The Corn Is Green Page #4

- I did.

- Why?

I don't know.

- What books have you read?

- Books?

Bits of the Bible and a book

that a fella nabbed for me.

What was it?

The Lady's Companion.

- Can I go now, please?

- No!

Do you want to learn any more?

No, thank you.

Why not?

The other men would have a good laugh.

I see.

Have you ever written anything

before this exercise?

What is the matter with it?

Nothing is the matter with it.

Quite the contrary.

It shows you are very clever.

Clever?

Is that what you have said?

What effect has this news on you?

Well, it is a bit sudden.

It makes me that I...

I want to get more clever still.

I want to know what is

behind all of them books.

Can you come tomorrow?

At night I could come.

In the day I'm working

on the 6 to 4 shift.

Good.

At 7 then.

In the meantime I'll correct

the spelling and grammar.

Yes, Miss Moffat.

That will be all. Good night.

Good night, Miss Moffat.

- Are you the one I spanked?

- Yes, Miss...

Moffat.

Miss Ronberry!

- Miss Ronberry.

- Yes.

I have been a fool.

It doesn't matter about the barn.

We're going to start

the school right here in this room.

I'm going to get those youngsters

out of that mine if I have to...

blacken my face and go down

and fetch them myself.

We're going on with the school.

"And when I walk in the dark...

I can touch with my hands...

where the corn is green.

One, two, three...

You are a clinker, m'am.

Always sneeking off

to the village on your byke.

- My Greek books arrived, Watty.

- Greek?

Do you mean to say

you can jabber in Greek, Mam?

You flatter me.

I have to do a bit of studying.

If I am to teach more than Evans' Greek

I'll have to keep at least one day

ahead of him. And trust to luck.

That was quite better.

Full of splendid feeling and nice

and precise as well.

Please, Miss Ronberry.

Can we have some more?

Not today. School dismissed.

- Good afternoon.

- Good afternoon.

Is there something you would

like to know, Mr. Tom?

- Where is Shakespeare?

- Where?

Shakespeare,

Mr. Tom, was a very great writer.

Dear me. And me thinking

the man was a place.

Class dismissed.

- They have finished their exercises.

- Good.

Tomorrow we'll start working

on the fractional equations.

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

- Good afternoon.

Gwynal, I find you have

the most enormous difficulty

differentiating between

the divisor and the dividend.

- Is it quite clear now?

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

Good.

Thank you, Mr. Jones.

- Finished, Evans?

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

- How many pages?

- Nine.

Three too many.

Boil it down to six.

I'm starting you on Greek next week.

Evans, this essay

on the wealth of nations is yours.

Yes, Miss Moffat.

Say so and underline it.

Nothing irritates a teacher so much

as this sort of a vagueness.

The eighteenth century was a cauldron.

Vice and elegance boiled to a simmer

until the kitchen of society

reeked fulminously,

and the smell percolated

to the marble halls above.

- Do you know what it means?

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

I don't.

Clarify, my boy. Clarify.

"Water" with two "t"s.

That's a bad lapse.

Seven out of ten.

Not bad but not good.

You must avoid using long words unless

you know exactly what they mean.

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

- Have you those lines on Voltaire?

Yes, Miss Moffat.

It's just 3 o'clock. Go for your walk.

Good and brisk.

But kill two birds

and learn the Voltaire by heart.

If you can ever argue

a point like that, you'll do.

Back in 20 minutes.

Take your pen from behind your ear.

Yes, Miss Moffat.

Now turn a somersault and beg.

- Can you smell scent?

- Yes.

Nice, isn't it?

I don't know.

I never come across scent before.

I never did come across scent before.

Bright, aren't you?

Don't you ever get tired of lessons?

Oh, dear, what can the matter be...

There we go.

Stuck up teacher's pet.

Oh, dear, what can the matter be...

You must not think that, dear.

Miss Moffat says he's clever.

Miss Moffat's riding for a fall.

All this ordering him about.

I've got eyes in my head

even if she hasn't.

And he's getting sick of it.

I think a lady ought to be dainty.

She has no idea.

- Mr. Jones.

- Yes, Bessie.

I got some scent on my hands.

Would you like to smell them?

No, thank you.

I can smell them from here.

It's lovely.

Please, Miss Moffat,

can I have the money for my ticket?

- What ticket?

- For the fair at Tregarna tomorrow.

You said I could go.

On the contrary.

I said you couldn't, not on school hours.

Ron, has this bill from Liddel

and Scott been paid?

I'm afraid not.

It's for Evans' new suit.

I shall have to sell

a couple more shares, I expect.

- Tend to it, would you?

- Certainly.

Bessie Watty.

What is this dying duck business?

- Yes, Miss Moffat.

- Don't Miss Moffat me. Explain yourself.

Mummy says all these lessons

is bad for my inside.

What's the matter with your inside?

It keeps going round and round

from sitting down.

Perhaps what I want is a change.

There's nothing to prevent you

from going for walks between lessons.

As a matter of fact you can go now.

Quick. March.

I'm not going.

What did you say?

I'm not going.

Everybody's against me.

I'm going to throw myself

off a cliff and kill myself.

It'll make a nice case in the papers.

Me at the bottom of a cliff.

In pieces. I'm going mad.

I'm going mad, I am.

I'm going to kill myself.

Nothing's going to stop me.

Stone dead at the bottom of a cliff.

I made a mess of your floor,

m'am, but it's worth it.

She's got bad blood, this girl,

mark my word. She'll catch her death.

There's nothing like cold water, m'am.

I learned that with her father.

He was foreign, you know.

How do you feel after that?

I can't remember anything.

I'm in a "comma".

Shall we go to our room now, with

the door locked and try to remember?

Next week, I'll send you away to work.

And we'll see how you like that.

Oh, Ron.

Don't forget the Squire's coming at six.

But we haven't seen him

since that dreadful day.

I know. I hope I don't behave

as stupidly again.

It's vital that I make

the right impression this time.

Why, Miss Watty.

Guess what happened to me?

- What?

- I'm a Sargent-Major.

Indeed to goodness.

You remember Sargent-Major Hopkins

deserting in Cardiff

and marrying a sailor?

- Yes.

Well, last week, not two months

after she left the Corps she was dead.

And you stepped right into her shoes.

They're a bit on the big side.

But I can put a bit o' paper in.

The uniform fits lovely, though.

Ain't it a clinker?

- Mrs. Watty!

- Coming.

- Tally-o

- We'll be late for the meeting.

- All right, Mrs. Stit, what's the hurry?

- The whole Corpse is waiting.

Another, Glen.

The same.

You can fix me a bottle

to take with me, Glen.

I said you can fix me up

a bottle to take with me.

Oh, now you're speaking

English, Morgan.

What if I do?

Our dear Morgan goes

to school now, he does.

Which is none of your business.

What language is this

you've written here, Morgan?

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