little miss austin

The not-so-authentic Turkish barbecue, pan-fried cod with dill lemon juice, pigeon soup, and vegetable and fruit salad are all Alice's favorite foods.

Ivo didn't eat much accordingly.

"You eat too little." She called the maid, "ask the cook to fry some lamb chops with salt and pepper, not too raw, not too salty."

Men, there is no one who doesn't like meat. The fried lamb chops are not too greasy and delicious, and the recipe is not complicated, and can be prepared quickly.

He smiled at her.

He cheered up, he couldn't always put on a sad look that he couldn't live without her, that would not only not impress her, but would make her hate it.He is not the 20-year-old boy he was back then. She would not like a child who is always crying. The partner she wants must be a "man" who can stand side by side with her. That's why Oliver chose to join the army.They've all changed: him, Oliver, George.

Byron came to the Gordon couple's funeral, stayed one night, and returned to London after the funeral.Byron first laughed at him for being abandoned by Alice, and then said sadly that when it comes to unfeeling, Alice is much more ruthless than him, saying that she will not see him if she does not see him, and he dare not look for her when she returns to London. she.

Ivo really wanted to beat him up.

"Where are you going to live? London?"

"Yes. What about you?"

"When I'm done, I'll go to London too. Wesley wants me to be a reporter specializing in current affairs and politics—maybe I'll start my own newspaper in the future, who knows."

"That's good." She thought that if he wanted to start his own business, it was very possible. At least he was rich himself, so he didn't have to worry about start-up capital.

"I heard that you are preparing a magazine, when will it be released?"

"It will be a few more months, and I haven't had time to accept some girls who are sent for advanced studies. I can't find a suitable female editor, so I can only train myself."

Alice was going out to work, and he didn't think there was anything incomprehensible or unacceptable at all. If his sisters wanted to go out to work, he would have to worry about what they could do. Except for the tutor, the sister There's nothing they can do for a decent job.But Alice has no problem. The education she received is actually no worse than that of men who have gone to college, and some aspects are even more in-depth.

Then he heard Alice say that the half-day girls' day school she plans to open in London will start next month, and the first batch of students have already registered for registration, mainly for 8 to 14 years old from London working class, small craftsmen, and small business families. [-]-year-old girl, teaching reading and writing and mathematics is very practical for these girls. Learning to read and write can help the family store to keep accounts, and mathematics can also be used to keep accounts and housekeepers, so these families are still very supportive of it. What I like to hear is that the tuition is not expensive, and the girls only go to school for half a day, and they can work at home for the other half.

She also talked about the school built in the suburbs of London, saying that it is ridiculous that girls cannot enter university for higher education, so she decided to open a school by herself, from middle school to university, and recruit girls aged 12 to 20 , but she can only start from middle school for the time being, because the university needs good enough teachers, and she will spend many years looking for enough teachers to offer university courses.

Ivo vaguely realized that this school was a more remarkable cause than the magazine.

People will put halos on the people they love, and their little advantages will be infinitely magnified, let alone things that are ahead of the times.She is going to do something that changes the times, and he will feel honored.

He didn't suddenly become very enlightened, just like before, he didn't think it was a problem that girls couldn't go to college.Girls from wealthy families could go to boarding schools for girls, or, like Alice, be educated in the homes of well-educated older women, and his sisters were all educated like Alice.

He didn't know how miserable it is for bottom-level women to be uneducated. They have no choice. The only way out is to marry low-level men who are also uneducated, and then have children at an average frequency of one child every two years, and those children Half will die in infancy.When their first child died, they burst into tears, and when they lost one child after another, they gradually became numb.With the burden of life on their shoulders, they have no time to cry for a child who cannot survive.

During his undercover investigation, he had come into contact with all such families. Every family had lost children, and the men were rude and the women were vulgar, all because they had no time or money for education.Boys and girls in low-level families often have to work at the age of 6 or 7. Girls will help take care of their younger brothers and sisters. Boys must learn to run errands and do odd jobs. Boys who are well-connected wait until they are 10 years old, and boys will go out to be apprentices; girls who are more handy will learn to tailor and sew, and can be apprentices in tailor shops, or learn to be cooks; ; If you have no advantages, you can only do odd jobs in the future, earning the lowest salary, and supporting your family.

And if the family is a little bit better, and those who have enough money to send their children to school usually give priority to letting boys learn to read and write, so whether they are shop assistants or servants, they will have an advantage; The advantages of a good job are actually greater.He talked about these differences to Alice, and she said it was a typical example of "knowledge changes destiny".

"The reason I recruit female students is to ask my propagandists to go to each family to ask if there are girls of the right age in their families, and then to calculate an account for them. If the girls are not allowed to learn to read and write, then they will only be able to read and write for a year. If you earn 5 pounds, it’s better to learn how to read and write and earn 10 pounds a year. After all, if you want to learn how to read and write, one or two years is enough, and it’s a good deal to earn twice the salary in two years.”

