My husband and I left the E.I.Rly. School at Jamalpur in the winter of 1878, and went to Kurseong to prepare to open the Government Boarding School for boys and girls in the Spring of 1879. In those days the D.H.Rly. had not been constructed and we had to do the last part of our journey by ekka, with bullock carts for the luggage.

The School started at "Constantia," and we opened with only a small number, and were more like a big jolly family than a school. One vivid recollection I have of life there is of waking up one morning and finding that our week's supply of meat, a whole sheep, had been taken by a leopard. The boys found traces of it in the garden.

The experiment proved such a success, and the number of pupils increased so rapidly, that we moved up to Dow Hill. As the demand for admission of boys became more insistent the Government decided to reserve the school for boys only.

In the early days at Dow Hill all the cooking was done by charcoal and wood fires, and all the drinking and bath water had to be carried in kerosene oil tins from a spring about a quarter of a mile from the school.

We remained at Dow Hill until 1898, when the fine new premises of Victoria School were built. The boys moved across there, and Dow Hill was opened as a Girls' School, separate Staffs being provided for the two schools. I officiated at the Girls' School for one year as Headmistress.

My husband and I continued at Victoria School together till 1901, when he was transferred to Calcutta. I stayed on at Victoria School till 1905, when I retired from Government service.

We had to work very hard in those early days. My husband did all the correspondence and office work after school hours, and I, with the help of Mrs. Meek (the Matron) and one old durzie. had to do all the darning and mending of the School, which by now had greatly increased in numbers.

Some of the happiest years of my life were spent at Kurseong, and I wish the School and all in it every success and happiness.

Signed E. A. PEGLER