The taste of melon characther trait?

What is the meaning of the word checking as it is used in this sentence from the second paragraph of the passage?

What is one way that the author makes a distinction between the first transcontinental railroad and the first transcontinental passenger flights in 1936

Excerpt from jane eyre charlotte bronte 2 i was glad of it: i never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to eliza, john, and georgiana reed.