I don't really think it matters what the time period is when it comes to school being difficult at times for students. The look on the face of the little girl in the illustration above could just as well be from 2019 as 1889. All you have to see is the expression on her face to feel her distress.
The illustration above is from the December 1, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 45. It was entitled "Katy's First Recitation in Geography After Vacation." (Or something that sounds very much like it.)
While you can easily feel the young girls distress in the recitation illustration at the beginning of this post you certainly can feel the sorry for the little girl in the engraving above who is so distressed she's sobbing while a friend tries to comfort her. She's in detention for whatever reason and is upset by this. I think we've all had times at school where as young children we were brought to tears. I just want to go over to her, put my arms around her and comfort her. I doubt the school mistress did that.
The engraving appeared in the November 17, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book and was a two-page illustration on pages 8-9. It was entitled "Kept In." and engraved by Ch. Baude after the painting by Trupheme. The original painting was : In Detention, 1888 (oil on canvas), Trupheme, Auguste Joseph (183698) Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee du PetitPalais, France Giraudon The Bridgeman Art Library.
In any event the details on this engraving are truly remarkable. Just look at the face of the young girl trying to comfort her friend above.
Then, look at the face of the young girl laughing above. Truly remarkable engraving based on the original oil painting.
The illustration above also conveys the distress for this little girl as well. It was in the story "The Little Misses Jansen" by Isabel J. Roberts and appeared in the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 53. The story was about two sisters: one of whom was very shy and the other who was not.
I love the illustration above not for the distress it depicts for the shy girl but for all the different expressions on the rest of the girls faces and the stoic expression of her sister who is trying to comfort her.
The illustration above is from the April 20, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 368. It's entitled "Not His Fault" and was drawn by someone named Barnes. The caption is: "Come, Dooley, why don't you rise promptly with the class?" "Please, sir, some one has put gum on the bench."
You can feel the pain of the young boy who's being bullied with the expressions on the other student's faces. This was 1889 and bullying was going on then if not for centuries before. Bullying is wrong and should never have been allowed no matter what the time-frame. Thanks goodness most schools now have zero tolerance for bullying.
The illustration above entitled " Punishment" was drawn by J. Geoffrey and appeared in the September 14, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 697. You can definitely feel the sorrow of the young boy who's being punished and the sympathy of the young boy comforting him.
It always amazes me how time really has no bearing on everyday occurrences in one's life where one child is upset and another is trying to comfort them. Whether it's 1889 or 2019 these occurrences are similar and the reaction of comfort is so wonderful to see.
The illustration above was part of a story entitled "Pauline's Patience" by E. Cavazza in the August 19, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 611. The caption reads: "Alice subsided into a tearful pocket-handkerchief."
In the story Alice forgot to give her father a note the previous evening and now he had left for work so her big sister had to hasten to give it to him and was annoyed with her younger sister for not having told her sooner as she had been left in charge for two days while her mother was away.
While it isn't about a school incident you can still feel the pain on the young girl's face and imagine such a scenario.
I love the expression on the youngest sister's face thankful the scolding from Pauline wasn't for her.
I hope you enjoyed seeing all the illustrations of the Victorian children at school as much as I did.
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