The CBB :: View topic - Women: "The" Matron

'Oh !' Megan had no more ideas on the subject. 'A very determined woman is Matron, well, yes indeed.' And she went back to her own domain with no more ado.

I do find it odd that she’s allowed to remove girls from lessons if their drawers are untidy. I’d have been very unhappy if I was in the middle of teaching my class something new and one of them was called away, missing something important.

...............(I'm the world's biggest coward)...........

Perhaps I'm being too cynical but I distrust those 'I always speak my mind ' types. I've often found that they can't cope when someone actually does it back to them.

Betsy, Katherine, Jean and Lalla duly picked their time for an advance on Matron and found her in a most complaisant mood. She made one stipulation - that no pins should be used. Everything had to be stitched and there must be no cutting of anything either. However, this was only what they had expected, so it did not worry them. Indeed, encouraged by her pleasant manner, Betsy plucked up the courage to ask, "Was it you who did it before -when the school was in Tirol, I mean Matron?"

Matron laughed. "Not I! I was off on a trip. It was Matron Gould who took over - Matron at Carnbach I mean. But I heard all about it, including Robin's mishap when I returned." Her face suddenly grew grave. "It's funny to remember now, but at the time we had no thought for funny things. That was the weekend that Mademoiselle Lepattre began that dreadful illness that finally ended her life. I remember Miss Annersley and I found her unconscious in her room on the Tuesday morning. She had been under the weather for some time, but none of use knew how really ill she was till then. Sir James Russell - he was Dr. Jem then - said that he had no idea how she managed to keep going for so long. She must have been in continual pain almost the whole term. I know that a good many of you girls who never knew her, rarely remember her," Matron went on, "but she had as much to do with the founding of this school as Madame had. But except when the Therese Lapattre Scholarship comes up, I don't think you people think about her."

"We never knew much about her," Betsy said humbly, "She died during the first or second year of the war, didn't she? I was only a tiny then. I wasn't even at school, I believe. I remember Julie telling Mummy about it, though."

"I don't want you girls to forget her," Matron said, still in that oddly softened mood. "I found some snaps of her today in a box I hadn't opened since we came out here and looking at them made me think she is in danger of being forgotten."

"Could we see them, please, Matron?" Katherine asked shyly.

Matron produced them and the girls looked in wonder at the somewhat plain Frenchwoman who smiled pleasantly at them from the faded snaps. What could there be about her to rouse the affection and respect in which Matey obviously held her. The lady, watching the young faces, guessed what they were thinking.

"No; she wasn't much to look at," she said as she took the photos back from Lalla, "but she was a saint, one of the unknown ones. Madame herself would tell you that if it had not been for Mademoiselle, she could never have done all she did. Now you must go or you'll get no work done. You may go to Miss Annersley and tell her that so far as I am concerned, you may have your party."

They went off, rather more serious than they had been, and Matron laid her snaps carefully away, then, being Matron, turned back to her work.

You're completely right about Joey seeming to downgrade her by not introducing her to Janie using her name and title, the way a middle-class woman of that time might have said 'Cook, this is Mrs Lucy. Mrs Lucy, this is our Cook, a treasure.' I know Joey always calls her 'Matey', but normally you wouldn't introduce someone only by a nickname it would be completely inappropriate for the new person to call them by...?

‘I do so hope you will be happy here, Matron. Guernsey is the apple of my eye, you know. You must come to us on your free day...'

Even the fact she virtually never seems to get out of that starched uniform, even in the evening when the other staff have changed for dinner.

There is no suggestion that any of the Matrons have any medical training at all as far as I remember.

I wonder does she have her evening meal with the rest of the staff, or does she have it alone in her sitting room? I can't remember reading about Matron being present at the evening meal.

Miss Wilson came in with Nurse, who had been in the staff-room at the other side of the house.

I now quite like the idea of Nurse, Karen and Matey playing poker together in the evenings...

