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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31721-8.txt b/31721-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30e98fc --- /dev/null +++ b/31721-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9404 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind, by +Frances Martin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind + +Author: Frances Martin + +Release Date: March 21, 2010 [EBook #31721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +ELIZABETH GILBERT + +[Illustration: Logo] + +[Illustration: (signed) Elizabeth Gilbert] + + +ELIZABETH GILBERT AND HER WORK FOR THE BLIND + + +BY FRANCES MARTIN + +AUTHOR OF 'ANGÉLIQUE ARNAULD,' ETC. ETC. + + +London +MACMILLAN AND CO. +AND NEW YORK +1887 + + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There is a sacred privacy in the life of a blind person. It is led apart +from much of the ordinary work of the world, and is unaffected by many +external incidents which help to make up the important events of other +lives. It is passed in the shade and not in the open sunlight of eager +activity. At first we should be disposed to say that such a life, with +its inevitable restrictions and compulsory isolation, could offer little +of public interest, and might well remain unchronicled. But in the rare +cases where blindness, feeble health, and suffering form scarcely any +bar to activity; where they are not only borne with patience, but by +heroic effort are compelled to minister to great aims, we are eager to +learn the secret of such a life. No details connected with it are devoid +of interest; and we are stimulated, encouraged, and strengthened by +seeing obstacles overcome which appeared insurmountable, and watching +triumph where we dreaded defeat. + +Elizabeth Gilbert was born at a time when kindly and intelligent men +and women could gravely implore "the Almighty" to "take away" a child +merely because it was blind; when they could argue that to teach the +blind to read, or to attempt to teach them to work, was to fly in the +face of Providence. And her whole life was given to the endeavour to +overcome prejudice and superstition; to show that blindness, though a +great privation, is not a disqualification. Blind men and women can +learn, labour, and fulfil all the duties of life if their fellow-men are +merciful and helpful, and God is on the side of all those who work +honestly for themselves and others. + +The life of Elizabeth Gilbert and her work for the blind are so +inextricably interwoven, that it is impossible to tell one without +constant reference to the other. + +A small cellar in Holborn at a rent of eighteen-pence a week was enough +for a beginning. But before her death she could point to large and +well-appointed workshops in almost every city of England, where blind +men and women are employed, where tools have been invented by or +modified for them, where agencies have been established for the sale of +their work. + +Her example has encouraged, her influence has promoted the work which +she never relinquished throughout life. + +Nothing was too great for her to attempt on behalf of the blind, nothing +seemed impossible of achievement. One success suggested a new endeavour, +one achievement opened a door for fresh effort. + +Free from any taint of selfishness or self-seeking, all her thought was +for others, for the helpless, the poor, the friendless. Her pity was +boundless. There was nothing she could not forgive the blind, no error, +no ignorance, no crime. She knew the desolation of their lives, their +friendless condition, and understood how they might sink down and down +in the darkness because no friendly hand was held out to them. + +And yet she was unsparing to herself, and a rigid censor of her own +motive and conduct. This she could not fail to be, because she believed +in her vocation as from God. She never doubted that her work had been +appointed for her; she never wavered in her belief that strength given +by God, supported her. She knew that she was the servant of God, sent by +Him to minister to others. This knowledge was joy; but it made her +inexorable and inflexible towards herself. + +There are but few incidents in her peaceful life. It was torn by no +doubt, distracted by no apprehensions, it reached none of the heights +of human happiness, and sounded none of the depths of despair. If there +were unfulfilled hopes, aspirations, affections, they left no +bitterness, no sense of disappointment. A beautiful life and helpful; +for who need despair where she overcame and gained so great a victory? + +The materials for recording the history of Elizabeth Gilbert are scanty, +but all that were possessed by her sisters and friends have been placed +at my disposal. My love for her, and our long friendship, have enabled +me, I hope, to interpret them aright. + +FRANCES MARTIN. +_October 1887._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + PAGE +CHILDHOOD 1 + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE DARK 14 + + +CHAPTER III + +LITTLE BLOSSOM 27 + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHAT THE PROPHETESS FORESAW 39 + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PALACE GARDEN 51 + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SENSE OF LOSS 70 + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BLIND MANAGER 82 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ROYAL BOUNTY 94 + + +CHAPTER IX + +REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS 110 + + +CHAPTER X + +TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS 129 + + +CHAPTER XI + +REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 142 + + +CHAPTER XII + +HER DIARY 150 + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FEAR OF GOD AND NO OTHER 158 + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EVERYDAY LIFE 175 + + +CHAPTER XV + +TIME OF TROUBLE 192 + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST LOSS 212 + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW THE WORK WENT ON 221 + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BLIND CHILDREN OF THE POOR 238 + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN TIME OF NEED 249 + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 259 + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM 279 + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TWILIGHT 293 + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE END 304 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD + + "Moving about in worlds not realised."--WORDSWORTH. + + +Elizabeth Margaretta Maria, born on the 7th of August 1826, was the +second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashhurst Turner +Gilbert, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of +Chichester, and of Mary Ann his wife, only surviving child of the Rev. +Robert Wintle, Vicar of Culham, near Abingdon. + +The little girl, Bessie, as she was always called, was christened at St. +Mary's Church, which is close to the old-fashioned house in High Street +known as the Principal's Lodgings, in which Dr. Gilbert lived. + +"A fine handsome child, with flashing black eyes," she is said to have +been; and then for three years we hear nothing more. There was a nest of +little children in the nursery, and in the spring of 1829 a fifth baby +was to be added to them. In the diary of the grandfather, Mr. Wintle, +we find the following entries:-- + + + 1829.--April 6. Little Elizabeth alarmingly ill with scarlet fever. + + " 7. Child very ill. + + " 8. Child somewhat better. + + " 18. Letter from Mary Ann [Mrs. Gilbert], + stating that little Elizabeth had lost one eye. + + " 21. Went to Oxford. Little girl blind. + + July 9. Dr. Farre and Mr. Alexander say + there is no chance of little Bessie seeing. + + +And so the "flashing black eyes," scarcely opened upon the world, were +closed for ever, and all memory of sight was very speedily obliterated. +Mrs. Gilbert had not been allowed to nurse or even to see her little +girl, who had been removed from the nursery to a north wing, stretching +back and away from the house. It was the father who watched over and +scarcely left her. Mrs. Gilbert believed that the child's recovery was +owing to his unremitting care. Dr. Gilbert's common sense seems to have +been in advance of the medical treatment of that period; and he insisted +on open windows, change of bedding and clothing to suit the exigencies +of the case. When the child was thought to be sinking, he took upon +himself the responsibility of administering port wine; this may or may +not have saved her life, it is certain she struggled through and +survived a dangerous, almost fatal attack. + +But the handsome, healthy baby was sightless; one eye was entirely and +the other partly destroyed, the throat ragged and certain to be always +delicate, ears and nose also affected. A childhood of much suffering was +inevitable--and then? + +It was the father who bore the first brunt of this sorrow. It was he who +listened to the pathetic appeal of the little one, "Oh, nursie, light a +candle," to her entreaty to be taken "out of the dark room," to the +softly-whispered question, "If I am a _very_ good 'ittle girl may I see +my dolly to-morrow?" He had been full of courage, hope, and resource at +the most critical times, but he was broken-hearted now, and would rush +weeping from the child's bedside. + +It was not until July, by that time a fifth baby was in the nursery, +that the parents took their little Bessie to London, and there, as Mr. +Wintle's diary tells, the case was pronounced to be hopeless. The +renowned oculist of that day, Mr. Alexander, told them that there was no +possibility of sight; the eyes were destroyed, the child was blind. Dr. +Farre, whom they also consulted, showed much sympathy with the parents +in their affliction, and they looked upon him as a friend raised up to +advise and comfort them. Many years later they appealed to him on behalf +of their blind child, and reminded him of the encouragement and help he +had given them. It was doubtless he who suggested that blindness should +be made as little as possible of a disability to the child, what other +help could he give in such a case?--that she should be trained, +educated, and treated like the other children; that she should share +their pleasures and their experience, and should not be kept apart from +the mistaken notion of shielding her from injury. + +It was with these views that the parents returned to Oxford, and it was +these that they consistently carried out henceforward. There was no +invention, no educational help for the blind which they did not inquire +into and procure; but these were only used in the same way that one +child might have one kind of pencil and another child another pencil. + +The sisters who were nearest her own age speak of Bessie as gay and +happy, "so like the others that it is difficult to pick her out from +them." Surviving friends who remember the Gilbert children, the +_sisterhood_, as the eight little girls came ultimately to be called, +say that the group is ineffaceably stamped upon the memory, but that +there was nothing special to attract attention to the individual members +of it. And yet the figure of the blind child does emerge, distinct and +apart, and the reminiscences of youth and childhood are numerous enough +to manifest the interest with which every part of her career was +followed in her own family. + +The parents had decided that she was to be treated exactly like her +sisters. When she came into a room they were not to give her a chair; +she was to find one for herself. Dr. Gilbert specially could not endure +to have it suggested that she could not do what the others did. "Let +her try," he would say. So Bessie tried, and, ordinarily, succeeded. He +was specially anxious that she should behave like the others at table, +should be as particular in eating and drinking as they were, and should +manage the food on her plate without offence to others. He encouraged +her in ready repartee and swift intellectual insight. When the father +joined his children in their walks it was always Bessie who took his +hand. She invariably sat by him at breakfast, and when the children went +in to dessert it was Bessie who sat by his side and poured out his glass +of wine. "How do you know when it is full?" some one asked. "By the +weight," she replied. The father, we may be sure, was training her in +the transfer of the work of one sense to another, and helping her to +supplement the lost eyesight by touch and sound, raising her up to the +level of other children; and his initiative was followed in the family. + +A special tie between the father and his blind child was always +recognised. If any favour was to be asked it was Bessie who was sent to +the father, and also if any difficulty arose amongst the children they +would say, "We will tell Bessie," "We will ask Bessie." + +There seems to have been no jealousy of her influence, no opposition to +it. The sisters thought it her right to be first, and looked upon it as +a great distinction, honour, and privilege to have a blind sister. It +was their part to make her feel as little as possible the difference +between herself and them, and to help her to be as independent as they +were. She was taught to dress herself unaided as early as the other +children. She was full of fun, and enjoyed a romping game; she would +much rather risk being knocked over than allow any one to lead her by +the hand when they were all at play. She was passionate as a child, +liable to sudden violent outbursts of anger; and as there were a good +many passionate children together, she was quite as often mixed up in a +quarrel as any of the others. + +One incident remembered against her was that at seven or eight years old +she seized one of the high schoolroom chairs and hurled it, or intended +to do so, at a governess who had offended her. Another was that when she +was somewhat younger, at the close of their daily walk, she and a little +sister hurried on to enjoy the luxury of ringing the front door bell. It +was just out of reach, and the little girls on tiptoe were straining to +get at it. An undergraduate, passing by, thought to do them a kindness +and pulled the bell. Bessie stamped with anger, and turned upon him a +little blind passionate face: "Why did you do it? You knew I wanted to +ring." + +"A most affectionate nature, unselfish, generous, but passionate and +obstinate; so obstinate no one could turn her from the thing she had +resolved on," says one of the sisters. + +In after life we find a temper under perfect control, and a will +developed and trained to sweet firmness and unwavering endurance; but +these showed themselves in the fitful irregularity of a somewhat wilful +childhood. + +In accordance with the precept of her father, Bessie wanted to do +everything that other children did. She _would_ try, and nothing but her +own individual experience would convince her of the limitations of her +powers. The fire and the kettle were great temptations to her. One day +in the nursery at Oxford she tried to reach the kettle, slipped and fell +in front of the fire, tried to save herself by grasping the hot bars of +the grate, and the poor little hands were badly burnt. We may be sure +how the parents would suffer with their blind child in such an accident, +and yet they would not encourage a panic, or allow any unnecessary +restrictions to be put upon her actions. + +A few years after scarlet fever the Gilbert children had measles. All +memory of the occurrence would have faded out had it not been for +Bessie. Her throat, as we have said, was ragged and impeded, and +throughout life the only way in which she could swallow any liquid was +in very small sips and with a curious little twist of nose and mouth. In +after life she used to compare herself to Pascal, saying how much better +her own case was, for Pascal was obliged to have his medicine warmed +before he could sip it, whilst she could take hers cold. + +There are some who still remember how they pitied her when they saw +Bessie sitting up in bed sipping a black draught, and they can recall +the resolution with which she did it, and the conscientiousness with +which she took all, to the last drop. + +Some twenty years later she was walking in the garden at Eversley with +Charles Kingsley, and he said to her, "When you take medicine you drink +it all up. I spill some on my frock, and then I have to take it over +again." It was one of those swift intuitive glances of his; he saw in +the delicate woman the same patient courage that had characterised the +child. She had much suffering from her throat throughout life, and as a +little girl was nearly choked by a lozenge. The noteworthy point of the +incident is that in the wildest tumult of alarm of those around her, the +child was quite calm. + +There was so little sense of her inferiority to others in early youth +that it was only as the sisters grew up that they realised how much +Bessie knew, and how much she could do, in spite of her blindness. As a +child they all looked upon her as very clever. One of their Sunday +amusements was to play at Sunday school, and Bessie was invariably made +the mistress. + +For a long time she and her sister Fanny, little more than a year +younger, were companions in their lessons, which were in every respect +alike. Bessie's were read aloud to her; she learnt easily, her memory +was good, and she made rapid progress. In French and German the grammar +was read to her, and she worked the exercises verbally. The governess, +Miss Lander, was devoted to her pupils, and specially interested in +Bessie, so that she turned to account every hint and suggestion as to +special methods for the blind. She drew threads across a piece of paper, +which was fixed to a frame, and taught the child to write in the +ordinary way. There was a box of raised letters which could be used for +spelling lessons, and there was leaden type with raised figures for +arithmetic lessons. The letters were arranged on an ordinary board; but +the figures were placed in a grooved board. Now arithmetic was the most +difficult and distasteful of all Bessie's lessons; the placing of the +figures correctly was a very perplexing task, and the working of sums an +intricate problem. But she did her duty and made her way steadily to +compound division, a stage beyond which no woman was expected to advance +fifty years ago. Miss Lander did her best to explain the various +processes, but the sums, alas, were only too often wrong, and a +passionate outburst would succeed the announcement of failure. That +little episode of the chair was probably not unconnected with +arithmetic. She was keenly interested in astronomical lessons, and the +home-made orrery, which explained the relative position of sun, moon, +and planets, was a source of unfailing interest. The little fingers +fluttered over the planets and followed their movements with great +delight. + +An eager, intelligent child, with parents and teachers all anxious to +smoothe her way and remove difficulties, we need not wonder that youth +was a happy time for her: "the brightest and happiest of all the +children," she is said to have been. + +"The Principal's Lodgings," as the old-fashioned, rambling house in +High Street, Oxford, was called, has no garden whatever. The front door +opens into a dark hall; spacious cupboards to the right; to the left the +dining-room; in front of you passages, doors, and two difficult +staircases. There was no one, we are told, who had not fallen up or down +these dark winding stairs except Bessie. On the first floor to the +front, with five windows looking into High Street, is the drawing-room. +This was divided, and one part of it was converted into a schoolroom. +The Principal's study was on the same floor at the back of the house. +What is known as the north wing stretches back, and has two or three +small rooms which can easily be isolated. It was in them that Bessie was +nursed through scarlet fever. + +There is also a south wing with excellent kitchens and good servants' +rooms. + +On the second floor the space above the drawing-room and schoolroom was +occupied by Mrs. Gilbert's room and the two nurseries; whilst a large +bedroom at the back, away from the street and over the study, the spare +room, was that in which all the children saw the light, and from which +eleven of them successively emerged. The second and ninth were boys, and +there were nine daughters. A little girl died in 1834, and is buried in +the adjacent churchyard of St. Mary's. Bessie, who was eight years old, +was taken into the room to bid farewell to her sister Gertrude, and laid +her little hand upon her. She never forgot it; and would say in after +years in a low tone of awe: "She was so cold." The impression produced +on a sensitive organisation was so painful that she was never again +taken into the chamber of death. + +There is a large "flat" or leaden roof above this "spare" room over the +study, to which there is access from an adjacent passage; but this roof +is too dangerous a place for a playground, and the children had none in +or near the house. The south windows in the front look into High Street; +an east window high up in the nursery looks out upon St. Mary's; and all +the windows to the north at the back of the house look over walls, and +houses, and chimney pots, and brick and mortar. The children played at +home in ordinary times, but in the long vacation they played in the +quadrangle, a grassy, treeless enclosure, but a very garden of delight +to them. The favourite part of it was near the figures called "Cain and +Abel," long since removed, and long since known not to have represented +Cain and Abel, but to have been a copy of antique sculpture. There were +grand games of hide and seek around "Cain and Abel," in which Bessie +always joined. + +Sometimes the children dined in the College Hall during vacation, and +were joined after dinner in the quadrangle by their friends amongst the +Fellows of Brasenose, who all had a kind word for the little blind girl. +She was also a special favourite with the College servants, and led, as +it were, a charmed life, watched over by every one, and unconscious of +their care. + +All memory of vision seems to have faded from her before she left the +sick-room; but, taught by those around her, she soon began to take an +imaginary interest in colour, and a very real one in form and texture. +An old nurse is still alive who remembers making a pink frock for her +when she was a child, her delight at its being pink, and her pleasure in +stroking down the folds. In 1835 or 1836 the young Princess Victoria, +with her mother the Duchess of Kent, visited Oxford. Bessie was amongst +those who went to "see" them enter the city. Returning home she +exclaimed, "Oh, mamma, I have seen the Duchess of Kent, and she had on a +brown silk dress." The language is startling; but how else could the +blind child express the impression she had received except by saying "I +have seen." Throughout life she continued to say, "I have seen," and +throughout life the words continued to represent a reality as clear and +true to the blind as the facts of sight are to those who have eyes. + +Very early Bessie knew the songs of birds and delighted in them. Very +early also she learned to love flowers. She liked to have them +described, and to hear the minutest particulars about them. Nothing made +her so happy as to gather them for herself. There were fields near +Hincksey which the Gilberts called "The Happy Valley." Thither they +resorted in the spring with baskets to gather forget-me-nots, the +flowering rush, and other blossoms, which they prized highly. In all +these expeditions Bessie was happy, and a source of happiness to others. +The tender and reverent way in which she examined a flower, the little +fluttering fingers touching every petal and bruising none, was a lesson +never to be forgotten. + +Her youthful admiration of Wordsworth was chiefly based upon his love of +flowers, but also upon personal knowledge. When she was about ten years +old, Wordsworth went to Oxford to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L. +from the University. He stayed with the Principal, in that large spare +room we know of, and won Bessie's heart the first day by telling at the +dinner-table how he had almost leapt off the coach in Bagley Wood to +gather the little blue veronica. But she had a better reason for +remembering that visit. One day she was in the drawing-room alone, and +Wordsworth entered. For a moment he stood silent before the blind child. +The little sensitive face, with its wondering, inquiring look, turned +towards him. Then he gravely said, "Madam, I hope I do not disturb you." +She never forgot that "Madam," grave, solemn, almost reverential. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE DARK + + "Every morn and every night + Some are born to sweet delight, + Some are born to sweet delight, + Some are born to endless night."--BLAKE. + + +The Gilbert children had a very happy home. In Oxford they were +constantly under the eyes of parents who loved them tenderly, and loved +to have them at hand. The schoolroom was between drawing-room and study, +the nurseries adjacent to the parents' bedroom. + +Mrs. Gilbert, a very handsome, large-hearted, attractive woman, was +devoted to her husband, and gave him constant and loving care so long as +she lived. She dearly loved her children; but she thought, though +perhaps she was mistaken, that she liked boys better than girls; and she +had so few boys! Husband and children were all the world to her; she was +happy in their midst, full of plans for them, greatly preoccupied with +their future, and looked up to and beloved by all. + +Dr. Gilbert was a schoolfellow of De Quincey, and in his +_Confessions_[1] De Quincey thus speaks of him: "At this point, when the +cause of Grotius seemed desperate, G----[2] (a boy whom subsequently I +had reason to admire as equally courageous, truthful, and far-seeing) +suddenly changed the whole field of view." + +And again referring to his leaving school, De Quincey writes: "To three +inferior servants I found that I ought not to give less than one guinea +each; so much therefore I left in the hands of G----[2], the most +honourable and upright of boys." + +What weeks and months of anguish must have been passed by these parents, +when the bright little three-year-old child was struck down into +darkness, and the light of the "handsome black eyes" extinguished for +ever. She was smitten into the ranks of the blind; and of the blind +nearly sixty years ago, when their privation was a stigma, an +affliction, "a punishment sent by the Almighty;" when even good and +merciful people looked upon it as "rebellion" to endeavour to mitigate +and alleviate the lot of those who lived in the dark. Bessie's parents +did not and could not accept this view. They saw their child rise from +her bed of sickness unchanged, though grievously maimed; but she was the +same little Bessie who had been given to them bright and clever and +happy, and by God's grace they resolved that she should never lose her +appointed place in the family circle. From the very first they were, as +we have seen, advised to educate her with her sisters. This advice they +followed; and at the same time inquired in all directions as to the +methods and material and implements which might give special help to +their blind child. Packets of letters yellow with age, long paragraphs +copied from old newspapers by Mrs. Gilbert and sent to people living in +distant parts, accounts of apparatus, lists of inventions and +suggestions bear constant and touching tribute to the loving care of a +mother upon whose time and strength in that large young family there +must have been so many demands. The surviving members of the family do +not even remember by name many of those whose letters have been +preserved; letters now valuable, not in themselves, but as showing that +if Bessie Gilbert lived to do a great work on behalf of the blind, and +did it, undaunted by obstacles and difficulty that might well have +seemed beyond her strength, she did but inherit the strong will and +indomitable courage, the power of endurance and devotion which +characterised her parents. + +These letters throw much light upon the condition of the blind at the +beginning of this century. One packet is specially interesting as the +story of the successful effort of a person unknown, and without +influence, to effect an improvement in a public institution. It may, +probably it must, have been told in later years to Bessie herself; it +would encourage her, and may encourage others, to persevere in efforts +on behalf of those who are helpless and afflicted. + +Mrs. Wood, wife of the Rev. Peter Wood, Broadwater Rectory, Worthing, +was interested in the condition of the blind. She had visited +institutions in Zurich, in Paris, had heard of work being done on their +behalf in Edinburgh, and was acquainted with the condition of the School +for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, London. + +She wrote in 1831 to Mr. Henry V. Lynes, Mr. Gaussen, Mr. Dodd, Mr. +Pigou, Mr. Capel Cure, and other members of the Committee of the St. +George's Fields School, begging them to inquire into the methods for +teaching the blind to read, recently discovered, and at that time +attracting attention. With her letter she sent specimens of books and +other data to be submitted to the Committee. + +Mr. Gaussen, writing from the Temple, 12th March 1831, replies that he +will have much pleasure in forwarding her excellent views, and that Mr. +Vynes has secured the reference of her plan to the Committee; that it +will be well considered, but for his own part he is bound to express the +greatest doubt as to the result. He suggests that instead of teaching +the blind to read there should be more reading aloud to them, "so as to +stimulate their minds to more exertion, which in many cases is the +source of the kind treatment they meet with." + +A brother of the Secretary, Mr. Dodd, writes that he also will do what +he can, although he has heard that the benefit of the plan "is so +limited that quite as much good may be accomplished by teaching the +pupils to commit portions of Scripture to memory as by teaching them to +read." + +Mr. Vynes informs Mrs. Wood that he has, at her request, attended the +meeting of the Committee, that only two of the other gentlemen she had +written to were present, Mr. Pigou and Mr. Gaussen. "The latter is not +favourable to the plan, neither is Mr. Dodd, the Secretary." The +gentlemen present who spoke were all "well satisfied with the amount of +religious knowledge which their blind pupils already possess, so that I +much fear they will take little trouble to increase it." He refers to a +"rumour" that the "art of reading" has been introduced into the +Edinburgh School for the Blind, but adds that the "Meeting did not seem +inclined to give any credit to it;" and suggests that, if it is true, +Mrs. Wood might let them hear more about it, as he had secured a +reference of the whole matter to the consideration of the House +Committee. + +Now Mrs. Wood was nothing daunted by these successive splashes of cold +water. She wrote afresh to members of the Committee. She obtained facts +from Edinburgh, and she wisely limited her appeal to a petition that the +blind should be enabled to read the Scriptures for themselves. But +whether at that time she recognised the fact or not, there can be no +doubt that the whole question of what the blind could do _themselves_ +would be opened by this step, and must be decided. + +Mr. Vynes writes to her again on the 29th March, and it is interesting +to observe that a Committee in 1831 was very much the same sort of thing +that it is now. + + + Among the seven or eight gentlemen present I found Mr. Jackman, the + Chaplain of the Institution, being the first time I had ever the + pleasure of meeting him. Both Mr. Jackman and Mr. Dodd [the + Secretary] affirm that these poor blind pupils are already as well + instructed as it is possible they should be, under their afflicting + circumstances. They are correctly moral in their general conduct, + influenced by religious feelings and principles, with contented and + pious minds. Mr. Jackman mentioned as a proof that they do think + beyond the present moment, the average number who now participate + at every celebration of the Lord's Supper is one or two and twenty, + though formerly there had been but three or four. They can repeat a + large portion of the Psalms, not merely the singing Psalms, but + take the alternate verse of the reading version without requiring + any prompting. And all the pupils have a variety of the most + important texts strongly impressed upon their memories. Their + memories are generally good, and they assure me they are fully + exercised upon sound truths. These gentlemen are of opinion that + more is to be learned by the ear than ever can be acquired by the + fingers, and therefore see no advantage attending the new plan + which can at all compensate the trouble and expense of introducing + it. + + Two of the gentlemen present, Mr. Capel Cure and Mr. Meller, very + handsomely supported your view of the subject, and recommended a + trial to be made. At the same time they candidly confessed + themselves quite unable to point out the best way, or indeed any + way, to set about it; upon which the Committee very naturally threw + the burthen upon me, or, my dear madam, you must allow me to say, + rather upon you. I read to them the plan which you had sketched + out, which, however, the Committee do not think very practicable. + They will not seek out an idle linguist as you recommend; but if + you will bring a qualified man to their door, with all appliances + to boot--that is, all the books requisite for introducing the + system, then they will be ready to treat with him. And here the + matter rests for the present. + + +"Here" probably the Committee expected it to rest. But not so Mrs. Wood, +who reconsidered and amended her suggestion as to "an idle linguist." + +The next letter from Mr. Vynes, 15th April 1831, announces that Mr. Gall +of Edinburgh "has offered to come to London to put our Committee in more +complete possession of his plan, and to instruct some of our teachers +gratuitously." The Sub-committee recommended that this offer should be +accepted; the General Committee had resolved to adopt the +recommendation. "They have also very properly," he continues, "agreed to +reimburse Mr. Gall the expenses of his journey and of his necessary +residence in London. The account which Mr. Gall has given of his +invention is doubtless overcharged; it exhibits all the enthusiasm which +generally attends all new discoveries. His estimate of the expense is +somewhat vague. He requires very little _time_ to enable his poor blind +pupils to read and to write as correctly, and almost as quickly, as the +more fortunate poor who have the blessing of sight. However, if Mr. G. +does but accomplish one-half of what he has promised, our Committee will +be quite satisfied. + +"Thus far, then, I may congratulate you, my dear madam, on the +successful result of your active and persevering exertions." + +After this there is a long pause; and the next letter from Mr. Vynes is +dated Clapton, 24th August 1831. We can picture to ourselves the +feelings with which Mrs. Wood would read it in the far-off Broadwater +rectory. + + + DEAR MADAM--I have now the pleasure of returning to you the various + books and papers which you so kindly sent up for the inspection of + the Committee of our Blind School, and have to give you our best + thanks for the use of them. You will be pleased to hear this new + system of reading and writing is making some progress in the London + school. As a proof that the General Committee are satisfied, I will + report to you the results of their meeting on the 13th of this + month. They first voted fifty guineas to Mr. Gall as a compliment + for the service he has already done to the Institution. But when + Mr. G. was called in and acquainted with their vote, he at once, + respectfully, but very positively, declined to accept of any + remuneration for what he had done, saying his object was to + introduce the new system to serve the poor blind and not himself. + + The Committee then elected Mr. Gall as Honorary Member of the + Corporation, and requested the House Committee to find out (if + possible) something acceptable to Mrs. Gall, and empowered them to + present it to her. I mention all this in justice to Mr. Gall. It is + indeed highly creditable to him, for we are told that he is by no + means in affluent circumstances. Mr. Gall continues in almost daily + attendance at the school, and will remain some short time longer, + so anxious is he to establish his system permanently in this + school. On the female side he has already pretty well succeeded; + Miss Grove, the sub-matron, and also one of the blind inmates + having qualified themselves to become teachers. + + On the male side, Mr. G. has hitherto been baffled, and therefore + has asked the Committee for some extra aid. This matter is still + under consideration.... On the whole, then, I think I may now + venture to congratulate you, my dear madam, on the attainment of + the object you have so much at heart--that these poor blind shall + be enabled to read those oracles which will give them comfort in + this world and lead them to perfect happiness hereafter. + + +And thus cautiously and quietly, with the inevitable resistance of +officials to any change, and the caution of a Committee on their guard +against enthusiasm, and not sanguine as to results, an important change +was inaugurated. Henceforward the blind were no longer to be treated as +incurables in a hospital, capable of no instruction and able to do no +more than commit to memory moral precepts and religious truths. They +were to learn reading and writing, a door was set open that would never +again be closed. Education was shown to be possible, and work would +follow. + +In August 1832 Mrs. Gilbert received the copy of a letter written by Mr. +Edward Lang, teacher of mathematics, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, to a +Mr. Alexander Hay. Mr. Lang had invented a system of printing for the +use of the blind, with simplifications of letters and the introduction +of single signs for many "redundant sounds." He is in favour of these +modifications, and adds: + + + Were not the prejudice so strong in favour of ordinary spellings of + words, I would, had I been engaged in the formation of such an + alphabet, have innovated much more extensively. But words, like + men, must carry their genealogy, not their qualifications, on their + coats-of-arms; and though this arrangement conceals many + obliquities of descent, and more than many real characters, it must + be acquiesced in, since the law of prescription in this, as in many + other cases, prevents the exercise of reason. He concludes: Most + warmly do I recommend your whole system to the attention of all who + feel interested in the diffusion of knowledge; and I trust that its + advantages will soon be felt by those who were once consigned by + barbarous laws, or by dark superstition, to destruction or to + neglect, but who now are re-elevated to their own station through + the light of a milder and nobler humanity. + + +At the close of this year, 1832, a Mrs. Wingfield sent to Mrs. Gilbert a +newspaper paragraph giving an account of a meeting of the Managers of +the Blind Asylum, Edinburgh. After some routine business these managers +had proceeded to examine the "nature and efficiency" of the books lately +printed for the use of the blind. Some of the blind boys in the Asylum, +who had been using the books for "only a few weeks," picked out words +and letters and read "slowly but correctly." By repeated trials, and by +varying the exercises, the directors were of opinion that the art +promised to be of "the greatest practical utility to the blind." Mr. +Gall also stated that the apparatus for writing to and by the blind was +in a state of considerable forwardness. This paragraph Mrs. Gilbert +copied and sent, on the 10th of January 1833, to her father's cousin, +Mr. J. Wintle of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who had, as she learnt, a friend +in Edinburgh. To this friend, Mr. Ellis, application was duly made, and +he set about instituting inquiries which resulted, on the 13th of April +1833, in the despatch of a portentous epistle, such a letter as at that +time was considered worthy of heavy postage. He had obtained for Mr. +Wintle every possible scrap of information on the subject in question. +Letters follow from him direct to Mrs. Gilbert, and on the 2d of +November 1833 Mr. Ellis "presents his compliments, and, after many +delays, is happy in being able at last to forward the articles he was +commissioned to procure for Mrs. Gilbert's little girl." + +The following list shows how much had been done in two years:-- + +1. Gall's First Book. Three other Lesson Books and the Gospel of St. +John. + +2. Hay's Alphabet and Lessons (Mr. Lang's friend), with outline sketch +of Map. + +3. The string alphabet, with a printed statement of its invention and +use. + +4. Seven brass types constructed on the principles of the string +alphabet. + +5. Several packets of metallic pieces representing the notes in music. + +Another letter preserved by Mrs. Gilbert was from a Mr. Richardson, of +11 Lothian Street, Edinburgh, to her uncle, Mr. Morrell, at that time +staying in Edinburgh, dated 14th January 1837. It gives an account of +the globes, maps, boards, etc., in use in the Edinburgh Asylum, and +shows what rapid advance has been made since the little boys were +examined by the managers in 1833. + +Mrs. Gilbert would learn not so much from the account of the things +done, as the manner of doing them; from the explanation of the method of +adapting ordinary maps and globes to the use of the blind, and of +employing gum and sand and string and pieces of cork; the little holes +in the map instead of the names of cities, and the movable pegs. All +these hints were very valuable to her; and every one of them was turned +to good account in the schoolroom at Oxford. + +In 1839 Mr. J. Wintle sends raised books from London. In 1840 he has +gone, out of health, on a visit to his friend Mr. Ellis, Inverleith Row, +Edinburgh. One of his first visits was to the Edinburgh Asylum, and he +writes an account of it to Mrs. Gilbert, "in the hope of being useful to +your daughter Bessie." He promises further information from Glasgow, +which is, so he learns, "the fountain-head of all works for the blind, +save those published in America," and he announces a copy of the New +Testament as almost ready, price £2: 2s. It was ultimately procured by +Mrs. Gilbert and presented to Bessie. + +And now we may lay aside the time-worn, yellow paper, the large and +copious letters, the anxious inquiries and the willing replies. They +did not, however, end at this period, they went on throughout the whole +life of these good parents. There was no new invention, no new system +into which they did not at once inquire, nothing that could be procured +which they did not obtain for their child. + +But they never swerved from their original intention to educate Bessie +at home in the schoolroom with her sisters. The apparatus which replaced +pen and pencil and slate might differ, as slate differs from paper. She +had to put her fingers on the globe upon which her sisters cast their +eyes, and to feel the movements of the planets around the sun, in the +orrery which gave her so much pleasure; but her lessons were given and +learnt at the same time, and she lost none of the happiness and +stimulating effect of companionship in work and play. + +There can be no doubt that she was influenced throughout life by her own +early training, which had made it impossible for her to believe in the +numerous so-called "disabilities" of the blind. Some of her friends +thought that she had not an adequate notion of what these really were. +Perhaps those who are born blind, or who have lost sight at so early an +age that no memory of it remains, do not adequately realise their +privation. Sight is to them a "fourth dimension," a something that it is +absolutely impossible to realise. They can talk about it, but it is +impossible for them to understand it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_, pp. 48 and 73, by Thomas de +Quincey. Edinburgh, 1862. + +[2] Gilbert. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LITTLE BLOSSOM + + "What, were ye born to be + An hour or half's delight, + And so to bid good-night?"--HERRICK. + + +Mr. Wintle gave his little grand-daughter a new name after her loss of +sight. He called her "Little Blossom." She was never to develop into +flower or fruit, he said, on account of her great affliction, and the +limitations that it must entail. Miss Trotwood may have had a similar +theory as to David Copperfield's Dora, but these were days before +Dickens had written of Little Blossom. The theory was by no means +adopted by Bessie's parents; and the name of Blossom was used by Mr. +Wintle only. + +Dr. Kynaston, in lines addressed "to Bessie," in 1835, tells how his +"soul" reproved + + + "That friend, as once I heard him say, + Oh, may it please Almighty God + To take that child away!" + + +We do not know who "that friend" was, who prayed for the removal, at +nine years old, of a singularly happy and engaging child; but the +prayer is indicative of the condition of the blind, the probable outlook +for the child, and the point of view from which blindness was regarded +even by people of culture and means. If such a one could pray for the +death of a blind child, what would the poor do? + +Despite the "Blossom" theory, or perhaps because of it, Bessie was a +great favourite with her grandfather. He liked to have her with him at +Culham Vicarage. She often stayed there for weeks together, and would +learn more about flowers and birds than she could do in Oxford. There +was also a delightful companion and friend at Culham, the black pony, +Toby. Bessie was a fearless little rider, and delighted in a gallop +round the field. But Mr. Wintle would not trust her alone with Toby, and +there was always a servant to walk or run by his side. The grandfather +makes an entry in his diary as to Bessie's first ride, and adds that he +"was much pleased with Blossom." + +It was at Culham that she was introduced to _Robinson Crusoe_. Mr. +Wintle gave it to the servant who was to walk out with her, and who read +aloud as she walked. Bessie was deeply interested, and would allow of no +pause in the reading: "She kept her going all the time:" says a sister. +Sometimes there were three or four little girls at Culham, and then in +the evening, grandpapa read aloud to them James's _Naval History_. It +was very little to their taste, and all but one paid little attention, +or if attending, could remember or understand but little. When, however, +the reading was ended, and grandpapa began to ask questions, it was +Bessie who knew how the vessels were manned and rigged, the complement +of men and guns, and all the details connected with the fitting out of a +man-of-war. And again Mr. Wintle had good reason to be "much pleased +with Blossom." + +The little girl learnt needlework with her sisters. She could hem and +sew, but never liked doing either. A very neatly hemmed duster, done +before she was ten years old, and presented to an aunt, is still +preserved in the family. Knitting and crochet she liked better, and a +knitted purse in bands of very bright colours has been kept unused by +the friend to whom she gave it as a child. Her favourite occupation of +this kind was the making of slender watch chains with fine silk on a +little ivory frame. All her friends will remember these chains, which in +many cases were an annual present. + +But needlework of any kind was always "against the grain." She liked any +other occupation better. + +Perhaps the chief characteristic of early youth was her love of poetry +and music. Wordsworth's poems, especially those that referred to +flowers; Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hemans, these were her favourites. A sister +says she cannot remember the time when Bessie was not in the habit of +sitting down to the piano to improvise. She set Mary Howitt's "Sea Gull" +to her own music before she was twelve years old. It was published at +the time of the Irish famine, and realised £20, which she gave to the +Famine Fund. + +Bessie's first music-mistress was the widow of an organist in Oxford, +but when her talent for music was more pronounced she had lessons from +Dr. Elvey, the brother of Sir George Elvey. Whilst she was learning a +new piece, a sister would sit by her side and read the notes aloud. She +quickly discovered if a single one had been omitted; and, as with +_Robinson Crusoe_, she kept her reader "going all the time." But her +enthusiasm and pleasure kindled the interest of those who certainly had +a dry part of the work. + +Bessie was not the only blind child in Oxford. Dr. Hampden, afterwards +Bishop of Hereford, had two blind daughters. The three blind children +used often to meet and walk together; but Bessie preferred the +companionship of the merry girls at home, in whose games she always +shared. She did not bowl a hoop, however, and in formal walks she was +the companion of the governess. + +Children's parties in Oxford were a source of much pleasure; she danced +with girls, she was very fond of dancing, but seldom with boys. She +wanted a little guiding, and the boys were possibly too shy to undertake +this; certainly very few of them were disposed to try. + +Bessie's birthday was, for the Gilbert children, the festival of the +year. This was owing partly to the fact that it fell in August, during +the long vacation, the time associated with out-door games in the grassy +quadrangle, whispered conferences near the mysterious and awe-inspiring +Cain and Abel, with dinners in the Hall and visits in the schoolroom +from friendly dons. There were three birthdays in August: a younger +sister and a brother were also born in that month; all three were +celebrated on the 7th, and Bessie was the "lady of the day." There was +always a water party to Nuneham in the house-boat or the barge. On +landing, the children would run to the top of a grassy slope and then +slide and roll down the slippery grass. Bessie joined in this game with +keen delight, untroubled by the silent watchfulness of a father, ever +alert to protect her from danger, and ever anxious that she should be +ignorant of special precautions on her behalf. + +Dr. Kynaston, "High Master of St. Paul's," and former Philological +Lecturer of Christ Church, Oxford, was nearly always included in the +birthday party, and was very fond of Bessie. When she was a very little +child she was leaning far out of the window of the boat so as to put her +hands in the water, and her father was alarmed. "I am holding her tight +by the frock," said Dr. Kynaston. "Yes," replied the father, "but I must +have something more solid than that held by." + +Of all these birthday parties, the most memorable to the blind child was +that on which she was ten years old. The day was fine, every one was +very good to her. Her special favourites, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. Bazely +(father of Mr. Henry Bazely, of whom a short biography has recently +appeared), were both present. A vase with a bouquet of the flowers she +loved, mignonette, heliotrope, roses, geraniums, was presented to her. +All her life she treasured those dried flowers and the little vase. But +the thing that made this birthday memorable was that not only her music +but her poems were beginning to receive consideration, and one written +at this time was considered worthy of being copied and sent to her +godmother, Miss Hales. A copy in her mother's writing is still extant, +and may be read with interest: + + + LINES WRITTEN AT TEN YEARS OLD. + + When morning appears, and night melts away, + Then comes the bright, dull, or enlivening day; + The dewdrops like pearls on the flowers are shining, + But the sunbeams to dry them are quickly inclining. + The sun now red peeps through the trees, + And now there springs up a freshening breeze. + The flowers which are by the sunbeams extended, + Droop no more o'er their green stalks bended. + All is cheerful and gay, at the dawn of the day, + And March's high winds are flying away. + A shower of rain now darkens the skies, + A few people begin to open their eyes; + It is early, 'tis dawn, 'tis the dawn of the day, + And the darkness of night is fast gliding away. + + +The child's verses are neither better nor worse than those of many a +little versifier of her age, but they are remarkable because they are +obviously untouched by elders, who could so easily have corrected rhythm +and metre; they are genuine, and they are written by a child who had +apparently forgotten that she had ever seen the light. She had learnt to +love it for some occult and mysterious reason which she could not +explain, perhaps for the physical effect which light exercises upon the +human organism. She loved light, she loved nature, and from early +childhood she loved beautiful scenery. Dreams were always a source of +delight to her, and her dreams were a feature in her life. She would say +that she constantly dreamt about beautiful landscapes. Did some memory +of sight revisit her in dreams? "There were beautiful intuitions in her +music," we are told. Had she "beautiful intuitions" as to sight? Had +she, in her dreams, visions of the scenes that passed before her in +those three first years of which she retained not the slightest +recollection in her waking hours? Beautiful scenery gave her pleasure; +there was always a response to any description of it. Once when a sister +was describing mountains she said: "I don't want to know how high they +are, how many hours it takes to climb them, and what they are made of. I +want you to tell me if they make you afraid, if they make you happy, +or," drawing herself up, "if they give you a kind of a proud feeling." + +In the April before this tenth birthday she had attempted to express in +verse her feeling as to the light; and on this day three sonnets were +addressed to her by Dr. Kynaston. + +What little girl would not be proud of such homage from a "High Master +of St. Paul's," and so dear a friend? + +The sonnets appear in _Miscellaneous Poetry_, by Rev. Herbert Kynaston, +M.A.,[3] and two of them are here given:-- + + + TO BESSIE ON HER BIRTHDAY. + + And art thou ten years old? one half the time + Is spent--oh say, thou heavenly-gifted child, + How hast thou, then, those weary years beguiled-- + That fills thy budding years to woman's prime. + Thou stand'st midway, as on a height sublime, + Sweet record here, sweet promise there as mild + Of childish days, of girlhood undefiled, + To lure thee on; heaven help thee now to climb + With fairest hope, as erst, the onward part + Of life's sad upland course that still is thine! + Had I one wish, fresh gathered from the heart, + To hang with votive sweets at friendship's shrine, + I'd pray--and yet, methinks, if thou wert mine, + I would not have thee other than thou art. + + + THE SAME SUBJECT. + + Forgive the thought, but I have learnt to love + What others deem privation; I have seen + How more than recompensed thy loss has been, + Dear gentle child! by Him who from above + Guides thy dark steps; and I have yearned to prove + The blessed influence, the joy serene, + The store of heavenly peace, that thou dost glean + From angels' steps, unseen, who round thee move. + Yea, I have owed thee much; thou art a thing + For sharpest grief to gather round, and grow + To mellowness; where sorrow loves to cling, + And tune to gospel strains the tears that flow + In harshest discord, sullen murmuring, + That will not learn the blessedness of woe. + + +In this same year, 1836, Bessie took her first long journey away from +home. Her father and mother had arranged to pay visits to some old +friends, and they took with them the two eldest girls, Mary and Bessie. +They stayed with the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Kaye, with an old college +friend, Mr. Stephens, at Belgrave, Leicester, and with several other old +college friends of the Principal's. They visited Matlock; and on her +return Bessie described to the younger sisters the excitement of going +into the caves, of crossing the Styx, and of listening to the blasting +of rocks. It is recorded of her at this time that she never hesitated or +shrank from anything required of her. She sat down in the boat, or stood +up, or bent her head just as she was told to do. The loving care of the +parents was not in vain, they saw their blind child fearless and happy, +and well able to take the place due to her as second daughter. It is +recorded that at Liverpool she was present for the first time at a +really good concert, and that the music she then heard was a great +stimulus to her, as well as a keen delight. + +Dr. Gilbert preached at Liverpool, and from Liverpool they went to +Stockport. In the church at the latter place there was a brass band, the +sudden braying of which was a shock to her nerves which Bessie never +forgot. She was too young to dine or spend much time downstairs in the +houses where they stayed, but she always remembered the kindness with +which she was treated in schoolrooms and nurseries, and looked back upon +these early visits with great pleasure. + +The family hurried back to Oxford on account of the unexpected death of +Dr. Rowley before his term of office had expired, and Dr. Gilbert at +once entered upon the duties of Vice-Chancellor of the University. + +Many little incidents connected with her father's tenure of office were +a source of amusement to Bessie throughout life. + +The University marshal made daily reports to the Vice-Chancellor, and +informed him of any disturbance. One morning he stated that he had found +two men fighting near Wadham College and separated them. Some time +afterwards he came upon them in another place and did not interfere. +"And pray, why not?" asked the Vice-Chancellor. "Well, sir, you see, +they were very comfortably at it." + +This story was repeated at the breakfast table and made a great +impression upon Bessie. She told it and laughed over it throughout life. +If she was seated near a table when telling it, she would push herself +away with her two hands as if she wanted more room to laugh, a way she +had when very much amused. + +It was also about the same time that the butler, standing one day by the +open door, saw a freshman pursued by the proctor coming at full speed +down the street. Seeing the open door the young man darted in, and +rushed up the staircase. Silence for a few moments, and then peeping +over the banisters the youth said in an urgent whisper, "Is he gone, is +he gone?" + +Now, the humour of the situation was that whilst he was so eager to +escape from the proctor, nothing but a thin partition separated him from +the Vice-Chancellor in his study. + +We can picture to ourselves the butler's "Do you wish to see the +Vice-Chancellor, sir?" and the hasty exit! + +Meanwhile the child Bessie returned to her poems, her songs, her +improvisings at the piano, to lessons in the schoolroom, to that +terrible frame and the leaden type and raised figures, and the sums +which would not "come right"; to the brothers and sisters and the happy +home life. But she too had seen something of the great world lying on +the outside of Oxford, and could refer back to "my visit to the North." + +An old friend of the family remembers the first sight of Bessie as a +girl of about twelve years old. She was in the Magdalen Gardens with a +nurse and the little brother Tom, the youngest boy, of whom she was +always very fond. She was standing apart on the grass; standing +peaceful, motionless, with a sweet still face, and all the sad +suggestion of the large darkened glasses that encased her eyes. The +little boy picked daisies and took them to her and showed her the gold +in the centre. She smiled as she took them, and her slender fingers +fluttered about them. And the children, the flowers, the sunlight, and +those beautiful gardens in the early summer, made a picture in which +this friend always loved to enshrine her memory of "Little Blossom." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Published by B. Fellowes, Ludgate Street, 1841. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHAT THE PROPHETESS FORESAW + + "Cette loi sainte, il faut s'y conformer + Et la voici, toute âme y peut atteindre: + Ne rien haïr, mon enfant; tout aimer + Ou tout plaindre."--VICTOR HUGO. + + +The early summer of 1838 was spent by the Vice-Chancellor and his family +at Malvern. Bessie greatly enjoyed long walks on the hills, but either +from over fatigue, or because the air was too keen for her, she began to +suffer at that time from what she always spoke of as "my long headache." +It was a headache that lasted many months and caused the parents almost +as much suffering as the child. On their return to Oxford the family +doctor was called in and promptly applied a blister to the back of the +ears. + +The blister did no good; the child was often quite prostrate with pain, +probably neuralgia, but the doctor was a man of resource. The diary of +Mrs. Gilbert is instructive as to the treatment of such a case fifty +years ago. The entry "Gave Bessie two grains of calomel," begins in +August and is continued at short intervals throughout the month. +"Blisters behind the ears, to be kept open," are added to the calomel in +September. In October we have reached the more advanced stage of calomel +blisters, black draught (to be sipped, poor child), and leeches. The +treatment was continued, with additions, throughout November, and on the +21st of December Mrs. Gilbert makes the not very surprising entry, +"Bessie was worse this evening." + +The parents were by this time alarmed; and the doctor acknowledged that +he could do no more. Casting about for help, they bethought them of the +physician whom they had seen in London some years previously, of his +tenderness and sympathy. + +The rough draft of a letter written to him by Mrs. Gilbert still remains +to testify to the grave consideration given by the parents to the +adequate statement of the case, to their endeavour to recall it to his +mind and to their acknowledgment of his previous kindness and courtesy. +One point in their letter may be mentioned. "She is very fond of, and +has good talents for music," writes the mother, "but her pain is so much +increased by it that her music has had to be discontinued." + +Poor little girl! No privation could be greater. + +Of the answer sent by Dr. Farre there is no trace. But all drugs +disappear from the records, and there is an account of "veratrine +ointment," "a preparation of Hellebore known to Hippocrates," sent down +from London, and needing so much care in the application that the +Oxford doctor himself came every night to rub it on the child's brow. + +Early in 1839 she had quite recovered not only from the headache but +from the effects of the remedies. + +The music lessons were resumed, and before long she began the study of +the harp. A younger sister remembers sitting by her to teach the pieces +note by note. Bessie found it also very easy to play by ear and learnt +much in this way; but the harp was a difficult instrument, and the +management of it always fatigued her. + +During her childhood, Cardinal, then the Rev. J. H. Newman was incumbent +of St. Mary's, the church close to the house in High Street, and that +which the family attended. Even up to the last days of her life Bessie +used to say that she could not listen to a chapter in Isaiah, especially +any of those read in Advent, without hearing the sound of his voice. + +Cardinal Newman mentions in his _Apologia_ that, on account of his +doctrine and teaching, the Vice-Chancellor threatened no longer to allow +his children to attend St. Mary's. But the children knew nothing of the +proposed prohibition.[4] + +Augustus Short, afterwards Bishop of Adelaide, was one of Mr. Wintle's +curates at Culham. He remembers Bessie as a child, and visited her for +the last time when he was in England in 1884. Mr. Coxe, the late +Librarian of the Bodleian, was another of the Culham curates, the friend +of a lifetime, whose farewell letter to Bessie was written shortly +before his own death in 1881. He lived in Oxford, and went over to +Culham every Sunday. At first he was accompanied by his young wife, but +Mrs. Coxe was speedily overtaken by the cares of a family and could not +go with him. Mrs. Gilbert, with her warm, kind heart, took pity upon the +lonely wife, and invited her to spend the Sundays with them. In this way +she saw much of the _sisterhood_, the pretty name by which the eight +girls were known. + +They generally walked out on Sunday afternoons, and when they reached a +certain spot in Christ Church Meadows, Bessie would stop and say, "Here +you have the best view of Christ Church Towers." Other friends of this +and later times were Bishop Gray of Cape Town, Bishop Mackenzie, and Dr. +Barnes, Canon of Christ Church. The Provost of Oriel, Dr. Hawkins, and +Dr. Gilbert were great friends, and it was possibly on this account that +Bessie was a special favourite with the Provost. Mrs. Gilbert's uncle, +Mr. Wintle, was a fellow of St. John's. He was a wealthy bachelor, had a +fine voice, sang well, and was very fond of the society of his +great-nieces. The Gilberts were acquainted with nearly all the families +of the heads of colleges in Oxford, and the handsome, clever little +girls were favourites and were "made much of." When there was a dinner +party at home they came in to dessert, and accompanied the ladies to the +drawing-room, where Bessie would play and sing. She lived thus not +merely in a world of ideas, but in the external world of facts, of +things. When a friend once spoke of another lady as handsome, Bessie +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. ----, with such a nose!" + +Many of the fellows of Brasenose College were frequent visitors at the +Vice-Chancellor's Lodgings, and the old friends, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. +Bazely, were constant as ever. They joined the girls in their walks, and +paid frequent visits to the schoolroom, where the younger ones would +hide their caps to prevent them from leaving. + +Bessie used to delight in these visits, and looked back upon them as the +very sunshine of life at Oxford. Her poetry and music gained her much +sympathy. At this time, when she was about fourteen, she wrote a poem on +the violet which was much praised. At fifteen her intellectual activity +was the most remarkable point in her character, whilst at the same time +there was an equally remarkable absence of that rebellion against +authority which marks an epoch in so many young lives. Boys and girls of +that age begin to fret against the restrictions of childhood and youth; +they endeavour to cast aside laws and restraints; they are eager to +"live their own life" and to enjoy a freedom which they are all unfit to +use. Bessie knew nothing of this, or rather, she knew it in a very +modified, even attenuated form. The one extravagant desire which marked +her adolescence, was to be allowed the privilege of pouring out tea! + +It was urged in vain that she would not know if cups were full or half +full, that she could not give to each one what they wanted of tea or +water, milk or sugar. Her reply was always the same, she would know by +the weight. The decision of the parents, however, went against her, and +she had her one small grievance. She did not "take turns" in making tea. + +In the summer of 1841 Bessie, with a sister of nearly her own age, and +one of the little ones, went on a long visit to Culham. They took the +harp with them and practised diligently. They read history together. +Bessie gave daily lessons to her young sister, reading with her Scott's +_Tales of a Grandfather_, and teaching the child to love them as she +herself did. Whenever she had charge of a younger sister, poetry entered +largely into her scheme of education, and the "little sister" still +remembers the Scott, Wordsworth, and Mrs. Hemans, "Hymns for Childhood" +which she learnt at this time. + +Bessie loved romantic ballads and stories. She was more imaginative than +any of "the others;" and "the others" thought that the loss of sight +acted upon her like the want of a drag upon a wheel, when the coach goes +down hill. During this visit Bessie had such a constant craving and +eager desire for books, that even in their walks she induced her sister +to read aloud. They thus read Southey's _Curse of Kehama_, and she was +so much excited by it that somewhat to the alarm of younger persons she +went about repeating aloud "the words of that awful curse." + +There were plenty of books at Culham. Mr. Wintle interdicted two or +three, but amongst the rest his grandchildren were at liberty to select. +They picked out all that promised to be "most exciting," and this free +pasture made the visit memorable. Bessie was still "Blossom" to her +grandfather, a Blossom that he admired and loved, but Blossom only. +Never was a Blossom whose words and deeds have been treasured in such +loving hearts. + +"We looked upon her as a sort of prophetess;" and this view was +confirmed by incidents that occurred in 1842. The sisters were walking +together, and first one and then another suggested strange things that +might happen. "Why, who knows," said Bessie, "in less than a month our +house may be burnt down and we may be living in a palace!" Now within a +month it is recorded that a rocket let off in the street, and badly +aimed, went through the windows of the nursery in which several children +were asleep. The governess happened to be in the room, and with great +presence of mind seized the rocket and threw it back into the street. +Now here was at any rate the possibility of a fire. Still more +impressive was the fact that within the month Dr. Gilbert was appointed +to the See of Chichester. They would really live in a palace. + +Much excitement and no little awe in the nursery, not so much because +the father was a bishop as because Bessie was a prophetess. The bishop +would be comparatively innocuous in the nursery, but who could tell what +a prophetess might foresee! + +And so the pleasant Oxford life came to an end; and in spite of a +prospective palace, the _sisterhood_ thought the change a calamity. +Bessie specially disliked leaving her old friends, and her regret at +parting from them did not diminish but increased with time. Doubtless in +later years the inevitable restraint of her life lent an additional +charm to the memory of her youth in Oxford. The constant solicitude of +parents, friends, and sisters had kept from her in early days the +knowledge of limitations; but in the time that was at hand she was to go +forth to face the world and to learn more of the meaning of the +mysterious word blind. Canon Melville, who knew her in Oxford, writes to +one of her sisters as follows:-- + + + THE COLLEGE, WORCESTER, 1885. + + I have a very clear memory of the person and character of your + sister Bessie; it is a pleasure to me to recall them. + + The natural gifts and graces of her mind and disposition were only + heightened by the loss of her eyesight. That wonderful compensating + power which often makes amends for loss of faculty in one sense by + corresponding intensity in another, her moral and spiritual + sensitiveness with that inward joyfulness recording itself in + outward expression of a pleased and happy countenance, were + remarkably evident. Out of many little traits indicative of this + and her quiet intuition of what favourably or otherwise might + strike her moral sense, I remember once when the appearance of some + one she personally, for some unknown reason, disliked, was being + remarked upon, and I had pronounced my admiration of it, she turned + quite gravely to me, and with deep earnestness, as if she was then + seeing or had recently seen the form and figure of him of whom we + were talking, exclaimed, "Oh, Mr. Melville, I cannot agree with + you! How can you admire him!" Something that had jarred with her + moral perceptions having made her transfer her judgment on the + character to the form and features of the person, as though she had + seen the analogy she felt there must be between the outward and the + inward. + + Of the history of her self-devotion to the personal and industrial + improvement of those under like affliction with herself her whole + life was an illustration. Of that many must have much to tell. + + +During the removal from Oxford the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert were in +London with two daughters, of whom Bessie was one; Fanny and the younger +ones were left under the charge of the faithful governess, Miss Lander, +and in bright and copious epistles they inform Bessie of all that is +going on in the old home. They tell how they had heard Adelaide Kemble +in Oxford, whom Bessie is shortly to hear at Covent Garden; how they met +many friends at the concert; how one gentleman told them that Adelaide +Kemble sang better than Catalani; and how three who had not heard +Catalani said she was equal to Grisi. How some of the "Fellows" went +home to supper with them, and how they all stayed up till twelve +o'clock, a great event for the little girls and their governess, who +all send "love and duty to papa and mamma." + +There is another letter to Bessie, still in London, though the parents +have returned to Oxford, which gives a happy picture of last days there. +Bessie sends as farewell presents some of the little chains which she +makes, and the sisters sew them together for her. The father receives a +farewell presentation of plate, the elder girls darn rents in the gowns +of their friends, the Fellows of Brasenose, and so on it runs:-- + + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I write to you now in a great hurry to tell you to + send Mr. Melville's chain to-morrow by Mr. ----, as I expect we + shall see him some time to-morrow, and I could sew it for him. I + sent the mat on Tuesday, and when he came to tea in the evening he + said he must come to thank you for it to-day; but as I told him he + would not be able to see Sarah and Henrietta after this week, he + seemed to say that he should wait till next week to see you, which + I hope you will think quite fair. The plate was presented to papa + yesterday. The address was short, but a very nice one, and I + suspect chiefly written by Mr. ----. Papa's answer I have not seen, + as he had only one copy, which he left with the Vice-Principal. We + were none of us there, which I am almost sorry for, although it + would very likely have been too much for us. Papa is delighted + beyond measure with it.... We went last night to drink tea at + aunt's, and then went to sleep at the Barnes's. We are going to + dinner there to-night and sleep, for there is not a bed here. The + glasses and all the pictures are gone, and that has made the house + more deplorable than ever. Miss A. is here now, and seems pretty + well. You know that Mary and I have been mending Mr. A.'s gown for + him. + + He came this morning for it and stayed some time. He said he could + not have got it done anywhere else so nicely; that is a long darn + that Mary did for him. The B.'s have told Mr. W. that they will + keep their acquaintance with him for our sakes, so that he will not + be quite deserted; are not you glad of it? Will you ask Miss Lander + to send word where she left her Punch and Judy? If she doesn't + remember, I daresay it will be found; but we have not seen it. + There is a chance, I believe, of Mr. A.'s taking Selham, but you + must not say anything about it. All send love to + everybody.--Believe me to be your affectionate sister, F. H. L. G. + + +Whilst the parents were in London this year, Bessie paid one visit which +produced a great and lasting effect upon her. She accompanied her mother +to the blind school in the Avenue Road; and this seems to have been the +first time that the blind, as a class of the community, apart from the +majority, and separated by a great loss and privation, came under her +notice. The experience could not fail to be painful. She contrasted the +lot of these young people with her own in her happy home, and shrank +back in pain from institutions in which the afflicted are herded +together, the one common bond that of the fetters of a hopeless fate. +The matron of the girls' school, afterwards Mrs. Levy, remembers this +visit, and says the impression produced on her by the bishop's daughter +was that she was "delightful, beautiful, full of sympathy for the +blind." She remembers also that the Bishop preached in Marylebone Church +in aid of the blind school, taking as his text words that must often +have comforted and strengthened his own heart, "Who hath made the blind +and deaf, but I the Lord?" + +This year, 1842, was altogether a memorable one. Bessie's grandfather, +as a young man, had a living or curacy at Acton, where his chief friend, +the squire of the parish, was a Mr. Wegg. Another friend of whom he saw +much at this time was Mr. Bathurst, afterwards General Sir James +Bathurst, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington. A third was Miss +Hales, companion and friend of Mrs. Wegg. The Gilberts and the Bathursts +were Miss Hales's dearest friends; and she had a god-daughter in each +family, they were Catherine, younger daughter of Sir James Bathurst, and +Bessie, the blind grand-daughter of Mr. Wintle. Mrs. Gilbert always +corresponded with Miss Hales, sent her copies of Bessie's verses, and +information as to the health and progress of the child. Miss Hales died +in 1842, and by will divided her fortune between her two god-daughters. + +Bessie was thus placed in a different position from that of any of her +sisters; she alone when she attained her majority would have an +independent income during her father's lifetime. The Bishop was relieved +from anxiety as to the future of his blind daughter, and the necessity +of ample provision for her; but he felt strongly, and wished her also to +feel, that the possession of money brings with it duties and +responsibilities. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] "Added to this the authorities of the University, the appointed +guardians of those who form great part of the attendants on my sermons, +have shown a dislike to my preaching. One dissuades men from coming, the +late Vice-Chancellor threatens to take his own children away from the +church."--_Apologia pro Vita Sua_, p. 133. John Henry Newman, D.D. +Longmans, 1879. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PALACE GARDEN + + "Joy and woe are woven fine, + A clothing for the soul divine."--BLAKE. + + +By the autumn of 1842 the removal from Oxford to Chichester had been +accomplished. The Bishop and his family were installed in the palace, +which was to be their home for twenty-eight years. A new life was +beginning for Bessie, and one which, when the inevitable pain of parting +from old friends was over, she learnt to love very dearly. She had a +keen imaginative delight in the beauties of nature. She loved to hear of +clouds and sunset; of sunrise and the dawn, of green fields, of hills +and valleys. She loved the outer air, flowers, and the song of birds; +and she had passed the first sixteen years of her life in a house in the +High Street, Oxford. She was very proud of the architectural beauty of +Oxford, and always thought it a distinction to belong to Oxford; but her +whole heart was soon in the home at Chichester. + +The Bishop's palace has a beautiful old-fashioned garden, of which the +city wall forms the west and part of the southern boundary. A sloping +mound leads from the garden to within a few feet of the top of the wall, +and there is a green walk around the summit. There are grassy plots, +umbrageous trees, flowering shrubs, roses, roses everywhere; and there +are birds that sing all the long day in the spring-time. The black-cap +was a special favourite of Bessie's and of the Bishop's. A garden door +in the palace opens upon a straight gravel walk, with a southern aspect, +leading towards the western boundary wall. On the southern side of the +walk lies the garden, on the north a bank of lilacs, laburnums, and +shrubs. Here Bessie could walk alone; she needed no companion, no guide. +It was a new pleasure to her, and one of which she never grew weary. The +song of birds, the hum of insects, the rustle of the trees, all made the +garden a fairy palace of delight. A sister remembers how one summer +morning at three o'clock she found Bessie standing at her bedside +begging her to get up and dress, and go with her to the garden "to hear +the birds waking up." Her father always gave a shilling to whoever saw +the first swallow, and Bessie was delighted when the shilling had been +earned. + +The hall of the palace is a confusing place; there are many doors, +passages, rooms opening into and leading from it There was always a +moment of hesitation before Bessie opened the garden door or found the +turning which she wanted; but she quickly accommodated herself to all +other eccentricities in one of the most puzzling of old-fashioned +houses. + +She spent less time in the schoolroom at Chichester than she had done at +Oxford; she was indeed soon emancipated from the schoolroom altogether. +She was much with her mother in the pleasant morning-room adjoining the +bed and dressing rooms used by her parents. A steep spiral staircase, +without a rail of any kind, with half a stair cut away at intervals for +convenience of access to a cupboard or a small room, led from her +father's dressing-room to rooms above. One of these with a western +window so darkened by trees that no sunlight and very little daylight +entered, was assigned to Bessie and one sister, whilst another sister +was close at hand in another small room. The Bishop made a window to the +south in Bessie's room, which greatly improved it, admitting light and +air and all the sweet garden sounds and scents. The drawing-room is on +the first floor near the morning-room. You ascend to it by a few broad +stairs. A passage on the same floor leads to the private chapel attached +to the palace, where Bessie knelt daily in prayer. The dining-room on +the ground floor, the best room in the house, with its oak panels and +fine painted ceiling, was a great pleasure to her. Some years later, +when her work made it necessary that she should have a private +sitting-room, two rooms were assigned to her in the centre of the house, +one of which had been the schoolroom. Access to these is gained by a +long passage barely high enough to allow a full-grown person to stand +erect at the highest part, near the bedroom door; and sloping on the +other side to the floor and outer wall of the palace. Windows in the +steep roof look north into West Street. Bessie's rooms were close to the +angle formed by the centre and west wing of the palace, and had windows +facing south. + +Up and down the narrow steep stairs and along the passages to the +drawing-room, the morning-room, the dining-room, the chapel, the fragile +form of the blind girl was seen to pass with unerring accuracy. She +never stumbled or fell at Chichester any more than she had done at +Oxford. Indeed, Oxford was useful throughout life, as no difficulties +could be greater than those she had learnt to surmount in her childhood. + +Scarce a stone's throw from the palace is the cathedral, where the seat +of the Bishop's blind daughter is still pointed out. Bessie had a +personal pleasure, a pride and delight in the beauty of the cathedral, +spoke of it, as she did of any venerated object, with lowered tones; +knew its history and form, the plan of the building, the salient +architectural features, and all the best points of view. + +The Rev. Carey H. Borrer, Rector of Hurst Pierpoint, and Treasurer of +Chichester Cathedral, writes as follows of the impression produced at +this time: + + + My first introduction to Bessie Gilbert was when the Bishop had + just taken possession of the palace at Chichester. I had been + staying at Lavington with Archdeacon Manning (now the Cardinal), + and we went together to sleep at the deanery (Dean Chandler's), and + we all went to dine at the palace. Bessie was then very young, very + slight and fragile looking, dressed as usual in white muslin, and + with her dark spectacles immediately attracted my attention. In the + evening she went to the piano, and sang very sweetly and with much + pathos several familiar Scotch songs. I asked her if she knew + certain others, mostly Jacobite songs, with which I was familiar + from hearing my very dear friend William Harris (fellow of All + Souls', a devoted lover of Prince Charlie) sing them. She at once + warmed up and sang some of them. Others she did not know, and was + glad to hear something about them. Under that gentle aspect there + came out a heart full of fire and earnestness, which showed itself + in her interest for suffering and heroism, and afterwards found + field for its energy in her untiring efforts for the blind. + + Whenever we met there was always a warm shaking of the hand, and a + feeling of sympathy of tastes between us. + + I had not seen much of persons suffering from blindness, and I was + struck by her simple way of saying "I have not _seen_ him," or "I + should like to _see_ it"--something like Zacharias "_asking_" for a + writing-table. + + No one could be with Bessie Gilbert without feeling chastened by + the presence of a true, pure, warm-hearted, earnest Christian girl. + + I breakfasted at the palace the next morning after service at the + private chapel, and I was delighted at the Bishop's calling on one + of the younger girls to say grace. Mrs. Gilbert told me they took + it in turns. I should like to have heard Bessie's grace to her + Heavenly Father. + + +Very soon new friends gathered round the _sisterhood_; but at first the +change, so far as society was concerned, was keenly felt by them. There +were no Fellows of B.N.C. to come in with torn gowns to be mended, and +talk of Catalani and Grisi; no more dinners in the Hall, none of the +intellectual activity of university life. They had also far less of the +company of a father greatly beloved by all his children. Official +business at Chichester was much heavier than it had been at Oxford, and +absorbed more of his time. + +The Archdeacon of Chichester at that time was the Rev. E. H. (now +Cardinal) Manning. He was a frequent visitor at the palace, where a room +was set apart for him. As years passed on, the anxiety of his friends +with regard to his views increased. At last there came a day in 1851 +when he and Bishop Gilbert had a long talk with Bishop Wilberforce at +Lavington, and Archdeacon Manning returned to pay his last visit to the +palace. He wrote a day or two later to announce his decision to join the +Church of Rome. As he stood in the hall on this last visit he saw Bessie +enter from her favourite garden walk. She was as usual puzzled by the +doors, and hesitated a moment before coming to a decision. The +archdeacon saw this, and stepping forward took her by the hand: "I +believe you cannot find the way," he said. In speaking of this she would +add, in that gentle, solemn manner she had when she was deeply moved, "I +only said 'thank you,' but I thought is it I that cannot find my way?" + +In 1844 an event of great interest to girls in and out of the +schoolroom took place. A German governess, Fraülein D., replaced the +English lady who had for so long been a member of the household. German +became at once the most fascinating of all subjects of study for young +and old; and the Fraülein, with her open mind and, from the point of +view of those days, her advanced views, speedily acquired great +influence over Bessie. + +Fraülein D. describes the charm of the family circle at the palace, in +which the two prominent figures were the Bishop and his blind daughter. +Bessie had at this time a very tenacious memory. No matter how long the +reading of a book had been suspended, she could always repeat every word +of the last sentence. She was easily affected by any sad events that +were narrated, and would weep over them. Her parents, sisters, and +brothers had taken such pains to include her in all that was going +forward, and to make her and keep her one of themselves, that she would +say, "Oh yes, I see," and "How beautiful," when you talked to her. + +She was very particular about her dress, quite as much so as any of her +sisters, and specially scrupulous in the matter of gloves. Her hands +were small, white, delicately beautiful, and very feeble. She liked to +have such accurately fitting gloves that the time she took to put them +on was a joke in the family. + +Three of the sisters were at Culham when the Fraülein arrived, and many +bright letters passed between Bessie at Chichester and her own "special" +sister Mary at Culham. Bessie tells Mary how her brother Robert had +returned from the Continent, having learnt "a great many German words +and some French;" how he had grown fonder of music, and could allow +"that it is an art capable of giving a great deal of pleasure." She +gives all the little gossip of home, describes the new German governess +"a pretty figure, black hair, rather a large mouth, an animated +countenance, very lady-like and lively.... They (the younger ones) like +Miss D. very much, and so we do, all of us, I think." Bessie has read +_Don Carlos_, the _Bride of Messina_, and a play by Halm. Her reading +time is from four to five; but there are reading and needlework from +three to four, which all the elders try to join, and from which, we may +be sure, Bessie would not be absent. Then there is a dinner party at the +Palace: "She (the Fraülein) dined, and so did I." + +"As to the dinner part I managed very well. I had it all by heart. What +I was to have was all settled in the morning, so that I had very little +else to do but to talk, and that I did so much that I was really almost +ashamed. Mr. ---- took me down, and pleased mamma uncommonly by praising +me to her in the evening. I cannot think why." + +A little later Bessie is at Culham, and writes to Mary at Chichester. + + + Now don't make any more excuses about not writing. For my part I + have forgiven you, at least since this delicious weather, for we + have been out almost all day lately. Yesterday we walked to + Abingdon, did some shopping, and came back before breakfast. + [Inquiries about friends follow, and then:] Question upon question; + but no matter, answer another, who sent me the violets? though I + think my guess is right. If it was Mr. Ashworth it was very kind, + for I think they were the first he had found this spring. Take care + what you put in your letters to grandpapa. The last but one was + pronounced by a judge whose opinion I am sure you will agree with, + because you will think it right, to be very dignified and a perfect + specimen of epistolography. There were cries of "It won't do" all + through the letter. Do you think you shall come here soon? I begin + to want to see some of you. + + +Bessie, as usual, had charge of one of the little girls. She writes: "I +think Katie is improved since we have been here, but I cannot get her to +get up; so please ask mamma to say what time she is to get up, for now +it is not much before eight and often some time after." + +Now to an elder sister who wants to do her shopping at Abingdon before +breakfast, Miss Katie must have been a trial. But Bessie herself was by +no means perfect in this respect. Some years later she and a sister +about her own age paid a visit to an old lady, cousin of their father's, +in Yorkshire. This cousin rose early, was very punctual, and expected +her guests to be the same; but, "Say what I would," writes her sister, +"I could not get Bessie up in the morning, not even though I represented +that it made me appear to disregard Miss Dawson's wishes as well as +herself, and was not fair. The only answer I could get was, 'I say +nothing;' and the next morning she was as late as ever." Whether Mrs. +Gilbert was in this case also appealed to "to fix the hour" we are not +told. + +In the autumn Bessie is at home again, and, writing to her faithful +Mary, she says: "The week after next our house must stretch a slight +degree. There will be the Halls, the Churtons, the Woods from Broadwater +(it was Mrs. Wood who fought for the teaching of reading in St. George's +Schools thirteen years previously), the two Archdeacons, Mr. Garbett, +Mr. Simpson, and another gentleman, all in the house; and Mr. Wagner, if +he comes, will have a room at the inn. This will be something +like--won't it? I think mamma liked her visit to----." + +The Bishop, his wife, and one daughter, had been paying short visits to +influential people in the county. The young lady sends home letters +which show close and minute powers of observation and no small insight +into character. The rooms, the pictures, the plate and china, all are +described, and she ends by saying: + + + I suppose you will expect a comparison of the two families. The + gentlemen are far superior at A----; and though B---- is more + fascinating, and makes one feel for her as if one could do + anything, yet A---- seems to me to be superior to her in strength of + mind and also in acquirements. Lady C. is much younger than Lady + D., much more in awe of her mother, and being plain, has not the + appearance of being used to the homage of all around her like Lady + D. So ends my long story of a short but pleasant time, and if it + has tired your patience, at least you cannot complain of my not + having given you a full account. + + +Looking over these letters, taken back into the past by the yellow +paper, the faded ink, the old-fashioned writing, all angular and +sloping, letters fresh and vivid with youth, intelligence, and goodness, +one cannot but wonder if those written by a girl of seventeen, in these +days of high pressure, will be such pleasant reading forty years hence. + +Bessie was greatly interested in these visits, and she writes to Mary at +Culham: "Mamma saw some beautiful miniatures of the Pretender, the +Cardinal York and their sister the Princess Louisa. They were very +small, and set in turquoises and diamonds. I believe that princess +married the King of Sardinia." + +The Rev. T. Lowe, Vicar of Willingdon, who left Chichester thirty-five +years ago, says that he often met Bessie at the palace and in general +society at Chichester; that he made use of every opportunity he had to +cultivate her acquaintance. She liked to talk of music, and he +"remembers well the sweet expression of her mobile features, declaring +the peace and resignation that dwelt within. These, no doubt, made her +so alive to all pleasures within her reach. It was a touching sight to +see her joining, with evident enjoyment, in a quadrille at an evening +party at home or elsewhere." + +Mr. Lowe saw her occasionally after he left Chichester. She was +interested in some blind persons in his parish. One she rescued from +"the uncongenial life of the workhouse;" another acted as an agent for +her society; and she was specially interested in a third, both blind and +deaf, now dead. "Her sympathy with these sufferers was full of comfort +to them; and as to them, so to all to whom it is known, the history of +her long, patient suffering; of her submission to the heavy trial laid +upon her; of her thankful enjoyment of the blessings granted her; of her +loving endeavours to alleviate like suffering in others--will, I doubt +not, bring forth good fruit in other hearts and other lives." + +Mr. Wintle at Culham was now an aged man, and his infirm health gave +much anxiety to Mrs. Gilbert. After she had left Oxford one or two of +her daughters were nearly always with their grandfather. One of his +latest letters, written from his Oxford lodgings, was to his favourite +Blossom. + + + _27th November 1845._ + + MY DEAR BLOSSOM--As I have gained the reputation of not caring for + what I do or say, why may I not scribble a scrawl to you containing + what is found uppermost in my memorandum box? Not having been + admitted a member of the Abingdon Literary and Scientific Society, + you must look rather for trifles from a bagatelle warehouse than + for graver subjects culled from the repository of useful and + entertaining knowledge. But previous to opening my budget let me + express a wish that I may soon hear from one of the numerous palace + scribes of your mother's faceache having left her, and that you are + all as well as the damps of November will permit of your being. As + you probably knew nothing of my opposite neighbour Chaundy, + hair-dresser and perfumer, perhaps you will nothing grieve at + hearing that he is moving from the Corn Market to the High Street, + nor will you be much interested in hearing that Mr. ---- tells his + Oxford tradesmen that as he deals with them, he expects they will + come to his shop and buy a pig of him. Possibly you may be amused + by hearing that Mr. A. and Dr. B. have nominated five select + preachers, all ultra low church, of whom Mr. C. is one, who takes + an annuity of £500 from his parishioners in Holy Well, in + preference to a living from his college. So would not I. [And so on + through three pages of gossip ending:] And now with love to you + all, affectionately am I yours, R. W. + + +In the spring of 1846 the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert, with many but not all +the daughters, were in the Isle of Wight. Mary was again at Culham with +her grandfather, who was recovering from a serious illness, and had been +out "in a sedan chair." Bessie writes full accounts: "You should have +heard Nora begging to go. She has gained her point, you see;" and then +follows a description of the little house at Ryde, of their visitors and +friends, the books they were to read, etc. During this visit Bessie once +walked from Ryde to Shanklin, and was proud of the achievement. + +The Bishop's house in London at this time was in Green Street, Grosvenor +Square. He and Mrs. Gilbert with some daughters were there in the early +part of the year 1846, and Bessie was left in the post of honour, at +home. The father writes to her without making any allowance for +blindness. She is to give orders and arrange for their return just as +Mary would have done. + + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I write to you as Mrs. House, Mrs. Pomona, Mrs. + Flora, _i.e._ as having, under your aunt and Miss Deiss, sovereign + rule in the domestic, horticultural, and floral departments at + Chichester, but not as Mrs. Ceres, as with respect to the farm I + reserve the rule therein to John and Symonds, and Smoker and + myself, which may account for the bad condition things in that + department are in.... Now, in your domestic department let me + suggest to you to order preparations for the return of the + veritable heads of the family, possibly on Friday next, to dinner, + but you may expect to hear again. Then, in the horticultural, know + that a tub of regent potatoes, and eke a tub of blues, containing + each about a sack, may daily be expected. They are to be used as + seed at your and Holmes's discretion. Those which are not so used + you may direct to be put from time to time into a pot and saved for + dinner. In your floral department I do not presume to give any + hint; the greater will be your responsibility if either violets are + drooping or snowdrops and crocuses not in sufficient abundance. + Poor me! I am afraid they are all over, blossomed and gone while I + have been smoke-dried here. But mind you show me something when I + come, or I may prove a rat without a tail. Pray, why do none of you + little pusses write to me? I desire I may have an olla podrida, a + bit of something from every one, without delay. How do you think I + am to get on here all by myself? Yes, indeed! Pray, look to it, + Mrs. House, and mind your P's and Q's, and do not laugh, but let me + have my letter from all in a cluster, and I daresay in a clatter + too forthwith. So no more at present from your and their fond + parent and most loving father, + A. T. CHICHESTER. + + I suppose you know poor aunt E. M. has left you her piano. If your + grandpapa does not think it too large and would let it go to + Culham, should you object? + + +In August 1846 Bessie completed a long poem founded on a belief "which +prevails in parts of Burgundy, that the first flower which blossoms on +the grave of a departed friend links the soul of the departed in eternal +love to that of the person who gathers it." The verses are moderately +smooth and pretty, but give no great promise of excellence in that +department. + +It is, however, characteristic of the writer that she represents the +"departed friend" not as a lover, but as the father of the girl who has +gathered the first blossom, and that she concludes: + + + And strength was given to her through prayer + In patience all her woe to bear, + Clearly her duty to discern, + And never more her life to spurn. + She lived, not wrapt in selfish grief; + Wherever she could give relief-- + In poverty, sickness, or despair, + A spirit of comfort, she was there; + One of that heavenly sisterhood + Who only live for others' good. + + +Such words are like a feather thrown up in the air, they show the +direction of the prevailing current. + +For two years longer the visits to Culham and Oxford recur at frequent +intervals, and there is repeated mention of the names of old friends. +Every event of interest that affects them--births, deaths, marriages, +arrivals, departures, promotions, bridesmaids' dresses--all are duly +chronicled. Once we are told of two merry girls shut up with some of his +pet MSS. by Mr. Coxe, the librarian of the Bodleian, who was too busy +to join them. They emerged from his den in a state of enthusiasm which +satisfied even his requirements; but they had to undergo a severe +brushing from "his own clothes-brush and at his own hands," for, +"learned dust as it was, we could not carry it through Oxford." + +In 1847 the youngest brother, Tom, met with an alarming accident at +Westminster School. By some means when preparing to act in a play his +cloak caught fire, and he was almost burnt to death. Bessie used to tell +how the little fellow was found kneeling with raised hands, and praying +aloud, in the midst of a crowd of terrified boys, whilst the flames +leapt up above his head. He was so much injured that it was more than a +year before he recovered. His first letter, written with the left hand +and the greater part of it unintelligible, is to Bessie. He is the +little boy who was pulling daisies for her in Magdalen Gardens, and +telling of their golden centres. + +In 1848 Mr. Wintle died at Culham. Mrs. Gilbert was staying with him, +and the Bishop with some of his daughters started at once for Oxford +when he heard how serious the case had become. Mr. Wintle had expressed +a special desire to see Bessie, but he was almost unconscious when she +arrived. He was told that "Little Blossom" had come. "Where is she?" he +asked, and with a last effort stretched out his hand towards her. + +The pleasant home was henceforth closed to them, all silent and empty. + +The great-uncle also passed away in 1855, and though many friends +remained, yet from this time Oxford recedes, and is no longer a second +home. + +At this period Martin Tupper resided at Brighton; and Bessie, who seems +to have sent him a copy of "The Sea Gull," received from him a letter +which she valued, and a copy of "A Hymn and a Chant for the Harvest Home +of 1847, by the author of _Proverbial Philosophy_." He wrote as follows: + + + FURZE HILL, BRIGHTON, _23d August 1848_. + + MY DEAR MISS BESSIE--An autograph of such affecting interest as + that with which you have this morning so kindly favoured me, gives + me the privilege of a letter of thanks in reply. And thank you I do + very cordially; especially for having so soon and so amiably + fulfilled your intention of honouring my verses with your melodious + tones. When they are quite ready, I shall look forward with much + interest to a manuscript copy; and I am not sure but that, some day + or other, I shall run over and pay my respects at the palace, very + much with the self-interested object of hearing you do justice to + your own music. I am sure you will not refuse me this, especially + as here we have no piano; not but that I will go _toute suite_ to + ask Miss Wagner or the Fraülein to give me an idea of your "Sea + Gull," so as not to be altogether ignorant of the "sweet sounds" + which you have married to Mary Howitt's "immortal verse." I have + nothing here to offer you in return for your musical authorship, + unless you might be pleased to accept "from the author" the + enclosed. Pray make my best respects acceptable to your father and + mother and sisters, and believe me, my dear Miss Bessie, your + obliged and faithful friend, MARTIN J. TUPPER. + + Miss Bessie Gilbert. + + +In 1849 Bessie, with two sisters and a brother, paid visits in Ireland. +One of her chief pleasures was in listening to the echoes at Killarney. +Wherever she went the young blind lady called out warm sympathy. On the +way from Glengariffe to Cork they stopped at Gougon Barra to see the +famous "Healing Well." The guide besought Bessie in the most earnest and +pathetic manner to try the water, saying that he was sure it would +restore her sight, and entreating her brother and sisters to urge her to +make use of it. + +This was the first time, since the visit to Liverpool, that she had been +far from home, and she enjoyed her journey. She liked staying at hotels; +the novelty was refreshing, and she liked the feeling that she also +could travel and "see" the world. + +The Bishop writes to Bessie on the 11th September 1849 from the "Old +Ship private house," Brighton, as follows:-- + + + Now I doubt not that you enjoyed the mountain scheme as well as any + of them, and, with the aid of the mountain air, the potatoes too + and milk of the cottagers, not omitting, however, I daresay, the + more substantial viands which accompanied you from the Hospitable + Hall. As for the wetting and all that, of course you treat that as + heroines are bound to do--that is as trifles, where it is not + convenient to exalt them above their true character. + + +The "Hospitable Hall" is that of Lismore, Archdeacon Cotton's house, +where the travellers stayed for some time. Bessie's eldest brother +married Archdeacon Cotton's daughter the following year, so that the +visit was one of special interest. + +The Bishop had now a house in London, 31 Queen Anne Street, and the +family life was divided between London and Chichester. When she was +twenty-one Bessie had the command of her own income. One of her first +acts was to subscribe to the Philharmonic concerts. The daughter of an +old friend of her parents, Mrs. Denison (now Lady Grimthorpe), lived in +the same street, and also subscribed; she used to call for and take +Bessie with her. The impression which Lady Grimthorpe received at that +time was, first of all, "How merry she is:" and next, what an intense +appreciation she had of beautiful music, and what a happy, trustful +confidence in those about her. One night at the concert the gas suddenly +went out, fears of an explosion were whispered about, and many persons +left the room. Bessie put her hand in Lady Grimthorpe's and said: "I +have no fear whatever, with you. Go or stay as you think best;" and they +stayed. + +She would return from these concerts so bright and beaming, and give +such pleasure to her father by her animated accounts of them, that he +learnt to associate her enjoyment with a scarlet cloak she then wore. He +said he would have her portrait taken, and in that cloak, for she never +looked so well in anything else. Some time later this was done by Sir W. +Boxall, and the frontispiece to this volume represents a picture which +gives as much of the spiritual beauty and delicacy of Bessie's youthful +face as the painter's art can render. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SENSE OF LOSS + + "When the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter + which is heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher by means + of this very material."--MARCUS AURELIUS. + + +Bessie Gilbert, when she was about twenty, differed but little from the +sisters around her. She could read Italian, French, and German, and her +mental culture had been an education of the true and best kind. She had +an open mind, an ardent desire for knowledge, and a warm interest in all +the ways and works of humanity. The one accomplishment possible to her +was music, and from her childhood her singing and playing had given +pleasure to herself and others. "She never could sing out of tune:" says +a musical friend. + +She readily gained friends, for she was sympathetic and kind, and +inspired others with confidence. A lady, very young and shy at that +time, remembers calling in Queen Anne Street, and feeling alarmed at +every one except Bessie. Sitting by her side, and talking to her, the +shyest were at their ease. + +No hardships in her lot had up to this time come home to her. Indeed, +it is very doubtful if the want of sight to those born blind or those +who have lost the memory of sight, is in youth a greater conscious +privation than the want of wings. By degrees a different condition is +conceivable, because it is known in a certain way from description; but +as no person born blind can exactly realise what sight is, or what it +does, there is no conscious sense of loss. No person born blind can +comprehend the nature of the impression that sight conveys. Red may be +as "the sound of a trumpet," blue as the outer air, and green a +something connected with the meadows and the delight of flowers and +shade; but except to those who remember, the sense of sight is only a +name for the incomprehensible. + +Bessie did not remember, and therefore she did not know the special +hardship of blindness and that sense of irreparable loss, of "wisdom at +one entrance quite shut out," which is so heavy an affliction. + +As the years wore on she was, however, to learn the privations that +resulted from her loss of sight, although the loss itself was not, and +could not be, intelligible to her. + +Some day a gifted creature may tell us of the possession of an organ and +a sense revealing a dimension absolutely incomprehensible. We may come +to bewail our lower condition; but how without the organ or the sense +will it be possible to realise the nature of the loss or the advantage +of possession? + +Bessie by means of fingers or ears could get at the meaning of a book. +There is a third and quicker way, she is told, but how except through +fingers and ears can she realise it? Up to a certain point she has gone +hand in hand with sisters and brothers; if not indeed in advance of +them. She reaches that point full of ardour and enthusiasm, eager to +learn, to live, to work, and suddenly the way is barred. Blindness +stands there as with a drawn sword, and she can go no farther. + +The limitations of her condition touched her first on the side of +pleasure. She could join in a quadrille at Chichester, could dine at the +palace when there was a party, and "what she was to take" had been +arranged in the morning. But in London there were no balls for her, no +dining out except with a few very old friends, no possibility of +including her in the rapid whirl of London life. She had many +disappointments, and tried hard to conceal them. Only once, says a +sister, did she see a swift look of passing pain, when telling Bessie +about a ball from which in the early morning she had returned. It was +there for an instant, recognised by the loving and beloved sister, but +at once thrust away, and Bessie threw herself with more than ordinary +interest into the account of the pleasures of the evening. Another +sister tells how about this time Bessie began "to want to do impossible +things," to go out alone in London, to go alone in a cab, and if she +might not go alone, she wished to give her own orders to the cabman. + +Reading and writing depended largely on the time that others could give +her. Writing was a slow and laborious process. She could write in the +ordinary way, but to do so she had to remember not the form of a letter +but the movements of her own hand. Such writing had to be looked over in +case a word should be unintelligible, and she could therefore have no +private correspondents. Girls in Oxford and at Chichester had plenty of +spare time, but when the family was divided, and those in London or at +Chichester had the duties of their position as well as its pleasures to +attend to, there grew up almost insensibly a different order of things. +In childhood and youth the blind daughter was the centre of all activity +and pleasure; but the blind woman inevitably recedes more and more. She +no longer leads; she can with difficulty follow; and at a distance which +increases as the years go on. + +The five or ten years that elapse after she is twenty, form the turning +point in the life of a woman, whether married or unmarried. During that +period, when she begins to tire of mere pleasure, there will come either +the earnest and serious view of life which shows it all golden with +promise, as a gift to be used on behalf of others; or a settled drift +towards the current of levity, frivolity, and self-seeking, which may +carry her down to age, dishonoured and unloved. + +That which caused Bessie the keenest grief at this time was the +impossibility of achieving what she wished to make her life, and not the +loss of its pleasures. But it was the loss of pleasure which preceded +all other privations. Her tendency was, as it always had been, towards +things that were noble, and high, and good. Without any fault of her +own, without any change in her own condition, she discovered that +blindness would be a permanent bar to activity. Sisters began to marry +and be sought in marriage. A home of her very own, a beautiful life, +independent of the family life, and yet united to it; fresh interests +and added joy to all; the hope of this, which was her ideal of marriage, +she had to renounce. + +Work in the world, even a place in the world, there seemed to be none +for her. Blindness, which had been a name, was becoming a stern reality. +She asked about the blind around her, those who had to earn their bread; +and the same answer came from all. She saw them led up to the verge of +manhood and womanhood, and then, as it were, abandoned. They were set +apart by their calamity, even as she was. Their sufferings were not +less, but greater than her own. Poverty was added to them, and the +enforced indignity of a beggar's life. + +She bore her grief alone. She could not speak of it even to those she +loved most dearly, and entirely trusted. She could not consciously add +to the pain she knew they felt for her. But in those early years she +would often sit silent and apart in the drawing-room at Queen Anne +Street, tears streaming from her eyes. Sometimes she would spend hours +together upon her knees, always silent; but the flowing tears spoke for +her, and with an eloquence which she little realised. The sense of want +and suffering was to be for her as it is for many, the great instrument +of education. Whilst so many around her were craving for something to +set them above their neighbours, some gift of fortune, some distinction, +she was learning the need of that which should place the poor blind on +the same level as others, learning to renounce for herself and for them +any higher ambition than that of being like the rest of mankind. + +The distress of her parents, who could only stand apart, watch and pray +for her, was very great. They did not see how help was to come, but they +continued in the old course. There was no aid for the blind, no +invention which they did not eagerly inquire into, since it might be the +appointed means of deliverance. Their sympathy was doubtless a great +comfort to Bessie in this time of trial. They may not have been able to +meet her in words, but she knew their hearts, knew that they never +despaired; that their past, present, and future, were alike irradiated +by hope for her, and, if for her, then for all those under like +affliction. There were many, doubtless, who at this time would have +justified the assertion of Mr. Maurice:[5] "The first impulse of most is +to say, in such circumstances, 'Hold your peace. We are very sorry for +you; but in the press and bustle of the world we have really not time to +think about you. We are very fortunate in possessing our senses; we +must use them. To be without them is no doubt a great calamity, but it +has been appointed for you; you must make the best of it.' That appears +to be a very natural and reasonable way of settling the question. If the +votes of the majorities ruled the world, that would be the only way." + +Bessie cannot have failed to meet and speak with many of the "majority," +whose quiet acquiescence in a misfortune that did not come near them, +would often "give her pause." + +Social questions also attracted her attention at this time. A sister +remembers reading Lord Ingestre's _Meliora_ to her, and the intense +interest she took in the question of bridging over the chasm between the +rich and the poor. It was not a new question to her, this bridging over +a chasm. It was that which, under another aspect, was engrossing so much +of her attention. The discovery of a method, or even the suggestion of +the possibility of such a discovery, would be a sign of hope. + +The first ray of light, however, came through a very small chink, and +not at all in heroic form. + +During the Great Exhibition of 1851 her parents learnt that a Frenchman +was showing a writing frame of his invention, and that by means of it +the blind could write unaided. The inventor, M. Foucault, was invited to +Queen Anne Street. Bessie learnt to use the frame, and soon found that +it made her independent of supervision and assistance. She could write +and address a letter herself; and here at last she stood in one respect +on an equal footing with those around her. + +She used in later years to date from the time she had the Foucault +frame. A medal was awarded to the inventor, but owing to some mistake it +was not sent to him. Bessie was instrumental in procuring and having it +forwarded to a man whom she looked upon as her benefactor. + +Her friendship with Miss Isabella Law, which lasted throughout her life, +was inaugurated over the Foucault frame. A correspondence was carried on +between them with regard to it, and Miss Law, blind daughter of the +Vicar of Northrepps, who was preparing a volume of poetry for the press, +found it very helpful, and at the same time found a dear and valued +friend. + +Another use which Bessie made of the frame was to write, in 1851, to a +young blind man named William Hanks Levy, of whom she had heard at the +St. John's Wood School for the Blind. He was an assistant teacher there, +and in 1852 married the matron of the girls' school, with whom Mrs. +Gilbert had corresponded in Bessie's childhood, and who had sent +embossed books to Oxford. Levy did all the printing for the St. John's +Wood School, and Bessie wanted an explanation of the Lucas system in use +there. She could read every kind of embossed printing, and when she +heard of any new system, always inquired into it. She knew at this time +the triangular Edinburgh in which the first books she possessed were +printed, Moon, Braille, the American, and several shorthand types. She +could read Roman capitals and the mixed large and small hands. She +always considered the Edinburgh type the simplest; but when she found +how many adults lose their sight, and how slowly their sense of touch is +developed, whilst in some it is not developed at all, she thought that, +on the whole, it might be best to use Roman capitals for the blind, that +this would offer greater facility than any other system for those who +had previously learnt to read, and would present no greater difficulty +to those born blind. She made no effort for the advancement of her view +on this subject, and in later years always advocated the use of Moon's +type for those who lose sight as adults. + +Her own keenness of touch was marvellous, but then it had been carefully +trained from the time that the little child sat beside her father at +dessert, and poured out his glass of wine. She always knew the hands of +her sisters, could tell them apart by touch, and though they would +sometimes try, they were never able to deceive her. She also remembered +by touch people whom she had not met for years. But she recognised that +her power and that of some of the born blind was exceptional, and the +development of it due to careful training. + +And so her letter written to inquire into a system which she did not +understand, turned her thought for a time to a question which always +interested, though it never engrossed her, that of deciding upon a +uniform type for embossed printing. + +All paths are right that lead to the mountain top, provided we remember +that we are going up the hill and keep ascending. + +Bessie had taken this very humble path of typewriting, and it led her +upwards and onwards, showing her the possibility of giving aid to others +through experiments and trials of her own. + +It has already been mentioned that General Sir James Bathurst was an old +friend of the family; and in London his children and the Gilberts saw +much of each other. Sir James's eldest daughter, Caroline Bathurst, was +one of the little band of so-called "advanced" women who, about this +time, 1850, were interested in every movement having for its object the +development and intellectual culture of women, and the throwing open to +them of some career other than that of matrimony; since matrimony was +seen to be not possible or even desirable for some women, such, for +example, as Bessie Gilbert. + +Miss Bathurst had taken part in the opening in 1848 of Queen's College +for Women, Harley Street, by the Rev. F. D. Maurice and the Professors +of King's College, London. She also gave hearty assistance and +furtherance to the opening of a similar institution in Bedford Square by +the Professors of the University College, Gower Street. She was one of +those who gave earnest and deep thought to the difficult problems of +life, who was willing to work to the uttermost of her power, to give +all that she had,--time, money, health, even life itself, if only she +might aid in raising the condition of women and establishing them as +"joint heirs of the grace of life." + +No one has ever worked more ardently, more enthusiastically than she +did. Over women younger than herself she exercised an irresistible +fascination. Her courage, her hopefulness, her high and lofty aims, +carried others as by a mighty wave over obstacles that had seemed +insurmountable. She was a few years older than Bessie, had full +experience of all the best that life can give, and also of the deepest +sorrows. Those who have seen her will recall the slight graceful figure, +broad low brow, and eyes youthful and beautiful like a child's; eyes, +with love and trust and happiness looking out from them. And at this +very time she was suffering from an incurable malady, and enduring +martyrdom with heroic fortitude and without one murmur. + +Such a friend for Bessie and at such a time marks an epoch in her life. +The dear sister Mary was now married, and Mary had also seen with +heart-felt sorrow that the condition of her blind sister was inevitably +and painfully changed. On a subsequent visit to her old home it was she +who first suggested that Bessie should give her time and money for the +benefit of the blind. She urged that instead of being laid aside as +useless it might be that God was preparing her for a great work on +behalf of others. + +Miss Bathurst was at the same time laying before Bessie the duty and +the privilege of a career of some kind, telling of her own labours +amongst the poor, and doing all that was possible to loving sympathy in +order to stimulate and encourage her. + +By degrees the dark cloud of depression passed away. It was to gather +again and again during the course of her life, to blot out sun and sky +and present happiness, but never to settle down into despairing +incurable gloom. + +Bessie heard from Miss Bathurst much of the poor in London, of their +troubles, and of their poverty. Her own sympathies naturally led her to +consider the condition of the blind poor. She began to make inquiry as +to their number, the places they lived in, the work they did, their +homes and social condition. Note-books full of facts and dates and +numbers testify to the activity of this time. And then once again her +attention was directed to the blind teacher in the Avenue Road School. + +In the autumn of 1853, she was then twenty-seven years old, she wrote to +ask Mr. W. Hanks Levy to call upon her in Queen Anne Street. She said +she had been told that he could give her the information she wanted as +to the condition and requirements of the blind. