natural speed please, american english
The dining hall-cum-gymnasium extended over most of the ground floor. We entered and sat at a table slightly apart from the rows of folding tables occupied by the children. When everyone was assembled, Mr. Florian stood up and said grace: ‘For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful.’ The chorused ‘Amen’ which followed was lost in the din of rattling cutlery, chatter of children, and clanging of pots and pans as the kitchen staff filled and refilled the tureens.
The children were seated in groups of eight, two of them in turn being responsible for collecting and distributing the food for their particular group. Both boys and girls took turns at this and showed remarkable skill in portioning each course evenly and quickly. At the end of each course the day’s two servers stacked the dishes, collected the cutlery and rushed them away to the kitchen staff. At the end of the meal the tablecloths were shaken and folded, and each group sat quietly awaiting the signal of dismissal.
When we were all finished Mr. Florian rose and there was an immediate hush; at a signal from him the children stood and group by group left the dining-hall quietly. I followed the others up to the staff room, where Mrs. Dale-Evans was soon busy preparing a cup of tea.
I stood at a window looking across to the ruined church, until a loud blare of swing music from close at hand caused me to turn round. Noticing the look of enquiry on my face, Miss Clintridge said:
‘That’s the midday dance session. The kids are allowed to use the hall from one to one forty-five each day; they play the records on a grammophone pick-up through the wireless loudspeaker. Sometimes I join them, and so does Grace. Even the Old Man shakes a leg on occasions.’
