimes I used to practice shooting in the garden while she was making bread in the kitchen I shot first then I called Emily she came out cleaned her hands picked up the gun shot and went back in to finish the bread she was much better at shooting than I was but by 1844 my eyes were too bad for shooting Emily cooked cleaned the house played the piano and almost every day she went for long walks on the moors with her dog keeper she loved that dog but she could be very hard with him too we did not let him go upstairs but one day tabby found him on my bed Emily was very angry her face was white and hard keeper was a big strong dog but she pulled him downstairs and hit him again and again until the dog was nearly blind then she gently washed his cuts herself he never went upstairs again Charlotte was another year in Brussels when she came home she was quiet and sad sometimes she wrote long letters in French to Monsieur egg heir but no letters came from him but this was a time of hope to the girls wrote advertisements for their new school and sent them to newspapers and to everybody they knew it was exciting they were good at vertes months and we waited for the first children to come we waited a long time and Charlotte wrote more advertisements no children came every day Charlotte and Emily waited for a letter from the postman or for a parent to come to see them every day they became more miserable and left her job with the Robinsons and came home to Howarth a month later Branwell also came home for a holiday and then one morning early there was a knock on the door Charlotte ran to open it but it was not a parent it was a letter for her brother Branwell he went upstairs with it smiling a few minutes later there was a terrible scream we ran upstairs to bran Will's room he lay on his bed screaming with a white face and wild dark eyes the letter was in his hand bran well what is it what's the matter I asked he tore his hair with his hands I'm ill he said I'm cold Oh what does it matter she doesn't care I can't see her oh it's all finished now finished forever I'll die without her here Bramwell drink this Emily brought him a cup of hot milk but his hand was shaking and he nearly dropped it Charlotte put her hand on his head he's hot papa he's burning she said you must go to bed at once Branwell he went to bed and he lay there sometimes sleeping sometimes shouting and crying I tried to talk to him but I couldn't understand what he said then later and explained she told us a terrible story I was so angry I nearly broke a chair with my hands as I listened my son Branwell and said was in love with mrs. Robinson the rich mother of his pupil for months this lady had spoken kindly to Branwell walked with him in the garden talked to him alone in the evenings he thought she would marry him when her husband died and then there were other things that Anne did not want to speak about the letter was from mr. Robinson he was often ill and told us but his children knew about Branwell and their mother and the servants knew too I think perhaps mr. Robinson had learned something from them or perhaps that woman I cannot call her a wife had told him everything only one thing was certain in his letter mr. Robinson had ordered Branwell never to return to his house or to speak to any of his family again my face was hot and my hands were shaking I tried to talk to Bramwell about it but it was impossible I loved her Papa he shouted you don't understand how can you you've never seen her I don't want to see her my son I said I understand that she is a bad evil woman I hope that God will punish her and don't say that Papa he screamed you were talking about the woman I love she will call me back I will see her again I hope you never see her again my son I said you must forget her bran well listen to me but he did not listen he ran out of the house he did not come back until the evening and then he was drunk he did not listen that day or the next day or any day he began to drink laudanum as well I thought he would kill himself so I think Charlotte was pleased that no parents came no school could have a man like Branwell in it [Music] Kerra Ellis and Acton Belle at about this time in 1845 I was almost blind I had a new curate to do my work Arthur Nichols a young man of 28 he came from Northern Ireland like myself he was a good hard worker I spoke in the church on Sundays but Arthur Nichols did the rest of my work ran well became worse and worse mr. Robinson died in 1846 but mrs. Robinson didn't marry Branwell oh no she was a cold wicked woman she sent my son Branwell away and later married a rich old man and Sobran well spent more and more time drinking and taking laudanum and walking alone on the moors when you are blind you listen to things very carefully I used to sit alone in my room and listen to the sounds of the wind outside the house the wind talks and whispers and sings it has many voices I listened to the sounds of the clock on the stairs and the wood in the fire and the footsteps and voices of the girls walking around the house they talked a lot to each other and sometimes I could hear what they said even when they were in another room and had had a poem published in a magazine and one day I heard a conversation between Charlotte and Emily Charlotte had found something that Emily had written and was talking to her about it but their wonderful Emily Charlotte said they're much better than