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] MS. Sermon on the Blind, Rev. F. D. Maurice. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BLIND MANAGER + + "While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good." + MARCUS AURELIUS. + + +The interview in Queen Anne Street was one of the most important events +in Bessie's life. + +Her feeble health, her limited opportunities of ascertaining the +condition of the poor, her imperfect knowledge of their requirements and +their powers, made it imperative that she should find an ally with +health and energy, with experience that might supplement her own, and +with equal devotion to the cause she had at heart. + +W. Hanks Levy, who called at her request to tell her about the blind +poor, was one of whom she had often heard, and with whom she had already +corresponded. He was an assistant teacher at the school in Avenue Road, +married to the matron of the girls' department. + +Levy was of humble origin and blind from early youth. His education, +such as it was, had been received at the Avenue Road School, but he was +essentially self-taught. Outside of the narrow routine of the school he +had worked and striven to obtain knowledge, to find help for himself and +others. He was a man of small stature and of slender build, with +plentiful dark hair on head and face. He wore darkened spectacles, which +covered the sightless eyes. His nose was large and well formed, and the +mouth fairly good. All the features were marked by extreme mobility, a +sensitive tremulousness often seen in the blind. It is as if they did +their thinking outside. Bessie had this same tremulous mobility of +feature; her soul fluttered as it were about a thought, and you saw +hope, apprehension, joy, fear, or dismay when it was first presented to +her. + +Levy was a man of eager intelligence and generous heart. He earnestly +desired the amelioration of the condition of the blind. Their +disabilities had pressed upon him from his youth upwards, and upon all +around him. + +Living in an institution, and able to measure himself by no higher +standard than that which it offered, he had not, however, realised the +actual limitations of blindness. It is doubtful whether he ever did +realise them. He would, therefore, have been an unsafe guide, but he was +an excellent follower. He would have resented interference from those +whom he called "the sighted," but he submitted to the blind lady; her +nurture, training, and delicate sense of the fitness of things gave her +a strong hold over him. He accepted her judgment when it was opposed to +his own will, and faithfully carried out her views and wishes. + +During this first interview in Queen Anne Street he told her of the +various institutions in Great Britain and their work, and especially of +the work done in London. At her request he investigated carefully, and +obtained dates, facts, and figures that were reliable. Bessie found that +the institutions for the blind provided instruction for the young, and +for them only. Statistics showed, however, that by far the greater +number of blind persons lose their sight as adults, from such causes as +fever, smallpox, and accidental injury. They lose sight when others are +dependent upon them, and when blindness means either the life of a +beggar or life in the workhouse. And again she learnt that the existing +institutions dismiss young men and women who have been fairly educated +and taught a trade, on the assumption that, as adults, they can practise +their trade and earn a living. This conjecture tells cruelly upon the +blind. They leave many of the institutions with an adequate stock of +clothes, and either with tools or with money to purchase tools; and then +begins a hopeless struggle. Private friends diminish in numbers, and are +gradually lost. The blind men and women cannot go about from place to +place in search of work, cannot work without special contrivances, which +are not to be found in ordinary workshops, and have no market for their +goods if they work at home. + +But do blind people wish to work, or would they not rather beg? asked +many to whom Bessie spoke on this subject. To this she replied that she +did not know; must try to find this out. For some months, at her +request, Levy went into the streets and accosted every blind beggar whom +he met, asking him or her to tell the story of life to a blind man. +"Which would you rather do, work or beg?" he would ask when the speaker +had finished. And in almost every case the answer was "Work." "Why, I'd +rather work, but how can I get work; or, if I get it, how can I do it? +And where can I sell it, if I work at home without orders?" + +These were the difficulties that experience brought to light, and after +many months of close and patient investigation, Bessie at length saw a +way open before her. "Don't work yourself to death," a friend said to +her at this time. "Work to death," she said, with a happy laugh; "I am +working to life." + +She saw that some one must come forward to befriend the blind poor, some +one who could supply material, give employment, or dispose of the +articles manufactured. + +Why should she not do this? + +Her parents warmly approved of the course she proposed to take, and +brothers, sisters, friends encouraged her. They saw that it would bring +occupation and interest, which she sorely needed. They could not foresee +how the little rill was to widen into a broad stream, and what +far-reaching results it would have. + +In May 1854 "Bessie's scheme" was started. Seven blind men were employed +at their own homes, material was purchased for and supplied to them at +cost price; the articles manufactured were to be disposed of on their +account, and they were to receive the full selling price, minus the cost +of material. + +A cellar was rented in New Turnstile, Holborn, at the cost of eighteen +pence a week, and Levy was engaged as manager, with a salary of half a +crown a week, and a percentage upon the sales. The cellar was to be a +store-room for materials and goods, and as the basket-makers could not +bleach their baskets at home, a binn was fixed so that this part of the +work could be done in the cellar. Levy recommended a young man named +Farrow to put up the bleaching binn. Farrow had lost his sight at eleven +years old in consequence of a gun accident. He had been educated in the +St. John's Wood School, was a very good carpenter and cabinetmaker, and +a man who could readily turn his hand to anything. But like many others +who had left the school, he was without work or prospect of work. + +He fixed the bleaching binn and arranged the cellar as a store-room +without any assistance, and from 1854 to the present time he has been +employed by the institution which sprang from that small dark cellar in +Holborn. + +Levy's theory was that no man with sight should interfere with the +blind; that an opportunity ought to be afforded them of showing that +their work is thorough and complete, and that they can stand alone. It +may, at that time, have been necessary to take such a step in order to +convince the general public that blind men and women could do anything +at all, but the theory involves a limitation which is to be regretted. + +Bessie's education, experience, and sympathy would naturally lead her to +try to restore the blind to their place and their work in the world, to +ameliorate their condition but not to alienate them, not to separate +them from home and companions. Her own happy youth, her work in the +schoolroom at Oxford, her enjoyment of the home at Chichester, all +tended to prevent her from being drawn into the current with enthusiasts +who looked upon the blind, less as afflicted, than as persecuted and +oppressed. She had gradually learnt that blindness is a limitation which +the most loving and tender care cannot entirely remove. To be blind, to +be a woman, both imply considerable restrictions: but Bessie was not +predisposed to consider one state any more the fault of society than the +other. She would labour to remove the disabilities of either condition, +but she always recognised that they were inherent, and did not arise +from persecution or ill-will. + +It is necessary to say so much at this time, because we shall see that +in many points Bessie did yield to the judgment of one who took an +extreme view; who, himself educated in an institution, surrounded only +by blind people, often of a very feeble capacity, had learned to look +upon himself more as a member of an oppressed and persecuted race than +as an afflicted man. Levy wished to show that the blind could do their +work and manage their affairs in their own way, and that it was as good +a way as any other. No "sighted" man was to interfere in the workshop. +He invented a system of embossed writing, and he used to send to +Chichester weekly accounts of the money paid for basket and brush +material, and in wages. This money was remitted by Bessie, and when +brushes and baskets were sold she was to receive the price paid for +them. The liabilities that she undertook were rent, manager's salary, +percentages on sale, incidental expenses, and losses. These, with only +the cellar and seven blind men at work, would not be more than she could +afford, and with the approval of her family she set to work bravely to +sell her brushes. + +The only point on which the Bishop gave advice was, that difference of +creed should not be taken into consideration in selecting the workmen to +be employed. He urged this very strongly, and Bessie carried out his +wishes. + +Levy's bills, in embossed writing, were copied by Bessie's mother and +her sisters; the weekly accounts were kept by these ladies from May +1854, when the cellar was taken, until the end of the year. + +In the earliest records comes the pathetic entry: "Man to see colour." +This man, in spite of Levy's resolve to employ none except the blind, +reappears pretty often as the "Viewer." He used to "view" the baskets +and their colour. + +On the 16th of August 1854 Levy's wages were raised to 10s. per week, +and at that time the cost of rent, postage, and porter for one week +amounted to no more than two shillings and two pence. + +The cellar was, however, found to be inadequate to the requirements of +the undertaking, and it was decided that Levy should take a small house, +No. 83 Cromer Street, Brunswick Square. Bessie rented one room from him +at half a crown a week. It was to be used as a shop, and was known as +the Repository. The cellar in Holborn was given up. + +As the work of the seven blind men depended mainly upon orders, there +was no great accumulation of stock, but some few specimens were on hand. + +During the year 1854 Levy's accounts were copied sometimes by Mrs. +Gilbert, sometimes by Bessie's sisters or her sister-in-law. They were +quite clear to the two principals, but outsiders found them confused and +confusing. Bessie's younger brother took them in hand and tried to +reduce them to order, but the task was a hopeless one. Some bills were +entered more than once, whilst others were not entered at all. To +Bessie, who kept these accounts with unfailing accuracy in her head, the +difficulties with regard to entries must have seemed one of the +disabilities of sight. We learn some particulars as to the original plan +from a statement by Mrs. Gilbert; for each amanuensis kept her own +special copy of accounts. + +"As much is to come back from the men for material as has been +originally expended by Bessie for material. + +"The men take material weighed out by Mr. Levy one week and pay for it +the next week. + +"This, with the value of the stock of material on hand, should tally +with what has been originally paid for materials of mats or baskets." + +Some light is thrown on the view of all concerned with regard to these +pecuniary details by a letter from Levy, dated 5th December 1854, and +written from + + + W. H. Levy's + Repository for Articles + Manufactured by the Blind + Books and apparatus for their use + 83 Cromer Street + Brunswick Square. + + +He writes with regard to a description of mat which only one man, Burr, +can make, so that it will take him two or three weeks to execute an +order from Brighton, wanted immediately. He asks Miss Gilbert to have +the kindness to advise him concerning this matter, and says he has +enclosed last week's accounts, but is "fearful through the multiplicity +of business that the items, although correct in general, are somewhat +confused in detail." Then follows a lengthy superscription-- + + + I remain + Dr. Madam with + Gratitude and Respect + Your obedient + Humble S^t. + W. H. LEVY. + + +The "confusion in detail" seems to have been considerable, and Mr. +Gilbert's summary for 1854 was as follows:-- + + + Total of disbursements on Levy's account £159 11 0 + Total of Mandeville's bills not entered 60 5 8 + ------------ + £219 16 8 + + Total of receipts for material (presumably + from workmen) £54 4 11 + Total of other receipts (presumably sales) 32 8 9 + ------------ + Total receipts £86 13 8 + Loss 133 3 0 + + +To this are added the following remarks:-- + + + This account is only approximate. To the disbursement should + certainly be added about £6 paid to Levy for himself and not + entered, and one lost bill of Mandeville's (£4: 18: 6), if not more + than one. The receipts also are probably imperfect. + + +The word _loss_ is one that would not approve itself to either of those +chiefly concerned. Bessie was _giving_ freely of her income, Levy was +spending economically and carefully. Each knew that there was no error, +though there might be irregularities which seemed considerable to those +who were not primarily concerned in the great cause. + +For three months in 1855 there follow a most bewildering series of +accounts. Disbursements, receipts, sales, and a few donations are all +entered on one page. Such a course probably induced further remonstrance +from _the sighted_, and in March 1855 a more orderly system is adopted. +Receipts and disbursements are neatly kept on separate pages, and +confusion henceforth ceases. + +We may recall that Bessie always hated "sums," and found them +bewildering. She was, however, very accurate in mental calculation. She +knew what money she had advanced, on what occasions and to whom. No +amount was omitted or entered twice over in her memory. It was only by +slow degrees that she learnt the value of written records, the nature of +them, and the necessity of absolute accuracy in matters of business. +Ledgers and cash books and journals at first indicated merely a certain +incapacity in _the sighted_; but time and experience taught her that +they were indispensable. + +The work of the Repository had engrossed much of her time, but in the +summer she accompanied her parents and other members of the family on a +tour in Scotland. She was in very good health, and walked with a brother +and sister from Stirling to Bannockburn and back. Her love of early +Scottish history gave her a special interest in the places visited. As +they drove through Glencoe it was carefully described to her. Inverness, +as being near Culloden, was specially attractive. At Oban she heard of +the taking of Sebastopol, and this recalled her to the interests and +anxieties of that time. She enjoyed staying at Scotch hotels; but on the +whole she had derived less pleasure from the Scotch than from the Irish +tour. She found nothing so beautiful as the Killarney echoes, and missed +the warm-hearted sympathy and genuine interest of the Irish peasantry +and guides. + +The one point that stood out pre-eminent as the outcome of her visit to +Scotland was her inspection of the School for the Blind in Edinburgh. +The work done there gave her many ideas, inspired many hopes and plans. +But she saw more clearly than ever that her scheme was a new departure, +and returned with confidence in her own power, and that of her blind +workmen, to carry it forward. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ROYAL BOUNTY + + ... "From the cheerful ways of men + Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair + Presented with a universal blank + Of nature's works."...--MILTON. + + +We must remember that Bessie's scheme was at first a private matter, and +that there is no reason why a blind lady's accounts should be kept like +a tradesman's books. Bessie Gilbert had arranged that her weekly bills +should be copied by members of her family rather for their information +than for her own. So far as she was concerned she could remember what +she gave, and had only to take care not to exceed her income. This +seemed at first a simple matter, but before long the increased +expenditure in connection with "the Repository" began to be a source of +anxiety. The sale of goods entailed very serious loss. The workmen +received the full selling price of articles minus the cost of material, +and Bessie bore all charges and expenses, so that any considerable +development of the trade would have left the promoter of it penniless. + +Moreover, it was inexpedient to pay workmen as wages what was in +reality a gift. If they had received trade prices they could not have +lived on what they earned. Their work was much slower than that of the +sighted, and they had less of it. These conditions made the scheme an +experiment; and in the meantime the difficulty of the workmen was +surmounted by giving them everything. + +They executed an order for the trade or for an individual when it was +obtained, lived on the money, and waited for another order. This seemed +inevitable at the time; but the mistake was that for many years the men +considered the large sums paid as wages to be really their due. Now if +wages had from the first been fixed on the ordinary scale, and an +additional sum given as bonus, many subsequent difficulties might have +been avoided. + +About five-sixths of the articles produced by the seven workmen were +sold in the trade at a discount of from 25 to 40 per cent, the latter +being the ordinary sum demanded and allowed. A further discount of 25 +per cent was allowed to the blind salesman. Thus a deficiency of from 50 +to 65 per cent had to be made up on all articles sold to the trade, to +which must be added the cost of rent, manager's salary, printing, +porters, etc. + +To the blind lady and her assistant the only method that suggested +itself for the reduction of expenses was, that the articles manufactured +should be sold to the public and not to the trade. They must have, not +a repository but a shop, and a shop in a public thoroughfare. They must +make appeals for _custom_, and then income would suffice for the +expenses of management. It is doubtful whether Bessie ever wrote a +letter after 1855, save to members of the family, without an allusion to +the urgent need of customers. + +The work of the institution grew steadily, the number of applicants for +work increased. In reply to appeals for custom, donations were beginning +to come in, offers of subscription also, and it was evident that the +enterprise, begun in the cellar, was to grow and develop. Bessie found +that to make provision for supplying work, only in the homes of the +blind, would seriously restrict the industries to be carried on, some of +which required a special workshop. She saw that much more would be done +for the blind in a shop or factory, where they would find the requisite +material, often bulky as well as costly, and the requisite appliances. +These could not be provided in the single room of a blind man with a +wife and family. There was also a daily increasing demand amongst the +blind, not for charity but for work. It was not men only who applied. +Poor, respectable women, condemned by blindness and poverty either to +beggary or the workhouse, began to turn to her, to implore her to save +them also, to teach them a trade, and enable them to earn an honest +living. The opportunity for the employment of women was not to come for +a year or two, but the appeal issued on the behalf of work for blind +_men_ was changed to one on behalf of blind _persons_. + +After six months in the Holborn cellars and eight months in the little +room in Cromer Street, it was decided that Levy should take a house and +shop at 21 South Row, New Road (now Euston Road), and that in the first +instance four rooms should be rented by Bessie at £26 a year. Levy was +henceforward to receive 12s. 6d. a week as manager, and his wife was to +serve behind the counter and to have, as a temporary arrangement, 25 per +cent on all articles sold in the shop. + +This increase in the expenses made it necessary that Bessie should +obtain help from the outside public; and the change of her work from a +private to a public undertaking was anxiously discussed in her own home. + +The Bishop urged that there should be a Committee of Management as soon +as subscriptions were asked for; and pointed out to his daughter the +responsibility of administering money belonging to others. Having done +this he left the matter in her hands, and she, like a dutiful child, +submits her case when she has come to a decision. She writes on her +Foucault frame in July 1855, from 31 Queen Anne Street:-- + + + MY DEAR PAPA--I wanted to have spoken to you about what I am now + going to write, but had no good opportunity before you went. The + situation of the shop in Cromer Street stands very much in the way + of the sale of my mats and baskets. No one goes into that street + unless they go on purpose, therefore I am sure it would be better + to move into a really good situation, which I cannot do without + subscriptions. + + Mr. Taylor has said a good deal about the situation being a great + hindrance to the sale of the work, so have several people, so now + what I wish to tell you is that if you see nothing to the contrary + in the meantime, I shall begin on Monday to ask for subscriptions. + I have three promises, four rather, and I know I should soon get + more.... I remain, ever your dutiful and loving child, + + BESSIE GILBERT. + + You see I have taken rather for granted that you would have no + objection, and so as there is not much time now before we go, I + said Monday; as I thought it would be better to begin as soon as I + could. + + +To this the Bishop replied: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _6th July 1855_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--Your letter was nicely written, and I read it for + myself very fluently. If it must be so, it must; indeed you could + not launch into a high-rented house without subscribers. You may + put me down low in the list for five pounds [£5] a year. I do not + think you will do very much now until next spring, but you may make + a beginning. It will grow under God's blessing. You must let me + know, before I go into the North, what sum must be left accessible + at Hoare's for the wants of E. M. M. G. Levi and Co.--I am, my + dearest Bessie, yr. ever affectionate father, + R. T. CICEST^R. + + +On the 13th July Bessie writes again from Queen Anne Street: + + + MY DEAR PAPA--I would not be troublesome if I could help it, but I + cannot help it. I do think it would be well for my undertaking to + form a Society, and I want to know if I may set to work to do + whatever I can towards it. I send you a list of the people + Henrietta [a sister] and I have thought of for the Committee. Would + you mention any you think advisable? Of course I cannot tell that + any named in this list will agree to the proposal, so that it will + be well to be prepared with a good choice. Mr. Green and Mr. + Futvoye I am sure of, and Mr. Green will subscribe five guineas a + year. I am very anxious to get all this settled before leaving this + year, and as people will be leaving town soon, when once I have + your sanction I shall write to the people thought of, to ask them + whether they will undertake it. Of course there will only be a few + who will really work, but we must have names besides. I send you a + copy of the proposed rules. My notion is not to have a public + meeting this year, but only to let the Committee meet, and to hire + a room for this purpose. Levy suggested that Mr. Taylor should + visit the workmen at their homes. I think he would do this well. + Our love to mamma. We hope she is better.--Your loving, dutiful + child, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +The Bishop's reply has not been preserved; but as the first Committee +consists of persons selected from the list furnished, he probably had +few changes to suggest, and in forming a committee Bessie was carrying +out advice he had previously given. + +An appeal to the public was drawn up by her, of which the following is a +copy. On the reverse was a list of goods made by the blind, with prices. +The public was informed that these articles were superior in durability +and equal in price to those ordinarily offered. It was hoped that the +circumstance of their being entirely made by blind men would induce +purchasers to encourage the industry of those who labour under peculiar +disadvantages in obtaining employment. + + + ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + In addition to the many difficulties which the loss of sight + imposes on all blind persons, those whose livelihood depends upon + their own exertions labour under three great disadvantages. + + 1. Comparatively few have an opportunity of acquiring a trade. + + 2. The trades taught are very few in number. + + 3. Those who have acquired an industrial art rarely obtain constant + employment or a market for their manufactures. + + In consequence of these difficulties great numbers are reduced to a + state of beggary and degradation. These would, as a class, be only + too thankful to be enabled practically to refute the prevailing + idea that a life of pauperism, or at best of dependence upon + almsgiving, is an inevitable necessity of their condition. It is + surely the duty of the community at large to afford them an + opportunity of so doing, and thus enable them to take their right + position as active and useful members of society. + + An undertaking was set on foot in May 1854 by a blind lady to + ensure regular employment to blind working men. This has been + gradually extended, so that the number now employed is fourteen; + and a department for teaching new trades has been added, at which + there are six pupils, particular attention being paid to the + instruction of those who, on account of age, are ineligible for + admission to other institutions. The mental and religious welfare + of the blind is also sought; and a circulating library of books in + relief type has been established, to which the indigent are + admitted free of charge. + + To secure the continuance of the above undertaking, and in the hope + of its becoming, under God's blessing, gradually enlarged, and + eventually to a great extent a self-supporting National + Institution, an Association is now formed under the above title, + whose Committee, including the original promoter of the + undertaking, earnestly solicit the active support of all who + acknowledge its claims on the sympathy of the public. + + +Then follow the names of the first Committee. + + + The Treasurer, Henry Sykes Thornton, Esq., 20 Birchin Lane. + + COMMITTEE. + + Adams, James, Esq., 2 College Villas, Upper Finchley Road. + + Anson, Sir John, Bart., 55 Portland Place. + + Dale, Rev. Thomas, Canon of St. Paul's, 31 Gordon Square. + + Dixon, James, Esq., 1 Portman Square. + + Dyke, Charles, Esq., R.N., 6 Eaton Square. + + Elmsley, William, Esq., Q.C., 46 Harley Street. + + Futvoye, Edward, Esq., 8 Acacia Road, St. John's Wood. + + Gilbert, Miss, 43 Queen Anne Street, and Palace, Chichester. + + Glennie, Rev. John D., junr., 51 Green Street, Grosvenor Square. + + Green, Frederic, Esq., West Lodge, Avenue Road, Regent's Park. + + Hollond, Mrs. Robert, Stanmore Hall, near Harrow, and 63 Portland + Place. + + Johnson, George, Esq., M.D., 3 Woburn Square. + + King, Henry, Esq., 8 Lowndes Street. + + Kynaston, Rev. H., D.D., St. Paul's Churchyard. + + Powell, Mrs., 2 Palace Gardens, Kensington. + + Summers, William, Esq., 10 Great Marlborough Street, Regent Street. + + Bathurst, Henry A., Esq., 101 Baker Street, } + Portman Square, and 12 and 13 Great } + Knightrider Street, } Auditors. + } + Wintle, R. W., Esq., 10 Tavistock Square, and } + 22 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, } + + Fyers, Captain, R.A., 3 Westbourne Place, Paddington, Hon. Sec. + + Superintendent and Collector, Mr. William Hanks Levy, 21 South Row, + New Road. + + +The projected Committee seems not to have acted in 1855, as at the end +of the year the account-book shows no sign of the supervision of +auditors. + + + The disbursements for the year had been £323 1 1 + The receipts stand as 141 5 4 + --------- + No balance is drawn, but the sum contributed + by Bessie must have been £181 15 9 + + +Her efforts on behalf of the blind met with grateful recognition. +Amongst the letters which she valued and preserved is one which belongs +to this period; it was probably written in the winter of 1855-56. The +paper is old and ragged, doubtless the letter has often been read aloud +to her and to others. It is undated, and for obvious reasons unsigned, +the blind workmen could not write their names; orthography and +punctuation are uncertain, and capital letters scattered at random. The +scribe employed wrote badly and spelt imperfectly, but no doubt the +letter was a genuine one, the outcome of warm though somewhat +incoherent feelings of gratitude and affection. She to whom it was +addressed knew this, and prized the poor letter accordingly. The +spelling is now corrected, and some punctuation attempted in order not +too greatly to bewilder the reader. + + + The humble address of Blind Workmen employed by their benefactor + Miss Gilbert to the Same. + + MADAM--We the recipients of your bounty beg permission to be + allowed to express our gratitude collectively for the benefits we + have received from the Society instituted and under your + governance. With the deepest feelings of gratitude we have to thank + you for the great assistance during the last severe winter and the + constant support we have when no other work was to be procured. We + look upon this society as a time arrived in which our Heavenly + Father has placed in your hands the deliverance of the blind from + the worst of their afflictions, namely the Sting of Poverty. Madam, + we are assured it is a difficult undertaking and must be a great + trouble to contend with Tradesmen and to show forth our + capabilities. We must acknowledge that it is moved by God's + influence. It is what has been wanted since England has been a + nation, for a country so great not to employ their own blind in a + permanent manner appears to be a thing which no one till the + present ever attempted. We have considered that the truest manner + to show our gratitude and Satisfaction for the benefits received + would be allowed to present a small permanent testimonial which + shall impress on all minds the great blessing conferred upon us, + and how thankfully it is received by your humble Servants. + + +There is nothing to indicate the nature of the "permanent testimonial," +nor that it was ever presented; but the wish to make some return for +benefits received, and the gratitude for work done on their behalf, +could not fail to encourage the blind lady. + +She had now the moral support of her Committee, but there was at this +time no Association, properly so called. No rules had been drawn up, +there were no Committee Meetings, and Bessie had not only to "contend +with tradesmen," but to conduct in the best way she could "the sale of +my mats and baskets." + +Levy was strongly impressed with the necessity of showing the capacity +of the blind, their power as well as their desire to work. It was +necessary to ascertain what trades it was possible for them to follow, +what trades were open to them, and under what conditions. He had found +by his own inquiry that the greater number of the blind poor were +willing to work; he now occupied himself, with Bessie's approval, in +making experiments in various handicrafts. + +She had acquiesced in his wish that none but blind persons should be +employed in the Institution, and that no trades should be carried on +there except such as the blind could work at unaided. Her own +experience, as well as the theory of her parents, had shown that more +can be done for the blind by including them with, than by separating +them from the sighted. But the argument to which she yielded was one +often urged by Levy: that it would be impossible to interest the public +in the scheme, unless the blind worked unaided, and it was made clear +that they were capable of following a trade. He also urged, and with +more reason, that the teacher of the blind should be a blind man, who +knows from his own experience the difficulties and the limitations of +blindness, and who has overcome them; for the teacher who knows these +only from theory will not have so intelligent an appreciation of them, +nor be so likely to discover the aids required by the blind. + +No one could have worked with more enthusiasm or energy than Levy +himself. He learnt trades and tried experiments with tools, introduced +brush-making, and prepared the way for the great development which he +and Bessie now foresaw. She also was not idle; the possibility of +employing women was always before her, and she made experiments with +regard to occupations that might be suitable for them. + +Her private scheme was now about to expand into an Association managed +by a Committee. Before the final step was taken she wished to secure all +the objects for which she had hitherto laboured, and to prepare for the +changes which were imminent. She endeavoured to obtain friends and +allies, and the success which attended her efforts was no doubt in part +owing to the fact that she was the daughter of a bishop and was herself +blind. She was spared the long and weary search for patrons and support +to which many are condemned. Her name, her position, her privation, +secured immediate attention from those who were able to give both money +and influence. So great was her success, that in the winter of 1855 she +decided, all the necessary preliminaries having been arranged, to appeal +to the Queen. + +In January 1856 she sent to the Queen an autograph letter, written on +her Foucault frame, and with the consent of Her Majesty the +correspondence is now reproduced: + + + MADAM--The loving care ever shown by your Majesty for the welfare + of your subjects, together with the benevolent interest which your + Majesty and your Royal Consort are so well known to take in works + of mercy, have emboldened me most humbly to pray for the gracious + condescension of your Majesty and your Royal Consort towards an + undertaking for employing the blind which has been carried on + during the past year and a half, on so limited a scale that but + very few have derived benefit from it. Being myself blind, I have + been led to take a deep interest in the blind, of whom there are + stated to be twenty-seven thousand in Great Britain and Ireland, + out of which number but a small proportion can be received into the + existing institutions, on leaving which many even of this number + are reduced to beggary from the difficulty they find in obtaining + employment. Could the endeavour to remedy this evil become truly + national, the condition of the blind, as a class, would, with the + blessing of God, be materially raised and improved, and this + nothing could so effectually ensure as the sanction and gracious + patronage of your Majesty and of your Royal Consort. The plan of + the undertaking for which I have ventured humbly to plead with your + most gracious Majesty, is to ensure to the blind workman a fixed + sum weekly, in remuneration for his labour; and also to teach those + too old for admission into institutions, some trade. Should your + Majesty be pleased of your gracious condescension to grant this + request, the hearts of your Majesty's blind subjects will be ever + bound to your Majesty in love and gratitude.--Your Majesty's most + dutiful, loyal, devoted, humble servant, + E. M. GILBERT. + + +Perhaps at this point one may venture to call attention to the fact that +a person born blind or blind in early life can seldom spell quite +correctly. The training of the eye tells for much in the English +language, and the unaided memory cannot be relied upon. Bessie's +autograph letters are rarely free from defects; and the letter here +copied may have been discarded when it was found on supervision to +contain _admition_ for admission, _Concert_ for Consort, and one or two +other trifling inaccuracies. Some of her intuitions in spelling--only +think in how many cases a blind person's spelling must be intuitive--are +delightful. She gives instruction for a letter to be written to the +Rector of Marlbourne, our old friend Marylebone, and speaks of a +statement she remembers in De Feau. + +The autograph letter to the Queen was duly corrected, no doubt, and +despatched. It elicited the following reply from Colonel Phipps: + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + WINDSOR CASTLE, _15th January 1856_. + + MADAM--I have received the commands of Her Majesty the Queen to + inform you in reply to your application, dated the 11th instant, + that that paper does not contain sufficient intelligence with + regard to the institution which you advocate, to enable Her Majesty + to form any judgment upon it. + + I am therefore directed to request that you will have the goodness + to forward to me the prospectus of the institution in question, + containing the particulars of its objects, locality, and mode of + management, and also an account of its financial position, + including a balance-sheet of its income and expenditure. I shall + have then an opportunity of bringing the question fully under the + consideration of Her Majesty.--I have the honour to be, Madam, your + obed. humble servt., C. B. PHIPPS. + + +This letter was the most valuable contribution yet received, and the +suggestion of a balance-sheet the most practical thing done on behalf of +the scheme. + +There was immediate and anxious effort to comply with the suggestions +made, and on the 1st of February the details, dignified by the title of +"a Report" with such balance-sheet as could be produced, was forwarded +to Her Majesty. The reply of Colonel Phipps was again prompt, and as +Bessie justly considered it, "very gracious." + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th February 1856_. + + Colonel Phipps presents his compliments to Miss Gilbert. He has + laid the papers relative to her scheme for the employment of the + blind before Her Majesty the Queen, and has received Her Majesty's + commands to forward to her the accompanying cheque for £50 towards + the funds of this establishment, which promises to be so useful to + persons labouring under privation which particularly entitles them + to compassion. + + Should the plan prove successful, as Her Majesty hopes it may, and + have the appearance of becoming permanent, Colonel Phipps is + commanded to request that a further report may be made through him + to Her Majesty. + + +The kindly hand thus held out by the Queen to her blind subjects gave a +great and valuable impetus to the work. The Duchess of Gloucester sent a +donation through Colonel Liddell. Subscribers and donors came forward in +sufficient numbers to show that if blind men wanted work, both work and +wages would be provided. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS + + "Give unto me, made lowly wise, + The spirit of self-sacrifice."--WORDSWORTH. + + +Throughout 1856 Bessie was mainly occupied in writing letters to all and +sundry. She wanted money, and more even than money, she wanted custom. +From the very first she saw that customers were of greater importance to +her than subscribers, for it was customers who could ensure the +stability and permanence of her scheme. If the blind were to be +employed, there must be a sale for the articles produced; and the +greater the sale the larger would be the number of workmen required. +Hence the sale of goods, the appointment of agents in country towns, and +the sending out of price lists, were important matters. + +She received help and encouragement from many friends. Letters, which +came from those who had known and loved her as a child, gave her great +pleasure, and were carefully preserved. + +The following is from a former fellow of Brasenose, the Rev. J. Watson: + + + OXFORD, _2d June 1856_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I fear I shall not quite respond to your wishes + exactly in the way you desire. But I will do something; I am not + fond of annuals, I forget them; and arrears are discreditable. Nor + indeed am I sure but that the enclosed (£10) may be more effectual + than an annual £1. _Vita brevis._ + + All nations have some prudential maxims about present possession. + La Fontaine has a fable to the point, but I cannot call it up. + There is our own famous English proverb, the very Magna Charta of + prudential security. A bird actually in grip is worth the more + abundant but doubtful contingencies of the distant bush. I am glad, + however, of the opportunity of being able to do so much in the way + of donation, following in a modest way the example of our most + gracious Queen and governor. + + Thankful too I hope that, being reduced myself to almost a state of + helplessness by the same calamity, I am not obliged to appeal to + the charity of others; and have even something to give to relieve + the necessities of fellow-sufferers. + + So much for request second. As to request first, I will do what I + can. But I am a bad beggar, and people are not very easily + persuaded (far from it); 6d. in the pound property tax, poor rates, + champagne, lighting, anything will do to stop the mouth of a + petitioner. I doubt not in the range of your philanthropical + experience you have met with many a cold shoulder. I believe you + might disperse a mob more effectually by the exhibition of a + subscription list than by reading the Riot Act. It is very useful + in clearing your room of officious visitors. Produce a list for the + conversion of somebody to some thing which he was not before (to + wit, the Pope to a coadjutor of Dr. Cumming or Lord John Russell to + an honest statesman), and, presto! the whole scene changes. "Well, + Watson," says one, "I must be off, I have several calls to make." + "Bless me," says another, taking out his watch, "it's getting on to + half-past five (the clock has just struck three) and it's my week + to read in Chapel." Helter-skelter away they go, like Leonora + pursued by the ghosts. + + + Der Mond scheint hell, + Hurrah! die Todten reiten schnell. + + + Well, Bessie, you have called up old times. Merry days they were, + and have left no sting. I sometimes see Mary. I go occasionally to + Didcot, where there are nice children; but Milton Hill is just a + mile and a half too far off. I can't walk as I could in those days + when we used to saunter through the scented glades of the happy + valley, or penetrate the mysterious horrors of Bagley. The last + fragment of those excursions was with Fanny and Henrietta to + Headington and round by Marston (as intended), but time was getting + on, and your good uncle would be waiting for his dinner. So in an + evil hour we made a short cut across the fields and verified the + proverb,--Hedges without a gap; ditches without a plank; gates + guarded with _chevaux de frise_ of prickly thorns. It was then that + Henrietta, madly pushing at an impracticable passage, uttered that + famous parody: + + + I'll brave the scratching of the thorn, + But not a hungry uncle. + + + But I am spinning out a double-thrummed homily, and you have better + things to attend to. My love to you all. Believe me, my dear + Bessie, _vuestros hasta la muerte_, + J. WATSON. + + +Bessie had sent as a Christmas present to Dr. Kynaston a silk +watch-chain of her own make, a favourite gift of hers to dear friends. +In his reply the doctor proposes to make an appeal to the public on +behalf of the blind. He writes: + + + ST. PAUL'S, _26th December 1856_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--Your pleasing remembrance both of me and of old + times was a happy and early beginning to me of yesterday's holy + celebrations. I think you over-rate my love of flowers. Till we + used to pick them together, I fear I was but a Peter Bellish sort + of being, of whom it is said that + + + A primrose by the river's brim + A yellow primrose was to him, + And it was nothing more. + + + I seldom look at wild flowers now but I think how you used then to + take them in your hands and feel them, and exclaim, "How beautiful + they are," admiring and loving them far more than any of us, I + always believed. + + The chain, too, is highly prized, and I am delighted to show it to + my friends, and both to tell them that you could work it, and that + it was worked for me. + + I feel almost inclined to draw up a short account of your + institution, with a little memoir of the foundress, appending some + of the verses suggested in former years to my mind by your cheerful + and happy contentedness in the midst of those sad privations which + you now seek to alleviate in others. + + Circulated together with the more official and, of course, less + affectionate "statement" which was lately sent about, a little + memoir of this kind might do good to the cause. I should entitle it + "God's Fondness to the Blind," and it need not exceed many pages. + + If you approve I will set about it at once, and let you have the + results of my labour of love in the shape of proof sheets in a few + days. + + We join heartily in wishing you and all your home party a happy + Christmas, and with much affection, I am always, my dear Bessie, + most truly yours, + H. KYNASTON. + + Miss Gilbert, Chichester. + + +Dr. Kynaston's suggestion was not carried out, it must have been most +distasteful to Bessie. + +Just in proportion to her desire to make known the cause for which she +worked was her dislike to personal notoriety. She felt keenly moreover, +and at all times, the pain of becoming remarkable through a calamity or +a defect. She could appreciate the writer's motive, and would answer +kindly and gratefully; but the proposal was at once put firmly aside. + +Her eldest brother, Mr. Wintle (he had taken his grandfather's name), +gave her much valuable assistance during 1856. He and Mr. Henry +Bathurst, brother of her friend Caroline Bathurst, acted somewhat +informally as auditors during the year, compared vouchers, examined +bills, and no doubt enlightened her as to the method of book-keeping +which would have to be adopted so soon as the Committee was fairly +established, and had taken over the management of the institution. This +was not done until January 1857. Bessie was probably anxious to draw up +rules for the institution which should embody her own views; but during +the infancy of the scheme she saw that she had not adequate knowledge +upon which to establish them. She had still much to learn as to the +powers as well as the defects of the blind, and she shrank from +legislation until she understood "her people." + +Mr. Wintle opened an account at Drummond's, a "Fund for employing the +Blind," to which donations and subscriptions were paid. In reply to her +own appeals, as well as in consequence of newspaper accounts and +sermons, she received many letters. + +From all parts of the United Kingdom persons interested in the blind +applied to her for advice, or wrote on behalf of men who professed a +desire to learn a trade and earn their own living. Some of these were +really in earnest, but many were not. When arrangements had been made to +send them to work in London they drew back. Bessie was not discouraged. +She became more than ever convinced that the life of a beggar is +demoralising; but she knew that already, and had long seen that old +people will not give up begging, and that all efforts to improve their +condition must be made on behalf of the young. An extract from a single +letter will suffice to show the frequent result of a prolonged +correspondence and of final arrangements to receive a blind man as +pupil: + + + I was delighted to see Miss Gilbert's letter, and immediately had a + talk with him [the blind man] which was not satisfactory, for he + said that, even if we should succeed in getting him the employment, + he is sure he could not support himself by work, as he was a much + shorter time under instruction than is usually the case.... He + seems to think he can do better by making a basket occasionally and + carrying it about the streets for sale, and begging of the few + people who know him. I am sorry it ends so for the present, for I + think his case a very distressing one. He was born in New York, and + has no parish in England; he has one tiny child here who leads him + about. His wife, with, I think, two more children, is in the + Bristol Union. + + +Many similar cases helped Bessie to understand those on whose behalf she +laboured; but they never closed her heart to the appeal of a blind +person who was in need. The area of her work was enlarged, as well as +that of the aid which enabled her to carry it on. Not all those who +clamoured for employment really wanted it. They meant _alms_ when they +said _wages_, and drew back in disgust from the offer to teach them a +trade and make them self-supporting. They were often even more degraded +and vicious than poor. + +To see and know this, and yet not to lose heart, to "hold fast to that +which is good" when evil abounds, is a difficult task. Bessie did not +shrink from it, and she did not misunderstand her work. She was merciful +and compassionate to those who had fallen, felt for them in the +solitude, the poverty, the despair that had driven them to evil courses, +would relieve them in actual want, but she soon learnt that nothing +could be done with or for them in the workroom. They might be reached, +and indeed must be reached by other agencies, but the _teacher_ could do +nothing. + +The practical outcome of this experience was extreme care in selecting +the persons to be taught and employed, and a very tender compassion in +reference even to the hopeless and abandoned. Their lonely, sad +condition was never overlooked. + +Bessie was very cautious in the selection of members of the Committee +who would henceforth govern the Institution, and a letter written about +this time on her Foucault frame to an old Oxford friend will be read +with interest. She not only wrote many of her own letters at this time, +but addressed her own envelopes, and very puzzling the postman must +have sometimes found them. + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _16th January 1857_. + + MY DEAR MRS. B.--I hope you will not think this letter very + troublesome, but I know not in what other way I can gain the + information I wish than by troubling you with these lines. I + remember you have heard of my undertaking for employing blind + workmen. I have now formed an Association under the title of "The + Association for promoting the general welfare of the Blind," in + order to extend its usefulness, and to place it upon a more + permanent footing than it could have had when in the hands of one + individual. Now my object in writing to you is to ask whether Mr. + A., who is, I believe, a clergyman at C., knows or could find out + anything about a Mr. D., living, I believe, at C. He is a very + large fur dealer, very rich; he is blind, and I am anxious to have + him on the Committee of the Association, but must know more about + him before this can be done. He has a warehouse in the city, I + think, in Cannon Street or Cannon Street West. I want all the + information I can get with regard to his character and principles, + etc. I thought perhaps you would be able to get this for me through + Mr. A.'s family, or direct from himself if you would kindly write + to him on the subject. I send you some of the present price lists. + Brushes, hassocks, and servants' kneelers are now made, besides + mats and baskets. + + By far the greater number of the blind become so after the age at + which they can be admitted into institutions, so that in most cases + these have not even the opportunity of learning anything by which + they can earn a living. I am anxious to have this want supplied, + and six are now being taught trades who would not be admitted into + other institutions, and this branch will, I hope, be gradually very + much extended. Then there is a circulating library in raised books + to which the poor can belong free of charge, and others by paying + the subscription required by the Committee. If you think it would + be well, and will tell me so, I will write to Mr. A., but as I + thought you knew him, or, at all events, his family, I thought + perhaps you would be able, and would kindly undertake the matter, + which is only one of inquiry. We are a large family party now. M. + with her husband and three children, and E. with her two children, + are all here. Robert is gone back to London and law. Papa and mamma + are really very well, and would send kind messages did they know I + was writing. I hope you can give a good account of Mr. B. With very + kind New-Year greetings from us all to him and yourself--I am most + sincerely yours, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +During the whole of 1856 the possibility of giving employment to women +as well as men had been occupying Bessie's close attention, and it was +one of the things she wished to arrange whilst the management was in her +own hands. She found that the ordinary work of blind women, knitting, +crochet, etc., could not be relied upon as a means of livelihood. + +Experiments had to be made in brush making, chair caning, basket work, +wood chopping, and the trades that were being opened up for blind men. +These unremunerative experiments might not be sanctioned by a Committee; +and in fact the greater number of those made and the decision with +regard to them date back to the time when Bessie was the supreme and +ultimate authority; and they were made at her own cost. + +By the close of 1856 she had drawn up a set of rules to be submitted to +the Committee. One of the most important of these was that a +Sub-Committee should be appointed, whose duty it was to select the blind +persons to be employed. She would not hear of giving votes to +subscribers and enabling them to force upon the institution worthless +and incompetent persons. Careful selection was essential to her scheme, +and was one of the chief causes of its early success. + +Another matter which she deemed of importance was a stipulation that the +"present superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his +office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General Committee." + +The rules recapitulate the object and set forth the work of the +Association. They were submitted to a general meeting of the +subscribers, held on the 19th December 1856. + +The meeting having first resolved itself into the Association for +Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, unanimously approved of the +rules, and adopted them as the laws of the Association. They are +interesting as the outcome of Bessie's endeavours to ameliorate the +condition of the blind, and are therefore given at the end of the +chapter. + +A Committee was appointed on the 1st of January 1857, and in May of the +same year a report was issued, with a balance-sheet, showing +subscriptions and donations to the amount of £435, £75 of which had been +contributed by Bessie herself. Interesting tables were appended, giving +the age, address, cause of blindness, family, income, to what amount +employed by the institution, and nature of trade of all men working for +the Euston Road shop, together with similar lists of men and women +desiring employment, of applicants at the institution, and of members of +the circulating library. + +The three months' report was a preliminary to a meeting held in Willis's +Rooms on the 26th of May 1857. The Bishop of London was in the chair, +the Bishop of Oxford spoke, and afterwards wrote to Mrs. Gilbert: + + + LAVINGTON HOUSE, PETWORTH, _30th May 1857_. + + MY DEAR MRS. GILBERT--I must tell you with many thanks what + pleasure your kind letter gave me, and how glad I was to be able to + take part in _that_ meeting. I did not at all please myself in what + I said, _because_ I wanted to show in the instance of your own + daughter how God brought good out of such suffering; how the inward + character, intensifying and become sanctified by grace, made the + sufferers as an angel in the house, do what otherwise they never + would have done, by the example of her becoming the foundress of + this institution--but she was present, and I could not trust myself + to say all I felt. May God's blessing rest abundantly on this good + work.--I am ever, most sincerely yours, + S. OXON. + + Mrs. Gilbert. + + +We have now the result of Bessie's three years of arduous labour. Her +institution was fairly afloat. The Bishop of London had consented to act +as president, and the Rev. Thomas Dale, Canon of St. Paul's, was the +vice-president. Notices of the meeting appeared in the London papers, +and were copied in provincial papers. Donations, inquiries, and orders +increased, and so did applications for employment from blind men and +women. The Bishop of Chichester had written a prayer to be read before +Committee meetings, and this prayer was used by Bessie until the last +day of her life. She looked upon it as a solemn sign of her father's +approval, and as sanctifying all her efforts on behalf of the blind.[6] + +No period of her life was so rich and full as the few years that +followed the first development of her scheme. She was surrounded by +friends who were enthusiastic in the cause, ready to serve her, and +willing that she should guide and control the work which she had +initiated. Some of those who gathered round her in 1857 are still +working for the institution. Captain, afterwards Colonel Fyers, who for +a time filled the part of honorary secretary, was a faithful and +generous friend to the blind from 1857 until his death in July 1886. Mr. +Summers still sits on the Committee. + +One of the first things done by the Committee was to take a lease of the +house occupied by Levy, then known as 21 South Row, and subsequently as +127 Euston Road. It was prepared as a factory for the blind. Rooms were +set apart for the various trades, and the requisite fittings and tools +were supplied. A large front room on the first floor was assigned to +women. + +Many informalities and irregularities which had sprung up insensibly +whilst the undertaking was small and private had now to be abolished. +The Committee directed that subscriptions and donations should no longer +pass through the trade cash book, and we may assume that a strict method +of book-keeping was adopted. + +An initial difficulty there was, and always will be, in the management, +by amateurs, of business which involves the purchase of material from +foreign markets. Prices rise and fall, quality is open to deception, +wages have also to be adjusted, and manufactured goods must be sold +wholesale as well as retail. This is taken in hand by a Committee +consisting of ladies and gentlemen, many of whom could probably not +dispose of a basket of oranges on advantageous terms. + +Bessie herself by this time had acquired considerable information in +matters of business, and she knew the difficulties that surrounded her. +Practical knowledge of this kind would have justly given her a prominent +place on any Committee. Her own Committee placed her without hesitation +in a position from which she was never deposed. They looked upon +themselves as elected to carry out her aims and objects for the blind, +and they believed her to be the best guide they could have. She on her +side gave her whole time and attention to the mastery of all the +intricacies of trade and mysteries of book-keeping. She was soon +familiar with stock-book, ledger, cash-book, and banker's accounts. When +she discovered that her wish would be law, she became doubly anxious +and scrupulous. She had always treated every one around her with +courtesy and generous consideration, and now to the grace of nature was +added a strong sense of the duty she owed to those who trusted her and +relied upon her. She was careful to ascertain the wishes of her +Committee upon every subject to be presented to them, and she never +urged her own views until she saw that her friends were ready to receive +them. + +One further development of her work was of doubtful utility. Schools to +teach reading to the blind were formed in different parts of London. +Each scholar was paid threepence for his or her attendance, and guides +were also paid for. It was found some years later that classes for the +blind, under similar conditions, were rather extensively carried on, +were indeed a favourite form of private benevolence, and that there were +blind men and women who earned a living by going about as pupils. + + + RULES FOR GENERAL MANAGEMENT. + + _Title._ + + 1. That this Society be denominated THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR + PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + _Objects._ + + 2. That the more immediate objects of this Association shall be to + afford employment to those blind persons who, for want of work, + have been compelled to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be + tempted to do so. To cause those unacquainted with a trade to be + instructed in some industrial art, and to introduce trades + hitherto unpractised by the blind. To support a Circulating Library + consisting of books in various systems of relief printing, to the + advantages of which the indigent blind shall be admitted free of + charge, and others by paying the subscription required by the + Committee. To collect and disseminate information relative to the + physical, mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind. To + promote amongst the supporters of the various institutions for + their benefit, and among other friends of the blind, a reciprocal + interchange of the results of their efforts for ameliorating their + condition. + + _Members._ + + 3. That donors of £5:5s. at one time shall be life members of the + Association, and subscribers of half a guinea annually, members so + long as they shall continue such subscriptions. + + _Committee._ + + 4. That the management of the affairs of the Association be vested + in a General Committee, to consist of the founder, Miss Gilbert, + and two ladies chosen by her, a President, Vice-President, + Treasurer, and seven gentlemen, to be chosen annually by the + members from among themselves; which General Committee shall meet + on the first Wednesday in February, May, August, and November, or + oftener if necessary; three to be a quorum. + + 4b. That out of the fourteen elected members of the Committee, Miss + Gilbert shall nominate one to be Vice-President, who, together with + herself, the two ladies chosen by her, and two gentlemen, elected + from among their own number by the President, Treasurer, and + gentlemen of the General Committee, shall be a Sub-Committee, whose + business it shall be to select the blind persons to be employed by + the Association, and to regulate the details, subject to the + correction of the General Committee. This Sub-Committee to meet at + least once a fortnight, and three to be a quorum. + + 4bb. The President or Treasurer shall be capable of being nominated + Vice-President, and Miss Gilbert shall have the privilege of + introducing at the meetings of either the Committee or + Sub-Committee, her mother, or one of her sisters, who may take part + in the proceedings, but not vote. + + _Auditors._ + + 5. That two subscribers be chosen annually, by the members of the + Association, to audit the accounts of the ensuing year. + + _Treasurer._ + + 6. The Treasurer shall be elected annually by the members of the + Association, and shall present his accounts to the members, and + also to the auditors or the Committee whenever required. All drafts + upon the Treasurer shall be signed by two members of the Committee. + + _Annual Meeting of Members._ + + 7. That a General Meeting of the members of the Association be held + annually on the second Wednesday in May, notice thereof to be sent + to each subscriber on the first of that month, to receive from the + Committee a report of their proceedings, and to appoint the + officers for the ensuing year. But should any vacancy occur in the + offices of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Auditors, or + gentlemen of the Committee or Sub-Committee, the vacancy shall be + supplied by the Committee or by Miss Gilbert, as the case may be, + until the next general meeting. + + _Funded Property._ + + 8. All monies directed by the Committee to be funded, shall be + vested in the joint names of four Trustees, chosen by them, unless + otherwise directed by the donors; the dividends arising therefrom + shall be received by the Treasurer, and applied to the current + expenditure of the Association. As often as any vacancy shall occur + among the Trustees, or change appear necessary, the same shall be + supplied or effected by the Committee. + + No general meeting shall have power to sell or appropriate any part + of the capital funded property, until the order made by it for such + purpose be confirmed by a subsequent annual or extraordinary + general meeting, consisting of not less than twenty-four members of + the Association, of whom three-fourths at least shall vote for such + confirmation. + + _Auxiliaries._ + + 9. The Committee shall be empowered to form or to receive into + connection with the Association, upon terms to be agreed upon, + Auxiliaries in various parts of the kingdom, for the purposes of + increasing the funds and extending the utility of the Association. + + _Special Cases._ + + 10. The Sub-Committee may in a special case require the patrons or + friends of any indigent blind person to pay a donation, or provide + an annual subscription of such amount as they shall deem proper and + suitable, before admitting the applicant to the benefits provided + by the Association. + + _Secretary and Superintendent._ + + 11. A Secretary, and likewise a Superintendent of the Repository, + shall be appointed by the General Committee, each with a stipend, + if necessary. These offices to be held together if the Committee + shall so appoint. It shall be the Secretary's business to attend at + every meeting of the Committee and Sub-Committee; register the + proceedings, and keep the accounts of the Association. He must + always be ready to produce the books and accounts fairly written + out, to any member of the Committee. On his appointment he shall + give such security as shall be required by the Committee, for the + performance of the duties of his office, and for the due accounting + for such monies as may be paid him for the purposes of the + Association. The Superintendent of the Repository shall also give + security in like manner as the Secretary, and conduct the business + of the Repository with zeal and assiduity. The present + superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his + office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General + Committee. He must also be in attendance at each meeting of the + Committee or Sub-Committee, and be ready to give information at + other times also when required. + + _Visitor._ + + 12. That a subscriber who is not a member of Committee be appointed + by the Committee to visit the persons employed at their own homes + and the Repository, and other premises of the Association, and + present to them a quarterly report of the results of his + observations. + + + * * * * * + + + BISHOP GILBERT'S PRAYER. + + _To be offered up at all Meetings of the Committee and Members._ + + O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, in Thy ministry upon earth, didst make + the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, lepers to be + cleansed, the dead to be raised up (Matt. xi. 5, Luke vii. 22), and + by Thy holy apostle has commanded Thy followers, that we should + bear one another's burdens (Gal. vi. 2), regard with Thy favour, we + beseech Thee, and aid with Thy blessing, our humble endeavour to + remove stumbling-blocks from before the feet of the blind, to + smooth their difficulties, and to strengthen their steps. + + Prosper our efforts, we humbly beseech Thee, O Father, to their + worldly relief, and sanctify them, by Thy Spirit, to the increase + in us of humility, faith, thankfulness, and charity, and to the + growth in our afflicted brethren and sisters of patience and + resignation, of goodwill to those around them, and of love to all, + with all other graces that adorn the Christian life. Of Thy mercy, + O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one ever blessed Trinity in Unity, + hear our prayer, and accept and bless the work of our hands. O + prosper Thou our handiwork. Amen. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] The prayer is inserted at the end of this chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS + + "Boundless pity for those who are ignorant, misled, and out of the + right way."--KINGSLEY. + + +Bessie was now thirty-two years old, and during 1857, 1858, and part of +1859 she was probably at the height of her power, physical and mental. +The physical never amounted to very much. Her health was feeble. She was +liable to long fits of depression, to long attacks of headache and +prostration, to much suffering from nervous exhaustion. During the year +1857 the progress and development of her work, the encouragement and +offers of help which she received, stimulated her to unusual activity. +To a great extent she took her life into her own hands, and choosing a +confidential maid to accompany her, she visited blind men and women, the +institutions established for them, and her own friends, new and old, as +well as many influential persons to whom she had received introductions. +She made and carried out her own arrangements, and might fairly consider +herself emancipated from control. The only restriction placed upon her +by her parents and not yet removed was that she should not travel alone. +She submitted, but often wished to ascertain for herself, and by +experience, if the prohibition was necessary. + +On one occasion, when travelling from Chichester to London, she sent her +maid into an adjacent carriage. She wished to try the experiment of +being alone in the train. At the last moment a gentleman rushed into the +station, jumped into the first available carriage, that in which she was +seated, and had just time to close the door when the train started. +Bessie was a little disturbed by this incident. As her companion did not +address her, she knew him to be a stranger. She soon found that he was +reading a newspaper, and as it was an express train she remembered that +she must have his company as far as London. Her companion was not aware +that the train was express, and when it dashed through the station at +which he had hoped to stop, he---- + +At this point, when she recounted the adventure, Bessie paused: + +"What did he do?" was asked. + +In an awe-struck voice she answered, "He swore----an _oath_." + +The look of startled pain with which she must have heard that oath +passed over her face, and the sensitive mouth quivered. She knew nothing +about an oath; she had been told that sometimes there was bad language +in a book or in a newspaper, but no one had ever said an oath to her, or +read an oath. And now in the solitude of this railway carriage she was +shut up with a man,--swearing. + +"What did _you_ do?" was asked. + +"I held on tight to the arms of the seat. I was so frightened. I did not +know what he might do next." + +"What _did_ he do?" + +"He was very quiet; it seemed a long time; then he said 'I beg your +pardon;' and after that he did not speak again, and he jumped out as +soon as we reached London." + +She referred to this as one of the most painful adventures of her life, +and said she passed through an agony of apprehension and suspense until +the train arrived at the terminus. + +This journey took from her all desire to travel alone, and she made no +further experiment in that direction. + +The success of her efforts on behalf of the blind began now to be spread +abroad, and institutions in many parts of England were disposed to +consider the possibility of not only teaching but permanently employing +the blind. Many inquiries were made of her, and she gave cordial +encouragement to all who asked her advice. Levy was often sent to teach +a trade, and to give information as to the best manner of carrying it +on. + +One letter from him may be given as a sample of many, and of the fresh +interests that were being opened out: + + + 127 EUSTON ROAD, N.W., _26th October 1857_. + + DEAR MADAM--On Monday the 19th inst. I left home for Bath, where I + continued till the following Thursday, when I went to Bristol, + which I left on Saturday and returned home. My presence being + required in London, I felt it prudent to defer my visit to + Hereford, which I think you will approve when I have the pleasure + of acquainting you with the details of the reasons which influenced + me. The results of these visits are of the most satisfactory kind, + being briefly the following: Commenced chair caning at the School + Home, Bath, and suggested improvements in basket-making which the + Committee approved, and the basket-makers showed every disposition + to carry out; taught two pupils to write, that they might teach + others to use the writing frame which they purchased; advised the + introduction of a laundry and tuning pianos, and arranged for the + sale of each other's manufactured goods. Before leaving Bath I + received orders for nearly thirty brushes and brooms, and had the + satisfaction of receiving from their Committee an offer to pay all + my expenses, which the vote of £5 enabled me to decline. The master + of the Bristol school promised to bring before his Committee the + subject of employing men who are not connected with their + institution. I have promised to send him some material, that he may + commence brush-making there. Miss Stevens advances money to a + workman which is regularly repaid; she complains much of the apathy + of the people in Bristol. Capelin is succeeding; business is + pressing and promising. Lady Byron's order will be forwarded this + week; there is not any difference made to Mr. Moon's subscribers, + but a grant might be obtained from the Bible Society, or the + Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; an arrangement with the + shopkeeper would be advantageous. Hoping that you will excuse + brevity, I am, dear madam, with gratitude and respect, + WM. HANKS LEVY. + + _P.S._--We are all quite well. + + +The blind throughout Great Britain were beginning to learn that they +had a friend; and Bessie received numerous letters and appeals for help. +The Rev. J. Burke, a blind clergyman, was elected in 1857 by the Mercers +Company to a Lectureship at Huntingdon, and he writes to thank Bessie +for efforts made on his behalf which had resulted in his appointment. +The employment of women called forth a fresh burst of enthusiasm and +gratitude from the blind. One of the first workwomen was Martha Trant, +subsequently employed for more than twenty years. + +A copy of verses by "W. Heaton and Martha" probably belong to this early +period. They were laid by with several similar testimonials, all yellow +with age and worn by use, but carefully preserved as the "jewels" of the +blind lady. + +William Heaton had been trained as a teacher for the blind, and, poor +fellow! his gratitude was far in excess of his poetical power:-- + + + Yes, I for one have felt the good, + And hope to feel it still; + For I a teacher soon shall be, + Then do my best I will. + + I thank you for the favour that + You have conferred on me, + For thus admitting me to learn + A teacher for to be. + + +Martha's verses are upon the same level as William's:-- + + + Oh that we had the power to speak + The gratitude we feel, + But words are vain, and oh how weak, + The feelings to reveal. + + Dear lady, we most humbly hope, + You kindly will accept + This token of our gratitude, + Our love and deep respect. + + +And so on through several not very interesting pages. But to Bessie the +value of these effusions was very great. They showed not only the +gratitude but the happiness of her workpeople. They indicated a renewed +life of the intellect and affections, and were received with encouraging +sympathy. The composition of verses had given pleasure to herself from +early childhood, and no doubt the form of expression chosen by the +workpeople was influenced by her own example. + +The time had now come when she was to learn more of the effects of +blindness upon the character than had hitherto been revealed to her. She +had inaugurated work on behalf of a special class, a course always beset +by difficulties, and she was open to the influence of the fanatics of +that class, of those who had been embittered by suffering and had +allowed themselves to drift to the conclusion that they were set in the +midst of cruel enemies. + +There are some blind people who, when the full knowledge of all that +their calamity entails is borne in upon them, have the courage, faith, +and hope of a Christian to support them. They go forward in the +certainty that as this cross has been appointed, strength will be given +to bear it. + +There are others who resolve to live their life, to carry out their +aims, to press forward along the lines laid down for them, and not allow +a mere physical privation to reduce them to a condition below the high +level to which they had resolved to attain. Christian faith animates and +supports the former, physical and mental force will carry on the latter. +In rare cases, Bessie's was one of them, the two are combined. But there +is a third and perhaps a more numerous class--those who consider +themselves as unjustly afflicted, and look upon mankind as enemies. +Mankind is the majority, the blind are the minority. They speak of the +attitude of "the majority," the neglect and selfishness of "the +majority," the duty of "the majority." Their only outlook seems to be in +restrictions to be applied to the more fortunate. They are the +one-legged men who want to abolish foot races. They seek not so much to +raise those that are cast down, as to abase those who stand erect. +Bessie's knowledge of the blind would not have been complete if she had +remained ignorant of this large class. + +She had deep sympathy with those who were embittered by sorrow and loss. +She could feel for the man upon whom blindness entails sudden collapse; +all his prospects shattered; himself and those dependent on him plunged +into poverty. He sees himself set aside and made of no account. He +forgets the blind whom he has known and neglected without any thought +of injuring, and suspects every man who is indifferent to him of being a +secret and cruel enemy. + +Numerous letters addressed or submitted to her show that the morbid +bitterness of many a heart had been revealed to her, and that she had +been urged, again and again, to lead a forlorn hope, and storm the +heights that were held by the sighted. + +She knew what it was to hear her "humble work and low aims" spoken of +with contempt, and to find that those whom she loved and honoured were +objects of ridicule to the advanced thinkers amongst the blind. She +could not work with men and women of such a type, but her sympathy gave +her faultless intuitions with regard to them. Underneath a hard, +aggressive exterior she felt the beating of a heart that was torn and +bleeding. She could make allowance for wild words and angry +exclamations, she could try to understand their meaning, but she was +never dragged into the whirlpool of mere clamour, nor wrecked upon the +hidden rocks of despair. + +A few extracts will show the dangers to which she was exposed, dangers +not unfamiliar to many of those who read the story of her life. + + + We are all of one opinion that the blind ought to be educated and + restored to the privileges of social life and happiness from which + they have been unjustly and selfishly excluded.... The present + condition of my own private affairs and the desolate prospect of + the future do not deter me from persevering, nor shall I desist so + long as God gives me health of mind and one or two links by which I + may communicate with the selfish and insensible Levites of the + sighted world.... No permanent success will be gained till the + education of the blind and their reception into social life be + recognised and insisted on as a Christian duty; till the old and + selfish indifference of animalism, that is almost everywhere + manifested, be superseded by a more earnest and generous anxiety + for their wellbeing, something more worthy of the spirit of + humanity. + + Until this real Christian sympathy be awakened to take the place of + that evasive and reluctant sham, so offensively paraded, misleading + the benevolent and deeply injuring us, we shall not be able to make + any progress. It is to arouse this sense of duty that I direct all + my efforts. I see plainly it is the only road to success. We must + first look to the enlightened, conscientious, and humane of every + creed, trade, profession, and rank, who believe in and practise + that Catholic duty of individual effort. Next those who by official + position ought to lead the way; and here we come first to the + minister of religion, who basely deserts his duty if he attempts to + snub into silence the just clamours of those who are hourly sinking + into the wretchedness of conscious degradation and social exile, + merely because the well-meaning sighted do not wish to be disturbed + in their enjoyment of all the blessings of the visible world and + social existence, by these melancholy and distressing subjects. If + the ministers of religion do but their duty, it must then be taken + up by the Board of Education, and public opinion will then call on + men of science, especially the medical profession, to direct their + physiological inquiries to higher subjects too long neglected. If + but one hundredth part of the mental energy that has been of late + years directed to the constitution and habits of the insect world + and of shellfish, had been devoted to an inquiry into the means of + restoring to healthy action the imprisoned, stagnant, and + deteriorating mind of the blind, something long before now would + have been done more worthy of the name of philosophy.... As to + gaining information from the teachers of schools, I do not expect + you would be treated with much respect in our present degraded and + unrecognised condition. With the exception of ---- and ----, I + never met with any one who treated me with the respect due to an + educated man; the manner in which I have been treated by others + connected with such institutions has almost universally been that + off-hand supercilious disrespect, with which an imaginary superior + treats one of a lower grade, such as a beadle will show to a + workhouse child.... The reckless and unprincipled disregard of + truth to which the supposed-to-be helpless, dependent, and + incapable blind are so generally exposed, has long taught me to + keep copies of my letters.... I could fill pages with many an act + and their consequences, which have contributed to my present ruined + position, the miserable desolation of my mother's old age, and the + blasted prospects of those who must sink and degenerate into + isolated poverty, who would otherwise have formed a happy, + self-supporting, united, and self-elevating family. This would + never have happened had not those who know well where to find when + convenient those sacred texts, "Thou shalt not lead the blind out + of their way! Thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before the + blind," taken a foul advantage of my supposed incapacity to protect + my own interests, and had they not practically ignored the _equally + sacred obligation_ that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." And + when I have occasionally heard the Jesuits railed against for + advancing the doctrine that the end sanctified the means, I have + assured such, that those equally were to be dreaded who privately + practised without openly advocating it. + + +Bessie's nature was too healthy, and her own experience had been too +favourable to allow her to believe in the organised opposition of +society to the afflicted. But she was deeply moved by these cries out +of the dark. They made her more than ever resolute to labour on behalf +of the blind; they also showed her that she must stand aloof from plans +and schemes which assume that the blind are struggling against their +enemies, and that if they are successful, a time of subjection for the +sighted will follow. + +In May 1858 one of the earliest entries in her Common Place Book refers +to this subject, and treats of the position of the blind in a world +specially adapted for the sighted. The sensible, clear view, calm and +dispassionate, is characteristic of one trained to look on all sides of +a subject, and to recognise that which is just for all. The child's love +of what was fair comes in to help the woman to see that a majority has +rights as well as a minority. She had to learn that, amongst the blind +workers, she stood almost alone in this recognition. She was surrounded +by men, some of whom attributed their misfortunes and failures not so +much to the loss of sight as to malignity and oppression, whilst others +believed and endeavoured to persuade those around them that blindness +induces an intellectual superiority, characteristic of the blind man. +Many of these were predisposed by early experience to suspect +intentional persecution, but Bessie never shared their views; and an +exalted notion of her own conduct, merits, and powers was impossible to +her. + + + L. [Levy] asked me the other day [she writes] if I had ever thought + that it was an additional hindrance to the blind that so much in + the way of communication between human beings was carried on by + means of sight, that so much, in short, in the world was adapted to + the sense of sight, and that only: for instance, that all signals + are addressed to sight, and not to any of the other senses. He + thought that hearing and smell could be made much more available + than they are at present. I have often thought this; but of course + it is only natural that the intercourse of the world should be + adapted to the senses of the majority of its inhabitants; indeed, + it would not be well, either for the world in general or for any + minority under any peculiar circumstances that this rule should be + departed from, only there ought to be the possibility of training + this minority in such a way as that it might avail itself as far as + possible of the means in use for general intercourse, and where + this is impracticable, of substituting other means which shall + answer the end in view. For example, the senses of hearing, touch, + and smell might, I believe, be very much more accurately educated, + and more fully developed than they are for the most part; but I + have much to find out on this point. I can now, however, quite + understand that systems of signals might be made very intelligible + to the senses of hearing and smell. I remember Dufeau thinks that + these senses might be much more developed; but he does not think + that the principles upon which this should be done are yet + sufficiently understood to establish a system of accurate training + of them. + + From what I have seen, nothing does this so effectually as the + necessity of using all the faculties in self-maintenance, though it + is true sometimes that when this struggle is too hard the whole + being seems so utterly depressed that all the faculties seem to be + dormant. + + I wish I had time for more personal intercourse with the blind. I + have, however, had more this year. One of the women at the + Repository, Jane Jones, strikes me very much as having a good deal + of spiritual insight, for I know not what else to call it. It is + strange, for her other faculties seem to be below the average; + perhaps, however, partly from the want of having been called out. + Among the women there seems to be a great mutual kindliness. A. L., + the most intelligent of them, is full of energy, and seems to have + a strong desire for improvement in every way. She is only one and + twenty, and more educated than the rest. She has much to contend + with. I hope she may do much in teaching. + + I have found the only two men I have as yet taken to teach, + wonderfully patient, and most willing to learn. One has a very good + notion of spelling, and is evidently really fond of arithmetic. The + other has scarcely any idea whatever of spelling, and it is very + difficult to give him a notion of the sound of the letters; but as + far as his mind has been opened to different subjects he has, I + suspect, a good deal of information and seems full of interest, + especially in accounts of travels. The history of Egypt, so far as + he knows it, seems to have seized upon his imagination in a way at + which I was quite astonished. He is an Irishman. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS + + "Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt, + Nothing's so hard but search will find it out." + LOVELACE. + + +The entries in Bessie's Common Place Book are not numerous, but they are +very valuable. They are the result of careful study, of long-continued +and anxious thought, and they are the most important original work left +by her. They will be read by all who have endeavoured to help the blind +with no less interest than by the blind themselves. + + + _Education of the Blind._ + + In the preface to a poem entitled Genius of the Blind, by E. H. + White, a blind man, he speaks of the great amount of labour and + money which have been spent in attempts to educate the blind; of + the comparatively small result, and of the bad effects of bringing + up the blind in asylums, and thus estranging them from their + families. It seems to me, however, that some such plan is necessary + for those who cannot be educated at home; though perhaps in the + case of pupils whose homes are in the town in which the institution + is situated, the evil complained of might in a measure be remedied + by their being admitted as day scholars, as I once remember Mr. + Bird suggesting. But even here in London and other large towns, + distance might be a great difficulty; and for those pupils not + residing in the town itself, I see nothing to prevent this evil + except holidays, and perhaps in many cases even this might not be + practicable. There is also this to be said, that among the poor it + is by no means the blind only who become estranged from their + homes: I think this may be said of the majority with more or less + truth; and it has often struck me that in all the different plans + for improving the condition of the people, this very evil is too + little thought of and guarded against. Indeed, I think that in all + classes this is hardly recognised to be as great an evil as I + believe it really to be. No doubt it was always intended that + families should separate and disperse; but much more might be done + than is done, to keep the home affections fresh and living, in the + hearts of their members. Certainly the blind have, if anything, + greater need of receiving and exercising the social affections than + others. And here I would lay particular stress on the necessity of + their exercising those affections towards others, as I am sure that + the necessity of their being the objects of affection is often too + exclusively dwelt upon, and that sufficient opportunity for showing + their gratitude towards their fellow-creatures is not afforded + them. I believe this to be the cause of much apathy or + irritability, as the case may be, among them. One remedy for this + result of the school system would be the multiplying of schools; as + then a greater number of the blind would have opportunities of + attending as day scholars. From all I can learn from others, and + from the little I have seen myself, I believe there is one great + evil at the root of the system of education in blind schools, which + is, that each institution wishes to take rank as the first in + importance, and is therefore more bent on making such an appearance + before the public as will secure its own reputation, than upon + practically benefiting the pupils, so far as lies in its power. + This is one reason of the pupils being taught to make things for + sale, which do not really help their progress in their trade, but + which please and attract visitors, and are on that account often + purchased, though in themselves utterly useless. Indeed I have + heard it remarked what very useless things are made in blind + asylums, and in other charitable institutions. + + Anderson says that one prominent feature in institutions for the + blind is, the desire to carry forward the pupil at any sacrifice, + to accomplish such pieces of work as may call forth the mere + surprise of the passing visitor. If this is bad in an asylum where + it is very little practised, it is far worse in a school. The time + of a pupil ought to be considered most sacred, and as much as + possible appropriated to the acquirement of that which he will be + able to perform and find a ready sale for, on his leaving the + school. + + There is, however, one thing to be urged in excuse of this practice + in blind schools, viz., that the funds of most of them are not + equal to their expenses, without the aid of the sale of the pupils' + work. I believe that every such school, in order to be efficient, + ought not to derive benefit from the work of the pupils; as when + this is the case, the learners are often hurried over the different + steps of their trade without due care being taken that they should + each be able to take such steps securely when entirely unassisted. + Thus on leaving the school the blind man often finds himself at + fault when left to his own resources in practising the trade of + which he was believed to be the master, in the acquiring of which + much time, labour, and money have been spent, and from which far + greater benefit might have been derived had it not been for the + root-evil which has been mentioned. The aim of every school for the + blind should be to fit them to fill their station in the world, be + it what it may, as Christian men and women, and therefore to earn + their own living, when this is necessary, as in far the majority of + cases it is. + + I hope and trust that one day the whole school system will be + improved. I know that Liverpool, which led the way in England, + started with the best possible aims and intentions; although it has + now greatly degenerated. Indeed, I believe all the first + institutions to have been good, though the scope of many is, I + suspect, very narrow. But it strikes me that all fall more or less + below their first intentions, not only in their practice but even + in their theory, and this I believe partly unconsciously. I do not + see why it should be so, but I am afraid this is but too true. + However, I can't help thinking that the rendering of such + institutions independent of any gain from the labour of the pupils + would go far towards improvement. + + Much might be done in schools to prevent the blind from being + isolated, by giving them an interest in the subjects of the day. + For instance, in the Bristol School, a newspaper is read to them. + + The older pupils should have opportunities for discussion not only + with each other, but with visitors and friends. For instance, there + might be an inexpensive entertainment once a week, or at some such + stated time, for the purpose. I should think also lectures at + Mechanics Institutes might be attended with advantage, as these are + never given till the evening; and means such as these would open + and enlarge the minds of the pupils, and would all tend to foster + in them the sense of membership with the community at large. It + should always be borne in mind that there is much in the condition + of blindness, and indeed in any other exceptional state, to smother + and weaken this feeling; and if not counteracted almost entirely to + destroy it. This is the tendency of the gathering together of the + blind into asylums as adults; and I am sorry to find from what I + have read to-day that this is being increasingly done on the + Continent. Many institutions there, seem to be rich in the + different inventions for the blind; but as far as I can see, all + seem to derive more or less profit from the manual labour of the + pupils. It has this moment occurred to me that the right use of + this labour would be to realise thereby a fund which should be + spent in some way for the benefit of each pupil when he or she + should leave the institution; or, in cases where it should be + deemed advisable, it should be made over to the pupil to be used at + his or her own discretion. Perhaps it would be well always to allow + the pupils to appropriate a certain portion of their earnings; this + would teach them the value of money, and would educate them in the + management of it. No doubt the answer to these suggestions would + be, want of funds. I should reply that much more real good would be + done by lessening the number of pupils, so as to be able to effect + it in proportion to the funds at command. I do believe such a + system would go far towards giving the blind workmen a better start + in the race for a livelihood than institutions have hitherto shown + themselves able to give. + + The importance of systematically training and developing the + remaining senses of their pupils cannot be too strongly impressed + on those who educate the blind. I am delighted to find that + Monsieur K., the blind director of the institution at Breslau, has + succeeded in obtaining permission for his pupils to _feel_ the + specimens of natural history contained in the Museum of that city. + How glad I should be to hear of such permission being given in + England. I think, as I have heard Mr. D. Littledale, a blind + gentleman, say, that in schools there ought to be classes formed + for the special object of exercising the touch. He himself has + begun to form a Museum of objects with this view for the York + School. But here I must say that I think the education of the blind + will never attain the perfection of which I believe it is capable, + unless teachers are specially trained for the work, and also unless + at least a proportion of these are themselves blind. Among the + blind I think individuals would be found capable of commencing and + carrying on such training schools; then of course each fresh + teacher so trained might be able either to superintend another + school, or to carry on in a blind school something of the + pupil-teacher system now adopted for ordinary schoolmasters and + mistresses. + + In every country there ought to be at least one normal school where + teachers for the blind may be trained. A simple way of effecting + this would be for the Government to allow to one establishment, + which should first be ascertained to be a superior one in its + management and results, such an annual grant of money as should + enable it to retain several young men as assistant-teachers, who + would be ready to supply vacancies, and to take charge of + newly-established institutions. + + This kind of assistance would be, perhaps, the most valuable + encouragement which a Government could give. It would ensure the + training of persons to continue and perfect an art which has been + kept in a state of infancy from the want of such a provision. + + The blind may be divided into two classes--those so born and those + who become so from disease or accident; the latter is by far the + most numerous class. Bowen says he believes there is no authentic + instance of any one born blind being restored to sight by human + means. I should rather doubt this, as I have been told that + congenital cataract can be removed if the operation takes place + early enough, viz. at the age of one or two years. The same author + says it is believed that blindness in after life might often be + prevented were the organisation of the eye more thoroughly + understood by physicians. He then gives some facts to show the + extent to which blindness prevails. Bowen says the first accounts + which we have of schools for the blind are those in Japan. They + existed some years before that in Paris, thought to be the first in + Europe, though there is a doubt between it and the school at + Amsterdam. In Japan the instruction appears to be oral. The blind + seem to have fulfilled the office of historians to their nation, + and to have formed no small proportion of the priesthood. The first + regular system of embossed printing in Europe was the invention of + Valentin Haüy, the founder of the Paris institution. Many alphabets + have since been invented, of which I will not speak now, as this + subject should be treated separately, but will only say that the + education of the blind will receive an immense impulse when the + improvement of which I believe embossed printing to be capable, is + effected. There are many contrivances for writing; and here also I + am not sure that all which is necessary is yet obtained, though + much towards it has certainly been done. But in this case also, any + increase of speed would be an immense help. + + The blind have different wants in writing to those who see. They + want to write easily and rapidly, and they want to commit their own + thoughts or those of others to paper, or, in short, anything they + wish to keep in a tangible form, by means of some rapid and easy + process. + + If possible they should have the power of making notes, and + referring to them when made, with as much facility as the sighted. + This at least ought to be the object aimed at. Perhaps it might be + impossible fully to realise this idea, but I think very much might + be done towards it. Even now Braille's embossed system goes far + towards this, but I shall hope one day to treat of both reading and + writing as distinct subjects. I will therefore only now say that + every improvement and facility given to the blind in these two + branches will do a great deal towards bringing their education to + perfection. I have said given to the blind, but I would rather say + every improvement and facility invented and contrived by the blind, + as I believe in truth they must be their own helpers and + deliverers, at least to a great extent. + + Before leaving this subject, I will add that I believe the power + of writing in some tangible form, with the greatest possible ease + and rapidity, to be of the highest importance to the blind; and + with this view I should like to see Braille's system in use in all + our schools. + + This system was the invention of a blind man, and is, I believe, + the best that has yet been contrived. I am sure the mind of many a + blind person remains far below the degree of cultivation and + maturity to which it might attain, simply from the want of being + able to emboss its thoughts upon paper. Some one, I know not who, + says: use the pen to prevent the mind from staggering about; and + this help should certainly be placed by some means or other within + the reach of the blind generally. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HER DIARY + + "The older we grow, the more we understand our own lives and + histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of wisdom is the + spirit of love, that the true way to gain influence over our + fellow-men is to have charity towards them."--KINGSLEY. + + +In addition to the Common Place Book, which contains the result of many +years of thought and investigation, Bessie kept during 1858 a diary. +This shows not only her thoughts but her deeds. Her whole life was now +engrossed by her work for the blind. French, Italian, German, the harp, +the guitar, were all laid aside. Friends were made no longer for herself +but for the blind. She was eagerly occupied with experiments in trade, +with instruction, with visits to the workshop and the homes of her +people, with letters and appeals, and with efforts to make known not +only what was being attempted, but the need there was that more should +be done. + +She studied the census of 1851, and upon it based her statements as to +the number of the blind throughout Great Britain and their condition. +She learned that a large proportion of the number lose their sight after +having reached the age at which they are admissible to the existing +institutions. She saw, therefore, that she must add to her scheme for +employment that of the instruction of adults in trades by which they +could earn a living. She did not believe in doles, pensions, and +so-called "Homes." She believed in work, in a trade, a handicraft, the +possibility of earning one's own living, as the means of restoring blind +men and women to their place in human society. There is nothing that she +records in the diary with more satisfaction than the progress made by +adult pupils. The instruction and employment of women was also +succeeding beyond her expectation, and the wages they earned +approximated more nearly to the wages of sighted women than had been +expected. But even her remarks on this proficiency of the women show her +usual fair and broad view. She says: + + + There are seven men and six women pupils. The best workwoman can + earn seven shillings a week, working eight hours a day. Upon this + she contrives to support herself and a little sister. A sighted + brushmaker employing a hundred workwomen states that she must be a + very good workwoman who can earn six shillings a week at eight + hours a day. The women he employs often work twelve or fourteen + hours to increase their earnings. This is great drudgery. It seems + as if brush drawing was more a matter of touch than of sight. If we + can only discover them, it may be that several trades will answer + for the blind on this very account. I think at present that this + will apply even more to women than to men. The male pupils work + well and make great progress, but their earnings, I think, would + not bear the same proportion to those of sighted workmen as do + those of the women. Still, as their work includes more than one + branch, this may be a mistake, and at all events it must take them + longer to become thoroughly good workmen, as they have more to + acquire. + + +On 6th May 1858 she writes in the diary: + + + Joined for the first time in the daily prayer and reading at the + Repository [the Association was known by this name]. This was what + I had often wished to do. Saw Mr. Dale, asked for his schoolroom + for a lecture for the benefit of the Association; he gave leave. + Told him what F. B. was doing about the _Times_. Took four [blind + persons] for reading, and think they are getting on. Saw Mr. Bourke + for the first time; had a long talk with him; think he will be more + active than he has been in seeking out the blind and looking into + their condition. Saw Levy Esqre. [not the manager], who showed me + specimens of turning done by Mestre at Lausanne, who is blind, + deaf, and dumb. Got Mr. Levy to promise to attend the meeting, on + the 18th. Talked with Levy [manager] about the meeting. Corkcutting + to be introduced before Walker's life-belt is made. Talked about + furnishing carpenter as the next trade taught, also about embossed + printing; think much might be done towards improving it.... + + _8th May._--Looked over, corrected, and altered proof of report. + Dictated a note to Levy about it. Wrote to Mr. Cureton, asking if + he could lend his church for Dr. Thompson to preach in, in July, if + not earlier. Wrote to Mrs. Jones asking about Dr. Thorpe's chapel, + also to Mr. Eyre, asking him to preach at Marylebone Church. Sent + papers to both clergymen. Received from Mrs. Sithborp her guinea + subscription. Entered letters of yesterday and to-day. Dictated + some notes and thoughts for the Common Place Book. It is a great + pleasure to get some of these thoughts actually expressed. It gives + them, as it were, a shape and a body, besides, I can never do what + I wish without this, as I should never have the necessary + materials. Saw Mary Haines. Wrote to Miss Repton.... Read a letter + in two systems. + + +This allusion to "what she wishes" refers to her desire to write a book +upon the condition of the blind. She had this object before her for many +years, and prepared for it by accumulating statistics and information +from every available source. She read the lives of blind men, books +written by blind men, took copious notes, or had them taken for her, +sometimes by her younger brother, sometimes by a sister. She "thought +out" every statement made, every suggestion offered, with regard to the +blind. Her book would have been singularly valuable. Her sound judgment, +her power of looking at all sides of a question, would have saved her +from the danger of forgetting that, although there are 30,000 blind in +the United Kingdom, there are some millions who have the gift of sight. +The book was never written, but her preparation for it made her a +storehouse of information and of wise and tender thought, not only for +the blind, but for all those who are afflicted and suffering. + + + 17th May.... Saw Sir W. Reid, heard from him that a brush, with the + Repository stamp, is left in the Museum at Malta; was very glad of + this. Received from him £5. Heard he had seen Lord Cranbourne, and + that Lord C. thought I was wrong in using and teaching T. M. L. + system. I talked to Sir W. Reid of the different systems, also + asked him for the names of books upon the blind mentioned to him + by Lord C. Wrote to Lady Mayne to ask if she could get St. + Michael's, Pimlico, lent. + + Afternoon.