Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Scanned and proofed by David Price ccx074@coventry.ac.uk





Hard Times




BOOK THE FIRST - SOWING




CHAPTER I - THE ONE THING NEEDFUL



'NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing
but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else,
and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of
reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any
service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own
children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these
children. Stick to Facts, sir!'

The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room, and