Hard Times Charles Dickens
1
'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!'
2
The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a
school-room, and the speaker's square forefinger
emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. The
emphasis was helped by the speaker's square wall of a
forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his
eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves,
overshadowed by the wall. The emphasis was helped by
the speaker's mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set.
The emphasis was helped by the speaker's voice, which
was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. The emphasis was
helped by the speaker's hair, which bristled on the skirts of
his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its
shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a
plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for
the hard facts stored inside. The speaker's obstinate
carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders,-nay,
his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with

What may the reader infer about the historical period in which this story
is set?
A) It is a time of great poverty.
B) It is a time when many children were hungry and
thirsty.
C) It is a time when educational trends didn't favor
whimsy.
D) It is a time when educational trends didn't favor
manners.