--Went to Miss ----. Very little done there for the + Association. Saw Dr. Jelf there; heard he would come to the meeting + next day. + + +The list of letters written and embossed and duly recorded in the +Journal will be omitted. They are the inevitable drudgery of such a work +as she was now engaged in. Explanations, petitions, acknowledgments, +inquiries, information, requests for the loan of pulpits from which the +claims of the Association may be urged, of schoolrooms in which meetings +can be held, all these things were part of her daily work. The sisters +tell that Bessie could at this time emboss a letter upon her Foucault +frame and dictate two others at the same time; always without mistake or +omission. + +On the 18th May 1858 the Annual Association Meeting was held, and the +First Annual Report presented. + +We learn from the balance-sheet that the receipts during this, the first +year of accurate and formal management, had been £1784:3:11. + + + Of this, subscriptions and donations + amounted to £648 1 2 + Balance in hand 25th April 1857 215 9 3 + Sale of goods, etc. 920 13 6 + ----------- + £1784 3 11 + + +There was a balance in hand at the end of the year of £118:15:1. The +number of blind men and women who had been employed during the year at +the Institution, or in their own homes, was forty-three. + +The sum required for payment of rent, officials, teachers, and +supplementary wages to the blind, amounted to £744:10:4. The annual +subscription paid by Bessie was at this time £75, and in addition there +is a donation of £10 for broom-making, and £2 for advertising. But the +sum that appears in the subscription list is only the smallest part of +that which she devoted to the service of the blind. Her private charity +amongst them was at all times far-reaching and unstinted. She had many +pensioners in London, and pleasant stories of them abound. There was a +poor blind woman called Mary H., elderly and very lonely, whose +wonderful trust and patience called forth Bessie's admiration. She +ultimately procured the placing of Mary's name on the list of recipients +of the Queen's Gate Money, she taught her to read, and allowed her +monthly a certain quantity of tea and sugar. + +One day when she came for her reading lesson Mary said: + +"Oh, miss, I had such a strange dream last night!" + +"Well, Mary, what was it?" + +"Why, miss, I dreamt you were dead." + +"Did you, Mary? and what did you think about it?" + +"The first thing I thought, miss, was, what shall I do for my tea and +sugar!" + +The honesty and simplicity of this answer delighted Bessie, and she +frequently spoke of Mary's dream. + +The saying of another pupil also pleased her. She taught a blind boy at +Chichester to read, and when he came for his lessons the boy used to ask +innumerable questions. One day she remarked upon this, and he frankly +exclaimed: + +"Oh yes, marm, so I do, I always likes to know up to the top brick of +the chimney." + +Brush-making, first introduced by Bessie and taught by Farrow, had +proved a successful and remunerative occupation for the blind. +Encouraged by this success, the making of bass brooms was now added to +the work carried on in the Euston Road. The coarse fibre used for this +purpose has to be dipped in boiling pitch, and then inserted and fixed +into holes in the wooden back of the broom. By an ingenious contrivance +of the teacher, the hand of the blind man follows a little bridge across +the boiling pitch, reaches a guide, at which he stops and dips his +bristles into the shallow pan. He then withdraws his hand along the same +bridge, kneads the pitch, and fixes the fibre in its hole. Several men +sit round a table, and are thus enabled to work without risk of a burn +at a trade which requires no skill. + +The blind carpenter Farrow, who had made the fittings for the Holborn +cellar, had been from that time permanently employed in the Institution. + +In 1858 he was the teacher of thirteen blind men and women who were +learning a trade. Levy had visited Norwich and Bath during the year +1858. In the latter city a Blind Home was formed for the employment of +women instructed in the Bath Blind School. This was done in consequence +of a Report of Bessie's institution which had been sent to the Committee +at Bath. The School for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, +Southwark, had also opened departments for instructing and employing the +adult blind, but we have no sheaf of old letters to give the history of +this further development. + +The Committee of the Association might well look back with pleasure, and +forward with hope. They well knew on whom the success of the work mainly +depended; and in spite of Bessie's objection to the introduction of her +name, the following paragraph closes the Annual Report issued in May +1858: + + + Your Committee feel that their report would be very imperfect if + they did not allude to the great services which have been rendered + to this society, during the last year, by Miss Gilbert, the + foundress of the Association. Whenever pecuniary embarrassment has + threatened the efficiency of the Institution, her active zeal has + soon replenished the funds; and when the Association has been + unable to relieve the most distressing cases that have been pressed + on their notice, the sufferers have found her ever ready to afford + them timely help; and that, too, in a way which has shown such + sympathising interest in their privations, as well as so much + consideration for their feelings, that the value of the aid thus + afforded can be fully appreciated only by those who have received + it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FEAR OF GOD AND NO OTHER + + "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." + + +Bessie's early education and happy home life counted for much in her +work on behalf of the blind. She knew the advantage of being thrown on +her own resources, of learning the ways of a house and the paths of a +garden. She knew also that the happiness of the blind depends chiefly on +companionship. "A deaf person," she used to say, "is very cheerful +alone, much more cheerful than in society. It is social life that brings +out his privation. But a blind man in a room alone is indeed solitary, +and you see him at his best in society. It is social life which +diminishes his disabilities." + +Whilst she acquiesced, therefore, in Levy's wish that the work of the +Institution should be exclusively carried on by blind persons, she was +anxious that they should not be set apart and kept apart from other +workmen. + +Her diary for 1858 contains the following passage: + + + Spoke to Levy about the workpeople in the Repository not having + intercourse enough with those who see, and thought of the + possibility of their belonging to Mr. Maurice's Working Men's + College; I think that might be just the thing. L. asked what I + thought about their attending a Bible Class by any of Mr. Dale's + curates. I said I should like it, provided the mistake was not made + of talking to them upon religion as if it must be a sort of last + resource to the blind, to make up for the want of other things. L. + understood what I meant, and said he was glad I had mentioned it. + + +Any display of the blind with the object of calling attention to their +affliction, and extorting money on account of it, was extremely painful +to Bessie. She had too much reverence and tenderness for her +fellow-sufferers to make a show of them, and she would not accept help +if it involved any lowering of the tone she hoped to establish in the +workshop. Blind men and women were to be taught that they could do an +honest day's work and earn their own living. + +An entry in the diary shows that she had to educate more than her +workpeople before her views were adopted. + + + L. spoke to me about a suggestion for employing blind beggars to + carry boards to advertise the Association. Told him I strongly + objected, and why. + + +The workpeople also frequently caused her anxiety. + + + Felt and compared brushes from W. with those made at Repository. + Our make is the best. + + L. told me things were rather uncomfortable between two of the + women. I saw them each separately, and think and hope they will go + on better, but the whole affair made L. think how necessary what I + have often spoken to him about would be in future; namely, the + possibility of arranging for board and lodging for learners not + having means of subsistence.... + + Talked to L. about visiting the workmen at their own homes. He told + me he thought I should have special advantages for so doing, and + specially in speaking to them on spiritual matters.... Spoke about + baskets not being made to measure. When good workmen do not make + baskets according to order, something is to be taken off the + price.... Went to Repository to try and find out what Susan M. had + better do towards earning her living; am not sure about it, but so + far as I can tell, don't think she would have musical talent enough + to make her living by that; however, she has hardly learnt two + years, so I think one can hardly judge.... Spoke to Mrs. L. about + ventilator for Committee room, and about using disinfecting fluid + in the workrooms on Sunday.... Mrs. H. gave me a towel made in a + loom without steam, as a specimen of the linen proposed to be woven + by Association workpeople. She also talked about a home for the + blind without friends, where they should pay and, as I suggested, + be entirely free to leave at any time. She thought perhaps the + weaving might be carried on in some such place at a little distance + from London.... Dictated note to Mrs. L. to ask about the state of + health in the homes of the workmen, and to get their exact + addresses. Spoke to mamma about visiting them. + + +We may be sure that there would be some anxiety on the part of her +parents as to these visits to the homes of the workmen, but her wishes +prevailed, and an entry dated 19th June 1858 states: + + + Greatest part of the day occupied in visiting the workmen at their + own homes. Was very glad to do it, but sorry not to visit more of + them. Only went to four--Hounslow, Hemmings, Barrett, and Symonds. + Found the latter not so well off as I expected. He has not had much + work besides Association work. Altogether what I saw confirmed me + very much in the belief that such an Association as ours is very + greatly needed.... Spoke to L. [Levy] purposely a little of what I + had to give up for the work, only with a view of showing him that + one often thought one would rather be doing other things, and of + making him see that he was to some extent right in saying that I + had made sacrifices. This was not at all with the view of making + him suppose that I thought much of them, but in order to show him + how true it is that one feels the work to be a sacred duty, for + which, as for all other duties, sacrifices must be made. He is + thoroughly imbued with this feeling, but I wish to keep it + constantly both before him and myself, as I believe it is only thus + that we can either of us work as God would have us work, and we + both believe that He has made us His instruments for a special work + for the blind.... + + Wrote to the Dean of Westminster (the very Rev. R. C. Trench, who + was about to preach for the Association in Mr. Llewelyn Davies' + church) to describe the different papers I sent, and telling him I + thought that in what had been done for the blind, those who saw had + perhaps committed the mistake of making the blind feel how much + they needed their aid, rather than how far they might become + independent of it.... Gave £5 of my own on Capelin's account, but + find Capelin has been earning more than I expected towards his + maintenance, so that what I owed was not very much.... Talked with + L. about Newman, and heard a very sad letter from him, written from + the Union where he now is. Settled that the resolution as to his + being employed should be acted upon, but I am sorry he is a bad + workman, as this will make the thing very difficult.... Told L. we + ought to bring the Association into such a position that it should + be able to bear the loss from bad work while a man is improving. + Found, as I expected, that expense of management is about £300 a + year, and think subscriptions now cover this entirely or very + nearly.... Whilst I was at the Repository Herr Hirzel, master of + the institution at Lausanne, came; I was anxious to get all + possible information as to relief printing. He, Levy, and I, went + through the merits of many of the different systems, which took a + long time. + + +Relief printing for the blind is a subject beset with difficulty. In +every country where books are embossed for the blind there are two or +three different alphabets. There are systems in which dots and lines and +abbreviations take the place of letters; and there are systems where the +alphabet is enlarged and modified to suit the requirements of a person +who is going to read with fingers instead of eyes. The number of books +printed in relief is very small; and the result of using several systems +is that a blind reader finds that four out of five of the very small +number embossed are unintelligible. He can read Moon or Lucas or +Braille, but Frere and Howe and Alston and a host of others he cannot +decipher. Bessie spent much time upon the subject of relief printing, +and could read nearly everything printed for the blind. She thought that +Braille's was in itself the best system, but that Moon's was the only +one really useful to adults, more especially to those whose hands have +been hardened by labour. All except Moon's system must be acquired by +the young and sensitive fingers of a child. Bessie would have liked to +see the systems narrowed down to two, if not to one; but she found, as +many others have done, that it was impossible to obtain unanimity on +this point, as too many interests are involved in it. She made no +progress in the matter, and put it on one side. + +On the 7th of July the diary tells us she was at the Repository giving +advice to "Martha." + + + Talked much to Martha about her proposed marriage. Told her to ask + if her intended husband would wish to go to Mr. Dixon on account of + his near sight, saying that if this stood in the way of his getting + something to do, and Mr. Dixon thought spectacles would help, he + should have them.... L. sent me papa's motto, "The fear of God and + no other." I had asked him to have it printed for the + boarding-house. + + +In August of this year Bessie paid a visit to Miss Bathurst, who with +her mother, Lady Caroline Bathurst, was then living at Stanmore. She met +there Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave and Miss Butler. A friendship formed at +that time with Miss Butler continued to the end of her life. She records +the meeting in her diary, adding, "talked about the Association." +Perhaps we should have been more surprised if she could have recorded +that she talked about anything else. + +On the 10th of August she left London for Chichester. The morning was +spent in making arrangements for the Association. + + + L. came. I told him to tell Hounslow that he was only to repay £3 + out of the £6:10s. for the quarter's rent. Arranged to have a + large applicant's book with full details. Found that all concerned + were very much pleased with the boarding-house. Gave L. something + for relief in special cases. Told him to see about getting several + of Braille's small writing frames made, if he found the one I had + sent to be successful. Impressed upon L. to take on more workpeople + the very moment the sales would allow it. Talked to him of my plan + for raising money to buy a West-end house, made him feel he must + devote himself more than ever to the work, not that he is + unwilling. + + L. told me that the amount of goods bought in the past year had + been too great, but that bass-broom and cocoa-mat making would do + much towards keeping down this item. + + +The "purchase of goods" here referred to was always a sore point with +Bessie. In order to fulfil the order of a customer, articles not made by +the blind had often to be procured. The manager was on the horns of a +dilemma. Custom was lost when an order was sent home incomplete, whilst, +on the other hand, the Lady President wished nothing, or as little as +possible, to be sold which was not the work of the blind. This +difficulty, however, increased rather than diminished, and if there is +any way of avoiding it, that way has not yet been discovered. + +During the summer at Chichester, Bessie seems to have suffered much from +exhaustion and fatigue, entries of "unavoidably nothing done" are +frequent, as well as reports of "toothache." + +The house in Euston Road was small and inconvenient, additional space +was urgently required, and when it was found that there were empty +rooms in an adjacent house they were at once secured. + +"Heard from L. that four rooms next door are engaged for £16 a year, and +as the room where the materials were kept cost £5:4s., the extra expense +will only be £10:16s." + +A peaceful summer at Chichester brought time to spare for old pursuits. +She had the garden with its birds and flowers, and her music and poetry +as a solace after the grind of Association work. + +"S. finished writing from my playing," she records, "a song from the +_Saint's Tragedy_, which I hope I may get published for the good of the +Association; it was begun yesterday." + +She had written to Mr. Kingsley for permission to set Elizabeth's +"Chapel Song" to her own music, and received an assurance that he would +be very glad if any words of his could be useful to her, or any work of +hers. + +In September she was again in London for a Committee meeting, and there +were the usual applications to consider, and the reading and talking +with the workpeople. She inspected the new rooms and the boarding-house, +and talked over the possibility of Levy's going to France upon business. +After her return to Chichester and for many months we find almost daily +entries "Embossed much French and dictated a great deal for L." + +During this summer she was oppressed by the consciousness that the +mental training of the blind had not taken its due place in her scheme. +She wanted to find something that would afford instruction and at the +same time recreation for the poor, something to awaken and enlarge their +interest in the external world. She found that the perceptive faculties +which take the place of sight suffer from a want of due cultivation, and +she wished to remedy this by enabling the blind to obtain information +about natural objects. Something, she thought, might be done by a +development of the sense of touch, and by arranging a Natural History +Museum in such a manner that every specimen could be handled. In +connection with the Museum, she proposed to form a department for the +exhibition of inventions in aid of the blind. These were to be arranged +without reference to the "sighted," and in such a manner that the blind +could easily examine and compare them. An exhibition of this kind was +opened in Paris in October 1886, but the idea originated in the fertile +brain of Bessie Gilbert. + +Meanwhile the Museum for her poor was the first thing to be started, and +she prepared for it by visiting the Chichester Museum. In September we +read: + +"Went to Museum to ask the cost of stuffing birds and about collections +of eggs, and the order of arranging birds. Settled with E. that she +should ask Mr. ---- to shoot some birds, and with Mr. H. that he should +tell Smith the bird stuffer to come to me next Wednesday." Mr. ---- +seems to have had only moderate success with his gun, as a later entry +records, "Received two birds from Mr. ----." There are frequent accounts +of "looking over eggs," "arranging glass case for the stuffed birds, and +talking about the Museum to all who could give advice or make useful +suggestions." + +Early in this year a large oil painting of blind men and women at work +round a table in the Euston Road was painted by Mr. Hubbard. An +engraving taken from the picture, with an account of the institution, +was inserted in the _Illustrated News_ of 24th April 1858, and in May +the picture was purchased "by subscription" for the sum of ten guineas, +and fixed outside the shop, where for many years it attracted the notice +of passers-by. It was engraved for the use of the Institution, and may +still be seen on the Annual Report, Price Lists, etc., whilst the +original painting hangs in the Berners Street Committee Room. + +The account given by the _Illustrated News_ called attention to Bessie's +work. It was followed by letters in _The Times_, _Daily News_, and other +journals, and by an article in _Household Words_, believed to be by +Charles Dickens, entitled "At Work in the Dark." Many subscriptions, +donations, and promises of help were received in consequence of these +notices in the Press. + +Mr. Walker, who invented a life-belt, offered the benefit of its +manufacture to the Association, and a new trade, corkcutting, was set on +foot. + +In the course of the year the "Association of Blind Musicians" applied, +through Mr. Swanson, blind organist of Blackheath Park Church, to be +admitted to union with Bessie's influential society. She was warmly +interested in the appeal, and willing to grant such help, pecuniary and +other, as the greater Association could render to the less. The aim of +Mr. Levy, Mr. James Lea Summers, Mr. Swanson, and other blind musicians +was to give a thorough musical training to, and to obtain employment as +organists and teachers for, blind men with a talent for music. + +The petition was courteously received, and after much discussion by the +Committee and consideration by Bessie, the prayer for union, but without +pecuniary aid, was granted. The Musical Association, however, had +neither sufficient funds nor enough influence for the undertaking. But +the promotors acted as pioneers, and a few years later Bessie saw that +the efforts of Dr. Campbell and the establishment of the Normal College +for the Blind at Norwood, would satisfactorily accomplish all that the +Blind Musicians had attempted. + +The trades hitherto taught to women had been leather and bead work, and +the making of nosebags for horses. These were found to be +unremunerative, and it was necessary to substitute others for them. +There was at that time a great demand for fine baskets imported from +France, and it occurred to Bessie that if they could procure the blocks +upon which these baskets were made and the tools used, she might learn +the art of basket-making and teach the workwomen. + +But there was a difficulty in the way. The manufacture of these baskets +was a monopoly, and the firm to which they were consigned would give no +information as to the locality whence they came. Some one must go to +France and find out. Who could go except Levy! + +It was to prepare him for this journey that for more than a year Bessie +had been at every spare moment "embossing French words for L.," as the +diary informs us, or dictating a vocabulary. In the autumn of 1858 he +and his wife set out on their journey of discovery. Bessie had applied +for a grant in aid of Levy's expenses, but the Committee did not accede +to her request, so that funds were provided from her private purse. + +The blind man and his wife took the wrong train at Calais, and for some +time did not discover their mistake. However, they retraced their steps, +and after many adventures learnt that the baskets arrived in large +crates at Calais from the north of France, and were shipped for England. +No one knew exactly whence they came. Levy commenced a search which +threatened to be fruitless, when one day at St. Quentin he met a +_comis-voyageur_, who told him that the village in which these baskets +were made was Oigny, about eight miles distant. + +On the following day Levy and his wife stood at the door of the very man +who supplied baskets to the Institution, and found that their appearance +caused surprise and alarm. But when Levy explained the object of his +visit he met with a cordial reception. The manufacturer showed and +allowed him to purchase blocks and tools; taught him the ingenious +contrivance by which the blocks could be taken to pieces and removed +when the baskets were completed, and gave him all the information in his +power as to the method and cost of production. He also took him to the +village where the workpeople lived; but it is a cider-growing country, +and many were away at the apple harvest. Levy and his wife were kindly +received in the cottages, and he wrote to Miss Gilbert that a canary was +singing in every house, and that many of the villagers grew their own +osiers. + +The result of this journey was very encouraging, although Bessie did not +learn the trade or become a teacher of basket making. She had other work +to do. Levy himself taught the blind women, and says that he found them +apt pupils. When Bessie visited London in November she reports that she +"felt A. at the basket work, and was shown the use of all the tools and +the blocks. The English ones are made much better than the French, but +after French patterns. Found from all I saw and heard that a great +advance has been made, but there are seventy-six more applicants for +work. Saw and talked to H. to encourage him." + +Before long the women are reported to be making fine baskets which +please customers, and are bought in preference to the French. They had +plenty of employment in executing orders, until, unfortunately for them, +fine baskets went out of fashion, and bags came in. + +For some time after his visit to France, Levy wrote and printed his +name Lévy. + +The autumn brought a new scheme. Collecting boxes were to be fixed in +different parts of London, and application was made to hotels and other +places of resort to receive the boxes, together with specimen cases of +the work of the blind. Bessie had, as usual, a busy time with her +letters, but she did not forget the Museum. + +When she went to town in November she talked to the workpeople about it, +and they liked the idea. She had taken "two or three things from the +garden" to show them; and in December, when she went to town for the +"women's tea-party," she "took the crocodile," and "the women were +delighted with it." + +She wrote a letter at this time for publication, pleading for the +education of blind children in the ordinary schools for the poor. She +was also in correspondence with Mrs. Hooper, who was preparing a +magazine article on the work of the blind. She records that she urged +Mrs. Hooper to attach "more importance to donations and subscriptions, +to speak of the Museum, and to tell the educated blind that they ought +to assist the blind poor to help themselves." Through a friend she also +applied for the custom of Cheltenham College for Ladies. + +Bessie had decided to give £2000 to the Association as an endowment +fund. The conditions of her gift were brought before the Committee, +discussed, and accepted. The money was invested in the names of three +trustees, and the Association seemed now to stand upon a sure footing. +These conditions will be read with interest. + + + CONDITIONS. + + 1. As long as those employed and taught by the Association, or + receiving any benefit whatsoever therefrom, shall be admitted by + the decision of the Committee, or by some one deputed by + themselves, and not by the votes of the subscribers. + + 2. As long as blindness shall not disqualify any person from + holding the office of Superintendent, Traveller, or Porter. + + 3. As long as it is a fundamental rule of the Association that the + immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment + to those blind persons who for want of work have been compelled to + solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so; to cause + those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some industrial + art; and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the blind; + also to support a circulating library consisting of books in + various systems of relief printing, to the advantages of which the + indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon + payment of the subscription required by the Committee; to collect + and disseminate information relative to the physical, mental, + moral, and religious condition of the blind; and to promote among + individuals and institutions, seeking to ameliorate the condition + of the blind, a friendly interchange of information calculated to + advance the common cause among all classes of the blind. + + 4. As long as the Committee shall consist of both ladies and + gentlemen. + + 5. As long as at least six blind men or women shall be supplied + with work at their homes by the Association, each at a sum of not + less than six shillings per week; and so long as at least three + blind men and three blind women shall be receiving instruction at + the cost of the Association. + + +These conditions deserve the careful consideration of every one +interested in the blind, and should be religiously observed in the +Institution founded by Bessie Gilbert. + +Her work had now greatly increased; a large number of blind persons were +regularly employed, and the public had responded to every appeal for +funds. A meeting was held in May 1859, with the Bishop of London in the +chair, and the time seemed to have come for that further information +which Colonel Phipps had intimated might be sent to the Queen. + +In April 1859, therefore, a letter was written to Her Most Gracious +Majesty, by her very dutiful and humble servant E. M. M. Gilbert, to +which the following reply was received: + + + BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _7th May 1859_. + + MADAM--In reply to your letter of the 29th April, I have now the + pleasure to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen has been + graciously pleased to grant her patronage to the Association for + Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, for which you have + shown so much sympathetic interest and so large and liberal a + benevolence.--I have the honour to be, madam, your obedient humble + servant, C. B. PHIPPS. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Bessie returned very dutiful acknowledgments and grateful thanks to the +Queen, who had for the second time granted her petition and rendered +signal service to her cause. + +Henceforward, on the first page of annual reports, and on all bills and +notices, appear the magical words-- + + + Patroness. Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen. + + +They were doubtless, as Bessie believed them to be, a tower of strength +to her, inspiring confidence, securing friends, bringing custom and +money. + +Proud and happy too were the blind workmen as they sat round their +little table, cautiously dipping fibre into the boiling pitch. They +could reply to inquirers that orders had been received from Buckingham +Palace, from Osborne, and from Windsor Castle, and that they were +"making brooms for the Queen." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EVERYDAY LIFE + + "Ce que peut la vertu d'un homme ne se doit pas mesurer par ses + efforts, mais par son ordinaire."--PASCAL. + + +In January 1859 Bessie, with a younger sister, paid a ten days' visit to +Fir Grove, Eversley, the home of her friend Miss Erskine. It was at this +time that she became personally acquainted with Charles Kingsley. She +heard him preach in his own church, and the sermon was one that she +always referred to with gratitude as having helped and strengthened +her.[7] + +Miss Erskine remembers that Bessie walked and talked with Mr. and Mrs. +Kingsley, and that they learnt to love her dearly. They quickly +recognised the brave and faithful nature of the blind lady. "When you +have medicine to take you drink it all up," said Charles Kingsley.[8] +Never was there a truer remark. + +She might, in the diary she was then keeping, have recorded many +interesting incidents connected with that visit. But she merely makes a +note of work done on behalf of the Association, and there is one +solitary mention of Mr. Kingsley's name--"talked to Mr. Kingsley about +the Museum." That she talked about the Association it is unnecessary to +add, and as a proof of it we find in the spring that Mr. Kingsley asked +the Rev. Llewelyn Davies either to preach or to lend his pulpit in aid +of her work. + +On her return to Chichester the remainder of January was spent in +writing letters to ask for anecdotes concerning the blind, and in +obtaining material for her proposed book. + +An autograph letter soliciting patronage was written at this time to the +blind King of Hanover. She tells how she first dictated, then copied it +herself, and also wrote herself to enclose it to Miss Boyle, by whom it +was to be forwarded. "Seems little enough," she adds, "but took a long +time." + +With regard to her biographies, Levy writes as follows: + +"I think Mr. Taylor would lend any work he has; the best he has I think +are all German. The translations which I have heard from them remind me +of the efforts which have been made to discover the North-West Passage, +you are continually boring through ice, and if perchance you do meet +with a piece of clear water you are no sooner aware that it is such than +you are hemmed in with ice again. + +"If you were to write and ask him to lend you any work on the biography +of the blind it would do good, but all that Germany has produced for the +blind is not worth spending much time upon." He proceeds to tell her of +a meeting held at St. John's Wood, and of the feeling that seemed to +prevail that the institution there for the blind must either adopt "our +views" or else come to the ground; and how in consequence of this the +title had been changed to "The London Society for teaching the blind to +read and for teaching the Blind Industrial Arts." He ends his letter, +"It seems truly miraculous that in so short a space of time so much +should be done with the various institutions. There is St. John's Wood, +St. George's, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, York, and Bath of which we +know." + +Bessie's friends heard of her proposed book on the blind with interest. +Mr. Browne, the Rector of Pevensey, wrote in warm approval, and offered +when in London to consult books for her at the British Museum. The late +Colonel Fyers wrote from Dover Castle, enclosing an account of the life +of a blind doctor, Rockliffe, of Ashley in Lincolnshire. Her brother Tom +writes from Trinity College, sending notes on the life of the blind +professor, Sanderson of Cambridge, who died in 1739. He speaks of a +picture on the stairs of the library, of which he thinks she might make +use. Her own note-book is filled with accounts of the lives of Holman, +Gough, Huber, Laura Bridgman, and others. Many letters sent to her at +this time have been preserved; one from a blind man, Elisha Bates, +interested her greatly:-- + + + ELISHA BATES. I am thirty-three years of age. I was born at Coburn + near Richmond, Yorkshire. My parents were agricultural labourers. I + was born quite blind. I was always fond of horses. I used as a + little boy to drive the horses in Mr. Fryer's threshing machine. I + began this about nine years of age. I went daily to the ploughing + fields, and although so young I was allowed to drive the horses for + the ploughman. I could very early find my way about the village and + to the different fields of the farmers. Up to eleven years of age I + went with the other boys of the village to seek birds' nests, and + often found my way to and from the neighbouring villages. I always + had an excellent memory for recollecting the turns in the road and + the variations of the surface, by which I was guided. I never had a + stick up to this time, and up to the present time I rarely use one. + I went to the Liverpool Blind Institution at twelve years of age, + and learnt to read in the characters for the blind, and was taught + the trade of ropemaking. I was so good in finding my way at + Liverpool that I used to take charge of an old man [Hewell Kennedy] + in our walking excursions. He was lame, deaf, and blind, and I used + to take him about three miles up the London Road to the Old Swan + Inn. I never forget a road I have once travelled over. I have no + difficulty in avoiding obstacles. I think I do so from the + acuteness of my hearing; I listen attentively to my footfall, and + when approaching any object which may intercept my progress, even a + lamp-post, I can discover a slight difference in the sound. If I + have any doubt I tread a little louder, so as to satisfy my ear. I + never fail in making it out. The difference in the sound is + difficult to describe; but if I am near a wall or any object in my + path I feel the sound to be more confined and not to extend itself + as in an open space. It comes quicker to my ear. I left Liverpool + at the age of seventeen and returned by railway to my native + village. I remained a year at home and drove the farmer's horses. I + then went to the Victoria Asylum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I + earned 8s. a week in making ropes. I remained there until I was + twenty-two years old. Whilst in Newcastle I got thoroughly + acquainted with the streets, and used to take out and deliver goods + in the town. I came home by the railway and stayed two or three + months. I then found my way on foot and alone to Sunderland, 45 + miles. I asked people on the way how to steer my course. I always + learnt what turns I had to take and the distance from place to + place. I could calculate very accurately the time it took me to + complete any given distance, and knew exactly when I arrived at the + end of it. I then found my way from Sunderland to Newcastle, some + 15 miles of very busy road, and had a great many of the colliery + railways to cross. I walked back from Newcastle to Colburn + unattended and alone. I then, after remaining at home a short time, + started for Leeds, and walked above 50 miles in two days. I am a + very quick walker on a good road. I went in search of work. I went + alone from Leeds to Bradford, 10 miles of very busy road. I + returned home walking alone the whole way by Otley, Knaresborough, + and Leming, about 50 miles. I married after my return from + Newcastle and have two children. After my last journey from + Bradford I settled down at Richmond. My wife never travels with me, + I always go alone. At Richmond I commenced with a donkey and cart + as a firewood gatherer. My wife and I gathered firewood and brought + it in my cart to Richmond, and sold it to my customers. I next got + a pony and larger cart, and have ever since regularly led coals + from the railway station into the town. I can find my way to any + house in the town and never have any assistance in driving my cart + and going about. I get off and on to my cart as well as any other + driver, and when it is empty I sit on my cart and drive with reins. + With a load I go by the horse's head. I can tell instantly when any + other vehicle is either coming towards me or coming past me in the + same direction, and I turn my horse accordingly to avoid them. I + never have any falls in walking alone, and never come in contact + with anything when driving. I have never had any accident I groom + my pony myself and go to purchase all the food it requires. I have + always enjoyed good health. I have my amusements as well as work. I + go angling in the River Swale with rod, and salmon roe as bait, and + occasionally get a good dish of trout. I have also been a + nut-gatherer, and found my way to the woods, and have gathered + large quantities, which I have sold. I am fond of singing, and used + to play the piano a little at Liverpool. I have not had any + opportunities of doing so since. I do not always confine my leading + coals to the town of Richmond; I occasionally take a load of coals + or other articles, such as furniture, to a distance of 10 or 12 + miles from the town. I was the other day employed with my horse and + cart at Crake Hall near Bedale, 12 miles from Richmond. Of course I + do all my work by myself and unattended by any one. + + RICHMOND, _2d June 1859_. + + +Bessie refers in her diary at this time to MSS. in a considerable "state +of advance;" but the only part of her work actually completed by herself +and now recoverable is the title-page. She was too closely occupied with +the work done in the Euston Road to give much time to the writing of a +book. In the midst of a record of her literary work we come upon such an +entry as "sold two brushes." Indeed there was no time in which she +would not gladly throw aside anything else in order to "sell two +brushes." + +Early in February she paid a short visit to friends at Ashling, in +Sussex; and on the 26th of February we have the last entry in her diary. +The full details of her busy life are at an end. There is no further +detailed account of the interminable letters and appeals, the visits to +blind men and women, the arrangements and plans and suggestions. They +are all to go on for many a long year; but the labour of recording them +is abandoned, and there is an attempt to diminish work which threatens +to be overwhelming. + +One of her letters at this time is to Mr. Eyre, "Rector of Marlbourne." +What almost insuperable difficulties spelling must offer even to the +educated blind! How much more we all learn from sight, from reading, +than from the dictionary! When a word occurs for the first time to a +blind person he can only spell by ear; and Marlbourne for Marylebone is +a very creditable solution of a difficulty. + +One of the most interesting workmen in the Institution at this time was +both blind and deaf. Levy heard of, and, at Bessie's request, visited +him in his own home. The poor fellow had worked to support two sisters +and an aged mother until severe illness, fever, robbed him of sight and +hearing. He had regained health, but sat in one corner of the room +moaning "I am wretched, very wretched." Hearing no sound of his own +voice he had ceased to speak to others, and sat in silence, save for +these incessant moans, and in darkness; roused from time to time by a +push on the shoulder and a plate of food put into his hands. The sisters +did their best to support themselves and him by their needle, but he was +as one living in the grave, and he was only twenty-one. + +Such a case excited Bessie's deepest compassion. In a single afternoon +Levy roused the poor fellow from almost hopeless despondency, and placed +him once more in communication with the world around; taught him the +letters of the dumb alphabet on his own hand, and spelt out the joyful +information that he could learn a trade and earn his living by it. He +did not readily believe this, but from that time the moans of "wretched, +very wretched" ceased. He was admitted at once as a pupil at Euston +Road, and learnt so rapidly that in six weeks he was able to write +letters to his friends. Also he had ceased to "spoil material," which is +the general occupation of learners for many months, and was earning +between four and five shillings a week; whilst at the end of a year he +was in receipt of excellent wages. + +Bessie went frequently to the workshop "to talk to A." He would repeat +aloud the letters formed upon his hand, and guess words and even +sentences in a surprising manner. It was instructive to remark how soon +an intelligent listener knows all you are going to say, and how +unnecessary are many of our long explanations. Valuable lessons in +brevity and conciseness were to be learnt from A., and the blind and +deaf man soon brought you down to the bare bones of the information you +had to give. An angry glance was thrown away upon him, and finger talk +has no equivalent for that slight and incisive raising of the voice +which implies that the speaker intends a listener to hear him to the +end. + +The slow, monotonous utterance of the deaf man, a pronunciation which, +as years passed on, became strangely unreal, and a sense of the +loneliness to which he was condemned, attracted much attention to this +intelligent man. + +After a time he married. His wife, a widow with a little girl, was no +comfort to him; but the child soon became his inseparable and devoted +companion. When work was over she used to read a newspaper to him. She +uttered no sound, but sat with the paper in her lap, whilst her little +fingers fluttered about his hand like the wings of a bird, and his slow +monotonous voice followed her, repeating words and sentences, or telling +her to go on to something else. + +One day Bessie, who was often accompanied by a friend, took with her +Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth, daughter of the late Bishop of Lincoln, to +have a chat with A. + +Miss Wordsworth sent her the following poem in memory of the visit: + + + A MINISTRY OF LOVE TO ONE BLIND AND DEAF. + + Near him she stands, her fingers light + In quick succession go + Across his yielding palm, as white, + As swift, as flakes of snow. + + The diamond on her hand, that gleams + And flashes when it stirs, + Toward other eyes may fling its beams, + But never gladden hers. + + No word she speaks, no whisper soft + His inner mind to reach; + No glances casts, tho' looks are oft + More eloquent than speech. + + The smile that gilds a friendly face + Shall never meet his eye; + Songs, footsteps, laughter, tears, give place + To dreary vacancy. + + Silence and darkness, brethren twain + For ever at his side, + Still hold him in their double chain + Inexorably tied. + + Yet love is stronger still, and she + Even hither wins her way, + And soothes the long captivity + Beneath that iron sway. + + Such tenderness, long years ago, + The nymphs of ocean led + To stern Prometheus stretched in woe + Upon his stony bed. + + Or in the shape of insect, flower, + Or bird has helped to cheer, + In later times, full many an hour + Of bondage, sad and drear. + + But what can comfort, like the heart + That sorrow's self has known; + Since that has learnt the healing art + From sufferings of its own. + + And casting selfish grief away + Forgets its own distress + In sorrows heavier still, that prey + On some more comfortless. + + This she has learnt--the secret this + Of her calm life below; + This gives those lips that sober bliss + And smoothes that peaceful brow. + + Yet more; the love of human kind, + How pure soe'er it be, + Can never fill the heart, designed + To grasp infinity. + + True, when the night of grief is dark + It gladdens us to ken + The distant cottage fires, and mark + The peaceful homes of men. + + But such as upward lift their eye + Will see a worthier sight, + The myriad stars, that in the sky + Seem homes for angels bright. + + Thus guided they pursue their way + Thro' loneliest heath and dell, + Till on their work of mercy, they + Come where their brethren dwell. + + And such as she no earthly glow + Would e'er suffice for them, + Shine on her, 'mid these dwellings low, + Thou Star of Bethlehem! + + +The "Song of Elizabeth" from the _Saint's Tragedy_ was published during +the year 1859, and Bessie writes to Addison and Hollier to say that +instead of an engraving she will have the price-list of the Association +on the title-page. This remarkable decision they seem to have induced +her to abandon, for the title-page is of the ordinary kind. There were +at this time about a hundred and fifty blind persons deriving benefit +from the Association: sixty-three were supplied with work at their own +homes; forty-seven were employed at the Euston Road; the remainder were +pupils, agents, travellers, shopman, and superintendent, whilst three +received pensions. So many more were applying for work and instruction +that at the May meeting the Bishop of Oxford offered a donation of £20 +on condition that nineteen similar donations were announced in a given +time. He thus raised £400 for the relief of some of the more pressing +cases amongst the applicants. The increase of workmen made an increase +in the sales necessary, and the trade of the Association was assuming +formidable dimensions. The buying and selling, the control of workrooms +and management of stock, the care of ledgers, accounts, bills and +receipts, might now with great advantage have been made over to a +competent and adequately paid sighted manager. Such an arrangement would +have left Bessie free to devote herself to the charitable part of her +enterprise; to elevate and educate the blind, to investigate cases, and +make experiment with trades. With Levy as her faithful coadjutor how +much might she not have done! + +She was pledged, however, to a more ambitious attempt, and felt herself +bound in honour to show what the blind can do alone and unaided. A +proposal was made in January 1859 to employ a "sighted" accountant, but +as this was opposed by Bessie it was not carried. And yet at this very +time the incessant and anxious work of past years was beginning to tell +upon her, and she had urgent need of rest. + +She was mainly responsible for the funds necessary to carry on the +business. Being familiar with every detail of the business, she was +called upon to explain its intricacies to her Committee. She had often +to justify and secure the carrying out of arrangements which did not +meet with general approval. Every scheme, proposal, experiment, rested +ultimately upon her; upon this one blind lady, whose health had never +been good, but whose strenuous energy and strong sense of duty forbade +her to say no to any appeal on behalf of fellow-sufferers. + +Museum, boarding-house, sick fund, musicians' association, with its +classes for vocal and instrumental music, endowment fund, fund for +establishing a West-end shop, fund in aid of tradesmen who had lost +their sight; all these are the outcome of a single year's work. There +are also letters innumerable to be written and answered, appeals to be +made, applications to be replied to. She threw herself with fervid zeal +into all her work, and a day was accounted lost if she had not +accomplished in it something for the Association. + +Two sisters were married in 1858, but the diary contains no other record +of such important events than "unavoidably nothing done." Her heart +beat warm and true as ever, home and friends were dear as ever, but for +a time her horizon was bounded by the narrow walls of one small dark +house in the Euston Road. + +Herr Hirzel, director of the blind institution at Lausanne, who had +visited the Association during the summer, was so well pleased with all +he saw that he decided on his return to Switzerland to open workshops +for the blind. At different times some six institutions had also applied +for teachers or blind superintendents, but no workmen had been trained +or were qualified to fill such posts. Bessie saw that this was an +omission in her scheme, and at once resolved that special facilities for +the training of intelligent blind men ought to be provided. + +In the autumn, however, the long threatened reaction from overwork set +in, and she was prostrated by weakness and depression. In November she +was induced to try the effect of complete rest, and paid a long promised +visit to Miss Isabella Law, at Northrepps Rectory, near Cromer. + +She took with her a Foucault frame and taught Miss Law to use it, and +what further employment she found during her short holiday is best told +in Miss Law's letters. + +Writing at Christmas 1859 she says: + + + It is just six weeks to-day since you left us. I can never forget + that miserable morning; it is always haunting me like a dreadful + dream that I try in vain to get rid of.... I hardly know what to + tell you about myself; it is a very difficult subject to write + about. I have been trying to do more in the school lately than I + ever did before. I think of you when I am there, and try to do my + best. Still I am afraid, as Madame Goldschmidt said of the + clergyman, my best is very little. My sisters are going next week + to spend a few days with some friends in the neighbourhood: how I + should like to have you with me then. I remember so well your once + speaking to me about accustoming myself to be alone whenever it was + necessary, and not to depend too much on others for companionship, + so now you see I am going to have a little trial in that way. You + will think of me then, won't you? and I shall be thinking of you + more than ever.... I took a bit of my writing this morning to show + the school children, and they seemed delighted with it.... I must + say good-bye now, ... and how much love I send I never could tell + you. + + +On the 5th of January 1860 Miss Law writes: + + + I sincerely hope that this new year may be a very happy one to you + and to all who are dear to you. It seems so strange to me to look + back to this time last year. I feel somehow as if a change had come + over my life since then. I mean I seem to see things in quite a new + light, and to feel my responsibilities far more than I did before; + and I know it is all through your influence. I feel it would have + been indeed a happy year to me if the only blessing it had brought + me had been your friendship, which I value far more than I can ever + tell you.... My heart clings to every little remembrance of you one + by one, and they are all very dear to me. + + +No account of her life would be adequate which did not bring out the +stimulating effect of Bessie's friendship, and the way in which even an +hour spent with her would have its result, and open a way to useful +activity. Miss Law was specially influenced with regard to her poems, in +which Bessie took a warm interest. At first they were sent for approval +and criticism, but before long Miss Law was more than able to stand +alone, and she published a small volume, which was well received and +favourably noticed. + +The following pretty lines have been preserved amongst Bessie's +papers:-- + + + Will you please tell me very truly what you think of this little + poem? You know I have a great respect for your opinion, and that is + why I send it. + + WHAT IS SYMPATHY? + + It is the perfect tune that lies + Underneath all harmonies. + The brook that sings in summertide + Between the flowers on either side. + It is that voiceless under part, + That, still unheard, heart sings to heart. + The interchange of thoughts that lie + Too deep for louder melody. + The breath that makes the lyre move + With silent echoings of love. + ISABELLA LAW. + + +Bessie paid other short visits to old friends at this time. We hear of +her with Miss Bathurst at Stanmore, and greatly interested in Miss +Bathurst's most honoured friend, Lady Byron. She also stayed with Miss +Butler, who remembers that one day when she was about to mount her horse +Bessie stood stroking his legs, saying: "Surely this must be +thorough-bred." Another time, as Bessie stood near him, the horse +stretched out his head and took the rose she was wearing so gently from +her dress that she did not know it until she was told that he was eating +it. Bessie used to drive in a pony carriage with Miss Butler, and to +puzzle her hostess by a request for a description of the scenery. + +On one occasion a gentleman who had become recently blind was asked to +meet Bessie at Stanmore. It was very touching to see her sit by the +blind man's side, take his hand and try to encourage and comfort him. +Work for others, help for others; these were the things she told him +that would make life worth living, and her own ardour was able to +inspire him as well as others with hope and energy. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] _Town and Country Sermons_; 18. "Character of Peter." + +[8] Page 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TIME OF TROUBLE + + "Good times and bad times and all times pass over." + BEWICK'S VIGNETTES. + + +Bishop Gilbert's family circle was fast diminishing. His eldest son and +four daughters were married. The _sisterhood_ was broken up. Numerous +home duties at Chichester and in London, together with the care of +parents whose health was beginning to fail, engrossed the time and +thought of the daughters at home. Bessie still received sympathy and +assistance, but she lived a very independent life, and relied more and +more upon the services of a confidential maid, who wrote her letters, +made the entries in diary, note-book, and journal, from which we have +taken extracts, and accompanied her wherever she went. + +Her entire absorption in the work of the Institution could not fail to +become a source of isolation; and it began to cause anxiety to parents +and friends. They knew her delicacy and the need in which she stood of +constant watchful care, and they followed her with apprehension as she +sailed out into the ocean of labour and endeavour. + +Some remonstrances from old and dear friends reached her, and the +faithful Fraülein D. wrote as follows: + + + Don't you allow that one great interest to absorb all others.... + Remember that our very virtues can become snares of sin to us if we + do not watch ourselves, our purest actions may lead us wrong. One + great difficulty we have to deal with, in this our so complex state + of trial, is to keep within us an even balance of things. Do the + one thing, but do not leave the others undone, and above all seek, + in all we do, not our own but the glory of God.... Don't you show a + little want of faith and trust in your own eagerness and + over-anxiety about your Institution, which, though most laudable in + itself, may become a snare to you if it makes you neglect duties + quite as, if not more, sacred? + + +Bessie preserved this letter, and in her humility she would lay it +deeply to heart; but she knew that the Institution was not a work in +which she sought her own glory. She was labouring for the blind, who +depended upon her, and whom she could not forsake. She had "put her hand +to the plough," and could not draw back. + +In a very different tone we find a few words from her father, written +after Miss Law had paid Bessie a visit in Queen Anne Street. + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _28th September 1860_. + + MY DEAREST BESSIE--They tell me it will be a doleful parting + between you and poor Miss Law, especially on her side, which I can + well understand, as she has not the resource in active occupation + which you have. Your mistake and suffering may be in taking too + much of it, without allowing yourself, or rather, taking as a part + of duty also, the _délassement_ of passing events, of social + conversation and intercourse. Well, this is not exactly what I + meant to say, but it may do on the principle of "a word to the + wise." They tell me too you want £15, so here is my cheque for £15 + and Archdeacon Mackenzie's, also on Coutts's, for £20. He says only + it is a donation for your Institution in Euston Road. H. told me + you have a notion he gave it for some specified purpose, the West + End, for instance, but he says nothing of the kind. The cheques are + each of them payable just as they are on being presented at + Coutts's. I have acknowledged the £20 to the Archdeacon. Those at + home do doubtless give you the chitchat news.... I suppose some one + will write besides me, so I only add that I am, my dearest Bessie, + yr. ever affectionate father, A. T. CICESTR. + + +In the early part of 1860 Miss Bathurst wrote to congratulate Bessie on +a "noble donation," coming "doubtless in answer to the law that they +that seek shall find," and the donation has a pleasant history. + +One day when Bessie was in Queen Anne Street a servant told her that a +lady wished to see Miss Gilbert. She went downstairs accompanied, as +usual, by her maid, and on entering the room found one whom she +discovered by her voice to be a very old lady, whose first words were: + +"My dear, I am very tired; send your maid for a glass of sherry." + +This was done, and when she had finished the sherry the old lady said: + +"My dear, I bring a contribution for your work. You see my relations +have kept me a long time from having the control of my money, and now I +am determined they shall never get a penny of it." + +Then she turned to the maid who had brought the sherry: "Young woman," +she said, "count these notes." + +They were carefully wrapped in newspaper, ten notes for £50 each, and +every note in its own piece of newspaper. They were duly counted and +passed to Bessie. "You will acknowledge them, my dear," said the old +lady, "in the _Times_ and under initials." + +And that was all. No more was ever heard of her, and there was no clue +to her identity. + +Singularly enough there was a second donation of £500, also from a lady, +in October of the same year. The first announcement of it came from +Levy, who writes from 127 Euston Road. + + + _17th October 1860._ + + DEAR MADAM--In speaking finances yesterday I said that we could do + nothing more than we had done unless God sent us a special + blessing. God has sent us a special blessing in a donation of + + Five Hundred Pounds. + + His instrument in this gift is a lady, who did not wish her name + mentioned, but Mr. Evans, the gentleman to whose discretion the + giving or holding the donation was left, quite agreed with me that + her name should be published. Her name is Miss Terry.--I am, dear + madam, yours truly, W. H. LEVY. + + +The following letter is from the Mr. Evans alluded to: + + + _17th October 1860._ + + MADAM--I think it will give you pleasure to be informed that, + having £500 placed in my hands yesterday for a Blind Institution, I + searched out the one with which you were said to be connected. + After going round Euston Square twice, calling at the wrong places, + I at last traced it to the Euston Road, where I saw the Report and + Mr. Levy. When I told him my object he literally cried for joy, and + this I think will be interesting also to you to know. The lady who + gives this handsome donation is Miss Mercy E. Terry of Odiham, + Hants, through her bankers, Messrs. Child and Co. I need not say, + rejoicing as I do in such charitable gifts, that it affords me very + considerable pleasure in being the bearer of this intelligence to + you, although a stranger, as greatly interested in the aforesaid + Institution. The money has this day been paid to Messrs. Williams + and Co. on account of the Society.--I am, madam, yours very + obedly., E. P. EVANS. + + +Bessie, in acknowledging the letter, asks if the donation is in response +to an appeal for help. Mr. Evans replies: "Thanks are due to Miss Terry +alone, but chiefly to a watchful Providence who so appropriately guided +her charity to your Institution in need of it. Your individual +application had no influence in the matter; for, in fact, applications +of that kind are so numerous that it is not my practice to give them +attention. I did not know that you had written until you told me; but +now I find that you did so, because your letter lies amongst others put +aside. + +"Your wishes and prayers are, however, answered in another way, and +that is very satisfactory." + +These donations gladdened Bessie's heart, and were frequently referred +to as coming at a time when heavy pecuniary anxiety was pressing upon +her. She had applied this year to Mr. Tatton of Manchester, but he +replied that it would be impossible to raise funds in Manchester for a +London institution; people would feel that the many indigent blind in +Lancashire and Cheshire had a stronger claim upon them. He wishes her +success, and informs her that they are busily engaged in erecting a +large addition to the Blind Asylum in Manchester to enable them to carry +out the system of teaching trades to, and finding regular employment +for, non-resident blind. "The success of your Association," he adds, "in +establishing and carrying out such a system, has been one main cause of +inducing us to take such steps as will enable us, although at a very +heavy cost, to give the plan a fair trial in Manchester, and I feel very +sanguine as to its success." + +This information would give as much pleasure in its own way as the +announcement of a donation of £500. + +In addition to her autograph letters, a circular asking for custom for +the Institution, and signed by the Rev. W. Champneys, Sir John Anson, +and the Rev. Pelham Dale, was issued in 1860. These earnest, patient, +importunate appeals went steadily on; they were written by herself or by +any friend whose sympathy she could enlist, and sent to any and every +newspaper that would consent to insert them. But in spite of all efforts +stock was increasing, sales diminishing, and an augmented number of +blind applicants clamouring for admission. The boarding-house began to +be a source of anxiety, not only on account of the expense connected +with it, but by reason of the character of many of the inmates. Blind +men were sent to the London boarding-house at the suggestion and with +the warm approval of persons interested in them; and in the belief that +they would learn a trade and earn their own living. But in many cases +the man only looked upon London as a happy hunting ground. The last +thing he intended to do when he got there was to work. He wanted a +comfortable home, a small and certain allowance, and to beg in the +London streets. Tied up together are letters warmly recommending a man +to the benefits of the Institution, detailing his many virtues as well +as his needs, followed by others from the same writer sorrowfully +recognising failure, and very frequently acknowledging that the man was +"at his old tricks again." + +Bessie's faith in her cause was unshaken even by these painful +experiences. She showed infinite pity and tenderness to all blind +applicants, and gave to each one who was admitted a fair opportunity to +improve and reform. She believed that honesty, goodness, and habits of +industry were constantly found beneath the garb of the blind beggar, and +that he must not be judged by the ordinary standard, because his +condition of idleness had been enforced, and was often of long +standing. She learned to know all the temptations to which the blind +were exposed, and whilst she fully recognised and acknowledged them, she +endeavoured to show a way of escape. In spite of many failures she could +point to individuals and families rescued from beggary and placed in a +position to which it had seemed impossible even to aspire. + +Still, with all allowances which her wide charity and large experiences +were ready to make, it soon became apparent that a boarding-house for +blind men and women conducted by a blind man would not answer. Abuses +crept or rather leapt in, and Bessie, suffering and depressed, was +unable to intervene actively, as she would have done if her health had +permitted. There seemed to be no alternative, and the boarding-house was +closed. + +Mrs. Powell, sister of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, and twin sister of Mrs. +Julius Hare, was one of Bessie's old and dear friends. She was a member +of the Committee of the Association, and took keen interest in its work. +We learn from her letters that Bessie was too ill to take part in the +arrangements for the workpeople at Christmas 1860, or to attend the +Committee meeting in January 1861. Mrs. Powell sends a prescription for +a plaster "which seems to do wonders in neuralgia, and in soothing the +brain after there has been any strain upon it." + +Miss Bathurst also writes frequently at this time. "How earnestly I hope +sleep may be given back to you," she says. "Those long nights of waking +will try you sorely." She tells of a sermon preached by Mr. Maurice on +the text, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit," and how he had +dwelt on the change in the meaning of the word endeavour since it was +first used by the translators, and that it was at that time a word full +of energy, implying, "Put out all your force as for something which you +are capable of accomplishing." + +But Bessie was in no condition to receive encouragement from words which +would at another time have roused her like the call of a trumpet. + +The day of endeavour was for the present at an end; weary months passed +on, and her condition was unchanged. An abscess formed in the lower jaw, +and, after consultation, it was resolved to remove eleven teeth. It was +also decided to perform this severe operation all at one time and +without the use of chloroform. There were special difficulties on +account of the condition of Bessie's throat and the adjacent tissues +which seemed at the time to justify this decision; but the result was +disastrous, almost fatal. It was months before she rallied from the +shock of the acute and prolonged pain. When, three weeks after the +operation, she was at the lowest ebb and her condition very critical, it +was discovered that the spire of Chichester Cathedral was in imminent +danger and must shortly fall. Just that part of the palace in which her +room was situated was believed to be in danger of being crushed if the +spire fell, and it was absolutely necessary that she should be removed. +The Dean and Mrs. Hook made immediate preparations to receive her at +the Deanery, which was supposed to be out of danger. She was taken from +her bed on the 21st of February 1861, and carried to the safest room in +the palace, but before she could be removed from the house the spire +fell, collapsing like a house of cards, injuring no animate thing, and +doing little harm to any other part of the structure. Bessie was really +proud of that spire. It had been good and beautiful in life, and its +fall was the type of a peaceful and appropriate end. Chichester mourned +its loss; it was, as the local journal said, "the most symmetrical spire +in England, on which the eye of Her Majesty and her Royal Consort when +in the Isle of Wight must have sometimes rested with delight." + +To the blind lady the cathedral and its beautiful spire had also been +very dear. But as she had been too ill for apprehension, so she was at +first spared the sharp pang of regret. Many months of prostration +followed the dental operation, and it was more than a year before she +was again restored to health. As soon as she could attend to letters, +she received frequent reports of the work in London. The underground +railway was in course of construction, and had blocked the Euston Road. +Trade was annihilated there, and the blind had lost all ready-money +custom. Debts were assuming ominous proportions, and Levy, upon whom the +whole strain and responsibility now fell, showed signs of failing +health. + +Mrs. Powell wrote on the 7th of May 1861 from Palace Gardens, to give +Bessie an account of the Committee meeting. She said that: + + + Levy was in a weakly, nervous state, soon exhausted. He said it was + nervous fever from which he suffered, and that the doctor told him + he must have rest. In his absence from the room it was proposed to + arrange that he might spend every Saturday and Sunday out of + London. Mr. Dixon, the oculist, who was a member of the Committee, + said he must be careful not to go too far, as in a weak state of + health people suffered more than they gained by long railway + journeys. Levy came back into the room and announced that nothing + could be done or thought of till "the annual meeting" was over. + There was a debt of £1400 hanging over the Institution, half of it + trade debt, and half from customers who could not be got to pay + ready money; and Levy announced that the loss of custom from the + underground railway stopping access to the shop amounted to £20 a + week. + + +Mrs. Powell concludes by saying: + + + I need not add that much sympathy and regret were expressed by the + Committee at your continued weakness and suffering, and all hoped + soon to see you there again. I know how anxious you must feel to be + amongst them; but you will remember "your strength is now to sit + still," until it can be said "Arise, He calleth thee." In patience + you will possess your spirit. May God bless you at all times. + + +On the 13th of May the Bishop writes to give an account of the annual +meeting held at St. James's Hall, and presided over by the Bishop of +London. + + + QUEEN ANNE STREET, W., _13th May 1861_. + + MY VERY DEAR BESSIE--Ford [her maid] gives a most encouraging + account of your progress and walking performances, and I can + reciprocate with a capital one of this day's meeting. The room was + quite full, galleries and all; 2067 were stated to be present. + There were some donations, but I have not heard yet the amount of + the collection. + + It is clear to me the Association has now taken its footing in + London and in the nation, and that with God's blessing it will go + on and become a national Institution, and that you, my dear child, + may humbly rejoice in it. I have not time for more.--Yr. ever + affectionate father, A. T. CICESTR. + + +Such a letter would greatly help forward Bessie's convalescence, which, +though slow, was beginning to show signs of progress. In July a letter +from Levy must have reassured her as to the state of his health, and it +is interesting as the description of a blind man at a fire, with all his +wits about him, and other blind men to help him. + + + 127 EUSTON ROAD, _3d July 1861_. + + DEAR MADAM--Last night a fire of an alarming character broke out + nearly opposite the Institution, and at one time our premises were + placed in great danger, large masses of fire falling thickly over + our premises for upwards of half an hour. + + It is a matter of thankfulness that I was at home. + + Our officers and other people hastened from their homes to our + assistance. I caused the cocoa-matting to be taken from the floors, + immersed in water, and spread over the roof, and every vessel + capable of holding water was filled and passed from hand to hand in + regular succession, so that the stream was continually kept up on + all exposed parts. + + The office books were tied in blankets ready to be carried away, + but providentially the wind changed and we were relieved from + anxiety. Four houses were destroyed or injured, but the only + damage we have received is from the water, which is very slight--I + am, dear madam, yours truly, W. H. LEVY. + + +During the early summer of 1861 a tent was set up in the garden at +Chichester, to which Bessie was carried on all suitable days. She was +happy with birds and trees and flowers around her, and received visits +from many old and tried friends. Her recovery was very slow, but there +was always sufficient progress to point to the ultimate restoration of +health. + +Throughout the year the workpeople sent affectionate greetings and +appreciative verses to their generous friend and patron. Bessie resumed +the occupations of her youth, and in the months of her enforced absence +from London and the work of the Association she wrote long poems and +gave her time to music and reading. + +With a view to publication, she submitted some of her poems to her old +friend, the Rev. H. Browne, asking for a candid opinion. He writes as +follows: + + + PEVENSEY, EASTBOURNE, _15th August 1861_. + + DEAR BESSIE--I have read your poems, and, as you desired, have + criticised closely. The faults are chiefly in the versification. + Here and there I suspect they have not been written down correctly + from your dictation. The thoughts, sentiments, and images are very + pleasing, and the expression generally good. That on "The Poplar + Leaves" is exceedingly pretty and gracefully expressed. It needs + but a few alterations to make it all that it should be. "Spring" is + striking in point of thought, but the versification should flow + more smoothly, and the diction here and there needs correction. + + "Thoughts Suggested by a Wakeful Night" are so good that I should + like to see them made as perfect as possible, and as blank verse + needs more finish than rhyme this task will need some pains. I hope + you will not be discouraged at my criticism. If you think of + sending any of these poems to some magazine "The Poplar Leaves" + would best lead the way. I am sorry I cannot help you in this, + having no connection with that kind of periodical literature nor + any acquaintance with its conductors. You will see that I have made + no notes on "Jessie." There are many pleasing lines in it, but it + wants unity, the introductory part having no necessary connection + with the catastrophe, and the latter being only a distressing + accident.... + + +The poems, which with returning health and strength were laid aside, are +very defective in form, but the thoughts and feelings that were a solace +to the blind lady cannot fail to interest the reader. These poems also +show what the Chichester garden was to her, and what intellectual +interests and resources she had when she was incapable of the active +work of her Association. + + + THE POPLAR LEAVES. + + The poplar leaves are whispering low + In the setting summer beams; + As they catch the lovely farewell glow + That lights the hills and streams. + + What tell they in those murmurs low, + Under the rising moon? + As they wave so gracefully to and fro, + I would ask of them a boon. + + Have you any word for me, + A word I fain would hear? + 'Twas dropped perchance beneath your tree + Too faint for human ear. + + Ye whisper so very low yourselves, + That as they lightly pass, + Ye needs must hear e'en fairy elves + At revels in the grass. + + Then tell me, tell me, if she came + Beneath the setting sun, + And breathed a song, a sigh, a name + Or sweet word ever a one. + + Then whisper it again to me, + Ye have not let it go, + It thrilled the whole height of your tree + Through every leaf I trow. + + Yet still they whispered on and on, + But never a word for me; + Till, from the hill-tops, light was gone; + And I left the poplar tree. + + Again I stood beneath that tree + When the fields were full of sheaves; + But now it mattered not to me + What said the poplar leaves; + + For one stood with me 'neath the moon, + As they dropped their whispers low, + From whom I gained that precious boon, + The word I longed to know. + + + LINES SUGGESTED BY A WAKEFUL NIGHT. + + Oh sleep, where art thou? I could chide thee now + That truant-like thou'rt absent from thy place; + Or e'en could call thee by a harsher name, + Deserter; yet I will not brand thee thus. + Oh! wherefore dost thou leave me? Haste and come, + That in thy presence I forget all else. + Except thou grant me from thy precious store + Some lovely dream of joy; that, like a child, + Lies folded to thy breast, but which thou canst + At will send forth to wander here or there, + Bearing some wondrous message on its way. + Are such dreams thine? scarce know I whence they are, + Yet sleep in sober earnest, I believe + They are not truly thine, but dwell above + In worlds of light where thou art all unknown. + Yet hold they here strange intercourse with thee, + So that thy soft'ning veil is o'er them thrown, + And a mist in part doth dim their brightness, + And dull the melody of their sweet voice. + While, in the language of their home, they tell + Of its joy and beauty, bidding our souls, + As treasures, keep the whispers which they bring. + For though their sweet voice muffled be and low, + And though thy dewy mist enfold them, + Yet speak they truly with such heavenly power, + That in the joy and light of such a presence + Doth the spirit see this world, and heaven + To be more near than ofttimes we can tell + In the movements of our life; when the links + Uniting both, by us are left untraced; + While sad and weary we do often mourn + Their dreary distance, since our faithless hearts + Will sunder them so far, then cannot rest + In the sever'd world they make unto themselves, + Since that they are inheritors of both. + And He who dwelt on earth, to prove with power + That both these worlds were one, meeting in Him, + Since by His mighty will of love He came + To link again upon the Cross the chain + Which should so closely evermore have bound them, + Which, save for Him, had utterly been sever'd, + He hath said, for every age to hear, + Within is the Kingdom of God; blest truth, + Within; and yet we look afar and gaze + Around in search of somewhat we call heaven, + And oft perchance thinking 'tis found, rejoice, + But soon in sadness is the quest renewed. + For that we seek a kingdom of our own, + No hope than this more utterly forlorn, + We have no kingdom and we cannot reign, + In serving only can we find our life + And perfect freedom, the true life of kings. + But whom to serve we may, nay needs must, choose; + And if the happy choice be made, then ours + Is the glorious privilege to know + That earth and heaven (howe'er Rebellion, + With his sceptre point in triumph, saying + Behold me, by earth's homage, king confessed), + One kingdom are, rul'd ever by one King. + Who through His love will teach this, more and more + Until our hearts, living His life of love, + Shall know and feel His presence all their heaven. + + + EVENING. + + 1. + + Ye sounds of day, why all so still, + And hushed as if in sleep? + Is there some power whose sovereign will + Bids you such silence keep? + I ask'd, no voice replied, it seemed + The while as tho' all nature sweetly dreamed, + But soon that spirit of the shade + The breeze, in softest whispers, answer made. + + 2. + + Hast thou seen the sun, with fainting beams + In parting, kiss the hills and streams, + Didst mark the blush of that farewell glow + And how he linger'd loth to go? + For soon to the queen of the glowing west, + He knew he must yield and sink to rest. + + 3. + + He had caught the sound of her step from far, + Had heard her greet her own bright star, + And triumphing tell how the god of day + Would yield his kingdom to her sway, + And how she comes to reign alone, + For he is gone, that glorious one. + + 4. + + O'er sounds she holds entire sway, + When she wills silence all obey, + Soon as her coming draweth near, + Many are hush'd, that she may hear + Those only which she makes her own, + Whose music breathes a lulling tone. + + 5. + + The streams that flow in melody, + The soothing insect-hum, + The green leaves whispering softly + While I, on light wings come, + And with low murmurs lull the groves, + These all make music which she loves; + All these, when the stirring day doth end, + To give her sweet welcome their voices blend. + + 6. + + Then ceas'd the voice, but all around + Floated a gentle murmuring sound; + While fragrant breath of greeting rose + From flowers sinking to repose, + To welcome evening's peaceful reign, + The while responding to the strain, + Their willing tribute of thanks and praise + My heart and voice at once did raise: + + 7. + + Oh evening, I will sing to thee, + Thou silent mother of thought; + My heart shall breathe the melody, + With glowing rapture fraught; + Yes, I will sing to thee, and tell + How I love thy solemn hour, + How in thy stillness lies a spell + Of soothing holy power. + + 8. + + Thou comest in calm majesty + To thy bowers in the west; + And weary nature blesseth thee, + For she knows thou bringest rest, + She waits thy coming anxiously, + And all the lovely flowers + Droop their leaves in thanks to thee, + For life-renewing showers. + + 9. + + Well may they bless thee, for I trow + When the joyous morn doth wake, + And with its beams their slumbers break, + All fresh and bright their leaves shall glow; + And to the deep feeling heart, + That which can love thee best, + How beautiful thou art! + Cradle of peace and rest. + + 10. + + It loves thy presence, and to thee + By chains of deepest thought is bound. + Such thought as sets the spirit free + Hallowing all around. + + 11. + + Then wakes in man his nature high, + He feels his immortality; + And in the peace at evening given + Bethinks him he is heir of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST LOSS + + "The thought of our past years in me doth breed + Perpetual benediction."--WORDSWORTH. + + +In August 1861 Bessie was removed to Bognor for the benefit of sea air, +and began to show signs of complete recovery. Some of the sisters were +her constant companions and devoted nurses; she received visits from her +parents, and loving letters from many friends. + +She returned to Chichester in the late autumn, restored to her usual +average of health; and in December the Bishop wrote to her, the eldest +daughter at home, as he had done in the old days when she was a girl, to +prepare for the return of the family from Brighton. + +Christmas was spent as usual at the palace, and with the new year Bessie +began gradually to resume her work for the Institution. + +Her first frame letter was written in March 1862 to her father, and has +been preserved: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _1st March 1862_. + + MY DEAREST PAPA--I had long ago settled that my first letter with + the frame should be to you, and most thankful I am to be able to + be at the "stocking making" again, though very likely I shall not + make a very good workwoman; but please take the work, such as it + is, as a little sign that Bessie has not forgotten all the love + shown her while she was ill, how you used to come and sit with her + in the midst of all you had to do. I am very very thankful to be so + much stronger, and to have been brought through the suffering as I + have been. + + I hope you will take care of yourself when you start for + confirmations, the winds now are so bitterly cold. Indeed, you do + provide well for us; it will be very enjoyable to have the Brownes. + Did you see that curious letter in _The Times_ not long since, + headed "Is it--;" I thought it would interest you. I hope it has + not been necessary to light gas to-day for morning service. + However, the day has not been very bright here. Yesterday I was out + in the garden in the morning, but I have a little cold and so was + not tempted to-day, as there was no sun. Robin is to sleep here + to-night; he preaches, I think, at St. Andrews. Very much love to + mamma and all.--I am ever your dutiful and loving child, + BESSIE. + + +The difficulties of the Association had increased during the period of +Bessie's illness and absence. + +Subscriptions and donations now amounted to between two and three +thousand a year, and goods had been sold to about the same amount. But +so large a percentage on sales was paid to all blind agents and +travellers and to Mr. Levy that the increase of trade threatened to +swamp the undertaking. Moreover, sales did not keep pace with productive +power, and a large quantity of stock was on hand. + +A Sub-Committee was appointed to investigate the financial condition of +the Association, and their report, practical and sound as it was, proved +very distasteful to Bessie. + +They advised the employment of a sighted shopman, the substitution of +some easier and more accurate method of keeping accounts, the payment of +all money received into the bank, and an arrangement under which Mr. and +Mrs. Levy should receive a fixed salary in lieu of commission on sales. +They also intimated their belief that the time had come when the Society +must look to its director simply for general management, and must be +prepared to employ a thoroughly efficient staff in the shop and +workrooms. + +The report really amounted to a suggestion to supersede her faithful +manager; a step to which Bessie and Levy were equally opposed. Bessie +hoped to avert it by raising money to pay the debts, and open a West-end +shop; and as the Committee was powerless without the alliance of the +Lady President, there was at any rate a reprieve. + +To obviate one of the difficulties arising from want of funds, the +Bishop offered £40 a year as the wages of a sighted shopman, in addition +to his subscription of £5. + +He announces this in a letter written from Queen Anne Street on the 22d +May 1862, to Bessie at Chichester. His offer was gratefully accepted by +the Committee. It was also arranged that donations and subscriptions +should be paid into the banking account; and not, as hitherto, used as +soon as received in the payment of bills and wages. But the director +was unwilling to relinquish any of his duties, and Bessie considered +that when her own health, which was rapidly improving, should be quite +re-established, the assistance she could give would lighten his duties +and responsibilities. + +Under these circumstances there seemed no pressing need of reform in the +management. Bessie had one remedy for all the suggestions of the +Sub-Committee; and this was to plead both in public and in private for +money and custom. In 1863 there were articles and letters in _The +Times_, and in all the principal London journals, and a paper in Miss +Yonge's _Monthly Packet_ by Mrs. Hooper, who had previously written on +the subject in _Household Words_. Mr. Gladstone was asked to speak at +the annual meeting to be held in May, and replied: + + + 11 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, _17th March 1863_. + + MADAM--It would be with so much regret that I should decline a + request proceeding from you, that although uncertain whether my + public duties may permit me to attend the meeting to which you + refer, on the 11th May, I cheerfully engage to do so, subject only + to the contingency of any call upon me elsewhere, such as I may be + unable to decline.--I have the honour to be, madam, your very + faithful servant, + W. E. GLADSTONE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Mr. Gladstone attended the meeting and advocated the claims of the +Association, not, as he said, from motives of philanthropy but as a +political economist, and because it was founded on sound principles. He +said: + +"While this Association aims to promote the general welfare of the +blind, it aims at promoting that welfare in a very specific manner and +by well-determined means. It is not founded on the idea that the blind, +because they have suffered a great and heavy visitation, are therefore +to be the mere passive recipients of that which the liberality of their +fellow-creatures may bestow. It does not proceed on the idea that +because the blind are so, they have therefore ceased to partake in other +respects in that mysterious nature of which we are all partakers, with +its immense capabilities and powers, with its high hopes and great +dangers. For in all other respects the blind continue to be sharers in +every thing pertaining to us as men; and if I rightly apprehend the idea +of this Institution, it is this, that while we minister to the wants of +the blind in a specific manner, yet we still consider them as rational +beings, as members of society, as capable of various purposes, as not +intended to be sent into a corner, or to be excommunicated from us; but +as intended to bear their part as citizens, as enlightened and civilised +creatures, and as Christians. Employment given to the blind is a great +source of happiness. The sentence which was termed the primeval curse, +if on one side it presented the aspect of a curse, also presented on the +other the aspect of a blessing,--the necessity, the condition of true +happiness. Employment is a blessing for us all, but it is much more to +the blind. Employment to the blind is the condition of mental serenity, +of comfort and resignation. Employment to the blind is also the +condition of subsistence,--that is, of honourable and independent +subsistence. It is a great thing for an institution when we are enabled +to say that its rules and practice are in harmony with political +economy, for political economy is founded on truth. I believe that the +rules of the Association are based on the laws which regulate the +accumulation and distribution of the means of subsistence. In this +Association we have the union of what the coldest prudence would +dictate, and of what the most affectionate Christian heart would +desire." + +Mr. Gladstone was at that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his +advocacy was very valuable. The pecuniary result of the meeting, which +had given her some months of labour, was most gratifying to Bessie, and +she resumed her work of collecting funds with fresh ardour. We find her +making application, in vain, for a grant from the Peabody Fund. The +question of State aid for the blind was suggested to her, and she set to +work in the usual patient and thorough way, to obtain information and to +look around for influential help. But the autumn brought sorrow and +grave anxiety, which almost put a stop to other work. Mrs. Gilbert, +whose health had long been failing, declined rapidly. Bessie remained at +Chichester, and wrote constantly and very tenderly to the sister, Mrs. +Elliot, who was unable to leave her own home, and yet anxious to be with +her mother if the illness should prove alarming. Bessie writes an +autograph letter on 9th December 1863, tells of the arrival of married +sisters at the palace, of the anxiety of Dr. Tyacke and her father, of +the sympathy they all feel for the one who cannot join them, "we know +how much your heart is with us, and how much we should like to have you +here.... I have just heard that Mary thinks mamma looking better than +she expected, and Sarah says she does not think her looking quite so ill +as on Monday. It is a pleasure to tell you anything the least +cheering.... You do not know how sorry we all are for you; I hope you +will not find this letter difficult to read. I wished especially to +write to you to-day to tell you how we all think of you, and feel for +and with you in all this difficulty and anxiety." + +That evening a younger sister prepared some arrowroot in the sick-room, +and the blind daughter administered it carefully, spoonful after +spoonful, to her dying mother. "It pleased them both so much," we are +told, and it was the last office of love, for on the 10th December Mrs. +Gilbert died. + +The death of this warm-hearted, generous woman, who had made home so +happy for her children, devoted wife and loving mother, was a crushing +blow. Death had not visited the home for nearly thirty years, and this +great grief opened up the possibility of future loss, and was as a +pillar of cloud that followed them. + +Miss Law, writing to Bessie on the 23d of January 1864, says: + + + I can indeed most fully enter into all you have felt and are + feeling still, under this dark shadow, which has fallen around you; + but surely by and by you will be enabled to see the light that must + be shining behind it. Oh, I do trust that the sad empty place in + all your hearts may each day be filled more and more with the + loving presence of Him who has sounded all the deepest depths of + human sorrow and suffering, that He might know how to feel for and + comfort us the better. Yes, you must indeed feel comforted already + in the thought of the fulness of her joy and rest and peace. I am + very glad your poor father has been so strengthened through his + great trouble; he is rich in having many loving children to help + and comfort him.... My book has been far more successful already + than I had expected; there have been several very nice reviews; we + are going to have them reprinted altogether, and then I will send + you a copy.... Some day I should like to know your thoughts about + my little poems, and which ones you like best among them. Dear Miss + Proctor [Adelaide] is still very ill, though at times she revives + wonderfully. I was able to see her twice when I was in town. She + writes to me now and then herself, and her sister Edith constantly. + + +Not long before Mrs. Gilbert's death the possible marriage of a younger +daughter had greatly interested her. She looked forward with confidence +to her child's future happiness, and when her own condition became +serious she begged that in no case might the marriage be postponed. It +was therefore solemnised in March 1864 as quietly as possible. This +sister, H----, had been for some years Bessie's special ally, and the +loss of her active help and unfailing sympathy was severely felt. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW THE WORK WENT ON + + "He who has but one aim, and refers all things to one principle, + and views all things in one light, is able to abide steadfast, and + to rest in God."--THOMAS À KEMPIS. + + +Goods manufactured by the blind had been for some years advanced to +blind agents on a system known as "sale or return." This had proved +satisfactory so long as the agents were carefully selected. But there +had been some relaxation in the requisite caution, and large +consignments had been made to blind men who returned neither money nor +goods, and who were found to be without either honesty or cash. In 1864 +the loss to the Institution by sale and return amounted to more than +£1200. + +Bessie was not discouraged by the loss. She felt so keenly the force of +the temptations to which the blind were exposed, and the possibility +that they had at first hoped and intended to be honest, and had only +gradually fallen into evil ways, that it was with difficulty she could +be induced to acquiesce in the abolition of a system which worked so +badly. However, it had to be given up, and she set to work to pay the +debts incurred. + +Instead of the annual meeting of May 1865, a bazaar in aid of the funds +of the Institution was suggested. + +The first idea of this was very distasteful to Bessie. She had a horror +of the ordinary bazaar. But it was pointed out that a sale of goods on +behalf of the blind, held in the right place and by the right persons, +would have none of the features to which she so justly objected. Her +scruples were overcome, and after she had given her consent she devoted +the autumn and winter months of 1864 and the early part of 1865 to the +necessary preparations for the undertaking. She applied to the Duke and +the late Duchess of Argyle for permission to hold the sale in Argyle +Lodge. They very kindly consented; and the Duchess suggested that if any +use was to be made of the grounds of Argyle Lodge the date fixed should +not be too early in the spring. In consequence of this advice it was +resolved to hold the sale on the 21st and 22d of June. + +As the time appointed drew near, Bessie's labours were saddened and +rendered difficult by a great loss. Her brother-in-law, Colonel the +Honourable Gilbert Elliot, who had never quite recovered from the +effects of the South African and Crimean campaigns, was taken seriously +ill in March and died on the 25th of May 1865. + +The arrangements for the sale, which was a public undertaking, were now +completed, and it was decided to proceed with it, but the work was +carried on by Bessie at great cost and with a heavy heart; for, as she +says in one of her rare autograph letters, sent to Mrs. Elliot on the +25th May: "You know how we all love dear Gilbert." + +Many friends came forward to offer such help as could be given, and the +sale promised to be a success. The list of stall-holders was excellent, +and encouraged Bessie to hope for a good attendance and good results. + +Lady Constance Grosvenor, Lady Blantyre, Lady Jocelyn, Lady Victoria +Wellesley, the Marchioness of Waterford and Lady Anson, the Marchioness +of Ormonde, Miss Gilbert, Mrs. Imwood Jones, Mrs. Green, Mrs. King, Mrs. +Fox, Mrs. C. Dyke and Lady Geraldine St. Maur held stalls. Gate money +and the sale of goods produced £1078. Over £200 was received in +donations, and the net result of the sale was more than £1300. + +Bessie had good reason to be satisfied, not only with the money but with +the influential patrons she had secured for the Institution. The report +for the following year gives an imposing list of vice-patrons,--the +Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of Rutland and Argyle, the +Earls of Abergavenny, Chichester, and Darnley, the Bishops of St. +David's, Chichester, Lichfield, Oxford, St. Asaph, and Lincoln, Lord +Ebury, Lord Houghton, Mr. Gladstone, Sir Roundell Palmer, the Dean of +Westminster, and Professor Fawcett. + +The pecuniary result of the sale, though perhaps not all that was +expected, seemed to justify the Committee in taking a West-end shop. +They secured No. 210 Oxford Street, and decided to keep the old houses +in the Euston Road as workshops. + +Mr. Levy, in a letter sent to Chichester on the 30th September 1865, +announces the completion of the arrangements for a lease on the terms +offered by the Committee. He adds that one brushmaker has a shop nine +doors off, and another brushmaker has a shop twenty-four doors off, but +he thinks their vicinity will not injure the Association. He probably +expected that influential patrons and their friends would purchase from +the blind, and that no orders would go astray. This expectation was not +realised, and in the course of two or three years the vicinity of the +two brush shops was found to be a serious disadvantage. + +During the early summer of this year Bessie received a letter written on +behalf of the Committee of the Blind Asylum at Brighton; asking if their +schoolmistress and her assistant, who were not themselves blind, could +be received for "a few days" in the "asylum in the Euston Road." They +wanted to see the working of it, and more especially to learn the trades +taught to women. + +Bessie replied that the Institution was not an "asylum," and that no one +could be received to live in the house. She expressed her disapproval of +the employment of "sighted" teachers, but offered to arrange with the +Brighton Committee for the reception of one or two blind persons to be +taught brush-making and other trades, with a view to becoming teachers. +She explained fully the objects of the Association, and expressed her +opinion that an attempt to acquire any trade "in a few days" could only +result in misconception and failure. + +There were several letters on both sides, but neither yielded. Bessie +would not consent to train "sighted" teachers "in a few days," and +Brighton would not send blind pupils. + +Three years previously the Davenport Institution had applied for a blind +teacher. A man trained by the Association had been sent, and had given +entire satisfaction. He succeeded a "sighted" teacher, and was said to +have done more in six months than his predecessor in two years. Bessie +always urged the necessity of employing blind teachers, on the ground +that they alone could know all the difficulties of the blind; and it +would have been impossible for her to sanction so retrograde a step as +the training of "sighted" teachers in an institution full of blind +persons, many of whom were quite capable of teaching others. + +Bessie left London much exhausted by the labours and sorrow of the +spring. + +She required a long rest to restore her strength. We have a short +account of her summer in the following letter to Miss Butler, written in +October, from Queen Anne Street. + + + MY DEAR MISS BUTLER--... I am sure you must have thought it + strange that I have not answered your letter long before this, but + I wanted to have the pleasure of writing to you myself, and I have + just lately had a good deal of work, I mean handy-work, which has + prevented my so doing. Added to which I only returned home about a + fortnight ago after, for me, a wonderfully long absence, about + which I must tell you presently. + + I have come up to-day from Chichester for our Committee to-morrow, + and am talking to you in this way in the evening. I too am very + sorry not to have seen you this year, but I hope we may see you + still. How are you after all your nursing and anxiety. You must + want some refreshment, I should think. + + Now with regard to Mr. ---- I shall be very glad to do anything I + can, but I really hardly see what I can say or do. My father + generally likes these sort of things to be official, and I really + don't think I should do any good by mentioning Mr. ----'s name + before the ordination. Papa would only say to me: "The examination + must take its usual course, and I cannot do anything," he would + say. Still I will take an opportunity of saying something, nor + would I hesitate at all about it, but that I really think that with + papa such a mention would do no good. I hope you will quite + understand that I have not said all this from any unwillingness to + do what you ask, but really because I don't see how to do so to any + purpose; otherwise it would give me particular pleasure to do it + for you at your request. I am very glad indeed you have succeeded + so well with ----. Every such practical proof of what a blind person + can do is a help more or less to the general cause. Thank you very + much for making the experiment with her. + + I told you I had been long away from home. I felt I wanted a + complete change. I don't know when I ever felt this so much. Well, + I paid some visits, one at about twenty-three miles from + Birmingham, and from thence I went to the festival. I heard _St. + Paul_; and the day but one after the _Messiah_. I cannot tell you + what enjoyment this music was to me; never did I hear such + choruses. Each individual singer seemed to love the music. I shall + never forget the wondrous beauty of the singing. However, I was + completely knocked up afterwards for three or four days, but it was + well worth all the headache and exhaustion which I had after it. + The journey there and back was a very great additional fatigue. + Altogether I enjoyed my visits very much, and am all the better for + them, ready, I hope, please God, for plenty of work this winter. + Will you please send me the money in your hands before December. We + have deposited money towards the working capital, and I am most + anxious if possible to find money for current expenses without + touching this capital, and also if possible to add to the deposit. + Of course the more custom the better; I very much want regular + custom from wine merchants for baskets, that we may employ + basketmakers accordingly. + + Can you get some such custom with my love to your Mother I am yours + ever affectionately Bessie Gilbert my sisters are well only Sarah + at home Papa very well good bye. + + +The last sentence is printed as it stands, and gives a specimen of the +occasional want of capitals and of punctuation almost inevitable when +the writer is hurried. But think of the concentration required to write +letters which allow of no interruption and no revision. + +In the autumn of this year an excellent scheme was inaugurated, capable +of a development which it has never yet received. The object of it was +to enable blind persons living in the country to learn a trade suited to +their own neighbourhood, and to be instructed in reading and writing +without the expense and very grave risk of a prolonged residence in +London. + +It was proposed to send a blind teacher, with his wife, to lodge in any +village or town where there were persons whose friends were willing and +able to provide for their instruction. These persons were to be taught +at their own homes, or in some more convenient place, a remunerative +trade, such as cane and rushwork, the making of beehives, rush baskets, +and garden nets; mat-making, chair-caning, etc. They were also to be +taught reading, and the use of appliances for writing and keeping +accounts. + +The Association did not undertake to supply any work, it had to be found +in the neighbourhood. With the help of the charitable it was considered +that this ought not to be difficult; and even if the blind did not +entirely earn their own living, the little they could do would be a help +so far as it went. Bessie had proved long before this that employment, +with the intercourse it brings, is the greatest alleviation to the +suffering of many a blind man or woman. During the autumn of 1865 two +blind persons in the country were taught trades at their own homes, and +also learned to read and write. The cost was not more than £10 for each +person, a sum much less than that which has to be provided for those who +are sent to London for training. + +Some day, perhaps, these peripatetic blind instructors may once more be +sent out by the Institution, with advantage both to themselves and +others. + +A period of steady quiet work was now before Bessie. Letters, appeals, +investigations, and reports filled her time. + +The Archbishop of York presided at the annual meeting in 1866, and the +balance-sheet for that year shows receipts amounting to £7632. She found +herself engaged in a large commercial as well as a philanthropic +undertaking; and the success of her industrial work began to tell, not +only in Great Britain, but in the United States of America. She was much +gratified by the report of the Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution +for the Instruction of the Blind, 1866, in which the following passage +occurs: + + + We are gratified to report the successful working of the literary + and musical branches of the Institution, and also the favourable + progress of our manufacturing department, in teaching and employing + blind persons in useful trades; experience every year confirms the + necessity of a house of industry for the regular employment of + pupils whose term of instruction has terminated, and of the adult + blind. + + The education of the blind is a simple matter; nor is it + susceptible of much improvement in the way of securing their future + welfare. The great idea which encourages the establishment and + support of all such institutions by the several States is the + preparation of the blind for future usefulness and happiness, by + self-dependence. Their misfortune unfits them for the large number + of industrial and professional pursuits open to the seeing; but + there are mechanical arts in which they become good, if not rapid + workers. The difficulty with many, especially those without + friends and homes, is in securing employment, and in earning fully + enough for their support. Without this, the failure, idleness, and + demoralisation which too often follow prove how imperfect is their + previous instruction in this direction. + + The "Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind," + founded in London by Miss E. Gilbert, is an example of a very + practical organisation for the employment of the blind, which has + been alluded to in our former reports. It gives work, in various + ways, to about 170 adult blind persons, many of whom were + previously begging in the streets. The deficiency of their earnings + is supplied by annual subscriptions and legacies, the usual sources + of support in Great Britain for the benevolent institutions. + + Such institutions will never be self-sustaining. But the support of + an industrial association which enables every blind person to earn + 100, 200, or 300 dollars a year, is certainly better than to throw + such persons upon the charities of the wayside, or to consign them + to pensioned idleness. + + +In the autumn of this year Bessie was at Chichester, and in addition to +the difficulty of walking, which she experienced after any time of hard +work, she began to discover that vibration from any great or sudden +noise affected her painfully. She drove with her father and a sister +from Chichester to Kingly Bottom, a vale in the South Downs, for the +last day's shooting of the rifle volunteer corps in September 1866. The +sharp crack of the rifles tried her greatly, and brought on so much pain +that she was glad to accept a seat in the carriage of a friend and go +home, instead of waiting, as the Bishop wished to do, for the end of +the match. The noise seemed to exhaust her. + +During the autumn of 1866 Mr. F. Green, who for many years had rendered +great service by his work on the Committee, presented to the Association +five shares of £100 in the Marine Insurance Company, of which he was a +director. They yielded at that time £40 a year, and the gift was a +source of much gratification to Bessie. + +She was at Chichester in December, and wrote thence on the 21st to her +widowed sister, Mrs. Elliot, dwelling on the service she could render to +others: + + + "Having you must make all the difference," she says, when alluding + to a succession of troubles which had fallen upon Lady Minto, with + whom Mrs. Elliot was staying. "Really there is not and will not be + any lack of work for you. You have had, I should think, quite as + much as you could do for some time past.... There is a chance of + Tom's coming in January.... I suppose you know all about him and + his doings. I can't think how he would have got on without you." + + +Then she gives news from home: + + + I am expecting them in after the ordination every moment. This time + it is in the cathedral; twelve candidates I think. Papa came down + to breakfast this morning, and was to go in time for the whole + service. Only think, one of the priests has been in agonies of + toothache all through the examination; but in spite of it Mr. + Browne was delighted with all he did. The poor man had two teeth + taken out, and happily to-day was flourishing.... I do hope you + will like the little paper knife which I am so very glad to send + you. I was quite taken with the little bells of the lilies.... Nora + to-day is quite in her element and full of work, putting up a + number of parcels to send off in different directions.... Ever your + loving sister, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +"Tom," of whom she speaks, had recently been appointed Vicar of +Heversham, near Milnthorpe; and Mrs. Elliot had visited him at the +vicarage, and superintended the domestic arrangements of her bachelor +brother. + +Bessie received no Christmas box which gave her more pleasure than the +following poem, which appeared in _Punch_ on the 29th of December: + + + A BOX FOR BLINDMAN'S BUFF. + + Sit down to eat and drink on this glad day, + And blest be he that first cries, "Hold, enough!" + Gorge, boys, and girls; and then rise up to play. + You _can_. A game in season's Blindman's Buff. + + The ready fillet round the seamless brow + Of youth or maiden while quick fingers bind, + Beneath the golden-green pearl-berried bough, + What fun it is to play at being blind! + + But some at Blindman's Buff with eyes unbound + Might join, for whom less sport that game would be + Because it is their life's continual round: + The Blindman's Buff of those that cannot see. + + If poor, for alms they can but grope about. + But Science to their need assistance lends; + And "knowledge, at one entrance quite shut out," + Puts veritably at their fingers' ends. + + Thus they who else would starve to labour learn. + Does that consideration strike your mind? + Their living do you wish that they should earn, + Instead of crying "Pity the poor Blind?" + + Then know there's not a charitable Dun, + Subscription seeking at your gate who knocks, + That more deserves your bounty than the one + Who for the Blind requests a Christmas Box. + + At Oxford Street's two-hundred-and-tenth door + Inquire within about the Blind Man's Friend. + Or send your guinea, if you like, or more; + As many more as you can spare to send. + + _Punch, 29th December 1866._ + + +In August 1867 Bessie paid her first visit to the Vicar of Heversham. +She writes a "frame" letter from the North to Mrs. Elliot, and sends +warm appreciation of her work in the house, and of the "little +three-cornered things in the pink room." The "nice woman" was probably a +certain Jane Todd, formerly a servant, but at that time settled in a +home of her own. Quite an extraordinary friendship sprang up between her +and Bessie, and to the end of her life Jane Todd daily offered up +special prayers on behalf of her friend the blind lady. + +There are again ominous allusions to her difficulty in walking. "I walk +better here," she says; and again, "I can't tell you how much I enjoy +moving more freely." + + + HEVERSHAM, MILNTHORPE, _23d August 1867_. + + MY DEAR K.--I meant my first frame letter from here to be to you, + so now I am beginning it. I have the morning room which you used + to have, and enjoy it very much. How nice the house is, and how you + must have worked to make it so. Mrs. Argles and Mrs. Braithwaite + seem very much impressed with all your hard work. Is it true that + those little three-cornered things in the pink room with the china + on them were washhand stands? You have made a capital use of + them.... I walked up the lower Head yesterday, then stayed there + and had some tea brought me, and afterwards walked to the school + through all those stiles. After the meeting we came back by the + road. I have been able to walk better here, and it is such a + pleasure. I can't tell you how much I enjoy moving more freely. + Wednesday I walked as far as the house at Levens and back after a + rest at a cottage near, where we found a very nice woman who + certainly talked Westmoreland, but really with a pretty accent.... + Your loving sister, BESSIE. + + +The difficulty in walking, to which she alludes, had again increased; +and in 1867 or 1868 she consulted Sir James Paget with regard to it. He +thought it proceeded from weak ankles and general debility, and +prescribed rest and care. + +She was at Queen Anne Street in February 1868, and much interested in a +public dinner at Chichester at which her father was to be present Dean +Hook wrote to give her an account of the proceedings. + + + THE DEANERY, CHICHESTER, _5th February 1868_. + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I cannot help writing to tell you that the + dear good Bishop was yesterday more animated and more eloquent than + I ever heard him. He seemed so well and so happy that I am glad he + went. It was indeed an ovation to his lordship, as much as to the + Mayor; he was so enthusiastically received. As I knew that you were + anxious about him, under the notion that he was doing too much, I + trouble you with this note. The calm serenity with which he always + does his duty, and in performing it does his best, is a very + beautiful trait in his character, and I doubt not now that he will + get through his visitation duties without suffering too much from + fatigue. It is not work, it is worry which tries a man, and all his + clergy will exert themselves to save him from worries.--Believe me + to be, your affectionate friend, + W. F. HOOK. + + +Bessie's own work at this time was mainly the preparation for the annual +meeting in May, together with appeals for custom to the secretaries of +public institutions. + +The Lady Superintendent of the Hospital for Sick Children in Great +Ormond Street replies that brushes for the Hospital are always purchased +at the depot in Euston Road. + +The Secretary of the Islington Shoe Black Brigade tells her that so far +as he can, consistently with the interests of his Society, and as +regards the price charged for various articles, he has always given the +Society for the Blind as much custom as possible. These are types of +innumerable answers; and she went on with this drudgery year after year; +every ignoble detail of it glorified by the constant presence of the aim +for which she worked. The sufferings of the blind poor were always borne +in her heart; the hope of alleviating them was the mainspring of all her +actions. Letters, accounts, appeals, petitions, these are all the +machinery with which she works. She has learnt the proportion of result +to be expected, and is seldom disappointed or disheartened by +indifference or coldness. But encouragement and approval from those whom +she honours is very helpful to her. + +At the meeting held on 14th May 1868 Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Fawcett, and +Professor Owen were amongst the principal speakers. Mr. Gladstone wrote +as follows on the 8th: + + + 11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, S.W., _8th May 1868_. + + MY DEAR MADAM--If Mr. Levy will kindly call on me at half-past one + on the 14th, I will take the instructions and information from him + with reference to the meeting. I cannot be quite sure of escape + from my duties in the House (which meets on Wednesdays at twelve) + but unless necessity keeps me away you may depend upon me.--I + remain, very faithfully yours, + W. E. GLADSTONE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Mr. Gladstone's speech at that meeting is best described by its effect +upon Bessie herself. She writes as follows: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _20th June 1868_. + + MY DEAR KATE--I have long been wishing to write to you, and, + indeed, before the meeting a dictated letter was just begun to you, + but there was no time to write it. After the meeting I was only too + glad to do anything rather than write letters; any, therefore, + which I could avoid I did, and also I wished to wait until I should + have time and opportunity to write to you quietly myself. So now + you see I have begun. Had it been at any other time I should have + liked you to have been present at the meeting. To you I can say + without fear of reproof that some of Mr. Gladstone's words often + come back upon me with a force and power that seems to kindle new + life within me. I long to realise them, that I may more really feel + them to be deserved. Professor Owen's was a beautiful speech. I + think we shall clear about a hundred and twenty pounds.... From + your ever loving sister, BESSIE. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BLIND CHILDREN OF THE POOR + + "Toutes les bonnes maximes sont dans le monde, on ne manque qu'à + les appliquer."