... then the Saints’ mistress came up, and, at sight of her, Miss Maynard stopped. ‘Why, Gertrude!’ she exclaimed in surprise.
The lady looked. Then she came swiftly across the ground. ‘Mollie Maynard!’ she cried. ‘Why, what are you doing here?’
‘The same as you, I imagine—teaching. I am senior mistress at the Chalet School.’
‘Oh, I’m only matron at St. Scholastika’s,’ replied the other.

That 'only' might suggest that being a matron is lower-status than being mistress (or I suppose it might just be that Miss Maynard had said, I would have said in a slightly show-offy way, that she was 'senior mistress' at the CS...)

I wish matron was shown to be more approachable and kind not always stern.
When I am ill I expect some sympathy at least initially. Specially when you are having fever or pain a kind word and a sympathetic touch works wonders.
I wish she was more motherly.After all, the juniors were very small just 9 or 10 year old living away from their parents for the first time. It would have been difficult for them and on top of that if Matron scolds you for falling ill ...

Which remind me does everyone makes the bed the matron's way? Are the mattresses really humped in the middle for airing?

I now quite like the idea of Nurse, Karen and Matey playing poker together in the evenings...

And yet she stays with the school for years from the Tirol days.

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Women: "The" Matron
Matey is infamous in the Chalet School, and genereally thought to be a person more important than even Miss Annersley - despite her mysteriously changing name! She can quell anyone with a look, and even the staff hold her in awe. She is with the school from Austria through to the Swiss years, and is arguably the most famous Matron of the school. What do you think of Matey? Is she really as scary as all that, or wouldn't you mind crossing her occasionally? Is she one of EBD's stronger characters, or do you think she is presented weakly? Why? Do you think it is realistic for her to re-join the school? What is her part in the school, and also the series? Is she simply there to scare unruly pupils and tend to illnesses, or does she play a bigger role, perhaps as a friend? Would you want her to look after you? Idea by Alison H.

Author:	Alison H [ Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Ooh, I forgot I'd suggested this . Matrons seem to have similar personalities in all school stories, in all TV dramas, and even in Carry On films - they're always formidable people whom you really wouldn't want to mess with but who have hearts of gold. The Matron Lloyd/Gould thing is annoying, but I try to ignore it and just think of "Matey" as being the same person all the way through! Even more annoying are the constant references to Joey being her "heart's darling" annoy me - why does everyone have to be obsessed with Joey? I do think that she's an interesting character, and I like the way we learn more about her in Excitements, and see a different side to her. It makes her more than just the stock school story Matron character doling out castor oil and catching people out of bed. I would like to see her interact more with the other staff, though. I would think that it can be quite difficult for the non-teaching staff in a school, being slightly on the sidelines: Matey, like Rosalie, always seems to have an awful lot of work to do but never gets to do any of the fun things like going on expeditions or picnics. I feel particularly sorry for poor Nurse, who is never even dignified with a name, and even with Matron we get Jack Maynard being confused when he hears her referred to as "Gwynneth" because he's so used to everyone addressing her and referring to her as "Matey" all the time. She's a really important character, partly because she's there for so long and partly because, without ever being the centre of any of them, she's involved in so many storylines. I feel quite sorry for her now that I've written all that, actually! She had so much to cope with, and she never seemed to get much support. Definitely an unsung heroine!

