| Early Childhood and Education (181625) The third child of the Reverend Patrick Bront, minister of the Church of England from County Down, Ireland, and Maria Branwell Bront, Charlotte (181655) spent most of her life in and under the influence of the parsonage at Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England. Her mother died of cancer in 1821 when Charlotte was five, leaving the six childrenMaria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily Jane, and Annein the care of prim, pious Aunt Bess (Elizabeth Branwell, Mrs. Bront's spinster sister) and their financially hard-pressed father. |
| In an effort to educate his children, Mr. Bront took advantage of the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, where tuition was supplemented with donations. First, Maria and Elizabeth, then Charlotte and Emily, enrolled for training in history, geography, grammar, writing, arithmetic, and needlework. The strict code of behavior, coupled with poor hygiene, bad food, damp rooms, and regular walks in the cold, resulted in the deaths of first Maria, then Elizabeth from tuberculosis. As a result, Mr. Bront brought Charlotte and Emily home; there, he attempted to educate Branwell in the classics, while Aunt Bess held classes in her room for the three girls. |
| Development of Talents (182531) The children suffered a saddened, lonely existence after their sisters' deaths. To entertain themselves, they took long walks on the windy moors and devoted themselves to the care of household pets, injured birds, and other wild animals. Adapting readily to independence and the pleasures of nature, they found entertainment and creative fulfillment from 1825 to 1831 in a series of writings which began in response to their father's gift of a box of toy soldiers. The tiny manuscriptsminutely hand-printed, covered with scrap paper, and stitched through the middlewere |
|
Lincoln, Nebraska