--PASCAL, 391. + + +The education of blind children had occupied Bessie's thoughts for many +years. So far back as 1863 she had been in communication with Mr. +Lonsdale of the National Society, inquiring as to the State aid given to +industrial schools, and the conditions under which schools for the blind +could be certified so as to secure the benefit of the Acts. She had +begun in her usual careful and systematic way by obtaining all the +available statistics of existing schools; and now in view of a new and +enlarged scheme for the general education of the poor, the time seemed +to have arrived for action. She resolved to lay before those in +authority the needs of the blind, their number, the possibility of +minimising their affliction, and by means of adequate education opening +to them avenues of employment and independence. This work engrossed her +time and thoughts in 1869 and the early months of 1870. + +The co-operation of all societies working on behalf of the blind was +necessary. It was essential to submit to the ministers of the Crown such +reliable evidence as to the number of blind children, and the urgency of +their claims, as to make it impossible that they should be overlooked in +any adequate system of education for the people. + +Bessie sent out in the first place a Memorandum to all institutions for +the blind in Great Britain, and to several influential and friendly +members of Parliament. In this she set forth the step she proposed to +take, asked for suggestions, conditions, additions, alterations, or +proposed omissions in the petition, of which a copy was enclosed; for +information as to presenting it, for support and assistance in the +labour involved. She also asked the opinion of those to whom she wrote +as to the best method of procedure, whether by petition to Parliament or +by a memorial to the Lords of the Privy Council. + +The replies which she received were very encouraging, and she found that +general opinion was in favour of a Memorial. The document was prepared, +and copies of it were submitted for approval, together with a circular +letter. A private letter written by Bessie herself to the authorities, +and to all influential friends, accompanied the printed documents. She +sent these papers to the Oxford Street shop to be folded and addressed, +and as an example of her minute care, the following episode is of +interest. + +Amongst her papers there is the copy of instructions sent to Oxford +Street, after she had inspected the circulars. She writes that the +titles of institutions must be copied from the list she had previously +furnished, that full titles must be used in the Memorials to +institutions and to private individuals, and that abbreviations are only +admissible on the envelopes. She gives instructions for writing out +afresh all those memorials in which she had found the titles to be +abbreviated. + +These preliminaries occupied the early months of 1869. The Memorial was +completed and sent up in July, and Lord de Grey promised to receive a +Deputation in support of it. Bessie drew up a list of the names of those +members of Parliament and influential members of her own and of kindred +institutions who should be invited to form the Deputation. All +arrangements being made, the Deputation met at the Westminster Palace +Hotel, on the 10th of February 1870, and proceeded thence to the +Education Office. Bessie, with other ladies, remained at the hotel, and +subsequently received a report of the proceedings. + +Earl de Grey and Ripon, Lord President of the Privy Council, with whom +was Mr. Forster, received the Deputation. The representatives of +twenty-nine institutions for the blind were present, and also Lord +Houghton, Lord Manvers, Dean Hook, Sir James Hamilton, Admiral Ryder, +Admiral Sotheby, General J. Graham, and the following members of +Parliament: Messrs. D. M'Laren', Beresford Hope, H. Woods, W. J. +Mitford, W. D. Murphy, F. Wheelhouse, Sir J. Anson, and Lt.-Colonel +Gray. + +Lord Houghton introduced the Deputation, and said they desired to +impress on Lord de Grey the advisability of giving all possible +consideration to the Memorial presented by Miss Gilbert in the previous +July, praying that a large number of Her Majesty's subjects who, at +birth or afterwards, were deprived of sight, should have a fair share of +protection and interest in any measure of general education which might +be designed by the Government. It was most desirable that a class which +was so helpless should receive the best consideration which could be +given to their condition. + +Dean Hook spoke in support of the object of the Deputation, and many of +the members of Parliament and others who were present gave information +as to the condition of the blind in different parts of the country. + +Lord de Grey asked several questions as to the instruction which the +blind received, and said he would carefully consider the representations +made to him by so important and influential a Deputation. He said there +were many points connected with institutions for the blind which placed +them in a different category from the elementary schools which it was +the object of the parliamentary grant to aid. Other questions were +involved, and other institutions might put forth claims, as, for +example, those for the deaf and dumb. It would be the duty of the +Council to weigh most seriously the practicability of the Memorial, and +he assured the Deputation that they had the utmost sympathy of Mr. +Forster and himself. + +Upon this Lord Houghton thanked Lord de Grey for his courtesy, and the +Deputation withdrew. + +There was no immediate action as the result of the labour of a whole +year, and probably no special action on behalf of a class, however +afflicted, can be expected from the Government of a country. But +Bessie's work was not unproductive. She tried to show, and succeeded in +showing, that the blind need not be separated and isolated. Her own +example and her own life demonstrated this, and pleaded more powerfully +than words could do. If the time ever comes when blind children are duly +provided for in our schools, and blind men and women in our workshops, +it will be chiefly owing to the lifelong endeavours of Bessie Gilbert, +and to her unfaltering and earnest devotion to a cause that she thought +worthy of living for and, if need be, of dying for. + +The condition of her own health had now become very serious. After the +Memorial had been sent in and before the Deputation was received Bessie +was so exhausted, and movement had become so difficult and painful, that +Dr. Little was consulted on her behalf. + +He pronounced the spine to be in fault, ordered a mechanical support, +tonics, regular exercise, much rest in a recumbent position, and +recommended Folkstone and sea air for some months. Bessie followed his +directions most obediently. She was very brave in bearing the discomfort +and oftentimes the pain of the cumbersome "support." She persevered in +walking for an hour daily according to his orders, dragging herself +along with great difficulty, and getting so heated and overtired that +the sister who accompanied her thought the walk did more harm than good. +But she had been told to do it, and with the old submission to authority +she did it. Her faithful attendant, Charlotte Gadney, was also with her +at Folkstone from the end of July to October. She spent much time out of +doors, on the Lees, in a bath chair. By the autumn she and those with +her were convinced that, in spite of rest and care, she could not walk +so well as she had done in the spring. There was much reading aloud, for +she was compelled to allow herself more time than usual for relaxation. + +The sisters especially remember her enjoyment of George MacDonald's +_Robert Falconer_. In later times, if any one spoke of violins or +violinists, she would say "Ah, do you remember _My Beautiful Lady_?" She +heard parts of _Sir Gibbie_ also; and said of _Janet_, "She realises +most fully the truth that we are indeed all members one of another." + +There were several pleasant days to stand out in after years as +associated with the months spent at Folkstone. One of these was a day at +Saltwood with Canon and Mrs. Erskine Knollys. Bessie drove there, and +then the Canon himself wheeled her in an arm-chair to the American +Garden. Even in late autumn this was very beautiful, and she enjoyed the +description of it. An afternoon at Cheriton with Mr. and Mrs. +Knatchbull-Hugessen was also a great pleasure to her. At this time +riding in a carriage was not only no fatigue, but she was able to enjoy +long drives and all that they brought within her reach. + +She returned to Chichester and London in somewhat better health, and +resumed work on behalf of the Deputation. + +Whilst she was at Folkstone her time was chiefly occupied in writing +letters, and in reply to one of her petitions she heard from General +Knollys that "it would afford the Prince of Wales much satisfaction to +be placed on the list of Vice-Patrons of the Society in aid of the +Blind;" and also "that H. R. H. had been pleased to direct him to +enclose a cheque for twenty-five guineas in aid of the funds of the +Society." + +The following letter, which she received at this time from Pennsylvania, +interested her: + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + NO. 1040 PENN STREET, + READING, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., + _13th September 1869_. + + I take the liberty of addressing you as one who has taken so + philanthropic an interest in the blind. About the mid-winter of + '62-3 I was travelling in Idaho Territory, and, owing to the severe + effects of the "glare" produced by the sun's rays upon the snow, my + sight received so severe a shock that I became temporarily blind. + Afterwards I partially recovered my sight; but through the want of + skill in my medical attendant and general improper treatment, the + optic nerve became entirely and, as I fear, hopelessly paralysed. + I am now completely deprived of sight. Being thus, unfortunately, + among those with whom you so greatly sympathise, I too, losing in + my full-grown manhood, this perhaps most benign of the Great + Father's gifts to poor humanity, feel a strong personal interest in + my fellow-sufferers. + + Understanding then that you have successfully established an + "Association for the General Welfare of the Blind," in which each + occupant is finally paid for his labour, in contradistinction to + the usual plan of blind asylums, where there is no remuneration, + except what education may afford, I purpose attempting a similar + enterprise. + + Will I therefore be taxing your kindness too much in asking you to + forward to me to this place (as headed) the last report of your + noble institution, and, if not contained therein, such instructions + as will enable me to establish such institution in this country? + And praying that the Good God may prosper you in your benevolent + designs, I remain, with the greatest respect, your obt. servt., + THEODORE B. VACHE. + + +A bright letter to the present writer shows Bessie in a playful mood. It +was written after her return from Folkstone, and when health and spirits +were much better than they had been in July. But locomotion had become +very difficult; and it was painful to witness her laboured efforts to +move and walk, and the difficulty she experienced in getting into or out +of a cab or carriage. + + + THE PALACE, CHICHESTER, _October 1869_. + + MY DEAR F.--I hope you will soon receive another polling paper. I + suppose you did not pay your subscription last year, and so paid + for two years in one. If I were as clever as Mr. Lowe perhaps I + should contrive to squeeze a little more out of our subscribers, + and make them all the while feel that it was the most natural thing + in the world that they should make double payments. This is the way + to do business, is it not? Double payments, bringing about double + receipts; very nice thing, you know, for the receivers; and as to + the other side of the question, why, you know, we needn't look too + closely into that. You see many persons are quite unable to look at + more than one side of a question, so that limited views have their + advantages. Does Mr. Lowe think so? + + Well, I should hope very much to see you and Miss B. on Thursday, + and if you can't have me, please just write to 210 Oxford Street + and say so, and then I will tell you where to come. I don't know + yet where I shall be, but very probably at Miss R.'s at 117 Gloster + Terrace. Love to Miss B. From yours affectionately, + E. GILBERT. + + +At this time Bessie was warmly interested in, and very hopeful as to the +results of, Mr. Gladstone's efforts on behalf of Ireland, and referred +frequently to the subject. In the following letter to her sister, Mrs. +Elliot, there is a mention of orders for work. She was unable on account +of the state of her health to write as much as usual, and therefore gave +more time to knitting vests and muffetees, and making watch chains. The +money received for them went to her "work-bag," and helped to relieve +the necessities of deserving blind people: + + + THE PALACE, CHICHESTER, _23d December 1869_. + + MY DEAR KATE--I send you my loving Christmas greetings with some of + the home violets to sweeten them withal. It was very tantalising + seeing you, or rather not seeing you, like that in London. I was so + glad you thought I moved better. I do, and it is such a comfort I + can't tell you. Still I find a difference directly if I get too + much tired. I had hoped to have had some muffetees ready for you, + but must do them afterwards, as I have had to knit two under-vests + as an order, and have not yet finished the second. You cannot think + how wonderfully well papa got through the ordination. Dr. Heurtley, + who presided, was quite astonished. Only think of it, H. is coming + on Monday for a week. I am so very glad of it. No time for more, + your loving sister, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +Bishop Gilbert's health had slowly but very steadily declined after the +death of his wife in 1863. He was surrounded by the loving care of +daughters devoted to him. But the loss of the friend and partner of his +whole life was one from which he never recovered. + +Bessie was the only member of the family not keenly alive to the failure +of her father's health. Partly, no doubt, owing to her blindness, and +partly to the effort that the Bishop always made to be bright and +cheerful in the society of his "dear child Bessie," she did not perceive +how seriously the burden of work and responsibility told upon him. The +sisters at home were glad to spare her the anxiety which they felt, and +she passed the Christmas time of 1869-70 without alarm and without that +sense of impending loss which was weighing heavily upon others. When at +last the blow came it fell suddenly, and fell heavily upon her, and was +not softened by any sense of relief that the burden of his life was +removed. + +She had gone to London for the Deputation to Lord de Grey on the 10th +of February 1870, and was still there when she was summoned to +Chichester by telegram on Sunday the 20th. + +The sisters at home had been conscious for some days of a greater sense +of uneasiness than usual, but there was nothing definite to take hold +of. The Bishop came down as usual to the dining-room on Friday the 18th. +On Saturday the 19th he kept his room for the early part of the day, and +dined in the morning-room, that room adjoining his own in which Bessie +used to spend so much time with her mother when first they went to +Chichester. The absent sons and daughters were informed of this failure +of strength on Saturday morning, but there were no alarming symptoms +until the evening. Then and on the following morning, Sunday the 20th, +telegrams summoned them to Chichester without delay. Bessie reached the +palace about 10 P.M. on Sunday. Her father recognised her, but he was by +that time too weak to speak. There were no last words, and he sank +peacefully to his rest, dying at 5 A.M. on Monday, 21st February 1870. + +Bessie had left home without even a suspicion that she might be recalled +by a sudden summons, and now it seemed to her impossible that her +father's death should precede her own, and that a loss that she had not +dared even to think of, should have fallen upon her. She was stunned by +the blow, but she bore it with characteristic and Christian courage, +patience, and submission. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN TIME OF NEED + + "The grave is heaven's golden gate, + And rich and poor around it wait."--BLAKE. + + +It was deemed undesirable for Bessie to remain at Chichester during the +sad week that followed the death of her father. She went to her elder +sister, Mary, the beloved Mary of her youth, now the mother of a family +and head of a large household. + +She wrote with her own hand a short note to one of the sisters at the +palace, which reassured them as to her condition. + + + MILTON HILL, _28th March 1870_. + + MY DEAR SARAH--Thank you for all your letters. As you say, all the + preparations must be painful, but I am very thankful to hear you + and Nora are pretty well. You know without my telling you so, how + very much you are in my thoughts. I hope to come back Tuesday or + Wednesday, but Mary wants me to stay. Is it so, that we need not go + till after Easter? I should like to know, because of what I may + have to do about my own things. I think the appointment seems very + good. As for me I am rather better to-day, having slept better two + nights; but it is difficult to me as yet to do things, I have so + little energy or interest in anything. I will write again about my + coming. Mary is really pretty well I think, the last day or two + have been much pleasanter. Love to you all from your loving sister + BESSIE. + + +She returned to the palace but did not stay long, and spent the greater +part of the two months of preparation for leaving Chichester with her +sister, Mrs. Woods. She went, however, to her old home in April, and +left it finally with her brother and two unmarried sisters on the 21st +of April 1870. + +Loving words greeted them on the day of their departure. "Wherever we +are," wrote one of the sisters, "we shall all know that we are thinking +of each other." + +The house in Queen Anne Street was let at this time; two sisters went to +St. Leonards, but Bessie, with her faithful maid, took the much shorter +and easier journey to Slinfold Rectory, near Horsham, the home of her +sister Lucy, Mrs. Sutton. + +She was sad and in very feeble health. All the future seemed dark and +uncertain; she could make no plans, she could not look forward. At such +a time the tender and loving care of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton were very +precious to her. Insensibly, almost unconsciously, she was helped by the +numerous children around her. Living in their midst she learnt to know +them intimately, and they cheered her and amused her. The little boys +had quaint ways and odd sayings, and they made her forget herself and +listen to them and wonder at them. The eldest girl, also a Lucy, had +always been a pet, and now became very dear to her. From Slinfold she +went to her sister Fanny, Mrs. Casson, at Torquay, and there found +another kind brother-in-law, another large family of nephews and nieces, +all ready to love and to wait upon the dear "Aunt Bessie." Four homes, +in all of which she was a welcome and honoured guest, were thus open to +her. Hitherto her time had been divided between London and Chichester. +She had not allowed herself the luxury of visits to married sisters, and +had only seen them and their children on the occasion of their visits to +the palace or London. Now she began to be intimate with them, to be +interested in the character and dispositions of the young people, and to +enjoy the family life of which one and all helped to make her feel she +was a member. + +Meantime old and dear friends gathered around her and sought to comfort +and encourage her. She preserved many letters which she prized and had +found helpful. One of the first to speak was the Rev. H. Browne, who +held the living of Pevensey. He was one of the Bishop's chaplains, the +author of _Ordo Sæclorum_, a student of German theology, and, that which +most attracted Bessie, he was a very good reader, and at Chichester had +often read aloud Shakespere's plays to the _sisterhood_. Mr. Browne now +was the first to strike a note to which she could respond: + + + He rests from his labours and his works do follow him. Yours + remain. It is needless for me to say it, for you must all know it + better than I, he counted it among his mercies that a work had been + raised up for you, which when father and mother were gone would be + to you the work and the blessing of your life. He evidently + acknowledged this as God's calling to you, and as one of the + thoughts in which he was greatly comforted in looking forward upon + your future life. + + +Many other writers dwelt upon the unsparing labour and self-denying zeal +of her father, and all recognised that she, the daughter so near his +heart and always the object of his most tender love and watchful care, +must be the one most deeply stricken by the pain of separation. + +"To you, I imagine, the blow will come heaviest," wrote Mrs. Powell; and +this sentiment is repeated in almost every letter. + +A letter from the Secretary of her own Association, informing her of a +vote of condolence passed by the Committee, begins, oddly enough, with + + + "I have the _pleasure_ to inform you," + + +The blind workmen and workwomen did their best to express their regret +at the death of "his lordship the Bishop," and a note is enclosed to her +by the Rev. B. Hayley, written by a poor fellow in the Chichester Union, +"just to show what the poor, the very poorest in the diocese, think of +your dear father." + +The Rev. Dr. Swainson, Canon of Chichester, now Master of Christ's +College, Cambridge, heard that Bessie's grief was heightened by the fact +that she had spent the last fortnight before her father's death in +London, engrossed by the work of the Deputation to Lord de Grey. His +letter of sympathy and consolation may be as helpful to others as it was +to her, and it is therefore inserted unabridged. + + + SPRINGFIELD, NEWNHAM, CAMBRIDGE, + _30th March 1870_. + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I hope you will permit me to write you a few + lines on the subject which I hear from many quarters has caused you + much additional sorrow in regard to the death of our dear father in + God. I mean your absence from Chichester during the last fortnight + of his life. I really do not know that you should regret it: + because it was really of God's appointment: you were engaged over + your work for Him: your sisters over their work for Him: your dear + father over his work for Him: each and all to the best of your + powers, and why should you repine if it pleased God to remove him + so quietly, so gently, so lovingly, without telling you beforehand + that He was going thus to take him? May you not rejoice rather that + his last days of consciousness were filled with thoughts that you + were able to go on with that work in which he took so deep an + interest, that some have thought that the best memorial of the love + of the diocese to him would be an effort to strengthen your hands + in that work? Of course I have often thought of the way in which my + dearest father and dearest mother were taken away from me. I was + absent from both: but I could not regret my absence. Mrs. Swainson + was present at the removal of both her parents: but was not all + this of God's appointment? When we ask Him to guide us day by day, + may we not leave it to Him how He guides us? I am sure you will + excuse me writing thus: the loss is indescribable, the centre of + your earthly affections removed: on this I need not speak. But I + feel sure that you need not and you should not take any blame to + yourself, because your work carried you away at the time when God, + who so arranged it, was pleased to call your father home.--Believe + me to be, my dear Miss Gilbert, ever yours very truly, C. A. + SWAINSON. + + +The Bishop of Rochester wrote, "His course, ever since he has been a +bishop, has been so straightforward, so true, that he has won +everybody's admiration and respect." + +These and other tributes Bessie preserved and treasured. They helped +her, and after a time they comforted her. In May we have one of the +first letters written by her own hand, and speaking of her own feelings. +It is addressed to a dear friend of the early Oxford days. + + + SLINFOLD RECTORY, HORSHAM, _1st May 1870_. + + MY DEAR MRS. BURROWES--I was very grateful for your most kind + affectionate letter, although I have not written to tell you so. + For some time I really could hardly do anything. No loss in the + world could be what this loss is to me. I am always wanting him, + always missing him, still I am now better able to feel the + blessedness for him, and also better able to think of his being + spared suffering and infirmity, which would probably have + increased; and yet in spite of all this I often cannot help feeling + how my heart would rebound with life if I could know that he could + be here again with us. But I long for the hope of being with him to + grow stronger and stronger, so that it may be more and more a + living power within me, and a real comfort. I am much better and + stronger than I was; but cannot say much for my powers of walking. + I cannot say that I take much interest in things yet, and am often + oppressed with a feeling of the dreary length of the days without + seeing him or hearing anything about him; but as you so kindly say + in your letter I shall hope, when able to do so, to work better + than I have done if God will grant me help to strengthen me for + this work. I did go up from hence to London for the day for our May + Committee, and am very glad I did so, and made a beginning of + taking up the work again. I have also done a little towards it in + other ways, but just now my own nice maid is having a little + holiday, and instead Mrs. Gadney is with me; she cannot write much, + while I am not up to much business yet. Lucy, I am sure, would send + you her love, but I am writing in my room. She would have written + to you, but that I said I would do so myself, as I had intended for + some time to write and thank you for your very affectionate + letter.... Believe me, my dear Mrs. Burrowes, yours affectionately, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +Miss Mackenzie, sister of Bishop Mackenzie, wrote: + + + I shall never forget his kind fatherliness and his beautiful + courtesy and his loving thoughtfulness for every one. What a + comfort it is to have all that to look back upon, but now whilst it + is all so fresh your hearts must bleed. Dear Bessie, I am so + thankful you have your work, your calling, your vocation to attend + to, and in trying to alleviate the troubles of others, as you have + always done, you will find the best relief to your own sorrow. + + +The letters from those she loved, whilst full of sympathy, also dwelt +upon the call and claim of duty, in the fulfilment of which Bessie could +alone find peace. She struggled bravely to respond, but the task before +her was more difficult than any that she had yet accomplished; and +there was no renewal of physical power, even when she began to recover +from the shock of her great sorrow. She paid many visits with her +sisters, and returned to Queen Anne Street in August 1871. The change in +her health was at that time painfully evident to her friends in London. +She moved slowly, with difficulty, and was easily exhausted by slight +fatigue. Still she resumed her work for the blind, as we find by a +letter from the Dean of Westminster [Dean Stanley] written on the 22d of +June 1871. He informs her that he will have much pleasure in acceding to +her request to preach on behalf of the Association for the Blind on +Sunday morning, 23d July, at Whitehall. + +In reply to an appeal to Mr. Ruskin, made somewhat later, she received +the following characteristic answer: + + + DENMARK HILL, S.E., _2d September 1871_. + + MADAM--I am obliged by your letter, and I deeply sympathise with + all the objects of the Institution over which you preside. But one + of my main principles of work is that every one must do their best + and spend their all in their own work, and mine is with a much + lower race of sufferers than you plead for--with those who "have + eyes and see not."--I am, madam, your faithful servant, J. RUSKIN. + + The Lady President of the Association for Promoting the Welfare of + the Blind. + + +In the autumn of 1871 Bessie joined a great gathering of the Gilbert +family at Heversham for the celebration of the marriage of the rector, +their youngest brother, the "Tom" of early days. She returned to spend +a few months only in Queen Anne Street, for she and two sisters had +taken a house in Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, which was to be their future +home. + +The Queen Anne Street house was associated in many ways with Bessie's +life and work in London, with the visits to her of the blind workpeople, +with the early days of the Association, with the growth and development +of the objects that had engrossed her life. Perhaps it was dearer to her +than either the Oxford or the Chichester home. Certainly the wrench of +separation was more painful than any previous one had been; and she had +less hope and energy for the unknown future that was before her. + +When the change of house had been accomplished she paid a visit to Mrs. +Bowles, at Milton Hill, but this did little to restore her exhausted +energy. During May and June 1872 there was a marked deterioration in her +condition; she walked with greater difficulty, could not rise from a +chair without assistance, and before the end of June had to be carried +up and down stairs. She went to church for the last time early in June, +driving to All Saints, Norfolk Square, and walking home. + +Greatly alarmed at her condition, the family now turned in many +directions for the help and advice of eminent medical men. Sir William +Jenner took perhaps the most hopeful view. He thought it not impossible +that the nerves of motion might regain power, and prescribed in the +meantime "the life of a cabbage." Dr. Little was never sanguine. Dr. +Hughlings Jackson and Dr. Hawkesley held out but little hope of +improvement. All agreed that she must rest, vegetate, lead the life of +an invalid. + +When the prospect of the future really dawned upon her, who can wonder +that she found submission, acquiescence, exceedingly hard. "My whole +being revolts at the very idea," she said one day. + +On another occasion, with a part humorous, part pathetic expression, she +exclaimed, "The change is great and," after a pause, "not pleasant." But +in later years, after long and patient suffering, she was able to say, +"Many have a heavier cross." + +She announced by letter to the present writer the verdict of her +physicians, adding the pathetic words, "Love me to the end." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + "By two wings a man is raised above the earth, namely by Simplicity + and Purity."--THOMAS À KEMPIS. + + +There was still much within Bessie's power; and in tracing her work at +this period we find little diminution in her correspondence. She +received letters almost daily from Colonel Fyers on the business of the +Institution. Levy wrote frequently and fully to her. She had given him +great assistance in writing a book on _Blindness and the Blind_, and her +own notes were made over to him. + +A letter which she received in March 1872 is interesting as a +description of preparations made by a blind man, Levy, carried out by a +blind carpenter, Farrow, and related to the blind lady, Miss Gilbert. +The occasion was the Thanksgiving for the Restoration of the Prince of +Wales in February 1872, when the streets were gay with decorations and +every window full of spectators. No house showed more bravely than the +Institution for Promoting the Welfare of the Blind in Oxford Street; +subscribers and their friends, the Committee and their friends, filled +every window, and the blind were keenly alive to all that was going on +around them, and to the distinction of the Prince's plume and gas jets +and the letters V.R., "each about four feet long in gold paper." + + + "The decorations," writes Levy, "consisted of a Union Jack flag at + the top of the house, and about half way up a crown and Prince's + plume, made of gold paper, projecting from the wall, and the + letters V.R., each about four feet long and two feet broad, made in + thick rossets in silver paper on crimson ground, also projecting + some distance from the wall, a wreath of flowers extended from the + house to the post at the curb of the pavement, the lamp of which + contained a transparency. + + "At night the illumination consisted of a Prince's plume in gas + jets, which we bought for three pounds ten instead of hiring a + similar one for ten pounds; the wood used for seats will be made + into housemaids' boxes, etc. and the American cloth with which they + were covered made available for dress baskets. + + "I think if you give five pounds it will be enough, as ten pounds + will cover the whole expense. The goods and glass cases were taken + out of the shop windows and three rows of seats, which gradually + receded and increased in height, were formed. The same kind of + seats were in the Committee room and the apartments above, out of + which the windows were taken. A rail was put to keep people from + going on to the balcony, as it was not safe; tables with wine and + biscuits were placed, and Mr. Osmond had something more substantial + in his rooms, with which Mr. Reid and others were well pleased." + + +On the 1st April 1872 the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice died. Bessie +had been but slightly acquainted with him, but he was the brother of +her old and dear friends, Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Julius Hare. She had been +less startled by his written and spoken words than many of those in her +own circle, and on his death she recognised that a great power had gone +from amongst us, and sincerely mourned his loss. + +She worked as usual at the arrangements for the annual meeting in 1872, +and on the 22d June the Archbishop of York, who presided, wrote to tell +her of its success. + + + _22d June 1872._ + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I attended the meeting and made my short + speech. There never was a nicer meeting, the speakers were full of + gratitude to you for all you had done. We could have had twice the + number of speakers if we had wanted them. + + I hope, my dear Miss Gilbert, that God will strengthen you and + enable you to carry on for many years your excellent + Association.--Ever with much regard, yours truly, W. EBOR. + + +The Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar, sister of the Duke of Richmond, +conveyed a request from Bessie to the Duke and Duchess of Teck, whose +interest she hoped to enlist for the annual meeting of 1872. They were +abroad in the spring, but the Duke returned in time to preside at the +June meeting. Bessie never dropped any of the links in her chain, and +her early life at Chichester had given her many valuable allies. + +In her long days of enforced inactivity she would recall to mind visits +to Goodwood, to Arundel, interest expressed and shown in the objects +she had at heart, and would redouble her efforts to raise up friends for +the blind. + +Meantime there was a steady deterioration in her own physical condition. + +The malady which had been making insidious progress for so long was +degeneration of the spinal cord. The disease is one that generally owes +its origin to accident or injury, but so far as could be ascertained +Bessie had never met with either. + +The physicians who attended her throughout the last years of her life +inclined to the view that the poison in the blood left by scarlet fever +was the cause not only of the condition of the throat, from which she +suffered throughout her whole life (it will be remembered that she could +only drink in sips), but also of this degeneration of the spinal cord. + +Looking back, the members of her family recalled to mind that her powers +of motion had not for many years been free and unimpeded. The +significant entries in diary and letters, as to her moving and walking +better, will not be forgotten. But the true cause of this had not been +suspected, except by Dr. Little; for mischief to the spinal cord may be +carried very far before there is any outward sign to manifest it. The +power of motion and merely animal functions are affected by it; but +intelligence remains alert and the brain power unaffected. The symptoms +which accompany it are at first attributed to weakness, overwork, +physical fatigue, any of which would be sufficient to account for them +before the disease has reached the stage in which its true nature is +unmistakably revealed. Mental trouble will often accelerate the progress +of this malady, and occasion its more rapid development. This cause had +also been at work. + +The death of her father in 1870 was sudden and most unexpected to +Bessie. The subsequent giving up of the two homes, at Chichester and in +London, which long years had endeared to her; the necessity of planting +herself in and learning to accommodate herself to a new house, with all +the old familiar landmarks swept away--all these things were sources of +suffering to one of her delicate nervous organisation; and doubtless +they gave an added impetus to the progress of disease. + +She met her troubles with great courage; she bore them with unmurmuring +patience; but they produced their inevitable result, and flung her aside +when the storm was over as a weed is cast up by an angry sea. + +There were a few months during which various remedies were suggested and +tried, but all unsuccessfully. The two sisters, who henceforward devoted +their whole life to her, now took it in turns to sleep on a sofa in her +room, so as to help her to move and turn in bed during the night. But +when she realised that loss of power was not a phase but one of the +conditions of her illness, she would not allow them to do this, saying +she must have them "fresh for the daytime." A sick nurse was engaged, +and, with Charlotte Gadney, ministered to her. + +For a little time she was able occasionally to be taken into Hyde Park +in an easy bath chair and always recumbent, but she could only bear the +vibration of the movement for a very short distance. When she reached +the park she would remain for some hours enjoying the air. + +Quiet and fresh air (two things that London cannot give) seemed more and +more essential; and in August 1872 her sister Mary (Mrs. Bowles) wrote +to propose that she should pay a long visit to Milton Hill, in +Berkshire. Her doctors warmly approved of the proposal, if only she +could bear the journey; and Mr. Bowles, to whom she was warmly attached, +busied himself with preparations for her comfort. + +After many anxious inquiries and careful arrangements, it was settled +that, accompanied by her sister Sarah, she should undertake the journey +in an invalid carriage, "by road and rail," being lifted in at her own +door and lifted out at Milton Hill. + +This was done; but the railway officials attached the carriage to the +end of an express train; the oscillation and vibration were +insupportable, and she reached Milton Hill almost unconscious from pain +and fatigue. In the hope of lessening her suffering she had been held in +the nurse's arms all the latter part of the railway journey; but even +this could do little to diminish the agony she endured. She was carried +to bed as soon as she reached Milton Hill, and after some days of +complete rest she began to rally. It was then a great pleasure to her to +note all that had been done by the "best and kindest brother-in-law +that any one ever had." + +"Did you ever know such a brother-in-law!" she used to say. + +Rooms for her and her servants had been arranged on the ground floor, +with easy access to the beautiful garden and grounds. She arrived in +August, and as soon as she had somewhat recovered, she was carried every +day that the weather allowed, to a tent that had been put up in a +pleasant part of the garden. She enjoyed being read aloud to; she had +great delight in her nephews and nieces; but most of all she appreciated +the opportunity of uninterrupted intercourse with her sister. They were +again the "Mary and Bessie" of youthful days; not friends learning to +know and love each other, but sisters with a wealth of buried +recollections to be brought out to the light of day; interests, tastes, +and affections in common; only a spark, an electric flash of memory, +needed to illuminate the whole. No wonder that the time passed happily, +and "life between four walls" dawned upon the sufferer, not without +promise of alleviation. + +For, in spite of the hours spent in the tent, it was practically already +life within four walls. All thought of work or occupation outside her +own home had to be abandoned; she must keep only that which she could +guide and control from the sick-room. "I feel like a train which has +been left upon a siding," she used to say. + +Throughout the winter of 1872-73 she gave all the strength and time at +her disposal to the interests and occupations of the blind. A fresh +anxiety troubled her. Levy's health was failing seriously, and several +members of the Committee wished him to take a long leave of absence. The +work connected with his book, added to his ordinary duties as manager of +the Association, had exhausted his strength. Bessie received letters +from friends on the Committee telling her that Levy must have rest, and +from Levy saying it was impossible for him to take it during her +absence. The year 1873 was passing on with this, which seemed a heavy +cloud, hanging over her, when suddenly a storm burst, which swept away +all other anxiety in the one engrossing sorrow which it brought. + +After less than a week's illness her beloved sister Mary, Mrs. Bowles, +died on 20th October at Milton Hill. Bessie was in the same house, but +was too ill to be taken to her sister's room; and they never met after +the day on which Mrs. Bowles was attacked by a fatal malady. Bessie's +sick-nurse, and an old and faithful servant of the Gilbert family, who +happened to be staying at Milton Hill, were unremitting in their +attention to Mrs. Bowles; and from them Bessie heard of the variations +in her condition almost from hour to hour. When all was over Bessie, in +her weak condition, was crushed and exhausted. She seemed unable to +endure the shock of this sudden blow, and at first could only lie and +moan, "Oh, why was she taken and I left?" + +Archdeacon Atkinson, a near neighbour and old friend of her sister's, +did his best to soothe and comfort her. The grief of Mr. Bowles and the +children roused her. She saw how much they needed help, and before long +she was the old brave Bessie, full of thought for the sorrow of others, +and engrossed by her endeavours to console and comfort them. + +Before the death of Mrs. Bowles it had been arranged that Bessie should +spend the winter at Torquay. This plan was adhered to; and in November +1873, travelling in one of the railway companies invalid carriages, she +bore the journey fairly well, and reached Torquay without the terrible +suffering caused by her previous journey. + +She had bright and sunny rooms in Sulyarde Terrace, and on fine days she +was still able to spend a few hours out of doors, reclining in an +invalid chair; sometimes also she could sit up in her chair for an hour +or two, and at this time, when her food was duly prepared, she was still +able to feed herself. Her sister Lucy, Mrs. Casson, with husband and +many children, resided at Torquay; and she found here, also, a kind +brother-in-law, unremitting in his attentions, and numerous young +nephews and nieces, whom she knew and loved. In January 1874 Levy died. +Father, mother, and sister; house and home and health had been taken +from Bessie; and now the faithful servant and friend of her whole life +followed. She had put great constraint upon herself at the time of her +sister's illness and death, but she was powerless against this blow. +Deep depression settled down upon her, which took the form of constant +self-reproach. She, the most unselfish and considerate of women, was +given over, as it were, to an avenging spirit, which upbraided her with +faults never committed, and exacted expiation for imaginary crimes of +selfishness and self-seeking. Such dark passages may be borne in mind by +other sufferers, tortured with self-questionings and doubt. + +The first thing to rouse her was the desire to say some words to the +blind men and women on whose behalf Mr. Levy had worked for so many +years. As soon as she had somewhat recovered, she wrote perhaps the most +touching record we have of her work, her hope, her sorrow, and her +submission. + + + 2 SULYARDE TERRACE, TORQUAY, _10th February 1874_. + + MY DEAR FRIENDS--I feel that both you and I have had a very great + loss indeed, and my heart yearns to say to you that you do not know + how grieved I am for you; you know full well what the loss is to + yourselves, but you can hardly tell what it is to me; you cannot + know how he who is now taken and I have worked together with the + self-same end of helping you, and now I am left, deprived of all + the help that your dear and true friend gave me, and it is + impossible for me to tell you how deeply I feel the loss. + + Mr. Levy never spared himself when your interest was at stake, and + now that he is taken from us, and I am left alone, I feel that I + must ask you all to give me all the help in your power, and you can + help me by giving me your confidence, by showing me that you feel I + will do the best I can for you, and, above all, by trying, with + God's help, to become the men and women He would have you to be. + Nothing gives me greater joy than for the Association to be the + means of helping you, by God's blessing, to lead really Christian + lives. This means that you should have in your hearts the love of + God and the love of your neighbour, which love will prevent you + hurting anybody by word or deed, make you true and just in all your + dealings, and temperate and sober in your living. My earnest desire + is that the Association should help you to learn and labour truly + to get your own living; but you know that this must be a work of + time. If I could prevent it there should not be one blind person + begging, but all should have the blessing of earning their living; + but, as I say, it will take a long time to bring this to pass. Had + I been asked I should have said, "You would do better without me + than without him who is taken from us; but God does not ask us, and + does what He sees and knows to be best, and He has taken Mr. Levy + to his rest and reward, and has left me." + + If it is His will that I should have strength, I will, with His + help and with the aid of the friends engaged in the work, do the + best I can. Many of you I have never seen; I wish this were not so, + but I cannot help it; but to you all I earnestly say: please think + of me as of one who has your truest interest at heart, who is, like + yourselves, without sight, and who tries, to the best of her power, + to understand what it is to be poor as well as blind, and who longs + for your help and co-operation in the work of endeavouring to help + you to help yourselves. You will help me, will you not?--Believe + me, my dear friends, to be most sincerely yours, + ELIZABETH GILBERT. + + _P.S._--I have signed my name with the pen which Mr. Levy invented + for us. You and I must pray that God will help me to do what will + be best for you. I know God will not leave us, for He loveth the + blind, as He doth all human beings, more than we can possibly + understand or know, so that we must try and trust in Him fully in + all our trials. May God bless you all! + + +With advancing spring the cloud of depression was dispelled. She became +more cheerful, began to talk of a return to London, and to look forward +to her life there. The return journey was undertaken in the second week +in June. It was safely accomplished, though at the cost of very great +weariness and exhaustion. When she reached Stanhope Place and had been +carried to her room, she said, "No more journeys for me." This was +indeed her last journey, for though in 1877 she had such a longing for +fresh country air that there was a consultation, and her physicians +sanctioned removal, yet when the time came her heart failed, and she +remained at home. + +On her return from Torquay she went into Hyde Park about half a dozen +times in an invalid chair, but after October 1874 she left the house no +more. She was, however, still able for a time to be dressed, to sit up +for an hour or two, and to be carried up and down stairs. As the winter +advanced a sitting-room was arranged on the same floor as her bedroom, +and then she came downstairs daily no more. In spite of all precautions +against cold she had a severe attack of bronchitis in 1875, and was +attended by Dr. Hawkesley, whom she knew and liked as a fellow-worker on +the Council of the Normal College for the Blind. He was struck by the +manner in which she threw off the attack. "She is doing so gallantly," +he said. But she did not regain the strength lost during this illness, +and resumed life after every access of sorrow and suffering on a lower +level, as it were, and with diminished vital powers. After the spring of +1875 she was not dressed again, and never sat up. Recumbent on one of +Alderman's couches, in a pretty dressing-gown, with soft warm shawls, +and lace, and bright colour, such as she loved, about her, she spent her +good days. On the bad ones she was not lifted from her bed. + +She had indeed become like a train that is left upon a siding, and all +her busy life was hushed and silent. + +When the summer came, and her rooms were to be repapered and painted, +she was carried downstairs. The drawing-rooms were specially prepared as +her bed and sitting-rooms, and she would stay in these her "country +quarters" for six weeks or two months. After that she was taken upstairs +in the same way for the autumn, winter, and spring. This removal +required great care and very skilful management, as the couch on which +she reclined had to be lifted over the bannisters, and any jerk or +unexpected movement caused both pain and apprehension. + +A fresh sorrow awaited her. In 1876 Charlotte Gadney, her faithful and +affectionate attendant, had a paralytic seizure, and it was necessary +for the sake both of mistress and maid that they should part. Bessie +could not at first acquiesce in separation; she reproached herself as +the cause of Charlotte's illness, and could not rest until she was +informed of all the minutest details connected with her. + +But when the parting was over Bessie's anxiety gradually diminished, and +Charlotte's recovery was more rapid than had been expected. She was +never well enough to resume attendance upon her beloved mistress, but +from time to time she came on a short visit, much to her own and +Bessie's delight. + +Meanwhile the Association struggled on under the care of successive +managers. Levy's illness and frequent absence had caused confusion, +irregularity, and loss, which his successors were not slow to take +advantage of. They found it easy to persevere in defects occasioned by +his failing health and want of sight; but the untiring devotion to the +cause of the blind, and unwearied efforts on their behalf, which had +made these defects of comparatively small importance, were lost to the +Association for ever. + +Bessie knew and lamented the shortcomings, but she could no longer +supplement them. Successive years diminished her powers of work. +Sleeplessness, pain, exhaustion, wore her out; and sometimes for days +together she could not bear even an allusion to the Association and its +work. Occasional fits of deafness, to which she had always been liable, +depressed her more than they had ever previously done. These attacks +recurred several times, and lasted for many weeks at a time. It was +difficult for her to shake off the gloom that accompanied them, and the +sense of isolation and solitude. Her hands and arms were too feeble to +allow her to read or work for more than a few moments, so that she was +not only cut off from the society of those she loved, but unable to +occupy herself in any way. + +From time to time she regained a little strength, and then it was +touching to see how she at once resumed her labours. At the beginning of +her illness she took great interest in the inauguration of the Normal +College for the Blind. Dr. Campbell had several long conversations with +her in 1871, before she left Queen Anne Street, and at his request she +had joined the Committee of the College and even attended some of its +meetings. She rejoiced in the success that now attended Dr. Campbell's +efforts; but she was convinced that a musical career was, in most cases, +impossible for the blind. "Many adult persons lose their sight, but the +loss does not entail a love of music," she would say. She saw, and had +always seen, that handicrafts were the only possible occupation for the +majority, especially amongst the poor and uneducated; and one of her +chief objects was to increase the number of trades which the blind could +follow. She used to say that, with a little ingenuity and contrivance, +many additional trades might be thrown open to them. With this end in +view she continued to make herself acquainted with the details of +different occupations, and wished that experiments "on a very small +scale" should be carried out. But there were too many difficulties in +the way. Want of health, want of money, want of space for workrooms, met +her at every turn. Still, whenever there was a bit of work that she +could do, she did it. In November 1874 a special Committee had been +appointed by the Charity Organisation Society to consider "what more can +be done to promote the welfare of the blind, especially in relation to +their industrial training." The Earl of Lichfield presided, and the +subjects to be considered were as follows: + + + 1. What is being done industrially for the blind, and in what ways? + + (_a_) For learners. + + (_b_) For journeymen. + + 2. What more can be done through existing agencies? + + (_a_) By improvements in system of working. + + (_b_) By co-operation between the agencies. + + (_c_) By fresh retail shops. + + 3. May not a large proportion of the able-bodied blind be rendered + thoroughly self-supporting? + + 4. Should the education and training of the blind be to any extent + provided for from the rates or other State sources, and, if so, to + what extent? + + +The first paper read on the welfare of the blind had been forwarded by +Bessie, with an expression of deep regret "That the state of her health +prevented her from attending the meeting." She wrote as follows: + + + In endeavours to promote the welfare of the blind, it is essential + that some important facts should be borne in mind, viz.-- + + _1st._ That many blind persons, although instructed in some trade, + are either reduced to begging or are driven to the workhouse, not + through their own fault, but simply for the want of any regular + employment in their trade. + + _2d._ That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind, + as about nine-tenths of the thirty thousand blind in the United + Kingdom become so above the age of twenty-one. + + _3d._ That about half the sightless population live in rural + districts. + + _4th._ That the health of persons without sight is, as a general + rule, below that of others. + + _5th._ That this cause operates, in addition to loss of sight, to + bring about the slow rate at which the blind work as compared with + the sighted. + + _6th._ That social ties are even more essential to the blind than + to others. + + + OBJECTS TO BE AIMED AT. + + _1st._ To foster self-reliance, and to enable the blind to help + themselves. + + _2d._ To eradicate the habit of suspicion by promoting friendly + intercourse between the blind and the sighted. + + _3d._ To develop the faculties of the blind in every direction. + + _4th._ To improve their physical condition. + + _5th._ In industrial training to endeavour to lessen, as far as + possible, the difference in speed in the work between the work of + the blind and that of the sighted, while making it the first object + to secure good and efficient work. + + _6th._ To do everything to reduce the dependence of the blind as + far as possible, while endeavouring, by Christian instruction, to + enable them to accept the unavoidable dependence of their condition + in a spirit of humility and thankfulness which will soften and + sweeten it to them, and will turn this dependence into one of their + greatest blessings, as it will be the means of uniting them more + closely to their fellow-creatures. + + + MEANS TOWARDS THESE ENDS. + + _1st._ Endeavour to enable the blind to earn their own living, and + with this view seek out and send children to existing blind + schools. + + _2d._ Promote the establishment of institutions for providing the + blind on leaving the schools with regular employment, and for + teaching trades to persons ineligible for admission to the schools, + which is the case, as a rule, with those above twenty-one years of + age. + + _3d._ When practicable, supply blind persons with regular + employment at their own homes, and encourage them to do anything + they can on their own account independently of any institution. + + _4th._ Try to introduce trades hitherto not carried on by the + blind, giving the precedence to such as can be practised without + sighted aid. + + _5th._ Cultivate habits of method and precision in the blind, which + will all tend to improve the rate at which they work. + + _6th._ Make the training of efficient blind teachers a special + object. + + _7th._ Encourage residence in the country rather than in towns by + giving employment at home, thus cementing family ties and promoting + health. + + _8th._ Form lending libraries of embossed books in all the various + systems in use, and establish classes for religious and other + instruction. + + + OBSERVATIONS. + + Many other means besides those here mentioned might be suggested, + but the aim of this paper has been to state some of the chief facts + bearing on the subject, and to mention some of the most obvious + means for improving the condition of the blind. + + Regular employment at their own homes, when practicable, is of + great service to the blind, and especially as by this means + numbers in the country can be reached. It might also be possible to + some extent to carry out what might be called Rural Home Industrial + Teaching, of course regulating the trades taught according to local + circumstances. + + The importance of opening new trades to the blind can hardly be + exaggerated, and friends of the blind must welcome every successful + effort in this direction. Next to the benefit of real Christian + principles must be placed that of enabling the sightless to earn + their own living; but where this is impossible pensions should be + given. + + _Lastly._ Let the blind themselves be consulted, and have as much + voice as possible in the measures adopted for their welfare; and + this is said not only with a view to the educated, but especially + to the more intelligent blind in humbler positions, since, as is + well known, the mass of those without sight will be found among the + poorer classes. The more this is done the more will the blind feel + that the sighted desire to carry out such measures as shall act + like so many levers with which to raise them from their present + depressed condition, and will then heartily second the efforts + made, and thankfully grasp the friendly hands held out to them; but + which they will only accept reluctantly and coldly, not having + their own heart in the work, unless convinced that the main object + in view is to enable them, by their own efforts, to stand as far as + possible on an equality with their fellow-creatures. + + +The suggestions made in this little paper had all been thought out upon +a bed of pain, and with sorrows of her own that might well have +engrossed her attention. But Bessie never, to the end of her life, lost +an opportunity of working and speaking on behalf of those to whom that +life had been devoted. + +Two events in the history of the Association which deeply interested +her were the removal from Oxford Street to more commodious premises in +Berners Street, and the Special Bequest of £10,000 by Mr. Gardner. She +was gratified to learn that the Special Bequest was no bar to the +participation of the Association in the general advantages provided by +Mr. Gardner for the blind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM + + "They also serve who only stand and wait."--MILTON. + + +During the last few years of life Bessie Gilbert never left her invalid +couch and bed. In addition to blindness she was liable to distressing +attacks of deafness, to sleeplessness, agonising pain, and weary +exhaustion. Her throat was often affected, swallowing was difficult. She +had lost power in the upper limbs, could only use her hands for a few +seconds to read the raised type for the blind, or to do a few stitches +of chain work for those she loved; even that became impossible before +the end. The record of work for the Institution dwindles down during +these years, but she lived for it as completely as she had ever done. +She would deny herself the one pleasure that remained--a visit from some +one she loved, because it would exhaust her and render her incapable of +the little she could now do. + +For three or four years she received almost daily business letters from +Colonel Fyers, and dictated replies to them when her health allowed, +but this uncertain interposition was of little value, and by degrees +matters of business ceased to be submitted to her. When any question on +which she entertained a strong opinion was brought forward, she would +occasionally explain her view in a letter to the Committee, but these +letters also diminished in number. Her interest in individuals never +decreased; the blind workpeople and their affairs occupied her to the +very last. + +In 1878 she heard that one of the workmen was about to marry a +workwoman, since dead, who was blind, deformed, and very much out of +health. She could not approve of such a marriage, and did her utmost to +prevent it. She wrote to express her views, and sent a favourite +sick-nurse to the Institution to emphasise them. The result was that she +received the following letter, informing her that the engagement was at +end: + + + INSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + 28 BERNERS STREET, LONDON, W., _3d August 1878._ + + MADAM--I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind letter of + the 2d inst., and to express to you how deeply I feel the very + great interest you on all occasions have shown towards me, and + especially now. I know you must have my welfare at heart, otherwise + you would not have favoured me with this communication, for which I + sincerely thank you. I, as well as L. W., have, through the means + of your kind letter, seen the matter of our proposed marriage from + a different point of view, and have therefore decided to act in + harmony with your wishes, which no doubt are for our best. + + I regret very much that any uneasiness should have been caused you + by this affair, and trust that in future nothing on my part will + occur to cause it again.--I am, madam, your obedient servant, C. C. + + Miss Elizabeth Gilbert. + + +Bessie warmly approved of marriage for the blind, and was sometimes +charged with promoting it injudiciously. In this case she would have +been very glad if C. could have found a healthy, capable wife, who would +have made him happy. She used to say that blindness was the strongest +possible bond of sympathy between husband and wife; and as she did not +for herself witness the untidiness and discomfort in the homes where man +and wife are both blind, and the almost unavoidable neglect of young +children, she could not share the objection of many members of the +Committee to marriage between the workpeople. + +In 1879 her widowed sister, the Hon. Mrs. Elliot, was married to Mr. +Childers. Mr. Childers had not previously known Bessie personally, but +he saw her several times afterwards, and was greatly impressed by her +marvellous patience and resignation. + +In one of her early interviews with him she had asked for information as +to the Blind and Deaf Mute Education Bill, which Mr. Wheelhouse, member +for Leeds, Mr. Mellor, and others, had introduced into the House of +Commons, but had been unsuccessful in passing. She wished to see any +papers Mr. Wheelhouse could send, and was much interested in his efforts +and in the correspondence which followed her request. + +Many letters received at this time have been preserved, and they show +the influence which, from her bed of pain, she exercised on all around +her. + +The following is from her old friend, Mr. Coxe, librarian of the +Bodleian. It is his last letter to her; he died in the following July: + + + NORTHGATE, OXFORD, _S. Stephen's Day, 1880_. + + MY VERY DEAR BESSIE--How much I thank you for thinking of me on my + sick-bed, and sending me such a welcome Christmas gift to perfume + my existence. My wife immediately seized upon one (as owing, or + due, to her) and carried off the rest to some secret store-room, + unknown to me as yet, in my new house. I have been now nearly three + months in my bed and bedroom; how dare I speak of it to you in a + spirit other than of deep thankfulness that I have been allowed to + brave all weathers, and to work unscathed even to my 70th year. + Dear Fan ("old Fan!" it was such a pleasure seeing her!) will have + told you what nice quarters we have fallen on wherein to end our + days. It was one of the two houses I used in days gone by to covet; + the other was old Mr. Parker's, now young Fred Morrell's. Well, + dear Bessie, this season has had its message of peace too for you. + I am sure that you have received and welcomed it; that simple + message in these sad days of rebuke and blasphemy becomes more and + more precious. I am not likely to be again a traveller, tho' I + should like to see Hilgrove in his new home, only fifteen miles + away, so that I am not likely to see you again in this life. May it + be granted that we may enjoy a happy reunion in that which shall + be. Best love to the "Duchess" and Nora, with much to yourself + from yours, dearest Bessie, ever affectionately, H. O. COXE. + + +The year 1881 brought to Bessie a long fit of depression, due mainly to +an attack of deafness; but she had also much anxiety with regard to the +Association. She heard of custom diminishing, a manager dismissed for +dishonesty, heavy losses upon Government contracts undertaken in order +to give work to the blind throughout the winter, diminished income and +subscriptions, and increased demands for aid. In the old days she would +have stirred up her friends, made appeals through the press, organised a +public meeting, and surmounted all difficulties. + +The utmost she could now do was to draw up a short circular, asking all +those interested in her work to become Associates, and to subscribe a +sum of not less than one shilling a year. Such Associates were to pledge +themselves to promote the sale of goods made by the blind. She submitted +her scheme and circular to the Committee, and was advised to make the +minimum subscription half a crown. In this form it was issued, but, +lacking the energy with which she would in former time have launched it, +there was no appreciable result. + +On the 2d of May 1882 a concert in aid of the Association was held, by +the kindness of the Duke of Westminster, at Grosvenor House. Bessie did +what she could, but by far the greater part of the work connected with +it fell upon her sisters. The Duke wrote directly it was over to +congratulate her upon a very successful result; and Bessie was greatly +cheered to learn that when all incidental expenses were paid, there +would remain the sum of £326: 17: 6. + +The Committee endeavoured as far as possible to save her the distress of +knowing the difficulties in which they were involved. Sir E. Sotheby was +untiring in his zealous endeavours to promote the interests of the +Association, and to shield Bessie from anxiety. Colonel Fyers, though in +failing health, never lost sight of the object he had so long worked +for. But all efforts were unavailing. Every fact and figure connected +with the undertaking had been impressed upon an inexorable memory. +Nothing now escaped her. She detected every financial error, and every +departure from her original aims and objects. She saw what grave +difficulty lay in the fact that since the death of Levy no manager had +been appointed who had any special interest in the blind. She feared +that the work of her whole life would be ignored; and that there would +be no higher aim than to keep open a shop and carry on a trade. +Oppressed by this fear, she made one last appeal, one final effort, on +behalf of those whom she had loved and served for so long. + +The address to the Committee, bearing date Whit Monday 1882, may be +looked upon as her last will and testament. Internal evidence shows that +it was in that light she herself looked upon it, and that she +endeavoured to sum up in one short statement, which recapitulates the +most important points in the early rules of the Association, the result +of a lifetime of work, thought, experience, and devotion. + + + THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND + + WHITMONDAY, _29th May 1882._ + + This title should always be borne in mind by those managing the + Association, as it clearly indicates the scope of the undertaking. + Trade is a most necessary and essential part of the work; and the + more sure the foundation upon which the trade is carried on the + better will be the security for its prosperity; but trade is by no + means the most important part of the undertaking, and indeed it is + my earnest desire that the Association should never under any + circumstances become a mere trading institution. This would be a + great falling off from the original scope and object with which + this Association was founded. I wish those who may be at any time + entrusted with the management of the Association always to remember + that it is open to them to do everything they can, that is likely + to promote the welfare of the blind. The particular directions in + which this may be done will often be clearly indicated by the + circumstances of the Association, and by opportunities which may + arise at any given time. Still, certain fixed principles should + always be kept in view, as laid down in our rule No. 2, "That the + immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment + to those blind persons who, for want of work, have been compelled + to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so. To + cause those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some + industrial art, and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the + blind. Also, to support a Circulating Library consisting of books + in various systems of relief print, to the advantages of which the + indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon + payment of the subscription required by the Committee. To enable + blind musicians to show that the loss of sight does not prevent + their being efficient organists and scientific musicians. To + collect and disseminate information relative to the physical, + mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind; and to + promote among individuals and institutions seeking to ameliorate + the condition of the blind, a friendly interchange of information + calculated to advance the common cause." + + Rule 16 also provides, "That with a view to increase the funds and + extend the utility of the Association, the Committee shall have + power to receive into connection with the Association other kindred + institutions, and shall seek to form auxiliaries in various parts + of the kingdom." + + The Association will probably never be called upon to undertake + anything with regard to music, as the field is now so well and + fully occupied by the Royal Normal College; but the rule is quoted + exactly as it stands in order to show the breadth of the original + design, which design should be kept steadily in view. It is most + desirable that among those who may direct the Association there + should always be some persons who should make it their special + object to study the condition of the blind, and in this study the + knowledge of the following facts will be found of service, viz.-- + + _1st._ That many blind persons after leaving the schools are, + although instructed in some trade, reduced to begging or driven to + the workhouse, not through their own fault, but simply for the want + of any regular employment in their trade. + + _2d._ That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind; + as about nine-tenths of the 30,000 blind in the United Kingdom + become so above the age of twenty-one, and are then ineligible for + admission to most blind schools. + + _3d._ That about half the sightless population live in rural + districts. + + +The address ends here abruptly. Probably the writer's strength was +exhausted with the effort to think and to dictate. + +During 1882, 1883, 1884 Bessie carried on at long intervals a +correspondence with Mr. Wood, Superintendent of the School for the +Blind, Sheffield. She learns that his pupils are taught to read embossed +type on Braille's system, which her own experience had shown to be +unsuited to those who have hard manual labour to perform. In every +letter she requests information on this point: "Can the workpeople still +read Braille's type?" she asks. The opening up of fresh trades, the +establishment of workshops for the benefit of those who leave the +school, are questions which she suggests for the serious consideration +of the Sheffield Committee, and she asks Mr. Wood for information, at +any time he can send it, as to work in any way connected with the blind. + +About this time Bessie heard that John Bright had spoken at the Normal +College, Norwood, and appealed to him on behalf of Berners Street. He +replied: + + + 132 PICCADILLY, _26th July 1883._ + + DEAR MADAM--I thank you for your letter and for the volume you have + sent me. My engagements are so many and so constantly pressing that + I cannot hope to do much for the cause you have at heart. I hope, + however, the cause is making progress, and it is not unlikely that + some general inquiry into the condition of the blind will be made + before long, and that good may come from it. My presence and + speech at Norwood were accidental. I must leave more practical work + to others.--I am, very truly yours, + JOHN BRIGHT. + + Miss Gilbert, 5 Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, W. + + +The volume sent was most probably Levy's _Blindness and the Blind_. + +During 1883 Bessie received frequent letters from the Chairman of her +Committee, Sir E. Sotheby, and the Hon. Secretary, Captain Hume Nicholl. +They referred to her the different appeals from blind men, women, and +boys which reached them; these she carefully investigated and reported +upon. During her illness, as throughout her whole life, the utmost help +and best advice she could give were always at the disposal of the blind. +Farrow, who had worked twenty-eight years at the Institution, loses no +opportunity of sending her cheering news. He writes at this time with +respect to the brushmakers: + + + During the last six months orders have poured in from all quarters, + and I can say that all the years I have been connected with the + Institution we have not done so much before in the same time. + Brushes manufactured indoors in 1882 amounted to £3200. The present + year, from the 1st January to the 1st of June, amounted to £1471: + 6: 4 in twenty-two weeks. + + +There was an Industrial Exhibition in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, +in 1883, and the blind stall from Berners Street was always crowded. +Farrow writes: + + + If the manager of the Agricultural Hall had given us a better + position in the body of the hall no doubt we should have done more + than we did. The sales amounted to about £110. The donation boxes + yielded £15. The cost of the undertaking about £29. The profits of + the sale and [contents of] boxes included came to £50, leaving a + balance of £21. I superintended the arrangements of the benches as + two years ago. The workpeople who represented the different + branches are as follows.... I visited the hall several times for + the purpose of examining the machinery, to see if there was + anything to be learnt for the benefit of the Association.... This + year we have the whole of the work of the L. S. W. Railway, and we + have also obtained that of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. For the + future I will not send in any tender unless I see the samples + first, as it was often done before without my seeing them. + + +This blind man who "examined the machinery" and must "see the samples" +is one after Bessie's own heart, and there was always a merry laugh of +approval when she spoke of his letters. + +A conference was held at York in 1883 on the condition of the blind. It +was followed in 1884 by a meeting at Sheffield on the same subject, and +presided over by Lord Wharncliffe. + +Bessie had, at Lord Wharncliffe's request, furnished suggestions and +information. He writes as follows: + + + WORTLEY HALL, SHEFFIELD, _12th January 1884_. + + MADAM--I have taken the liberty of sending to you a copy of the + _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ containing the report of our meeting on + Thursday last, and have to express to you my warm thanks for the + kindness with which you answered my letter, and for the valuable + suggestions contained in your reply. I can only hope that you will + be interested with the report of our proceedings, and will approve + of what was then said.--I remain, yrs. faithfully, WHARNCLIFFE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +The paper of suggestions referred to, travels over much of the ground +familiar to Bessie for so many years, and never, as she thought, +adequately explored by those who were working for the blind. + +She writes to Lord Wharncliffe: + +"It is almost impossible for a blind man, singlehanded, to cope with all +the difficulties with which he has to contend, and the result has often +been begging or the workhouse. Happily there are many more industrial +institutions than there were." + +One can imagine with what a thrill of satisfaction she would write this, +as she remembered the little cellar in Holborn and the humble origin of +all her subsequent work. She continues: + + + It would be most desirable that the ordinary schools and such + institutions should play into one another's hands, so as to shorten + as far as possible the interval between the pupils leaving [school] + and their being employed. Sometimes the blind might be taught some + special branch of a trade, and might perhaps even be employed by + masters among their sighted workpeople. This would answer the + double purpose of lightening the work of the Institution, and also + of drawing attention to the blind and to what they are able to do, + which is a very important point. + + As industrial institutions must depend to a very great extent upon + custom for their support, it is well to bear in mind that some + persons without sight can both help themselves and the institution + employing them by acting as travellers. People are often very much + interested by this means, and look forward to the regular + recurring calls of the blind travellers. Besides which it saves + people trouble in dealing with an institution if they happen to + live at some distance. + + It is almost needless to say that all the capabilities of the blind + should be brought out as much as possible, as the more this is done + and the more their highest interests are cared for, the more will + their whole condition be elevated and improved. The problem of + enabling the blind to earn their own living is by no means an easy + one, and is well worthy of the attention of loving hearts and wise + intellects for its solution. + + +The whole tone of these wise and thoughtful remarks shows that Bessie +had never lost touch with her work. Her interest is as fresh, her +expectation as vigorous as ever. She throws out a new suggestion--that +of the employment of the blind in special branches of a trade--which may +even yet bear fruit. She pleads for "the elevation of the whole +condition of the blind," in contradistinction to the administration of +charitable doles to degrade them. She had a wide experience of both +systems, and could now speak with authority. The letter indeed marks a +recrudescence, and has a ring of hope about it. It is not the utterance +of one who speaks on the other side of a closed door. You feel that the +door is open and she may enter and resume work. There was, in fact, +throughout 1884 an indefinable improvement and amelioration in her +condition which led her, not perhaps to hope, but to entertain a thought +of the possibility of such a measure of recovery as might once more +enable her to take an active share in the work of the Institution. It +is not likely that this expectation was entertained either by her +doctors or nurses; but Bessie had a distinct feeling that a change, an +improvement, was before her. "Would it not be wonderful," she said to +the present writer in the early summer of 1884, "if I should recover?" +And in reply to a question suggested by this remark, she added, "I feel +as if there would be a change." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TWILIGHT + + "The noble mansion is most distinguished by the beautiful images it + retains of beings passed away; and so is the noble mind." + WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. + + +Fifteen years of suffering had left Bessie Gilbert unchanged as to the +aims and work of her life. Long lonely hours of thought had shown her +the need that the blind have of help and sympathy, the impossibility of +independence and self-supporting work for them unless through the active +charity of individuals and the co-operation of the State. + +And it was the "General Welfare of the Blind" that engrossed her, and +not merely their trades. She knew, no one better, how much need they +have of resources from within, the pleasures of memory, the courage +given by hope and aspiration. Her long years of illness enlarged her +ideas of what could be done and ought to be done for them. She +contrasted her own condition with that of the poor and untaught, and +forgave them all their faults when she remembered their sad state. + +Bessie had been carefully prepared for the inevitable solitude of her +lot. Her mind was richly stored and her memory so carefully trained, +that it seemed to allow no escape of anything that interested her. +During the long weary days and nights of illness, when deafness isolated +her even more than blindness, she would go over the whole story of a +book read to her years before. She would recall the symphonies and +sonatas she had listened to in early days, and find exceeding great +enjoyment in the memory of her music. Indeed, towards the end she had +but little pleasure in music heard through the outward ear, for her +nerves were not able to endure the shock of a sudden or unexpected +outburst of sound. But the music which she could call from out the +chambers of memory was soft and tender, and its most impassioned +passages gave her no pain. The soul of the music spoke to her soul, and +silence brought to her the rapture of spiritual communion. + +In early youth she had been accustomed, in the daily family prayers, to +read in turn her verse of the Lessons and the Psalms. In later years she +always read them to herself or had them read aloud to her. During her +illness she scarcely ever failed to hear them; and the evening Psalms +ended her day. She knew very many of the Psalms by heart, and "specially +delighted in the glorious ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving in +those for the thirtieth evening of the month." She liked to think that +every month and every year at its close was accompanied by praise and +thanksgiving. "It pleased and touched her greatly," writes her sister +N., "that in the New Lectionary the miracle of restoring sight to the +two blind men at Jericho, came as the second lesson for the evening of +her birthday, 7th August. + +"One of her most favourite verses in the Psalms was, 'Thou hast given me +the defence of thy salvation. Thy right hand also shall hold me up, and +thy loving correction shall make me great.'" + +Two poems from the _Lyra Germanica_ gave her constant comfort, and were +in her heart and on her lips. She found in them the embodiment of her +faith, and could use them not only as expressing her own feelings, but +as bringing comfort and help, because they were the utterance of the +ardent faith and devotion of others. + +These two hymns really open to us the inner life of Bessie Gilbert. They +show from whence she derived the strength and courage that supported her +in the efforts and trials of her early life, and they reveal the source +of the patient endurance of fifteen years of isolation and suffering. + + + PASSION WEEK.[9] + + I. + + IN THE GARDEN. + + Whene'er again thou sinkest, + My heart, beneath thy load, + Or from the battle shrinkest, + And murmurest at thy God; + Then will I lead thee hither, + To watch thy Saviour's prayer, + And learn from His endurance + How thou shouldst also bear. + + Oh come, wouldst thou be like Him, + Thy Lord Divine, and mark + What sharpest sorrows strike Him, + What anguish deep and dark,-- + That earnest cry to spare Him, + The trial scarce begun? + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Oh wherefore doth His spirit + Such bitter conflict know? + What sins, what crimes could merit + Such deep and awful woe? + So pure are not the heavens, + So clear the noonday sun, + And yet He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Oh mark that night of sorrow, + That agony of prayer; + No friend can watch till morrow + His grief to soothe and share; + Oh where shall He find comfort? + With God, with God alone, + And still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Hath life for Him no gladness, + No joy the light of day? + Can He then feel no sadness, + When heart and hope give way? + That cup of mortal anguish + One bitter cry hath won, + That it might pass: "Yet, Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + And who the cup prepared Him, + And who the poison gave? + 'Twas one He loved ensnared Him, + 'Twas those He came to save. + Oh sharpest pain, to suffer + Betray'd and mock'd--alone; + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + But what is joy or living, + What treachery or death, + When all His work, His striving, + Seems hanging on His breath? + Oh can it stand without Him, + That work but just begun? + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + He speaks; no more He shrinketh, + Himself He offers up; + He sees it all, yet drinketh + For us that bitter cup, + He goes to meet the traitor, + The cross He will not shun,-- + He saith: "I come, My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + My Saviour, I will never + Forget Thy word of grace, + But still repeat it ever, + Through good and evil days; + And looking up to heaven, + Till all my race is run, + I'll humbly say: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + W. HEY, 1828. + + + FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. + + Be thou content; be still before + His face, at whose right hand doth reign + Fulness of joy for evermore, + Without whom all thy toil is vain. + He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays + Make glad with life and light thy weary days. + Be thou content. + + In Him is comfort, light, and grace, + And changeless love beyond our thought; + The sorest pang, the worst disgrace, + If He is there, shall harm thee not. + He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands, + And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands. + Be thou content. + + Or art thou friendless and alone, + Hast none in whom thou canst confide? + God careth for thee, lonely one, + Comfort and help will He provide. + He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief, + He knoweth when to send thee quick relief. + Be thou content. + + Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows, + Thy secret sighs He hears full well, + What to none else thou dar'st disclose, + To Him thou mayst with boldness tell; + He is not far away, but ever nigh, + And answereth willingly the poor man's cry. + Be thou content. + + Be not o'er-mastered by thy pain, + But cling to God, thou shalt not fall; + The floods sweep over thee in vain, + Thou yet shalt rise above them all; + For when thy trial seems too hard to bear + Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer. + Be thou content. + + Why art thou full of anxious fear + How thou shalt be sustain'd and fed? + He who hath made and placed thee here + Will give thee needful daily bread; + Canst thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand, + Who feeds all living things on sea and land? + Be thou content. + + He who doth teach the little birds + To find their meat in field and wood, + Who gives the countless flocks and herds + Each day their needful drink and food, + Thy hunger too will surely satisfy, + And all thy wants in His good time supply. + Be thou content. + + Sayest thou, I know not how or where, + No hope I see where'er I turn; + When of all else we most despair, + The riches of God's love we learn; + When thou and I His hand no longer trace, + He leads us forth into a pleasant place. + Be thou content. + + Though long His promised aid delay, + At last it will be surely sent: + Though thy heart sink in sore dismay, + The trial for thy good is meant. + What we have won with pains we hold more fast, + What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last. + Be thou content. + + Lay not to heart whate'er of ill + Thy foes may falsely speak of thee, + Let man defame thee as he will, + God hears and judges righteously. + Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side, + Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride? + Be thou content. + + We know for us a rest remains, + When God will give us sweet release + From earth and all our mortal chains + And turn our sufferings into peace. + Sooner or later death will surely come + To end our sorrows and to take us home. + Be thou content. + + Home to the chosen ones, who here + Served their Lord faithfully and well, + Who died in peace without a fear, + And there in peace for ever dwell; + The Everlasting is their joy and stay, + The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say + Be thou content! + + PAUL GERHARDT, 1670. + + +For weeks together during her illness Bessie was at times unable to +sleep during the night. She was too considerate to her nurses to disturb +them for mere sleeplessness. She would then, as we have said, recall to +memory music and books which she had heard, and at these times +Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott were a great resource to her. The +characters she admired lived for her, and she would try to picture to +herself how they would act in circumstances which she invented for them. +Her knowledge of English history was also a source of interest, and +often astonished those around her. One evening in 1884 a young niece +preparing for an examination asked in vain for information as to the +"Salisbury Assize" until the question was put to "Aunt Bessie," who at +once explained it. + +There were long lapses, as it were, in her life. After the sleepless +nights she had to sleep when she could, and her room in the daytime was +hushed and silent, all external life and interest excluded. At night she +was again fully awake, but it was to find herself alone in the "chambers +of her imagery." + +One of the two sisters who were her constant companions, and nursed her +with unfailing devotion for fifteen years, writes as follows: + + + All through her illness, with the occasional exceptions when she + suffered from deafness, her cheerfulness was marvellous, her + patience never-failing, and her consideration and thoughtfulness + for those around her very wonderful and touching. + + She had a special name of her own for each of her nurses, all of + them loved her, and upon several of them the influence of her + patience and goodness was strongly marked, and will be of lifelong + endurance. Her first sick-nurse came in 1872 and stayed two years. + She often afterwards visited her. She came to see us after Bessie's + death, and said with tears, "Oh, I did not do enough for her. I + wish I had done more." + + Bessie would often arrange little surprises and pleasures for us + and give us flowers. She was anxious we should have all the variety + we could, and took the greatest pleasure in hearing an account of + what we had seen and done whilst away from her. She liked to see + visitors when she was well enough, but was often nervous about it, + fearing lest the excitement should do her harm, and interfere in + any way with what little she could do for the Institution. + + Perhaps few realised how much she suffered; she was so patient, so + bright, so sympathetic that it was difficult to do so. The last few + months of her life were full of pain. + + +No record of Bessie's illness would be adequate which did not speak of +the love that lightened every burden laid upon her. Sisters and brothers +bound by so strong a bond of family love as the Gilberts are even more +closely united by affliction. No day passed without its tribute of +affectionate remembrance from absent members of the family. Her eldest +brother, Mr. Wintle, always spent the afternoon of Sunday with her, when +she was able to receive him. The Vicar of Heversham, the beloved "Tom" +of her youth, saw her in London whenever it was possible. Married +sisters visited and wrote to her, and a whole cloud of nephews and +nieces hovered around her. + +She valued highly the friendship as well as the skill of Mr. Sibley, the +surgeon who for many years attended her. She depended upon him for +almost daily visits. Very little could be done to arrest the progress of +her malady; nothing to save her from much inevitable suffering. +Alleviation, not cure, was all that could be looked for, and he was +always ready to attempt, and often able to effect, some mitigation of +the ills she had to endure. + +Among many others who were kind and helpful, ready to aid her work and +so to give her almost the only pleasure she could receive, were the +Duke of Westminster, Lord and Lady Selborne, Madame Antoinette Sterling, +who would sometimes sing to her, and the old and dear friends of the +family, Dean and Mrs. Hook. No word can here be said of the two sisters, +whose whole life was given up to her; none would be adequate. They knew, +and they were known. That is enough. We may not lift the veil under +which they passed so many years with Bessie in her long agony. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] From _Lyra Germanica_, second series. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE END + + "In Thy light we shall see light." + + +The summer of 1884 in London was hot and exhausting. In Bessie's +helpless condition excessive heat caused her real suffering; for she was +fixed immovable upon her couch. But if she longed for cool breezes, the +scent of flowers and song of birds, she uttered no murmur in their +absence. + +The slight improvement recognised with so much gratitude in the spring +was not permanent, but the "change" she anticipated was at hand. "I feel +as if there would be a change," she had said. + +The autumn showed that she had seriously lost ground. + + + "Her throat," continues her sister N., "always painful and + irritable, had now become a source of great suffering. There was + constant pain, greatly increased every time she swallowed; whilst + her weakness made it important that she should take plenty of + nourishment. A troublesome cough came on; fits of coughing that + lasted for hours and exhausted her terribly. At the same time + neuralgia and rheumatism attacked the left leg and thigh, and + violent pain caused her, with all her courage and patience, to + scream in the most heartrending manner. Her whole body became most + sensitive to touch, and yet she was obliged to be moved on account + of the cough. Her limbs seemed to stiffen, and the body was like a + leaden weight pressing on the bed. To change her position, even to + touch her hair, caused her great pain; and it required four or even + five persons to move her with the minimum of pain." + + +This sad condition lasted through the autumn of 1884, but she improved +wonderfully about Christmas time, and there was alleviation and relief +for herself and all around her. On Christmas day, however, a fresh +sorrow befel her. Her brother-in-law, Mr. Bowles, died suddenly, and all +her old grief at the loss of her sister Mary, of her father, and of dear +friends, was reopened. She had a serious relapse, and before long the +condition of her throat made it desirable to seek further advice. Dr. +Semon was consulted, and he examined her throat by the help of the +electric light. She was greatly interested in this examination, in the +explanation of the apparatus used, and in the fact that hers was the +first throat so examined since Dr. Semon's apparatus had been perfected. + +Shortly afterwards her condition was aggravated by slight bronchitis, +and for four days and nights she had no sleep. On the 7th of February +1885 Dr. Sibley saw her between 12 and 12.30, and anticipated no +immediate danger. But he was again hastily summoned, and at 1.15 she +died; conscious to the last moment. + +"She had been so tired the night before," writes her sister. "About +midnight she said: 'Art thou weary, art thou weary?' and we repeated the +beautiful hymn, which seemed to soothe her. Even that last night she was +full of thought for others. 'Mind you have some tea; do make yourselves +some tea,' she said. She evidently followed the prayers that we said, +and indeed her death was a falling asleep, so peaceful, with no pain or +struggle whatever." + +The farewell of two old friends was by her bedside at Ascension Tide, +May 1884, when Bessie received the Holy Communion. + +Such a radiant light, such ineffable peace rested on her face when she +lay back in silence on her pillow, that the writer thought "so will she +look when at last her eyes are open to the eternal day." A kiss, a +pressure of the hand, a word of farewell, and there was no other place +of meeting in this life. + +Undaunted by suffering and privation, patient, heroic, she lived and +died. No murmur escaped her lips from early youth to age. She stood +trembling with awestruck face when, after she had said, "Oh how I should +like to see the sun!" her companion solemnly assured her, "And you shall +see," and turned the sightless face towards the glowing sky. All was +dark, the young girl could only answer, "I see nothing," as she turned +and went slowly homewards. She accepted her blindness. It was the will +of God. No word of lamentation escaped her throughout her life. + +Again there came a time when a great cause had been entrusted to her, +when she felt that it was prospering in her hands, when she hoped to +raise the whole condition of the blind, to lift them up out of poverty +and dependence, and place them on a level with all industrious and +intelligent citizens. But a hand was laid upon her in the darkness. "I +can do nothing," she said; and once again she turned and went slowly +without a murmur, without repining, down the dark pathway to the grave +and gate of death. But the work for which she gave her life has not +died, and cannot die. Every good seed, sown upon good ground, must +spring up and bear fruit. Her patient efforts, her success in "removing +obstacles from before the feet of the blind," will help and encourage +other workers. Blind children in our schools, blind workmen and +workwomen in our shops and factories, will reap the harvest for which +Bessie Gilbert laboured, and may join in the acknowledgment of +dependence upon the Great Father which she so loved to utter: "All thy +works praise thee, O Lord." + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the +Blind, by Frances Martin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + +***** This file should be named 31721-8.txt or 31721-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/2/31721/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind + +Author: Frances Martin + +Release Date: March 21, 2010 [EBook #31721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h1>ELIZABETH GILBERT</h1> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i002.jpg" width='200' height='60' alt="Logo" /></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width='429' height='700' alt="(signed) Elizabeth Gilbert" /></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h1>ELIZABETH GILBERT</h1> + +<h3>AND</h3> + +<h2>HER WORK FOR THE BLIND</h2> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>FRANCES MARTIN</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF 'ANGÉLIQUE ARNAULD,' ETC. ETC.</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h3>London<br />MACMILLAN AND CO.<br />AND NEW YORK<br />1887</h3> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4><i>All rights reserved</i></h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<p>There is a sacred privacy in the life of a blind person. It is led apart +from much of the ordinary work of the world, and is unaffected by many +external incidents which help to make up the important events of other +lives. It is passed in the shade and not in the open sunlight of eager +activity. At first we should be disposed to say that such a life, with +its inevitable restrictions and compulsory isolation, could offer little +of public interest, and might well remain unchronicled. But in the rare +cases where blindness, feeble health, and suffering form scarcely any +bar to activity; where they are not only borne with patience, but by +heroic effort are compelled to minister to great aims, we are eager to +learn the secret of such a life. No details connected with it are devoid +of interest; and we are stimulated, encouraged, and strengthened by +seeing obstacles overcome which appeared insurmountable, and watching +triumph where we dreaded defeat.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p><p>Elizabeth Gilbert was born at a time when kindly and intelligent men +and women could gravely implore "the Almighty" to "take away" a child +merely because it was blind; when they could argue that to teach the +blind to read, or to attempt to teach them to work, was to fly in the +face of Providence. And her whole life was given to the endeavour to +overcome prejudice and superstition; to show that blindness, though a +great privation, is not a disqualification. Blind men and women can +learn, labour, and fulfil all the duties of life if their fellow-men are +merciful and helpful, and God is on the side of all those who work +honestly for themselves and others.</p> + +<p>The life of Elizabeth Gilbert and her work for the blind are so +inextricably interwoven, that it is impossible to tell one without +constant reference to the other.</p> + +<p>A small cellar in Holborn at a rent of eighteen-pence a week was enough +for a beginning. But before her death she could point to large and +well-appointed workshops in almost every city of England, where blind +men and women are employed, where tools have been invented by or +modified for them, where agencies have been established for the sale of their work.</p> + +<p>Her example has encouraged, her influence has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> promoted the work which +she never relinquished throughout life.</p> + +<p>Nothing was too great for her to attempt on behalf of the blind, nothing +seemed impossible of achievement. One success suggested a new endeavour, +one achievement opened a door for fresh effort.</p> + +<p>Free from any taint of selfishness or self-seeking, all her thought was +for others, for the helpless, the poor, the friendless. Her pity was +boundless. There was nothing she could not forgive the blind, no error, +no ignorance, no crime. She knew the desolation of their lives, their +friendless condition, and understood how they might sink down and down +in the darkness because no friendly hand was held out to them.</p> + +<p>And yet she was unsparing to herself, and a rigid censor of her own +motive and conduct. This she could not fail to be, because she believed +in her vocation as from God. She never doubted that her work had been +appointed for her; she never wavered in her belief that strength given +by God, supported her. She knew that she was the servant of God, sent by +Him to minister to others. This knowledge was joy; but it made her +inexorable and inflexible towards herself.</p> + +<p>There are but few incidents in her peaceful life. It was torn by no +doubt, distracted by no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>apprehensions, it reached none of the heights +of human happiness, and sounded none of the depths of despair. If there +were unfulfilled hopes, aspirations, affections, they left no +bitterness, no sense of disappointment. A beautiful life and helpful; +for who need despair where she overcame and gained so great a victory?</p> + +<p>The materials for recording the history of Elizabeth Gilbert are scanty, +but all that were possessed by her sisters and friends have been placed +at my disposal. My love for her, and our long friendship, have enabled +me, I hope, to interpret them aright.</p> + +<p class="right">FRANCES MARTIN.</p> + +<p><i>October 1887.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER I</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Childhood</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER II</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">In the Dark</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER III</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Little Blossom</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IV</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">What the Prophetess Foresaw</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER V</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Palace Garden</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Sense of Loss</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Blind Manager</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Royal Bounty</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IX</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Removing Stumbling-Blocks</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER X</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Trials and Temptations</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Reflections and Suggestions</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Her Diary</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Fear of God and no other</span> </td> + <td><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIV</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Everyday Life</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XV</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Time of Trouble</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XVI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The First Loss</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XVII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">How the Work went on</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XVIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Blind Children of the Poor</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIX</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">In Time of Need</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XX</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Valley of the Shadow</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Life in the Sick-Room</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Twilight</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The End</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3> + +<p class="center">"Moving about in worlds not realised."—<span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span></p> + +<p>Elizabeth Margaretta Maria, born on the 7th of August 1826, was the +second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashhurst Turner +Gilbert, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of +Chichester, and of Mary Ann his wife, only surviving child of the Rev. +Robert Wintle, Vicar of Culham, near Abingdon.</p> + +<p>The little girl, Bessie, as she was always called, was christened at St. +Mary's Church, which is close to the old-fashioned house in High Street +known as the Principal's Lodgings, in which Dr. Gilbert lived.</p> + +<p>"A fine handsome child, with flashing black eyes," she is said to have +been; and then for three years we hear nothing more. There was a nest of +little children in the nursery, and in the spring of 1829 a fifth baby +was to be added to them. In the diary of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> grandfather, Mr. Wintle, +we find the following entries:—</p> + +<table summary="diary"> + <tr> + <td>1829.—April 6.</td> + <td class="left"> Little Elizabeth alarmingly ill with scarlet fever.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>" 7.</td> + <td class="left"> Child very ill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>" 8.</td> + <td class="left"> Child somewhat better.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top">" 18.</td> + <td class="left"> Letter from Mary Ann [Mrs. Gilbert], stating that<br /> little Elizabeth had lost one eye.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>" 21.</td> + <td class="left"> Went to Oxford. Little girl blind.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top">July 9.</td> + <td class="left"> Dr. Farre and Mr. Alexander say there is<br /> no chance of little Bessie seeing.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>And so the "flashing black eyes," scarcely opened upon the world, were +closed for ever, and all memory of sight was very speedily obliterated. +Mrs. Gilbert had not been allowed to nurse or even to see her little +girl, who had been removed from the nursery to a north wing, stretching +back and away from the house. It was the father who watched over and +scarcely left her. Mrs. Gilbert believed that the child's recovery was +owing to his unremitting care. Dr. Gilbert's common sense seems to have +been in advance of the medical treatment of that period; and he insisted +on open windows, change of bedding and clothing to suit the exigencies +of the case. When the child was thought to be sinking, he took upon +himself the responsibility of administering port wine; this may or may +not have saved her life, it is certain she struggled through and +survived a dangerous, almost fatal attack.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p><p>But the handsome, healthy baby was sightless; one eye was entirely and +the other partly destroyed, the throat ragged and certain to be always +delicate, ears and nose also affected. A childhood of much suffering was +inevitable—and then?</p> + +<p>It was the father who bore the first brunt of this sorrow. It was he who +listened to the pathetic appeal of the little one, "Oh, nursie, light a +candle," to her entreaty to be taken "out of the dark room," to the +softly-whispered question, "If I am a <i>very</i> good 'ittle girl may I see +my dolly to-morrow?" He had been full of courage, hope, and resource at +the most critical times, but he was broken-hearted now, and would rush +weeping from the child's bedside.</p> + +<p>It was not until July, by that time a fifth baby was in the nursery, +that the parents took their little Bessie to London, and there, as Mr. +Wintle's diary tells, the case was pronounced to be hopeless. The +renowned oculist of that day, Mr. Alexander, told them that there was no +possibility of sight; the eyes were destroyed, the child was blind. Dr. +Farre, whom they also consulted, showed much sympathy with the parents +in their affliction, and they looked upon him as a friend raised up to +advise and comfort them. Many years later they appealed to him on behalf +of their blind child, and reminded him of the encouragement and help he +had given them. It was doubtless he who suggested that blindness should +be made as little as possible of a disability to the child, what other +help could he give in such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> case?—that she should be trained, +educated, and treated like the other children; that she should share +their pleasures and their experience, and should not be kept apart from +the mistaken notion of shielding her from injury.</p> + +<p>It was with these views that the parents returned to Oxford, and it was +these that they consistently carried out henceforward. There was no +invention, no educational help for the blind which they did not inquire +into and procure; but these were only used in the same way that one +child might have one kind of pencil and another child another pencil.</p> + +<p>The sisters who were nearest her own age speak of Bessie as gay and +happy, "so like the others that it is difficult to pick her out from +them." Surviving friends who remember the Gilbert children, the +<i>sisterhood</i>, as the eight little girls came ultimately to be called, +say that the group is ineffaceably stamped upon the memory, but that +there was nothing special to attract attention to the individual members +of it. And yet the figure of the blind child does emerge, distinct and +apart, and the reminiscences of youth and childhood are numerous enough +to manifest the interest with which every part of her career was +followed in her own family.</p> + +<p>The parents had decided that she was to be treated exactly like her +sisters. When she came into a room they were not to give her a chair; +she was to find one for herself. Dr. Gilbert specially could not endure +to have it suggested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> that she could not do what the others did. "Let +her try," he would say. So Bessie tried, and, ordinarily, succeeded. He +was specially anxious that she should behave like the others at table, +should be as particular in eating and drinking as they were, and should +manage the food on her plate without offence to others. He encouraged +her in ready repartee and swift intellectual insight. When the father +joined his children in their walks it was always Bessie who took his +hand. She invariably sat by him at breakfast, and when the children went +in to dessert it was Bessie who sat by his side and poured out his glass +of wine. "How do you know when it is full?" some one asked. "By the +weight," she replied. The father, we may be sure, was training her in +the transfer of the work of one sense to another, and helping her to +supplement the lost eyesight by touch and sound, raising her up to the +level of other children; and his initiative was followed in the family.</p> + +<p>A special tie between the father and his blind child was always +recognised. If any favour was to be asked it was Bessie who was sent to +the father, and also if any difficulty arose amongst the children they +would say, "We will tell Bessie," "We will ask Bessie."</p> + +<p>There seems to have been no jealousy of her influence, no opposition to +it. The sisters thought it her right to be first, and looked upon it as +a great distinction, honour, and privilege to have a blind sister. It +was their part to make her feel as little as possible the difference +between herself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> and them, and to help her to be as independent as they +were. She was taught to dress herself unaided as early as the other +children. She was full of fun, and enjoyed a romping game; she would +much rather risk being knocked over than allow any one to lead her by +the hand when they were all at play. She was passionate as a child, +liable to sudden violent outbursts of anger; and as there were a good +many passionate children together, she was quite as often mixed up in a +quarrel as any of the others.</p> + +<p>One incident remembered against her was that at seven or eight years old +she seized one of the high schoolroom chairs and hurled it, or intended +to do so, at a governess who had offended her. Another was that when she +was somewhat younger, at the close of their daily walk, she and a little +sister hurried on to enjoy the luxury of ringing the front door bell. It +was just out of reach, and the little girls on tiptoe were straining to +get at it. An undergraduate, passing by, thought to do them a kindness +and pulled the bell. Bessie stamped with anger, and turned upon him a +little blind passionate face: "Why did you do it? You knew I wanted to ring."</p> + +<p>"A most affectionate nature, unselfish, generous, but passionate and +obstinate; so obstinate no one could turn her from the thing she had +resolved on," says one of the sisters.</p> + +<p>In after life we find a temper under perfect control, and a will +developed and trained to sweet firmness and unwavering endurance; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +these showed themselves in the fitful irregularity of a somewhat wilful childhood.</p> + +<p>In accordance with the precept of her father, Bessie wanted to do +everything that other children did. She <i>would</i> try, and nothing but her +own individual experience would convince her of the limitations of her +powers. The fire and the kettle were great temptations to her. One day +in the nursery at Oxford she tried to reach the kettle, slipped and fell +in front of the fire, tried to save herself by grasping the hot bars of +the grate, and the poor little hands were badly burnt. We may be sure +how the parents would suffer with their blind child in such an accident, +and yet they would not encourage a panic, or allow any unnecessary +restrictions to be put upon her actions.</p> + +<p>A few years after scarlet fever the Gilbert children had measles. All +memory of the occurrence would have faded out had it not been for +Bessie. Her throat, as we have said, was ragged and impeded, and +throughout life the only way in which she could swallow any liquid was +in very small sips and with a curious little twist of nose and mouth. In +after life she used to compare herself to Pascal, saying how much better +her own case was, for Pascal was obliged to have his medicine warmed +before he could sip it, whilst she could take hers cold.</p> + +<p>There are some who still remember how they pitied her when they saw +Bessie sitting up in bed sipping a black draught, and they can recall +the resolution with which she did it, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>conscientiousness with +which she took all, to the last drop.</p> + +<p>Some twenty years later she was walking in the garden at Eversley with +Charles Kingsley, and he said to her, "When you take medicine you drink +it all up. I spill some on my frock, and then I have to take it over +again." It was one of those swift intuitive glances of his; he saw in +the delicate woman the same patient courage that had characterised the +child. She had much suffering from her throat throughout life, and as a +little girl was nearly choked by a lozenge. The noteworthy point of the +incident is that in the wildest tumult of alarm of those around her, the +child was quite calm.