Author:	JB [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:11 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I do like Matey and, like Alison, I don’t worry about her surname. I don’t think she’s too scary. When she has to deal with someone who’s ill, she’s very caring eg when Tom Gay is sent to bed for a few days soon after she arrives at the school. I’d love to be tucked by the fire in the san with some good books and Matey to look after me, unless I’d been at a midnight feast. I found it perfectly realistic that she rejoined the school. She was happy there but had to take a job somewhere else when the school was in abeyance. That’s probably more realistic than all the staff who were able to spend a year without working. She is a strong character who I wouldn’t say sees herself in a different position to the teaching staff. However, I don’t like the way she speaks to Nancy Wilmot in Challenge about Evelyn Ross. It’s disrespectful and a double standard – she wouldn’t have asked the same question of Hilda. I do find it odd that she’s allowed to remove girls from lessons if their drawers are untidy. I’d have been very unhappy if I was in the middle of teaching my class something new and one of them was called away, missing something important. I would have loved to see her off-duty, eg on one of the half term trips. Do they ever allow the poor woman any free time? Even on Saturday evenings, she has to supervise miscreants who are turning sheets sides to the middle. I love the bit in Shocks where she’s having a battle with the housekeeper about where the girls’ trunks should be left. It’s missing from the paperback but it makes me smile. Quote: 'Oh !' Megan had no more ideas on the subject. 'A very determined woman is Matron, well, yes indeed.' And she went back to her own domain with no more ado.

Author:	Carrie A [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:45 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I like the character of 'matey' and the fact that she is very down to earth and practical, as Hilda often says "for a good dose of common sense, commend me to matey". Everyone seems to trust her implicitly and she can easily be left in charge of the school or sections of it, even if things sometimes go wrong as in Carola storms the CS. Actually in this book we are given a glimpse of matey being given some time off - when she chooses to have breakfast in bed and then having a day out by herself. The confusion over how many/who are the matrons is annoying, but there does seem to be either black or white with the matron characters. They are either capable, loved/feared and indispensible like 'matey', Margot Venables, Barbara Henschell or they are 'fluffy little idiots' like matron Beasly or downright nastly like matron Webb. I wonder if the female members of staff confide in matey when they are suffering with periods or other 'womens troubles'? How do the older female staff cope with 'the change' for example and does matey have a potion or a dose of something to prescribe for them? Does she have the woman to woman talk to them before marriage for example? After all many of them don't have mothers or close female relations.......

Author:	MaryR [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:30 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Matey has the kindest heart in the world, under that gruff exterior, as we see more than once in the books. I'm sure the other staff trusted her enough that they revealed stuff they wouldn't reveal to anyone else. After all, she saw them at their lowest and worst. She's one of the main characters in my long saga New Dreams, and is an invaluable and understanding support for Hilda in her grief, as I am sure she was in EBD's world.

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Women: "The" Matron http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6362

Author:	Mel [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:18 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Matey is a character that grows with the series, rather low key in the Tyrol books until New House, I think, when she plays a more significant role, with Jo's toothache, Matron Besley etc and it could be then that we discover that Jo is 'Matron's Darling.' She has the iron discipline beloved of EBD, common sense and expertise. However, by the end of the series, when she has four underlings, all trained nurses presumably, I wonder what she does all day. Also by that stage, as with Joey, her abilities take on magical/preternatural proportions. In one of the Swiss books, a girl is restless at night, loses her bed covers, and had Matey been in the building (she is away for some reason) she would have heard her and dealt with the problem. This is in a school now of 300+ pupils, sleeping in separate Houses with their own matrons!

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Mel, you're making me imagine Matey the Insomniac, who just prowls the corridors all night looking for someone in trouble so she can feel needed, with all of the Nurses to do her job now. I like Matey, but I would never have stayed around her long enough to find that out if I were actually a character! The smallest telling off can scare me rigid (I'm the world's biggest coward) and I imagine Matey would have been a personification of that fear! I would certainly hate to be ill and, like many other girls in the series, would do everything I could to hide it.

Author:	Pat [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:30 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
By the time of the Swiss books Matey would be going through the change. She's probably suffering from hot flushes/night sweats, and that's why she's so easily woken at night! Horrible things that keep you awake for ages!

Author:	Elle [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:49 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
JB wrote: I do find it odd that she’s allowed to remove girls from lessons if their drawers are untidy. I’d have been very unhappy if I was in the middle of teaching my class something new and one of them was called away, missing something important. That would drive me mad, and as a teacher I think would stand up to Matron at that point and not allow it. They should tidy their draws in their own time, and not miss lessons. This is something that irritates me in real life, I frequently refuse to let students out of my class for other teachers, it probably doesn't make me popular, but I want them to pass their History exams!

