1886-01-26 to the Editor of The Bat

Printer letter, The Bat (26 January 1886, page 684), 379 words

[Edited for paragraph breaks, capitalization, spelling and punctuation.]

I went to St. Leonard's Convent, Hastings, on the feast day, Corpus Christi. That I went on this day I regard as a special interposition of Providence (the reverend mother probably regards it as a special interposition of the devil), for on this day the convent presents exactly the same aspect as on prize day. As I walked up the drive I saw the girls playing about and grouped about the terrace benches. I asked to see the reverend mother. I was told she was away at Mayfield, or Hayfield, a sister convent. In the reception room there were girls talking of the midsummer holidays.

After having kept me waiting twenty minutes, a nun came in. She told me she was in charge of the convent. I explained my object. She said I would have to obtain permission of the reverend mother to attend prize day, but she offered to show me over the convent.

We walked out in the bright sunshine where the children were playing. The nun stopped several times to speak to the children, and I had ample opportunity for observing the gaiety and happiness of the girls. They ran through the glades, picking up the flowers that had been scattered in the procession. It was the most beautiful sight I ever saw.

Then I was taken into the school-hall and the nun explained how the plays were performed. Indeed, she took quite an interest in my book, and gave me much interesting information. She even told me that the blue strip of carpet worked with lilies and roses (mentioned in [the] opening chapter) was worked by the pupils for the reverend mother. She told me what the plays were like, and gave me, I am bound to say, a very exact idea of the proceedings. I was taken to the chapel, and I saw the girls at prayer.

I did not attend the prize day, nor did I need to do so, the fete day being the same thing. In Ireland I was lucky enough to obtain a diary kept at the convent for three years by a pupil.