</p> + +<p>There was so little sense of her inferiority to others in early youth +that it was only as the sisters grew up that they realised how much +Bessie knew, and how much she could do, in spite of her blindness. As a +child they all looked upon her as very clever. One of their Sunday +amusements was to play at Sunday school, and Bessie was invariably made the mistress.</p> + +<p>For a long time she and her sister Fanny, little more than a year +younger, were companions in their lessons, which were in every respect +alike. Bessie's were read aloud to her; she learnt easily, her memory +was good, and she made rapid progress. In French and German the grammar +was read to her, and she worked the exercises verbally. The governess, +Miss Lander, was devoted to her pupils, and specially interested in +Bessie, so that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> she turned to account every hint and suggestion as to +special methods for the blind. She drew threads across a piece of paper, +which was fixed to a frame, and taught the child to write in the +ordinary way. There was a box of raised letters which could be used for +spelling lessons, and there was leaden type with raised figures for +arithmetic lessons. The letters were arranged on an ordinary board; but +the figures were placed in a grooved board. Now arithmetic was the most +difficult and distasteful of all Bessie's lessons; the placing of the +figures correctly was a very perplexing task, and the working of sums an +intricate problem. But she did her duty and made her way steadily to +compound division, a stage beyond which no woman was expected to advance +fifty years ago. Miss Lander did her best to explain the various +processes, but the sums, alas, were only too often wrong, and a +passionate outburst would succeed the announcement of failure. That +little episode of the chair was probably not unconnected with +arithmetic. She was keenly interested in astronomical lessons, and the +home-made orrery, which explained the relative position of sun, moon, +and planets, was a source of unfailing interest. The little fingers +fluttered over the planets and followed their movements with great delight.</p> + +<p>An eager, intelligent child, with parents and teachers all anxious to +smoothe her way and remove difficulties, we need not wonder that youth +was a happy time for her: "the brightest and happiest of all the +children," she is said to have been.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p>"The Principal's Lodgings," as the old-fashioned, rambling house in +High Street, Oxford, was called, has no garden whatever. The front door +opens into a dark hall; spacious cupboards to the right; to the left the +dining-room; in front of you passages, doors, and two difficult +staircases. There was no one, we are told, who had not fallen up or down +these dark winding stairs except Bessie. On the first floor to the +front, with five windows looking into High Street, is the drawing-room. +This was divided, and one part of it was converted into a schoolroom. +The Principal's study was on the same floor at the back of the house. +What is known as the north wing stretches back, and has two or three +small rooms which can easily be isolated. It was in them that Bessie was +nursed through scarlet fever.</p> + +<p>There is also a south wing with excellent kitchens and good servants' rooms.</p> + +<p>On the second floor the space above the drawing-room and schoolroom was +occupied by Mrs. Gilbert's room and the two nurseries; whilst a large +bedroom at the back, away from the street and over the study, the spare +room, was that in which all the children saw the light, and from which +eleven of them successively emerged. The second and ninth were boys, and +there were nine daughters. A little girl died in 1834, and is buried in +the adjacent churchyard of St. Mary's. Bessie, who was eight years old, +was taken into the room to bid farewell to her sister Gertrude, and laid +her little hand upon her. She never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> forgot it; and would say in after +years in a low tone of awe: "She was so cold." The impression produced +on a sensitive organisation was so painful that she was never again +taken into the chamber of death.</p> + +<p>There is a large "flat" or leaden roof above this "spare" room over the +study, to which there is access from an adjacent passage; but this roof +is too dangerous a place for a playground, and the children had none in +or near the house. The south windows in the front look into High Street; +an east window high up in the nursery looks out upon St. Mary's; and all +the windows to the north at the back of the house look over walls, and +houses, and chimney pots, and brick and mortar. The children played at +home in ordinary times, but in the long vacation they played in the +quadrangle, a grassy, treeless enclosure, but a very garden of delight +to them. The favourite part of it was near the figures called "Cain and +Abel," long since removed, and long since known not to have represented +Cain and Abel, but to have been a copy of antique sculpture. There were +grand games of hide and seek around "Cain and Abel," in which Bessie always joined.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the children dined in the College Hall during vacation, and +were joined after dinner in the quadrangle by their friends amongst the +Fellows of Brasenose, who all had a kind word for the little blind girl. +She was also a special favourite with the College servants, and led, as +it were, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> charmed life, watched over by every one, and unconscious of +their care.</p> + +<p>All memory of vision seems to have faded from her before she left the +sick-room; but, taught by those around her, she soon began to take an +imaginary interest in colour, and a very real one in form and texture. +An old nurse is still alive who remembers making a pink frock for her +when she was a child, her delight at its being pink, and her pleasure in +stroking down the folds. In 1835 or 1836 the young Princess Victoria, +with her mother the Duchess of Kent, visited Oxford. Bessie was amongst +those who went to "see" them enter the city. Returning home she +exclaimed, "Oh, mamma, I have seen the Duchess of Kent, and she had on a +brown silk dress." The language is startling; but how else could the +blind child express the impression she had received except by saying "I +have seen." Throughout life she continued to say, "I have seen," and +throughout life the words continued to represent a reality as clear and +true to the blind as the facts of sight are to those who have eyes.</p> + +<p>Very early Bessie knew the songs of birds and delighted in them. Very +early also she learned to love flowers. She liked to have them +described, and to hear the minutest particulars about them. Nothing made +her so happy as to gather them for herself. There were fields near +Hincksey which the Gilberts called "The Happy Valley." Thither they +resorted in the spring with baskets to gather forget-me-nots, the +flowering rush, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> other blossoms, which they prized highly. In all +these expeditions Bessie was happy, and a source of happiness to others. +The tender and reverent way in which she examined a flower, the little +fluttering fingers touching every petal and bruising none, was a lesson +never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Her youthful admiration of Wordsworth was chiefly based upon his love of +flowers, but also upon personal knowledge. When she was about ten years +old, Wordsworth went to Oxford to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L. +from the University. He stayed with the Principal, in that large spare +room we know of, and won Bessie's heart the first day by telling at the +dinner-table how he had almost leapt off the coach in Bagley Wood to +gather the little blue veronica. But she had a better reason for +remembering that visit. One day she was in the drawing-room alone, and +Wordsworth entered. For a moment he stood silent before the blind child. +The little sensitive face, with its wondering, inquiring look, turned +towards him. Then he gravely said, "Madam, I hope I do not disturb you." +She never forgot that "Madam," grave, solemn, almost reverential.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>IN THE DARK</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"Every morn and every night</div> +<div>Some are born to sweet delight,</div> +<div>Some are born to sweet delight,</div> +<div>Some are born to endless night."—<span class="smcap">Blake.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The Gilbert children had a very happy home. In Oxford they were +constantly under the eyes of parents who loved them tenderly, and loved +to have them at hand. The schoolroom was between drawing-room and study, +the nurseries adjacent to the parents' bedroom.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gilbert, a very handsome, large-hearted, attractive woman, was +devoted to her husband, and gave him constant and loving care so long as +she lived. She dearly loved her children; but she thought, though +perhaps she was mistaken, that she liked boys better than girls; and she +had so few boys! Husband and children were all the world to her; she was +happy in their midst, full of plans for them, greatly preoccupied with +their future, and looked up to and beloved by all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>Dr. Gilbert was a schoolfellow of De Quincey, and in his +<i>Confessions</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> De Quincey thus speaks of him: "At this point, when the +cause of Grotius seemed desperate, G——<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (a boy whom subsequently I +had reason to admire as equally courageous, truthful, and far-seeing) +suddenly changed the whole field of view."</p> + +<p>And again referring to his leaving school, De Quincey writes: "To three +inferior servants I found that I ought not to give less than one guinea +each; so much therefore I left in the hands of G——<a name="FNanchor_2A_2A" id="FNanchor_2A_2A"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>, the most honourable and upright of +boys."</p> + +<p>What weeks and months of anguish must have been passed by these parents, +when the bright little three-year-old child was struck down into +darkness, and the light of the "handsome black eyes" extinguished for +ever. She was smitten into the ranks of the blind; and of the blind +nearly sixty years ago, when their privation was a stigma, an +affliction, "a punishment sent by the Almighty;" when even good and +merciful people looked upon it as "rebellion" to endeavour to mitigate +and alleviate the lot of those who lived in the dark. Bessie's parents +did not and could not accept this view. They saw their child rise from +her bed of sickness unchanged, though grievously maimed; but she was the +same little Bessie who had been given to them bright and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> clever and +happy, and by God's grace they resolved that she should never lose her +appointed place in the family circle. From the very first they were, as +we have seen, advised to educate her with her sisters. This advice they +followed; and at the same time inquired in all directions as to the +methods and material and implements which might give special help to +their blind child. Packets of letters yellow with age, long paragraphs +copied from old newspapers by Mrs. Gilbert and sent to people living in +distant parts, accounts of apparatus, lists of inventions and +suggestions bear constant and touching tribute to the loving care of a +mother upon whose time and strength in that large young family there +must have been so many demands. The surviving members of the family do +not even remember by name many of those whose letters have been +preserved; letters now valuable, not in themselves, but as showing that +if Bessie Gilbert lived to do a great work on behalf of the blind, and +did it, undaunted by obstacles and difficulty that might well have +seemed beyond her strength, she did but inherit the strong will and +indomitable courage, the power of endurance and devotion which +characterised her parents.</p> + +<p>These letters throw much light upon the condition of the blind at the +beginning of this century. One packet is specially interesting as the +story of the successful effort of a person unknown, and without +influence, to effect an improvement in a public institution. It may, +probably it must, have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> been told in later years to Bessie herself; it +would encourage her, and may encourage others, to persevere in efforts +on behalf of those who are helpless and afflicted.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wood, wife of the Rev. Peter Wood, Broadwater Rectory, Worthing, +was interested in the condition of the blind. She had visited +institutions in Zurich, in Paris, had heard of work being done on their +behalf in Edinburgh, and was acquainted with the condition of the School +for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, London.</p> + +<p>She wrote in 1831 to Mr. Henry V. Lynes, Mr. Gaussen, Mr. Dodd, Mr. +Pigou, Mr. Capel Cure, and other members of the Committee of the St. +George's Fields School, begging them to inquire into the methods for +teaching the blind to read, recently discovered, and at that time +attracting attention. With her letter she sent specimens of books and +other data to be submitted to the Committee.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gaussen, writing from the Temple, 12th March 1831, replies that he +will have much pleasure in forwarding her excellent views, and that Mr. +Vynes has secured the reference of her plan to the Committee; that it +will be well considered, but for his own part he is bound to express the +greatest doubt as to the result. He suggests that instead of teaching +the blind to read there should be more reading aloud to them, "so as to +stimulate their minds to more exertion, which in many cases is the +source of the kind treatment they meet with."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>A brother of the Secretary, Mr. Dodd, writes that he also will do what +he can, although he has heard that the benefit of the plan "is so +limited that quite as much good may be accomplished by teaching the +pupils to commit portions of Scripture to memory as by teaching them to read."</p> + +<p>Mr. Vynes informs Mrs. Wood that he has, at her request, attended the +meeting of the Committee, that only two of the other gentlemen she had +written to were present, Mr. Pigou and Mr. Gaussen. "The latter is not +favourable to the plan, neither is Mr. Dodd, the Secretary." The +gentlemen present who spoke were all "well satisfied with the amount of +religious knowledge which their blind pupils already possess, so that I +much fear they will take little trouble to increase it." He refers to a +"rumour" that the "art of reading" has been introduced into the +Edinburgh School for the Blind, but adds that the "Meeting did not seem +inclined to give any credit to it;" and suggests that, if it is true, +Mrs. Wood might let them hear more about it, as he had secured a +reference of the whole matter to the consideration of the House Committee.</p> + +<p>Now Mrs. Wood was nothing daunted by these successive splashes of cold +water. She wrote afresh to members of the Committee. She obtained facts +from Edinburgh, and she wisely limited her appeal to a petition that the +blind should be enabled to read the Scriptures for themselves. But +whether at that time she recognised the fact or not, there can be no +doubt that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> the whole question of what the blind could do <i>themselves</i> +would be opened by this step, and must be decided.</p> + +<p>Mr. Vynes writes to her again on the 29th March, and it is interesting +to observe that a Committee in 1831 was very much the same sort of thing +that it is now.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Among the seven or eight gentlemen present I found Mr. Jackman, the +Chaplain of the Institution, being the first time I had ever the +pleasure of meeting him. Both Mr. Jackman and Mr. Dodd [the +Secretary] affirm that these poor blind pupils are already as well +instructed as it is possible they should be, under their afflicting +circumstances. They are correctly moral in their general conduct, +influenced by religious feelings and principles, with contented and +pious minds. Mr. Jackman mentioned as a proof that they do think +beyond the present moment, the average number who now participate +at every celebration of the Lord's Supper is one or two and twenty, +though formerly there had been but three or four. They can repeat a +large portion of the Psalms, not merely the singing Psalms, but +take the alternate verse of the reading version without requiring +any prompting. And all the pupils have a variety of the most +important texts strongly impressed upon their memories. Their +memories are generally good, and they assure me they are fully +exercised upon sound truths. These gentlemen are of opinion that +more is to be learned by the ear than ever can be acquired by the +fingers, and therefore see no advantage attending the new plan +which can at all compensate the trouble and expense of introducing it.</p> + +<p>Two of the gentlemen present, Mr. Capel Cure and Mr. Meller, very +handsomely supported your view of the subject, and recommended a +trial to be made. At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> the same time they candidly confessed +themselves quite unable to point out the best way, or indeed any +way, to set about it; upon which the Committee very naturally threw +the burthen upon me, or, my dear madam, you must allow me to say, +rather upon you. I read to them the plan which you had sketched +out, which, however, the Committee do not think very practicable. +They will not seek out an idle linguist as you recommend; but if +you will bring a qualified man to their door, with all appliances +to boot—that is, all the books requisite for introducing the +system, then they will be ready to treat with him. And here the +matter rests for the present.</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Here" probably the Committee expected it to rest. But not so Mrs. Wood, +who reconsidered and amended her suggestion as to "an idle linguist."</p> + +<p>The next letter from Mr. Vynes, 15th April 1831, announces that Mr. Gall +of Edinburgh "has offered to come to London to put our Committee in more +complete possession of his plan, and to instruct some of our teachers +gratuitously." The Sub-committee recommended that this offer should be +accepted; the General Committee had resolved to adopt the +recommendation. "They have also very properly," he continues, "agreed to +reimburse Mr. Gall the expenses of his journey and of his necessary +residence in London. The account which Mr. Gall has given of his +invention is doubtless overcharged; it exhibits all the enthusiasm which +generally attends all new discoveries. His estimate of the expense is +somewhat vague. He requires very little <i>time</i> to enable his poor blind +pupils to read and to write as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> correctly, and almost as quickly, as the +more fortunate poor who have the blessing of sight. However, if Mr. G. +does but accomplish one-half of what he has promised, our Committee will be quite satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Thus far, then, I may congratulate you, my dear madam, on the +successful result of your active and persevering exertions."</p> + +<p>After this there is a long pause; and the next letter from Mr. Vynes is +dated Clapton, 24th August 1831. We can picture to ourselves the +feelings with which Mrs. Wood would read it in the far-off Broadwater rectory.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>—I have now the pleasure of returning to you the various +books and papers which you so kindly sent up for the inspection of +the Committee of our Blind School, and have to give you our best +thanks for the use of them. You will be pleased to hear this new +system of reading and writing is making some progress in the London +school. As a proof that the General Committee are satisfied, I will +report to you the results of their meeting on the 13th of this +month. They first voted fifty guineas to Mr. Gall as a compliment +for the service he has already done to the Institution. But when +Mr. G. was called in and acquainted with their vote, he at once, +respectfully, but very positively, declined to accept of any +remuneration for what he had done, saying his object was to +introduce the new system to serve the poor blind and not himself.</p> + +<p>The Committee then elected Mr. Gall as Honorary Member of the +Corporation, and requested the House Committee to find out (if +possible) something acceptable to Mrs. Gall, and empowered them to +present it to her. I mention all this in justice to Mr. Gall. It is +indeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> highly creditable to him, for we are told that he is by no +means in affluent circumstances. Mr. Gall continues in almost daily +attendance at the school, and will remain some short time longer, +so anxious is he to establish his system permanently in this +school. On the female side he has already pretty well succeeded; +Miss Grove, the sub-matron, and also one of the blind inmates +having qualified themselves to become teachers.</p> + +<p>On the male side, Mr. G. has hitherto been baffled, and therefore +has asked the Committee for some extra aid. This matter is still +under consideration.... On the whole, then, I think I may now +venture to congratulate you, my dear madam, on the attainment of +the object you have so much at heart—that these poor blind shall +be enabled to read those oracles which will give them comfort in +this world and lead them to perfect happiness hereafter.</p></blockquote> + +<p>And thus cautiously and quietly, with the inevitable resistance of +officials to any change, and the caution of a Committee on their guard +against enthusiasm, and not sanguine as to results, an important change +was inaugurated. Henceforward the blind were no longer to be treated as +incurables in a hospital, capable of no instruction and able to do no +more than commit to memory moral precepts and religious truths. They +were to learn reading and writing, a door was set open that would never +again be closed. Education was shown to be possible, and work would follow.</p> + +<p>In August 1832 Mrs. Gilbert received the copy of a letter written by Mr. +Edward Lang, teacher of mathematics, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, to a +Mr. Alexander Hay. Mr. Lang had invented a system of printing for the +use of the blind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> with simplifications of letters and the introduction +of single signs for many "redundant sounds." He is in favour of these +modifications, and adds:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Were not the prejudice so strong in favour of ordinary spellings of +words, I would, had I been engaged in the formation of such an +alphabet, have innovated much more extensively. But words, like +men, must carry their genealogy, not their qualifications, on their +coats-of-arms; and though this arrangement conceals many +obliquities of descent, and more than many real characters, it must +be acquiesced in, since the law of prescription in this, as in many +other cases, prevents the exercise of reason. He concludes: Most +warmly do I recommend your whole system to the attention of all who +feel interested in the diffusion of knowledge; and I trust that its +advantages will soon be felt by those who were once consigned by +barbarous laws, or by dark superstition, to destruction or to +neglect, but who now are re-elevated to their own station through +the light of a milder and nobler humanity.</p></blockquote> + +<p>At the close of this year, 1832, a Mrs. Wingfield sent to Mrs. Gilbert a +newspaper paragraph giving an account of a meeting of the Managers of +the Blind Asylum, Edinburgh. After some routine business these managers +had proceeded to examine the "nature and efficiency" of the books lately +printed for the use of the blind. Some of the blind boys in the Asylum, +who had been using the books for "only a few weeks," picked out words +and letters and read "slowly but correctly." By repeated trials, and by +varying the exercises, the directors were of opinion that the art +promised to be of "the greatest practical utility to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> blind." Mr. +Gall also stated that the apparatus for writing to and by the blind was +in a state of considerable forwardness. This paragraph Mrs. Gilbert +copied and sent, on the 10th of January 1833, to her father's cousin, +Mr. J. Wintle of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who had, as she learnt, a friend +in Edinburgh. To this friend, Mr. Ellis, application was duly made, and +he set about instituting inquiries which resulted, on the 13th of April +1833, in the despatch of a portentous epistle, such a letter as at that +time was considered worthy of heavy postage. He had obtained for Mr. +Wintle every possible scrap of information on the subject in question. +Letters follow from him direct to Mrs. Gilbert, and on the 2d of +November 1833 Mr. Ellis "presents his compliments, and, after many +delays, is happy in being able at last to forward the articles he was +commissioned to procure for Mrs. Gilbert's little girl."</p> + +<p>The following list shows how much had been done in two years:—</p> + +<p>1. Gall's First Book. Three other Lesson Books and the Gospel of St. John.</p> + +<p>2. Hay's Alphabet and Lessons (Mr. Lang's friend), with outline sketch of Map.</p> + +<p>3. The string alphabet, with a printed statement of its invention and use.</p> + +<p>4. Seven brass types constructed on the principles of the string alphabet.</p> + +<p>5. Several packets of metallic pieces representing the notes in music.</p> + +<p>Another letter preserved by Mrs. Gilbert was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> from a Mr. Richardson, of +11 Lothian Street, Edinburgh, to her uncle, Mr. Morrell, at that time +staying in Edinburgh, dated 14th January 1837. It gives an account of +the globes, maps, boards, etc., in use in the Edinburgh Asylum, and +shows what rapid advance has been made since the little boys were +examined by the managers in 1833.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gilbert would learn not so much from the account of the things +done, as the manner of doing them; from the explanation of the method of +adapting ordinary maps and globes to the use of the blind, and of +employing gum and sand and string and pieces of cork; the little holes +in the map instead of the names of cities, and the movable pegs. All +these hints were very valuable to her; and every one of them was turned +to good account in the schoolroom at Oxford.</p> + +<p>In 1839 Mr. J. Wintle sends raised books from London. In 1840 he has +gone, out of health, on a visit to his friend Mr. Ellis, Inverleith Row, +Edinburgh. One of his first visits was to the Edinburgh Asylum, and he +writes an account of it to Mrs. Gilbert, "in the hope of being useful to +your daughter Bessie." He promises further information from Glasgow, +which is, so he learns, "the fountain-head of all works for the blind, +save those published in America," and he announces a copy of the New +Testament as almost ready, price £2: 2s. It was ultimately procured by +Mrs. Gilbert and presented to Bessie.</p> + +<p>And now we may lay aside the time-worn, yellow paper, the large and +copious letters, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> anxious inquiries and the willing replies. They +did not, however, end at this period, they went on throughout the whole +life of these good parents. There was no new invention, no new system +into which they did not at once inquire, nothing that could be procured +which they did not obtain for their child.</p> + +<p>But they never swerved from their original intention to educate Bessie +at home in the schoolroom with her sisters. The apparatus which replaced +pen and pencil and slate might differ, as slate differs from paper. She +had to put her fingers on the globe upon which her sisters cast their +eyes, and to feel the movements of the planets around the sun, in the +orrery which gave her so much pleasure; but her lessons were given and +learnt at the same time, and she lost none of the happiness and +stimulating effect of companionship in work and play.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that she was influenced throughout life by her own +early training, which had made it impossible for her to believe in the +numerous so-called "disabilities" of the blind. Some of her friends +thought that she had not an adequate notion of what these really were. +Perhaps those who are born blind, or who have lost sight at so early an +age that no memory of it remains, do not adequately realise their +privation. Sight is to them a "fourth dimension," a something that it is +absolutely impossible to realise. They can talk about it, but it is +impossible for them to understand it.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Confessions of an English Opium Eater</i>, pp. 48 and 73, by +Thomas de Quincey. Edinburgh, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Gilbert.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>LITTLE BLOSSOM</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"What, were ye born to be</div> +<div>An hour or half's delight,</div> +<div>And so to bid good-night?"—<span class="smcap">Herrick.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Mr. Wintle gave his little grand-daughter a new name after her loss of +sight. He called her "Little Blossom." She was never to develop into +flower or fruit, he said, on account of her great affliction, and the +limitations that it must entail. Miss Trotwood may have had a similar +theory as to David Copperfield's Dora, but these were days before +Dickens had written of Little Blossom. The theory was by no means +adopted by Bessie's parents; and the name of Blossom was used by Mr. +Wintle only.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kynaston, in lines addressed "to Bessie," in 1835, tells how his +"soul" reproved</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="center">"That friend, as once I heard him say,<br /> +Oh, may it please Almighty God<br />To take that child away!"</p></div> + +<p>We do not know who "that friend" was, who prayed for the removal, at +nine years old, of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> singularly happy and engaging child; but the +prayer is indicative of the condition of the blind, the probable outlook +for the child, and the point of view from which blindness was regarded +even by people of culture and means. If such a one could pray for the +death of a blind child, what would the poor do?</p> + +<p>Despite the "Blossom" theory, or perhaps because of it, Bessie was a +great favourite with her grandfather. He liked to have her with him at +Culham Vicarage. She often stayed there for weeks together, and would +learn more about flowers and birds than she could do in Oxford. There +was also a delightful companion and friend at Culham, the black pony, +Toby. Bessie was a fearless little rider, and delighted in a gallop +round the field. But Mr. Wintle would not trust her alone with Toby, and +there was always a servant to walk or run by his side. The grandfather +makes an entry in his diary as to Bessie's first ride, and adds that he +"was much pleased with Blossom."</p> + +<p>It was at Culham that she was introduced to <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. Mr. +Wintle gave it to the servant who was to walk out with her, and who read +aloud as she walked. Bessie was deeply interested, and would allow of no +pause in the reading: "She kept her going all the time:" says a sister. +Sometimes there were three or four little girls at Culham, and then in +the evening, grandpapa read aloud to them James's <i>Naval History</i>. It +was very little to their taste, and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> but one paid little attention, +or if attending, could remember or understand but little. When, however, +the reading was ended, and grandpapa began to ask questions, it was +Bessie who knew how the vessels were manned and rigged, the complement +of men and guns, and all the details connected with the fitting out of a +man-of-war. And again Mr. Wintle had good reason to be "much pleased with Blossom."</p> + +<p>The little girl learnt needlework with her sisters. She could hem and +sew, but never liked doing either. A very neatly hemmed duster, done +before she was ten years old, and presented to an aunt, is still +preserved in the family. Knitting and crochet she liked better, and a +knitted purse in bands of very bright colours has been kept unused by +the friend to whom she gave it as a child. Her favourite occupation of +this kind was the making of slender watch chains with fine silk on a +little ivory frame. All her friends will remember these chains, which in +many cases were an annual present.</p> + +<p>But needlework of any kind was always "against the grain." She liked any +other occupation better.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the chief characteristic of early youth was her love of poetry +and music. Wordsworth's poems, especially those that referred to +flowers; Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hemans, these were her favourites. A sister +says she cannot remember the time when Bessie was not in the habit of +sitting down to the piano to improvise. She set Mary Howitt's "Sea Gull" +to her own music before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> she was twelve years old. It was published at +the time of the Irish famine, and realised £20, which she gave to the Famine Fund.</p> + +<p>Bessie's first music-mistress was the widow of an organist in Oxford, +but when her talent for music was more pronounced she had lessons from +Dr. Elvey, the brother of Sir George Elvey. Whilst she was learning a +new piece, a sister would sit by her side and read the notes aloud. She +quickly discovered if a single one had been omitted; and, as with +<i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, she kept her reader "going all the time." But her +enthusiasm and pleasure kindled the interest of those who certainly had +a dry part of the work.</p> + +<p>Bessie was not the only blind child in Oxford. Dr. Hampden, afterwards +Bishop of Hereford, had two blind daughters. The three blind children +used often to meet and walk together; but Bessie preferred the +companionship of the merry girls at home, in whose games she always +shared. She did not bowl a hoop, however, and in formal walks she was +the companion of the governess.</p> + +<p>Children's parties in Oxford were a source of much pleasure; she danced +with girls, she was very fond of dancing, but seldom with boys. She +wanted a little guiding, and the boys were possibly too shy to undertake +this; certainly very few of them were disposed to try.</p> + +<p>Bessie's birthday was, for the Gilbert children, the festival of the +year. This was owing partly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> to the fact that it fell in August, during +the long vacation, the time associated with out-door games in the grassy +quadrangle, whispered conferences near the mysterious and awe-inspiring +Cain and Abel, with dinners in the Hall and visits in the schoolroom +from friendly dons. There were three birthdays in August: a younger +sister and a brother were also born in that month; all three were +celebrated on the 7th, and Bessie was the "lady of the day." There was +always a water party to Nuneham in the house-boat or the barge. On +landing, the children would run to the top of a grassy slope and then +slide and roll down the slippery grass. Bessie joined in this game with +keen delight, untroubled by the silent watchfulness of a father, ever +alert to protect her from danger, and ever anxious that she should be +ignorant of special precautions on her behalf.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kynaston, "High Master of St. Paul's," and former Philological +Lecturer of Christ Church, Oxford, was nearly always included in the +birthday party, and was very fond of Bessie. When she was a very little +child she was leaning far out of the window of the boat so as to put her +hands in the water, and her father was alarmed. "I am holding her tight +by the frock," said Dr. Kynaston. "Yes," replied the father, "but I must +have something more solid than that held by."</p> + +<p>Of all these birthday parties, the most memorable to the blind child was +that on which she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> ten years old. The day was fine, every one was +very good to her. Her special favourites, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. Bazely +(father of Mr. Henry Bazely, of whom a short biography has recently +appeared), were both present. A vase with a bouquet of the flowers she +loved, mignonette, heliotrope, roses, geraniums, was presented to her. +All her life she treasured those dried flowers and the little vase. But +the thing that made this birthday memorable was that not only her music +but her poems were beginning to receive consideration, and one written +at this time was considered worthy of being copied and sent to her +godmother, Miss Hales. A copy in her mother's writing is still extant, +and may be read with interest:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">Lines written at Ten Years Old.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>When morning appears, and night melts away,</div> +<div>Then comes the bright, dull, or enlivening day;</div> +<div>The dewdrops like pearls on the flowers are shining,</div> +<div>But the sunbeams to dry them are quickly inclining.</div> +<div>The sun now red peeps through the trees,</div> +<div>And now there springs up a freshening breeze.</div> +<div>The flowers which are by the sunbeams extended,</div> +<div>Droop no more o'er their green stalks bended.</div> +<div>All is cheerful and gay, at the dawn of the day,</div> +<div>And March's high winds are flying away.</div> +<div>A shower of rain now darkens the skies,</div> +<div>A few people begin to open their eyes;</div> +<div>It is early, 'tis dawn, 'tis the dawn of the day,</div> +<div>And the darkness of night is fast gliding away.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>The child's verses are neither better nor worse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> than those of many a +little versifier of her age, but they are remarkable because they are +obviously untouched by elders, who could so easily have corrected rhythm +and metre; they are genuine, and they are written by a child who had +apparently forgotten that she had ever seen the light. She had learnt to +love it for some occult and mysterious reason which she could not +explain, perhaps for the physical effect which light exercises upon the +human organism. She loved light, she loved nature, and from early +childhood she loved beautiful scenery. Dreams were always a source of +delight to her, and her dreams were a feature in her life. She would say +that she constantly dreamt about beautiful landscapes. Did some memory +of sight revisit her in dreams? "There were beautiful intuitions in her +music," we are told. Had she "beautiful intuitions" as to sight? Had +she, in her dreams, visions of the scenes that passed before her in +those three first years of which she retained not the slightest +recollection in her waking hours? Beautiful scenery gave her pleasure; +there was always a response to any description of it. Once when a sister +was describing mountains she said: "I don't want to know how high they +are, how many hours it takes to climb them, and what they are made of. I +want you to tell me if they make you afraid, if they make you happy, +or," drawing herself up, "if they give you a kind of a proud feeling."</p> + +<p>In the April before this tenth birthday she had attempted to express in +verse her feeling as to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> light; and on this day three sonnets were +addressed to her by Dr. Kynaston.</p> + +<p>What little girl would not be proud of such homage from a "High Master +of St. Paul's," and so dear a friend?</p> + +<p>The sonnets appear in <i>Miscellaneous Poetry</i>, by Rev. Herbert Kynaston, +M.A.,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and two of them are here given:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">To Bessie on her Birthday.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>And art thou ten years old? one half the time</div> +<div>Is spent—oh say, thou heavenly-gifted child,</div> +<div>How hast thou, then, those weary years beguiled—</div> +<div>That fills thy budding years to woman's prime.</div> +<div>Thou stand'st midway, as on a height sublime,</div> +<div>Sweet record here, sweet promise there as mild</div> +<div>Of childish days, of girlhood undefiled,</div> +<div>To lure thee on; heaven help thee now to climb</div> +<div>With fairest hope, as erst, the onward part</div> +<div>Of life's sad upland course that still is thine!</div> +<div>Had I one wish, fresh gathered from the heart,</div> +<div>To hang with votive sweets at friendship's shrine,</div> +<div>I'd pray—and yet, methinks, if thou wert mine,</div> +<div>I would not have thee other than thou art.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i5"><span class="smcap">The same Subject.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Forgive the thought, but I have learnt to love</div> +<div>What others deem privation; I have seen</div> +<div>How more than recompensed thy loss has been,</div> +<div>Dear gentle child! by Him who from above</div> +<div>Guides thy dark steps; and I have yearned to prove</div> +<div>The blessed influence, the joy serene,</div> +<div>The store of heavenly peace, that thou dost glean</div> +<div>From angels' steps, unseen, who round thee move.</div> +<div>Yea, I have owed thee much; thou art a thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></div> +<div>For sharpest grief to gather round, and grow</div> +<div>To mellowness; where sorrow loves to cling,</div> +<div>And tune to gospel strains the tears that flow</div> +<div>In harshest discord, sullen murmuring,</div> +<div>That will not learn the blessedness of woe.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>In this same year, 1836, Bessie took her first long journey away from +home. Her father and mother had arranged to pay visits to some old +friends, and they took with them the two eldest girls, Mary and Bessie. +They stayed with the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Kaye, with an old college +friend, Mr. Stephens, at Belgrave, Leicester, and with several other old +college friends of the Principal's. They visited Matlock; and on her +return Bessie described to the younger sisters the excitement of going +into the caves, of crossing the Styx, and of listening to the blasting +of rocks. It is recorded of her at this time that she never hesitated or +shrank from anything required of her. She sat down in the boat, or stood +up, or bent her head just as she was told to do. The loving care of the +parents was not in vain, they saw their blind child fearless and happy, +and well able to take the place due to her as second daughter. It is +recorded that at Liverpool she was present for the first time at a +really good concert, and that the music she then heard was a great +stimulus to her, as well as a keen delight.</p> + +<p>Dr. Gilbert preached at Liverpool, and from Liverpool they went to +Stockport. In the church at the latter place there was a brass band, the +sudden braying of which was a shock to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> nerves which Bessie never +forgot. She was too young to dine or spend much time downstairs in the +houses where they stayed, but she always remembered the kindness with +which she was treated in schoolrooms and nurseries, and looked back upon +these early visits with great pleasure.</p> + +<p>The family hurried back to Oxford on account of the unexpected death of +Dr. Rowley before his term of office had expired, and Dr. Gilbert at +once entered upon the duties of Vice-Chancellor of the University.</p> + +<p>Many little incidents connected with her father's tenure of office were +a source of amusement to Bessie throughout life.</p> + +<p>The University marshal made daily reports to the Vice-Chancellor, and +informed him of any disturbance. One morning he stated that he had found +two men fighting near Wadham College and separated them. Some time +afterwards he came upon them in another place and did not interfere. +"And pray, why not?" asked the Vice-Chancellor. "Well, sir, you see, +they were very comfortably at it."</p> + +<p>This story was repeated at the breakfast table and made a great +impression upon Bessie. She told it and laughed over it throughout life. +If she was seated near a table when telling it, she would push herself +away with her two hands as if she wanted more room to laugh, a way she +had when very much amused.</p> + +<p>It was also about the same time that the butler, standing one day by the +open door, saw a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>freshman pursued by the proctor coming at full speed +down the street. Seeing the open door the young man darted in, and +rushed up the staircase. Silence for a few moments, and then peeping +over the banisters the youth said in an urgent whisper, "Is he gone, is he gone?"</p> + +<p>Now, the humour of the situation was that whilst he was so eager to +escape from the proctor, nothing but a thin partition separated him from +the Vice-Chancellor in his study.</p> + +<p>We can picture to ourselves the butler's "Do you wish to see the +Vice-Chancellor, sir?" and the hasty exit!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the child Bessie returned to her poems, her songs, her +improvisings at the piano, to lessons in the schoolroom, to that +terrible frame and the leaden type and raised figures, and the sums +which would not "come right"; to the brothers and sisters and the happy +home life. But she too had seen something of the great world lying on +the outside of Oxford, and could refer back to "my visit to the North."</p> + +<p>An old friend of the family remembers the first sight of Bessie as a +girl of about twelve years old. She was in the Magdalen Gardens with a +nurse and the little brother Tom, the youngest boy, of whom she was +always very fond. She was standing apart on the grass; standing +peaceful, motionless, with a sweet still face, and all the sad +suggestion of the large darkened glasses that encased her eyes. The +little boy picked daisies and took them to her and showed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> her the gold +in the centre. She smiled as she took them, and her slender fingers +fluttered about them. And the children, the flowers, the sunlight, and +those beautiful gardens in the early summer, made a picture in which +this friend always loved to enshrine her memory of "Little Blossom."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Published by B. Fellowes, Ludgate Street, 1841.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE PROPHETESS FORESAW</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"Cette loi sainte, il faut s'y conformer</div> +<div>Et la voici, toute âme y peut atteindre:</div> +<div>Ne rien haïr, mon enfant; tout aimer</div> +<div class="i7">Ou tout plaindre."—<span class="smcap">Victor Hugo.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The early summer of 1838 was spent by the Vice-Chancellor and his family +at Malvern. Bessie greatly enjoyed long walks on the hills, but either +from over fatigue, or because the air was too keen for her, she began to +suffer at that time from what she always spoke of as "my long headache." +It was a headache that lasted many months and caused the parents almost +as much suffering as the child. On their return to Oxford the family +doctor was called in and promptly applied a blister to the back of the ears.</p> + +<p>The blister did no good; the child was often quite prostrate with pain, +probably neuralgia, but the doctor was a man of resource. The diary of +Mrs. Gilbert is instructive as to the treatment of such a case fifty +years ago. The entry "Gave Bessie two grains of calomel," begins in +August<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> and is continued at short intervals throughout the month. +"Blisters behind the ears, to be kept open," are added to the calomel in +September. In October we have reached the more advanced stage of calomel +blisters, black draught (to be sipped, poor child), and leeches. The +treatment was continued, with additions, throughout November, and on the +21st of December Mrs. Gilbert makes the not very surprising entry, +"Bessie was worse this evening."</p> + +<p>The parents were by this time alarmed; and the doctor acknowledged that +he could do no more. Casting about for help, they bethought them of the +physician whom they had seen in London some years previously, of his +tenderness and sympathy.</p> + +<p>The rough draft of a letter written to him by Mrs. Gilbert still remains +to testify to the grave consideration given by the parents to the +adequate statement of the case, to their endeavour to recall it to his +mind and to their acknowledgment of his previous kindness and courtesy. +One point in their letter may be mentioned. "She is very fond of, and +has good talents for music," writes the mother, "but her pain is so much +increased by it that her music has had to be discontinued."</p> + +<p>Poor little girl! No privation could be greater.</p> + +<p>Of the answer sent by Dr. Farre there is no trace. But all drugs +disappear from the records, and there is an account of "veratrine +ointment," "a preparation of Hellebore known to Hippocrates," sent down +from London, and needing so much care in the application that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +Oxford doctor himself came every night to rub it on the child's brow.</p> + +<p>Early in 1839 she had quite recovered not only from the headache but +from the effects of the remedies.</p> + +<p>The music lessons were resumed, and before long she began the study of +the harp. A younger sister remembers sitting by her to teach the pieces +note by note. Bessie found it also very easy to play by ear and learnt +much in this way; but the harp was a difficult instrument, and the +management of it always fatigued her.</p> + +<p>During her childhood, Cardinal, then the Rev. J. H. Newman was incumbent +of St. Mary's, the church close to the house in High Street, and that +which the family attended. Even up to the last days of her life Bessie +used to say that she could not listen to a chapter in Isaiah, especially +any of those read in Advent, without hearing the sound of his voice.</p> + +<p>Cardinal Newman mentions in his <i>Apologia</i> that, on account of his +doctrine and teaching, the Vice-Chancellor threatened no longer to allow +his children to attend St. Mary's. But the children knew nothing of the +proposed prohibition.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Augustus Short, afterwards Bishop of Adelaide, was one of Mr. Wintle's +curates at Culham.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> He remembers Bessie as a child, and visited her for +the last time when he was in England in 1884. Mr. Coxe, the late +Librarian of the Bodleian, was another of the Culham curates, the friend +of a lifetime, whose farewell letter to Bessie was written shortly +before his own death in 1881. He lived in Oxford, and went over to +Culham every Sunday. At first he was accompanied by his young wife, but +Mrs. Coxe was speedily overtaken by the cares of a family and could not +go with him. Mrs. Gilbert, with her warm, kind heart, took pity upon the +lonely wife, and invited her to spend the Sundays with them. In this way +she saw much of the <i>sisterhood</i>, the pretty name by which the eight +girls were known.</p> + +<p>They generally walked out on Sunday afternoons, and when they reached a +certain spot in Christ Church Meadows, Bessie would stop and say, "Here +you have the best view of Christ Church Towers." Other friends of this +and later times were Bishop Gray of Cape Town, Bishop Mackenzie, and Dr. +Barnes, Canon of Christ Church. The Provost of Oriel, Dr. Hawkins, and +Dr. Gilbert were great friends, and it was possibly on this account that +Bessie was a special favourite with the Provost. Mrs. Gilbert's uncle, +Mr. Wintle, was a fellow of St. John's. He was a wealthy bachelor, had a +fine voice, sang well, and was very fond of the society of his +great-nieces. The Gilberts were acquainted with nearly all the families +of the heads of colleges in Oxford, and the handsome, clever little +girls were favourites<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> and were "made much of." When there was a dinner +party at home they came in to dessert, and accompanied the ladies to the +drawing-room, where Bessie would play and sing. She lived thus not +merely in a world of ideas, but in the external world of facts, of +things. When a friend once spoke of another lady as handsome, Bessie +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. ——, with such a nose!"</p> + +<p>Many of the fellows of Brasenose College were frequent visitors at the +Vice-Chancellor's Lodgings, and the old friends, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. +Bazely, were constant as ever. They joined the girls in their walks, and +paid frequent visits to the schoolroom, where the younger ones would +hide their caps to prevent them from leaving.</p> + +<p>Bessie used to delight in these visits, and looked back upon them as the +very sunshine of life at Oxford. Her poetry and music gained her much +sympathy. At this time, when she was about fourteen, she wrote a poem on +the violet which was much praised. At fifteen her intellectual activity +was the most remarkable point in her character, whilst at the same time +there was an equally remarkable absence of that rebellion against +authority which marks an epoch in so many young lives. Boys and girls of +that age begin to fret against the restrictions of childhood and youth; +they endeavour to cast aside laws and restraints; they are eager to +"live their own life" and to enjoy a freedom which they are all unfit to +use. Bessie knew nothing of this, or rather, she knew it in a very +modified, even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> attenuated form. The one extravagant desire which marked +her adolescence, was to be allowed the privilege of pouring out tea!</p> + +<p>It was urged in vain that she would not know if cups were full or half +full, that she could not give to each one what they wanted of tea or +water, milk or sugar. Her reply was always the same, she would know by +the weight. The decision of the parents, however, went against her, and +she had her one small grievance. She did not "take turns" in making tea.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1841 Bessie, with a sister of nearly her own age, and +one of the little ones, went on a long visit to Culham. They took the +harp with them and practised diligently. They read history together. +Bessie gave daily lessons to her young sister, reading with her Scott's +<i>Tales of a Grandfather</i>, and teaching the child to love them as she +herself did. Whenever she had charge of a younger sister, poetry entered +largely into her scheme of education, and the "little sister" still +remembers the Scott, Wordsworth, and Mrs. Hemans, "Hymns for Childhood" +which she learnt at this time.</p> + +<p>Bessie loved romantic ballads and stories. She was more imaginative than +any of "the others;" and "the others" thought that the loss of sight +acted upon her like the want of a drag upon a wheel, when the coach goes +down hill. During this visit Bessie had such a constant craving and +eager desire for books, that even in their walks she induced her sister +to read aloud.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> They thus read Southey's <i>Curse of Kehama</i>, and she was +so much excited by it that somewhat to the alarm of younger persons she +went about repeating aloud "the words of that awful curse."</p> + +<p>There were plenty of books at Culham. Mr. Wintle interdicted two or +three, but amongst the rest his grandchildren were at liberty to select. +They picked out all that promised to be "most exciting," and this free +pasture made the visit memorable. Bessie was still "Blossom" to her +grandfather, a Blossom that he admired and loved, but Blossom only. +Never was a Blossom whose words and deeds have been treasured in such loving hearts.</p> + +<p>"We looked upon her as a sort of prophetess;" and this view was +confirmed by incidents that occurred in 1842. The sisters were walking +together, and first one and then another suggested strange things that +might happen. "Why, who knows," said Bessie, "in less than a month our +house may be burnt down and we may be living in a palace!" Now within a +month it is recorded that a rocket let off in the street, and badly +aimed, went through the windows of the nursery in which several children +were asleep. The governess happened to be in the room, and with great +presence of mind seized the rocket and threw it back into the street. +Now here was at any rate the possibility of a fire. Still more +impressive was the fact that within the month Dr. Gilbert was appointed +to the See of Chichester. They would really live in a palace.</p> + +<p>Much excitement and no little awe in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> nursery, not so much because +the father was a bishop as because Bessie was a prophetess. The bishop +would be comparatively innocuous in the nursery, but who could tell what +a prophetess might foresee!</p> + +<p>And so the pleasant Oxford life came to an end; and in spite of a +prospective palace, the <i>sisterhood</i> thought the change a calamity. +Bessie specially disliked leaving her old friends, and her regret at +parting from them did not diminish but increased with time. Doubtless in +later years the inevitable restraint of her life lent an additional +charm to the memory of her youth in Oxford. The constant solicitude of +parents, friends, and sisters had kept from her in early days the +knowledge of limitations; but in the time that was at hand she was to go +forth to face the world and to learn more of the meaning of the +mysterious word blind. Canon Melville, who knew her in Oxford, writes to +one of her sisters as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">The College, Worcester, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>I have a very clear memory of the person and character of your +sister Bessie; it is a pleasure to me to recall them.</p> + +<p>The natural gifts and graces of her mind and disposition were only +heightened by the loss of her eyesight. That wonderful compensating +power which often makes amends for loss of faculty in one sense by +corresponding intensity in another, her moral and spiritual +sensitiveness with that inward joyfulness recording itself in +outward expression of a pleased and happy countenance, were +remarkably evident. Out of many little traits indicative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> of this +and her quiet intuition of what favourably or otherwise might +strike her moral sense, I remember once when the appearance of some +one she personally, for some unknown reason, disliked, was being +remarked upon, and I had pronounced my admiration of it, she turned +quite gravely to me, and with deep earnestness, as if she was then +seeing or had recently seen the form and figure of him of whom we +were talking, exclaimed, "Oh, Mr. Melville, I cannot agree with +you! How can you admire him!" Something that had jarred with her +moral perceptions having made her transfer her judgment on the +character to the form and features of the person, as though she had +seen the analogy she felt there must be between the outward and the inward.</p> + +<p>Of the history of her self-devotion to the personal and industrial +improvement of those under like affliction with herself her whole +life was an illustration. Of that many must have much to tell.</p></blockquote> + +<p>During the removal from Oxford the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert were in +London with two daughters, of whom Bessie was one; Fanny and the younger +ones were left under the charge of the faithful governess, Miss Lander, +and in bright and copious epistles they inform Bessie of all that is +going on in the old home. They tell how they had heard Adelaide Kemble +in Oxford, whom Bessie is shortly to hear at Covent Garden; how they met +many friends at the concert; how one gentleman told them that Adelaide +Kemble sang better than Catalani; and how three who had not heard +Catalani said she was equal to Grisi. How some of the "Fellows" went +home to supper with them, and how they all stayed up till twelve +o'clock, a great event for the little girls and their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> governess, who +all send "love and duty to papa and mamma."</p> + +<p>There is another letter to Bessie, still in London, though the parents +have returned to Oxford, which gives a happy picture of last days there. +Bessie sends as farewell presents some of the little chains which she +makes, and the sisters sew them together for her. The father receives a +farewell presentation of plate, the elder girls darn rents in the gowns +of their friends, the Fellows of Brasenose, and so on it runs:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Bessie</span>—I write to you now in a great hurry to tell you to +send Mr. Melville's chain to-morrow by Mr. ——, as I expect we +shall see him some time to-morrow, and I could sew it for him. I +sent the mat on Tuesday, and when he came to tea in the evening he +said he must come to thank you for it to-day; but as I told him he +would not be able to see Sarah and Henrietta after this week, he +seemed to say that he should wait till next week to see you, which +I hope you will think quite fair. The plate was presented to papa +yesterday. The address was short, but a very nice one, and I +suspect chiefly written by Mr. ——. Papa's answer I have not seen, +as he had only one copy, which he left with the Vice-Principal. We +were none of us there, which I am almost sorry for, although it +would very likely have been too much for us. Papa is delighted +beyond measure with it.... We went last night to drink tea at +aunt's, and then went to sleep at the Barnes's. We are going to +dinner there to-night and sleep, for there is not a bed here. The +glasses and all the pictures are gone, and that has made the house +more deplorable than ever. Miss A. is here now, and seems pretty +well. You know that Mary and I have been mending Mr. A.'s gown for him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><p>He came this morning for it and stayed some time. He said he could +not have got it done anywhere else so nicely; that is a long darn +that Mary did for him. The B.'s have told Mr. W. that they will +keep their acquaintance with him for our sakes, so that he will not +be quite deserted; are not you glad of it? Will you ask Miss Lander +to send word where she left her Punch and Judy? If she doesn't +remember, I daresay it will be found; but we have not seen it. +There is a chance, I believe, of Mr. A.'s taking Selham, but you +must not say anything about it. All send love to +everybody.—Believe me to be your affectionate sister, F. H. L. G.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Whilst the parents were in London this year, Bessie paid one visit which +produced a great and lasting effect upon her. She accompanied her mother +to the blind school in the Avenue Road; and this seems to have been the +first time that the blind, as a class of the community, apart from the +majority, and separated by a great loss and privation, came under her +notice. The experience could not fail to be painful. She contrasted the +lot of these young people with her own in her happy home, and shrank +back in pain from institutions in which the afflicted are herded +together, the one common bond that of the fetters of a hopeless fate. +The matron of the girls' school, afterwards Mrs. Levy, remembers this +visit, and says the impression produced on her by the bishop's daughter +was that she was "delightful, beautiful, full of sympathy for the +blind." She remembers also that the Bishop preached in Marylebone Church +in aid of the blind school, taking as his text words that must often +have comforted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> and strengthened his own heart, "Who hath made the blind +and deaf, but I the Lord?"</p> + +<p>This year, 1842, was altogether a memorable one. Bessie's grandfather, +as a young man, had a living or curacy at Acton, where his chief friend, +the squire of the parish, was a Mr. Wegg. Another friend of whom he saw +much at this time was Mr. Bathurst, afterwards General Sir James +Bathurst, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington. A third was Miss +Hales, companion and friend of Mrs. Wegg. The Gilberts and the Bathursts +were Miss Hales's dearest friends; and she had a god-daughter in each +family, they were Catherine, younger daughter of Sir James Bathurst, and +Bessie, the blind grand-daughter of Mr. Wintle. Mrs. Gilbert always +corresponded with Miss Hales, sent her copies of Bessie's verses, and +information as to the health and progress of the child. Miss Hales died +in 1842, and by will divided her fortune between her two god-daughters.</p> + +<p>Bessie was thus placed in a different position from that of any of her +sisters; she alone when she attained her majority would have an +independent income during her father's lifetime. The Bishop was relieved +from anxiety as to the future of his blind daughter, and the necessity +of ample provision for her; but he felt strongly, and wished her also to +feel, that the possession of money brings with it duties and responsibilities.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Added to this the authorities of the University, the +appointed guardians of those who form great part of the attendants on my +sermons, have shown a dislike to my preaching. One dissuades men from +coming, the late Vice-Chancellor threatens to take his own children away +from the church."—<i>Apologia pro Vita Sua</i>, p. 133. John Henry Newman, +D.D. Longmans, 1879.</p></div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE PALACE GARDEN</h3> + +<div class="block"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"Joy and woe are woven fine,</div> +<div>A clothing for the soul divine."—<span class="smcap">Blake.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>By the autumn of 1842 the removal from Oxford to Chichester had been +accomplished. The Bishop and his family were installed in the palace, +which was to be their home for twenty-eight years. A new life was +beginning for Bessie, and one which, when the inevitable pain of parting +from old friends was over, she learnt to love very dearly. She had a +keen imaginative delight in the beauties of nature. She loved to hear of +clouds and sunset; of sunrise and the dawn, of green fields, of hills +and valleys. She loved the outer air, flowers, and the song of birds; +and she had passed the first sixteen years of her life in a house in the +High Street, Oxford. She was very proud of the architectural beauty of +Oxford, and always thought it a distinction to belong to Oxford; but her +whole heart was soon in the home at Chichester.</p> + +<p>The Bishop's palace has a beautiful old-fashioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> garden, of which the +city wall forms the west and part of the southern boundary. A sloping +mound leads from the garden to within a few feet of the top of the wall, +and there is a green walk around the summit. There are grassy plots, +umbrageous trees, flowering shrubs, roses, roses everywhere; and there +are birds that sing all the long day in the spring-time. The black-cap +was a special favourite of Bessie's and of the Bishop's. A garden door +in the palace opens upon a straight gravel walk, with a southern aspect, +leading towards the western boundary wall. On the southern side of the +walk lies the garden, on the north a bank of lilacs, laburnums, and +shrubs. Here Bessie could walk alone; she needed no companion, no guide. +It was a new pleasure to her, and one of which she never grew weary. The +song of birds, the hum of insects, the rustle of the trees, all made the +garden a fairy palace of delight. A sister remembers how one summer +morning at three o'clock she found Bessie standing at her bedside +begging her to get up and dress, and go with her to the garden "to hear +the birds waking up." Her father always gave a shilling to whoever saw +the first swallow, and Bessie was delighted when the shilling had been earned.</p> + +<p>The hall of the palace is a confusing place; there are many doors, +passages, rooms opening into and leading from it There was always a +moment of hesitation before Bessie opened the garden door or found the +turning which she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> wanted; but she quickly accommodated herself to all +other eccentricities in one of the most puzzling of old-fashioned houses.</p> + +<p>She spent less time in the schoolroom at Chichester than she had done at +Oxford; she was indeed soon emancipated from the schoolroom altogether. +She was much with her mother in the pleasant morning-room adjoining the +bed and dressing rooms used by her parents. A steep spiral staircase, +without a rail of any kind, with half a stair cut away at intervals for +convenience of access to a cupboard or a small room, led from her +father's dressing-room to rooms above. One of these with a western +window so darkened by trees that no sunlight and very little daylight +entered, was assigned to Bessie and one sister, whilst another sister +was close at hand in another small room. The Bishop made a window to the +south in Bessie's room, which greatly improved it, admitting light and +air and all the sweet garden sounds and scents. The drawing-room is on +the first floor near the morning-room. You ascend to it by a few broad +stairs. A passage on the same floor leads to the private chapel attached +to the palace, where Bessie knelt daily in prayer. The dining-room on +the ground floor, the best room in the house, with its oak panels and +fine painted ceiling, was a great pleasure to her. Some years later, +when her work made it necessary that she should have a private +sitting-room, two rooms were assigned to her in the centre of the house, +one of which had been the schoolroom. Access<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> to these is gained by a +long passage barely high enough to allow a full-grown person to stand +erect at the highest part, near the bedroom door; and sloping on the +other side to the floor and outer wall of the palace. Windows in the +steep roof look north into West Street. Bessie's rooms were close to the +angle formed by the centre and west wing of the palace, and had windows facing south.</p> + +<p>Up and down the narrow steep stairs and along the passages to the +drawing-room, the morning-room, the dining-room, the chapel, the fragile +form of the blind girl was seen to pass with unerring accuracy. She +never stumbled or fell at Chichester any more than she had done at +Oxford. Indeed, Oxford was useful throughout life, as no difficulties +could be greater than those she had learnt to surmount in her childhood.</p> + +<p>Scarce a stone's throw from the palace is the cathedral, where the seat +of the Bishop's blind daughter is still pointed out. Bessie had a +personal pleasure, a pride and delight in the beauty of the cathedral, +spoke of it, as she did of any venerated object, with lowered tones; +knew its history and form, the plan of the building, the salient +architectural features, and all the best points of view.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Carey H. Borrer, Rector of Hurst Pierpoint, and Treasurer of +Chichester Cathedral, writes as follows of the impression produced at this time:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>My first introduction to Bessie Gilbert was when the Bishop had +just taken possession of the palace at Chichester. I had been +staying at Lavington with Archdeacon Manning (now the Cardinal), +and we went together to sleep at the deanery (Dean Chandler's), and +we all went to dine at the palace. Bessie was then very young, very +slight and fragile looking, dressed as usual in white muslin, and +with her dark spectacles immediately attracted my attention. In the +evening she went to the piano, and sang very sweetly and with much +pathos several familiar Scotch songs. I asked her if she knew +certain others, mostly Jacobite songs, with which I was familiar +from hearing my very dear friend William Harris (fellow of All +Souls', a devoted lover of Prince Charlie) sing them. She at once +warmed up and sang some of them. Others she did not know, and was +glad to hear something about them. Under that gentle aspect there +came out a heart full of fire and earnestness, which showed itself +in her interest for suffering and heroism, and afterwards found +field for its energy in her untiring efforts for the blind.</p> + +<p>Whenever we met there was always a warm shaking of the hand, and a +feeling of sympathy of tastes between us.</p> + +<p>I had not seen much of persons suffering from blindness, and I was +struck by her simple way of saying "I have not <i>seen</i> him," or "I +should like to <i>see</i> it"—something like Zacharias "<i>asking</i>" for a writing-table.</p> + +<p>No one could be with Bessie Gilbert without feeling chastened by +the presence of a true, pure, warm-hearted, earnest Christian girl.</p> + +<p>I breakfasted at the palace the next morning after service at the +private chapel, and I was delighted at the Bishop's calling on one +of the younger girls to say grace. Mrs. Gilbert told me they took +it in turns. I should like to have heard Bessie's grace to her +Heavenly Father.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>Very soon new friends gathered round the <i>sisterhood</i>; but at first the +change, so far as society was concerned, was keenly felt by them. There +were no Fellows of B.N.C. to come in with torn gowns to be mended, and +talk of Catalani and Grisi; no more dinners in the Hall, none of the +intellectual activity of university life. They had also far less of the +company of a father greatly beloved by all his children. Official +business at Chichester was much heavier than it had been at Oxford, and +absorbed more of his time.</p> + +<p>The Archdeacon of Chichester at that time was the Rev. E. H. (now +Cardinal) Manning. He was a frequent visitor at the palace, where a room +was set apart for him. As years passed on, the anxiety of his friends +with regard to his views increased. At last there came a day in 1851 +when he and Bishop Gilbert had a long talk with Bishop Wilberforce at +Lavington, and Archdeacon Manning returned to pay his last visit to the +palace. He wrote a day or two later to announce his decision to join the +Church of Rome. As he stood in the hall on this last visit he saw Bessie +enter from her favourite garden walk. She was as usual puzzled by the +doors, and hesitated a moment before coming to a decision. The +archdeacon saw this, and stepping forward took her by the hand: "I +believe you cannot find the way," he said. In speaking of this she would +add, in that gentle, solemn manner she had when she was deeply moved, "I +only said 'thank you,' but I thought is it I that cannot find my way?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p><p>In 1844 an event of great interest to girls in and out of the +schoolroom took place. A German governess, Fraülein D., replaced the +English lady who had for so long been a member of the household. German +became at once the most fascinating of all subjects of study for young +and old; and the Fraülein, with her open mind and, from the point of +view of those days, her advanced views, speedily acquired great influence over Bessie.</p> + +<p>Fraülein D. describes the charm of the family circle at the palace, in +which the two prominent figures were the Bishop and his blind daughter. +Bessie had at this time a very tenacious memory. No matter how long the +reading of a book had been suspended, she could always repeat every word +of the last sentence. She was easily affected by any sad events that +were narrated, and would weep over them. Her parents, sisters, and +brothers had taken such pains to include her in all that was going +forward, and to make her and keep her one of themselves, that she would +say, "Oh yes, I see," and "How beautiful," when you talked to her.</p> + +<p>She was very particular about her dress, quite as much so as any of her +sisters, and specially scrupulous in the matter of gloves. Her hands +were small, white, delicately beautiful, and very feeble. She liked to +have such accurately fitting gloves that the time she took to put them +on was a joke in the family.</p> + +<p>Three of the sisters were at Culham when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> Fraülein arrived, and many +bright letters passed between Bessie at Chichester and her own "special" +sister Mary at Culham. Bessie tells Mary how her brother Robert had +returned from the Continent, having learnt "a great many German words +and some French;" how he had grown fonder of music, and could allow +"that it is an art capable of giving a great deal of pleasure." She +gives all the little gossip of home, describes the new German governess +"a pretty figure, black hair, rather a large mouth, an animated +countenance, very lady-like and lively.... They (the younger ones) like +Miss D. very much, and so we do, all of us, I think." Bessie has read +<i>Don Carlos</i>, the <i>Bride of Messina</i>, and a play by Halm. Her reading +time is from four to five; but there are reading and needlework from +three to four, which all the elders try to join, and from which, we may +be sure, Bessie would not be absent. Then there is a dinner party at the +Palace: "She (the Fraülein) dined, and so did I."</p> + +<p>"As to the dinner part I managed very well. I had it all by heart. What +I was to have was all settled in the morning, so that I had very little +else to do but to talk, and that I did so much that I was really almost +ashamed. Mr. —— took me down, and pleased mamma uncommonly by praising +me to her in the evening. I cannot think why."</p> + +<p>A little later Bessie is at Culham, and writes to Mary at Chichester.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>Now don't make any more excuses about not writing. For my part I +have forgiven you, at least since this delicious weather, for we +have been out almost all day lately. Yesterday we walked to +Abingdon, did some shopping, and came back before breakfast. +[Inquiries about friends follow, and then:] Question upon question; +but no matter, answer another, who sent me the violets? though I +think my guess is right. If it was Mr. Ashworth it was very kind, +for I think they were the first he had found this spring. Take care +what you put in your letters to grandpapa. The last but one was +pronounced by a judge whose opinion I am sure you will agree with, +because you will think it right, to be very dignified and a perfect +specimen of epistolography. There were cries of "It won't do" all +through the letter. Do you think you shall come here soon? I begin +to want to see some of you.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie, as usual, had charge of one of the little girls. She writes: "I +think Katie is improved since we have been here, but I cannot get her to +get up; so please ask mamma to say what time she is to get up, for now +it is not much before eight and often some time after."</p> + +<p>Now to an elder sister who wants to do her shopping at Abingdon before +breakfast, Miss Katie must have been a trial. But Bessie herself was by +no means perfect in this respect. Some years later she and a sister +about her own age paid a visit to an old lady, cousin of their father's, +in Yorkshire. This cousin rose early, was very punctual, and expected +her guests to be the same; but, "Say what I would," writes her sister, +"I could not get Bessie up in the morning, not even though I represented +that it made me appear to disregard Miss Dawson's wishes as well as +herself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> and was not fair. The only answer I could get was, 'I say +nothing;' and the next morning she was as late as ever." Whether Mrs. +Gilbert was in this case also appealed to "to fix the hour" we are not told.</p> + +<p>In the autumn Bessie is at home again, and, writing to her faithful +Mary, she says: "The week after next our house must stretch a slight +degree. There will be the Halls, the Churtons, the Woods from Broadwater +(it was Mrs. Wood who fought for the teaching of reading in St. George's +Schools thirteen years previously), the two Archdeacons, Mr. Garbett, +Mr. Simpson, and another gentleman, all in the house; and Mr. Wagner, if +he comes, will have a room at the inn. This will be something +like—won't it? I think mamma liked her visit to——."</p> + +<p>The Bishop, his wife, and one daughter, had been paying short visits to +influential people in the county. The young lady sends home letters +which show close and minute powers of observation and no small insight +into character. The rooms, the pictures, the plate and china, all are +described, and she ends by saying:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I suppose you will expect a comparison of the two families. The +gentlemen are far superior at A——; and though B—— is more +fascinating, and makes one feel for her as if one could do +anything, yet A—— seems to me to be superior to her in strength of +mind and also in acquirements. Lady C. is much younger than Lady +D., much more in awe of her mother, and being plain, has not the +appearance of being used to the homage of all around her like Lady +D. So ends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> my long story of a short but pleasant time, and if it +has tired your patience, at least you cannot complain of my not +having given you a full account.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Looking over these letters, taken back into the past by the yellow +paper, the faded ink, the old-fashioned writing, all angular and +sloping, letters fresh and vivid with youth, intelligence, and goodness, +one cannot but wonder if those written by a girl of seventeen, in these +days of high pressure, will be such pleasant reading forty years hence.</p> + +<p>Bessie was greatly interested in these visits, and she writes to Mary at +Culham: "Mamma saw some beautiful miniatures of the Pretender, the +Cardinal York and their sister the Princess Louisa. They were very +small, and set in turquoises and diamonds. I believe that princess +married the King of Sardinia."</p> + +<p>The Rev. T. Lowe, Vicar of Willingdon, who left Chichester thirty-five +years ago, says that he often met Bessie at the palace and in general +society at Chichester; that he made use of every opportunity he had to +cultivate her acquaintance. She liked to talk of music, and he +"remembers well the sweet expression of her mobile features, declaring +the peace and resignation that dwelt within. These, no doubt, made her +so alive to all pleasures within her reach. It was a touching sight to +see her joining, with evident enjoyment, in a quadrille at an evening +party at home or elsewhere."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lowe saw her occasionally after he left Chichester. She was +interested in some blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> persons in his parish. One she rescued from +"the uncongenial life of the workhouse;" another acted as an agent for +her society; and she was specially interested in a third, both blind and +deaf, now dead. "Her sympathy with these sufferers was full of comfort +to them; and as to them, so to all to whom it is known, the history of +her long, patient suffering; of her submission to the heavy trial laid +upon her; of her thankful enjoyment of the blessings granted her; of her +loving endeavours to alleviate like suffering in others—will, I doubt +not, bring forth good fruit in other hearts and other lives."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wintle at Culham was now an aged man, and his infirm health gave +much anxiety to Mrs. Gilbert. After she had left Oxford one or two of +her daughters were nearly always with their grandfather. One of his +latest letters, written from his Oxford lodgings, was to his favourite Blossom.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><i>27th November 1845.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Blossom</span>—As I have gained the reputation of not caring for +what I do or say, why may I not scribble a scrawl to you containing +what is found uppermost in my memorandum box? Not having been +admitted a member of the Abingdon Literary and Scientific Society, +you must look rather for trifles from a bagatelle warehouse than +for graver subjects culled from the repository of useful and +entertaining knowledge. But previous to opening my budget let me +express a wish that I may soon hear from one of the numerous palace +scribes of your mother's faceache having left her, and that you are +all as well as the damps of November will permit of your being. As +you probably knew nothing of my opposite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> neighbour Chaundy, +hair-dresser and perfumer, perhaps you will nothing grieve at +hearing that he is moving from the Corn Market to the High Street, +nor will you be much interested in hearing that Mr. —— tells his +Oxford tradesmen that as he deals with them, he expects they will +come to his shop and buy a pig of him. Possibly you may be amused +by hearing that Mr. A. and Dr. B. have nominated five select +preachers, all ultra low church, of whom Mr. C. is one, who takes +an annuity of £500 from his parishioners in Holy Well, in +preference to a living from his college. So would not I. [And so on +through three pages of gossip ending:] And now with love to you +all, affectionately am I yours, R. W.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the spring of 1846 the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert, with many but not all +the daughters, were in the Isle of Wight. Mary was again at Culham with +her grandfather, who was recovering from a serious illness, and had been +out "in a sedan chair." Bessie writes full accounts: "You should have +heard Nora begging to go. She has gained her point, you see;" and then +follows a description of the little house at Ryde, of their visitors and +friends, the books they were to read, etc. During this visit Bessie once +walked from Ryde to Shanklin, and was proud of the achievement.</p> + +<p>The Bishop's house in London at this time was in Green Street, Grosvenor +Square. He and Mrs. Gilbert with some daughters were there in the early +part of the year 1846, and Bessie was left in the post of honour, at +home. The father writes to her without making any allowance for +blindness. She is to give orders and arrange for their return just as +Mary would have done.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Bessie</span>—I write to you as Mrs. House, Mrs. Pomona, Mrs. +Flora, <i>i.e.</i> as having, under your aunt and Miss Deiss, sovereign +rule in the domestic, horticultural, and floral departments at +Chichester, but not as Mrs. Ceres, as with respect to the farm I +reserve the rule therein to John and Symonds, and Smoker and +myself, which may account for the bad condition things in that +department are in.... Now, in your domestic department let me +suggest to you to order preparations for the return of the +veritable heads of the family, possibly on Friday next, to dinner, +but you may expect to hear again. Then, in the horticultural, know +that a tub of regent potatoes, and eke a tub of blues, containing +each about a sack, may daily be expected. They are to be used as +seed at your and Holmes's discretion. Those which are not so used +you may direct to be put from time to time into a pot and saved for +dinner. In your floral department I do not presume to give any +hint; the greater will be your responsibility if either violets are +drooping or snowdrops and crocuses not in sufficient abundance. +Poor me! I am afraid they are all over, blossomed and gone while I +have been smoke-dried here. But mind you show me something when I +come, or I may prove a rat without a tail. Pray, why do none of you +little pusses write to me? I desire I may have an olla podrida, a +bit of something from every one, without delay. How do you think I +am to get on here all by myself? Yes, indeed! Pray, look to it, +Mrs. House, and mind your P's and Q's, and do not laugh, but let me +have my letter from all in a cluster, and I daresay in a clatter +too forthwith. So no more at present from your and their fond +parent and most loving father,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">A. T. Chichester</span>.</p> + +<p>I suppose you know poor aunt E. M. has left you her piano. If your +grandpapa does not think it too large and would let it go to +Culham, should you object?</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>In August 1846 Bessie completed a long poem founded on a belief "which +prevails in parts of Burgundy, that the first flower which blossoms on +the grave of a departed friend links the soul of the departed in eternal +love to that of the person who gathers it." The verses are moderately +smooth and pretty, but give no great promise of excellence in that department.</p> + +<p>It is, however, characteristic of the writer that she represents the +"departed friend" not as a lover, but as the father of the girl who has +gathered the first blossom, and that she concludes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>And strength was given to her through prayer</div> +<div>In patience all her woe to bear,</div> +<div>Clearly her duty to discern,</div> +<div>And never more her life to spurn.</div> +<div>She lived, not wrapt in selfish grief;</div> +<div>Wherever she could give relief—</div> +<div>In poverty, sickness, or despair,</div> +<div>A spirit of comfort, she was there;</div> +<div>One of that heavenly sisterhood</div> +<div>Who only live for others' good.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>Such words are like a feather thrown up in the air, they show the +direction of the prevailing current.</p> + +<p>For two years longer the visits to Culham and Oxford recur at frequent +intervals, and there is repeated mention of the names of old friends. +Every event of interest that affects them—births, deaths, marriages, +arrivals, departures, promotions, bridesmaids' dresses—all are duly +chronicled. Once we are told of two merry girls shut up with some of his +pet MSS. by Mr. Coxe, the librarian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> of the Bodleian, who was too busy +to join them. They emerged from his den in a state of enthusiasm which +satisfied even his requirements; but they had to undergo a severe +brushing from "his own clothes-brush and at his own hands," for, +"learned dust as it was, we could not carry it through Oxford."</p> + +<p>In 1847 the youngest brother, Tom, met with an alarming accident at +Westminster School. By some means when preparing to act in a play his +cloak caught fire, and he was almost burnt to death. Bessie used to tell +how the little fellow was found kneeling with raised hands, and praying +aloud, in the midst of a crowd of terrified boys, whilst the flames +leapt up above his head. He was so much injured that it was more than a +year before he recovered. His first letter, written with the left hand +and the greater part of it unintelligible, is to Bessie. He is the +little boy who was pulling daisies for her in Magdalen Gardens, and +telling of their golden centres.</p> + +<p>In 1848 Mr. Wintle died at Culham. Mrs. Gilbert was staying with him, +and the Bishop with some of his daughters started at once for Oxford +when he heard how serious the case had become. Mr. Wintle had expressed +a special desire to see Bessie, but he was almost unconscious when she +arrived. He was told that "Little Blossom" had come. "Where is she?" he +asked, and with a last effort stretched out his hand towards her.</p> + +<p>The pleasant home was henceforth closed to them, all silent and empty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>The great-uncle also passed away in 1855, and though many friends +remained, yet from this time Oxford recedes, and is no longer a second home.</p> + +<p>At this period Martin Tupper resided at Brighton; and Bessie, who seems +to have sent him a copy of "The Sea Gull," received from him a letter +which she valued, and a copy of "A Hymn and a Chant for the Harvest Home +of 1847, by the author of <i>Proverbial Philosophy</i>." He wrote as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Furze Hill, Brighton</span>, <i>23d August 1848</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Bessie</span>—An autograph of such affecting interest as +that with which you have this morning so kindly favoured me, gives +me the privilege of a letter of thanks in reply. And thank you I do +very cordially; especially for having so soon and so amiably +fulfilled your intention of honouring my verses with your melodious +tones. When they are quite ready, I shall look forward with much +interest to a manuscript copy; and I am not sure but that, some day +or other, I shall run over and pay my respects at the palace, very +much with the self-interested object of hearing you do justice to +your own music. I am sure you will not refuse me this, especially +as here we have no piano; not but that I will go <i>toute suite</i> to +ask Miss Wagner or the Fraülein to give me an idea of your "Sea +Gull," so as not to be altogether ignorant of the "sweet sounds" +which you have married to Mary Howitt's "immortal verse." I have +nothing here to offer you in return for your musical authorship, +unless you might be pleased to accept "from the author" the +enclosed. Pray make my best respects acceptable to your father and +mother and sisters, and believe me, my dear Miss Bessie, your +obliged and faithful friend,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Martin J. Tupper</span>.</p> + +<p>Miss Bessie Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p><p>In 1849 Bessie, with two sisters and a brother, paid visits in Ireland. +One of her chief pleasures was in listening to the echoes at Killarney. +Wherever she went the young blind lady called out warm sympathy. On the +way from Glengariffe to Cork they stopped at Gougon Barra to see the +famous "Healing Well." The guide besought Bessie in the most earnest and +pathetic manner to try the water, saying that he was sure it would +restore her sight, and entreating her brother and sisters to urge her to make use of it.</p> + +<p>This was the first time, since the visit to Liverpool, that she had been +far from home, and she enjoyed her journey. She liked staying at hotels; +the novelty was refreshing, and she liked the feeling that she also +could travel and "see" the world.</p> + +<p>The Bishop writes to Bessie on the 11th September 1849 from the "Old +Ship private house," Brighton, as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Now I doubt not that you enjoyed the mountain scheme as well as any +of them, and, with the aid of the mountain air, the potatoes too +and milk of the cottagers, not omitting, however, I daresay, the +more substantial viands which accompanied you from the Hospitable +Hall. As for the wetting and all that, of course you treat that as +heroines are bound to do—that is as trifles, where it is not +convenient to exalt them above their true character.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "Hospitable Hall" is that of Lismore, Archdeacon Cotton's house, +where the travellers stayed for some time. Bessie's eldest brother +married Archdeacon Cotton's daughter the following year, so that the +visit was one of special interest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>The Bishop had now a house in London, 31 Queen Anne Street, and the +family life was divided between London and Chichester. When she was +twenty-one Bessie had the command of her own income. One of her first +acts was to subscribe to the Philharmonic concerts. The daughter of an +old friend of her parents, Mrs. Denison (now Lady Grimthorpe), lived in +the same street, and also subscribed; she used to call for and take +Bessie with her. The impression which Lady Grimthorpe received at that +time was, first of all, "How merry she is:" and next, what an intense +appreciation she had of beautiful music, and what a happy, trustful +confidence in those about her. One night at the concert the gas suddenly +went out, fears of an explosion were whispered about, and many persons +left the room. Bessie put her hand in Lady Grimthorpe's and said: "I +have no fear whatever, with you. Go or stay as you think best;" and they stayed.</p> + +<p>She would return from these concerts so bright and beaming, and give +such pleasure to her father by her animated accounts of them, that he +learnt to associate her enjoyment with a scarlet cloak she then wore. He +said he would have her portrait taken, and in that cloak, for she never +looked so well in anything else. Some time later this was done by Sir W. +Boxall, and the frontispiece to this volume represents a picture which +gives as much of the spiritual beauty and delicacy of Bessie's youthful +face as the painter's art can render.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A SENSE OF LOSS</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"When the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter +which is heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher by means +of this very material."—<span class="smcap">Marcus Aurelius.</span></p></div> + +<p>Bessie Gilbert, when she was about twenty, differed but little from the +sisters around her. She could read Italian, French, and German, and her +mental culture had been an education of the true and best kind. She had +an open mind, an ardent desire for knowledge, and a warm interest in all +the ways and works of humanity. The one accomplishment possible to her +was music, and from her childhood her singing and playing had given +pleasure to herself and others. "She never could sing out of tune:" says +a musical friend.</p> + +<p>She readily gained friends, for she was sympathetic and kind, and +inspired others with confidence. A lady, very young and shy at that +time, remembers calling in Queen Anne Street, and feeling alarmed at +every one except Bessie. Sitting by her side, and talking to her, the +shyest were at their ease.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>No hardships in her lot had up to this time come home to her. Indeed, +it is very doubtful if the want of sight to those born blind or those +who have lost the memory of sight, is in youth a greater conscious +privation than the want of wings. By degrees a different condition is +conceivable, because it is known in a certain way from description; but +as no person born blind can exactly realise what sight is, or what it +does, there is no conscious sense of loss. No person born blind can +comprehend the nature of the impression that sight conveys. Red may be +as "the sound of a trumpet," blue as the outer air, and green a +something connected with the meadows and the delight of flowers and +shade; but except to those who remember, the sense of sight is only a +name for the incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>Bessie did not remember, and therefore she did not know the special +hardship of blindness and that sense of irreparable loss, of "wisdom at +one entrance quite shut out," which is so heavy an affliction.</p> + +<p>As the years wore on she was, however, to learn the privations that +resulted from her loss of sight, although the loss itself was not, and +could not be, intelligible to her.</p> + +<p>Some day a gifted creature may tell us of the possession of an organ and +a sense revealing a dimension absolutely incomprehensible. We may come +to bewail our lower condition; but how without the organ or the sense +will it be possible to realise the nature of the loss or the advantage of possession?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>Bessie by means of fingers or ears could get at the meaning of a book. +There is a third and quicker way, she is told, but how except through +fingers and ears can she realise it? Up to a certain point she has gone +hand in hand with sisters and brothers; if not indeed in advance of +them. She reaches that point full of ardour and enthusiasm, eager to +learn, to live, to work, and suddenly the way is barred. Blindness +stands there as with a drawn sword, and she can go no farther.</p> + +<p>The limitations of her condition touched her first on the side of +pleasure. She could join in a quadrille at Chichester, could dine at the +palace when there was a party, and "what she was to take" had been +arranged in the morning. But in London there were no balls for her, no +dining out except with a few very old friends, no possibility of +including her in the rapid whirl of London life. She had many +disappointments, and tried hard to conceal them. Only once, says a +sister, did she see a swift look of passing pain, when telling Bessie +about a ball from which in the early morning she had returned. It was +there for an instant, recognised by the loving and beloved sister, but +at once thrust away, and Bessie threw herself with more than ordinary +interest into the account of the pleasures of the evening. Another +sister tells how about this time Bessie began "to want to do impossible +things," to go out alone in London, to go alone in a cab, and if she +might not go alone, she wished to give her own orders to the cabman.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>Reading and writing depended largely on the time that others could give +her. Writing was a slow and laborious process. She could write in the +ordinary way, but to do so she had to remember not the form of a letter +but the movements of her own hand. Such writing had to be looked over in +case a word should be unintelligible, and she could therefore have no +private correspondents. Girls in Oxford and at Chichester had plenty of +spare time, but when the family was divided, and those in London or at +Chichester had the duties of their position as well as its pleasures to +attend to, there grew up almost insensibly a different order of things. +In childhood and youth the blind daughter was the centre of all activity +and pleasure; but the blind woman inevitably recedes more and more. She +no longer leads; she can with difficulty follow; and at a distance which +increases as the years go on.</p> + +<p>The five or ten years that elapse after she is twenty, form the turning +point in the life of a woman, whether married or unmarried. During that +period, when she begins to tire of mere pleasure, there will come either +the earnest and serious view of life which shows it all golden with +promise, as a gift to be used on behalf of others; or a settled drift +towards the current of levity, frivolity, and self-seeking, which may +carry her down to age, dishonoured and unloved.</p> + +<p>That which caused Bessie the keenest grief at this time was the +impossibility of achieving what she wished to make her life, and not the +loss of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> its pleasures. But it was the loss of pleasure which preceded +all other privations. Her tendency was, as it always had been, towards +things that were noble, and high, and good. Without any fault of her +own, without any change in her own condition, she discovered that +blindness would be a permanent bar to activity. Sisters began to marry +and be sought in marriage. A home of her very own, a beautiful life, +independent of the family life, and yet united to it; fresh interests +and added joy to all; the hope of this, which was her ideal of marriage, +she had to renounce.</p> + +<p>Work in the world, even a place in the world, there seemed to be none +for her. Blindness, which had been a name, was becoming a stern reality. +She asked about the blind around her, those who had to earn their bread; +and the same answer came from all. She saw them led up to the verge of +manhood and womanhood, and then, as it were, abandoned. They were set +apart by their calamity, even as she was. Their sufferings were not +less, but greater than her own. Poverty was added to them, and the +enforced indignity of a beggar's life.</p> + +<p>She bore her grief alone. She could not speak of it even to those she +loved most dearly, and entirely trusted. She could not consciously add +to the pain she knew they felt for her. But in those early years she +would often sit silent and apart in the drawing-room at Queen Anne +Street, tears streaming from her eyes. Sometimes she would spend hours +together upon her knees,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> always silent; but the flowing tears spoke for +her, and with an eloquence which she little realised. The sense of want +and suffering was to be for her as it is for many, the great instrument +of education. Whilst so many around her were craving for something to +set them above their neighbours, some gift of fortune, some distinction, +she was learning the need of that which should place the poor blind on +the same level as others, learning to renounce for herself and for them +any higher ambition than that of being like the rest of mankind.</p> + +<p>The distress of her parents, who could only stand apart, watch and pray +for her, was very great. They did not see how help was to come, but they +continued in the old course. There was no aid for the blind, no +invention which they did not eagerly inquire into, since it might be the +appointed means of deliverance. Their sympathy was doubtless a great +comfort to Bessie in this time of trial. They may not have been able to +meet her in words, but she knew their hearts, knew that they never +despaired; that their past, present, and future, were alike irradiated +by hope for her, and, if for her, then for all those under like +affliction. There were many, doubtless, who at this time would have +justified the assertion of Mr. Maurice:<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "The first impulse of most is +to say, in such circumstances, 'Hold your peace. We are very sorry for +you; but in the press and bustle of the world we have really not time to +think about you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> We are very fortunate in possessing our senses; we +must use them. To be without them is no doubt a great calamity, but it +has been appointed for you; you must make the best of it.' That appears +to be a very natural and reasonable way of settling the question. If the +votes of the majorities ruled the world, that would be the only way."</p> + +<p>Bessie cannot have failed to meet and speak with many of the "majority," +whose quiet acquiescence in a misfortune that did not come near them, +would often "give her pause."</p> + +<p>Social questions also attracted her attention at this time. A sister +remembers reading Lord Ingestre's <i>Meliora</i> to her, and the intense +interest she took in the question of bridging over the chasm between the +rich and the poor. It was not a new question to her, this bridging over +a chasm. It was that which, under another aspect, was engrossing so much +of her attention. The discovery of a method, or even the suggestion of +the possibility of such a discovery, would be a sign of hope.</p> + +<p>The first ray of light, however, came through a very small chink, and +not at all in heroic form.</p> + +<p>During the Great Exhibition of 1851 her parents learnt that a Frenchman +was showing a writing frame of his invention, and that by means of it +the blind could write unaided. The inventor, M. Foucault, was invited to +Queen Anne Street. Bessie learnt to use the frame, and soon found that +it made her independent of supervision and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> assistance. She could write +and address a letter herself; and here at last she stood in one respect +on an equal footing with those around her.</p> + +<p>She used in later years to date from the time she had the Foucault +frame. A medal was awarded to the inventor, but owing to some mistake it +was not sent to him. Bessie was instrumental in procuring and having it +forwarded to a man whom she looked upon as her benefactor.</p> + +<p>Her friendship with Miss Isabella Law, which lasted throughout her life, +was inaugurated over the Foucault frame. A correspondence was carried on +between them with regard to it, and Miss Law, blind daughter of the +Vicar of Northrepps, who was preparing a volume of poetry for the press, +found it very helpful, and at the same time found a dear and valued friend.</p> + +<p>Another use which Bessie made of the frame was to write, in 1851, to a +young blind man named William Hanks Levy, of whom she had heard at the +St. John's Wood School for the Blind. He was an assistant teacher there, +and in 1852 married the matron of the girls' school, with whom Mrs. +Gilbert had corresponded in Bessie's childhood, and who had sent +embossed books to Oxford. Levy did all the printing for the St. John's +Wood School, and Bessie wanted an explanation of the Lucas system in use +there. She could read every kind of embossed printing, and when she +heard of any new system, always inquired into it. She knew at this time +the triangular Edinburgh in which the first books she possessed were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +printed, Moon, Braille, the American, and several shorthand types. She +could read Roman capitals and the mixed large and small hands. She +always considered the Edinburgh type the simplest; but when she found +how many adults lose their sight, and how slowly their sense of touch is +developed, whilst in some it is not developed at all, she thought that, +on the whole, it might be best to use Roman capitals for the blind, that +this would offer greater facility than any other system for those who +had previously learnt to read, and would present no greater difficulty +to those born blind. She made no effort for the advancement of her view +on this subject, and in later years always advocated the use of Moon's +type for those who lose sight as adults.</p> + +<p>Her own keenness of touch was marvellous, but then it had been carefully +trained from the time that the little child sat beside her father at +dessert, and poured out his glass of wine. She always knew the hands of +her sisters, could tell them apart by touch, and though they would +sometimes try, they were never able to deceive her. She also remembered +by touch people whom she had not met for years. But she recognised that +her power and that of some of the born blind was exceptional, and the +development of it due to careful training.</p> + +<p>And so her letter written to inquire into a system which she did not +understand, turned her thought for a time to a question which always +interested, though it never engrossed her, that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> deciding upon a +uniform type for embossed printing.</p> + +<p>All paths are right that lead to the mountain top, provided we remember +that we are going up the hill and keep ascending.</p> + +<p>Bessie had taken this very humble path of typewriting, and it led her +upwards and onwards, showing her the possibility of giving aid to others +through experiments and trials of her own.</p> + +<p>It has already been mentioned that General Sir James Bathurst was an old +friend of the family; and in London his children and the Gilberts saw +much of each other. Sir James's eldest daughter, Caroline Bathurst, was +one of the little band of so-called "advanced" women who, about this +time, 1850, were interested in every movement having for its object the +development and intellectual culture of women, and the throwing open to +them of some career other than that of matrimony; since matrimony was +seen to be not possible or even desirable for some women, such, for +example, as Bessie Gilbert.</p> + +<p>Miss Bathurst had taken part in the opening in 1848 of Queen's College +for Women, Harley Street, by the Rev. F. D. Maurice and the Professors +of King's College, London. She also gave hearty assistance and +furtherance to the opening of a similar institution in Bedford Square by +the Professors of the University College, Gower Street. She was one of +those who gave earnest and deep thought to the difficult problems of +life, who was willing to work to the uttermost of her power, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> give +all that she had,—time, money, health, even life itself, if only she +might aid in raising the condition of women and establishing them as +"joint heirs of the grace of life."</p> + +<p>No one has ever worked more ardently, more enthusiastically than she +did. Over women younger than herself she exercised an irresistible +fascination. Her courage, her hopefulness, her high and lofty aims, +carried others as by a mighty wave over obstacles that had seemed +insurmountable. She was a few years older than Bessie, had full +experience of all the best that life can give, and also of the deepest +sorrows. Those who have seen her will recall the slight graceful figure, +broad low brow, and eyes youthful and beautiful like a child's; eyes, +with love and trust and happiness looking out from them. And at this +very time she was suffering from an incurable malady, and enduring +martyrdom with heroic fortitude and without one murmur.</p> + +<p>Such a friend for Bessie and at such a time marks an epoch in her life. +The dear sister Mary was now married, and Mary had also seen with +heart-felt sorrow that the condition of her blind sister was inevitably +and painfully changed. On a subsequent visit to her old home it was she +who first suggested that Bessie should give her time and money for the +benefit of the blind. She urged that instead of being laid aside as +useless it might be that God was preparing her for a great work on behalf of others.</p> + +<p>Miss Bathurst was at the same time laying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> before Bessie the duty and +the privilege of a career of some kind, telling of her own labours +amongst the poor, and doing all that was possible to loving sympathy in +order to stimulate and encourage her.</p> + +<p>By degrees the dark cloud of depression passed away. It was to gather +again and again during the course of her life, to blot out sun and sky +and present happiness, but never to settle down into despairing incurable gloom.</p> + +<p>Bessie heard from Miss Bathurst much of the poor in London, of their +troubles, and of their poverty. Her own sympathies naturally led her to +consider the condition of the blind poor. She began to make inquiry as +to their number, the places they lived in, the work they did, their +homes and social condition. Note-books full of facts and dates and +numbers testify to the activity of this time. And then once again her +attention was directed to the blind teacher in the Avenue Road School.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1853, she was then twenty-seven years old, she wrote to +ask Mr. W. Hanks Levy to call upon her in Queen Anne Street. She said +she had been told that he could give her the information she wanted as +to the condition and requirements of the blind.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> MS. Sermon on the Blind, Rev. F. D. Maurice.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BLIND MANAGER</h3> + +<div class="block"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><div>"While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good."</div> +<div class="i12"><span class="smcap">Marcus Aurelius.</span></div></div></div></div> + +<p>The interview in Queen Anne Street was one of the most important events in Bessie's life.</p> + +<p>Her feeble health, her limited opportunities of ascertaining the +condition of the poor, her imperfect knowledge of their requirements and +their powers, made it imperative that she should find an ally with +health and energy, with experience that might supplement her own, and +with equal devotion to the cause she had at heart.</p> + +<p>W. Hanks Levy, who called at her request to tell her about the blind +poor, was one of whom she had often heard, and with whom she had already +corresponded. He was an assistant teacher at the school in Avenue Road, +married to the matron of the girls' department.</p> + +<p>Levy was of humble origin and blind from early youth. His education, +such as it was, had been received at the Avenue Road School, but he was +essentially self-taught. Outside of the narrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> routine of the school he +had worked and striven to obtain knowledge, to find help for himself and +others. He was a man of small stature and of slender build, with +plentiful dark hair on head and face. He wore darkened spectacles, which +covered the sightless eyes. His nose was large and well formed, and the +mouth fairly good. All the features were marked by extreme mobility, a +sensitive tremulousness often seen in the blind. It is as if they did +their thinking outside. Bessie had this same tremulous mobility of +feature; her soul fluttered as it were about a thought, and you saw +hope, apprehension, joy, fear, or dismay when it was first presented to her.</p> + +<p>Levy was a man of eager intelligence and generous heart. He earnestly +desired the amelioration of the condition of the blind. Their +disabilities had pressed upon him from his youth upwards, and upon all around him.