Author:	Nightwing [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
While I love Matron I'm not sure I'd like her in real life. There's a lot about her "Spartan treatment" of sick girls, because petting them would only make them play up; but personally, I'm always miserable when I'm sick (and generally homesick for my Mum) and I can't imagine anything worse than also being told that I'm a 'nuisance' for getting sick! I get the impression that matrons were pretty fearsome creatures; I can only assume that EBD herself stood in awe of those she had met in real life, considering the role of the matrons in her books! Giving Matey a secret affection for Joey is, I think, aimed at making her more human, even if it does make the adult reader role her eyes and wish Matron had a secret affection for anyone but her!

Author:	andydaly [ Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
The time she comes in and kisses Eustacia goodnight after she has cried herself to sleep I find really moving, and for that alone, I liked Matey as a character. I remember a couple of teachers who were strict as all get out in school, and girls talked about getting into trouble with them in the same horrified tones as the Chalet girls talk about getting into trouble with Matey, but I was fonder of them than many others who were not so strict.

Author:	Liz K [ Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:24 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
ChubbyMonkey wrote: ...............(I'm the world's biggest coward)........... You can't be, ChubbyMonkey, I am!!!!!!!!

Author:	Catherine [ Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
She was lovely with Cornelia in 'New' when Corney finds out that Mademoiselle isn't coming back. She's very comforting and understanding. I think perhaps that side of her character happens more 'off scene' and that she was well able to judge which girls needed a 'brisk, no-nonsense' attitude as opposed to sympathy and understanding. Isn't she described somewhere as 'nippy but awfully understanding'?

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:10 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I really like Matey and her no-nonsense attitude. I could see her not suffering fools gladly and would give any malingerer short thrift. However she has shown herself to be extraordinarily kind to anyone genuinely unwell and will spend time with girls that need it. As Catherine pointed out she was lovely with Corney when Mademoiselle was ill and she was really nice to Tom and tried to get to the bottom of her problems without being horrible over it all and was sympathetic. It is also said in one of the latter books that any girl wishing to follow in her footsteps, said she was wonderful at helping them sort out their career choices and talking about the job to them. I think she was definitely someone who's bark was worse than her bite and the girls themselves knew it. I do think it's interesting that the spineless jellyfish comment is always attributed to Matey not Matron Gould who actually said it in Jo Returns. I do like the part about Matey's sister as I think it's a lovely peep into Matey's family

Author:	MJKB [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:37 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Perhaps I'm being too cynical but I distrust those 'I always speak my mind ' types. I've often found that they can't cope when someone actually does it back to them.

Author:	Alison H [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:43 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Does anyone ever answer Matey back? I'd like to've seen Nancy point out - in Challenge - that it was inappropriate for Matey to speak to her, the Acting Head, as she did.

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
MJKB wrote: Perhaps I'm being too cynical but I distrust those 'I always speak my mind ' types. I've often found that they can't cope when someone actually does it back to them. Being someone who tends to say what I think and speak my mind, I far prefer it when people are just as straight back to me. Mainly cos I don't get subtleties. If people want to say something to me don't beat around the bush cos I just don't get what you're trying to say. I'd say Matey probably enjoyed her reputation but would have respected anyone who could or did stand up to her, so long as what they said was sensible

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 4:07 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I presume Madge must have stood up to her at some point. She doesn't like disobedient staff, after all, and she dealt with Matron Webb/Besly, so we know how intimidating she can be! I wonder if that's why Matey came back to the school, because she knew they would respect her without being afraid of her.