Ivo nodded, "Indeed, girls who can read and write are easy to find a job. Even cooks have to learn to read and write, so that they can keep accounts. Moreover, I really didn't know before, that some people can only earn 5 pounds a year. For you and me, this is the price of a skirt or a pair of leather shoes."

"It is very difficult for ordinary people to make more money. Manual labor is a form of labor with extremely low income. Although the government has paid attention to education, it still only pays attention to male education. It is obvious that the total number of female population in the UK is higher than that of males. Some women still can’t read and write.”

Ivo wondered, "But isn't this something that should be considered by the country? Why do you want to open a girls' school?"

"Because I have money, and because I want to."

Well, this answer can be said to be perfect.

"Actually, you need to broaden your horizons when you think about problems. If I succeed, many people will follow. The most common problem in women's schools now is that many small schools cannot make ends meet because the tuition fees cannot be too expensive. But the expenses are huge, and they cannot get government funding and cannot make a profit, so they cannot continue to operate.”

He nodded, "I know that." The tuition fees charged by Eton College and Harrow College are very high, and there will be donations from alumni, so there is no such thing as unprofitable situation.

"If you can't get government funding, you have to find a way to get rich people and nobles to donate. There are still some ladies and wives who are willing to donate. When the school in the suburbs of London is built, it will be a slogan, and it will be a girls' school. Harrow Eaton, don’t be afraid that the slogan is not loud enough, you need to be bigger and stronger, just like Eaton, when girls grow up to 3 years old, they have to come to my school to register and line up, first come, first served, registration is late, sorry There are no places left. When they are 16 years old and they go to the social dance, they ask, oh, Miss Wesley, where do you go to school? Nottingham Girls Boarding School? I haven’t heard of it. You ask me where I go to school? Oh , Miss Gordon and I both go to the Austin Girls' School, and the Duchess of Hamilton lives in the room next to me."

Alice performed vividly.

Ivo was amused and nodded repeatedly, "I understand." Other girls' schools may have to worry about where to find rich students, but Alice doesn't have to worry. Susan Hamilton will be the duchess in the future, and she only has one son now , but there should be a daughter in the future, as long as she sends her daughter to Alice's school, then many noble families will also send their daughters, and nobles like to follow the trend.This is the "celebrity effect".

"If Byron is willing to become a teacher in my school in the future, I will consider forgiving him."

He thought for a while, nodded, "He will definitely agree."

"If he doesn't agree, you will help me beat him hard."

He pursed his lips and smiled.Byron didn't see him because of Alice, but he was depressed to death. If he had the opportunity to be a teacher in her school, he probably wouldn't refuse.

"The name of the school is 'Austin Girls'?"

"Yes, I like my surname very much. It's good to use my surname as the name of the school. When I die 100 years later, the school will still be there, and people will still remember me."

Ivo was stunned, "Do you think so?"

"what?"

"Leave your name in history."

"Of course! You think about William Pitt Jr. He became Prime Minister at the age of 24, and he's going to be in a high school history textbook. And the Earl of Wellington, oh, he's the Marquess now, isn't he? He's very Soon he will be promoted to Duke, and he will be in high school history books. I want to be in high school history books. Jane will be in history books, or literary history books. I'm her sister, and I can't compare She's bad."

"simple?"

"Don't you believe it?"

He hurriedly said: "I believe it! My sisters all like Jane very much, so they... They all think that I can marry you, so that they will become relatives with Jane. "

Alice laughed all of a sudden, "Maybe some of their sons are beautiful and reliable. I will introduce Helena and Diana to know them, so that they will have the opportunity to become relatives with Jane."

Huh, this is very possible.Due to the limited social circle in this era, many young people find suitable wives and husbands near their hometowns and relatives. Ivo has 4 married sisters and more than a dozen nephews, half of whom are boys. It is not impossible for one of them to become Jane's son-in-law.

It seems that he and Alice will not become lovers or husband and wife. If someone of the sisters' children can marry Jane's daughter, then they will still have a close relationship and will not gradually become strangers.

He was very sad.

The two of them try to pretend to be normal these days, which is actually not too difficult. As long as he doesn't say he loves her, she hardly changes to him. In exchange for a little playmate who never had to worry about anything to say, he is also trying to adjust himself, trying to return to the simple mentality of the young man who didn't know love and love.

They go out to ride horses every afternoon, come back to rest for a while, after dinner, go out for a walk in the evening, accompanied by her, his mood is not as bad as when the funeral was held before, and he can eat a little more food, gradually regaining weight, thin His cheeks were filled with flesh again.Alice likes him to be a little fleshy and doesn't like him to be too thin.

Alice stayed at the Gordon Mansion for a week, and Ivo was about to ask her if she would stay a few more days, or return to London tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, when a letter from Faraday Manor in Gloucestershire disrupted his original plan. plan.

The letter was written by the butler of Faraday Manor. In addition to reporting this month's expenses to him, he also reported what happened in Newton Manor next door: Master Oliver is engaged!The fiancée is not Miss Alice!