</p> + +<p>Living in an institution, and able to measure himself by no higher +standard than that which it offered, he had not, however, realised the +actual limitations of blindness. It is doubtful whether he ever did +realise them. He would, therefore, have been an unsafe guide, but he was +an excellent follower. He would have resented interference from those +whom he called "the sighted," but he submitted to the blind lady; her +nurture, training, and delicate sense of the fitness of things gave her +a strong hold over him. He accepted her judgment when it was opposed to +his own will, and faithfully carried out her views and wishes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>During this first interview in Queen Anne Street he told her of the +various institutions in Great Britain and their work, and especially of +the work done in London. At her request he investigated carefully, and +obtained dates, facts, and figures that were reliable. Bessie found that +the institutions for the blind provided instruction for the young, and +for them only. Statistics showed, however, that by far the greater +number of blind persons lose their sight as adults, from such causes as +fever, smallpox, and accidental injury. They lose sight when others are +dependent upon them, and when blindness means either the life of a +beggar or life in the workhouse. And again she learnt that the existing +institutions dismiss young men and women who have been fairly educated +and taught a trade, on the assumption that, as adults, they can practise +their trade and earn a living. This conjecture tells cruelly upon the +blind. They leave many of the institutions with an adequate stock of +clothes, and either with tools or with money to purchase tools; and then +begins a hopeless struggle. Private friends diminish in numbers, and are +gradually lost. The blind men and women cannot go about from place to +place in search of work, cannot work without special contrivances, which +are not to be found in ordinary workshops, and have no market for their +goods if they work at home.</p> + +<p>But do blind people wish to work, or would they not rather beg? asked +many to whom Bessie spoke on this subject. To this she replied that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +did not know; must try to find this out. For some months, at her +request, Levy went into the streets and accosted every blind beggar whom +he met, asking him or her to tell the story of life to a blind man. +"Which would you rather do, work or beg?" he would ask when the speaker +had finished. And in almost every case the answer was "Work." "Why, I'd +rather work, but how can I get work; or, if I get it, how can I do it? +And where can I sell it, if I work at home without orders?"</p> + +<p>These were the difficulties that experience brought to light, and after +many months of close and patient investigation, Bessie at length saw a +way open before her. "Don't work yourself to death," a friend said to +her at this time. "Work to death," she said, with a happy laugh; "I am working to life."</p> + +<p>She saw that some one must come forward to befriend the blind poor, some +one who could supply material, give employment, or dispose of the articles manufactured.</p> + +<p>Why should she not do this?</p> + +<p>Her parents warmly approved of the course she proposed to take, and +brothers, sisters, friends encouraged her. They saw that it would bring +occupation and interest, which she sorely needed. They could not foresee +how the little rill was to widen into a broad stream, and what +far-reaching results it would have.</p> + +<p>In May 1854 "Bessie's scheme" was started. Seven blind men were employed +at their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> homes, material was purchased for and supplied to them at +cost price; the articles manufactured were to be disposed of on their +account, and they were to receive the full selling price, minus the cost of material.</p> + +<p>A cellar was rented in New Turnstile, Holborn, at the cost of eighteen +pence a week, and Levy was engaged as manager, with a salary of half a +crown a week, and a percentage upon the sales. The cellar was to be a +store-room for materials and goods, and as the basket-makers could not +bleach their baskets at home, a binn was fixed so that this part of the +work could be done in the cellar. Levy recommended a young man named +Farrow to put up the bleaching binn. Farrow had lost his sight at eleven +years old in consequence of a gun accident. He had been educated in the +St. John's Wood School, was a very good carpenter and cabinetmaker, and +a man who could readily turn his hand to anything. But like many others +who had left the school, he was without work or prospect of work.</p> + +<p>He fixed the bleaching binn and arranged the cellar as a store-room +without any assistance, and from 1854 to the present time he has been +employed by the institution which sprang from that small dark cellar in Holborn.</p> + +<p>Levy's theory was that no man with sight should interfere with the +blind; that an opportunity ought to be afforded them of showing that +their work is thorough and complete, and that they can stand alone. It +may, at that time, have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> been necessary to take such a step in order to +convince the general public that blind men and women could do anything +at all, but the theory involves a limitation which is to be regretted.</p> + +<p>Bessie's education, experience, and sympathy would naturally lead her to +try to restore the blind to their place and their work in the world, to +ameliorate their condition but not to alienate them, not to separate +them from home and companions. Her own happy youth, her work in the +schoolroom at Oxford, her enjoyment of the home at Chichester, all +tended to prevent her from being drawn into the current with enthusiasts +who looked upon the blind, less as afflicted, than as persecuted and +oppressed. She had gradually learnt that blindness is a limitation which +the most loving and tender care cannot entirely remove. To be blind, to +be a woman, both imply considerable restrictions: but Bessie was not +predisposed to consider one state any more the fault of society than the +other. She would labour to remove the disabilities of either condition, +but she always recognised that they were inherent, and did not arise +from persecution or ill-will.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to say so much at this time, because we shall see that +in many points Bessie did yield to the judgment of one who took an +extreme view; who, himself educated in an institution, surrounded only +by blind people, often of a very feeble capacity, had learned to look +upon himself more as a member of an oppressed and persecuted race than +as an afflicted man. Levy wished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> to show that the blind could do their +work and manage their affairs in their own way, and that it was as good +a way as any other. No "sighted" man was to interfere in the workshop. +He invented a system of embossed writing, and he used to send to +Chichester weekly accounts of the money paid for basket and brush +material, and in wages. This money was remitted by Bessie, and when +brushes and baskets were sold she was to receive the price paid for +them. The liabilities that she undertook were rent, manager's salary, +percentages on sale, incidental expenses, and losses. These, with only +the cellar and seven blind men at work, would not be more than she could +afford, and with the approval of her family she set to work bravely to sell her brushes.</p> + +<p>The only point on which the Bishop gave advice was, that difference of +creed should not be taken into consideration in selecting the workmen to +be employed. He urged this very strongly, and Bessie carried out his wishes.</p> + +<p>Levy's bills, in embossed writing, were copied by Bessie's mother and +her sisters; the weekly accounts were kept by these ladies from May +1854, when the cellar was taken, until the end of the year.</p> + +<p>In the earliest records comes the pathetic entry: "Man to see colour." +This man, in spite of Levy's resolve to employ none except the blind, +reappears pretty often as the "Viewer." He used to "view" the baskets and their colour.</p> + +<p>On the 16th of August 1854 Levy's wages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> were raised to 10s. per week, +and at that time the cost of rent, postage, and porter for one week +amounted to no more than two shillings and two pence.</p> + +<p>The cellar was, however, found to be inadequate to the requirements of +the undertaking, and it was decided that Levy should take a small house, +No. 83 Cromer Street, Brunswick Square. Bessie rented one room from him +at half a crown a week. It was to be used as a shop, and was known as +the Repository. The cellar in Holborn was given up.</p> + +<p>As the work of the seven blind men depended mainly upon orders, there +was no great accumulation of stock, but some few specimens were on hand.</p> + +<p>During the year 1854 Levy's accounts were copied sometimes by Mrs. +Gilbert, sometimes by Bessie's sisters or her sister-in-law. They were +quite clear to the two principals, but outsiders found them confused and +confusing. Bessie's younger brother took them in hand and tried to +reduce them to order, but the task was a hopeless one. Some bills were +entered more than once, whilst others were not entered at all. To +Bessie, who kept these accounts with unfailing accuracy in her head, the +difficulties with regard to entries must have seemed one of the +disabilities of sight. We learn some particulars as to the original plan +from a statement by Mrs. Gilbert; for each amanuensis kept her own +special copy of accounts.</p> + +<p>"As much is to come back from the men for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> material as has been +originally expended by Bessie for material.</p> + +<p>"The men take material weighed out by Mr. Levy one week and pay for it the next week.</p> + +<p>"This, with the value of the stock of material on hand, should tally +with what has been originally paid for materials of mats or baskets."</p> + +<p>Some light is thrown on the view of all concerned with regard to these +pecuniary details by a letter from Levy, dated 5th December 1854, and written from</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="center">W. H. Levy's<br /> +Repository for Articles<br />Manufactured by the Blind<br />Books and apparatus for their use<br /> +83 Cromer Street<br />Brunswick Square.</p></div> + +<p>He writes with regard to a description of mat which only one man, Burr, +can make, so that it will take him two or three weeks to execute an +order from Brighton, wanted immediately. He asks Miss Gilbert to have +the kindness to advise him concerning this matter, and says he has +enclosed last week's accounts, but is "fearful through the multiplicity +of business that the items, although correct in general, are somewhat +confused in detail." Then follows a lengthy superscription—</p> + +<div class="block"><p> I remain<br /> +Dr. Madam with<br /> Gratitude and Respect<br /> + Your obedient<br /> +Humble S<sup>t</sup>.<br /> <span class="smcap">W. H. Levy.</span></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>The "confusion in detail" seems to have been considerable, and Mr. +Gilbert's summary for 1854 was as follows:—</p> + +<table summary="disbursements"> + <tr> + <td class="left">Total of disbursements on Levy's account</td> + <td class="mono">£159 11 0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Total of Mandeville's bills not entered</td> + <td class="mono">60 5 8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">————————————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">£219 16 8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Total of receipts for material (presumably from workmen)</td> + <td class="mono">£54 4 11</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Total of other receipts (presumably sales)</td> + <td class="mono">32 8 9</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">————————————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Total receipts</td> + <td class="mono">£86 13 8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Loss </td> + <td class="mono">133 3 0</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>To this are added the following remarks:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>This account is only approximate. To the disbursement should +certainly be added about £6 paid to Levy for himself and not +entered, and one lost bill of Mandeville's (£4: 18: 6), if not more +than one. The receipts also are probably imperfect.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The word <i>loss</i> is one that would not approve itself to either of those +chiefly concerned. Bessie was <i>giving</i> freely of her income, Levy was +spending economically and carefully. Each knew that there was no error, +though there might be irregularities which seemed considerable to those +who were not primarily concerned in the great cause.</p> + +<p>For three months in 1855 there follow a most bewildering series of +accounts. Disbursements, receipts, sales, and a few donations are all +entered on one page. Such a course probably induced further remonstrance +from <i>the sighted</i>, and in March 1855 a more orderly system is adopted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +Receipts and disbursements are neatly kept on separate pages, and +confusion henceforth ceases.</p> + +<p>We may recall that Bessie always hated "sums," and found them +bewildering. She was, however, very accurate in mental calculation. She +knew what money she had advanced, on what occasions and to whom. No +amount was omitted or entered twice over in her memory. It was only by +slow degrees that she learnt the value of written records, the nature of +them, and the necessity of absolute accuracy in matters of business. +Ledgers and cash books and journals at first indicated merely a certain +incapacity in <i>the sighted</i>; but time and experience taught her that +they were indispensable.</p> + +<p>The work of the Repository had engrossed much of her time, but in the +summer she accompanied her parents and other members of the family on a +tour in Scotland. She was in very good health, and walked with a brother +and sister from Stirling to Bannockburn and back. Her love of early +Scottish history gave her a special interest in the places visited. As +they drove through Glencoe it was carefully described to her. Inverness, +as being near Culloden, was specially attractive. At Oban she heard of +the taking of Sebastopol, and this recalled her to the interests and +anxieties of that time. She enjoyed staying at Scotch hotels; but on the +whole she had derived less pleasure from the Scotch than from the Irish +tour. She found nothing so beautiful as the Killarney echoes, and missed +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>warm-hearted sympathy and genuine interest of the Irish peasantry +and guides.</p> + +<p>The one point that stood out pre-eminent as the outcome of her visit to +Scotland was her inspection of the School for the Blind in Edinburgh. +The work done there gave her many ideas, inspired many hopes and plans. +But she saw more clearly than ever that her scheme was a new departure, +and returned with confidence in her own power, and that of her blind workmen, to carry it forward.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>ROYAL BOUNTY</h3> + +<div class="block"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>... "From the cheerful ways of men</div> +<div>Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair</div> +<div>Presented with a universal blank</div> +<div>Of nature's works."...—<span class="smcap">Milton.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>We must remember that Bessie's scheme was at first a private matter, and +that there is no reason why a blind lady's accounts should be kept like +a tradesman's books. Bessie Gilbert had arranged that her weekly bills +should be copied by members of her family rather for their information +than for her own. So far as she was concerned she could remember what +she gave, and had only to take care not to exceed her income. This +seemed at first a simple matter, but before long the increased +expenditure in connection with "the Repository" began to be a source of +anxiety. The sale of goods entailed very serious loss. The workmen +received the full selling price of articles minus the cost of material, +and Bessie bore all charges and expenses, so that any considerable +development of the trade would have left the promoter of it penniless.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>Moreover, it was inexpedient to pay workmen as wages what was in +reality a gift. If they had received trade prices they could not have +lived on what they earned. Their work was much slower than that of the +sighted, and they had less of it. These conditions made the scheme an +experiment; and in the meantime the difficulty of the workmen was +surmounted by giving them everything.</p> + +<p>They executed an order for the trade or for an individual when it was +obtained, lived on the money, and waited for another order. This seemed +inevitable at the time; but the mistake was that for many years the men +considered the large sums paid as wages to be really their due. Now if +wages had from the first been fixed on the ordinary scale, and an +additional sum given as bonus, many subsequent difficulties might have been avoided.</p> + +<p>About five-sixths of the articles produced by the seven workmen were +sold in the trade at a discount of from 25 to 40 per cent, the latter +being the ordinary sum demanded and allowed. A further discount of 25 +per cent was allowed to the blind salesman. Thus a deficiency of from 50 +to 65 per cent had to be made up on all articles sold to the trade, to +which must be added the cost of rent, manager's salary, printing, porters, etc.</p> + +<p>To the blind lady and her assistant the only method that suggested +itself for the reduction of expenses was, that the articles manufactured +should be sold to the public and not to the trade.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> They must have, not +a repository but a shop, and a shop in a public thoroughfare. They must +make appeals for <i>custom</i>, and then income would suffice for the +expenses of management. It is doubtful whether Bessie ever wrote a +letter after 1855, save to members of the family, without an allusion to +the urgent need of customers.</p> + +<p>The work of the institution grew steadily, the number of applicants for +work increased. In reply to appeals for custom, donations were beginning +to come in, offers of subscription also, and it was evident that the +enterprise, begun in the cellar, was to grow and develop. Bessie found +that to make provision for supplying work, only in the homes of the +blind, would seriously restrict the industries to be carried on, some of +which required a special workshop. She saw that much more would be done +for the blind in a shop or factory, where they would find the requisite +material, often bulky as well as costly, and the requisite appliances. +These could not be provided in the single room of a blind man with a +wife and family. There was also a daily increasing demand amongst the +blind, not for charity but for work. It was not men only who applied. +Poor, respectable women, condemned by blindness and poverty either to +beggary or the workhouse, began to turn to her, to implore her to save +them also, to teach them a trade, and enable them to earn an honest +living. The opportunity for the employment of women was not to come for +a year or two, but the appeal issued on the behalf of work for blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +<i>men</i> was changed to one on behalf of blind <i>persons</i>.</p> + +<p>After six months in the Holborn cellars and eight months in the little +room in Cromer Street, it was decided that Levy should take a house and +shop at 21 South Row, New Road (now Euston Road), and that in the first +instance four rooms should be rented by Bessie at £26 a year. Levy was +henceforward to receive 12s. 6d. a week as manager, and his wife was to +serve behind the counter and to have, as a temporary arrangement, 25 per +cent on all articles sold in the shop.</p> + +<p>This increase in the expenses made it necessary that Bessie should +obtain help from the outside public; and the change of her work from a +private to a public undertaking was anxiously discussed in her own home.</p> + +<p>The Bishop urged that there should be a Committee of Management as soon +as subscriptions were asked for; and pointed out to his daughter the +responsibility of administering money belonging to others. Having done +this he left the matter in her hands, and she, like a dutiful child, +submits her case when she has come to a decision. She writes on her +Foucault frame in July 1855, from 31 Queen Anne Street:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Papa</span>—I wanted to have spoken to you about what I am now +going to write, but had no good opportunity before you went. The +situation of the shop in Cromer Street stands very much in the way +of the sale of my mats and baskets. No one goes into that street +unless they go on purpose, therefore I am sure it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> would be better +to move into a really good situation, which I cannot do without subscriptions.</p> + +<p>Mr. Taylor has said a good deal about the situation being a great +hindrance to the sale of the work, so have several people, so now +what I wish to tell you is that if you see nothing to the contrary +in the meantime, I shall begin on Monday to ask for subscriptions. +I have three promises, four rather, and I know I should soon get +more.... I remain, ever your dutiful and loving child,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert.</span></p> + +<p>You see I have taken rather for granted that you would have no +objection, and so as there is not much time now before we go, I +said Monday; as I thought it would be better to begin as soon as I +could.</p></blockquote> + +<p>To this the Bishop replied:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>6th July 1855</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Bessie</span>—Your letter was nicely written, and I read it for +myself very fluently. If it must be so, it must; indeed you could +not launch into a high-rented house without subscribers. You may +put me down low in the list for five pounds [£5] a year. I do not +think you will do very much now until next spring, but you may make +a beginning. It will grow under God's blessing. You must let me +know, before I go into the North, what sum must be left accessible +at Hoare's for the wants of E. M. M. G. Levi and Co.—I am, my +dearest Bessie, yr. ever affectionate father,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">R. T. Cicest<sup>r</sup>.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>On the 13th July Bessie writes again from Queen Anne Street:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Papa</span>—I would not be troublesome if I could help it, but I +cannot help it. I do think it would be well for my undertaking to +form a Society, and I want to know if I may set to work to do +whatever I can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> towards it. I send you a list of the people +Henrietta [a sister] and I have thought of for the Committee. Would +you mention any you think advisable? Of course I cannot tell that +any named in this list will agree to the proposal, so that it will +be well to be prepared with a good choice. Mr. Green and Mr. +Futvoye I am sure of, and Mr. Green will subscribe five guineas a +year. I am very anxious to get all this settled before leaving this +year, and as people will be leaving town soon, when once I have +your sanction I shall write to the people thought of, to ask them +whether they will undertake it. Of course there will only be a few +who will really work, but we must have names besides. I send you a +copy of the proposed rules. My notion is not to have a public +meeting this year, but only to let the Committee meet, and to hire +a room for this purpose. Levy suggested that Mr. Taylor should +visit the workmen at their homes. I think he would do this well. +Our love to mamma. We hope she is better.—Your loving, dutiful child,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>The Bishop's reply has not been preserved; but as the first Committee +consists of persons selected from the list furnished, he probably had +few changes to suggest, and in forming a committee Bessie was carrying +out advice he had previously given.</p> + +<p>An appeal to the public was drawn up by her, of which the following is a +copy. On the reverse was a list of goods made by the blind, with prices. +The public was informed that these articles were superior in durability +and equal in price to those ordinarily offered. It was hoped that the +circumstance of their being entirely made by blind men would induce +purchasers to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> encourage the industry of those who labour under peculiar +disadvantages in obtaining employment.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING<br />THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND.</p> + +<p>In addition to the many difficulties which the loss of sight +imposes on all blind persons, those whose livelihood depends upon +their own exertions labour under three great disadvantages.</p> + +<p>1. Comparatively few have an opportunity of acquiring a trade.</p> + +<p>2. The trades taught are very few in number.</p> + +<p>3. Those who have acquired an industrial art rarely obtain constant +employment or a market for their manufactures.</p> + +<p>In consequence of these difficulties great numbers are reduced to a +state of beggary and degradation. These would, as a class, be only +too thankful to be enabled practically to refute the prevailing +idea that a life of pauperism, or at best of dependence upon +almsgiving, is an inevitable necessity of their condition. It is +surely the duty of the community at large to afford them an +opportunity of so doing, and thus enable them to take their right +position as active and useful members of society.</p> + +<p>An undertaking was set on foot in May 1854 by a blind lady to +ensure regular employment to blind working men. This has been +gradually extended, so that the number now employed is fourteen; +and a department for teaching new trades has been added, at which +there are six pupils, particular attention being paid to the +instruction of those who, on account of age, are ineligible for +admission to other institutions. The mental and religious welfare +of the blind is also sought; and a circulating library of books in +relief type has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> established, to which the indigent are +admitted free of charge.</p> + +<p>To secure the continuance of the above undertaking, and in the hope +of its becoming, under God's blessing, gradually enlarged, and +eventually to a great extent a self-supporting National +Institution, an Association is now formed under the above title, +whose Committee, including the original promoter of the +undertaking, earnestly solicit the active support of all who +acknowledge its claims on the sympathy of the public.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Then follow the names of the first Committee.</p> + +<table summary="committee"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">The Treasurer, Henry Sykes Thornton, Esq., 20 Birchin Lane.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Committee.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Adams, James, Esq., 2 College Villas, Upper Finchley Road.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Anson, Sir John, Bart., 55 Portland Place.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Dale, Rev. Thomas, Canon of St. Paul's, 31 Gordon Square.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Dixon, James, Esq., 1 Portman Square.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Dyke, Charles, Esq., R.N., 6 Eaton Square.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Elmsley, William, Esq., Q.C., 46 Harley Street.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Futvoye, Edward, Esq., 8 Acacia Road, St. John's Wood.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Gilbert, Miss, 43 Queen Anne Street, and Palace, Chichester.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Glennie, Rev. John D., junr., 51 Green Street, Grosvenor Square.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Green, Frederic, Esq., West Lodge, Avenue Road, Regent's Park.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Hollond, Mrs. Robert, Stanmore Hall, near Harrow, and 63 Portland Place.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Johnson, George, Esq., M.D., 3 Woburn Square.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">King, Henry, Esq., 8 Lowndes Street.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Kynaston, Rev. H., D.D., St. Paul's Churchyard.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Powell, Mrs., 2 Palace Gardens, Kensington.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>Summers, William, Esq., 10 Great Marlborough Street, Regent Street.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Bathurst, Henry A., Esq., 101 Baker Street,</td> + <td class="left">}</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"> Portman Square, and 12 and 13 Great</td> + <td class="left">}</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"> Knightrider Street,</td> + <td class="left">} Auditors.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Wintle, R. W., Esq., 10 Tavistock Square, and</td> + <td class="left">}</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"> 22 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn,</td> + <td class="left">}</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Fyers, Captain, R.A., 3 Westbourne Place, Paddington, Hon. Sec.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left">Superintendent and Collector, Mr. William Hanks Levy, 21 South Row, New Road.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The projected Committee seems not to have acted in 1855, as at the end +of the year the account-book shows no sign of the supervision of auditors.</p> + +<table summary="1855 disbursements"> + <tr> + <td class="left">The disbursements for the year had been</td> + <td class="mono">£159 1 1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">The receipts stand as</td> + <td class="mono">141 5 4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">————————————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">No balance is drawn, but the sum contributed <br /> +by Bessie must have been</td> + <td class="mono" style="vertical-align: bottom">£181 14 9</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Her efforts on behalf of the blind met with grateful recognition. +Amongst the letters which she valued and preserved is one which belongs +to this period; it was probably written in the winter of 1855-56. The +paper is old and ragged, doubtless the letter has often been read aloud +to her and to others. It is undated, and for obvious reasons unsigned, +the blind workmen could not write their names; orthography and +punctuation are uncertain, and capital letters scattered at random. The +scribe employed wrote badly and spelt imperfectly, but no doubt the +letter was a genuine one, the outcome of warm though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>somewhat +incoherent feelings of gratitude and affection. She to whom it was +addressed knew this, and prized the poor letter accordingly. The +spelling is now corrected, and some punctuation attempted in order not +too greatly to bewilder the reader.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">The humble address of Blind Workmen employed by<br />their benefactor +Miss Gilbert to the Same.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—We the recipients of your bounty beg permission to be +allowed to express our gratitude collectively for the benefits we +have received from the Society instituted and under your +governance. With the deepest feelings of gratitude we have to thank +you for the great assistance during the last severe winter and the +constant support we have when no other work was to be procured. We +look upon this society as a time arrived in which our Heavenly +Father has placed in your hands the deliverance of the blind from +the worst of their afflictions, namely the Sting of Poverty. Madam, +we are assured it is a difficult undertaking and must be a great +trouble to contend with Tradesmen and to show forth our +capabilities. We must acknowledge that it is moved by God's +influence. It is what has been wanted since England has been a +nation, for a country so great not to employ their own blind in a +permanent manner appears to be a thing which no one till the +present ever attempted. We have considered that the truest manner +to show our gratitude and Satisfaction for the benefits received +would be allowed to present a small permanent testimonial which +shall impress on all minds the great blessing conferred upon us, +and how thankfully it is received by your humble Servants.</p></blockquote> + +<p>There is nothing to indicate the nature of the "permanent testimonial," +nor that it was ever presented; but the wish to make some return for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +benefits received, and the gratitude for work done on their behalf, +could not fail to encourage the blind lady.</p> + +<p>She had now the moral support of her Committee, but there was at this +time no Association, properly so called. No rules had been drawn up, +there were no Committee Meetings, and Bessie had not only to "contend +with tradesmen," but to conduct in the best way she could "the sale of +my mats and baskets."</p> + +<p>Levy was strongly impressed with the necessity of showing the capacity +of the blind, their power as well as their desire to work. It was +necessary to ascertain what trades it was possible for them to follow, +what trades were open to them, and under what conditions. He had found +by his own inquiry that the greater number of the blind poor were +willing to work; he now occupied himself, with Bessie's approval, in +making experiments in various handicrafts.</p> + +<p>She had acquiesced in his wish that none but blind persons should be +employed in the Institution, and that no trades should be carried on +there except such as the blind could work at unaided. Her own +experience, as well as the theory of her parents, had shown that more +can be done for the blind by including them with, than by separating +them from the sighted. But the argument to which she yielded was one +often urged by Levy: that it would be impossible to interest the public +in the scheme, unless the blind worked unaided, and it was made clear +that they were capable of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> following a trade. He also urged, and with +more reason, that the teacher of the blind should be a blind man, who +knows from his own experience the difficulties and the limitations of +blindness, and who has overcome them; for the teacher who knows these +only from theory will not have so intelligent an appreciation of them, +nor be so likely to discover the aids required by the blind.</p> + +<p>No one could have worked with more enthusiasm or energy than Levy +himself. He learnt trades and tried experiments with tools, introduced +brush-making, and prepared the way for the great development which he +and Bessie now foresaw. She also was not idle; the possibility of +employing women was always before her, and she made experiments with +regard to occupations that might be suitable for them.</p> + +<p>Her private scheme was now about to expand into an Association managed +by a Committee. Before the final step was taken she wished to secure all +the objects for which she had hitherto laboured, and to prepare for the +changes which were imminent. She endeavoured to obtain friends and +allies, and the success which attended her efforts was no doubt in part +owing to the fact that she was the daughter of a bishop and was herself +blind. She was spared the long and weary search for patrons and support +to which many are condemned. Her name, her position, her privation, +secured immediate attention from those who were able to give both money +and influence. So great was her success, that in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> winter of 1855 she +decided, all the necessary preliminaries having been arranged, to appeal to the Queen.</p> + +<p>In January 1856 she sent to the Queen an autograph letter, written on +her Foucault frame, and with the consent of Her Majesty the +correspondence is now reproduced:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—The loving care ever shown by your Majesty for the welfare +of your subjects, together with the benevolent interest which your +Majesty and your Royal Consort are so well known to take in works +of mercy, have emboldened me most humbly to pray for the gracious +condescension of your Majesty and your Royal Consort towards an +undertaking for employing the blind which has been carried on +during the past year and a half, on so limited a scale that but +very few have derived benefit from it. Being myself blind, I have +been led to take a deep interest in the blind, of whom there are +stated to be twenty-seven thousand in Great Britain and Ireland, +out of which number but a small proportion can be received into the +existing institutions, on leaving which many even of this number +are reduced to beggary from the difficulty they find in obtaining +employment. Could the endeavour to remedy this evil become truly +national, the condition of the blind, as a class, would, with the +blessing of God, be materially raised and improved, and this +nothing could so effectually ensure as the sanction and gracious +patronage of your Majesty and of your Royal Consort. The plan of +the undertaking for which I have ventured humbly to plead with your +most gracious Majesty, is to ensure to the blind workman a fixed +sum weekly, in remuneration for his labour; and also to teach those +too old for admission into institutions, some trade. Should your +Majesty be pleased of your gracious condescension to grant this +request, the hearts of your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> Majesty's blind subjects will be ever +bound to your Majesty in love and gratitude.—Your Majesty's most +dutiful, loyal, devoted, humble servant,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">E. M. Gilbert</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Perhaps at this point one may venture to call attention to the fact that +a person born blind or blind in early life can seldom spell quite +correctly. The training of the eye tells for much in the English +language, and the unaided memory cannot be relied upon. Bessie's +autograph letters are rarely free from defects; and the letter here +copied may have been discarded when it was found on supervision to +contain <i>admition</i> for admission, <i>Concert</i> for Consort, and one or two +other trifling inaccuracies. Some of her intuitions in spelling—only +think in how many cases a blind person's spelling must be intuitive—are +delightful. She gives instruction for a letter to be written to the +Rector of Marlbourne, our old friend Marylebone, and speaks of a +statement she remembers in De Feau.</p> + +<p>The autograph letter to the Queen was duly corrected, no doubt, and +despatched. It elicited the following reply from Colonel Phipps:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">To Miss Gilbert</span>.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Windsor Castle</span>, <i>15th January 1856</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—I have received the commands of Her Majesty the Queen to +inform you in reply to your application, dated the 11th instant, +that that paper does not contain sufficient intelligence with +regard to the institution which you advocate, to enable Her Majesty +to form any judgment upon it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>I am therefore directed to request that you will have the goodness +to forward to me the prospectus of the institution in question, +containing the particulars of its objects, locality, and mode of +management, and also an account of its financial position, +including a balance-sheet of its income and expenditure. I shall +have then an opportunity of bringing the question fully under the +consideration of Her Majesty.—I have the honour to be, Madam, your obed. humble servt.,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">C. B. Phipps</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This letter was the most valuable contribution yet received, and the +suggestion of a balance-sheet the most practical thing done on behalf of the scheme.</p> + +<p>There was immediate and anxious effort to comply with the suggestions +made, and on the 1st of February the details, dignified by the title of +"a Report" with such balance-sheet as could be produced, was forwarded +to Her Majesty. The reply of Colonel Phipps was again prompt, and as +Bessie justly considered it, "very gracious."</p> + + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">To Miss Gilbert</span>.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Windsor Castle</span>, <i>4th February 1856</i>.</p> + +<p>Colonel Phipps presents his compliments to Miss Gilbert. He has +laid the papers relative to her scheme for the employment of the +blind before Her Majesty the Queen, and has received Her Majesty's +commands to forward to her the accompanying cheque for £50 towards +the funds of this establishment, which promises to be so useful to +persons labouring under privation which particularly entitles them to compassion.</p> + +<p>Should the plan prove successful, as Her Majesty hopes it may, and +have the appearance of becoming permanent, Colonel Phipps is +commanded to request<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> that a further report may be made through him +to Her Majesty.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The kindly hand thus held out by the Queen to her blind subjects gave a +great and valuable impetus to the work. The Duchess of Gloucester sent a +donation through Colonel Liddell. Subscribers and donors came forward in +sufficient numbers to show that if blind men wanted work, both work and wages would be provided.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"Give unto me, made lowly wise,</div> +<div>The spirit of self-sacrifice."—<span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Throughout 1856 Bessie was mainly occupied in writing letters to all and +sundry. She wanted money, and more even than money, she wanted custom. +From the very first she saw that customers were of greater importance to +her than subscribers, for it was customers who could ensure the +stability and permanence of her scheme. If the blind were to be +employed, there must be a sale for the articles produced; and the +greater the sale the larger would be the number of workmen required. +Hence the sale of goods, the appointment of agents in country towns, and +the sending out of price lists, were important matters.</p> + +<p>She received help and encouragement from many friends. Letters, which +came from those who had known and loved her as a child, gave her great +pleasure, and were carefully preserved.</p> + +<p>The following is from a former fellow of Brasenose, the Rev. J. Watson:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>2d June 1856</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Bessie</span>—I fear I shall not quite respond to your wishes +exactly in the way you desire. But I will do something; I am not +fond of annuals, I forget them; and arrears are discreditable. Nor +indeed am I sure but that the enclosed (£10) may be more effectual +than an annual £1. <i>Vita brevis.</i></p> + +<p>All nations have some prudential maxims about present possession. +La Fontaine has a fable to the point, but I cannot call it up. +There is our own famous English proverb, the very Magna Charta of +prudential security. A bird actually in grip is worth the more +abundant but doubtful contingencies of the distant bush. I am glad, +however, of the opportunity of being able to do so much in the way +of donation, following in a modest way the example of our most +gracious Queen and governor.</p> + +<p>Thankful too I hope that, being reduced myself to almost a state of +helplessness by the same calamity, I am not obliged to appeal to +the charity of others; and have even something to give to relieve +the necessities of fellow-sufferers.</p> + +<p>So much for request second. As to request first, I will do what I +can. But I am a bad beggar, and people are not very easily +persuaded (far from it); 6d. in the pound property tax, poor rates, +champagne, lighting, anything will do to stop the mouth of a +petitioner. I doubt not in the range of your philanthropical +experience you have met with many a cold shoulder. I believe you +might disperse a mob more effectually by the exhibition of a +subscription list than by reading the Riot Act. It is very useful +in clearing your room of officious visitors. Produce a list for the +conversion of somebody to some thing which he was not before (to +wit, the Pope to a coadjutor of Dr. Cumming or Lord John Russell to +an honest statesman), and, presto! the whole scene changes. "Well, +Watson," says one, "I must be off, I have several calls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> to make." +"Bless me," says another, taking out his watch, "it's getting on to +half-past five (the clock has just struck three) and it's my week +to read in Chapel." Helter-skelter away they go, like Leonora +pursued by the ghosts.</p> + +<p class="center">Der Mond scheint hell,<br />Hurrah! die Todten reiten schnell.</p> + +<p>Well, Bessie, you have called up old times. Merry days they were, +and have left no sting. I sometimes see Mary. I go occasionally to +Didcot, where there are nice children; but Milton Hill is just a +mile and a half too far off. I can't walk as I could in those days +when we used to saunter through the scented glades of the happy +valley, or penetrate the mysterious horrors of Bagley. The last +fragment of those excursions was with Fanny and Henrietta to +Headington and round by Marston (as intended), but time was getting +on, and your good uncle would be waiting for his dinner. So in an +evil hour we made a short cut across the fields and verified the +proverb,—Hedges without a gap; ditches without a plank; gates +guarded with <i>chevaux de frise</i> of prickly thorns. It was then that +Henrietta, madly pushing at an impracticable passage, uttered that +famous parody:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>I'll brave the scratching of the thorn,</div> +<div class="i1">But not a hungry uncle.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>But I am spinning out a double-thrummed homily, and you have better +things to attend to. My love to you all. Believe me, my dear +Bessie, <i>vuestros hasta la muerte</i>,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">J. Watson.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie had sent as a Christmas present to Dr. Kynaston a silk +watch-chain of her own make, a favourite gift of hers to dear friends. +In his reply the doctor proposes to make an appeal to the public on +behalf of the blind. He writes:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">St. Paul's</span>, <i>26th December 1856</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Bessie</span>—Your pleasing remembrance both of me and of old +times was a happy and early beginning to me of yesterday's holy +celebrations. I think you over-rate my love of flowers. Till we +used to pick them together, I fear I was but a Peter Bellish sort +of being, of whom it is said that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>A primrose by the river's brim</div> +<div>A yellow primrose was to him,</div> +<div class="i2">And it was nothing more.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>I seldom look at wild flowers now but I think how you used then to +take them in your hands and feel them, and exclaim, "How beautiful +they are," admiring and loving them far more than any of us, I always believed.</p> + +<p>The chain, too, is highly prized, and I am delighted to show it to +my friends, and both to tell them that you could work it, and that +it was worked for me.</p> + +<p>I feel almost inclined to draw up a short account of your +institution, with a little memoir of the foundress, appending some +of the verses suggested in former years to my mind by your cheerful +and happy contentedness in the midst of those sad privations which +you now seek to alleviate in others.</p> + +<p>Circulated together with the more official and, of course, less +affectionate "statement" which was lately sent about, a little +memoir of this kind might do good to the cause. I should entitle it +"God's Fondness to the Blind," and it need not exceed many pages.</p> + +<p>If you approve I will set about it at once, and let you have the +results of my labour of love in the shape of proof sheets in a few days.</p> + +<p>We join heartily in wishing you and all your home party a happy +Christmas, and with much affection, I am always, my dear Bessie, most truly yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">H. Kynaston</span>.</p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert, Chichester.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p><p>Dr. Kynaston's suggestion was not carried out, it must have been most +distasteful to Bessie.</p> + +<p>Just in proportion to her desire to make known the cause for which she +worked was her dislike to personal notoriety. She felt keenly moreover, +and at all times, the pain of becoming remarkable through a calamity or +a defect. She could appreciate the writer's motive, and would answer +kindly and gratefully; but the proposal was at once put firmly aside.</p> + +<p>Her eldest brother, Mr. Wintle (he had taken his grandfather's name), +gave her much valuable assistance during 1856. He and Mr. Henry +Bathurst, brother of her friend Caroline Bathurst, acted somewhat +informally as auditors during the year, compared vouchers, examined +bills, and no doubt enlightened her as to the method of book-keeping +which would have to be adopted so soon as the Committee was fairly +established, and had taken over the management of the institution. This +was not done until January 1857. Bessie was probably anxious to draw up +rules for the institution which should embody her own views; but during +the infancy of the scheme she saw that she had not adequate knowledge +upon which to establish them. She had still much to learn as to the +powers as well as the defects of the blind, and she shrank from +legislation until she understood "her people."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wintle opened an account at Drummond's, a "Fund for employing the +Blind," to which donations and subscriptions were paid. In reply to her +own appeals, as well as in consequence of newspaper accounts and +sermons, she received many letters.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p><p>From all parts of the United Kingdom persons interested in the blind +applied to her for advice, or wrote on behalf of men who professed a +desire to learn a trade and earn their own living. Some of these were +really in earnest, but many were not. When arrangements had been made to +send them to work in London they drew back. Bessie was not discouraged. +She became more than ever convinced that the life of a beggar is +demoralising; but she knew that already, and had long seen that old +people will not give up begging, and that all efforts to improve their +condition must be made on behalf of the young. An extract from a single +letter will suffice to show the frequent result of a prolonged +correspondence and of final arrangements to receive a blind man as pupil:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I was delighted to see Miss Gilbert's letter, and immediately had a +talk with him [the blind man] which was not satisfactory, for he +said that, even if we should succeed in getting him the employment, +he is sure he could not support himself by work, as he was a much +shorter time under instruction than is usually the case.... He +seems to think he can do better by making a basket occasionally and +carrying it about the streets for sale, and begging of the few +people who know him. I am sorry it ends so for the present, for I +think his case a very distressing one. He was born in New York, and +has no parish in England; he has one tiny child here who leads him +about. His wife, with, I think, two more children, is in the Bristol Union.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Many similar cases helped Bessie to understand those on whose behalf she +laboured; but they never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> closed her heart to the appeal of a blind +person who was in need. The area of her work was enlarged, as well as +that of the aid which enabled her to carry it on. Not all those who +clamoured for employment really wanted it. They meant <i>alms</i> when they +said <i>wages</i>, and drew back in disgust from the offer to teach them a +trade and make them self-supporting. They were often even more degraded +and vicious than poor.</p> + +<p>To see and know this, and yet not to lose heart, to "hold fast to that +which is good" when evil abounds, is a difficult task. Bessie did not +shrink from it, and she did not misunderstand her work. She was merciful +and compassionate to those who had fallen, felt for them in the +solitude, the poverty, the despair that had driven them to evil courses, +would relieve them in actual want, but she soon learnt that nothing +could be done with or for them in the workroom. They might be reached, +and indeed must be reached by other agencies, but the <i>teacher</i> could do nothing.</p> + +<p>The practical outcome of this experience was extreme care in selecting +the persons to be taught and employed, and a very tender compassion in +reference even to the hopeless and abandoned. Their lonely, sad +condition was never overlooked.</p> + +<p>Bessie was very cautious in the selection of members of the Committee +who would henceforth govern the Institution, and a letter written about +this time on her Foucault frame to an old Oxford friend will be read +with interest. She not only wrote many of her own letters at this time, +but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> addressed her own envelopes, and very puzzling the postman must +have sometimes found them.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>16th January 1857</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. B</span>.—I hope you will not think this letter very +troublesome, but I know not in what other way I can gain the +information I wish than by troubling you with these lines. I +remember you have heard of my undertaking for employing blind +workmen. I have now formed an Association under the title of "The +Association for promoting the general welfare of the Blind," in +order to extend its usefulness, and to place it upon a more +permanent footing than it could have had when in the hands of one +individual. Now my object in writing to you is to ask whether Mr. +A., who is, I believe, a clergyman at C., knows or could find out +anything about a Mr. D., living, I believe, at C. He is a very +large fur dealer, very rich; he is blind, and I am anxious to have +him on the Committee of the Association, but must know more about +him before this can be done. He has a warehouse in the city, I +think, in Cannon Street or Cannon Street West. I want all the +information I can get with regard to his character and principles, +etc. I thought perhaps you would be able to get this for me through +Mr. A.'s family, or direct from himself if you would kindly write +to him on the subject. I send you some of the present price lists. +Brushes, hassocks, and servants' kneelers are now made, besides mats and baskets.</p> + +<p>By far the greater number of the blind become so after the age at +which they can be admitted into institutions, so that in most cases +these have not even the opportunity of learning anything by which +they can earn a living. I am anxious to have this want supplied, +and six are now being taught trades who would not be admitted into +other institutions, and this branch will, I hope, be gradually very +much extended. Then there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> a circulating library in raised books +to which the poor can belong free of charge, and others by paying +the subscription required by the Committee. If you think it would +be well, and will tell me so, I will write to Mr. A., but as I +thought you knew him, or, at all events, his family, I thought +perhaps you would be able, and would kindly undertake the matter, +which is only one of inquiry. We are a large family party now. M. +with her husband and three children, and E. with her two children, +are all here. Robert is gone back to London and law. Papa and mamma +are really very well, and would send kind messages did they know I +was writing. I hope you can give a good account of Mr. B. With very +kind New-Year greetings from us all to him and yourself—I am most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>During the whole of 1856 the possibility of giving employment to women +as well as men had been occupying Bessie's close attention, and it was +one of the things she wished to arrange whilst the management was in her +own hands. She found that the ordinary work of blind women, knitting, +crochet, etc., could not be relied upon as a means of livelihood.</p> + +<p>Experiments had to be made in brush making, chair caning, basket work, +wood chopping, and the trades that were being opened up for blind men. +These unremunerative experiments might not be sanctioned by a Committee; +and in fact the greater number of those made and the decision with +regard to them date back to the time when Bessie was the supreme and +ultimate authority; and they were made at her own cost.</p> + +<p>By the close of 1856 she had drawn up a set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> of rules to be submitted to +the Committee. One of the most important of these was that a +Sub-Committee should be appointed, whose duty it was to select the blind +persons to be employed. She would not hear of giving votes to +subscribers and enabling them to force upon the institution worthless +and incompetent persons. Careful selection was essential to her scheme, +and was one of the chief causes of its early success.</p> + +<p>Another matter which she deemed of importance was a stipulation that the +"present superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his +office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General Committee."</p> + +<p>The rules recapitulate the object and set forth the work of the +Association. They were submitted to a general meeting of the +subscribers, held on the 19th December 1856.</p> + +<p>The meeting having first resolved itself into the Association for +Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, unanimously approved of the +rules, and adopted them as the laws of the Association. They are +interesting as the outcome of Bessie's endeavours to ameliorate the +condition of the blind, and are therefore given at the end of the chapter.</p> + +<p>A Committee was appointed on the 1st of January 1857, and in May of the +same year a report was issued, with a balance-sheet, showing +subscriptions and donations to the amount of £435, £75 of which had been +contributed by Bessie herself. Interesting tables were appended,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> giving +the age, address, cause of blindness, family, income, to what amount +employed by the institution, and nature of trade of all men working for +the Euston Road shop, together with similar lists of men and women +desiring employment, of applicants at the institution, and of members of +the circulating library.</p> + +<p>The three months' report was a preliminary to a meeting held in Willis's +Rooms on the 26th of May 1857. The Bishop of London was in the chair, +the Bishop of Oxford spoke, and afterwards wrote to Mrs. Gilbert:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Lavington House, Petworth</span>, <i>30th May 1857</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Gilbert</span>—I must tell you with many thanks what +pleasure your kind letter gave me, and how glad I was to be able to +take part in <i>that</i> meeting. I did not at all please myself in what +I said, <i>because</i> I wanted to show in the instance of your own +daughter how God brought good out of such suffering; how the inward +character, intensifying and become sanctified by grace, made the +sufferers as an angel in the house, do what otherwise they never +would have done, by the example of her becoming the foundress of +this institution—but she was present, and I could not trust myself +to say all I felt. May God's blessing rest abundantly on this good +work.—I am ever, most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S. Oxon.</span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>We have now the result of Bessie's three years of arduous labour. Her +institution was fairly afloat. The Bishop of London had consented to act +as president, and the Rev. Thomas Dale, Canon of St. Paul's, was the +vice-president. Notices<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> of the meeting appeared in the London papers, +and were copied in provincial papers. Donations, inquiries, and orders +increased, and so did applications for employment from blind men and +women. The Bishop of Chichester had written a prayer to be read before +Committee meetings, and this prayer was used by Bessie until the last +day of her life. She looked upon it as a solemn sign of her father's +approval, and as sanctifying all her efforts on behalf of the blind.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>No period of her life was so rich and full as the few years that +followed the first development of her scheme. She was surrounded by +friends who were enthusiastic in the cause, ready to serve her, and +willing that she should guide and control the work which she had +initiated. Some of those who gathered round her in 1857 are still +working for the institution. Captain, afterwards Colonel Fyers, who for +a time filled the part of honorary secretary, was a faithful and +generous friend to the blind from 1857 until his death in July 1886. Mr. +Summers still sits on the Committee.</p> + +<p>One of the first things done by the Committee was to take a lease of the +house occupied by Levy, then known as 21 South Row, and subsequently as +127 Euston Road. It was prepared as a factory for the blind. Rooms were +set apart for the various trades, and the requisite fittings and tools +were supplied. A large front room on the first floor was assigned to women.</p> + +<p>Many informalities and irregularities which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> sprung up insensibly +whilst the undertaking was small and private had now to be abolished. +The Committee directed that subscriptions and donations should no longer +pass through the trade cash book, and we may assume that a strict method +of book-keeping was adopted.</p> + +<p>An initial difficulty there was, and always will be, in the management, +by amateurs, of business which involves the purchase of material from +foreign markets. Prices rise and fall, quality is open to deception, +wages have also to be adjusted, and manufactured goods must be sold +wholesale as well as retail. This is taken in hand by a Committee +consisting of ladies and gentlemen, many of whom could probably not +dispose of a basket of oranges on advantageous terms.</p> + +<p>Bessie herself by this time had acquired considerable information in +matters of business, and she knew the difficulties that surrounded her. +Practical knowledge of this kind would have justly given her a prominent +place on any Committee. Her own Committee placed her without hesitation +in a position from which she was never deposed. They looked upon +themselves as elected to carry out her aims and objects for the blind, +and they believed her to be the best guide they could have. She on her +side gave her whole time and attention to the mastery of all the +intricacies of trade and mysteries of book-keeping. She was soon +familiar with stock-book, ledger, cash-book, and banker's accounts. When +she discovered that her wish would be law, she became doubly anxious +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> scrupulous. She had always treated every one around her with +courtesy and generous consideration, and now to the grace of nature was +added a strong sense of the duty she owed to those who trusted her and +relied upon her. She was careful to ascertain the wishes of her +Committee upon every subject to be presented to them, and she never +urged her own views until she saw that her friends were ready to receive them.</p> + +<p>One further development of her work was of doubtful utility. Schools to +teach reading to the blind were formed in different parts of London. +Each scholar was paid threepence for his or her attendance, and guides +were also paid for. It was found some years later that classes for the +blind, under similar conditions, were rather extensively carried on, +were indeed a favourite form of private benevolence, and that there were +blind men and women who earned a living by going about as pupils.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">RULES FOR GENERAL MANAGEMENT.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Title.</i></p> + +<p>1. That this Society be denominated <span class="smcap">The British Association for +Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind</span>.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Objects.</i></p> + +<p>2. That the more immediate objects of this Association shall be to +afford employment to those blind persons who, for want of work, +have been compelled to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be +tempted to do so. To cause those unacquainted with a trade to be +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>instructed in some industrial art, and to introduce trades +hitherto unpractised by the blind. To support a Circulating Library +consisting of books in various systems of relief printing, to the +advantages of which the indigent blind shall be admitted free of +charge, and others by paying the subscription required by the +Committee. To collect and disseminate information relative to the +physical, mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind. To +promote amongst the supporters of the various institutions for +their benefit, and among other friends of the blind, a reciprocal +interchange of the results of their efforts for ameliorating their condition.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Members.</i></p> + +<p>3. That donors of £5:5s. at one time shall be life members of the +Association, and subscribers of half a guinea annually, members so +long as they shall continue such subscriptions.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Committee.</i></p> + +<p>4. That the management of the affairs of the Association be vested +in a General Committee, to consist of the founder, Miss Gilbert, +and two ladies chosen by her, a President, Vice-President, +Treasurer, and seven gentlemen, to be chosen annually by the +members from among themselves; which General Committee shall meet +on the first Wednesday in February, May, August, and November, or +oftener if necessary; three to be a quorum.</p> + +<p>4b. That out of the fourteen elected members of the Committee, Miss +Gilbert shall nominate one to be Vice-President, who, together with +herself, the two ladies chosen by her, and two gentlemen, elected +from among their own number by the President, Treasurer, and +gentlemen of the General Committee, shall be a Sub-Committee, whose +business it shall be to select the blind persons to be employed by +the Association, and to regulate the details, subject to the +correction of the General <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>Committee. This Sub-Committee to meet at +least once a fortnight, and three to be a quorum.</p> + +<p>4bb. The President or Treasurer shall be capable of being nominated +Vice-President, and Miss Gilbert shall have the privilege of +introducing at the meetings of either the Committee or +Sub-Committee, her mother, or one of her sisters, who may take part +in the proceedings, but not vote.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Auditors.</i></p> + +<p>5. That two subscribers be chosen annually, by the members of the +Association, to audit the accounts of the ensuing year.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Treasurer.</i></p> + +<p>6. The Treasurer shall be elected annually by the members of the +Association, and shall present his accounts to the members, and +also to the auditors or the Committee whenever required. All drafts +upon the Treasurer shall be signed by two members of the Committee.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Annual Meeting of Members.</i></p> + +<p>7. That a General Meeting of the members of the Association be held +annually on the second Wednesday in May, notice thereof to be sent +to each subscriber on the first of that month, to receive from the +Committee a report of their proceedings, and to appoint the +officers for the ensuing year. But should any vacancy occur in the +offices of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Auditors, or +gentlemen of the Committee or Sub-Committee, the vacancy shall be +supplied by the Committee or by Miss Gilbert, as the case may be, +until the next general meeting.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Funded Property.</i></p> + +<p>8. All monies directed by the Committee to be funded, shall be +vested in the joint names of four Trustees, chosen by them, unless +otherwise directed by the donors; the dividends arising therefrom +shall be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> received by the Treasurer, and applied to the current +expenditure of the Association. As often as any vacancy shall occur +among the Trustees, or change appear necessary, the same shall be +supplied or effected by the Committee.</p> + +<p>No general meeting shall have power to sell or appropriate any part +of the capital funded property, until the order made by it for such +purpose be confirmed by a subsequent annual or extraordinary +general meeting, consisting of not less than twenty-four members of +the Association, of whom three-fourths at least shall vote for such confirmation.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Auxiliaries.</i></p> + +<p>9. The Committee shall be empowered to form or to receive into +connection with the Association, upon terms to be agreed upon, +Auxiliaries in various parts of the kingdom, for the purposes of +increasing the funds and extending the utility of the Association.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Special Cases.</i></p> + +<p>10. The Sub-Committee may in a special case require the patrons or +friends of any indigent blind person to pay a donation, or provide +an annual subscription of such amount as they shall deem proper and +suitable, before admitting the applicant to the benefits provided by the Association.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Secretary and Superintendent.</i></p> + +<p>11. A Secretary, and likewise a Superintendent of the Repository, +shall be appointed by the General Committee, each with a stipend, +if necessary. These offices to be held together if the Committee +shall so appoint. It shall be the Secretary's business to attend at +every meeting of the Committee and Sub-Committee; register the +proceedings, and keep the accounts of the Association. He must +always be ready to produce the books and accounts fairly written +out, to any member of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> Committee. On his appointment he shall +give such security as shall be required by the Committee, for the +performance of the duties of his office, and for the due accounting +for such monies as may be paid him for the purposes of the +Association. The Superintendent of the Repository shall also give +security in like manner as the Secretary, and conduct the business +of the Repository with zeal and assiduity. The present +superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his +office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General +Committee. He must also be in attendance at each meeting of the +Committee or Sub-Committee, and be ready to give information at +other times also when required.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Visitor.</i></p> + +<p>12. That a subscriber who is not a member of Committee be appointed +by the Committee to visit the persons employed at their own homes +and the Repository, and other premises of the Association, and +present to them a quarterly report of the results of his observations.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<blockquote><p class="center">BISHOP GILBERT'S PRAYER.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>To be offered up at all Meetings of the Committee and Members.</i></p> + +<p>O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, in Thy ministry upon earth, didst make +the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, lepers to be +cleansed, the dead to be raised up (Matt. xi. 5, Luke vii. 22), and +by Thy holy apostle has commanded Thy followers, that we should +bear one another's burdens (Gal. vi. 2), regard with Thy favour, we +beseech Thee, and aid with Thy blessing, our humble endeavour to +remove stumbling-blocks from before the feet of the blind, to +smooth their difficulties, and to strengthen their steps.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>Prosper our efforts, we humbly beseech Thee, O Father, to their +worldly relief, and sanctify them, by Thy Spirit, to the increase +in us of humility, faith, thankfulness, and charity, and to the +growth in our afflicted brethren and sisters of patience and +resignation, of goodwill to those around them, and of love to all, +with all other graces that adorn the Christian life. Of Thy mercy, +O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one ever blessed Trinity in Unity, +hear our prayer, and accept and bless the work of our hands. O +prosper Thou our handiwork. Amen.</p></blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The prayer is inserted at the end of this chapter.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"Boundless pity for those who are ignorant, misled, and out of the +right way."—<span class="smcap">Kingsley.</span></p></div> + +<p>Bessie was now thirty-two years old, and during 1857, 1858, and part of +1859 she was probably at the height of her power, physical and mental. +The physical never amounted to very much. Her health was feeble. She was +liable to long fits of depression, to long attacks of headache and +prostration, to much suffering from nervous exhaustion. During the year +1857 the progress and development of her work, the encouragement and +offers of help which she received, stimulated her to unusual activity. +To a great extent she took her life into her own hands, and choosing a +confidential maid to accompany her, she visited blind men and women, the +institutions established for them, and her own friends, new and old, as +well as many influential persons to whom she had received introductions. +She made and carried out her own arrangements, and might fairly consider +herself emancipated from control. The only restriction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> placed upon her +by her parents and not yet removed was that she should not travel alone. +She submitted, but often wished to ascertain for herself, and by +experience, if the prohibition was necessary.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, when travelling from Chichester to London, she sent her +maid into an adjacent carriage. She wished to try the experiment of +being alone in the train. At the last moment a gentleman rushed into the +station, jumped into the first available carriage, that in which she was +seated, and had just time to close the door when the train started. +Bessie was a little disturbed by this incident. As her companion did not +address her, she knew him to be a stranger. She soon found that he was +reading a newspaper, and as it was an express train she remembered that +she must have his company as far as London. Her companion was not aware +that the train was express, and when it dashed through the station at +which he had hoped to stop, he——</p> + +<p>At this point, when she recounted the adventure, Bessie paused:</p> + +<p>"What did he do?" was asked.</p> + +<p>In an awe-struck voice she answered, "He swore——an <i>oath</i>."</p> + +<p>The look of startled pain with which she must have heard that oath +passed over her face, and the sensitive mouth quivered. She knew nothing +about an oath; she had been told that sometimes there was bad language +in a book or in a newspaper, but no one had ever said an oath to her, or +read an oath. And now in the solitude of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> railway carriage she was +shut up with a man,—swearing.</p> + +<p>"What did <i>you</i> do?" was asked.</p> + +<p>"I held on tight to the arms of the seat. I was so frightened. I did not +know what he might do next."</p> + +<p>"What <i>did</i> he do?"</p> + +<p>"He was very quiet; it seemed a long time; then he said 'I beg your +pardon;' and after that he did not speak again, and he jumped out as +soon as we reached London."</p> + +<p>She referred to this as one of the most painful adventures of her life, +and said she passed through an agony of apprehension and suspense until +the train arrived at the terminus.</p> + +<p>This journey took from her all desire to travel alone, and she made no +further experiment in that direction.</p> + +<p>The success of her efforts on behalf of the blind began now to be spread +abroad, and institutions in many parts of England were disposed to +consider the possibility of not only teaching but permanently employing +the blind. Many inquiries were made of her, and she gave cordial +encouragement to all who asked her advice. Levy was often sent to teach +a trade, and to give information as to the best manner of carrying it on.</p> + +<p>One letter from him may be given as a sample of many, and of the fresh +interests that were being opened out:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">127 Euston Road</span>, N.W., <i>26th October 1857</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>—On Monday the 19th inst. I left home for Bath, where I +continued till the following<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Thursday, when I went to Bristol, +which I left on Saturday and returned home. My presence being +required in London, I felt it prudent to defer my visit to +Hereford, which I think you will approve when I have the pleasure +of acquainting you with the details of the reasons which influenced +me. The results of these visits are of the most satisfactory kind, +being briefly the following: Commenced chair caning at the School +Home, Bath, and suggested improvements in basket-making which the +Committee approved, and the basket-makers showed every disposition +to carry out; taught two pupils to write, that they might teach +others to use the writing frame which they purchased; advised the +introduction of a laundry and tuning pianos, and arranged for the +sale of each other's manufactured goods. Before leaving Bath I +received orders for nearly thirty brushes and brooms, and had the +satisfaction of receiving from their Committee an offer to pay all +my expenses, which the vote of £5 enabled me to decline. The master +of the Bristol school promised to bring before his Committee the +subject of employing men who are not connected with their +institution. I have promised to send him some material, that he may +commence brush-making there. Miss Stevens advances money to a +workman which is regularly repaid; she complains much of the apathy +of the people in Bristol. Capelin is succeeding; business is +pressing and promising. Lady Byron's order will be forwarded this +week; there is not any difference made to Mr. Moon's subscribers, +but a grant might be obtained from the Bible Society, or the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; an arrangement with the +shopkeeper would be advantageous. Hoping that you will excuse +brevity, I am, dear madam, with gratitude and respect,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Wm. Hanks Levy.</span></p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—We are all quite well.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>The blind throughout Great Britain were beginning to learn that they +had a friend; and Bessie received numerous letters and appeals for help. +The Rev. J. Burke, a blind clergyman, was elected in 1857 by the Mercers +Company to a Lectureship at Huntingdon, and he writes to thank Bessie +for efforts made on his behalf which had resulted in his appointment. +The employment of women called forth a fresh burst of enthusiasm and +gratitude from the blind. One of the first workwomen was Martha Trant, +subsequently employed for more than twenty years.</p> + +<p>A copy of verses by "W. Heaton and Martha" probably belong to this early +period. They were laid by with several similar testimonials, all yellow +with age and worn by use, but carefully preserved as the "jewels" of the blind lady.</p> + +<p>William Heaton had been trained as a teacher for the blind, and, poor +fellow! his gratitude was far in excess of his poetical power:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>Yes, I for one have felt the good,</div> +<div class="i1">And hope to feel it still;</div> +<div>For I a teacher soon shall be,</div> +<div class="i1">Then do my best I will.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>I thank you for the favour that</div> +<div class="i1">You have conferred on me,</div> +<div>For thus admitting me to learn</div> +<div class="i1">A teacher for to be.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>Martha's verses are upon the same level as William's:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span><div>Oh that we had the power to speak</div> +<div class="i1">The gratitude we feel,</div> +<div>But words are vain, and oh how weak,</div> +<div class="i1">The feelings to reveal.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Dear lady, we most humbly hope,</div> +<div class="i1">You kindly will accept</div> +<div>This token of our gratitude,</div> +<div class="i1">Our love and deep respect.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>And so on through several not very interesting pages. But to Bessie the +value of these effusions was very great. They showed not only the +gratitude but the happiness of her workpeople. They indicated a renewed +life of the intellect and affections, and were received with encouraging +sympathy. The composition of verses had given pleasure to herself from +early childhood, and no doubt the form of expression chosen by the +workpeople was influenced by her own example.</p> + +<p>The time had now come when she was to learn more of the effects of +blindness upon the character than had hitherto been revealed to her. She +had inaugurated work on behalf of a special class, a course always beset +by difficulties, and she was open to the influence of the fanatics of +that class, of those who had been embittered by suffering and had +allowed themselves to drift to the conclusion that they were set in the +midst of cruel enemies.</p> + +<p>There are some blind people who, when the full knowledge of all that +their calamity entails is borne in upon them, have the courage, faith, +and hope of a Christian to support them. They go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> forward in the +certainty that as this cross has been appointed, strength will be given to bear it.</p> + +<p>There are others who resolve to live their life, to carry out their +aims, to press forward along the lines laid down for them, and not allow +a mere physical privation to reduce them to a condition below the high +level to which they had resolved to attain. Christian faith animates and +supports the former, physical and mental force will carry on the latter. +In rare cases, Bessie's was one of them, the two are combined. But there +is a third and perhaps a more numerous class—those who consider +themselves as unjustly afflicted, and look upon mankind as enemies. +Mankind is the majority, the blind are the minority. They speak of the +attitude of "the majority," the neglect and selfishness of "the +majority," the duty of "the majority." Their only outlook seems to be in +restrictions to be applied to the more fortunate. They are the +one-legged men who want to abolish foot races. They seek not so much to +raise those that are cast down, as to abase those who stand erect. +Bessie's knowledge of the blind would not have been complete if she had +remained ignorant of this large class.</p> + +<p>She had deep sympathy with those who were embittered by sorrow and loss. +She could feel for the man upon whom blindness entails sudden collapse; +all his prospects shattered; himself and those dependent on him plunged +into poverty. He sees himself set aside and made of no account. He +forgets the blind whom he has known and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> neglected without any thought +of injuring, and suspects every man who is indifferent to him of being a secret and cruel enemy.</p> + +<p>Numerous letters addressed or submitted to her show that the morbid +bitterness of many a heart had been revealed to her, and that she had +been urged, again and again, to lead a forlorn hope, and storm the +heights that were held by the sighted.</p> + +<p>She knew what it was to hear her "humble work and low aims" spoken of +with contempt, and to find that those whom she loved and honoured were +objects of ridicule to the advanced thinkers amongst the blind. She +could not work with men and women of such a type, but her sympathy gave +her faultless intuitions with regard to them. Underneath a hard, +aggressive exterior she felt the beating of a heart that was torn and +bleeding. She could make allowance for wild words and angry +exclamations, she could try to understand their meaning, but she was +never dragged into the whirlpool of mere clamour, nor wrecked upon the +hidden rocks of despair.</p> + +<p>A few extracts will show the dangers to which she was exposed, dangers +not unfamiliar to many of those who read the story of her life.</p> + +<blockquote><p>We are all of one opinion that the blind ought to be educated and +restored to the privileges of social life and happiness from which +they have been unjustly and selfishly excluded.... The present +condition of my own private affairs and the desolate prospect of +the future do not deter me from persevering, nor shall I desist so +long as God gives me health of mind and one or two links by which I +may communicate with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> selfish and insensible Levites of the +sighted world.... No permanent success will be gained till the +education of the blind and their reception into social life be +recognised and insisted on as a Christian duty; till the old and +selfish indifference of animalism, that is almost everywhere +manifested, be superseded by a more earnest and generous anxiety +for their wellbeing, something more worthy of the spirit of humanity.</p> + +<p>Until this real Christian sympathy be awakened to take the place of +that evasive and reluctant sham, so offensively paraded, misleading +the benevolent and deeply injuring us, we shall not be able to make +any progress. It is to arouse this sense of duty that I direct all +my efforts. I see plainly it is the only road to success. We must +first look to the enlightened, conscientious, and humane of every +creed, trade, profession, and rank, who believe in and practise +that Catholic duty of individual effort. Next those who by official +position ought to lead the way; and here we come first to the +minister of religion, who basely deserts his duty if he attempts to +snub into silence the just clamours of those who are hourly sinking +into the wretchedness of conscious degradation and social exile, +merely because the well-meaning sighted do not wish to be disturbed +in their enjoyment of all the blessings of the visible world and +social existence, by these melancholy and distressing subjects. If +the ministers of religion do but their duty, it must then be taken +up by the Board of Education, and public opinion will then call on +men of science, especially the medical profession, to direct their +physiological inquiries to higher subjects too long neglected. If +but one hundredth part of the mental energy that has been of late +years directed to the constitution and habits of the insect world +and of shellfish, had been devoted to an inquiry into the means of +restoring to healthy action the imprisoned, stagnant, and +deteriorating mind of the blind, something long before now would +have been done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> more worthy of the name of philosophy.... As to +gaining information from the teachers of schools, I do not expect +you would be treated with much respect in our present degraded and +unrecognised condition. With the exception of —— and ——, I +never met with any one who treated me with the respect due to an +educated man; the manner in which I have been treated by others +connected with such institutions has almost universally been that +off-hand supercilious disrespect, with which an imaginary superior +treats one of a lower grade, such as a beadle will show to a +workhouse child.... The reckless and unprincipled disregard of +truth to which the supposed-to-be helpless, dependent, and +incapable blind are so generally exposed, has long taught me to +keep copies of my letters.... I could fill pages with many an act +and their consequences, which have contributed to my present ruined +position, the miserable desolation of my mother's old age, and the +blasted prospects of those who must sink and degenerate into +isolated poverty, who would otherwise have formed a happy, +self-supporting, united, and self-elevating family. This would +never have happened had not those who know well where to find when +convenient those sacred texts, "Thou shalt not lead the blind out +of their way! Thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before the +blind," taken a foul advantage of my supposed incapacity to protect +my own interests, and had they not practically ignored the <i>equally +sacred obligation</i> that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." And +when I have occasionally heard the Jesuits railed against for +advancing the doctrine that the end sanctified the means, I have +assured such, that those equally were to be dreaded who privately +practised without openly advocating it.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie's nature was too healthy, and her own experience had been too +favourable to allow her to believe in the organised opposition of +society<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> to the afflicted. But she was deeply moved by these cries out +of the dark. They made her more than ever resolute to labour on behalf +of the blind; they also showed her that she must stand aloof from plans +and schemes which assume that the blind are struggling against their +enemies, and that if they are successful, a time of subjection for the sighted will follow.</p> + +<p>In May 1858 one of the earliest entries in her Common Place Book refers +to this subject, and treats of the position of the blind in a world +specially adapted for the sighted. The sensible, clear view, calm and +dispassionate, is characteristic of one trained to look on all sides of +a subject, and to recognise that which is just for all. The child's love +of what was fair comes in to help the woman to see that a majority has +rights as well as a minority. She had to learn that, amongst the blind +workers, she stood almost alone in this recognition. She was surrounded +by men, some of whom attributed their misfortunes and failures not so +much to the loss of sight as to malignity and oppression, whilst others +believed and endeavoured to persuade those around them that blindness +induces an intellectual superiority, characteristic of the blind man. +Many of these were predisposed by early experience to suspect +intentional persecution, but Bessie never shared their views; and an +exalted notion of her own conduct, merits, and powers was impossible to her.</p> + +<blockquote><p>L. [Levy] asked me the other day [she writes] if I had ever thought +that it was an additional hindrance to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> blind that so much in +the way of communication between human beings was carried on by +means of sight, that so much, in short, in the world was adapted to +the sense of sight, and that only: for instance, that all signals +are addressed to sight, and not to any of the other senses. He +thought that hearing and smell could be made much more available +than they are at present. I have often thought this; but of course +it is only natural that the intercourse of the world should be +adapted to the senses of the majority of its inhabitants; indeed, +it would not be well, either for the world in general or for any +minority under any peculiar circumstances that this rule should be +departed from, only there ought to be the possibility of training +this minority in such a way as that it might avail itself as far as +possible of the means in use for general intercourse, and where +this is impracticable, of substituting other means which shall +answer the end in view. For example, the senses of hearing, touch, +and smell might, I believe, be very much more accurately educated, +and more fully developed than they are for the most part; but I +have much to find out on this point. I can now, however, quite +understand that systems of signals might be made very intelligible +to the senses of hearing and smell. I remember Dufeau thinks that +these senses might be much more developed; but he does not think +that the principles upon which this should be done are yet +sufficiently understood to establish a system of accurate training of them.</p> + +<p>From what I have seen, nothing does this so effectually as the +necessity of using all the faculties in self-maintenance, though it +is true sometimes that when this struggle is too hard the whole +being seems so utterly depressed that all the faculties seem to be dormant.</p> + +<p>I wish I had time for more personal intercourse with the blind. I +have, however, had more this year. One of the women at the +Repository, Jane Jones, strikes me very much as having a good deal +of spiritual insight, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> I know not what else to call it. It is +strange, for her other faculties seem to be below the average; +perhaps, however, partly from the want of having been called out. +Among the women there seems to be a great mutual kindliness. A. L., +the most intelligent of them, is full of energy, and seems to have +a strong desire for improvement in every way. She is only one and +twenty, and more educated than the rest. She has much to contend +with. I hope she may do much in teaching.</p> + +<p>I have found the only two men I have as yet taken to teach, +wonderfully patient, and most willing to learn. One has a very good +notion of spelling, and is evidently really fond of arithmetic. The +other has scarcely any idea whatever of spelling, and it is very +difficult to give him a notion of the sound of the letters; but as +far as his mind has been opened to different subjects he has, I +suspect, a good deal of information and seems full of interest, +especially in accounts of travels. The history of Egypt, so far as +he knows it, seems to have seized upon his imagination in a way at +which I was quite astonished. He is an Irishman.</p></blockquote> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS</h3> + +<div class="block"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt,</div> +<div>Nothing's so hard but search will find it out."</div> +<div class="i16"><span class="smcap">Lovelace.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The entries in Bessie's Common Place Book are not numerous, but they are +very valuable. They are the result of careful study, of long-continued +and anxious thought, and they are the most important original work left +by her. They will be read by all who have endeavoured to help the blind +with no less interest than by the blind themselves.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><i>Education of the Blind.</i></p> + +<p>In the preface to a poem entitled Genius of the Blind, by E. H. +White, a blind man, he speaks of the great amount of labour and +money which have been spent in attempts to educate the blind; of +the comparatively small result, and of the bad effects of bringing +up the blind in asylums, and thus estranging them from their +families. It seems to me, however, that some such plan is necessary +for those who cannot be educated at home; though perhaps in the +case of pupils whose homes are in the town in which the institution +is situated, the evil complained of might in a measure be remedied +by their being admitted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> as day scholars, as I once remember Mr. +Bird suggesting. But even here in London and other large towns, +distance might be a great difficulty; and for those pupils not +residing in the town itself, I see nothing to prevent this evil +except holidays, and perhaps in many cases even this might not be +practicable. There is also this to be said, that among the poor it +is by no means the blind only who become estranged from their +homes: I think this may be said of the majority with more or less +truth; and it has often struck me that in all the different plans +for improving the condition of the people, this very evil is too +little thought of and guarded against. Indeed, I think that in all +classes this is hardly recognised to be as great an evil as I +believe it really to be. No doubt it was always intended that +families should separate and disperse; but much more might be done +than is done, to keep the home affections fresh and living, in the +hearts of their members. Certainly the blind have, if anything, +greater need of receiving and exercising the social affections than +others. And here I would lay particular stress on the necessity of +their exercising those affections towards others, as I am sure that +the necessity of their being the objects of affection is often too +exclusively dwelt upon, and that sufficient opportunity for showing +their gratitude towards their fellow-creatures is not afforded +them. I believe this to be the cause of much apathy or +irritability, as the case may be, among them. One remedy for this +result of the school system would be the multiplying of schools; as +then a greater number of the blind would have opportunities of +attending as day scholars. From all I can learn from others, and +from the little I have seen myself, I believe there is one great +evil at the root of the system of education in blind schools, which +is, that each institution wishes to take rank as the first in +importance, and is therefore more bent on making such an appearance +before the public as will secure its own reputation, than upon +practically benefiting the pupils, so far as lies in its power. +This is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> one reason of the pupils being taught to make things for +sale, which do not really help their progress in their trade, but +which please and attract visitors, and are on that account often +purchased, though in themselves utterly useless. Indeed I have +heard it remarked what very useless things are made in blind +asylums, and in other charitable institutions.</p> + +<p>Anderson says that one prominent feature in institutions for the +blind is, the desire to carry forward the pupil at any sacrifice, +to accomplish such pieces of work as may call forth the mere +surprise of the passing visitor. If this is bad in an asylum where +it is very little practised, it is far worse in a school. The time +of a pupil ought to be considered most sacred, and as much as +possible appropriated to the acquirement of that which he will be +able to perform and find a ready sale for, on his leaving the school.</p> + +<p>There is, however, one thing to be urged in excuse of this practice +in blind schools, viz., that the funds of most of them are not +equal to their expenses, without the aid of the sale of the pupils' +work. I believe that every such school, in order to be efficient, +ought not to derive benefit from the work of the pupils; as when +this is the case, the learners are often hurried over the different +steps of their trade without due care being taken that they should +each be able to take such steps securely when entirely unassisted. +Thus on leaving the school the blind man often finds himself at +fault when left to his own resources in practising the trade of +which he was believed to be the master, in the acquiring of which +much time, labour, and money have been spent, and from which far +greater benefit might have been derived had it not been for the +root-evil which has been mentioned. The aim of every school for the +blind should be to fit them to fill their station in the world, be +it what it may, as Christian men and women, and therefore to earn +their own living, when this is necessary, as in far the majority of cases it is.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>I hope and trust that one day the whole school system will be +improved. I know that Liverpool, which led the way in England, +started with the best possible aims and intentions; although it has +now greatly degenerated. Indeed, I believe all the first +institutions to have been good, though the scope of many is, I +suspect, very narrow. But it strikes me that all fall more or less +below their first intentions, not only in their practice but even +in their theory, and this I believe partly unconsciously. I do not +see why it should be so, but I am afraid this is but too true. +However, I can't help thinking that the rendering of such +institutions independent of any gain from the labour of the pupils +would go far towards improvement.</p> + +<p>Much might be done in schools to prevent the blind from being +isolated, by giving them an interest in the subjects of the day. +For instance, in the Bristol School, a newspaper is read to them.</p> + +<p>The older pupils should have opportunities for discussion not only +with each other, but with visitors and friends. For instance, there +might be an inexpensive entertainment once a week, or at some such +stated time, for the purpose. I should think also lectures at +Mechanics Institutes might be attended with advantage, as these are +never given till the evening; and means such as these would open +and enlarge the minds of the pupils, and would all tend to foster +in them the sense of membership with the community at large. It +should always be borne in mind that there is much in the condition +of blindness, and indeed in any other exceptional state, to smother +and weaken this feeling; and if not counteracted almost entirely to +destroy it. This is the tendency of the gathering together of the +blind into asylums as adults; and I am sorry to find from what I +have read to-day that this is being increasingly done on the +Continent. Many institutions there, seem to be rich in the +different inventions for the blind; but as far as I can see,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> all +seem to derive more or less profit from the manual labour of the +pupils. It has this moment occurred to me that the right use of +this labour would be to realise thereby a fund which should be +spent in some way for the benefit of each pupil when he or she +should leave the institution; or, in cases where it should be +deemed advisable, it should be made over to the pupil to be used at +his or her own discretion. Perhaps it would be well always to allow +the pupils to appropriate a certain portion of their earnings; this +would teach them the value of money, and would educate them in the +management of it. No doubt the answer to these suggestions would +be, want of funds. I should reply that much more real good would be +done by lessening the number of pupils, so as to be able to effect +it in proportion to the funds at command. I do believe such a +system would go far towards giving the blind workmen a better start +in the race for a livelihood than institutions have hitherto shown +themselves able to give.</p> + +<p>The importance of systematically training and developing the +remaining senses of their pupils cannot be too strongly impressed +on those who educate the blind. I am delighted to find that +Monsieur K., the blind director of the institution at Breslau, has +succeeded in obtaining permission for his pupils to <i>feel</i> the +specimens of natural history contained in the Museum of that city. +How glad I should be to hear of such permission being given in +England. I think, as I have heard Mr. D. Littledale, a blind +gentleman, say, that in schools there ought to be classes formed +for the special object of exercising the touch. He himself has +begun to form a Museum of objects with this view for the York +School. But here I must say that I think the education of the blind +will never attain the perfection of which I believe it is capable, +unless teachers are specially trained for the work, and also unless +at least a proportion of these are themselves blind. Among the +blind I think individuals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> would be found capable of commencing and +carrying on such training schools; then of course each fresh +teacher so trained might be able either to superintend another +school, or to carry on in a blind school something of the +pupil-teacher system now adopted for ordinary schoolmasters and mistresses.</p> + +<p>In every country there ought to be at least one normal school where +teachers for the blind may be trained. A simple way of effecting +this would be for the Government to allow to one establishment, +which should first be ascertained to be a superior one in its +management and results, such an annual grant of money as should +enable it to retain several young men as assistant-teachers, who +would be ready to supply vacancies, and to take charge of newly-established institutions.</p> + +<p>This kind of assistance would be, perhaps, the most valuable +encouragement which a Government could give. It would ensure the +training of persons to continue and perfect an art which has been +kept in a state of infancy from the want of such a provision.</p> + +<p>The blind may be divided into two classes—those so born and those +who become so from disease or accident; the latter is by far the +most numerous class. Bowen says he believes there is no authentic +instance of any one born blind being restored to sight by human +means. I should rather doubt this, as I have been told that +congenital cataract can be removed if the operation takes place +early enough, viz. at the age of one or two years. The same author +says it is believed that blindness in after life might often be +prevented were the organisation of the eye more thoroughly +understood by physicians. He then gives some facts to show the +extent to which blindness prevails. Bowen says the first accounts +which we have of schools for the blind are those in Japan. They +existed some years before that in Paris, thought to be the first in +Europe, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> there is a doubt between it and the school at +Amsterdam. In Japan the instruction appears to be oral. The blind +seem to have fulfilled the office of historians to their nation, +and to have formed no small proportion of the priesthood. The first +regular system of embossed printing in Europe was the invention of +Valentin Haüy, the founder of the Paris institution. Many alphabets +have since been invented, of which I will not speak now, as this +subject should be treated separately, but will only say that the +education of the blind will receive an immense impulse when the +improvement of which I believe embossed printing to be capable, is +effected. There are many contrivances for writing; and here also I +am not sure that all which is necessary is yet obtained, though +much towards it has certainly been done. But in this case also, any +increase of speed would be an immense help.</p> + +<p>The blind have different wants in writing to those who see. They +want to write easily and rapidly, and they want to commit their own +thoughts or those of others to paper, or, in short, anything they +wish to keep in a tangible form, by means of some rapid and easy process.</p> + +<p>If possible they should have the power of making notes, and +referring to them when made, with as much facility as the sighted. +This at least ought to be the object aimed at. Perhaps it might be +impossible fully to realise this idea, but I think very much might +be done towards it. Even now Braille's embossed system goes far +towards this, but I shall hope one day to treat of both reading and +writing as distinct subjects. I will therefore only now say that +every improvement and facility given to the blind in these two +branches will do a great deal towards bringing their education to +perfection. I have said given to the blind, but I would rather say +every improvement and facility invented and contrived by the blind, +as I believe in truth they must be their own helpers and +deliverers, at least to a great extent.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>Before leaving this subject, I will add that I believe the power +of writing in some tangible form, with the greatest possible ease +and rapidity, to be of the highest importance to the blind; and +with this view I should like to see Braille's system in use in all our schools.</p> + +<p>This system was the invention of a blind man, and is, I believe, +the best that has yet been contrived. I am sure the mind of many a +blind person remains far below the degree of cultivation and +maturity to which it might attain, simply from the want of being +able to emboss its thoughts upon paper. Some one, I know not who, +says: use the pen to prevent the mind from staggering about; and +this help should certainly be placed by some means or other within +the reach of the blind generally.</p></blockquote> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>HER DIARY</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"The older we grow, the more we understand our own lives and +histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of wisdom is the +spirit of love, that the true way to gain influence over our +fellow-men is to have charity towards them."—<span class="smcap">Kingsley.</span></p></div> + +<p>In addition to the Common Place Book, which contains the result of many +years of thought and investigation, Bessie kept during 1858 a diary. +This shows not only her thoughts but her deeds. Her whole life was now +engrossed by her work for the blind. French, Italian, German, the harp, +the guitar, were all laid aside. Friends were made no longer for herself +but for the blind. She was eagerly occupied with experiments in trade, +with instruction, with visits to the workshop and the homes of her +people, with letters and appeals, and with efforts to make known not +only what was being attempted, but the need there was that more should be done.</p> + +<p>She studied the census of 1851, and upon it based her statements as to +the number of the blind throughout Great Britain and their condition.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +She learned that a large proportion of the number lose their sight after +having reached the age at which they are admissible to the existing +institutions. She saw, therefore, that she must add to her scheme for +employment that of the instruction of adults in trades by which they +could earn a living. She did not believe in doles, pensions, and +so-called "Homes." She believed in work, in a trade, a handicraft, the +possibility of earning one's own living, as the means of restoring blind +men and women to their place in human society. There is nothing that she +records in the diary with more satisfaction than the progress made by +adult pupils. The instruction and employment of women was also +succeeding beyond her expectation, and the wages they earned +approximated more nearly to the wages of sighted women than had been +expected. But even her remarks on this proficiency of the women show her +usual fair and broad view. She says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>There are seven men and six women pupils. The best workwoman can +earn seven shillings a week, working eight hours a day. Upon this +she contrives to support herself and a little sister. A sighted +brushmaker employing a hundred workwomen states that she must be a +very good workwoman who can earn six shillings a week at eight +hours a day. The women he employs often work twelve or fourteen +hours to increase their earnings. This is great drudgery. It seems +as if brush drawing was more a matter of touch than of sight. If we +can only discover them, it may be that several trades will answer +for the blind on this very account. I think at present that this +will apply even more to women than to men. The male<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> pupils work +well and make great progress, but their earnings, I think, would +not bear the same proportion to those of sighted workmen as do +those of the women. Still, as their work includes more than one +branch, this may be a mistake, and at all events it must take them +longer to become thoroughly good workmen, as they have more to acquire.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On 6th May 1858 she writes in the diary:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Joined for the first time in the daily prayer and reading at the +Repository [the Association was known by this name]. This was what +I had often wished to do. Saw Mr. Dale, asked for his schoolroom +for a lecture for the benefit of the Association; he gave leave. +Told him what F. B. was doing about the <i>Times</i>. Took four [blind +persons] for reading, and think they are getting on. Saw Mr. Bourke +for the first time; had a long talk with him; think he will be more +active than he has been in seeking out the blind and looking into +their condition. Saw Levy Esqre. [not the manager], who showed me +specimens of turning done by Mestre at Lausanne, who is blind, +deaf, and dumb. Got Mr. Levy to promise to attend the meeting, on +the 18th. Talked with Levy [manager] about the meeting. Corkcutting +to be introduced before Walker's life-belt is made. Talked about +furnishing carpenter as the next trade taught, also about embossed +printing; think much might be done towards improving it....</p> + +<p><i>8th May.</i>—Looked over, corrected, and altered proof of report. +Dictated a note to Levy about it. Wrote to Mr. Cureton, asking if +he could lend his church for Dr. Thompson to preach in, in July, if +not earlier. Wrote to Mrs. Jones asking about Dr. Thorpe's chapel, +also to Mr. Eyre, asking him to preach at Marylebone Church. Sent +papers to both clergymen. Received from Mrs. Sithborp her guinea +subscription. Entered letters of yesterday and to-day. Dictated +some notes and thoughts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> for the Common Place Book. It is a great +pleasure to get some of these thoughts actually expressed. It gives +them, as it were, a shape and a body, besides, I can never do what +I wish without this, as I should never have the necessary +materials. Saw Mary Haines. Wrote to Miss Repton.... Read a letter in two systems.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This allusion to "what she wishes" refers to her desire to write a book +upon the condition of the blind. She had this object before her for many +years, and prepared for it by accumulating statistics and information +from every available source. She read the lives of blind men, books +written by blind men, took copious notes, or had them taken for her, +sometimes by her younger brother, sometimes by a sister. She "thought +out" every statement made, every suggestion offered, with regard to the +blind. Her book would have been singularly valuable. Her sound judgment, +her power of looking at all sides of a question, would have saved her +from the danger of forgetting that, although there are 30,000 blind in +the United Kingdom, there are some millions who have the gift of sight. +The book was never written, but her preparation for it made her a +storehouse of information and of wise and tender thought, not only for +the blind, but for all those who are afflicted and suffering.</p> + +<blockquote><p>17th May.... Saw Sir W. Reid, heard from him that a brush, with the +Repository stamp, is left in the Museum at Malta; was very glad of +this. Received from him £5. Heard he had seen Lord Cranbourne, and +that Lord C. thought I was wrong in using and teaching T. M. L. +system. I talked to Sir W. Reid of the different systems, also +asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> him for the names of books upon the blind mentioned to him +by Lord C. Wrote to Lady Mayne to ask if she could get St. Michael's, Pimlico, lent.</p> + +<p>Afternoon.—Went to Miss ——. Very little done there for the +Association. Saw Dr. Jelf there; heard he would come to the meeting next day.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The list of letters written and embossed and duly recorded in the +Journal will be omitted. They are the inevitable drudgery of such a work +as she was now engaged in. Explanations, petitions, acknowledgments, +inquiries, information, requests for the loan of pulpits from which the +claims of the Association may be urged, of schoolrooms in which meetings +can be held, all these things were part of her daily work. The sisters +tell that Bessie could at this time emboss a letter upon her Foucault +frame and dictate two others at the same time; always without mistake or omission.</p> + +<p>On the 18th May 1858 the Annual Association Meeting was held, and the +First Annual Report presented.</p> + +<p>We learn from the balance-sheet that the receipts during this, the first +year of accurate and formal management, had been £1784:3:11.