Author:	Elle [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
There is one moment in Mary-Lou which shows Matron in a much softer way: Quote: Betsy, Katherine, Jean and Lalla duly picked their time for an advance on Matron and found her in a most complaisant mood. She made one stipulation - that no pins should be used. Everything had to be stitched and there must be no cutting of anything either. However, this was only what they had expected, so it did not worry them. Indeed, encouraged by her pleasant manner, Betsy plucked up the courage to ask, "Was it you who did it before -when the school was in Tirol, I mean Matron?" Matron laughed. "Not I! I was off on a trip. It was Matron Gould who took over - Matron at Carnbach I mean. But I heard all about it, including Robin's mishap when I returned." Her face suddenly grew grave. "It's funny to remember now, but at the time we had no thought for funny things. That was the weekend that Mademoiselle Lepattre began that dreadful illness that finally ended her life. I remember Miss Annersley and I found her unconscious in her room on the Tuesday morning. She had been under the weather for some time, but none of use knew how really ill she was till then. Sir James Russell - he was Dr. Jem then - said that he had no idea how she managed to keep going for so long. She must have been in continual pain almost the whole term. I know that a good many of you girls who never knew her, rarely remember her," Matron went on, "but she had as much to do with the founding of this school as Madame had. But except when the Therese Lapattre Scholarship comes up, I don't think you people think about her." "We never knew much about her," Betsy said humbly, "She died during the first or second year of the war, didn't she? I was only a tiny then. I wasn't even at school, I believe. I remember Julie telling Mummy about it, though." "I don't want you girls to forget her," Matron said, still in that oddly softened mood. "I found some snaps of her today in a box I hadn't opened since we came out here and looking at them made me think she is in danger of being forgotten." "Could we see them, please, Matron?" Katherine asked shyly. Matron produced them and the girls looked in wonder at the somewhat plain Frenchwoman who smiled pleasantly at them from the faded snaps. What could there be about her to rouse the affection and respect in which Matey obviously held her. The lady, watching the young faces, guessed what they were thinking. "No; she wasn't much to look at," she said as she took the photos back from Lalla, "but she was a saint, one of the unknown ones. Madame herself would tell you that if it had not been for Mademoiselle, she could never have done all she did. Now you must go or you'll get no work done. You may go to Miss Annersley and tell her that so far as I am concerned, you may have your party." They went off, rather more serious than they had been, and Matron laid her snaps carefully away, then, being Matron, turned back to her work. It was cut from the paperback, but I like it, and it makes Matron seem far more human.

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:09 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I'd never read that quote, thanks Elle! It certainly does make Matey seem much more human - it was nice that she felt she could share that with the girls, and it shows a different side to her. We don't hear a lot about the reaction to Mlle dying, but it must have been a shock to everyone. It's lovely to see that Matey still remembers her fondly (and nice to see a much softer side to Matey, though please don't tell her I said that!)

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
That was a lovely thing of Matey to do. I'm sure so many of the older staff didn't want her forgotton and there are a few comments in some of the Swiss books about it and that Tessa de Bersac is the image of her except she's pretty

Author:	Cosimo's Jackal [ Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I've never read that passage before, and it's a nice view of Matey. Isn't it a weird moment for EBD's obsession with looks to come up, though? It's a bunch of schoolgirls being shown old photos of a legendary school figure by someone who knew and obviously loved her (and who the girls are in awe of), and the girls' first thought is that she's plain and even Matey feels the need to say 'she wasn't much to look at', like it needs to be excused! Would any schoolgirls, far less 'good' CS girls, really approach pictures of their beloved school's founder like they were the before part of a makeover programme?!

Author:	MJKB [ Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:42 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Well, she was always a great contrast to Madge both with regard to age and beauty. I never read that excerpt before and I find it quite touching particularly the comment about Mademoiselle being one of those unsung saints.

Author:	MaryR [ Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
That passage is one of my justifications for the way I write Matey in ND. There are lots of much smaller hints if you read closely enough, though.