mine or Anne's they're not for people to read Emily said they're part of the gondol story nobody would understand them except me and Anne I realized that they were talking about some poems of Emily's I knew that Emily and Anne wrote a lot about the country of gondol but I didn't know much about it Emily kept all her papers locked in her desk Charlotte was arguing with her Emily listen to me these are fine poems I think we should put some of them in a book together with mine and ends and try to publish it people should read them no Emily shouted then her dog keeper began to bark and I didn't hear anymore but I think they talked about this again several times I often heard voices arguing and usually they never argued about their writing I wanted to tell them not to do it I had published several small books myself but I always lost money I had to pay the publisher to print the books and not many people bought them it's an easy way to lose money but I was too ill so I said nothing I learnt many years later that they paid over 30 pounds to have a book of poems printed and that it sold two copies I am not surprised they didn't tell me about it we had very little money in our house I began to feel that there was something wrong with my head as well as my eyes several times the postman brought an old packet to our house which was addressed to a man called karibel I told him that no cutter Bell lived in hearth and sent him away but then a month or two later he came back again with the same old packet in the summer of 1846 Charlotte took me to see an eye doctor in Manchester we stayed in rooms in the town the doctor decided to operate on my eyes and the next morning we got up early I was afraid could I hold my head still while the doctor cut into my eyes with a knife perhaps the pain would be too terrible perhaps I would move or stand up or Charlotte held my hand as we left our rooms we met a postman good morning miss he said there's a packet here for Cora Bell Oh ever Thank You Charlotte sounded sad but she took the packet and put it in her room she did not open it then we walked to the eye doctors the pain was terrible but it was over in 15 minutes and I didn't move afterwards I had to lie on a bed in a dark room we couldn't go home for a month a nurse came sometimes but Charlotte stayed with me all day I asked her once about the packet she said oh it's for a friend of mine papa it had a letter for me in it I have posted it away again now I didn't understand but I didn't ask again I lay quietly on my bed most of the day and Charlotte sat in the next room writing she wrote very fast for many hours and never put her pen down once she seemed quiet but strangely happy I was happy too the doctor had helped I could see again it was wonderful the colors the shapes of everything were beautiful when we came back to howarth I could see everything clearly at last our home the church the graveyard the Moors the faces of my Emily and Anne and Branwell bran wells face looked terrible white thin with big dark eyes and untidy hair his clothes were dirty he smelt his hands shook all the time he was either shouting or crying and always every day he asked me for money I let him sleep in my room at night and he kept me awake for hours talking about mrs. Robinson I remembered his paintings his stories his happy childish laughter my fine clever son had become a drunken animal the winter of 1846 was terribly cold the wind blew snow around the house and over the gravestones a lot of children died in the village and was ill bran well was worse we lit fires in all the rooms but there was ice inside the windows in the mornings I spent most of my time with bran well so I didn't think very much about the girls and then one afternoon Charlotte came into my room I was sitting here in this same chair beside the fire she had a book in her hand and that strange happy look on her face Papa she said I've been writing a book I smiled have you my dear I thought she had written another little book about Anglia yes and I want you to read it though I'm afraid it will hurt my eyes too much my eyes were much better but the tiny writing in the angrier books was too small for me oh no she said it's not in my handwriting it is printed she held out the book in her hand My dear think how much it will cost you will almost certainly lose money because no one will buy it no one knows your name I don't think so father I didn't pay to get it printed you know the publishers paid me listen to what people say about it in these magazines she sat down and read to me from some of the most famous magazines in England there were long articles in them about a book called Jane Eyre by Carrabelle they were kind articles most of the magazine writers liked the book this carrabelle then I asked is it you Charlotte laughed he hits papa it's a man's name with the same first letters C B Charlotte Bronte carrabelle she gave me the book and went out I began to read I think I read for two hours but it seemed like ten minutes it was a wonderful beautiful book the story of a little girl called Jane Eyre her parents are dead so she lives with an unkind aunt and her children then Jane goes away to a school called no wood this school is a terrible place and it is very like the school at Cowen Bridge Jane Ayres best friend Helen Burns falls ill at the school and dies this Ellen is just like my own little Maria when I read about her death my