</p> + +<table summary="balance-sheet"> + <tr> + <td class="left">Of this, subscriptions and donations amounted to</td> + <td class="mono">£648 1 2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Balance in hand 25th April 1857</td> + <td class="mono">215 9 3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Sale of goods, etc.</td> + <td class="mono">920 13 6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">————————————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="mono">£1784 3 11</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>There was a balance in hand at the end of the year of £118:15:1. The +number of blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> men and women who had been employed during the year at +the Institution, or in their own homes, was forty-three.</p> + +<p>The sum required for payment of rent, officials, teachers, and +supplementary wages to the blind, amounted to £744:10:4. The annual +subscription paid by Bessie was at this time £75, and in addition there +is a donation of £10 for broom-making, and £2 for advertising. But the +sum that appears in the subscription list is only the smallest part of +that which she devoted to the service of the blind. Her private charity +amongst them was at all times far-reaching and unstinted. She had many +pensioners in London, and pleasant stories of them abound. There was a +poor blind woman called Mary H., elderly and very lonely, whose +wonderful trust and patience called forth Bessie's admiration. She +ultimately procured the placing of Mary's name on the list of recipients +of the Queen's Gate Money, she taught her to read, and allowed her +monthly a certain quantity of tea and sugar.</p> + +<p>One day when she came for her reading lesson Mary said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, miss, I had such a strange dream last night!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Mary, what was it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, miss, I dreamt you were dead."</p> + +<p>"Did you, Mary? and what did you think about it?"</p> + +<p>"The first thing I thought, miss, was, what shall I do for my tea and sugar!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>The honesty and simplicity of this answer delighted Bessie, and she +frequently spoke of Mary's dream.</p> + +<p>The saying of another pupil also pleased her. She taught a blind boy at +Chichester to read, and when he came for his lessons the boy used to ask +innumerable questions. One day she remarked upon this, and he frankly exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, marm, so I do, I always likes to know up to the top brick of the chimney."</p> + +<p>Brush-making, first introduced by Bessie and taught by Farrow, had +proved a successful and remunerative occupation for the blind. +Encouraged by this success, the making of bass brooms was now added to +the work carried on in the Euston Road. The coarse fibre used for this +purpose has to be dipped in boiling pitch, and then inserted and fixed +into holes in the wooden back of the broom. By an ingenious contrivance +of the teacher, the hand of the blind man follows a little bridge across +the boiling pitch, reaches a guide, at which he stops and dips his +bristles into the shallow pan. He then withdraws his hand along the same +bridge, kneads the pitch, and fixes the fibre in its hole. Several men +sit round a table, and are thus enabled to work without risk of a burn +at a trade which requires no skill.</p> + +<p>The blind carpenter Farrow, who had made the fittings for the Holborn +cellar, had been from that time permanently employed in the Institution.</p> + +<p>In 1858 he was the teacher of thirteen blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> men and women who were +learning a trade. Levy had visited Norwich and Bath during the year +1858. In the latter city a Blind Home was formed for the employment of +women instructed in the Bath Blind School. This was done in consequence +of a Report of Bessie's institution which had been sent to the Committee +at Bath. The School for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, +Southwark, had also opened departments for instructing and employing the +adult blind, but we have no sheaf of old letters to give the history of +this further development.</p> + +<p>The Committee of the Association might well look back with pleasure, and +forward with hope. They well knew on whom the success of the work mainly +depended; and in spite of Bessie's objection to the introduction of her +name, the following paragraph closes the Annual Report issued in May 1858:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Your Committee feel that their report would be very imperfect if +they did not allude to the great services which have been rendered +to this society, during the last year, by Miss Gilbert, the +foundress of the Association. Whenever pecuniary embarrassment has +threatened the efficiency of the Institution, her active zeal has +soon replenished the funds; and when the Association has been +unable to relieve the most distressing cases that have been pressed +on their notice, the sufferers have found her ever ready to afford +them timely help; and that, too, in a way which has shown such +sympathising interest in their privations, as well as so much +consideration for their feelings, that the value of the aid thus +afforded can be fully appreciated only by those who have received it.</p></blockquote> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FEAR OF GOD AND NO OTHER</h3> + +<p class="center">"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."</p> + +<p>Bessie's early education and happy home life counted for much in her +work on behalf of the blind. She knew the advantage of being thrown on +her own resources, of learning the ways of a house and the paths of a +garden. She knew also that the happiness of the blind depends chiefly on +companionship. "A deaf person," she used to say, "is very cheerful +alone, much more cheerful than in society. It is social life that brings +out his privation. But a blind man in a room alone is indeed solitary, +and you see him at his best in society. It is social life which +diminishes his disabilities."</p> + +<p>Whilst she acquiesced, therefore, in Levy's wish that the work of the +Institution should be exclusively carried on by blind persons, she was +anxious that they should not be set apart and kept apart from other workmen.</p> + +<p>Her diary for 1858 contains the following passage:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>Spoke to Levy about the workpeople in the Repository not having +intercourse enough with those who see, and thought of the +possibility of their belonging to Mr. Maurice's Working Men's +College; I think that might be just the thing. L. asked what I +thought about their attending a Bible Class by any of Mr. Dale's +curates. I said I should like it, provided the mistake was not made +of talking to them upon religion as if it must be a sort of last +resource to the blind, to make up for the want of other things. L. +understood what I meant, and said he was glad I had mentioned it.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Any display of the blind with the object of calling attention to their +affliction, and extorting money on account of it, was extremely painful +to Bessie. She had too much reverence and tenderness for her +fellow-sufferers to make a show of them, and she would not accept help +if it involved any lowering of the tone she hoped to establish in the +workshop. Blind men and women were to be taught that they could do an +honest day's work and earn their own living.</p> + +<p>An entry in the diary shows that she had to educate more than her +workpeople before her views were adopted.</p> + +<blockquote><p>L. spoke to me about a suggestion for employing blind beggars to +carry boards to advertise the Association. Told him I strongly objected, and why.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The workpeople also frequently caused her anxiety.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Felt and compared brushes from W. with those made at Repository. +Our make is the best.</p> + +<p>L. told me things were rather uncomfortable between two of the +women. I saw them each separately, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> think and hope they will go +on better, but the whole affair made L. think how necessary what I +have often spoken to him about would be in future; namely, the +possibility of arranging for board and lodging for learners not +having means of subsistence....</p> + +<p>Talked to L. about visiting the workmen at their own homes. He told +me he thought I should have special advantages for so doing, and +specially in speaking to them on spiritual matters.... Spoke about +baskets not being made to measure. When good workmen do not make +baskets according to order, something is to be taken off the +price.... Went to Repository to try and find out what Susan M. had +better do towards earning her living; am not sure about it, but so +far as I can tell, don't think she would have musical talent enough +to make her living by that; however, she has hardly learnt two +years, so I think one can hardly judge.... Spoke to Mrs. L. about +ventilator for Committee room, and about using disinfecting fluid +in the workrooms on Sunday.... Mrs. H. gave me a towel made in a +loom without steam, as a specimen of the linen proposed to be woven +by Association workpeople. She also talked about a home for the +blind without friends, where they should pay and, as I suggested, +be entirely free to leave at any time. She thought perhaps the +weaving might be carried on in some such place at a little distance +from London.... Dictated note to Mrs. L. to ask about the state of +health in the homes of the workmen, and to get their exact +addresses. Spoke to mamma about visiting them.</p></blockquote> + +<p>We may be sure that there would be some anxiety on the part of her +parents as to these visits to the homes of the workmen, but her wishes +prevailed, and an entry dated 19th June 1858 states:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>Greatest part of the day occupied in visiting the workmen at their +own homes. Was very glad to do it, but sorry not to visit more of +them. Only went to four—Hounslow, Hemmings, Barrett, and Symonds. +Found the latter not so well off as I expected. He has not had much +work besides Association work. Altogether what I saw confirmed me +very much in the belief that such an Association as ours is very +greatly needed.... Spoke to L. [Levy] purposely a little of what I +had to give up for the work, only with a view of showing him that +one often thought one would rather be doing other things, and of +making him see that he was to some extent right in saying that I +had made sacrifices. This was not at all with the view of making +him suppose that I thought much of them, but in order to show him +how true it is that one feels the work to be a sacred duty, for +which, as for all other duties, sacrifices must be made. He is +thoroughly imbued with this feeling, but I wish to keep it +constantly both before him and myself, as I believe it is only thus +that we can either of us work as God would have us work, and we +both believe that He has made us His instruments for a special work for the blind....</p> + +<p>Wrote to the Dean of Westminster (the very Rev. R. C. Trench, who +was about to preach for the Association in Mr. Llewelyn Davies' +church) to describe the different papers I sent, and telling him I +thought that in what had been done for the blind, those who saw had +perhaps committed the mistake of making the blind feel how much +they needed their aid, rather than how far they might become +independent of it.... Gave £5 of my own on Capelin's account, but +find Capelin has been earning more than I expected towards his +maintenance, so that what I owed was not very much.... Talked with +L. about Newman, and heard a very sad letter from him, written from +the Union where he now is. Settled that the resolution as to his +being employed should be acted upon, but I am sorry he is a bad +workman, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> this will make the thing very difficult.... Told L. we +ought to bring the Association into such a position that it should +be able to bear the loss from bad work while a man is improving. +Found, as I expected, that expense of management is about £300 a +year, and think subscriptions now cover this entirely or very +nearly.... Whilst I was at the Repository Herr Hirzel, master of +the institution at Lausanne, came; I was anxious to get all +possible information as to relief printing. He, Levy, and I, went +through the merits of many of the different systems, which took a long time.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Relief printing for the blind is a subject beset with difficulty. In +every country where books are embossed for the blind there are two or +three different alphabets. There are systems in which dots and lines and +abbreviations take the place of letters; and there are systems where the +alphabet is enlarged and modified to suit the requirements of a person +who is going to read with fingers instead of eyes. The number of books +printed in relief is very small; and the result of using several systems +is that a blind reader finds that four out of five of the very small +number embossed are unintelligible. He can read Moon or Lucas or +Braille, but Frere and Howe and Alston and a host of others he cannot +decipher. Bessie spent much time upon the subject of relief printing, +and could read nearly everything printed for the blind. She thought that +Braille's was in itself the best system, but that Moon's was the only +one really useful to adults, more especially to those whose hands have +been hardened by labour. All except Moon's system must be acquired by +the young and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>sensitive fingers of a child. Bessie would have liked to +see the systems narrowed down to two, if not to one; but she found, as +many others have done, that it was impossible to obtain unanimity on +this point, as too many interests are involved in it. She made no +progress in the matter, and put it on one side.</p> + +<p>On the 7th of July the diary tells us she was at the Repository giving advice to "Martha."</p> + +<blockquote><p>Talked much to Martha about her proposed marriage. Told her to ask +if her intended husband would wish to go to Mr. Dixon on account of +his near sight, saying that if this stood in the way of his getting +something to do, and Mr. Dixon thought spectacles would help, he +should have them.... L. sent me papa's motto, "The fear of God and +no other." I had asked him to have it printed for the boarding-house.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In August of this year Bessie paid a visit to Miss Bathurst, who with +her mother, Lady Caroline Bathurst, was then living at Stanmore. She met +there Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave and Miss Butler. A friendship formed at +that time with Miss Butler continued to the end of her life. She records +the meeting in her diary, adding, "talked about the Association." +Perhaps we should have been more surprised if she could have recorded +that she talked about anything else.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of August she left London for Chichester. The morning was +spent in making arrangements for the Association.</p> + +<blockquote><p>L. came. I told him to tell Hounslow that he was only to repay £3 +out of the £6:10s. for the quarter's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> rent. Arranged to have a +large applicant's book with full details. Found that all concerned +were very much pleased with the boarding-house. Gave L. something +for relief in special cases. Told him to see about getting several +of Braille's small writing frames made, if he found the one I had +sent to be successful. Impressed upon L. to take on more workpeople +the very moment the sales would allow it. Talked to him of my plan +for raising money to buy a West-end house, made him feel he must +devote himself more than ever to the work, not that he is unwilling.</p> + +<p>L. told me that the amount of goods bought in the past year had +been too great, but that bass-broom and cocoa-mat making would do +much towards keeping down this item.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "purchase of goods" here referred to was always a sore point with +Bessie. In order to fulfil the order of a customer, articles not made by +the blind had often to be procured. The manager was on the horns of a +dilemma. Custom was lost when an order was sent home incomplete, whilst, +on the other hand, the Lady President wished nothing, or as little as +possible, to be sold which was not the work of the blind. This +difficulty, however, increased rather than diminished, and if there is +any way of avoiding it, that way has not yet been discovered.</p> + +<p>During the summer at Chichester, Bessie seems to have suffered much from +exhaustion and fatigue, entries of "unavoidably nothing done" are +frequent, as well as reports of "toothache."</p> + +<p>The house in Euston Road was small and inconvenient, additional space +was urgently required,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> and when it was found that there were empty +rooms in an adjacent house they were at once secured.</p> + +<p>"Heard from L. that four rooms next door are engaged for £16 a year, and +as the room where the materials were kept cost £5:4s., the extra expense +will only be £10:16s."</p> + +<p>A peaceful summer at Chichester brought time to spare for old pursuits. +She had the garden with its birds and flowers, and her music and poetry +as a solace after the grind of Association work.</p> + +<p>"S. finished writing from my playing," she records, "a song from the +<i>Saint's Tragedy</i>, which I hope I may get published for the good of the +Association; it was begun yesterday."</p> + +<p>She had written to Mr. Kingsley for permission to set Elizabeth's +"Chapel Song" to her own music, and received an assurance that he would +be very glad if any words of his could be useful to her, or any work of hers.</p> + +<p>In September she was again in London for a Committee meeting, and there +were the usual applications to consider, and the reading and talking +with the workpeople. She inspected the new rooms and the boarding-house, +and talked over the possibility of Levy's going to France upon business. +After her return to Chichester and for many months we find almost daily +entries "Embossed much French and dictated a great deal for L."</p> + +<p>During this summer she was oppressed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> consciousness that the +mental training of the blind had not taken its due place in her scheme. +She wanted to find something that would afford instruction and at the +same time recreation for the poor, something to awaken and enlarge their +interest in the external world. She found that the perceptive faculties +which take the place of sight suffer from a want of due cultivation, and +she wished to remedy this by enabling the blind to obtain information +about natural objects. Something, she thought, might be done by a +development of the sense of touch, and by arranging a Natural History +Museum in such a manner that every specimen could be handled. In +connection with the Museum, she proposed to form a department for the +exhibition of inventions in aid of the blind. These were to be arranged +without reference to the "sighted," and in such a manner that the blind +could easily examine and compare them. An exhibition of this kind was +opened in Paris in October 1886, but the idea originated in the fertile +brain of Bessie Gilbert.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Museum for her poor was the first thing to be started, and +she prepared for it by visiting the Chichester Museum. In September we read:</p> + +<p>"Went to Museum to ask the cost of stuffing birds and about collections +of eggs, and the order of arranging birds. Settled with E. that she +should ask Mr. —— to shoot some birds, and with Mr. H. that he should +tell Smith the bird stuffer to come to me next Wednesday." Mr. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>—— +seems to have had only moderate success with his gun, as a later entry +records, "Received two birds from Mr. ——." There are frequent accounts +of "looking over eggs," "arranging glass case for the stuffed birds, and +talking about the Museum to all who could give advice or make useful suggestions."</p> + +<p>Early in this year a large oil painting of blind men and women at work +round a table in the Euston Road was painted by Mr. Hubbard. An +engraving taken from the picture, with an account of the institution, +was inserted in the <i>Illustrated News</i> of 24th April 1858, and in May +the picture was purchased "by subscription" for the sum of ten guineas, +and fixed outside the shop, where for many years it attracted the notice +of passers-by. It was engraved for the use of the Institution, and may +still be seen on the Annual Report, Price Lists, etc., whilst the +original painting hangs in the Berners Street Committee Room.</p> + +<p>The account given by the <i>Illustrated News</i> called attention to Bessie's +work. It was followed by letters in <i>The Times</i>, <i>Daily News</i>, and other +journals, and by an article in <i>Household Words</i>, believed to be by +Charles Dickens, entitled "At Work in the Dark." Many subscriptions, +donations, and promises of help were received in consequence of these +notices in the Press.</p> + +<p>Mr. Walker, who invented a life-belt, offered the benefit of its +manufacture to the Association, and a new trade, corkcutting, was set on foot.</p> + +<p>In the course of the year the "Association of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> Blind Musicians" applied, +through Mr. Swanson, blind organist of Blackheath Park Church, to be +admitted to union with Bessie's influential society. She was warmly +interested in the appeal, and willing to grant such help, pecuniary and +other, as the greater Association could render to the less. The aim of +Mr. Levy, Mr. James Lea Summers, Mr. Swanson, and other blind musicians +was to give a thorough musical training to, and to obtain employment as +organists and teachers for, blind men with a talent for music.</p> + +<p>The petition was courteously received, and after much discussion by the +Committee and consideration by Bessie, the prayer for union, but without +pecuniary aid, was granted. The Musical Association, however, had +neither sufficient funds nor enough influence for the undertaking. But +the promotors acted as pioneers, and a few years later Bessie saw that +the efforts of Dr. Campbell and the establishment of the Normal College +for the Blind at Norwood, would satisfactorily accomplish all that the +Blind Musicians had attempted.</p> + +<p>The trades hitherto taught to women had been leather and bead work, and +the making of nosebags for horses. These were found to be +unremunerative, and it was necessary to substitute others for them. +There was at that time a great demand for fine baskets imported from +France, and it occurred to Bessie that if they could procure the blocks +upon which these baskets were made and the tools used, she might learn +the art of basket-making and teach the workwomen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><p>But there was a difficulty in the way. The manufacture of these baskets +was a monopoly, and the firm to which they were consigned would give no +information as to the locality whence they came. Some one must go to +France and find out. Who could go except Levy!</p> + +<p>It was to prepare him for this journey that for more than a year Bessie +had been at every spare moment "embossing French words for L.," as the +diary informs us, or dictating a vocabulary. In the autumn of 1858 he +and his wife set out on their journey of discovery. Bessie had applied +for a grant in aid of Levy's expenses, but the Committee did not accede +to her request, so that funds were provided from her private purse.</p> + +<p>The blind man and his wife took the wrong train at Calais, and for some +time did not discover their mistake. However, they retraced their steps, +and after many adventures learnt that the baskets arrived in large +crates at Calais from the north of France, and were shipped for England. +No one knew exactly whence they came. Levy commenced a search which +threatened to be fruitless, when one day at St. Quentin he met a +<i>comis-voyageur</i>, who told him that the village in which these baskets +were made was Oigny, about eight miles distant.</p> + +<p>On the following day Levy and his wife stood at the door of the very man +who supplied baskets to the Institution, and found that their appearance +caused surprise and alarm. But when Levy explained the object of his +visit he met with a cordial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> reception. The manufacturer showed and +allowed him to purchase blocks and tools; taught him the ingenious +contrivance by which the blocks could be taken to pieces and removed +when the baskets were completed, and gave him all the information in his +power as to the method and cost of production. He also took him to the +village where the workpeople lived; but it is a cider-growing country, +and many were away at the apple harvest. Levy and his wife were kindly +received in the cottages, and he wrote to Miss Gilbert that a canary was +singing in every house, and that many of the villagers grew their own osiers.</p> + +<p>The result of this journey was very encouraging, although Bessie did not +learn the trade or become a teacher of basket making. She had other work +to do. Levy himself taught the blind women, and says that he found them +apt pupils. When Bessie visited London in November she reports that she +"felt A. at the basket work, and was shown the use of all the tools and +the blocks. The English ones are made much better than the French, but +after French patterns. Found from all I saw and heard that a great +advance has been made, but there are seventy-six more applicants for +work. Saw and talked to H. to encourage him."</p> + +<p>Before long the women are reported to be making fine baskets which +please customers, and are bought in preference to the French. They had +plenty of employment in executing orders, until, unfortunately for them, +fine baskets went out of fashion, and bags came in.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>For some time after his visit to France, Levy wrote and printed his +name Lévy.</p> + +<p>The autumn brought a new scheme. Collecting boxes were to be fixed in +different parts of London, and application was made to hotels and other +places of resort to receive the boxes, together with specimen cases of +the work of the blind. Bessie had, as usual, a busy time with her +letters, but she did not forget the Museum.</p> + +<p>When she went to town in November she talked to the workpeople about it, +and they liked the idea. She had taken "two or three things from the +garden" to show them; and in December, when she went to town for the +"women's tea-party," she "took the crocodile," and "the women were +delighted with it."</p> + +<p>She wrote a letter at this time for publication, pleading for the +education of blind children in the ordinary schools for the poor. She +was also in correspondence with Mrs. Hooper, who was preparing a +magazine article on the work of the blind. She records that she urged +Mrs. Hooper to attach "more importance to donations and subscriptions, +to speak of the Museum, and to tell the educated blind that they ought +to assist the blind poor to help themselves." Through a friend she also +applied for the custom of Cheltenham College for Ladies.</p> + +<p>Bessie had decided to give £2000 to the Association as an endowment +fund. The conditions of her gift were brought before the Committee, +discussed, and accepted. The money was invested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> in the names of three +trustees, and the Association seemed now to stand upon a sure footing. +These conditions will be read with interest.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Conditions.</span></p> + +<p>1. As long as those employed and taught by the Association, or +receiving any benefit whatsoever therefrom, shall be admitted by +the decision of the Committee, or by some one deputed by +themselves, and not by the votes of the subscribers.</p> + +<p>2. As long as blindness shall not disqualify any person from +holding the office of Superintendent, Traveller, or Porter.</p> + +<p>3. As long as it is a fundamental rule of the Association that the +immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment +to those blind persons who for want of work have been compelled to +solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so; to cause +those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some industrial +art; and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the blind; +also to support a circulating library consisting of books in +various systems of relief printing, to the advantages of which the +indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon +payment of the subscription required by the Committee; to collect +and disseminate information relative to the physical, mental, +moral, and religious condition of the blind; and to promote among +individuals and institutions, seeking to ameliorate the condition +of the blind, a friendly interchange of information calculated to +advance the common cause among all classes of the blind.</p> + +<p>4. As long as the Committee shall consist of both ladies and gentlemen.</p> + +<p>5. As long as at least six blind men or women shall be supplied +with work at their homes by the Association, each at a sum of not +less than six shillings per week; and so long as at least three +blind men and three blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> women shall be receiving instruction at +the cost of the Association.</p></blockquote> + +<p>These conditions deserve the careful consideration of every one +interested in the blind, and should be religiously observed in the +Institution founded by Bessie Gilbert.</p> + +<p>Her work had now greatly increased; a large number of blind persons were +regularly employed, and the public had responded to every appeal for +funds. A meeting was held in May 1859, with the Bishop of London in the +chair, and the time seemed to have come for that further information +which Colonel Phipps had intimated might be sent to the Queen.</p> + +<p>In April 1859, therefore, a letter was written to Her Most Gracious +Majesty, by her very dutiful and humble servant E. M. M. Gilbert, to +which the following reply was received:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Buckingham Palace</span>, <i>7th May 1859</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—In reply to your letter of the 29th April, I have now the +pleasure to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen has been +graciously pleased to grant her patronage to the Association for +Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, for which you have +shown so much sympathetic interest and so large and liberal a +benevolence.—I have the honour to be, madam, your obedient humble servant,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">C. B. Phipps.</span></p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie returned very dutiful acknowledgments and grateful thanks to the +Queen, who had for the second time granted her petition and rendered +signal service to her cause.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>Henceforward, on the first page of annual reports, and on all bills and +notices, appear the magical words—</p> + +<p class="center">Patroness. Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen.</p> + +<p>They were doubtless, as Bessie believed them to be, a tower of strength +to her, inspiring confidence, securing friends, bringing custom and money.</p> + +<p>Proud and happy too were the blind workmen as they sat round their +little table, cautiously dipping fibre into the boiling pitch. They +could reply to inquirers that orders had been received from Buckingham +Palace, from Osborne, and from Windsor Castle, and that they were +"making brooms for the Queen."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>EVERYDAY LIFE</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"Ce que peut la vertu d'un homme ne se doit pas mesurer par ses +efforts, mais par son ordinaire."—<span class="smcap">Pascal.</span></p></div> + +<p>In January 1859 Bessie, with a younger sister, paid a ten days' visit to +Fir Grove, Eversley, the home of her friend Miss Erskine. It was at this +time that she became personally acquainted with Charles Kingsley. She +heard him preach in his own church, and the sermon was one that she +always referred to with gratitude as having helped and strengthened +her.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Miss Erskine remembers that Bessie walked and talked with Mr. and Mrs. +Kingsley, and that they learnt to love her dearly. They quickly +recognised the brave and faithful nature of the blind lady. "When you +have medicine to take you drink it all up," said Charles Kingsley.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +Never was there a truer remark.</p> + +<p>She might, in the diary she was then keeping, have recorded many +interesting incidents <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>connected with that visit. But she merely makes a +note of work done on behalf of the Association, and there is one +solitary mention of Mr. Kingsley's name—"talked to Mr. Kingsley about +the Museum." That she talked about the Association it is unnecessary to +add, and as a proof of it we find in the spring that Mr. Kingsley asked +the Rev. Llewelyn Davies either to preach or to lend his pulpit in aid of her work.</p> + +<p>On her return to Chichester the remainder of January was spent in +writing letters to ask for anecdotes concerning the blind, and in +obtaining material for her proposed book.</p> + +<p>An autograph letter soliciting patronage was written at this time to the +blind King of Hanover. She tells how she first dictated, then copied it +herself, and also wrote herself to enclose it to Miss Boyle, by whom it +was to be forwarded. "Seems little enough," she adds, "but took a long time."</p> + +<p>With regard to her biographies, Levy writes as follows:</p> + +<p>"I think Mr. Taylor would lend any work he has; the best he has I think +are all German. The translations which I have heard from them remind me +of the efforts which have been made to discover the North-West Passage, +you are continually boring through ice, and if perchance you do meet +with a piece of clear water you are no sooner aware that it is such than +you are hemmed in with ice again.</p> + +<p>"If you were to write and ask him to lend you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> any work on the biography +of the blind it would do good, but all that Germany has produced for the +blind is not worth spending much time upon." He proceeds to tell her of +a meeting held at St. John's Wood, and of the feeling that seemed to +prevail that the institution there for the blind must either adopt "our +views" or else come to the ground; and how in consequence of this the +title had been changed to "The London Society for teaching the blind to +read and for teaching the Blind Industrial Arts." He ends his letter, +"It seems truly miraculous that in so short a space of time so much +should be done with the various institutions. There is St. John's Wood, +St. George's, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, York, and Bath of which we know."</p> + +<p>Bessie's friends heard of her proposed book on the blind with interest. +Mr. Browne, the Rector of Pevensey, wrote in warm approval, and offered +when in London to consult books for her at the British Museum. The late +Colonel Fyers wrote from Dover Castle, enclosing an account of the life +of a blind doctor, Rockliffe, of Ashley in Lincolnshire. Her brother Tom +writes from Trinity College, sending notes on the life of the blind +professor, Sanderson of Cambridge, who died in 1739. He speaks of a +picture on the stairs of the library, of which he thinks she might make +use. Her own note-book is filled with accounts of the lives of Holman, +Gough, Huber, Laura Bridgman, and others. Many letters sent to her at +this time have been preserved; one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> from a blind man, Elisha Bates, +interested her greatly:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Elisha Bates.</span> I am thirty-three years of age. I was born at Coburn +near Richmond, Yorkshire. My parents were agricultural labourers. I +was born quite blind. I was always fond of horses. I used as a +little boy to drive the horses in Mr. Fryer's threshing machine. I +began this about nine years of age. I went daily to the ploughing +fields, and although so young I was allowed to drive the horses for +the ploughman. I could very early find my way about the village and +to the different fields of the farmers. Up to eleven years of age I +went with the other boys of the village to seek birds' nests, and +often found my way to and from the neighbouring villages. I always +had an excellent memory for recollecting the turns in the road and +the variations of the surface, by which I was guided. I never had a +stick up to this time, and up to the present time I rarely use one. +I went to the Liverpool Blind Institution at twelve years of age, +and learnt to read in the characters for the blind, and was taught +the trade of ropemaking. I was so good in finding my way at +Liverpool that I used to take charge of an old man [Hewell Kennedy] +in our walking excursions. He was lame, deaf, and blind, and I used +to take him about three miles up the London Road to the Old Swan +Inn. I never forget a road I have once travelled over. I have no +difficulty in avoiding obstacles. I think I do so from the +acuteness of my hearing; I listen attentively to my footfall, and +when approaching any object which may intercept my progress, even a +lamp-post, I can discover a slight difference in the sound. If I +have any doubt I tread a little louder, so as to satisfy my ear. I +never fail in making it out. The difference in the sound is +difficult to describe; but if I am near a wall or any object in my +path I feel the sound to be more confined and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> not to extend itself +as in an open space. It comes quicker to my ear. I left Liverpool +at the age of seventeen and returned by railway to my native +village. I remained a year at home and drove the farmer's horses. I +then went to the Victoria Asylum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I +earned 8s. a week in making ropes. I remained there until I was +twenty-two years old. Whilst in Newcastle I got thoroughly +acquainted with the streets, and used to take out and deliver goods +in the town. I came home by the railway and stayed two or three +months. I then found my way on foot and alone to Sunderland, 45 +miles. I asked people on the way how to steer my course. I always +learnt what turns I had to take and the distance from place to +place. I could calculate very accurately the time it took me to +complete any given distance, and knew exactly when I arrived at the +end of it. I then found my way from Sunderland to Newcastle, some +15 miles of very busy road, and had a great many of the colliery +railways to cross. I walked back from Newcastle to Colburn +unattended and alone. I then, after remaining at home a short time, +started for Leeds, and walked above 50 miles in two days. I am a +very quick walker on a good road. I went in search of work. I went +alone from Leeds to Bradford, 10 miles of very busy road. I +returned home walking alone the whole way by Otley, Knaresborough, +and Leming, about 50 miles. I married after my return from +Newcastle and have two children. After my last journey from +Bradford I settled down at Richmond. My wife never travels with me, +I always go alone. At Richmond I commenced with a donkey and cart +as a firewood gatherer. My wife and I gathered firewood and brought +it in my cart to Richmond, and sold it to my customers. I next got +a pony and larger cart, and have ever since regularly led coals +from the railway station into the town. I can find my way to any +house in the town and never have any assistance in driving my cart +and going about. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> get off and on to my cart as well as any other +driver, and when it is empty I sit on my cart and drive with reins. +With a load I go by the horse's head. I can tell instantly when any +other vehicle is either coming towards me or coming past me in the +same direction, and I turn my horse accordingly to avoid them. I +never have any falls in walking alone, and never come in contact +with anything when driving. I have never had any accident I groom +my pony myself and go to purchase all the food it requires. I have +always enjoyed good health. I have my amusements as well as work. I +go angling in the River Swale with rod, and salmon roe as bait, and +occasionally get a good dish of trout. I have also been a +nut-gatherer, and found my way to the woods, and have gathered +large quantities, which I have sold. I am fond of singing, and used +to play the piano a little at Liverpool. I have not had any +opportunities of doing so since. I do not always confine my leading +coals to the town of Richmond; I occasionally take a load of coals +or other articles, such as furniture, to a distance of 10 or 12 +miles from the town. I was the other day employed with my horse and +cart at Crake Hall near Bedale, 12 miles from Richmond. Of course I +do all my work by myself and unattended by any one.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Richmond</span>, <i>2d June 1859</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie refers in her diary at this time to MSS. in a considerable "state +of advance;" but the only part of her work actually completed by herself +and now recoverable is the title-page. She was too closely occupied with +the work done in the Euston Road to give much time to the writing of a +book. In the midst of a record of her literary work we come upon such an +entry as "sold two brushes." Indeed there was no time in which she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +would not gladly throw aside anything else in order to "sell two brushes."</p> + +<p>Early in February she paid a short visit to friends at Ashling, in +Sussex; and on the 26th of February we have the last entry in her diary. +The full details of her busy life are at an end. There is no further +detailed account of the interminable letters and appeals, the visits to +blind men and women, the arrangements and plans and suggestions. They +are all to go on for many a long year; but the labour of recording them +is abandoned, and there is an attempt to diminish work which threatens +to be overwhelming.</p> + +<p>One of her letters at this time is to Mr. Eyre, "Rector of Marlbourne." +What almost insuperable difficulties spelling must offer even to the +educated blind! How much more we all learn from sight, from reading, +than from the dictionary! When a word occurs for the first time to a +blind person he can only spell by ear; and Marlbourne for Marylebone is +a very creditable solution of a difficulty.</p> + +<p>One of the most interesting workmen in the Institution at this time was +both blind and deaf. Levy heard of, and, at Bessie's request, visited +him in his own home. The poor fellow had worked to support two sisters +and an aged mother until severe illness, fever, robbed him of sight and +hearing. He had regained health, but sat in one corner of the room +moaning "I am wretched, very wretched." Hearing no sound of his own +voice he had ceased to speak to others, and sat in silence, save for +these incessant moans, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> darkness; roused from time to time by a +push on the shoulder and a plate of food put into his hands. The sisters +did their best to support themselves and him by their needle, but he was +as one living in the grave, and he was only twenty-one.</p> + +<p>Such a case excited Bessie's deepest compassion. In a single afternoon +Levy roused the poor fellow from almost hopeless despondency, and placed +him once more in communication with the world around; taught him the +letters of the dumb alphabet on his own hand, and spelt out the joyful +information that he could learn a trade and earn his living by it. He +did not readily believe this, but from that time the moans of "wretched, +very wretched" ceased. He was admitted at once as a pupil at Euston +Road, and learnt so rapidly that in six weeks he was able to write +letters to his friends. Also he had ceased to "spoil material," which is +the general occupation of learners for many months, and was earning +between four and five shillings a week; whilst at the end of a year he +was in receipt of excellent wages.</p> + +<p>Bessie went frequently to the workshop "to talk to A." He would repeat +aloud the letters formed upon his hand, and guess words and even +sentences in a surprising manner. It was instructive to remark how soon +an intelligent listener knows all you are going to say, and how +unnecessary are many of our long explanations. Valuable lessons in +brevity and conciseness were to be learnt from A., and the blind and +deaf man soon brought you down to the bare bones of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> information you +had to give. An angry glance was thrown away upon him, and finger talk +has no equivalent for that slight and incisive raising of the voice +which implies that the speaker intends a listener to hear him to the end.</p> + +<p>The slow, monotonous utterance of the deaf man, a pronunciation which, +as years passed on, became strangely unreal, and a sense of the +loneliness to which he was condemned, attracted much attention to this intelligent man.</p> + +<p>After a time he married. His wife, a widow with a little girl, was no +comfort to him; but the child soon became his inseparable and devoted +companion. When work was over she used to read a newspaper to him. She +uttered no sound, but sat with the paper in her lap, whilst her little +fingers fluttered about his hand like the wings of a bird, and his slow +monotonous voice followed her, repeating words and sentences, or telling +her to go on to something else.</p> + +<p>One day Bessie, who was often accompanied by a friend, took with her +Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth, daughter of the late Bishop of Lincoln, to +have a chat with A.</p> + +<p>Miss Wordsworth sent her the following poem in memory of the visit:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div><span class="smcap">A Ministry of Love to One Blind and Deaf.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Near him she stands, her fingers light</div> +<div class="i1">In quick succession go</div> +<div>Across his yielding palm, as white,</div> +<div class="i1">As swift, as flakes of snow.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span><div>The diamond on her hand, that gleams</div> +<div class="i1">And flashes when it stirs,</div> +<div>Toward other eyes may fling its beams,</div> +<div class="i1">But never gladden hers.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>No word she speaks, no whisper soft</div> +<div class="i1">His inner mind to reach;</div> +<div>No glances casts, tho' looks are oft</div> +<div class="i1">More eloquent than speech.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>The smile that gilds a friendly face</div> +<div class="i1">Shall never meet his eye;</div> +<div>Songs, footsteps, laughter, tears, give place</div> +<div class="i1">To dreary vacancy.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Silence and darkness, brethren twain</div> +<div class="i1">For ever at his side,</div> +<div>Still hold him in their double chain</div> +<div class="i1">Inexorably tied.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Yet love is stronger still, and she</div> +<div class="i1">Even hither wins her way,</div> +<div>And soothes the long captivity</div> +<div class="i1">Beneath that iron sway.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Such tenderness, long years ago,</div> +<div class="i1">The nymphs of ocean led</div> +<div>To stern Prometheus stretched in woe</div> +<div class="i1">Upon his stony bed.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Or in the shape of insect, flower,</div> +<div class="i1">Or bird has helped to cheer,</div> +<div>In later times, full many an hour</div> +<div class="i1">Of bondage, sad and drear.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>But what can comfort, like the heart</div> +<div class="i1">That sorrow's self has known;</div> +<div>Since that has learnt the healing art</div> +<div class="i1">From sufferings of its own.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span><div>And casting selfish grief away</div> +<div class="i1">Forgets its own distress</div> +<div>In sorrows heavier still, that prey</div> +<div class="i1">On some more comfortless.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>This she has learnt—the secret this</div> +<div class="i1">Of her calm life below;</div> +<div>This gives those lips that sober bliss</div> +<div class="i1">And smoothes that peaceful brow.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Yet more; the love of human kind,</div> +<div class="i1">How pure soe'er it be,</div> +<div>Can never fill the heart, designed</div> +<div class="i1">To grasp infinity.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>True, when the night of grief is dark</div> +<div class="i1">It gladdens us to ken</div> +<div>The distant cottage fires, and mark</div> +<div class="i1">The peaceful homes of men.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>But such as upward lift their eye</div> +<div class="i1">Will see a worthier sight,</div> +<div>The myriad stars, that in the sky</div> +<div class="i1">Seem homes for angels bright.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Thus guided they pursue their way</div> +<div class="i1">Thro' loneliest heath and dell,</div> +<div>Till on their work of mercy, they</div> +<div class="i1">Come where their brethren dwell.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>And such as she no earthly glow</div> +<div class="i1">Would e'er suffice for them,</div> +<div>Shine on her, 'mid these dwellings low,</div> +<div class="i1">Thou Star of Bethlehem!</div> +</div></div> + +<p>The "Song of Elizabeth" from the <i>Saint's Tragedy</i> was published during +the year 1859, and Bessie writes to Addison and Hollier to say that +instead of an engraving she will have the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> price-list of the Association +on the title-page. This remarkable decision they seem to have induced +her to abandon, for the title-page is of the ordinary kind. There were +at this time about a hundred and fifty blind persons deriving benefit +from the Association: sixty-three were supplied with work at their own +homes; forty-seven were employed at the Euston Road; the remainder were +pupils, agents, travellers, shopman, and superintendent, whilst three +received pensions. So many more were applying for work and instruction +that at the May meeting the Bishop of Oxford offered a donation of £20 +on condition that nineteen similar donations were announced in a given +time. He thus raised £400 for the relief of some of the more pressing +cases amongst the applicants. The increase of workmen made an increase +in the sales necessary, and the trade of the Association was assuming +formidable dimensions. The buying and selling, the control of workrooms +and management of stock, the care of ledgers, accounts, bills and +receipts, might now with great advantage have been made over to a +competent and adequately paid sighted manager. Such an arrangement would +have left Bessie free to devote herself to the charitable part of her +enterprise; to elevate and educate the blind, to investigate cases, and +make experiment with trades. With Levy as her faithful coadjutor how +much might she not have done!</p> + +<p>She was pledged, however, to a more ambitious attempt, and felt herself +bound in honour to show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> what the blind can do alone and unaided. A +proposal was made in January 1859 to employ a "sighted" accountant, but +as this was opposed by Bessie it was not carried. And yet at this very +time the incessant and anxious work of past years was beginning to tell +upon her, and she had urgent need of rest.</p> + +<p>She was mainly responsible for the funds necessary to carry on the +business. Being familiar with every detail of the business, she was +called upon to explain its intricacies to her Committee. She had often +to justify and secure the carrying out of arrangements which did not +meet with general approval. Every scheme, proposal, experiment, rested +ultimately upon her; upon this one blind lady, whose health had never +been good, but whose strenuous energy and strong sense of duty forbade +her to say no to any appeal on behalf of fellow-sufferers.</p> + +<p>Museum, boarding-house, sick fund, musicians' association, with its +classes for vocal and instrumental music, endowment fund, fund for +establishing a West-end shop, fund in aid of tradesmen who had lost +their sight; all these are the outcome of a single year's work. There +are also letters innumerable to be written and answered, appeals to be +made, applications to be replied to. She threw herself with fervid zeal +into all her work, and a day was accounted lost if she had not +accomplished in it something for the Association.</p> + +<p>Two sisters were married in 1858, but the diary contains no other record +of such important<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> events than "unavoidably nothing done." Her heart +beat warm and true as ever, home and friends were dear as ever, but for +a time her horizon was bounded by the narrow walls of one small dark +house in the Euston Road.</p> + +<p>Herr Hirzel, director of the blind institution at Lausanne, who had +visited the Association during the summer, was so well pleased with all +he saw that he decided on his return to Switzerland to open workshops +for the blind. At different times some six institutions had also applied +for teachers or blind superintendents, but no workmen had been trained +or were qualified to fill such posts. Bessie saw that this was an +omission in her scheme, and at once resolved that special facilities for +the training of intelligent blind men ought to be provided.</p> + +<p>In the autumn, however, the long threatened reaction from overwork set +in, and she was prostrated by weakness and depression. In November she +was induced to try the effect of complete rest, and paid a long promised +visit to Miss Isabella Law, at Northrepps Rectory, near Cromer.</p> + +<p>She took with her a Foucault frame and taught Miss Law to use it, and +what further employment she found during her short holiday is best told +in Miss Law's letters.</p> + +<p>Writing at Christmas 1859 she says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>It is just six weeks to-day since you left us. I can never forget +that miserable morning; it is always haunting me like a dreadful +dream that I try in vain to get rid of.... I hardly know what to +tell you about myself; it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> a very difficult subject to write +about. I have been trying to do more in the school lately than I +ever did before. I think of you when I am there, and try to do my +best. Still I am afraid, as Madame Goldschmidt said of the +clergyman, my best is very little. My sisters are going next week +to spend a few days with some friends in the neighbourhood: how I +should like to have you with me then. I remember so well your once +speaking to me about accustoming myself to be alone whenever it was +necessary, and not to depend too much on others for companionship, +so now you see I am going to have a little trial in that way. You +will think of me then, won't you? and I shall be thinking of you +more than ever.... I took a bit of my writing this morning to show +the school children, and they seemed delighted with it.... I must +say good-bye now, ... and how much love I send I never could tell you.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the 5th of January 1860 Miss Law writes:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I sincerely hope that this new year may be a very happy one to you +and to all who are dear to you. It seems so strange to me to look +back to this time last year. I feel somehow as if a change had come +over my life since then. I mean I seem to see things in quite a new +light, and to feel my responsibilities far more than I did before; +and I know it is all through your influence. I feel it would have +been indeed a happy year to me if the only blessing it had brought +me had been your friendship, which I value far more than I can ever +tell you.... My heart clings to every little remembrance of you one +by one, and they are all very dear to me.</p></blockquote> + +<p>No account of her life would be adequate which did not bring out the +stimulating effect of Bessie's friendship, and the way in which even an +hour spent with her would have its result, and open a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> way to useful +activity. Miss Law was specially influenced with regard to her poems, in +which Bessie took a warm interest. At first they were sent for approval +and criticism, but before long Miss Law was more than able to stand +alone, and she published a small volume, which was well received and favourably noticed.</p> + +<p>The following pretty lines have been preserved amongst Bessie's papers:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Will you please tell me very truly what you think of this little +poem? You know I have a great respect for your opinion, and that is why I send it.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">What is Sympathy?</span></div></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div>It is the perfect tune that lies</div> +<div>Underneath all harmonies.</div> +<div>The brook that sings in summertide</div> +<div>Between the flowers on either side.</div> +<div>It is that voiceless under part,</div> +<div>That, still unheard, heart sings to heart.</div> +<div>The interchange of thoughts that lie</div> +<div>Too deep for louder melody.</div> +<div>The breath that makes the lyre move</div> +<div>With silent echoings of love.</div> +<div class="i12"><span class="smcap">Isabella Law.</span></div></div></div></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie paid other short visits to old friends at this time. We hear of +her with Miss Bathurst at Stanmore, and greatly interested in Miss +Bathurst's most honoured friend, Lady Byron. She also stayed with Miss +Butler, who remembers that one day when she was about to mount her horse +Bessie stood stroking his legs, saying: "Surely this must be +thorough-bred." Another time, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> Bessie stood near him, the horse +stretched out his head and took the rose she was wearing so gently from +her dress that she did not know it until she was told that he was eating +it. Bessie used to drive in a pony carriage with Miss Butler, and to +puzzle her hostess by a request for a description of the scenery.</p> + +<p>On one occasion a gentleman who had become recently blind was asked to +meet Bessie at Stanmore. It was very touching to see her sit by the +blind man's side, take his hand and try to encourage and comfort him. +Work for others, help for others; these were the things she told him +that would make life worth living, and her own ardour was able to +inspire him as well as others with hope and energy.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Town and Country Sermons</i>; 18. "Character of Peter."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Page 8.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>TIME OF TROUBLE</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"Good times and bad times and all times pass over."</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bewick's Vignettes.</span></p></div> + +<p>Bishop Gilbert's family circle was fast diminishing. His eldest son and +four daughters were married. The <i>sisterhood</i> was broken up. Numerous +home duties at Chichester and in London, together with the care of +parents whose health was beginning to fail, engrossed the time and +thought of the daughters at home. Bessie still received sympathy and +assistance, but she lived a very independent life, and relied more and +more upon the services of a confidential maid, who wrote her letters, +made the entries in diary, note-book, and journal, from which we have +taken extracts, and accompanied her wherever she went.</p> + +<p>Her entire absorption in the work of the Institution could not fail to +become a source of isolation; and it began to cause anxiety to parents +and friends. They knew her delicacy and the need in which she stood of +constant watchful care, and they followed her with apprehension as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> she +sailed out into the ocean of labour and endeavour.</p> + +<p>Some remonstrances from old and dear friends reached her, and the +faithful Fraülein D. wrote as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Don't you allow that one great interest to absorb all others.... +Remember that our very virtues can become snares of sin to us if we +do not watch ourselves, our purest actions may lead us wrong. One +great difficulty we have to deal with, in this our so complex state +of trial, is to keep within us an even balance of things. Do the +one thing, but do not leave the others undone, and above all seek, +in all we do, not our own but the glory of God.... Don't you show a +little want of faith and trust in your own eagerness and +over-anxiety about your Institution, which, though most laudable in +itself, may become a snare to you if it makes you neglect duties +quite as, if not more, sacred?</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie preserved this letter, and in her humility she would lay it +deeply to heart; but she knew that the Institution was not a work in +which she sought her own glory. She was labouring for the blind, who +depended upon her, and whom she could not forsake. She had "put her hand +to the plough," and could not draw back.</p> + +<p>In a very different tone we find a few words from her father, written +after Miss Law had paid Bessie a visit in Queen Anne Street.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>28th September 1860</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dearest Bessie</span>—They tell me it will be a doleful parting +between you and poor Miss Law, especially on her side, which I can +well understand, as she has not the resource in active occupation +which you have.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> Your mistake and suffering may be in taking too +much of it, without allowing yourself, or rather, taking as a part +of duty also, the <i>délassement</i> of passing events, of social +conversation and intercourse. Well, this is not exactly what I +meant to say, but it may do on the principle of "a word to the +wise." They tell me too you want £15, so here is my cheque for £15 +and Archdeacon Mackenzie's, also on Coutts's, for £20. He says only +it is a donation for your Institution in Euston Road. H. told me +you have a notion he gave it for some specified purpose, the West +End, for instance, but he says nothing of the kind. The cheques are +each of them payable just as they are on being presented at +Coutts's. I have acknowledged the £20 to the Archdeacon. Those at +home do doubtless give you the chitchat news.... I suppose some one +will write besides me, so I only add that I am, my dearest Bessie, +yr. ever affectionate father,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">A. T. Cicestr.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>In the early part of 1860 Miss Bathurst wrote to congratulate Bessie on +a "noble donation," coming "doubtless in answer to the law that they +that seek shall find," and the donation has a pleasant history.</p> + +<p>One day when Bessie was in Queen Anne Street a servant told her that a +lady wished to see Miss Gilbert. She went downstairs accompanied, as +usual, by her maid, and on entering the room found one whom she +discovered by her voice to be a very old lady, whose first words were:</p> + +<p>"My dear, I am very tired; send your maid for a glass of sherry."</p> + +<p>This was done, and when she had finished the sherry the old lady said:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>"My dear, I bring a contribution for your work. You see my relations +have kept me a long time from having the control of my money, and now I +am determined they shall never get a penny of it."</p> + +<p>Then she turned to the maid who had brought the sherry: "Young woman," +she said, "count these notes."</p> + +<p>They were carefully wrapped in newspaper, ten notes for £50 each, and +every note in its own piece of newspaper. They were duly counted and +passed to Bessie. "You will acknowledge them, my dear," said the old +lady, "in the <i>Times</i> and under initials."</p> + +<p>And that was all. No more was ever heard of her, and there was no clue +to her identity.</p> + +<p>Singularly enough there was a second donation of £500, also from a lady, +in October of the same year. The first announcement of it came from +Levy, who writes from 127 Euston Road.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><i>17th October 1860.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>—In speaking finances yesterday I said that we could do +nothing more than we had done unless God sent us a special +blessing. God has sent us a special blessing in a donation of</p> + +<p class="center">Five Hundred Pounds.</p> + +<p>His instrument in this gift is a lady, who did not wish her name +mentioned, but Mr. Evans, the gentleman to whose discretion the +giving or holding the donation was left, quite agreed with me that +her name should be published. Her name is Miss Terry.—I am, dear +madam, yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. H. Levy.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>The following letter is from the Mr. Evans alluded to:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><i>17th October 1860.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—I think it will give you pleasure to be informed that, +having £500 placed in my hands yesterday for a Blind Institution, I +searched out the one with which you were said to be connected. +After going round Euston Square twice, calling at the wrong places, +I at last traced it to the Euston Road, where I saw the Report and +Mr. Levy. When I told him my object he literally cried for joy, and +this I think will be interesting also to you to know. The lady who +gives this handsome donation is Miss Mercy E. Terry of Odiham, +Hants, through her bankers, Messrs. Child and Co. I need not say, +rejoicing as I do in such charitable gifts, that it affords me very +considerable pleasure in being the bearer of this intelligence to +you, although a stranger, as greatly interested in the aforesaid +Institution. The money has this day been paid to Messrs. Williams +and Co. on account of the Society.—I am, madam, yours very obedly.,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">E. P. Evans</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie, in acknowledging the letter, asks if the donation is in response +to an appeal for help. Mr. Evans replies: "Thanks are due to Miss Terry +alone, but chiefly to a watchful Providence who so appropriately guided +her charity to your Institution in need of it. Your individual +application had no influence in the matter; for, in fact, applications +of that kind are so numerous that it is not my practice to give them +attention. I did not know that you had written until you told me; but +now I find that you did so, because your letter lies amongst others put aside.</p> + +<p>"Your wishes and prayers are, however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>answered in another way, and +that is very satisfactory."</p> + +<p>These donations gladdened Bessie's heart, and were frequently referred +to as coming at a time when heavy pecuniary anxiety was pressing upon +her. She had applied this year to Mr. Tatton of Manchester, but he +replied that it would be impossible to raise funds in Manchester for a +London institution; people would feel that the many indigent blind in +Lancashire and Cheshire had a stronger claim upon them. He wishes her +success, and informs her that they are busily engaged in erecting a +large addition to the Blind Asylum in Manchester to enable them to carry +out the system of teaching trades to, and finding regular employment +for, non-resident blind. "The success of your Association," he adds, "in +establishing and carrying out such a system, has been one main cause of +inducing us to take such steps as will enable us, although at a very +heavy cost, to give the plan a fair trial in Manchester, and I feel very +sanguine as to its success."</p> + +<p>This information would give as much pleasure in its own way as the +announcement of a donation of £500.</p> + +<p>In addition to her autograph letters, a circular asking for custom for +the Institution, and signed by the Rev. W. Champneys, Sir John Anson, +and the Rev. Pelham Dale, was issued in 1860. These earnest, patient, +importunate appeals went steadily on; they were written by herself or by +any friend whose sympathy she could enlist, and sent to any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> and every +newspaper that would consent to insert them. But in spite of all efforts +stock was increasing, sales diminishing, and an augmented number of +blind applicants clamouring for admission. The boarding-house began to +be a source of anxiety, not only on account of the expense connected +with it, but by reason of the character of many of the inmates. Blind +men were sent to the London boarding-house at the suggestion and with +the warm approval of persons interested in them; and in the belief that +they would learn a trade and earn their own living. But in many cases +the man only looked upon London as a happy hunting ground. The last +thing he intended to do when he got there was to work. He wanted a +comfortable home, a small and certain allowance, and to beg in the +London streets. Tied up together are letters warmly recommending a man +to the benefits of the Institution, detailing his many virtues as well +as his needs, followed by others from the same writer sorrowfully +recognising failure, and very frequently acknowledging that the man was +"at his old tricks again."</p> + +<p>Bessie's faith in her cause was unshaken even by these painful +experiences. She showed infinite pity and tenderness to all blind +applicants, and gave to each one who was admitted a fair opportunity to +improve and reform. She believed that honesty, goodness, and habits of +industry were constantly found beneath the garb of the blind beggar, and +that he must not be judged by the ordinary standard, because his +condition of idleness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> had been enforced, and was often of long +standing. She learned to know all the temptations to which the blind +were exposed, and whilst she fully recognised and acknowledged them, she +endeavoured to show a way of escape. In spite of many failures she could +point to individuals and families rescued from beggary and placed in a +position to which it had seemed impossible even to aspire.</p> + +<p>Still, with all allowances which her wide charity and large experiences +were ready to make, it soon became apparent that a boarding-house for +blind men and women conducted by a blind man would not answer. Abuses +crept or rather leapt in, and Bessie, suffering and depressed, was +unable to intervene actively, as she would have done if her health had +permitted. There seemed to be no alternative, and the boarding-house was closed.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Powell, sister of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, and twin sister of Mrs. +Julius Hare, was one of Bessie's old and dear friends. She was a member +of the Committee of the Association, and took keen interest in its work. +We learn from her letters that Bessie was too ill to take part in the +arrangements for the workpeople at Christmas 1860, or to attend the +Committee meeting in January 1861. Mrs. Powell sends a prescription for +a plaster "which seems to do wonders in neuralgia, and in soothing the +brain after there has been any strain upon it."</p> + +<p>Miss Bathurst also writes frequently at this time. "How earnestly I hope +sleep may be given back to you," she says. "Those long nights of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> waking +will try you sorely." She tells of a sermon preached by Mr. Maurice on +the text, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit," and how he had +dwelt on the change in the meaning of the word endeavour since it was +first used by the translators, and that it was at that time a word full +of energy, implying, "Put out all your force as for something which you +are capable of accomplishing."</p> + +<p>But Bessie was in no condition to receive encouragement from words which +would at another time have roused her like the call of a trumpet.</p> + +<p>The day of endeavour was for the present at an end; weary months passed +on, and her condition was unchanged. An abscess formed in the lower jaw, +and, after consultation, it was resolved to remove eleven teeth. It was +also decided to perform this severe operation all at one time and +without the use of chloroform. There were special difficulties on +account of the condition of Bessie's throat and the adjacent tissues +which seemed at the time to justify this decision; but the result was +disastrous, almost fatal. It was months before she rallied from the +shock of the acute and prolonged pain. When, three weeks after the +operation, she was at the lowest ebb and her condition very critical, it +was discovered that the spire of Chichester Cathedral was in imminent +danger and must shortly fall. Just that part of the palace in which her +room was situated was believed to be in danger of being crushed if the +spire fell, and it was absolutely necessary that she should be removed. +The Dean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> and Mrs. Hook made immediate preparations to receive her at +the Deanery, which was supposed to be out of danger. She was taken from +her bed on the 21st of February 1861, and carried to the safest room in +the palace, but before she could be removed from the house the spire +fell, collapsing like a house of cards, injuring no animate thing, and +doing little harm to any other part of the structure. Bessie was really +proud of that spire. It had been good and beautiful in life, and its +fall was the type of a peaceful and appropriate end. Chichester mourned +its loss; it was, as the local journal said, "the most symmetrical spire +in England, on which the eye of Her Majesty and her Royal Consort when +in the Isle of Wight must have sometimes rested with delight."</p> + +<p>To the blind lady the cathedral and its beautiful spire had also been +very dear. But as she had been too ill for apprehension, so she was at +first spared the sharp pang of regret. Many months of prostration +followed the dental operation, and it was more than a year before she +was again restored to health. As soon as she could attend to letters, +she received frequent reports of the work in London. The underground +railway was in course of construction, and had blocked the Euston Road. +Trade was annihilated there, and the blind had lost all ready-money +custom. Debts were assuming ominous proportions, and Levy, upon whom the +whole strain and responsibility now fell, showed signs of failing health.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Powell wrote on the 7th of May 1861<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> from Palace Gardens, to give +Bessie an account of the Committee meeting. She said that:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Levy was in a weakly, nervous state, soon exhausted. He said it was +nervous fever from which he suffered, and that the doctor told him +he must have rest. In his absence from the room it was proposed to +arrange that he might spend every Saturday and Sunday out of +London. Mr. Dixon, the oculist, who was a member of the Committee, +said he must be careful not to go too far, as in a weak state of +health people suffered more than they gained by long railway +journeys. Levy came back into the room and announced that nothing +could be done or thought of till "the annual meeting" was over. +There was a debt of £1400 hanging over the Institution, half of it +trade debt, and half from customers who could not be got to pay +ready money; and Levy announced that the loss of custom from the +underground railway stopping access to the shop amounted to £20 a week.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. Powell concludes by saying:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I need not add that much sympathy and regret were expressed by the +Committee at your continued weakness and suffering, and all hoped +soon to see you there again. I know how anxious you must feel to be +amongst them; but you will remember "your strength is now to sit +still," until it can be said "Arise, He calleth thee." In patience +you will possess your spirit. May God bless you at all times.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the 13th of May the Bishop writes to give an account of the annual +meeting held at St. James's Hall, and presided over by the Bishop of London.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Queen Anne Street</span>, W., <i>13th May 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My very dear Bessie</span>—Ford [her maid] gives a most encouraging +account of your progress and walking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> performances, and I can +reciprocate with a capital one of this day's meeting. The room was +quite full, galleries and all; 2067 were stated to be present. +There were some donations, but I have not heard yet the amount of the collection.</p> + +<p>It is clear to me the Association has now taken its footing in +London and in the nation, and that with God's blessing it will go +on and become a national Institution, and that you, my dear child, +may humbly rejoice in it. I have not time for more.—Yr. ever +affectionate father,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">A. T. Cicestr</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Such a letter would greatly help forward Bessie's convalescence, which, +though slow, was beginning to show signs of progress. In July a letter +from Levy must have reassured her as to the state of his health, and it +is interesting as the description of a blind man at a fire, with all his +wits about him, and other blind men to help him.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right">127 <span class="smcap">Euston Road</span>, <i>3d July 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>—Last night a fire of an alarming character broke out +nearly opposite the Institution, and at one time our premises were +placed in great danger, large masses of fire falling thickly over +our premises for upwards of half an hour.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of thankfulness that I was at home.</p> + +<p>Our officers and other people hastened from their homes to our +assistance. I caused the cocoa-matting to be taken from the floors, +immersed in water, and spread over the roof, and every vessel +capable of holding water was filled and passed from hand to hand in +regular succession, so that the stream was continually kept up on all exposed parts.</p> + +<p>The office books were tied in blankets ready to be carried away, +but providentially the wind changed and we were relieved from +anxiety. Four houses were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> destroyed or injured, but the only +damage we have received is from the water, which is very slight—I +am, dear madam, yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. H. Levy</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>During the early summer of 1861 a tent was set up in the garden at +Chichester, to which Bessie was carried on all suitable days. She was +happy with birds and trees and flowers around her, and received visits +from many old and tried friends. Her recovery was very slow, but there +was always sufficient progress to point to the ultimate restoration of health.</p> + +<p>Throughout the year the workpeople sent affectionate greetings and +appreciative verses to their generous friend and patron. Bessie resumed +the occupations of her youth, and in the months of her enforced absence +from London and the work of the Association she wrote long poems and +gave her time to music and reading.</p> + +<p>With a view to publication, she submitted some of her poems to her old +friend, the Rev. H. Browne, asking for a candid opinion. He writes as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Pevensey, Eastbourne</span>, <i>15th August 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Bessie</span>—I have read your poems, and, as you desired, have +criticised closely. The faults are chiefly in the versification. +Here and there I suspect they have not been written down correctly +from your dictation. The thoughts, sentiments, and images are very +pleasing, and the expression generally good. That on "The Poplar +Leaves" is exceedingly pretty and gracefully expressed. It needs +but a few alterations to make it all that it should be. "Spring" is +striking in point of thought, but the versification should flow +more smoothly, and the diction here and there needs correction.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>"Thoughts Suggested by a Wakeful Night" are so good that I should +like to see them made as perfect as possible, and as blank verse +needs more finish than rhyme this task will need some pains. I hope +you will not be discouraged at my criticism. If you think of +sending any of these poems to some magazine "The Poplar Leaves" +would best lead the way. I am sorry I cannot help you in this, +having no connection with that kind of periodical literature nor +any acquaintance with its conductors. You will see that I have made +no notes on "Jessie." There are many pleasing lines in it, but it +wants unity, the introductory part having no necessary connection +with the catastrophe, and the latter being only a distressing accident....</p></blockquote> + +<p>The poems, which with returning health and strength were laid aside, are +very defective in form, but the thoughts and feelings that were a solace +to the blind lady cannot fail to interest the reader. These poems also +show what the Chichester garden was to her, and what intellectual +interests and resources she had when she was incapable of the active +work of her Association.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">The Poplar Leaves.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>The poplar leaves are whispering low</div> +<div>In the setting summer beams;</div> +<div>As they catch the lovely farewell glow</div> +<div>That lights the hills and streams.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>What tell they in those murmurs low,</div> +<div>Under the rising moon?</div> +<div>As they wave so gracefully to and fro,</div> +<div>I would ask of them a boon.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span><div>Have you any word for me,</div> +<div>A word I fain would hear?</div> +<div>'Twas dropped perchance beneath your tree</div> +<div>Too faint for human ear.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Ye whisper so very low yourselves,</div> +<div>That as they lightly pass,</div> +<div>Ye needs must hear e'en fairy elves</div> +<div>At revels in the grass.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Then tell me, tell me, if she came</div> +<div>Beneath the setting sun,</div> +<div>And breathed a song, a sigh, a name</div> +<div>Or sweet word ever a one.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Then whisper it again to me,</div> +<div>Ye have not let it go,</div> +<div>It thrilled the whole height of your tree</div> +<div>Through every leaf I trow.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Yet still they whispered on and on,</div> +<div>But never a word for me;</div> +<div>Till, from the hill-tops, light was gone;</div> +<div>And I left the poplar tree.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Again I stood beneath that tree</div> +<div>When the fields were full of sheaves;</div> +<div>But now it mattered not to me</div> +<div>What said the poplar leaves;</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>For one stood with me 'neath the moon,</div> +<div>As they dropped their whispers low,</div> +<div>From whom I gained that precious boon,</div> +<div>The word I longed to know.</div> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i2"><span class="smcap">Lines suggested by a Wakeful Night.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh sleep, where art thou? I could chide thee now</div> +<div>That truant-like thou'rt absent from thy place;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></div> +<div>Or e'en could call thee by a harsher name,</div> +<div>Deserter; yet I will not brand thee thus.</div> +<div>Oh! wherefore dost thou leave me? Haste and come,</div> +<div>That in thy presence I forget all else.</div> +<div>Except thou grant me from thy precious store</div> +<div>Some lovely dream of joy; that, like a child,</div> +<div>Lies folded to thy breast, but which thou canst</div> +<div>At will send forth to wander here or there,</div> +<div>Bearing some wondrous message on its way.</div> +<div>Are such dreams thine? scarce know I whence they are,</div> +<div>Yet sleep in sober earnest, I believe</div> +<div>They are not truly thine, but dwell above</div> +<div>In worlds of light where thou art all unknown.</div> +<div>Yet hold they here strange intercourse with thee,</div> +<div>So that thy soft'ning veil is o'er them thrown,</div> +<div>And a mist in part doth dim their brightness,</div> +<div>And dull the melody of their sweet voice.</div> +<div>While, in the language of their home, they tell</div> +<div>Of its joy and beauty, bidding our souls,</div> +<div>As treasures, keep the whispers which they bring.</div> +<div>For though their sweet voice muffled be and low,</div> +<div>And though thy dewy mist enfold them,</div> +<div>Yet speak they truly with such heavenly power,</div> +<div>That in the joy and light of such a presence</div> +<div>Doth the spirit see this world, and heaven</div> +<div>To be more near than ofttimes we can tell</div> +<div>In the movements of our life; when the links</div> +<div>Uniting both, by us are left untraced;</div> +<div>While sad and weary we do often mourn</div> +<div>Their dreary distance, since our faithless hearts</div> +<div>Will sunder them so far, then cannot rest</div> +<div>In the sever'd world they make unto themselves,</div> +<div>Since that they are inheritors of both.</div> +<div>And He who dwelt on earth, to prove with power</div> +<div>That both these worlds were one, meeting in Him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></div> +<div>Since by His mighty will of love He came</div> +<div>To link again upon the Cross the chain</div> +<div>Which should so closely evermore have bound them,</div> +<div>Which, save for Him, had utterly been sever'd,</div> +<div>He hath said, for every age to hear,</div> +<div>Within is the Kingdom of God; blest truth,</div> +<div>Within; and yet we look afar and gaze</div> +<div>Around in search of somewhat we call heaven,</div> +<div>And oft perchance thinking 'tis found, rejoice,</div> +<div>But soon in sadness is the quest renewed.</div> +<div>For that we seek a kingdom of our own,</div> +<div>No hope than this more utterly forlorn,</div> +<div>We have no kingdom and we cannot reign,</div> +<div>In serving only can we find our life</div> +<div>And perfect freedom, the true life of kings.</div> +<div>But whom to serve we may, nay needs must, choose;</div> +<div>And if the happy choice be made, then ours</div> +<div>Is the glorious privilege to know</div> +<div>That earth and heaven (howe'er Rebellion,</div> +<div>With his sceptre point in triumph, saying</div> +<div>Behold me, by earth's homage, king confessed),</div> +<div>One kingdom are, rul'd ever by one King.</div> +<div>Who through His love will teach this, more and more</div> +<div>Until our hearts, living His life of love,</div> +<div>Shall know and feel His presence all their heaven.</div> +</div></div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i5"><span class="smcap">Evening.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">1.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Ye sounds of day, why all so still,</div> +<div>And hushed as if in sleep?</div> +<div>Is there some power whose sovereign will</div> +<div>Bids you such silence keep?</div> +<div>I ask'd, no voice replied, it seemed</div> +<div>The while as tho' all nature sweetly dreamed,</div> +<div>But soon that spirit of the shade</div> +<div>The breeze, in softest whispers, answer made.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span><div class="i7">2.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Hast thou seen the sun, with fainting beams</div> +<div>In parting, kiss the hills and streams,</div> +<div>Didst mark the blush of that farewell glow</div> +<div>And how he linger'd loth to go?</div> +<div>For soon to the queen of the glowing west,</div> +<div>He knew he must yield and sink to rest.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">3.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>He had caught the sound of her step from far,</div> +<div>Had heard her greet her own bright star,</div> +<div>And triumphing tell how the god of day</div> +<div>Would yield his kingdom to her sway,</div> +<div>And how she comes to reign alone,</div> +<div>For he is gone, that glorious one.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">4.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>O'er sounds she holds entire sway,</div> +<div>When she wills silence all obey,</div> +<div>Soon as her coming draweth near,</div> +<div>Many are hush'd, that she may hear</div> +<div>Those only which she makes her own,</div> +<div>Whose music breathes a lulling tone.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">5.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>The streams that flow in melody,</div> +<div>The soothing insect-hum,</div> +<div>The green leaves whispering softly</div> +<div>While I, on light wings come,</div> +<div>And with low murmurs lull the groves,</div> +<div>These all make music which she loves;</div> +<div>All these, when the stirring day doth end,</div> +<div>To give her sweet welcome their voices blend.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">6.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Then ceas'd the voice, but all around</div> +<div>Floated a gentle murmuring sound;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></div> +<div>While fragrant breath of greeting rose</div> +<div>From flowers sinking to repose,</div> +<div>To welcome evening's peaceful reign,</div> +<div>The while responding to the strain,</div> +<div>Their willing tribute of thanks and praise</div> +<div>My heart and voice at once did raise:</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">7.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh evening, I will sing to thee,</div> +<div>Thou silent mother of thought;</div> +<div>My heart shall breathe the melody,</div> +<div>With glowing rapture fraught;</div> +<div>Yes, I will sing to thee, and tell</div> +<div>How I love thy solemn hour,</div> +<div>How in thy stillness lies a spell</div> +<div>Of soothing holy power.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">8.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Thou comest in calm majesty</div> +<div>To thy bowers in the west;</div> +<div>And weary nature blesseth thee,</div> +<div>For she knows thou bringest rest,</div> +<div>She waits thy coming anxiously,</div> +<div>And all the lovely flowers</div> +<div>Droop their leaves in thanks to thee,</div> +<div>For life-renewing showers.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">9.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Well may they bless thee, for I trow</div> +<div>When the joyous morn doth wake,</div> +<div>And with its beams their slumbers break,</div> +<div>All fresh and bright their leaves shall glow;</div> +<div>And to the deep feeling heart,</div> +<div>That which can love thee best,</div> +<div>How beautiful thou art!</div> +<div>Cradle of peace and rest.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span><div class="i7">10.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>It loves thy presence, and to thee</div> +<div>By chains of deepest thought is bound.</div> +<div>Such thought as sets the spirit free</div> +<div>Hallowing all around.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i7">11.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Then wakes in man his nature high,</div> +<div>He feels his immortality;</div> +<div>And in the peace at evening given</div> +<div>Bethinks him he is heir of heaven.</div> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST LOSS</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"The thought of our past years in me doth breed</div> +<div>Perpetual benediction."—<span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>In August 1861 Bessie was removed to Bognor for the benefit of sea air, +and began to show signs of complete recovery. Some of the sisters were +her constant companions and devoted nurses; she received visits from her +parents, and loving letters from many friends.</p> + +<p>She returned to Chichester in the late autumn, restored to her usual +average of health; and in December the Bishop wrote to her, the eldest +daughter at home, as he had done in the old days when she was a girl, to +prepare for the return of the family from Brighton.</p> + +<p>Christmas was spent as usual at the palace, and with the new year Bessie +began gradually to resume her work for the Institution.</p> + +<p>Her first frame letter was written in March 1862 to her father, and has been preserved:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>1st March 1862</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dearest Papa</span>—I had long ago settled that my first letter with +the frame should be to you, and most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> thankful I am to be able to +be at the "stocking making" again, though very likely I shall not +make a very good workwoman; but please take the work, such as it +is, as a little sign that Bessie has not forgotten all the love +shown her while she was ill, how you used to come and sit with her +in the midst of all you had to do. I am very very thankful to be so +much stronger, and to have been brought through the suffering as I have been.</p> + +<p>I hope you will take care of yourself when you start for +confirmations, the winds now are so bitterly cold. Indeed, you do +provide well for us; it will be very enjoyable to have the Brownes. +Did you see that curious letter in <i>The Times</i> not long since, +headed "Is it—;" I thought it would interest you. I hope it has +not been necessary to light gas to-day for morning service. +However, the day has not been very bright here. Yesterday I was out +in the garden in the morning, but I have a little cold and so was +not tempted to-day, as there was no sun. Robin is to sleep here +to-night; he preaches, I think, at St. Andrews. Very much love to +mamma and all.—I am ever your dutiful and loving child,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>The difficulties of the Association had increased during the period of +Bessie's illness and absence.</p> + +<p>Subscriptions and donations now amounted to between two and three +thousand a year, and goods had been sold to about the same amount. But +so large a percentage on sales was paid to all blind agents and +travellers and to Mr. Levy that the increase of trade threatened to +swamp the undertaking. Moreover, sales did not keep pace with productive +power, and a large quantity of stock was on hand.</p> + +<p>A Sub-Committee was appointed to investigate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> the financial condition of +the Association, and their report, practical and sound as it was, proved +very distasteful to Bessie.</p> + +<p>They advised the employment of a sighted shopman, the substitution of +some easier and more accurate method of keeping accounts, the payment of +all money received into the bank, and an arrangement under which Mr. and +Mrs. Levy should receive a fixed salary in lieu of commission on sales. +They also intimated their belief that the time had come when the Society +must look to its director simply for general management, and must be +prepared to employ a thoroughly efficient staff in the shop and workrooms.</p> + +<p>The report really amounted to a suggestion to supersede her faithful +manager; a step to which Bessie and Levy were equally opposed. Bessie +hoped to avert it by raising money to pay the debts, and open a West-end +shop; and as the Committee was powerless without the alliance of the +Lady President, there was at any rate a reprieve.</p> + +<p>To obviate one of the difficulties arising from want of funds, the +Bishop offered £40 a year as the wages of a sighted shopman, in addition +to his subscription of £5.</p> + +<p>He announces this in a letter written from Queen Anne Street on the 22d +May 1862, to Bessie at Chichester. His offer was gratefully accepted by +the Committee. It was also arranged that donations and subscriptions +should be paid into the banking account; and not, as hitherto, used as +soon as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> received in the payment of bills and wages. But the director +was unwilling to relinquish any of his duties, and Bessie considered +that when her own health, which was rapidly improving, should be quite +re-established, the assistance she could give would lighten his duties +and responsibilities.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances there seemed no pressing need of reform in the +management. Bessie had one remedy for all the suggestions of the +Sub-Committee; and this was to plead both in public and in private for +money and custom. In 1863 there were articles and letters in <i>The +Times</i>, and in all the principal London journals, and a paper in Miss +Yonge's <i>Monthly Packet</i> by Mrs. Hooper, who had previously written on +the subject in <i>Household Words</i>. Mr. Gladstone was asked to speak at +the annual meeting to be held in May, and replied:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">11 Downing Street, Whitehall</span>, <i>17th March 1863</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—It would be with so much regret that I should decline a +request proceeding from you, that although uncertain whether my +public duties may permit me to attend the meeting to which you +refer, on the 11th May, I cheerfully engage to do so, subject only +to the contingency of any call upon me elsewhere, such as I may be +unable to decline.—I have the honour to be, madam, your very faithful servant,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. E. Gladstone.</span></p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone attended the meeting and advocated the claims of the +Association, not, as he said, from motives of philanthropy but as a +political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> economist, and because it was founded on sound principles. He +said:</p> + +<p>"While this Association aims to promote the general welfare of the +blind, it aims at promoting that welfare in a very specific manner and +by well-determined means. It is not founded on the idea that the blind, +because they have suffered a great and heavy visitation, are therefore +to be the mere passive recipients of that which the liberality of their +fellow-creatures may bestow. It does not proceed on the idea that +because the blind are so, they have therefore ceased to partake in other +respects in that mysterious nature of which we are all partakers, with +its immense capabilities and powers, with its high hopes and great +dangers. For in all other respects the blind continue to be sharers in +every thing pertaining to us as men; and if I rightly apprehend the idea +of this Institution, it is this, that while we minister to the wants of +the blind in a specific manner, yet we still consider them as rational +beings, as members of society, as capable of various purposes, as not +intended to be sent into a corner, or to be excommunicated from us; but +as intended to bear their part as citizens, as enlightened and civilised +creatures, and as Christians. Employment given to the blind is a great +source of happiness. The sentence which was termed the primeval curse, +if on one side it presented the aspect of a curse, also presented on the +other the aspect of a blessing,—the necessity, the condition of true +happiness. Employment is a blessing for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> us all, but it is much more to +the blind. Employment to the blind is the condition of mental serenity, +of comfort and resignation. Employment to the blind is also the +condition of subsistence,—that is, of honourable and independent +subsistence. It is a great thing for an institution when we are enabled +to say that its rules and practice are in harmony with political +economy, for political economy is founded on truth. I believe that the +rules of the Association are based on the laws which regulate the +accumulation and distribution of the means of subsistence. In this +Association we have the union of what the coldest prudence would +dictate, and of what the most affectionate Christian heart would desire."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone was at that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his +advocacy was very valuable. The pecuniary result of the meeting, which +had given her some months of labour, was most gratifying to Bessie, and +she resumed her work of collecting funds with fresh ardour. We find her +making application, in vain, for a grant from the Peabody Fund. The +question of State aid for the blind was suggested to her, and she set to +work in the usual patient and thorough way, to obtain information and to +look around for influential help. But the autumn brought sorrow and +grave anxiety, which almost put a stop to other work. Mrs. Gilbert, +whose health had long been failing, declined rapidly. Bessie remained at +Chichester, and wrote constantly and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> very tenderly to the sister, Mrs. +Elliot, who was unable to leave her own home, and yet anxious to be with +her mother if the illness should prove alarming. Bessie writes an +autograph letter on 9th December 1863, tells of the arrival of married +sisters at the palace, of the anxiety of Dr. Tyacke and her father, of +the sympathy they all feel for the one who cannot join them, "we know +how much your heart is with us, and how much we should like to have you +here.... I have just heard that Mary thinks mamma looking better than +she expected, and Sarah says she does not think her looking quite so ill +as on Monday. It is a pleasure to tell you anything the least +cheering.... You do not know how sorry we all are for you; I hope you +will not find this letter difficult to read. I wished especially to +write to you to-day to tell you how we all think of you, and feel for +and with you in all this difficulty and anxiety."</p> + +<p>That evening a younger sister prepared some arrowroot in the sick-room, +and the blind daughter administered it carefully, spoonful after +spoonful, to her dying mother. "It pleased them both so much," we are +told, and it was the last office of love, for on the 10th December Mrs. Gilbert died.</p> + +<p>The death of this warm-hearted, generous woman, who had made home so +happy for her children, devoted wife and loving mother, was a crushing +blow. Death had not visited the home for nearly thirty years, and this +great grief opened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> up the possibility of future loss, and was as a +pillar of cloud that followed them.</p> + +<p>Miss Law, writing to Bessie on the 23d of January 1864, says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I can indeed most fully enter into all you have felt and are +feeling still, under this dark shadow, which has fallen around you; +but surely by and by you will be enabled to see the light that must +be shining behind it. Oh, I do trust that the sad empty place in +all your hearts may each day be filled more and more with the +loving presence of Him who has sounded all the deepest depths of +human sorrow and suffering, that He might know how to feel for and +comfort us the better. Yes, you must indeed feel comforted already +in the thought of the fulness of her joy and rest and peace. I am +very glad your poor father has been so strengthened through his +great trouble; he is rich in having many loving children to help +and comfort him.... My book has been far more successful already +than I had expected; there have been several very nice reviews; we +are going to have them reprinted altogether, and then I will send +you a copy.... Some day I should like to know your thoughts about +my little poems, and which ones you like best among them. Dear Miss +Proctor [Adelaide] is still very ill, though at times she revives +wonderfully. I was able to see her twice when I was in town. She +writes to me now and then herself, and her sister Edith constantly.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Not long before Mrs. Gilbert's death the possible marriage of a younger +daughter had greatly interested her. She looked forward with confidence +to her child's future happiness, and when her own condition became +serious she begged that in no case might the marriage be postponed. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +was therefore solemnised in March 1864 as quietly as possible. This +sister, H——, had been for some years Bessie's special ally, and the +loss of her active help and unfailing sympathy was severely felt.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>HOW THE WORK WENT ON</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"He who has but one aim, and refers all things to one principle, +and views all things in one light, is able to abide steadfast, and +to rest in God."—<span class="smcap">Thomas à Kempis.</span></p></div> + +<p>Goods manufactured by the blind had been for some years advanced to +blind agents on a system known as "sale or return." This had proved +satisfactory so long as the agents were carefully selected. But there +had been some relaxation in the requisite caution, and large +consignments had been made to blind men who returned neither money nor +goods, and who were found to be without either honesty or cash. In 1864 +the loss to the Institution by sale and return amounted to more than £1200.</p> + +<p>Bessie was not discouraged by the loss. She felt so keenly the force of +the temptations to which the blind were exposed, and the possibility +that they had at first hoped and intended to be honest, and had only +gradually fallen into evil ways, that it was with difficulty she could +be induced to acquiesce in the abolition of a system which worked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> so +badly. However, it had to be given up, and she set to work to pay the debts incurred.</p> + +<p>Instead of the annual meeting of May 1865, a bazaar in aid of the funds +of the Institution was suggested.</p> + +<p>The first idea of this was very distasteful to Bessie. She had a horror +of the ordinary bazaar. But it was pointed out that a sale of goods on +behalf of the blind, held in the right place and by the right persons, +would have none of the features to which she so justly objected. Her +scruples were overcome, and after she had given her consent she devoted +the autumn and winter months of 1864 and the early part of 1865 to the +necessary preparations for the undertaking. She applied to the Duke and +the late Duchess of Argyle for permission to hold the sale in Argyle +Lodge. They very kindly consented; and the Duchess suggested that if any +use was to be made of the grounds of Argyle Lodge the date fixed should +not be too early in the spring. In consequence of this advice it was +resolved to hold the sale on the 21st and 22d of June.</p> + +<p>As the time appointed drew near, Bessie's labours were saddened and +rendered difficult by a great loss. Her brother-in-law, Colonel the +Honourable Gilbert Elliot, who had never quite recovered from the +effects of the South African and Crimean campaigns, was taken seriously +ill in March and died on the 25th of May 1865.</p> + +<p>The arrangements for the sale, which was a public undertaking, were now +completed, and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> was decided to proceed with it, but the work was +carried on by Bessie at great cost and with a heavy heart; for, as she +says in one of her rare autograph letters, sent to Mrs. Elliot on the +25th May: "You know how we all love dear Gilbert."</p> + +<p>Many friends came forward to offer such help as could be given, and the +sale promised to be a success. The list of stall-holders was excellent, +and encouraged Bessie to hope for a good attendance and good results.</p> + +<p>Lady Constance Grosvenor, Lady Blantyre, Lady Jocelyn, Lady Victoria +Wellesley, the Marchioness of Waterford and Lady Anson, the Marchioness +of Ormonde, Miss Gilbert, Mrs. Imwood Jones, Mrs. Green, Mrs. King, Mrs. +Fox, Mrs. C. Dyke and Lady Geraldine St. Maur held stalls. Gate money +and the sale of goods produced £1078. Over £200 was received in +donations, and the net result of the sale was more than £1300.</p> + +<p>Bessie had good reason to be satisfied, not only with the money but with +the influential patrons she had secured for the Institution. The report +for the following year gives an imposing list of vice-patrons,—the +Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of Rutland and Argyle, the +Earls of Abergavenny, Chichester, and Darnley, the Bishops of St. +David's, Chichester, Lichfield, Oxford, St. Asaph, and Lincoln, Lord +Ebury, Lord Houghton, Mr. Gladstone, Sir Roundell Palmer, the Dean of +Westminster, and Professor Fawcett.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p><p>The pecuniary result of the sale, though perhaps not all that was +expected, seemed to justify the Committee in taking a West-end shop. +They secured No. 210 Oxford Street, and decided to keep the old houses +in the Euston Road as workshops.</p> + +<p>Mr. Levy, in a letter sent to Chichester on the 30th September 1865, +announces the completion of the arrangements for a lease on the terms +offered by the Committee. He adds that one brushmaker has a shop nine +doors off, and another brushmaker has a shop twenty-four doors off, but +he thinks their vicinity will not injure the Association. He probably +expected that influential patrons and their friends would purchase from +the blind, and that no orders would go astray. This expectation was not +realised, and in the course of two or three years the vicinity of the +two brush shops was found to be a serious disadvantage.</p> + +<p>During the early summer of this year Bessie received a letter written on +behalf of the Committee of the Blind Asylum at Brighton; asking if their +schoolmistress and her assistant, who were not themselves blind, could +be received for "a few days" in the "asylum in the Euston Road." They +wanted to see the working of it, and more especially to learn the trades taught to women.</p> + +<p>Bessie replied that the Institution was not an "asylum," and that no one +could be received to live in the house. She expressed her disapproval of +the employment of "sighted" teachers, but offered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> to arrange with the +Brighton Committee for the reception of one or two blind persons to be +taught brush-making and other trades, with a view to becoming teachers. +She explained fully the objects of the Association, and expressed her +opinion that an attempt to acquire any trade "in a few days" could only +result in misconception and failure.</p> + +<p>There were several letters on both sides, but neither yielded. Bessie +would not consent to train "sighted" teachers "in a few days," and +Brighton would not send blind pupils.</p> + +<p>Three years previously the Davenport Institution had applied for a blind +teacher. A man trained by the Association had been sent, and had given +entire satisfaction. He succeeded a "sighted" teacher, and was said to +have done more in six months than his predecessor in two years. Bessie +always urged the necessity of employing blind teachers, on the ground +that they alone could know all the difficulties of the blind; and it +would have been impossible for her to sanction so retrograde a step as +the training of "sighted" teachers in an institution full of blind +persons, many of whom were quite capable of teaching others.</p> + +<p>Bessie left London much exhausted by the labours and sorrow of the spring.</p> + +<p>She required a long rest to restore her strength. We have a short +account of her summer in the following letter to Miss Butler, written in +October, from Queen Anne Street.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Butler</span>—... I am sure you must have thought it +strange that I have not answered your letter long before this, but +I wanted to have the pleasure of writing to you myself, and I have +just lately had a good deal of work, I mean handy-work, which has +prevented my so doing. Added to which I only returned home about a +fortnight ago after, for me, a wonderfully long absence, about +which I must tell you presently.</p> + +<p>I have come up to-day from Chichester for our Committee to-morrow, +and am talking to you in this way in the evening. I too am very +sorry not to have seen you this year, but I hope we may see you +still. How are you after all your nursing and anxiety. You must +want some refreshment, I should think.</p> + +<p>Now with regard to Mr. —— I shall be very glad to do anything I +can, but I really hardly see what I can say or do. My father +generally likes these sort of things to be official, and I really +don't think I should do any good by mentioning Mr. ——'s name +before the ordination. Papa would only say to me: "The examination +must take its usual course, and I cannot do anything," he would +say. Still I will take an opportunity of saying something, nor +would I hesitate at all about it, but that I really think that with +papa such a mention would do no good. I hope you will quite +understand that I have not said all this from any unwillingness to +do what you ask, but really because I don't see how to do so to any +purpose; otherwise it would give me particular pleasure to do it +for you at your request. I am very glad indeed you have succeeded +so well with ——. Every such practical proof of what a blind person +can do is a help more or less to the general cause. Thank you very +much for making the experiment with her.</p> + +<p>I told you I had been long away from home. I felt I wanted a +complete change. I don't know when I ever felt this so much. Well, +I paid some visits, one at about twenty-three miles from +Birmingham, and from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> thence I went to the festival. I heard <i>St. +Paul</i>; and the day but one after the <i>Messiah</i>. I cannot tell you +what enjoyment this music was to me; never did I hear such +choruses. Each individual singer seemed to love the music. I shall +never forget the wondrous beauty of the singing. However, I was +completely knocked up afterwards for three or four days, but it was +well worth all the headache and exhaustion which I had after it. +The journey there and back was a very great additional fatigue. +Altogether I enjoyed my visits very much, and am all the better for +them, ready, I hope, please God, for plenty of work this winter. +Will you please send me the money in your hands before December. We +have deposited money towards the working capital, and I am most +anxious if possible to find money for current expenses without +touching this capital, and also if possible to add to the deposit. +Of course the more custom the better; I very much want regular +custom from wine merchants for baskets, that we may employ +basketmakers accordingly.</p> + +<p>Can you get some such custom with my love to your Mother I am yours +ever affectionately Bessie Gilbert my sisters are well only Sarah +at home Papa very well good bye.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The last sentence is printed as it stands, and gives a specimen of the +occasional want of capitals and of punctuation almost inevitable when +the writer is hurried. But think of the concentration required to write +letters which allow of no interruption and no revision.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of this year an excellent scheme was inaugurated, capable +of a development which it has never yet received. The object of it was +to enable blind persons living in the country to learn a trade suited to +their own neighbourhood,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> and to be instructed in reading and writing +without the expense and very grave risk of a prolonged residence in London.</p> + +<p>It was proposed to send a blind teacher, with his wife, to lodge in any +village or town where there were persons whose friends were willing and +able to provide for their instruction. These persons were to be taught +at their own homes, or in some more convenient place, a remunerative +trade, such as cane and rushwork, the making of beehives, rush baskets, +and garden nets; mat-making, chair-caning, etc. They were also to be +taught reading, and the use of appliances for writing and keeping accounts.