Author:	JayB [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
I do think Matey's sharp side is overdone at times. For example, in the passage quoted above, Betsy, who is Head Girl, and has known Matey as a family friend since she was a small child, has to 'pluck up courage' to ask a quite inoffensive question. (Although I do agree the rest of the conversation is lovely). On the other hand, I think that Matey is treated with a lack of consideration by the others at times, especially considering that she is one of the senior members of staff, in terms of both age and time at school. The giving up her Saturday evenings to supervise wrongdoers has been mentioned. In Exile, when Jo introduces Matey and Janie, she doesn't mention Matey's name, so Janie has to address her as 'Matron'. It's really quite rude of Jo; she should have referred to Matey as 'Miss Lloyd'. Then in Highland Twins, I think, we learn that Matey's bedroom is also the room in which she sorts linen and interviews wrongdoers. Her bed turns into a sofa during the day. It seems quite wrong that someone who is one of the senior members of staff and a head of department should not have her own private space. Everyone else had a workspace separate from her bedroom. I don't think they were short of space at Plas Howell, were they? And even if they were, some other solution surely could have been found.

Author:	Cosimo's Jackal [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:00 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Those are all really good points, JB. I sometimes think EBD couldn't decide if Matey was essentially a non-teaching staff member of equal standing to a long-serving CS mistress, or a sort of 'beloved' upper-servant/housekeeper type, whose free time is subject to endless erosion,, who hardly ever seems to get on expeditions etc, and who doesn't even seem to have a bedroom that is entirely her own. Even the fact she virtually never seems to get out of that starched uniform, even in the evening when the other staff have changed for dinner. Plus the crusty side of her tongue, and the way she seems to have a dispensation to be sharp with everyone from the Juniors through Nancy Wilmot when she's Acting Head to Joey, also seems to me to line her up with various other sharp-tongued, good-hearted 'salt of the earth' characters like Grandma in Gay, or Richenda's nanny, whose bark is worse than their bite. You're completely right about Joey seeming to downgrade her by not introducing her to Janie using her name and title, the way a middle-class woman of that time might have said 'Cook, this is Mrs Lucy. Mrs Lucy, this is our Cook, a treasure.' I know Joey always calls her 'Matey', but normally you wouldn't introduce someone only by a nickname it would be completely inappropriate for the new person to call them by...?

Author:	JayB [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Quote: You're completely right about Joey seeming to downgrade her by not introducing her to Janie using her name and title, the way a middle-class woman of that time might have said 'Cook, this is Mrs Lucy. Mrs Lucy, this is our Cook, a treasure.' I know Joey always calls her 'Matey', but normally you wouldn't introduce someone only by a nickname it would be completely inappropriate for the new person to call them by...? Actually, on looking up the passage, I see Jo does mention Matey's name earlier, when showing Janie round the school. (At that point she's Gould, not Lloyd). But it still would have been polite to say 'Miss Gould' when making the introduction, in order to make Matey's status and standing in the School clear. As it is, she doesn't introduce Matey to Janie at all, she just says 'This is Mrs Lucy, Matey.' It's rude to Janie as well as to Matey, since she's left not knowing how to address her. She does then speak to her rather as if, as you suggest, she's a respected upper servant: Quote: ‘I do so hope you will be happy here, Matron. Guernsey is the apple of my eye, you know. You must come to us on your free day...'

Author:	Sunglass [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Cosimo's Jackal wrote: Even the fact she virtually never seems to get out of that starched uniform, even in the evening when the other staff have changed for dinner. I was only thinking about that reading Wrong recently - it's the bit where the Middles try ju-jitsu after bedtime, but when Matey goes to investigate they all pretend to be asleep, and they only know it's her because of the rustle of starch from her dress - and this is at night, well after Abendessen, which suggests she doesn't change for the evening like the mistresses. It must have been quite odd to sit about in the staffroom in your starched uniform and cap, surrounded by other people all in semi-evening dress. I never really thought about Matey as a kind of respected upper servant, but it does make sense. All that sharp-tonguedness even to senior colleagues and people in immediate authority over her, and continually hauling girls out of class to tidy their drawers, reminds me a bit of Morag the crusty housekeeper in Jean of Storms, who despite adoring her mistress, is always scolding and complaining, and asserting her authority by doing things like showing in visitors at awkward moments... Or she's a bit like Enid Blyton's scolding but good-hearted servants, like Dorcas in Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm, whose default mode is that everyone's a nuisance and makes work for her, even though she's devoted to the family.