eyes filled with tears but it was a beautiful book too I did not want to put it down that five o'clock I got up and went into the sitting-room my three daughters sat there waiting for me their eyes were very bright I still had tears in my eyes but I had a big smile on my face too I held up Jane Eyre in my hand and said girls do you know Charlotte has written a book and it is more than good you know it is very very fine indeed [Music] the best days and the worst days Emily and n did no of course they had known about Charlotte's book for a long time Jane Eyre was not the first book that Charlotte had sent to a publisher over a year ago she had written another book the professor and sent it to one publisher after another each publisher had sent it back in a package addressed to Carrabelle and then Charlotte had sent it in the same old packet to another publisher and then another and got it back again why didn't you change the paper on the packet my dear I asked Charlotte smiled I didn't think of it papa the worst day was when we were in Manchester going to the eye doctor do you remember the packet came back then that was the day before I started writing Jane Eyre do you mean that you started writing Jane Eyre while I was lying in that dark room in Manchester that's right papa but that's only six months ago and here is the book in my hand yes papa the book was printed a month after I sent it to the publisher my dear they decided very quickly that they liked it then I think they did Papa after all it is a good book isn't it she smiled at me I don't think I have ever seen her so happy she is a very small person Charlotte and not a beautiful woman but when she smiles like that her face shines like a fine painting my wife Maria used to look like that sometimes when I first met her I took her hand in mine it is a very good book my dear I cannot tell you how proud I am she touched my hand thank you papa but you must not be proud of me alone you know and and Emily oh no Charlotte please Emily said but Charlotte did not stop and and Emily have written books - books just as good as mine and their books will soon be published as well let me introduce you papa these young ladies are not your daughters they are actin Belle and Ellis Bell brothers of the famous writer Carrabelle Emily's face was bright red but Anne and Charlotte started laughing I was very surprised all three of you I said but but why do you use these strange names because people are stupid papa and said no one thinks women can write good books so we have used men's names instead and now they say that Carrabelle is a writer who understands women very well she laughed again my dears my dears I held out my hands to them and kissed each one of them in turn I don't know what to say I am so pleased for you all you have made your old papa happy today something in Emily's face stopped me Emily you will let me read your book won't you she thought for a moment yes papa of course but it's very different from Charlotte's I'm not sure you'll like it you yourself are very different from Charlotte my dear but I love you both you must show me the book as soon as it comes and you too and I read both their books that winter they were very different hands book Agnes gray was the story of an unhappy governess as I read it I was said to think how miserable Anne had been in a big house away from home where no one understood her it was a good book but it was harder to read than Jane Eyre Emily's book was called watering Heights it was a terrible frightening wonderful story there is love in it and hate and fear and a man called Heathcliff who is strong and cruel like the devil himself I read it late one night when the wind was screaming around the house blowing snow against all the windows and sometimes I was afraid when I got up to go to bed I saw Emily sitting quietly by the fire she was stroking her big dog Keeper with one hand and drawing a picture with the other she looked like a quiet gentle young woman I thought tall pretty and also there was something different about her something very strange and very strong there was something in her that was stronger than any of her sisters even Charlotte something stronger than even me or her brother Branwell much stronger than bran well all that year bran well was very ill he spent more and more time drinking he slept most of the day and was awake half the night his face was white his hands shook when he tried to write his sisters didn't tell him about their books or show him the new ones that they were writing they were afraid that he would be unhappy about their success because he had wanted to be a writer himself he made life hard for all of us in September 1848 he became very ill he coughed all day and all night he began to talk of death and asked us to pray with him while we stood together praying he began to cough again he fell to the ground Emily and I put her arms around him but he couldn't get up there was blood on his mouth and on Emily's dress when he stopped coughing it was because he had stopped breathing my only son was dead we buried him in the church beside his mother and little sisters it was a cold rainy afternoon there were dead wet leaves in the graveyard and the wind blew rain into our faces I came back into the house soon afterwards but Emily walked for an hour or two in the rain with her dog keeper when she came back into the house her dress was wet through several