Chapter 262 Education Issues (4k2)

4 Whitehall Street, Westminster, London.

Arthur sat in the office, looking at the two little kids sitting in front of him with his arms folded. In front of him were two learning feedback reports sent from Greenwich Grammar School to Scotland Yard.

The office was quiet. Arthur didn't even need to say anything. He just glanced at them and the two little kids lowered their heads in shame.

Arthur flipped through the feedback report and read: "Tearing up other people's copybooks, fighting with classmates, and insulting teachers, Adam, Allen, do you two have anything to say about this feedback report?"

"Mr. Hastings, I..." Adam, with a panda eye, looked up at Arthur, then turned his head to look at Pinkerton, whose left face was blue, and looked like he was about to say something: "I..."

Pinkerton suddenly jumped off the chair and threw his hat on the ground unconvinced: "Sir, if you really want to find someone to take the blame, then come at me. I started this matter, it has nothing to do with Adam. He is a coward. Without my support, he doesn't have the courage to go against the teacher. You know, just like you support Miss Fiona."

When Arthur heard this, he just He raised his eyebrows: "Alan, it would be great if you could learn spelling and arithmetic so quickly." The Red Devil on the side couldn't help laughing when he heard this. He fanned his palms, blowing a breeze that lifted the yellow hair on Pinkerton's head: "Look, Arthur, this kid will definitely have a future." Pinkerton said: "Sir, you don't know how fucked up the grammar school is! They look down on me and Adam, thinking that we are good guys who only know how to give in! They must understand that I was originally from Glasgow, and Adam rolled out of St. Giles. If the teacher hadn't stopped us, we would have twisted the ears of those guys who relied on others for power!" Arthur heard this, and the words on his lips turned around and were swallowed by him again After he finished speaking, he took a sip of tea and asked, "It sounds like there's something going on here?"

"Of course!"

Pinkerton said with hatred, "The grammar teacher doesn't like Adam and me. Maybe it's because he thinks we don't listen to him, so he always finds ways to find fault with us. At first it was because of spelling errors, then grammatical errors, and then he said our handwriting was sloppy. After we corrected it, he suddenly called Adam and me up in class that day and asked us to repeat what he had just said.

When Adam and I didn't repeat it, he made Adam and me wear a peaked hat with the word "fool" written on it, and hung a sign around our necks with all kinds of humiliating words written on it. After class, the group of bullies started to chatter in Adam and me's ears. They kept talking and singing songs to mock us. I couldn't help it, so I tore up all their copybooks and punched them hard. "

Adam heard this and quickly said, "Mr. Hastings, I wanted to persuade Alan to calm down. Because I studied in a poor school for a few days before, and the environment there is much worse than that of a grammar school. The teachers in the poor school are two old sailors who are often drunk. They don't teach anything, and all they can do is to keep us quiet. In the grammar school, except that we often don't have enough lunch, it's generally much better. But Alan was already mad at that time. He couldn't listen to anything. He just wanted to give those bastards a hard time, so..."

Arthur asked, "So... how did you get involved?"

Adam replied embarrassedly, "Alan was riding on a child and beating him hard. That child was our little teacher. Mr. Hastings, do you know the little teacher? The young teacher was a college student. He was the most learned among us. When the teacher was not there, he taught us. He could get four pence a week from the school, so he obeyed the teacher's words.

The teacher didn't like me and Allen, and he also excluded us. Allen was beaten to death because of this. But the young teacher still had his group of lackeys. When the lackeys saw their leader being beaten, they were eager to teach Allen a lesson.

At that time, I thought to myself: Oh my God! These bastards actually want to touch my old friend who eats and lives with me! If I can't take good care of Allen, how can I explain to my parents when I go home? How can I face Mr. Hastings when I go to Scotland Yard in the future? I let him lose a general. "When Arthur heard this, he just flipped through the documents in his hand: "Adam." Adam said innocently: "What's wrong, Mr. Hastings? ”

Arthur looked at him and said, "It seems that Alan really did not treat you for nothing. You are really helpful when something happens."

Adam said blankly, "Sir, are you praising me? I thought you would at least scold us when you called us here this time."

Arthur leaned back in his chair and said, "If what you two said just now is true, then yes, I am praising you. Although hitting people is definitely wrong, considering that you have considered using appropriate methods to solve the problem, improve your spelling, grammar and handwriting, and you didn't have any better choice when the incident happened, so it's okay to hit you.

However, in order to prove that you two are not lying, I will ask Tom to prepare two copybooks for you tomorrow. If you can memorize all the words on them, then I will believe what you just said and will arrange for you to transfer to another school. What do you two think about a better school that is more suitable for you? "

Pinkerton felt quite happy at first, but when he heard that he was going to change from one school to another, he couldn't help but feel a little discouraged: "Sir, can't I just stop going to school? I think it's pretty good now. I've already I can spell a lot of words now. If this thing hadn't happened, I would have been able to jump from first grade to third grade by the end of this semester."

"Oh! Really? Congratulations, Allen, you now have the basic qualities to become a clerk or a reporter."

At this point, Arthur changed the topic again: "But for an employee of the London Police Intelligence Bureau, or to become an outstanding detective, just spelling words is not enough."

"But……"

Pinkerton replied: "My buried father once said that if you want to find a job in society, it is probably useless to just rely on studying. It's like if a wealthy family wants to find a laundry maid , then most of them are introduced by the maids at home, and most of the people who come are relatives of the current miners, and most of the officers of the Royal Navy are generals. Uncle, isn’t that what Mr. Carter is like? If my damn dad hadn’t passed away, maybe I would have been a policeman in Glasgow when I grew up.”