Author:	andydaly [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
It seems to suggest that she's in the position of a housekeeper, doesn't it? I wonder does she have her evening meal with the rest of the staff, or does she have it alone in her sitting room? I can't remember reading about Matron being present at the evening meal. As Sunglass says, it would be really strange to be sitting there while everyone else was dressed in semi-formal evening wear, and you're dressed in starched dress and nurse's cap!

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:13 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Perhaps Matey does always eat with the staff, but nobody ever realises because she looks so different out of uniform I also agree that she seems to fulfill more of a servant role than a teacher. However, the Saturday night thing I think is quite similar to the teachers having to give up their free time to marking/ extra tutorials. I don't think that they necessarily see her as being below them, but the fact she isn't as "intellectual" as them - in that she doesn't have to teach the girls, just nurse them through colds etc - some of them could look down on her for (I don't, by the way!)

Author:	Thursday Next [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 8:47 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
In many ways she is much more a housekeeper than a nurse. When any of the girls are seriously ill it is Nurse who takes over the care of them rather than Matey and when Matey is missing for some reason (can't remember whether it is for illness or some other reason) then one of the girls who wants to be a motel keeper who takes over much of her job. There is no suggestion that any of the Matrons have any medical training at all as far as I remember.

Author:	Carrie A [ Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:47 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
She also has to organise all the linen etc - even when she attends the 6th form party in New Mistress she uses the game where they have to make something out of the materials given, to make some new slips for the linen cupboard in St Therese House! It doesn't say whether or not matey was in her uniform, although she did produce a pencil out of a pocket - which rather suggests that she was!

Author:	JB [ Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:37 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
Thursday Next wrote: Quote: There is no suggestion that any of the Matrons have any medical training at all as far as I remember. On recent reread, I noticed a reference to Matey having had "special training" which related to the girls with relatives at the San. I'd never noticed it before and I can't find it again now! I think it was in one of the St Briavels books when Hilda is musing that, when the school moves to Switzerland, its links with the San will strengthen again. Matey does straddle the line between domestic staff, nurse and teaching staff, I think.

Author:	Cosimo's Jackal [ Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Women: "The" Matron
andydaly wrote: I wonder does she have her evening meal with the rest of the staff, or does she have it alone in her sitting room? I can't remember reading about Matron being present at the evening meal. It's very grim to think of her always eating alone because she's kind of stranded between the teaching staff and the domestic staff proper! Does she sit in the mistresses' common room in the evenings? I flicked through a couple of books looking for this, but noticed that in the ones I had nearby (Three, Wrong) when there was some kind of post-Abendessen, pre-staff bedtime emergency, when Matey happened to be with other mistresses rather than summoned from her room, the gathering seemed not to be in the mistresses' common room, but in the Head's study. In Three, she's shown having night-time coffee with Bill and Hilda, but in the library, just the three of them. In the jiu-jitsu incident in Wrong that someone else brought up, she's talking about Katherine Gordon to Bill and Hilda and some other mistresses in the study when she hears the noise from Wallflower. I don't know if that's just accidental, or if the implication is that she doesn't use the mistresses' common room...? I also noticed too in Three that when Clem and Mary-Lou are found out, and Mary-Lou put to bed to in the San, 'Nurse' only appears belatedly to sleep in the San to keep an eye on her - Quote: Miss Wilson came in with Nurse, who had been in the staff-room at the other side of the house. Does that suggest that the 'staffroom' (rather than the mistresses' common room) is for domestic staff, where Karen and the maids spend free time, and that Nurse's 'place' is there? Still not sure where that leaves Matey, though.