Hard Times Chapters 7-8

In which we are introduced to Mrs. Sparsit, the proud and watchful housekeeper to the self-made Mr. Bounderby, whose bombastic airs and high-flown self-regard cast a peculiar light upon his household and their interactions with the Gradgrinds. Meanwhile, young Louisa and Tom Gradgrind find themselves struggling under the stern, fact-bound education of their father, revealing tender doubts and the dulling weight of enforced reason in their quiet domestic exchanges.