days later Emily became ill her face was hot she couldn't eat she kept moving around the house it was difficult for her to breathe and it took her a long time to climb the stairs Charlotte felt her heart it was beating a hundred and fifteen times a minute let me call a doctor Emily Charlotte said but Emily refused if he comes I won't talk to him then go to bed and rest please I can light a fire in your room and bring you a milk and read to you if you like you need rest sister I do not said Emily slowly she had to breathe hard between each word and her face was as white as bran Wales had been my body doesn't matter now I don't care about it I live as I always have and so every day she got up at seven o'clock dressed herself and stayed downstairs until 10:00 at night she ate little or nothing and coughed for hours sometimes she coughed blood she never went out of the house but one day Charlotte brought some Heather from the Moors for her to look at Emily was lying on the black sofa in the sitting room her dog keeper lay on the floor in front of her look Emily Charlotte said I found some purple Heather for you there are still one or two flowers left on the moor where Emily asked here look Charlotte held out the small bright purple flower Emily turned and looked at Charlotte but I don't think she could see the Heather her eyes were too bad Charlotte put it in Emily's hand but after a moment Emily dropped it on the floor at last she said Charlotte I will see the doctor now if he comes then she closed her eyes Emily was so thin and her white skin looked like paper I knew it was too late but I said to Anne quick put on your coat and fetch him now we did not have long to wait the doctor came half an hour later to tell us what we already knew Emily my daughter was dead 1848 was a year of funerals I buried many children from the village that year there was a lot of sadness in Howarth as I came out of the church with the dead flowers from Emily's grave I saw three other families walk past me they had come to the graves of their own dead children the people understood that their children were with God but no one could explain that - Emily's dog keeper he followed us to her funeral and four weeks afterwards he lay outside her bedroom and howled [Music] Arthur nickels that was not the end of my sadness and two became ill she could not breathe she coughed her face was white but she was more sensible than Emily she took all her medicines and did everything the doctors said it didn't help much in the spring she said she wanted to go to the sea to a warmer place the doctors told her to wait I thought she would die before she went at last in May Charlotte went away with her they went to York first where they visited a wonderful church York Minster if men can make something as beautiful as this and whispered what is God's real home like Charlotte told me this in a letter she sent from Scarborough a town by the sea on the north east coast on 26th May and rode a donkey on the beach the letter said she was very happy papa afterwards we went to church and then sat and watched the sea for a long time on the 28th she was too ill to go out she died quietly at two o'clock in the afternoon she will be buried in a graveyard near the sea Anne was the baby of the family the youngest and prettiest of them all before she died she wrote another book the tenant of Wildfell Hall about a woman who left her cruel husband she was proud of it and so was I she was 29 years old I don't want to die Papa she said I have too many ideas in my head too many books to write when Charlotte came home the dogs barked happily perhaps they thought an and Emily and Branwell were coming home too I don't know but it was only Charlotte the smallest of all my children not the prettiest not the strongest not the strangest God had taken all those for himself he had left me with the one who would become the most famous and the one who nearly had a child Charlotte wrote two more books surely about a strong brave woman like her sister Emily and Villette about love between a teacher and a pupil but Jane Eyre was her most famous book everyone in England talked about it everyone wanted to read it Charlotte went to London and met many famous writers I was very pleased I loved to hear about the people and places that she saw but she always came back to hearth she didn't like to be with famous people very long and this quiet place was her home in 1852 just before Christmas a terrible thing happened I heard some of it from my room my curate Arthur Nicholls opened the door to Charlotte's sitting-room and stood there his face was white and he was shaking yes Mr Nicholls Charlotte said do you want to come in no miss Charlotte that is yes I mean I have something important to say to you I heard his voice stopped for a moment and then he went on I have always felt strongly about you miss Charlotte and my feelings are stronger much stronger than you know and well the fact is miss Charlotte that I am asking you to be my wife there was a long silence I heard every word and I felt cold and angry mr. Nichols was a good current but that was all I paid him a hundred pounds a year to help me with my work but he had no place in my house or in my daughter's bed I stood up and opened my door mr. Nichols he turned and looked at me I could see Charlotte behind him you will leave this house at once mr. Nichols I am very very angry you must not