Jude the Obscure | Page 3

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The Project Gutenberg Etext of Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy

Part First
AT MARYGREEN

"Yea, many there be that have run out of their wits for women, and
become servants for their sakes. Many also have perished, have erred,
and sinned, for women.... O ye men, how can it be but women should
be strong, seeing they do thus?"--ESDRAS.
I
THE schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed
sorry. The miller at Cresscombe lent him the small white tilted cart and
horse to carry his goods to the city of his destination, about twenty
miles off, such a vehicle proving of quite sufficient size for the
departing teacher's effects. For the schoolhouse had been partly
furnished by the managers, and the only cumbersome article possessed
by the master, in addition to the packing-case of books, was a cottage
piano that he had bought at an auction during the year in which he
thought of learning instrumental music. But the enthusiasm having

waned he had never acquired any skill in playing, and the purchased
article had been a perpetual trouble to him ever since in moving house.
The rector had gone away for the day, being a man who disliked the
sight of changes. He did not mean to return till the evening, when the
new school-teacher would have arrived and settled in, and everything
would be smooth again.
The blacksmith, the farm bailiff, and the schoolmaster himself were
standing in perplexed attitudes in the parlour before the instrument. The
master had remarked that even if he got it into the cart he should not
know what to do with it on his arrival at Christminster, the city he was
bound for, since he was only going into temporary lodgings just at first.
A little boy of eleven, who had been thoughtfully assisting in the
packing, joined the group of men, and as they rubbed their chins he
spoke up, blushing at the sound of his own voice: "Aunt have got a
great fuel-house, and it could be put there, perhaps, till you've found a
place to settle in, sir."
"A proper good notion," said the blacksmith.
It was decided that a deputation should wait on the boy's aunt-- an old
maiden resident--and ask her if she would house the piano till Mr.
Phillotson should send for it. The smith and the bailiff started to see
about the practicability of the suggested shelter, and the boy and the
schoolmaster were left standing alone.
"Sorry I am going, Jude?" asked the latter kindly.
Tears rose into the boy's eyes, for he was not among the regular day
scholars, who came unromantically close to the schoolmaster's life, but
one who had attended the night school only during the present teacher's
term of office. The regular scholars, if the truth must be told, stood at
the present moment afar off, like certain historic disciples, indisposed
to any enthusiastic volunteering of aid.
The boy awkwardly opened the book he held in his hand, which Mr.

Phillotson had bestowed on him as a parting gift, and admitted that he
was sorry.
"So am I," said Mr. Phillotson.
"Why do you go, sir?" asked the boy.
"Ah--that would be a long story. You wouldn't understand my reasons,
Jude. You will, perhaps, when you are older."
"I think I should now, sir."
"Well--don't speak of this everywhere. You know what a university is,
and a university degree? It is the necessary hallmark of a man who
wants to do anything in teaching. My scheme, or dream, is to be a
university graduate, and then to be ordained. By going to live at
Christminster, or near it, I shall be at headquarters, so to speak, and if
my scheme is practicable at all, I consider that being on the spot will
afford me a better chance of carrying it out than I should have
elsewhere."
The smith and his companion returned. Old Miss Fawley's fuel-house
was dry, and eminently practicable; and she seemed willing to give the
instrument standing-room there. It was accordingly left in the school
till the evening, when more hands would be available for removing it;
and the schoolmaster gave a final glance round.
The boy Jude assisted in loading some small articles, and at nine
o'clock Mr. Phillotson mounted