Arthur smiled: "Alan, your father is right about this. But you also have to consider that there is me standing in front of you. Elder Carter is not the only one among the officers of the Royal Navy. Although there are few captains who have climbed up from the swineherd, you can still find a few if you pick hard. The worst part is that you haven't realized what you have until now. You now have a priest uncle and a member of the Royal Navy. The officer uncle is floating on the sea, and there is a police officer sitting here, but you and Adam..."

As Arthur said this, there was a sudden knock on the door.

The door was pushed open, and Louis Bonaparte stood outside the door holding a stack of documents. Just as he was about to enter, he was overwhelmed by the two brats in front of him.

Arthur pointed at the two brats: "See, there is an emperor here. You two just need to study hard now. As for these bad things that happened in school, I can't guarantee you that they won't happen again." It happens, and I don’t force you to tolerate it, but you can’t stop going to school just because you don’t like it.

I don't like to talk about my past experiences with others, but for both of you, Allen and Adam, I feel I still need to talk about it. Isn’t reading important? If your goal is to become a big shot, reading is really not that important. But if you just want to live a better life than you are now, then reading is very important.

Don't think that I look very prosperous now. When I was nine years old, my life was far worse than yours. Alan, you lost your father when you were nine years old. Like you, I have never known what my father looked like since I can remember. Neighbors said that he might have been dragged away by a Royal Navy recruiter. There has been no news for so many years. He might have died at sea long ago.

As for my mother, she persisted for a few years and then remarried like your mother and followed a stranger to who knows where. The reason why I didn't starve to death was entirely due to the kindness of my neighbors and the local priest. Of course, the most important thing is that I am still physically strong and have never encountered any major disasters or illnesses in my life.

From the age of seven, I have been a living scarecrow on the fields in York. I still remember that it was early spring. I started sitting on the field ridge as soon as it got light. Whenever I saw crows coming to take seeds, I would throw stones at them. I sat there until the sun went down and then went back to sleep.

To this day, I occasionally dream about that scene when I have nightmares at night. I sit there alone, surrounded by silence. The hardened field ridges in early spring hurt my buttocks. I feel cold and hungry all over, and there is no one to talk to. No, it’s like the world’s time has frozen. I don't want to do this job, but I can't do it. I have to do some work in exchange for some bread.

Besides, those who have a father and a mother have to do these jobs, let alone me, who has no father or mother.

And when the seeds germinate, my treatment will be slightly better, and then I can go to herd the sheep for the farmer. When the harvest time comes, I help the adults harvest barley, throw the wheat into the car one by one, and then move it into the warehouse.

After finishing all this work, I transformed into a little pigherder feeding feed. In winter, I started to plow the fields with the farmhands again, carrying a hoe, and then started the cycle of the new year.

Because of this, once I have the opportunity to study, I will grab it like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw. I didn't know at the time that I could become the Superintendent of Scotland Yard. I just knew that reading more books would help me get out of the hell in the York countryside.

Being a company employee or a scribe may not sound like a big deal, but for me at that time, it was already a luxury that could reach the sky in one step. "

Agares put his hand on Arthur's shoulder and said with a grin, "No need to thank me, Arthur, it's just a small favor. But it's interesting. You've been living this way. When I first met you, you were thinking about stealing a Bible from the local pastor. If I had come a little later, would you have converted to God? Or do you think your life is too boring?"

Before Arthur could pick up the red devil's words, the two little devils jumped off the chair and admitted their mistakes to Arthur.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hastings."

Louis Bonaparte was also surprised and said, "This... I thought that a gentleman as cultured as you would have received a good family education... I didn't expect that you were actually a farmer's son?"

Dumas also popped his head out from behind him, and the French fat man laughed at himself and said, "A farmer's son? That's still higher than my ancestors. But this world is still quite magical, Arthur, how did you come up with the idea of ​​letting someone from the Bonaparte family be your police secretary? The most ridiculous thing is that he actually agreed!"

Louis Bonaparte didn't take Dumas' words to heart. He said, "Mr. Dumas, there's nothing ridiculous about this. I think it's better to study at Scotland Yard than to wander around the streets of London."

Dumas wanted to say something after hearing this. But when the words came to his lips, he always felt uncomfortable.

As a French republican, he, like his friends Hugo and Balzac, had extremely contradictory feelings towards Napoleon and his family.

Although they all agreed that Napoleon was a thief, they also highly recognized the series of legacies and glorious past that Napoleon left for France.

It was also because of this that he did not speak ill of Louis Bonaparte when he met him, and even felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy.

On the one hand, it was because his last name was Bonaparte, and on the other hand, it was because this guy participated in the Carbonari uprising in Italy.

But when he saw the article published by Louis Bonaparte in The Economist, this intimacy suddenly turned into a deep suspicion and confusion.

Because Dumas really couldn't understand what was called a republican empire. This innovative political system was simply unheard of and unseen, surpassing Dumas's imagination, which he thought was already quite wild.

Just as Dumas was thinking about what Louis Bonaparte's intentions were, the police secretary took the lead in walking towards Arthur and handed over the documents in his hand.

"Sir, Councillor Bernie Harrison sent someone to Scotland Yard this morning, hoping to meet with Minister Rowan. But Minister Rowan seems to be unwell and asked for leave to go home early today to rest. He recommended Councillor Harrison to meet with you first. If you think it's okay, I will send someone to give him a reply. What do you think of the cafe outside Whitehall Street?"