CHILDHOOD AT COATE FARM 41 



time by it. . . . How are you off for potatoes now ? 

 How is Jip now and the mare and the little canary getting 

 on ? . . . I must conclude has it is very near 8 o'clock, 

 and must be off to school.' 



It would take a rambling boy at least an hour to cross 

 the fields from Coate Farm to a Swindon School. A little 

 later he was going to ' the Miss Cowles,' apparently to 

 school, for two hours a day on five days of the week. His 

 handwriting varied very much at this period, showing 

 self-consciousness. If in 1861 he was being taught by 

 'the Miss Cowles,' he was certainly for some time under Mr. 

 Fentiman, a Plymouth Brother, who kept a school in Short 

 Edge, or Devizes Road, and taught English, mathematics, 

 French, and Latin. There were about thirty boys, sons of 

 farmers, architects, bank-managers, tradesmen. Jefferies 

 was noticeable there chiefly for being quiet, dreamy, and 

 reserved ; one says, ' not particularly amiable, somewhat 

 supercilious, not caring much, if at all, for outdoor games '* 

 — i.e., for such rigid games as cricket. Mr. Fentiman 

 had himself been a boy, and had set up wigwams and raged 

 on the warpath, and he lent Fenimore Cooper's ' Leather- 

 stocking ' tales to Jefferies, and thus helped him to the 

 notion of camping out and playing at Indians on the 

 shores of the Reservoir and on the Hodson Ground. 



He spent many hours in this field at Hodson with his 

 gun, and so became friendly with Haylock, the Burderop 

 keeper, who lived in Hodson Bottom. This man had a 

 reputation on account of the ferocity and licence of his 

 language when he caught trespassers. He would give 

 them plenty of ' tongue-pie,' says an old victim, but 

 would never prosecute. He wore a tall beaver hat, and 

 gave warning as he entered a copse by coughing loud, 

 very loud. He had a notorious hatred of parsons, 

 whether they came shooting with his master or not. 

 Jefferies helped him in keeping down the vermin, and 

 earned some privileges in return. The Hodson field was 

 a good place for a wire, and the Burderop Woods made 



* ' Forbears of Richard Jefferies.' 