speak to my daughter again ever do you understand me the stupid man was shaking enormous crying uh I thought he was ill he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out then he turned and went out of the door mr. Nichols stayed in his own house for three days he refused to eat the stupid man and he sent me some angry letters but Charlotte wrote to him to say that she would not marry him then mr. Nichols said he would leave haloth and go to Australia on his last day in church he had to give people bread to eat but when he held out the bread to Charlotte he could not do it because he was shaking and crying so much afterwards the people of Howarth gave him a gold watch he cried about that too I thought it was all finished but I was wrong I think he wrote to Charlotte and she wrote back in April of 1854 he came back to health Charlotte brought him into my room I looked at him but I said nothing I was not pleased papa Charlotte said Mr Nicholls and I have something to say to you I did not like that mr. Nichols and I it did not sound good to me that I am busy I said I have a lot of work Charlotte smiled that's because you don't have a good pure at Papa when mr. Nichols was here your life was easy perhaps I said but he was going to Australia I thought why haven't you gone sir mr. Nichols spoke for the first time he looked very tall and proud and I thought there are two reasons sir he said first because I have decided not to go to Australia and also he stopped and looked down at Charlotte she smiled up at him and I felt my blood run cold and also because your daughter Charlotte and I would like to be married we have come to ask you to agree I don't remember what I said next I think there were a lot of unkind words between us and some tears but in the end I agreed I agreed because Charlotte wanted it not because of Arthur Nichols in June that year they were married in my church I did not go I could not give Charlotte away to that man but he came back here to be my curate and he and Charlotte lived in this house with me he is still here now perhaps he will read this if he does he will know that he was right and I was wrong mr. Nichols was after all a good husband for Charlotte I understood after a while that he honestly loved her and he could make her happy she began to smile and laugh again her eyes shone she sang sometimes as she worked our house became a home again she went with him to see his family in Ireland and travelled to the Far West of that country mr. Nichols did most of my church work for me Charlotte began a new book Emma she called it and one day in December 1854 she came into my rooms Eiling I could see that she was excited what is it my dear have you finished your book no not yet papa but I have something wonderful to tell you what do you think I don't know my dear if it's not your book then I told Arthur yesterday I am going to have a child I did not say anything her hand was on the table and I put my hand on it gently it was wonderful news I remembered when my own wife Maria had told me this and how this house had been full of the laughter of little voices and the noise of running feet Charlotte and I sat like that for a long time remembering it did not happen at Christmas she fell ill and in the New Year she was worse she felt sick all the time because of the baby and she ate nothing she lay in bed all day hot and coughing Arthur nickels cared for her wonderfully I think he often stayed awake all night but it did not help on the 31st of March 1855 the last of my six children died it was early in the morning Arthur Nicholls was sitting by her bed and I was standing by the door she was asleep with her hand in his her face was very thin and pale she opened her eyes and saw him then she coughed and I saw fear in her face oh god she whispered I'm not going to die Am I please don't take me away from Arthur now we have been so happy those were the last words she ever said a little while later I walked slowly out of the house as I went into the graveyard the church Bell began to ring it was ringing to tell how Earth and all the world that Charlotte brontë was dead [Music] Maria and so now I have written it it is 3 o'clock in the morning the house is very quiet and the wind has stopped I can hear the sound of the wood burning in the fire and the clock on the stairs somewhere upstairs Arthur Nicholls is sleeping quietly I know that Charlotte's friend mrs. Gaskill has nearly finished her book about Charlotte perhaps I will show her what I have written perhaps but I don't think so I wrote to her before and answered her questions and that is enough she is a writer she can write her own book I will keep this book in my desk for myself and perhaps for Arthur Nicholls there is no need for other people to read it my daughter Charlotte is famous already and when mrs. Gaskell has written about her she will be more famous still I wish my wife Maria could read Charlotte's books and Emily's and ends perhaps she can we had some fine children didn't we Maria I wonder if she can hear me it is a fine night now that the wind has stopped there is a bright moon and the sky is full of stars I think I will go outside and walk through the graveyard to the church and talk to Maria there [Music] you

Channel: Learn English Through Story

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Length: 80min 54sec (4854 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020