My Wonderful Year | Page 6

about an hour one night trying to turn on the ceil*- ing light and the desk light at the same time, finally despairing and thinking how very stupid I had become since my trip across the Atlantic. I learned later that the switch is so fixed that only one light can be used at a time. This is much better than having the housemother scold every month about the enormous light bill. There is a maid who takes care of the room. The service one received with the room included the privilege of setting one pair of shoes outside of the door each night and the next morning taking in a brightly shined pair. Not asking if two pairs could be polished at a time, I set out two pairs in the hall one night, only to find that one pair was shined the next morning.
The plumbing arrangements in England are quite different from those which we have in America. The bath tub and the lavatory are never in the same room, thus the bathrooms are much smaller than ours. The bathtubs are longer and higher as well as narrower, being made for the slender Englishman and not for the plump American.
The dining room of College Hall was located on the below-ground floor. Breakfast which was served from the hatch cafeteria style consisted always of orange marmalade and the regular breakfast menu including ham or eggs and bacon or eggs, not ham and eggs and bacon and eggs which Americans hold inseparable, very lean sausages, and herring which I fear I never learned to eat properly. The favorite lunch dish was steak and kidney pie. And tea, for which England is noted, was served from four to five at which hour not only large quantities of tea were consumed, but brown bread and butter, white bread and butter, delicious preserves, cake, and scones as a rare treat. I soon became as one to the manner born, and at four o'clock I had to have my tea. India tea is used almost exclusively, but usually it was too dark and strong for me, and I found myself using about two or three tablespoons of tea and a half cup of hot water. The Englishman does not use lemon in his tea ; at breakfast he may use milk, but at tea time it is drunk plain. Many a four o'clock since my return from England have I longed for a delicious cup of hot tea.
English table etiquette differs from ours. The fork is always used in the left hand, the knife being used in the right hand to place such foods as peas, potatoes and gravy on the back of the fork. Dessert is always eaten with a spoon and a fork, which are not placed on the side of the plate, but at the top of the plate. Dinner was a very enjoyable meal. One always dressed for it. At the ringing of the 6:55 bell the girls came down stairs and stood at their accustomed seats, ten girls being seated at each table. At 7 o'clock at the ringing of the second bell, the administrative staff came down, each one of the four being accompanied by a girl from the floor that was designated to sit at the high or head table that night. There were six floors at College Hall ; so once each week each girl had the privilege of sitting at the principal's table. On Sunday night those girls sat there who had not found a place earlier in the week or who chose to sit there. After grace was said by Miss Alleyne, the principal, everyone sat and the maids began serving. Roast beef without any fat is the favorite meat, brussel sprouts the favorite green vegetable, white potatoes are a part of the daily diet, lentil the favorite soup, lettuce, tomato, and egg the favorite salad, trifle the favorite dessert, horse radish mustard the favorite condiment, and custard the accompaniment of all desserts. Three nights a week after dinner, coffee was served in the large common room. It was sweetened with a kind of sugar called demerara, which looks very much like amber colored rocks. The girls who accompanied the administrative staff to dinner had coffee in Miss Alleyne's room.
Miss Alleyne looks like a little Dresden doll with her beautiful snow white hair, light blue eyes, and pink cheeks. Everything in her room looks as fragile as she. It was Mrs. Frances Armour, the assistant bursar and secretary, whom one worried about routine matters of one's daily life. She was very kind and one enjoyed knowing her. The matron, Mrs. Jacobson, aroused none of the fear of the matrons of fiction. I was more than happy in my associations at College Hall, and I