</p> + +<p>The Association did not undertake to supply any work, it had to be found +in the neighbourhood. With the help of the charitable it was considered +that this ought not to be difficult; and even if the blind did not +entirely earn their own living, the little they could do would be a help +so far as it went. Bessie had proved long before this that employment, +with the intercourse it brings, is the greatest alleviation to the +suffering of many a blind man or woman. During the autumn of 1865 two +blind persons in the country were taught trades at their own homes, and +also learned to read and write. The cost was not more than £10 for each +person, a sum much less than that which has to be provided for those who +are sent to London for training.</p> + +<p>Some day, perhaps, these peripatetic blind instructors may once more be +sent out by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> Institution, with advantage both to themselves and +others.</p> + +<p>A period of steady quiet work was now before Bessie. Letters, appeals, +investigations, and reports filled her time.</p> + +<p>The Archbishop of York presided at the annual meeting in 1866, and the +balance-sheet for that year shows receipts amounting to £7632. She found +herself engaged in a large commercial as well as a philanthropic +undertaking; and the success of her industrial work began to tell, not +only in Great Britain, but in the United States of America. She was much +gratified by the report of the Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution +for the Instruction of the Blind, 1866, in which the following passage occurs:</p> + +<blockquote><p>We are gratified to report the successful working of the literary +and musical branches of the Institution, and also the favourable +progress of our manufacturing department, in teaching and employing +blind persons in useful trades; experience every year confirms the +necessity of a house of industry for the regular employment of +pupils whose term of instruction has terminated, and of the adult blind.</p> + +<p>The education of the blind is a simple matter; nor is it +susceptible of much improvement in the way of securing their future +welfare. The great idea which encourages the establishment and +support of all such institutions by the several States is the +preparation of the blind for future usefulness and happiness, by +self-dependence. Their misfortune unfits them for the large number +of industrial and professional pursuits open to the seeing; but +there are mechanical arts in which they become good, if not rapid +workers. The difficulty with many,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> especially those without +friends and homes, is in securing employment, and in earning fully +enough for their support. Without this, the failure, idleness, and +demoralisation which too often follow prove how imperfect is their +previous instruction in this direction.</p> + +<p>The "Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind," +founded in London by Miss E. Gilbert, is an example of a very +practical organisation for the employment of the blind, which has +been alluded to in our former reports. It gives work, in various +ways, to about 170 adult blind persons, many of whom were +previously begging in the streets. The deficiency of their earnings +is supplied by annual subscriptions and legacies, the usual sources +of support in Great Britain for the benevolent institutions.</p> + +<p>Such institutions will never be self-sustaining. But the support of +an industrial association which enables every blind person to earn +100, 200, or 300 dollars a year, is certainly better than to throw +such persons upon the charities of the wayside, or to consign them +to pensioned idleness.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the autumn of this year Bessie was at Chichester, and in addition to +the difficulty of walking, which she experienced after any time of hard +work, she began to discover that vibration from any great or sudden +noise affected her painfully. She drove with her father and a sister +from Chichester to Kingly Bottom, a vale in the South Downs, for the +last day's shooting of the rifle volunteer corps in September 1866. The +sharp crack of the rifles tried her greatly, and brought on so much pain +that she was glad to accept a seat in the carriage of a friend and go +home, instead of waiting, as the Bishop wished to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> do, for the end of +the match. The noise seemed to exhaust her.</p> + +<p>During the autumn of 1866 Mr. F. Green, who for many years had rendered +great service by his work on the Committee, presented to the Association +five shares of £100 in the Marine Insurance Company, of which he was a +director. They yielded at that time £40 a year, and the gift was a +source of much gratification to Bessie.</p> + +<p>She was at Chichester in December, and wrote thence on the 21st to her +widowed sister, Mrs. Elliot, dwelling on the service she could render to others:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Having you must make all the difference," she says, when alluding +to a succession of troubles which had fallen upon Lady Minto, with +whom Mrs. Elliot was staying. "Really there is not and will not be +any lack of work for you. You have had, I should think, quite as +much as you could do for some time past.... There is a chance of +Tom's coming in January.... I suppose you know all about him and +his doings. I can't think how he would have got on without you."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Then she gives news from home:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I am expecting them in after the ordination every moment. This time +it is in the cathedral; twelve candidates I think. Papa came down +to breakfast this morning, and was to go in time for the whole +service. Only think, one of the priests has been in agonies of +toothache all through the examination; but in spite of it Mr. +Browne was delighted with all he did. The poor man had two teeth +taken out, and happily to-day was flourishing.... I do hope you +will like the little paper knife which I am so very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> glad to send +you. I was quite taken with the little bells of the lilies.... Nora +to-day is quite in her element and full of work, putting up a +number of parcels to send off in different directions.... Ever your loving sister,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>"Tom," of whom she speaks, had recently been appointed Vicar of +Heversham, near Milnthorpe; and Mrs. Elliot had visited him at the +vicarage, and superintended the domestic arrangements of her bachelor brother.</p> + +<p>Bessie received no Christmas box which gave her more pleasure than the +following poem, which appeared in <i>Punch</i> on the 29th of December:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">A Box for Blindman's Buff.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Sit down to eat and drink on this glad day,</div> +<div class="i1">And blest be he that first cries, "Hold, enough!"</div> +<div>Gorge, boys, and girls; and then rise up to play.</div> +<div class="i1">You <i>can</i>. A game in season's Blindman's Buff.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>The ready fillet round the seamless brow</div> +<div class="i1">Of youth or maiden while quick fingers bind,</div> +<div>Beneath the golden-green pearl-berried bough,</div> +<div class="i1">What fun it is to play at being blind!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>But some at Blindman's Buff with eyes unbound</div> +<div class="i1">Might join, for whom less sport that game would be</div> +<div>Because it is their life's continual round:</div> +<div class="i1">The Blindman's Buff of those that cannot see.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>If poor, for alms they can but grope about.</div> +<div class="i1">But Science to their need assistance lends;</div> +<div>And "knowledge, at one entrance quite shut out,"</div> +<div class="i1">Puts veritably at their fingers' ends.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span><div>Thus they who else would starve to labour learn.</div> +<div class="i1">Does that consideration strike your mind?</div> +<div>Their living do you wish that they should earn,</div> +<div class="i1">Instead of crying "Pity the poor Blind?"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Then know there's not a charitable Dun,</div> +<div class="i1">Subscription seeking at your gate who knocks,</div> +<div>That more deserves your bounty than the one</div> +<div class="i1">Who for the Blind requests a Christmas Box.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>At Oxford Street's two-hundred-and-tenth door</div> +<div class="i1">Inquire within about the Blind Man's Friend.</div> +<div>Or send your guinea, if you like, or more;</div> +<div class="i1">As many more as you can spare to send.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i12"><i>Punch, 29th December 1866.</i></div> +</div></div> + +<p>In August 1867 Bessie paid her first visit to the Vicar of Heversham. +She writes a "frame" letter from the North to Mrs. Elliot, and sends +warm appreciation of her work in the house, and of the "little +three-cornered things in the pink room." The "nice woman" was probably a +certain Jane Todd, formerly a servant, but at that time settled in a +home of her own. Quite an extraordinary friendship sprang up between her +and Bessie, and to the end of her life Jane Todd daily offered up +special prayers on behalf of her friend the blind lady.</p> + +<p>There are again ominous allusions to her difficulty in walking. "I walk +better here," she says; and again, "I can't tell you how much I enjoy +moving more freely."</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Heversham, Milnthorpe,</span> <i>23d August 1867</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear K.</span>—I meant my first frame letter from here to be to you, +so now I am beginning it. I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> the morning room which you used +to have, and enjoy it very much. How nice the house is, and how you +must have worked to make it so. Mrs. Argles and Mrs. Braithwaite +seem very much impressed with all your hard work. Is it true that +those little three-cornered things in the pink room with the china +on them were washhand stands? You have made a capital use of +them.... I walked up the lower Head yesterday, then stayed there +and had some tea brought me, and afterwards walked to the school +through all those stiles. After the meeting we came back by the +road. I have been able to walk better here, and it is such a +pleasure. I can't tell you how much I enjoy moving more freely. +Wednesday I walked as far as the house at Levens and back after a +rest at a cottage near, where we found a very nice woman who +certainly talked Westmoreland, but really with a pretty accent.... +Your loving sister,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The difficulty in walking, to which she alludes, had again increased; +and in 1867 or 1868 she consulted Sir James Paget with regard to it. He +thought it proceeded from weak ankles and general debility, and +prescribed rest and care.</p> + +<p>She was at Queen Anne Street in February 1868, and much interested in a +public dinner at Chichester at which her father was to be present Dean +Hook wrote to give her an account of the proceedings.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">The Deanery, Chichester</span>, <i>5th February 1868</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Gilbert</span>—I cannot help writing to tell you that the +dear good Bishop was yesterday more animated and more eloquent than +I ever heard him. He seemed so well and so happy that I am glad he +went. It was indeed an ovation to his lordship, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> much as to the +Mayor; he was so enthusiastically received. As I knew that you were +anxious about him, under the notion that he was doing too much, I +trouble you with this note. The calm serenity with which he always +does his duty, and in performing it does his best, is a very +beautiful trait in his character, and I doubt not now that he will +get through his visitation duties without suffering too much from +fatigue. It is not work, it is worry which tries a man, and all his +clergy will exert themselves to save him from worries.—Believe me +to be, your affectionate friend,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. F. Hook</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie's own work at this time was mainly the preparation for the annual +meeting in May, together with appeals for custom to the secretaries of +public institutions.</p> + +<p>The Lady Superintendent of the Hospital for Sick Children in Great +Ormond Street replies that brushes for the Hospital are always purchased +at the depot in Euston Road.</p> + +<p>The Secretary of the Islington Shoe Black Brigade tells her that so far +as he can, consistently with the interests of his Society, and as +regards the price charged for various articles, he has always given the +Society for the Blind as much custom as possible. These are types of +innumerable answers; and she went on with this drudgery year after year; +every ignoble detail of it glorified by the constant presence of the aim +for which she worked. The sufferings of the blind poor were always borne +in her heart; the hope of alleviating them was the mainspring of all her +actions. Letters, accounts, appeals, petitions, these are all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> the +machinery with which she works. She has learnt the proportion of result +to be expected, and is seldom disappointed or disheartened by +indifference or coldness. But encouragement and approval from those whom +she honours is very helpful to her.</p> + +<p>At the meeting held on 14th May 1868 Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Fawcett, and +Professor Owen were amongst the principal speakers. Mr. Gladstone wrote +as follows on the 8th:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right">11 <span class="smcap">Carlton House Terrace</span>, S.W., <i>8th May 1868</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Madam</span>—If Mr. Levy will kindly call on me at half-past one +on the 14th, I will take the instructions and information from him +with reference to the meeting. I cannot be quite sure of escape +from my duties in the House (which meets on Wednesdays at twelve) +but unless necessity keeps me away you may depend upon me.—I +remain, very faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="right">W. E. <span class="smcap">Gladstone</span>.</p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone's speech at that meeting is best described by its effect +upon Bessie herself. She writes as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>20th June 1868</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Kate</span>—I have long been wishing to write to you, and, +indeed, before the meeting a dictated letter was just begun to you, +but there was no time to write it. After the meeting I was only too +glad to do anything rather than write letters; any, therefore, +which I could avoid I did, and also I wished to wait until I should +have time and opportunity to write to you quietly myself. So now +you see I have begun. Had it been at any other time I should have +liked you to have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> present at the meeting. To you I can say +without fear of reproof that some of Mr. Gladstone's words often +come back upon me with a force and power that seems to kindle new +life within me. I long to realise them, that I may more really feel +them to be deserved. Professor Owen's was a beautiful speech. I +think we shall clear about a hundred and twenty pounds.... From +your ever loving sister,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>BLIND CHILDREN OF THE POOR</h3> + +<div class="block"><p>"Toutes les bonnes maximes sont dans le monde, on ne manque qu'à +les appliquer."—<span class="smcap">Pascal, 391.</span></p></div> + +<p>The education of blind children had occupied Bessie's thoughts for many +years. So far back as 1863 she had been in communication with Mr. +Lonsdale of the National Society, inquiring as to the State aid given to +industrial schools, and the conditions under which schools for the blind +could be certified so as to secure the benefit of the Acts. She had +begun in her usual careful and systematic way by obtaining all the +available statistics of existing schools; and now in view of a new and +enlarged scheme for the general education of the poor, the time seemed +to have arrived for action. She resolved to lay before those in +authority the needs of the blind, their number, the possibility of +minimising their affliction, and by means of adequate education opening +to them avenues of employment and independence. This work engrossed her +time and thoughts in 1869 and the early months of 1870.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p><p>The co-operation of all societies working on behalf of the blind was +necessary. It was essential to submit to the ministers of the Crown such +reliable evidence as to the number of blind children, and the urgency of +their claims, as to make it impossible that they should be overlooked in +any adequate system of education for the people.</p> + +<p>Bessie sent out in the first place a Memorandum to all institutions for +the blind in Great Britain, and to several influential and friendly +members of Parliament. In this she set forth the step she proposed to +take, asked for suggestions, conditions, additions, alterations, or +proposed omissions in the petition, of which a copy was enclosed; for +information as to presenting it, for support and assistance in the +labour involved. She also asked the opinion of those to whom she wrote +as to the best method of procedure, whether by petition to Parliament or +by a memorial to the Lords of the Privy Council.</p> + +<p>The replies which she received were very encouraging, and she found that +general opinion was in favour of a Memorial. The document was prepared, +and copies of it were submitted for approval, together with a circular +letter. A private letter written by Bessie herself to the authorities, +and to all influential friends, accompanied the printed documents. She +sent these papers to the Oxford Street shop to be folded and addressed, +and as an example of her minute care, the following episode is of interest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>Amongst her papers there is the copy of instructions sent to Oxford +Street, after she had inspected the circulars. She writes that the +titles of institutions must be copied from the list she had previously +furnished, that full titles must be used in the Memorials to +institutions and to private individuals, and that abbreviations are only +admissible on the envelopes. She gives instructions for writing out +afresh all those memorials in which she had found the titles to be abbreviated.</p> + +<p>These preliminaries occupied the early months of 1869. The Memorial was +completed and sent up in July, and Lord de Grey promised to receive a +Deputation in support of it. Bessie drew up a list of the names of those +members of Parliament and influential members of her own and of kindred +institutions who should be invited to form the Deputation. All +arrangements being made, the Deputation met at the Westminster Palace +Hotel, on the 10th of February 1870, and proceeded thence to the +Education Office. Bessie, with other ladies, remained at the hotel, and +subsequently received a report of the proceedings.</p> + +<p>Earl de Grey and Ripon, Lord President of the Privy Council, with whom +was Mr. Forster, received the Deputation. The representatives of +twenty-nine institutions for the blind were present, and also Lord +Houghton, Lord Manvers, Dean Hook, Sir James Hamilton, Admiral Ryder, +Admiral Sotheby, General J. Graham, and the following members of +Parliament: Messrs. D. M'Laren', Beresford Hope, H. Woods, W. J. +Mitford, W. D.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> Murphy, F. Wheelhouse, Sir J. Anson, and Lt.-Colonel +Gray.</p> + +<p>Lord Houghton introduced the Deputation, and said they desired to +impress on Lord de Grey the advisability of giving all possible +consideration to the Memorial presented by Miss Gilbert in the previous +July, praying that a large number of Her Majesty's subjects who, at +birth or afterwards, were deprived of sight, should have a fair share of +protection and interest in any measure of general education which might +be designed by the Government. It was most desirable that a class which +was so helpless should receive the best consideration which could be +given to their condition.</p> + +<p>Dean Hook spoke in support of the object of the Deputation, and many of +the members of Parliament and others who were present gave information +as to the condition of the blind in different parts of the country.</p> + +<p>Lord de Grey asked several questions as to the instruction which the +blind received, and said he would carefully consider the representations +made to him by so important and influential a Deputation. He said there +were many points connected with institutions for the blind which placed +them in a different category from the elementary schools which it was +the object of the parliamentary grant to aid. Other questions were +involved, and other institutions might put forth claims, as, for +example, those for the deaf and dumb. It would be the duty of the +Council to weigh most seriously the practicability of the Memorial, and +he assured the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> Deputation that they had the utmost sympathy of Mr. +Forster and himself.</p> + +<p>Upon this Lord Houghton thanked Lord de Grey for his courtesy, and the +Deputation withdrew.</p> + +<p>There was no immediate action as the result of the labour of a whole +year, and probably no special action on behalf of a class, however +afflicted, can be expected from the Government of a country. But +Bessie's work was not unproductive. She tried to show, and succeeded in +showing, that the blind need not be separated and isolated. Her own +example and her own life demonstrated this, and pleaded more powerfully +than words could do. If the time ever comes when blind children are duly +provided for in our schools, and blind men and women in our workshops, +it will be chiefly owing to the lifelong endeavours of Bessie Gilbert, +and to her unfaltering and earnest devotion to a cause that she thought +worthy of living for and, if need be, of dying for.</p> + +<p>The condition of her own health had now become very serious. After the +Memorial had been sent in and before the Deputation was received Bessie +was so exhausted, and movement had become so difficult and painful, that +Dr. Little was consulted on her behalf.</p> + +<p>He pronounced the spine to be in fault, ordered a mechanical support, +tonics, regular exercise, much rest in a recumbent position, and +recommended Folkstone and sea air for some months. Bessie followed his +directions most obediently. She was very brave in bearing the discomfort +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> oftentimes the pain of the cumbersome "support." She persevered in +walking for an hour daily according to his orders, dragging herself +along with great difficulty, and getting so heated and overtired that +the sister who accompanied her thought the walk did more harm than good. +But she had been told to do it, and with the old submission to authority +she did it. Her faithful attendant, Charlotte Gadney, was also with her +at Folkstone from the end of July to October. She spent much time out of +doors, on the Lees, in a bath chair. By the autumn she and those with +her were convinced that, in spite of rest and care, she could not walk +so well as she had done in the spring. There was much reading aloud, for +she was compelled to allow herself more time than usual for relaxation.</p> + +<p>The sisters especially remember her enjoyment of George MacDonald's +<i>Robert Falconer</i>. In later times, if any one spoke of violins or +violinists, she would say "Ah, do you remember <i>My Beautiful Lady</i>?" She +heard parts of <i>Sir Gibbie</i> also; and said of <i>Janet</i>, "She realises +most fully the truth that we are indeed all members one of another."</p> + +<p>There were several pleasant days to stand out in after years as +associated with the months spent at Folkstone. One of these was a day at +Saltwood with Canon and Mrs. Erskine Knollys. Bessie drove there, and +then the Canon himself wheeled her in an arm-chair to the American +Garden. Even in late autumn this was very beautiful, and she enjoyed the +description of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> An afternoon at Cheriton with Mr. and Mrs. +Knatchbull-Hugessen was also a great pleasure to her. At this time +riding in a carriage was not only no fatigue, but she was able to enjoy +long drives and all that they brought within her reach.</p> + +<p>She returned to Chichester and London in somewhat better health, and +resumed work on behalf of the Deputation.</p> + +<p>Whilst she was at Folkstone her time was chiefly occupied in writing +letters, and in reply to one of her petitions she heard from General +Knollys that "it would afford the Prince of Wales much satisfaction to +be placed on the list of Vice-Patrons of the Society in aid of the +Blind;" and also "that H. R. H. had been pleased to direct him to +enclose a cheque for twenty-five guineas in aid of the funds of the Society."</p> + +<p>The following letter, which she received at this time from Pennsylvania, +interested her:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">To Miss Gilbert.</span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">No. 1040 Penn Street</span>, <br /> +<span class="smcap">Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.</span>,<br /><i>13th September 1869</i>. </p> + +<p>I take the liberty of addressing you as one who has taken so +philanthropic an interest in the blind. About the mid-winter of +'62-3 I was travelling in Idaho Territory, and, owing to the severe +effects of the "glare" produced by the sun's rays upon the snow, my +sight received so severe a shock that I became temporarily blind. +Afterwards I partially recovered my sight; but through the want of +skill in my medical attendant and general improper treatment, the +optic nerve became entirely and, as I fear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> hopelessly paralysed. +I am now completely deprived of sight. Being thus, unfortunately, +among those with whom you so greatly sympathise, I too, losing in +my full-grown manhood, this perhaps most benign of the Great +Father's gifts to poor humanity, feel a strong personal interest in my fellow-sufferers.</p> + +<p>Understanding then that you have successfully established an +"Association for the General Welfare of the Blind," in which each +occupant is finally paid for his labour, in contradistinction to +the usual plan of blind asylums, where there is no remuneration, +except what education may afford, I purpose attempting a similar enterprise.</p> + +<p>Will I therefore be taxing your kindness too much in asking you to +forward to me to this place (as headed) the last report of your +noble institution, and, if not contained therein, such instructions +as will enable me to establish such institution in this country? +And praying that the Good God may prosper you in your benevolent +designs, I remain, with the greatest respect, your obt. servt.,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Theodore B. Vache</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>A bright letter to the present writer shows Bessie in a playful mood. It +was written after her return from Folkstone, and when health and spirits +were much better than they had been in July. But locomotion had become +very difficult; and it was painful to witness her laboured efforts to +move and walk, and the difficulty she experienced in getting into or out +of a cab or carriage.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">The Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>October 1869</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear F.</span>—I hope you will soon receive another polling paper. I +suppose you did not pay your subscription last year, and so paid +for two years in one. If I were as clever as Mr. Lowe perhaps I +should contrive to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> squeeze a little more out of our subscribers, +and make them all the while feel that it was the most natural thing +in the world that they should make double payments. This is the way +to do business, is it not? Double payments, bringing about double +receipts; very nice thing, you know, for the receivers; and as to +the other side of the question, why, you know, we needn't look too +closely into that. You see many persons are quite unable to look at +more than one side of a question, so that limited views have their +advantages. Does Mr. Lowe think so?</p> + +<p>Well, I should hope very much to see you and Miss B. on Thursday, +and if you can't have me, please just write to 210 Oxford Street +and say so, and then I will tell you where to come. I don't know +yet where I shall be, but very probably at Miss R.'s at 117 Gloster +Terrace. Love to Miss B. From yours affectionately,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">E. Gilbert</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>At this time Bessie was warmly interested in, and very hopeful as to the +results of, Mr. Gladstone's efforts on behalf of Ireland, and referred +frequently to the subject. In the following letter to her sister, Mrs. +Elliot, there is a mention of orders for work. She was unable on account +of the state of her health to write as much as usual, and therefore gave +more time to knitting vests and muffetees, and making watch chains. The +money received for them went to her "work-bag," and helped to relieve +the necessities of deserving blind people:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">The Palace, Chichester</span>, <i>23d December 1869</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Kate</span>—I send you my loving Christmas greetings with some of +the home violets to sweeten them withal. It was very tantalising +seeing you, or rather not seeing you, like that in London. I was so +glad you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> thought I moved better. I do, and it is such a comfort I +can't tell you. Still I find a difference directly if I get too +much tired. I had hoped to have had some muffetees ready for you, +but must do them afterwards, as I have had to knit two under-vests +as an order, and have not yet finished the second. You cannot think +how wonderfully well papa got through the ordination. Dr. Heurtley, +who presided, was quite astonished. Only think of it, H. is coming +on Monday for a week. I am so very glad of it. No time for more, your loving sister,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bishop Gilbert's health had slowly but very steadily declined after the +death of his wife in 1863. He was surrounded by the loving care of +daughters devoted to him. But the loss of the friend and partner of his +whole life was one from which he never recovered.</p> + +<p>Bessie was the only member of the family not keenly alive to the failure +of her father's health. Partly, no doubt, owing to her blindness, and +partly to the effort that the Bishop always made to be bright and +cheerful in the society of his "dear child Bessie," she did not perceive +how seriously the burden of work and responsibility told upon him. The +sisters at home were glad to spare her the anxiety which they felt, and +she passed the Christmas time of 1869-70 without alarm and without that +sense of impending loss which was weighing heavily upon others. When at +last the blow came it fell suddenly, and fell heavily upon her, and was +not softened by any sense of relief that the burden of his life was removed.</p> + +<p>She had gone to London for the Deputation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> to Lord de Grey on the 10th +of February 1870, and was still there when she was summoned to +Chichester by telegram on Sunday the 20th.</p> + +<p>The sisters at home had been conscious for some days of a greater sense +of uneasiness than usual, but there was nothing definite to take hold +of. The Bishop came down as usual to the dining-room on Friday the 18th. +On Saturday the 19th he kept his room for the early part of the day, and +dined in the morning-room, that room adjoining his own in which Bessie +used to spend so much time with her mother when first they went to +Chichester. The absent sons and daughters were informed of this failure +of strength on Saturday morning, but there were no alarming symptoms +until the evening. Then and on the following morning, Sunday the 20th, +telegrams summoned them to Chichester without delay. Bessie reached the +palace about 10 <span class="smaller">P.M.</span> on Sunday. Her father recognised her, but he was by +that time too weak to speak. There were no last words, and he sank +peacefully to his rest, dying at 5 <span class="smaller">A.M.</span> on Monday, 21st February 1870.</p> + +<p>Bessie had left home without even a suspicion that she might be recalled +by a sudden summons, and now it seemed to her impossible that her +father's death should precede her own, and that a loss that she had not +dared even to think of, should have fallen upon her. She was stunned by +the blow, but she bore it with characteristic and Christian courage, patience, and submission.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>IN TIME OF NEED</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"The grave is heaven's golden gate,</div> +<div>And rich and poor around it wait."—<span class="smcap">Blake.</span></div> +</div></div></div> + +<p>It was deemed undesirable for Bessie to remain at Chichester during the +sad week that followed the death of her father. She went to her elder +sister, Mary, the beloved Mary of her youth, now the mother of a family +and head of a large household.</p> + +<p>She wrote with her own hand a short note to one of the sisters at the +palace, which reassured them as to her condition.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Milton Hill</span>, <i>28th March 1870</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sarah</span>—Thank you for all your letters. As you say, all the +preparations must be painful, but I am very thankful to hear you +and Nora are pretty well. You know without my telling you so, how +very much you are in my thoughts. I hope to come back Tuesday or +Wednesday, but Mary wants me to stay. Is it so, that we need not go +till after Easter? I should like to know, because of what I may +have to do about my own things. I think the appointment seems very +good. As for me I am rather better to-day, having slept better two +nights;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> but it is difficult to me as yet to do things, I have so +little energy or interest in anything. I will write again about my +coming. Mary is really pretty well I think, the last day or two +have been much pleasanter. Love to you all from your loving sister</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>She returned to the palace but did not stay long, and spent the greater +part of the two months of preparation for leaving Chichester with her +sister, Mrs. Woods. She went, however, to her old home in April, and +left it finally with her brother and two unmarried sisters on the 21st of April 1870.</p> + +<p>Loving words greeted them on the day of their departure. "Wherever we +are," wrote one of the sisters, "we shall all know that we are thinking of each other."</p> + +<p>The house in Queen Anne Street was let at this time; two sisters went to +St. Leonards, but Bessie, with her faithful maid, took the much shorter +and easier journey to Slinfold Rectory, near Horsham, the home of her +sister Lucy, Mrs. Sutton.</p> + +<p>She was sad and in very feeble health. All the future seemed dark and +uncertain; she could make no plans, she could not look forward. At such +a time the tender and loving care of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton were very +precious to her. Insensibly, almost unconsciously, she was helped by the +numerous children around her. Living in their midst she learnt to know +them intimately, and they cheered her and amused her. The little boys +had quaint ways and odd sayings, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> made her forget herself and +listen to them and wonder at them. The eldest girl, also a Lucy, had +always been a pet, and now became very dear to her. From Slinfold she +went to her sister Fanny, Mrs. Casson, at Torquay, and there found +another kind brother-in-law, another large family of nephews and nieces, +all ready to love and to wait upon the dear "Aunt Bessie." Four homes, +in all of which she was a welcome and honoured guest, were thus open to +her. Hitherto her time had been divided between London and Chichester. +She had not allowed herself the luxury of visits to married sisters, and +had only seen them and their children on the occasion of their visits to +the palace or London. Now she began to be intimate with them, to be +interested in the character and dispositions of the young people, and to +enjoy the family life of which one and all helped to make her feel she was a member.</p> + +<p>Meantime old and dear friends gathered around her and sought to comfort +and encourage her. She preserved many letters which she prized and had +found helpful. One of the first to speak was the Rev. H. Browne, who +held the living of Pevensey. He was one of the Bishop's chaplains, the +author of <i>Ordo Sæclorum</i>, a student of German theology, and, that which +most attracted Bessie, he was a very good reader, and at Chichester had +often read aloud Shakespere's plays to the <i>sisterhood</i>. Mr. Browne now +was the first to strike a note to which she could respond:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>He rests from his labours and his works do follow him. Yours +remain. It is needless for me to say it, for you must all know it +better than I, he counted it among his mercies that a work had been +raised up for you, which when father and mother were gone would be +to you the work and the blessing of your life. He evidently +acknowledged this as God's calling to you, and as one of the +thoughts in which he was greatly comforted in looking forward upon +your future life.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Many other writers dwelt upon the unsparing labour and self-denying zeal +of her father, and all recognised that she, the daughter so near his +heart and always the object of his most tender love and watchful care, +must be the one most deeply stricken by the pain of separation.</p> + +<p>"To you, I imagine, the blow will come heaviest," wrote Mrs. Powell; and +this sentiment is repeated in almost every letter.</p> + +<p>A letter from the Secretary of her own Association, informing her of a +vote of condolence passed by the Committee, begins, oddly enough, with</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have the <i>pleasure</i> to inform you,"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The blind workmen and workwomen did their best to express their regret +at the death of "his lordship the Bishop," and a note is enclosed to her +by the Rev. B. Hayley, written by a poor fellow in the Chichester Union, +"just to show what the poor, the very poorest in the diocese, think of +your dear father."</p> + +<p>The Rev. Dr. Swainson, Canon of Chichester, now Master of Christ's +College, Cambridge, heard that Bessie's grief was heightened by the fact +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> she had spent the last fortnight before her father's death in +London, engrossed by the work of the Deputation to Lord de Grey. His +letter of sympathy and consolation may be as helpful to others as it was +to her, and it is therefore inserted unabridged.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Springfield</span>, <span class="smcap">Newnham</span>, <span class="smcap">Cambridge</span>,<br /> +<i>30th March 1870</i>. </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Gilbert</span>—I hope you will permit me to write you a few +lines on the subject which I hear from many quarters has caused you +much additional sorrow in regard to the death of our dear father in +God. I mean your absence from Chichester during the last fortnight +of his life. I really do not know that you should regret it: +because it was really of God's appointment: you were engaged over +your work for Him: your sisters over their work for Him: your dear +father over his work for Him: each and all to the best of your +powers, and why should you repine if it pleased God to remove him +so quietly, so gently, so lovingly, without telling you beforehand +that He was going thus to take him? May you not rejoice rather that +his last days of consciousness were filled with thoughts that you +were able to go on with that work in which he took so deep an +interest, that some have thought that the best memorial of the love +of the diocese to him would be an effort to strengthen your hands +in that work? Of course I have often thought of the way in which my +dearest father and dearest mother were taken away from me. I was +absent from both: but I could not regret my absence. Mrs. Swainson +was present at the removal of both her parents: but was not all +this of God's appointment? When we ask Him to guide us day by day, +may we not leave it to Him how He guides us? I am sure you will +excuse me writing thus: the loss is indescribable, the centre of +your earthly affections removed: on this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> I need not speak. But I +feel sure that you need not and you should not take any blame to +yourself, because your work carried you away at the time when God, +who so arranged it, was pleased to call your father home.—Believe +me to be, my dear Miss Gilbert, ever yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">C. A. Swainson.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>The Bishop of Rochester wrote, "His course, ever since he has been a +bishop, has been so straightforward, so true, that he has won +everybody's admiration and respect."</p> + +<p>These and other tributes Bessie preserved and treasured. They helped +her, and after a time they comforted her. In May we have one of the +first letters written by her own hand, and speaking of her own feelings. +It is addressed to a dear friend of the early Oxford days.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Slinfold Rectory, Horsham</span>, <i>1st May 1870</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Burrowes</span>—I was very grateful for your most kind +affectionate letter, although I have not written to tell you so. +For some time I really could hardly do anything. No loss in the +world could be what this loss is to me. I am always wanting him, +always missing him, still I am now better able to feel the +blessedness for him, and also better able to think of his being +spared suffering and infirmity, which would probably have +increased; and yet in spite of all this I often cannot help feeling +how my heart would rebound with life if I could know that he could +be here again with us. But I long for the hope of being with him to +grow stronger and stronger, so that it may be more and more a +living power within me, and a real comfort. I am much better and +stronger than I was; but cannot say much for my powers of walking. +I cannot say that I take much interest in things yet, and am often +oppressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> with a feeling of the dreary length of the days without +seeing him or hearing anything about him; but as you so kindly say +in your letter I shall hope, when able to do so, to work better +than I have done if God will grant me help to strengthen me for +this work. I did go up from hence to London for the day for our May +Committee, and am very glad I did so, and made a beginning of +taking up the work again. I have also done a little towards it in +other ways, but just now my own nice maid is having a little +holiday, and instead Mrs. Gadney is with me; she cannot write much, +while I am not up to much business yet. Lucy, I am sure, would send +you her love, but I am writing in my room. She would have written +to you, but that I said I would do so myself, as I had intended for +some time to write and thank you for your very affectionate +letter.... Believe me, my dear Mrs. Burrowes, yours affectionately,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bessie Gilbert</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Mackenzie, sister of Bishop Mackenzie, wrote:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I shall never forget his kind fatherliness and his beautiful +courtesy and his loving thoughtfulness for every one. What a +comfort it is to have all that to look back upon, but now whilst it +is all so fresh your hearts must bleed. Dear Bessie, I am so +thankful you have your work, your calling, your vocation to attend +to, and in trying to alleviate the troubles of others, as you have +always done, you will find the best relief to your own sorrow.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The letters from those she loved, whilst full of sympathy, also dwelt +upon the call and claim of duty, in the fulfilment of which Bessie could +alone find peace. She struggled bravely to respond, but the task before +her was more difficult than any that she had yet accomplished; and +there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> was no renewal of physical power, even when she began to recover +from the shock of her great sorrow. She paid many visits with her +sisters, and returned to Queen Anne Street in August 1871. The change in +her health was at that time painfully evident to her friends in London. +She moved slowly, with difficulty, and was easily exhausted by slight +fatigue. Still she resumed her work for the blind, as we find by a +letter from the Dean of Westminster [Dean Stanley] written on the 22d of +June 1871. He informs her that he will have much pleasure in acceding to +her request to preach on behalf of the Association for the Blind on +Sunday morning, 23d July, at Whitehall.</p> + +<p>In reply to an appeal to Mr. Ruskin, made somewhat later, she received +the following characteristic answer:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Denmark Hill, S.E.</span>, <i>2d September 1871</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—I am obliged by your letter, and I deeply sympathise with +all the objects of the Institution over which you preside. But one +of my main principles of work is that every one must do their best +and spend their all in their own work, and mine is with a much +lower race of sufferers than you plead for—with those who "have +eyes and see not."—I am, madam, your faithful servant,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">J. Ruskin.</span></p> + +<p>The Lady President of the Association for<br /> Promoting the Welfare of the Blind.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the autumn of 1871 Bessie joined a great gathering of the Gilbert +family at Heversham for the celebration of the marriage of the rector, +their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> youngest brother, the "Tom" of early days. She returned to spend +a few months only in Queen Anne Street, for she and two sisters had +taken a house in Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, which was to be their future home.</p> + +<p>The Queen Anne Street house was associated in many ways with Bessie's +life and work in London, with the visits to her of the blind workpeople, +with the early days of the Association, with the growth and development +of the objects that had engrossed her life. Perhaps it was dearer to her +than either the Oxford or the Chichester home. Certainly the wrench of +separation was more painful than any previous one had been; and she had +less hope and energy for the unknown future that was before her.</p> + +<p>When the change of house had been accomplished she paid a visit to Mrs. +Bowles, at Milton Hill, but this did little to restore her exhausted +energy. During May and June 1872 there was a marked deterioration in her +condition; she walked with greater difficulty, could not rise from a +chair without assistance, and before the end of June had to be carried +up and down stairs. She went to church for the last time early in June, +driving to All Saints, Norfolk Square, and walking home.</p> + +<p>Greatly alarmed at her condition, the family now turned in many +directions for the help and advice of eminent medical men. Sir William +Jenner took perhaps the most hopeful view. He thought it not impossible +that the nerves of motion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> might regain power, and prescribed in the +meantime "the life of a cabbage." Dr. Little was never sanguine. Dr. +Hughlings Jackson and Dr. Hawkesley held out but little hope of +improvement. All agreed that she must rest, vegetate, lead the life of an invalid.</p> + +<p>When the prospect of the future really dawned upon her, who can wonder +that she found submission, acquiescence, exceedingly hard. "My whole +being revolts at the very idea," she said one day.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, with a part humorous, part pathetic expression, she +exclaimed, "The change is great and," after a pause, "not pleasant." But +in later years, after long and patient suffering, she was able to say, +"Many have a heavier cross."</p> + +<p>She announced by letter to the present writer the verdict of her +physicians, adding the pathetic words, "Love me to the end."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW</h3> + +<div class="block"> +<p>"By two wings a man is raised above the earth, namely by +Simplicity and Purity."—<span class="smcap">Thomas à Kempis.</span></p></div> + +<p>There was still much within Bessie's power; and in tracing her work at +this period we find little diminution in her correspondence. She +received letters almost daily from Colonel Fyers on the business of the +Institution. Levy wrote frequently and fully to her. She had given him +great assistance in writing a book on <i>Blindness and the Blind</i>, and her +own notes were made over to him.</p> + +<p>A letter which she received in March 1872 is interesting as a +description of preparations made by a blind man, Levy, carried out by a +blind carpenter, Farrow, and related to the blind lady, Miss Gilbert. +The occasion was the Thanksgiving for the Restoration of the Prince of +Wales in February 1872, when the streets were gay with decorations and +every window full of spectators. No house showed more bravely than the +Institution for Promoting the Welfare of the Blind in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> Oxford Street; +subscribers and their friends, the Committee and their friends, filled +every window, and the blind were keenly alive to all that was going on +around them, and to the distinction of the Prince's plume and gas jets +and the letters V.R., "each about four feet long in gold paper."</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The decorations," writes Levy, "consisted of a Union Jack flag at +the top of the house, and about half way up a crown and Prince's +plume, made of gold paper, projecting from the wall, and the +letters V.R., each about four feet long and two feet broad, made in +thick rossets in silver paper on crimson ground, also projecting +some distance from the wall, a wreath of flowers extended from the +house to the post at the curb of the pavement, the lamp of which +contained a transparency.</p> + +<p>"At night the illumination consisted of a Prince's plume in gas +jets, which we bought for three pounds ten instead of hiring a +similar one for ten pounds; the wood used for seats will be made +into housemaids' boxes, etc. and the American cloth with which they +were covered made available for dress baskets.</p> + +<p>"I think if you give five pounds it will be enough, as ten pounds +will cover the whole expense. The goods and glass cases were taken +out of the shop windows and three rows of seats, which gradually +receded and increased in height, were formed. The same kind of +seats were in the Committee room and the apartments above, out of +which the windows were taken. A rail was put to keep people from +going on to the balcony, as it was not safe; tables with wine and +biscuits were placed, and Mr. Osmond had something more substantial +in his rooms, with which Mr. Reid and others were well pleased."</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the 1st April 1872 the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice died. Bessie +had been but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> slightly acquainted with him, but he was the brother of +her old and dear friends, Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Julius Hare. She had been +less startled by his written and spoken words than many of those in her +own circle, and on his death she recognised that a great power had gone +from amongst us, and sincerely mourned his loss.</p> + +<p>She worked as usual at the arrangements for the annual meeting in 1872, +and on the 22d June the Archbishop of York, who presided, wrote to tell +her of its success.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><i>22d June 1872.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Gilbert</span>—I attended the meeting and made my short +speech. There never was a nicer meeting, the speakers were full of +gratitude to you for all you had done. We could have had twice the +number of speakers if we had wanted them.</p> + +<p>I hope, my dear Miss Gilbert, that God will strengthen you and +enable you to carry on for many years your excellent +Association.—Ever with much regard, yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. Ebor</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar, sister of the Duke of Richmond, +conveyed a request from Bessie to the Duke and Duchess of Teck, whose +interest she hoped to enlist for the annual meeting of 1872. They were +abroad in the spring, but the Duke returned in time to preside at the +June meeting. Bessie never dropped any of the links in her chain, and +her early life at Chichester had given her many valuable allies.</p> + +<p>In her long days of enforced inactivity she would recall to mind visits +to Goodwood, to Arundel, interest expressed and shown in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> objects +she had at heart, and would redouble her efforts to raise up friends for the blind.</p> + +<p>Meantime there was a steady deterioration in her own physical condition.</p> + +<p>The malady which had been making insidious progress for so long was +degeneration of the spinal cord. The disease is one that generally owes +its origin to accident or injury, but so far as could be ascertained +Bessie had never met with either.</p> + +<p>The physicians who attended her throughout the last years of her life +inclined to the view that the poison in the blood left by scarlet fever +was the cause not only of the condition of the throat, from which she +suffered throughout her whole life (it will be remembered that she could +only drink in sips), but also of this degeneration of the spinal cord.</p> + +<p>Looking back, the members of her family recalled to mind that her powers +of motion had not for many years been free and unimpeded. The +significant entries in diary and letters, as to her moving and walking +better, will not be forgotten. But the true cause of this had not been +suspected, except by Dr. Little; for mischief to the spinal cord may be +carried very far before there is any outward sign to manifest it. The +power of motion and merely animal functions are affected by it; but +intelligence remains alert and the brain power unaffected. The symptoms +which accompany it are at first attributed to weakness, overwork, +physical fatigue, any of which would be sufficient to account for them +before the disease<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> has reached the stage in which its true nature is +unmistakably revealed. Mental trouble will often accelerate the progress +of this malady, and occasion its more rapid development. This cause had also been at work.</p> + +<p>The death of her father in 1870 was sudden and most unexpected to +Bessie. The subsequent giving up of the two homes, at Chichester and in +London, which long years had endeared to her; the necessity of planting +herself in and learning to accommodate herself to a new house, with all +the old familiar landmarks swept away—all these things were sources of +suffering to one of her delicate nervous organisation; and doubtless +they gave an added impetus to the progress of disease.</p> + +<p>She met her troubles with great courage; she bore them with unmurmuring +patience; but they produced their inevitable result, and flung her aside +when the storm was over as a weed is cast up by an angry sea.</p> + +<p>There were a few months during which various remedies were suggested and +tried, but all unsuccessfully. The two sisters, who henceforward devoted +their whole life to her, now took it in turns to sleep on a sofa in her +room, so as to help her to move and turn in bed during the night. But +when she realised that loss of power was not a phase but one of the +conditions of her illness, she would not allow them to do this, saying +she must have them "fresh for the daytime." A sick nurse was engaged, +and, with Charlotte Gadney, ministered to her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p><p>For a little time she was able occasionally to be taken into Hyde Park +in an easy bath chair and always recumbent, but she could only bear the +vibration of the movement for a very short distance. When she reached +the park she would remain for some hours enjoying the air.</p> + +<p>Quiet and fresh air (two things that London cannot give) seemed more and +more essential; and in August 1872 her sister Mary (Mrs. Bowles) wrote +to propose that she should pay a long visit to Milton Hill, in +Berkshire. Her doctors warmly approved of the proposal, if only she +could bear the journey; and Mr. Bowles, to whom she was warmly attached, +busied himself with preparations for her comfort.</p> + +<p>After many anxious inquiries and careful arrangements, it was settled +that, accompanied by her sister Sarah, she should undertake the journey +in an invalid carriage, "by road and rail," being lifted in at her own +door and lifted out at Milton Hill.</p> + +<p>This was done; but the railway officials attached the carriage to the +end of an express train; the oscillation and vibration were +insupportable, and she reached Milton Hill almost unconscious from pain +and fatigue. In the hope of lessening her suffering she had been held in +the nurse's arms all the latter part of the railway journey; but even +this could do little to diminish the agony she endured. She was carried +to bed as soon as she reached Milton Hill, and after some days of +complete rest she began to rally. It was then a great pleasure to her to +note all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> that had been done by the "best and kindest brother-in-law +that any one ever had."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever know such a brother-in-law!" she used to say.</p> + +<p>Rooms for her and her servants had been arranged on the ground floor, +with easy access to the beautiful garden and grounds. She arrived in +August, and as soon as she had somewhat recovered, she was carried every +day that the weather allowed, to a tent that had been put up in a +pleasant part of the garden. She enjoyed being read aloud to; she had +great delight in her nephews and nieces; but most of all she appreciated +the opportunity of uninterrupted intercourse with her sister. They were +again the "Mary and Bessie" of youthful days; not friends learning to +know and love each other, but sisters with a wealth of buried +recollections to be brought out to the light of day; interests, tastes, +and affections in common; only a spark, an electric flash of memory, +needed to illuminate the whole. No wonder that the time passed happily, +and "life between four walls" dawned upon the sufferer, not without +promise of alleviation.</p> + +<p>For, in spite of the hours spent in the tent, it was practically already +life within four walls. All thought of work or occupation outside her +own home had to be abandoned; she must keep only that which she could +guide and control from the sick-room. "I feel like a train which has +been left upon a siding," she used to say.</p> + +<p>Throughout the winter of 1872-73 she gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> all the strength and time at +her disposal to the interests and occupations of the blind. A fresh +anxiety troubled her. Levy's health was failing seriously, and several +members of the Committee wished him to take a long leave of absence. The +work connected with his book, added to his ordinary duties as manager of +the Association, had exhausted his strength. Bessie received letters +from friends on the Committee telling her that Levy must have rest, and +from Levy saying it was impossible for him to take it during her +absence. The year 1873 was passing on with this, which seemed a heavy +cloud, hanging over her, when suddenly a storm burst, which swept away +all other anxiety in the one engrossing sorrow which it brought.</p> + +<p>After less than a week's illness her beloved sister Mary, Mrs. Bowles, +died on 20th October at Milton Hill. Bessie was in the same house, but +was too ill to be taken to her sister's room; and they never met after +the day on which Mrs. Bowles was attacked by a fatal malady. Bessie's +sick-nurse, and an old and faithful servant of the Gilbert family, who +happened to be staying at Milton Hill, were unremitting in their +attention to Mrs. Bowles; and from them Bessie heard of the variations +in her condition almost from hour to hour. When all was over Bessie, in +her weak condition, was crushed and exhausted. She seemed unable to +endure the shock of this sudden blow, and at first could only lie and +moan, "Oh, why was she taken and I left?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p><p>Archdeacon Atkinson, a near neighbour and old friend of her sister's, +did his best to soothe and comfort her. The grief of Mr. Bowles and the +children roused her. She saw how much they needed help, and before long +she was the old brave Bessie, full of thought for the sorrow of others, +and engrossed by her endeavours to console and comfort them.</p> + +<p>Before the death of Mrs. Bowles it had been arranged that Bessie should +spend the winter at Torquay. This plan was adhered to; and in November +1873, travelling in one of the railway companies invalid carriages, she +bore the journey fairly well, and reached Torquay without the terrible +suffering caused by her previous journey.</p> + +<p>She had bright and sunny rooms in Sulyarde Terrace, and on fine days she +was still able to spend a few hours out of doors, reclining in an +invalid chair; sometimes also she could sit up in her chair for an hour +or two, and at this time, when her food was duly prepared, she was still +able to feed herself. Her sister Lucy, Mrs. Casson, with husband and +many children, resided at Torquay; and she found here, also, a kind +brother-in-law, unremitting in his attentions, and numerous young +nephews and nieces, whom she knew and loved. In January 1874 Levy died. +Father, mother, and sister; house and home and health had been taken +from Bessie; and now the faithful servant and friend of her whole life +followed. She had put great constraint upon herself at the time of her +sister's illness and death, but she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> powerless against this blow. +Deep depression settled down upon her, which took the form of constant +self-reproach. She, the most unselfish and considerate of women, was +given over, as it were, to an avenging spirit, which upbraided her with +faults never committed, and exacted expiation for imaginary crimes of +selfishness and self-seeking. Such dark passages may be borne in mind by +other sufferers, tortured with self-questionings and doubt.</p> + +<p>The first thing to rouse her was the desire to say some words to the +blind men and women on whose behalf Mr. Levy had worked for so many +years. As soon as she had somewhat recovered, she wrote perhaps the most +touching record we have of her work, her hope, her sorrow, and her submission.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">2 Sulyarde Terrace, Torquay</span>, <i>10th February 1874</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Friends</span>—I feel that both you and I have had a very great +loss indeed, and my heart yearns to say to you that you do not know +how grieved I am for you; you know full well what the loss is to +yourselves, but you can hardly tell what it is to me; you cannot +know how he who is now taken and I have worked together with the +self-same end of helping you, and now I am left, deprived of all +the help that your dear and true friend gave me, and it is +impossible for me to tell you how deeply I feel the loss.</p> + +<p>Mr. Levy never spared himself when your interest was at stake, and +now that he is taken from us, and I am left alone, I feel that I +must ask you all to give me all the help in your power, and you can +help me by giving me your confidence, by showing me that you feel I +will do the best I can for you, and, above all, by trying, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +God's help, to become the men and women He would have you to be. +Nothing gives me greater joy than for the Association to be the +means of helping you, by God's blessing, to lead really Christian +lives. This means that you should have in your hearts the love of +God and the love of your neighbour, which love will prevent you +hurting anybody by word or deed, make you true and just in all your +dealings, and temperate and sober in your living. My earnest desire +is that the Association should help you to learn and labour truly +to get your own living; but you know that this must be a work of +time. If I could prevent it there should not be one blind person +begging, but all should have the blessing of earning their living; +but, as I say, it will take a long time to bring this to pass. Had +I been asked I should have said, "You would do better without me +than without him who is taken from us; but God does not ask us, and +does what He sees and knows to be best, and He has taken Mr. Levy +to his rest and reward, and has left me."</p> + +<p>If it is His will that I should have strength, I will, with His +help and with the aid of the friends engaged in the work, do the +best I can. Many of you I have never seen; I wish this were not so, +but I cannot help it; but to you all I earnestly say: please think +of me as of one who has your truest interest at heart, who is, like +yourselves, without sight, and who tries, to the best of her power, +to understand what it is to be poor as well as blind, and who longs +for your help and co-operation in the work of endeavouring to help +you to help yourselves. You will help me, will you not?—Believe +me, my dear friends, to be most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Elizabeth Gilbert</span>.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I have signed my name with the pen which Mr. Levy invented +for us. You and I must pray that God will help me to do what will +be best for you. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> know God will not leave us, for He loveth the +blind, as He doth all human beings, more than we can possibly +understand or know, so that we must try and trust in Him fully in +all our trials. May God bless you all!</p></blockquote> + +<p>With advancing spring the cloud of depression was dispelled. She became +more cheerful, began to talk of a return to London, and to look forward +to her life there. The return journey was undertaken in the second week +in June. It was safely accomplished, though at the cost of very great +weariness and exhaustion. When she reached Stanhope Place and had been +carried to her room, she said, "No more journeys for me." This was +indeed her last journey, for though in 1877 she had such a longing for +fresh country air that there was a consultation, and her physicians +sanctioned removal, yet when the time came her heart failed, and she remained at home.</p> + +<p>On her return from Torquay she went into Hyde Park about half a dozen +times in an invalid chair, but after October 1874 she left the house no +more. She was, however, still able for a time to be dressed, to sit up +for an hour or two, and to be carried up and down stairs. As the winter +advanced a sitting-room was arranged on the same floor as her bedroom, +and then she came downstairs daily no more. In spite of all precautions +against cold she had a severe attack of bronchitis in 1875, and was +attended by Dr. Hawkesley, whom she knew and liked as a fellow-worker on +the Council of the Normal College for the Blind. He was struck by the +manner in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> which she threw off the attack. "She is doing so gallantly," +he said. But she did not regain the strength lost during this illness, +and resumed life after every access of sorrow and suffering on a lower +level, as it were, and with diminished vital powers. After the spring of +1875 she was not dressed again, and never sat up. Recumbent on one of +Alderman's couches, in a pretty dressing-gown, with soft warm shawls, +and lace, and bright colour, such as she loved, about her, she spent her +good days. On the bad ones she was not lifted from her bed.</p> + +<p>She had indeed become like a train that is left upon a siding, and all +her busy life was hushed and silent.</p> + +<p>When the summer came, and her rooms were to be repapered and painted, +she was carried downstairs. The drawing-rooms were specially prepared as +her bed and sitting-rooms, and she would stay in these her "country +quarters" for six weeks or two months. After that she was taken upstairs +in the same way for the autumn, winter, and spring. This removal +required great care and very skilful management, as the couch on which +she reclined had to be lifted over the bannisters, and any jerk or +unexpected movement caused both pain and apprehension.</p> + +<p>A fresh sorrow awaited her. In 1876 Charlotte Gadney, her faithful and +affectionate attendant, had a paralytic seizure, and it was necessary +for the sake both of mistress and maid that they should part. Bessie +could not at first acquiesce in separation;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> she reproached herself as +the cause of Charlotte's illness, and could not rest until she was +informed of all the minutest details connected with her.</p> + +<p>But when the parting was over Bessie's anxiety gradually diminished, and +Charlotte's recovery was more rapid than had been expected. She was +never well enough to resume attendance upon her beloved mistress, but +from time to time she came on a short visit, much to her own and Bessie's delight.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Association struggled on under the care of successive +managers. Levy's illness and frequent absence had caused confusion, +irregularity, and loss, which his successors were not slow to take +advantage of. They found it easy to persevere in defects occasioned by +his failing health and want of sight; but the untiring devotion to the +cause of the blind, and unwearied efforts on their behalf, which had +made these defects of comparatively small importance, were lost to the +Association for ever.</p> + +<p>Bessie knew and lamented the shortcomings, but she could no longer +supplement them. Successive years diminished her powers of work. +Sleeplessness, pain, exhaustion, wore her out; and sometimes for days +together she could not bear even an allusion to the Association and its +work. Occasional fits of deafness, to which she had always been liable, +depressed her more than they had ever previously done. These attacks +recurred several times, and lasted for many weeks at a time. It was +difficult for her to shake off the gloom that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> accompanied them, and the +sense of isolation and solitude. Her hands and arms were too feeble to +allow her to read or work for more than a few moments, so that she was +not only cut off from the society of those she loved, but unable to +occupy herself in any way.</p> + +<p>From time to time she regained a little strength, and then it was +touching to see how she at once resumed her labours. At the beginning of +her illness she took great interest in the inauguration of the Normal +College for the Blind. Dr. Campbell had several long conversations with +her in 1871, before she left Queen Anne Street, and at his request she +had joined the Committee of the College and even attended some of its +meetings. She rejoiced in the success that now attended Dr. Campbell's +efforts; but she was convinced that a musical career was, in most cases, +impossible for the blind. "Many adult persons lose their sight, but the +loss does not entail a love of music," she would say. She saw, and had +always seen, that handicrafts were the only possible occupation for the +majority, especially amongst the poor and uneducated; and one of her +chief objects was to increase the number of trades which the blind could +follow. She used to say that, with a little ingenuity and contrivance, +many additional trades might be thrown open to them. With this end in +view she continued to make herself acquainted with the details of +different occupations, and wished that experiments "on a very small +scale" should be carried out. But there were too many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> difficulties in +the way. Want of health, want of money, want of space for workrooms, met +her at every turn. Still, whenever there was a bit of work that she +could do, she did it. In November 1874 a special Committee had been +appointed by the Charity Organisation Society to consider "what more can +be done to promote the welfare of the blind, especially in relation to +their industrial training." The Earl of Lichfield presided, and the +subjects to be considered were as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>1. What is being done industrially for the blind, and in what ways?</p> + +<p> (<i>a</i>) For learners.</p> + +<p> (<i>b</i>) For journeymen.</p> + +<p>2. What more can be done through existing agencies?</p> + +<p> (<i>a</i>) By improvements in system of working.</p> + +<p> (<i>b</i>) By co-operation between the agencies.</p> + +<p> (<i>c</i>) By fresh retail shops.</p> + +<p>3. May not a large proportion of the able-bodied blind be rendered +thoroughly self-supporting?</p> + +<p>4. Should the education and training of the blind be to any extent +provided for from the rates or other State sources, and, if so, to +what extent?</p></blockquote> + +<p>The first paper read on the welfare of the blind had been forwarded by +Bessie, with an expression of deep regret "That the state of her health +prevented her from attending the meeting." She wrote as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>In endeavours to promote the welfare of the blind, it is essential +that some important facts should be borne in mind, viz.—</p> + +<p><i>1st.</i> That many blind persons, although instructed in some trade, +are either reduced to begging or are driven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> to the workhouse, not +through their own fault, but simply for the want of any regular +employment in their trade.</p> + +<p><i>2d.</i> That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind, +as about nine-tenths of the thirty thousand blind in the United +Kingdom become so above the age of twenty-one.</p> + +<p><i>3d.</i> That about half the sightless population live in rural +districts.</p> + +<p><i>4th.</i> That the health of persons without sight is, as a general +rule, below that of others.</p> + +<p><i>5th.</i> That this cause operates, in addition to loss of sight, to +bring about the slow rate at which the blind work as compared with +the sighted.</p> + +<p><i>6th.</i> That social ties are even more essential to the blind than +to others.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Objects to be Aimed at.</span></p> + +<p><i>1st.</i> To foster self-reliance, and to enable the blind to help +themselves.</p> + +<p><i>2d.</i> To eradicate the habit of suspicion by promoting friendly +intercourse between the blind and the sighted.</p> + +<p><i>3d.</i> To develop the faculties of the blind in every direction.</p> + +<p><i>4th.</i> To improve their physical condition.</p> + +<p><i>5th.</i> In industrial training to endeavour to lessen, as far as +possible, the difference in speed in the work between the work of +the blind and that of the sighted, while making it the first object +to secure good and efficient work.</p> + +<p><i>6th.</i> To do everything to reduce the dependence of the blind as +far as possible, while endeavouring, by Christian instruction, to +enable them to accept the unavoidable dependence of their condition +in a spirit of humility and thankfulness which will soften and +sweeten it to them, and will turn this dependence into one of their +greatest blessings, as it will be the means of uniting them more +closely to their fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Means towards these Ends.</span></p> + +<p><i>1st.</i> Endeavour to enable the blind to earn their own living, and +with this view seek out and send children to existing blind schools.</p> + +<p><i>2d.</i> Promote the establishment of institutions for providing the +blind on leaving the schools with regular employment, and for +teaching trades to persons ineligible for admission to the schools, +which is the case, as a rule, with those above twenty-one years of age.</p> + +<p><i>3d.</i> When practicable, supply blind persons with regular +employment at their own homes, and encourage them to do anything +they can on their own account independently of any institution.</p> + +<p><i>4th.</i> Try to introduce trades hitherto not carried on by the +blind, giving the precedence to such as can be practised without +sighted aid.</p> + +<p><i>5th.</i> Cultivate habits of method and precision in the blind, which +will all tend to improve the rate at which they work.</p> + +<p><i>6th.</i> Make the training of efficient blind teachers a special object.</p> + +<p><i>7th.</i> Encourage residence in the country rather than in towns by +giving employment at home, thus cementing family ties and promoting health.</p> + +<p><i>8th.</i> Form lending libraries of embossed books in all the various +systems in use, and establish classes for religious and other instruction.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Observations.</span></p> + +<p>Many other means besides those here mentioned might be suggested, +but the aim of this paper has been to state some of the chief facts +bearing on the subject, and to mention some of the most obvious +means for improving the condition of the blind.</p> + +<p>Regular employment at their own homes, when practicable, is of +great service to the blind, and especially as by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> this means +numbers in the country can be reached. It might also be possible to +some extent to carry out what might be called Rural Home Industrial +Teaching, of course regulating the trades taught according to local circumstances.</p> + +<p>The importance of opening new trades to the blind can hardly be +exaggerated, and friends of the blind must welcome every successful +effort in this direction. Next to the benefit of real Christian +principles must be placed that of enabling the sightless to earn +their own living; but where this is impossible pensions should be given.</p> + +<p><i>Lastly.</i> Let the blind themselves be consulted, and have as much +voice as possible in the measures adopted for their welfare; and +this is said not only with a view to the educated, but especially +to the more intelligent blind in humbler positions, since, as is +well known, the mass of those without sight will be found among the +poorer classes. The more this is done the more will the blind feel +that the sighted desire to carry out such measures as shall act +like so many levers with which to raise them from their present +depressed condition, and will then heartily second the efforts +made, and thankfully grasp the friendly hands held out to them; but +which they will only accept reluctantly and coldly, not having +their own heart in the work, unless convinced that the main object +in view is to enable them, by their own efforts, to stand as far as +possible on an equality with their fellow-creatures.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The suggestions made in this little paper had all been thought out upon +a bed of pain, and with sorrows of her own that might well have +engrossed her attention. But Bessie never, to the end of her life, lost +an opportunity of working and speaking on behalf of those to whom that +life had been devoted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>Two events in the history of the Association which deeply interested +her were the removal from Oxford Street to more commodious premises in +Berners Street, and the Special Bequest of £10,000 by Mr. Gardner. She +was gratified to learn that the Special Bequest was no bar to the +participation of the Association in the general advantages provided by +Mr. Gardner for the blind.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM</h3> + +<div class="block"><p class="center">"They also serve who only stand and wait."—<span class="smcap">Milton.</span></p></div> + +<p>During the last few years of life Bessie Gilbert never left her invalid +couch and bed. In addition to blindness she was liable to distressing +attacks of deafness, to sleeplessness, agonising pain, and weary +exhaustion. Her throat was often affected, swallowing was difficult. She +had lost power in the upper limbs, could only use her hands for a few +seconds to read the raised type for the blind, or to do a few stitches +of chain work for those she loved; even that became impossible before +the end. The record of work for the Institution dwindles down during +these years, but she lived for it as completely as she had ever done. +She would deny herself the one pleasure that remained—a visit from some +one she loved, because it would exhaust her and render her incapable of +the little she could now do.</p> + +<p>For three or four years she received almost daily business letters from +Colonel Fyers, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> dictated replies to them when her health allowed, +but this uncertain interposition was of little value, and by degrees +matters of business ceased to be submitted to her. When any question on +which she entertained a strong opinion was brought forward, she would +occasionally explain her view in a letter to the Committee, but these +letters also diminished in number. Her interest in individuals never +decreased; the blind workpeople and their affairs occupied her to the very last.</p> + +<p>In 1878 she heard that one of the workmen was about to marry a +workwoman, since dead, who was blind, deformed, and very much out of +health. She could not approve of such a marriage, and did her utmost to +prevent it. She wrote to express her views, and sent a favourite +sick-nurse to the Institution to emphasise them. The result was that she +received the following letter, informing her that the engagement was at end:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Institution of the Association for the<br />Welfare of the Blind.</span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">28 Berners Street, London, W.</span>, <i>3d August 1878.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind letter of +the 2d inst., and to express to you how deeply I feel the very +great interest you on all occasions have shown towards me, and +especially now. I know you must have my welfare at heart, otherwise +you would not have favoured me with this communication, for which I +sincerely thank you. I, as well as L. W., have, through the means +of your kind letter, seen the matter of our proposed marriage from +a different point of view, and have therefore decided to act in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>harmony with your wishes, which no doubt are for our best.</p> + +<p>I regret very much that any uneasiness should have been caused you +by this affair, and trust that in future nothing on my part will +occur to cause it again.—I am, madam, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">C. C.</p> + +<p>Miss Elizabeth Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Bessie warmly approved of marriage for the blind, and was sometimes +charged with promoting it injudiciously. In this case she would have +been very glad if C. could have found a healthy, capable wife, who would +have made him happy. She used to say that blindness was the strongest +possible bond of sympathy between husband and wife; and as she did not +for herself witness the untidiness and discomfort in the homes where man +and wife are both blind, and the almost unavoidable neglect of young +children, she could not share the objection of many members of the +Committee to marriage between the workpeople.</p> + +<p>In 1879 her widowed sister, the Hon. Mrs. Elliot, was married to Mr. +Childers. Mr. Childers had not previously known Bessie personally, but +he saw her several times afterwards, and was greatly impressed by her +marvellous patience and resignation.</p> + +<p>In one of her early interviews with him she had asked for information as +to the Blind and Deaf Mute Education Bill, which Mr. Wheelhouse, member +for Leeds, Mr. Mellor, and others, had introduced into the House of +Commons, but had been unsuccessful in passing. She wished to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> any +papers Mr. Wheelhouse could send, and was much interested in his efforts +and in the correspondence which followed her request.</p> + +<p>Many letters received at this time have been preserved, and they show +the influence which, from her bed of pain, she exercised on all around her.</p> + +<p>The following is from her old friend, Mr. Coxe, librarian of the +Bodleian. It is his last letter to her; he died in the following July:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Northgate, Oxford</span>, <i>S. Stephen's Day, 1880</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My very dear Bessie</span>—How much I thank you for thinking of me on my +sick-bed, and sending me such a welcome Christmas gift to perfume +my existence. My wife immediately seized upon one (as owing, or +due, to her) and carried off the rest to some secret store-room, +unknown to me as yet, in my new house. I have been now nearly three +months in my bed and bedroom; how dare I speak of it to you in a +spirit other than of deep thankfulness that I have been allowed to +brave all weathers, and to work unscathed even to my 70th year. +Dear Fan ("old Fan!" it was such a pleasure seeing her!) will have +told you what nice quarters we have fallen on wherein to end our +days. It was one of the two houses I used in days gone by to covet; +the other was old Mr. Parker's, now young Fred Morrell's. Well, +dear Bessie, this season has had its message of peace too for you. +I am sure that you have received and welcomed it; that simple +message in these sad days of rebuke and blasphemy becomes more and +more precious. I am not likely to be again a traveller, tho' I +should like to see Hilgrove in his new home, only fifteen miles +away, so that I am not likely to see you again in this life. May it +be granted that we may enjoy a happy reunion in that which shall +be. Best love to the "Duchess" and Nora,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> with much to yourself +from yours, dearest Bessie, ever affectionately,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">H. O. Coxe</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The year 1881 brought to Bessie a long fit of depression, due mainly to +an attack of deafness; but she had also much anxiety with regard to the +Association. She heard of custom diminishing, a manager dismissed for +dishonesty, heavy losses upon Government contracts undertaken in order +to give work to the blind throughout the winter, diminished income and +subscriptions, and increased demands for aid. In the old days she would +have stirred up her friends, made appeals through the press, organised a +public meeting, and surmounted all difficulties.</p> + +<p>The utmost she could now do was to draw up a short circular, asking all +those interested in her work to become Associates, and to subscribe a +sum of not less than one shilling a year. Such Associates were to pledge +themselves to promote the sale of goods made by the blind. She submitted +her scheme and circular to the Committee, and was advised to make the +minimum subscription half a crown. In this form it was issued, but, +lacking the energy with which she would in former time have launched it, +there was no appreciable result.</p> + +<p>On the 2d of May 1882 a concert in aid of the Association was held, by +the kindness of the Duke of Westminster, at Grosvenor House. Bessie did +what she could, but by far the greater part of the work connected with +it fell upon her sisters. The Duke wrote directly it was over to +congratulate her upon a very successful result; and Bessie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> was greatly +cheered to learn that when all incidental expenses were paid, there +would remain the sum of £326: 17: 6.</p> + +<p>The Committee endeavoured as far as possible to save her the distress of +knowing the difficulties in which they were involved. Sir E. Sotheby was +untiring in his zealous endeavours to promote the interests of the +Association, and to shield Bessie from anxiety. Colonel Fyers, though in +failing health, never lost sight of the object he had so long worked +for. But all efforts were unavailing. Every fact and figure connected +with the undertaking had been impressed upon an inexorable memory. +Nothing now escaped her. She detected every financial error, and every +departure from her original aims and objects. She saw what grave +difficulty lay in the fact that since the death of Levy no manager had +been appointed who had any special interest in the blind. She feared +that the work of her whole life would be ignored; and that there would +be no higher aim than to keep open a shop and carry on a trade. +Oppressed by this fear, she made one last appeal, one final effort, on +behalf of those whom she had loved and served for so long.</p> + +<p>The address to the Committee, bearing date Whit Monday 1882, may be +looked upon as her last will and testament. Internal evidence shows that +it was in that light she herself looked upon it, and that she +endeavoured to sum up in one short statement, which recapitulates the +most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>important points in the early rules of the Association, the result +of a lifetime of work, thought, experience, and devotion.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Association for Promoting the General<br />Welfare of the Blind</span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Whitmonday</span>, <i>29th May 1882.</i></p> + +<p>This title should always be borne in mind by those managing the +Association, as it clearly indicates the scope of the undertaking. +Trade is a most necessary and essential part of the work; and the +more sure the foundation upon which the trade is carried on the +better will be the security for its prosperity; but trade is by no +means the most important part of the undertaking, and indeed it is +my earnest desire that the Association should never under any +circumstances become a mere trading institution. This would be a +great falling off from the original scope and object with which +this Association was founded. I wish those who may be at any time +entrusted with the management of the Association always to remember +that it is open to them to do everything they can, that is likely +to promote the welfare of the blind. The particular directions in +which this may be done will often be clearly indicated by the +circumstances of the Association, and by opportunities which may +arise at any given time. Still, certain fixed principles should +always be kept in view, as laid down in our rule No. 2, "That the +immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment +to those blind persons who, for want of work, have been compelled +to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so. To +cause those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some +industrial art, and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the +blind. Also, to support a Circulating Library consisting of books +in various systems of relief print, to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> advantages of which the +indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon +payment of the subscription required by the Committee. To enable +blind musicians to show that the loss of sight does not prevent +their being efficient organists and scientific musicians. To +collect and disseminate information relative to the physical, +mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind; and to +promote among individuals and institutions seeking to ameliorate +the condition of the blind, a friendly interchange of information +calculated to advance the common cause."</p> + +<p>Rule 16 also provides, "That with a view to increase the funds and +extend the utility of the Association, the Committee shall have +power to receive into connection with the Association other kindred +institutions, and shall seek to form auxiliaries in various parts of the kingdom."</p> + +<p>The Association will probably never be called upon to undertake +anything with regard to music, as the field is now so well and +fully occupied by the Royal Normal College; but the rule is quoted +exactly as it stands in order to show the breadth of the original +design, which design should be kept steadily in view. It is most +desirable that among those who may direct the Association there +should always be some persons who should make it their special +object to study the condition of the blind, and in this study the +knowledge of the following facts will be found of service, viz.—</p> + +<p><i>1st.</i> That many blind persons after leaving the schools are, +although instructed in some trade, reduced to begging or driven to +the workhouse, not through their own fault, but simply for the want +of any regular employment in their trade.</p> + +<p><i>2d.</i> That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind; +as about nine-tenths of the 30,000 blind in the United Kingdom +become so above the age of twenty-one, and are then ineligible for +admission to most blind schools.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p><p><i>3d.</i> That about half the sightless population live in rural +districts.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The address ends here abruptly. Probably the writer's strength was +exhausted with the effort to think and to dictate.</p> + +<p>During 1882, 1883, 1884 Bessie carried on at long intervals a +correspondence with Mr. Wood, Superintendent of the School for the +Blind, Sheffield. She learns that his pupils are taught to read embossed +type on Braille's system, which her own experience had shown to be +unsuited to those who have hard manual labour to perform. In every +letter she requests information on this point: "Can the workpeople still +read Braille's type?" she asks. The opening up of fresh trades, the +establishment of workshops for the benefit of those who leave the +school, are questions which she suggests for the serious consideration +of the Sheffield Committee, and she asks Mr. Wood for information, at +any time he can send it, as to work in any way connected with the blind.</p> + +<p>About this time Bessie heard that John Bright had spoken at the Normal +College, Norwood, and appealed to him on behalf of Berners Street. He replied:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right">132 <span class="smcap">Piccadilly</span>, <i>26th July 1883.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>—I thank you for your letter and for the volume you have +sent me. My engagements are so many and so constantly pressing that +I cannot hope to do much for the cause you have at heart. I hope, +however, the cause is making progress, and it is not unlikely that +some general inquiry into the condition of the blind will be made +before long, and that good may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> come from it. My presence and +speech at Norwood were accidental. I must leave more practical work +to others.—I am, very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">John Bright.</span></p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert, 5 Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, W.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The volume sent was most probably Levy's <i>Blindness and the Blind</i>.</p> + +<p>During 1883 Bessie received frequent letters from the Chairman of her +Committee, Sir E. Sotheby, and the Hon. Secretary, Captain Hume Nicholl. +They referred to her the different appeals from blind men, women, and +boys which reached them; these she carefully investigated and reported +upon. During her illness, as throughout her whole life, the utmost help +and best advice she could give were always at the disposal of the blind. +Farrow, who had worked twenty-eight years at the Institution, loses no +opportunity of sending her cheering news. He writes at this time with +respect to the brushmakers:</p> + +<blockquote><p>During the last six months orders have poured in from all quarters, +and I can say that all the years I have been connected with the +Institution we have not done so much before in the same time. +Brushes manufactured indoors in 1882 amounted to £3200. The present +year, from the 1st January to the 1st of June, amounted to £1471: +6: 4 in twenty-two weeks.</p></blockquote> + +<p>There was an Industrial Exhibition in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, +in 1883, and the blind stall from Berners Street was always crowded. Farrow writes:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>If the manager of the Agricultural Hall had given us a better +position in the body of the hall no doubt we should have done more +than we did. The sales amounted to about £110. The donation boxes +yielded £15. The cost of the undertaking about £29. The profits of +the sale and [contents of] boxes included came to £50, leaving a +balance of £21. I superintended the arrangements of the benches as +two years ago. The workpeople who represented the different +branches are as follows.... I visited the hall several times for +the purpose of examining the machinery, to see if there was +anything to be learnt for the benefit of the Association.... This +year we have the whole of the work of the L. S. W. Railway, and we +have also obtained that of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. For the +future I will not send in any tender unless I see the samples +first, as it was often done before without my seeing them.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This blind man who "examined the machinery" and must "see the samples" +is one after Bessie's own heart, and there was always a merry laugh of +approval when she spoke of his letters.</p> + +<p>A conference was held at York in 1883 on the condition of the blind. It +was followed in 1884 by a meeting at Sheffield on the same subject, and +presided over by Lord Wharncliffe.</p> + +<p>Bessie had, at Lord Wharncliffe's request, furnished suggestions and +information. He writes as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Wortley Hall, Sheffield</span>, <i>12th January 1884</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam</span>—I have taken the liberty of sending to you a copy of the +<i>Sheffield Daily Telegraph</i> containing the report of our meeting on +Thursday last, and have to express to you my warm thanks for the +kindness with which you answered my letter, and for the valuable +suggestions contained in your reply. I can only hope that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> you will +be interested with the report of our proceedings, and will approve +of what was then said.—I remain, yrs. faithfully,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Wharncliffe.</span></p> + +<p>Miss Gilbert.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The paper of suggestions referred to, travels over much of the ground +familiar to Bessie for so many years, and never, as she thought, +adequately explored by those who were working for the blind.</p> + +<p>She writes to Lord Wharncliffe:</p> + +<p>"It is almost impossible for a blind man, singlehanded, to cope with all +the difficulties with which he has to contend, and the result has often +been begging or the workhouse. Happily there are many more industrial +institutions than there were."</p> + +<p>One can imagine with what a thrill of satisfaction she would write this, +as she remembered the little cellar in Holborn and the humble origin of +all her subsequent work. She continues:</p> + +<blockquote><p>It would be most desirable that the ordinary schools and such +institutions should play into one another's hands, so as to shorten +as far as possible the interval between the pupils leaving [school] +and their being employed. Sometimes the blind might be taught some +special branch of a trade, and might perhaps even be employed by +masters among their sighted workpeople. This would answer the +double purpose of lightening the work of the Institution, and also +of drawing attention to the blind and to what they are able to do, +which is a very important point.</p> + +<p>As industrial institutions must depend to a very great extent upon +custom for their support, it is well to bear in mind that some +persons without sight can both help themselves and the institution +employing them by acting as travellers. People are often very much +interested by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> this means, and look forward to the regular +recurring calls of the blind travellers. Besides which it saves +people trouble in dealing with an institution if they happen to +live at some distance.</p> + +<p>It is almost needless to say that all the capabilities of the blind +should be brought out as much as possible, as the more this is done +and the more their highest interests are cared for, the more will +their whole condition be elevated and improved. The problem of +enabling the blind to earn their own living is by no means an easy +one, and is well worthy of the attention of loving hearts and wise +intellects for its solution.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The whole tone of these wise and thoughtful remarks shows that Bessie +had never lost touch with her work. Her interest is as fresh, her +expectation as vigorous as ever. She throws out a new suggestion—that +of the employment of the blind in special branches of a trade—which may +even yet bear fruit. She pleads for "the elevation of the whole +condition of the blind," in contradistinction to the administration of +charitable doles to degrade them. She had a wide experience of both +systems, and could now speak with authority. The letter indeed marks a +recrudescence, and has a ring of hope about it. It is not the utterance +of one who speaks on the other side of a closed door. You feel that the +door is open and she may enter and resume work. There was, in fact, +throughout 1884 an indefinable improvement and amelioration in her +condition which led her, not perhaps to hope, but to entertain a thought +of the possibility of such a measure of recovery as might once more +enable her to take an active<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> share in the work of the Institution. It +is not likely that this expectation was entertained either by her +doctors or nurses; but Bessie had a distinct feeling that a change, an +improvement, was before her. "Would it not be wonderful," she said to +the present writer in the early summer of 1884, "if I should recover?" +And in reply to a question suggested by this remark, she added, "I feel +as if there would be a change."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>TWILIGHT</h3> + + +<div class="block"><p>"The noble mansion is most distinguished by the beautiful images it +retains of beings passed away; and so is the noble mind."</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Walter Savage Landor.</span></p></div> + +<p>Fifteen years of suffering had left Bessie Gilbert unchanged as to the +aims and work of her life. Long lonely hours of thought had shown her +the need that the blind have of help and sympathy, the impossibility of +independence and self-supporting work for them unless through the active +charity of individuals and the co-operation of the State.</p> + +<p>And it was the "General Welfare of the Blind" that engrossed her, and +not merely their trades. She knew, no one better, how much need they +have of resources from within, the pleasures of memory, the courage +given by hope and aspiration. Her long years of illness enlarged her +ideas of what could be done and ought to be done for them. She +contrasted her own condition with that of the poor and untaught, and +forgave them all their faults when she remembered their sad state.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p><p>Bessie had been carefully prepared for the inevitable solitude of her +lot. Her mind was richly stored and her memory so carefully trained, +that it seemed to allow no escape of anything that interested her. +During the long weary days and nights of illness, when deafness isolated +her even more than blindness, she would go over the whole story of a +book read to her years before. She would recall the symphonies and +sonatas she had listened to in early days, and find exceeding great +enjoyment in the memory of her music. Indeed, towards the end she had +but little pleasure in music heard through the outward ear, for her +nerves were not able to endure the shock of a sudden or unexpected +outburst of sound. But the music which she could call from out the +chambers of memory was soft and tender, and its most impassioned +passages gave her no pain. The soul of the music spoke to her soul, and +silence brought to her the rapture of spiritual communion.</p> + +<p>In early youth she had been accustomed, in the daily family prayers, to +read in turn her verse of the Lessons and the Psalms. In later years she +always read them to herself or had them read aloud to her. During her +illness she scarcely ever failed to hear them; and the evening Psalms +ended her day. She knew very many of the Psalms by heart, and "specially +delighted in the glorious ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving in +those for the thirtieth evening of the month." She liked to think that +every month and every year at its close was accompanied by praise and +thanksgiving.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> "It pleased and touched her greatly," writes her sister +N., "that in the New Lectionary the miracle of restoring sight to the +two blind men at Jericho, came as the second lesson for the evening of her birthday, 7th August.</p> + +<p>"One of her most favourite verses in the Psalms was, 'Thou hast given me +the defence of thy salvation. Thy right hand also shall hold me up, and +thy loving correction shall make me great.'"</p> + +<p>Two poems from the <i>Lyra Germanica</i> gave her constant comfort, and were +in her heart and on her lips. She found in them the embodiment of her +faith, and could use them not only as expressing her own feelings, but +as bringing comfort and help, because they were the utterance of the +ardent faith and devotion of others.</p> + +<p>These two hymns really open to us the inner life of Bessie Gilbert. They +show from whence she derived the strength and courage that supported her +in the efforts and trials of her early life, and they reveal the source +of the patient endurance of fifteen years of isolation and suffering.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">Passion Week.</span><a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i6">I.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i3"><span class="smcap">In the Garden.</span></div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Whene'er again thou sinkest,</div> +<div class="i1">My heart, beneath thy load,</div> +<div>Or from the battle shrinkest,</div> +<div class="i1">And murmurest at thy God;</div> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span><div>Then will I lead thee hither,</div> +<div class="i1">To watch thy Saviour's prayer,</div> +<div>And learn from His endurance</div> +<div class="i1">How thou shouldst also bear.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh come, wouldst thou be like Him,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy Lord Divine, and mark</div> +<div>What sharpest sorrows strike Him,</div> +<div class="i1">What anguish deep and dark,—</div> +<div>That earnest cry to spare Him,</div> +<div class="i1">The trial scarce begun?</div> +<div>Yet still He saith: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh wherefore doth His spirit</div> +<div class="i1">Such bitter conflict know?</div> +<div>What sins, what crimes could merit</div> +<div class="i1">Such deep and awful woe?</div> +<div>So pure are not the heavens,</div> +<div class="i1">So clear the noonday sun,</div> +<div>And yet He saith: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh mark that night of sorrow,</div> +<div class="i1">That agony of prayer;</div> +<div>No friend can watch till morrow</div> +<div class="i1">His grief to soothe and share;</div> +<div>Oh where shall He find comfort?</div> +<div class="i1">With God, with God alone,</div> +<div>And still He saith: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Hath life for Him no gladness,</div> +<div class="i1">No joy the light of day?</div> +<div>Can He then feel no sadness,</div> +<div class="i1">When heart and hope give way?</div> +<div>That cup of mortal anguish</div> +<div class="i1">One bitter cry hath won,</div> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span><div>That it might pass: "Yet, Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>And who the cup prepared Him,</div> +<div class="i1">And who the poison gave?</div> +<div>'Twas one He loved ensnared Him,</div> +<div class="i1">'Twas those He came to save.</div> +<div>Oh sharpest pain, to suffer</div> +<div class="i1">Betray'd and mock'd—alone;</div> +<div>Yet still He saith: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>But what is joy or living,</div> +<div class="i1">What treachery or death,</div> +<div>When all His work, His striving,</div> +<div class="i1">Seems hanging on His breath?</div> +<div>Oh can it stand without Him,</div> +<div class="i1">That work but just begun?</div> +<div>Yet still He saith: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>He speaks; no more He shrinketh,</div> +<div class="i1">Himself He offers up;</div> +<div>He sees it all, yet drinketh</div> +<div class="i1">For us that bitter cup,</div> +<div>He goes to meet the traitor,</div> +<div class="i1">The cross He will not shun,—</div> +<div>He saith: "I come, My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>My Saviour, I will never</div> +<div class="i1">Forget Thy word of grace,</div> +<div>But still repeat it ever,</div> +<div class="i1">Through good and evil days;</div> +<div>And looking up to heaven,</div> +<div class="i1">Till all my race is run,</div> +<div>I'll humbly say: "My Father,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy will, not mine, be done!"</div> +<div class="i12"><span class="smcap">W. Hey</span>, 1828.</div> +</div></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i2"><span class="smcap">Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity.</span></div></div> +<div class="stanza"><div>Be thou content; be still before</div> +<div class="i1">His face, at whose right hand doth reign</div> +<div>Fulness of joy for evermore,</div> +<div class="i1">Without whom all thy toil is vain.</div> +<div>He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays</div> +<div>Make glad with life and light thy weary days.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>In Him is comfort, light, and grace,</div> +<div class="i1">And changeless love beyond our thought;</div> +<div>The sorest pang, the worst disgrace,</div> +<div class="i1">If He is there, shall harm thee not.</div> +<div>He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands,</div> +<div>And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Or art thou friendless and alone,</div> +<div class="i1">Hast none in whom thou canst confide?</div> +<div>God careth for thee, lonely one,</div> +<div class="i1">Comfort and help will He provide.</div> +<div>He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief,</div> +<div>He knoweth when to send thee quick relief.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows,</div> +<div class="i1">Thy secret sighs He hears full well,</div> +<div>What to none else thou dar'st disclose,</div> +<div class="i1">To Him thou mayst with boldness tell;</div> +<div>He is not far away, but ever nigh,</div> +<div>And answereth willingly the poor man's cry.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Be not o'er-mastered by thy pain,</div> +<div class="i1">But cling to God, thou shalt not fall;</div> +<div>The floods sweep over thee in vain,</div> +<div class="i1">Thou yet shalt rise above them all;</div> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span><div>For when thy trial seems too hard to bear</div> +<div>Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Why art thou full of anxious fear</div> +<div class="i1">How thou shalt be sustain'd and fed?</div> +<div>He who hath made and placed thee here</div> +<div class="i1">Will give thee needful daily bread;</div> +<div>Canst thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand,</div> +<div>Who feeds all living things on sea and land?</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>He who doth teach the little birds</div> +<div class="i1">To find their meat in field and wood,</div> +<div>Who gives the countless flocks and herds</div> +<div class="i1">Each day their needful drink and food,</div> +<div>Thy hunger too will surely satisfy,</div> +<div>And all thy wants in His good time supply.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Sayest thou, I know not how or where,</div> +<div class="i1">No hope I see where'er I turn;</div> +<div>When of all else we most despair,</div> +<div class="i1">The riches of God's love we learn;</div> +<div>When thou and I His hand no longer trace,</div> +<div>He leads us forth into a pleasant place.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Though long His promised aid delay,</div> +<div class="i1">At last it will be surely sent:</div> +<div>Though thy heart sink in sore dismay,</div> +<div class="i1">The trial for thy good is meant.</div> +<div>What we have won with pains we hold more fast,</div> +<div>What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Lay not to heart whate'er of ill</div> +<div class="i1">Thy foes may falsely speak of thee,</div> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span><div>Let man defame thee as he will,</div> +<div class="i1">God hears and judges righteously.</div> +<div>Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side,</div> +<div>Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride?</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>We know for us a rest remains,</div> +<div class="i1">When God will give us sweet release</div> +<div>From earth and all our mortal chains</div> +<div class="i1">And turn our sufferings into peace.</div> +<div>Sooner or later death will surely come</div> +<div>To end our sorrows and to take us home.</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Home to the chosen ones, who here</div> +<div class="i1">Served their Lord faithfully and well,</div> +<div>Who died in peace without a fear,</div> +<div class="i1">And there in peace for ever dwell;</div> +<div>The Everlasting is their joy and stay,</div> +<div>The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say</div> +<div class="i10">Be thou content!</div> +<div class="i12"><span class="smcap">Paul Gerhardt</span>, 1670.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>For weeks together during her illness Bessie was at times unable to +sleep during the night. She was too considerate to her nurses to disturb +them for mere sleeplessness. She would then, as we have said, recall to +memory music and books which she had heard, and at these times +Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott were a great resource to her. The +characters she admired lived for her, and she would try to picture to +herself how they would act in circumstances which she invented for them. +Her knowledge of English history was also a source of interest, and +often astonished those around her. One evening in 1884 a young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> niece +preparing for an examination asked in vain for information as to the +"Salisbury Assize" until the question was put to "Aunt Bessie," who at once explained it.</p> + +<p>There were long lapses, as it were, in her life. After the sleepless +nights she had to sleep when she could, and her room in the daytime was +hushed and silent, all external life and interest excluded. At night she +was again fully awake, but it was to find herself alone in the "chambers of her imagery."</p> + +<p>One of the two sisters who were her constant companions, and nursed her +with unfailing devotion for fifteen years, writes as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>All through her illness, with the occasional exceptions when she +suffered from deafness, her cheerfulness was marvellous, her +patience never-failing, and her consideration and thoughtfulness +for those around her very wonderful and touching.</p> + +<p>She had a special name of her own for each of her nurses, all of +them loved her, and upon several of them the influence of her +patience and goodness was strongly marked, and will be of lifelong +endurance. Her first sick-nurse came in 1872 and stayed two years. +She often afterwards visited her. She came to see us after Bessie's +death, and said with tears, "Oh, I did not do enough for her. I +wish I had done more."</p> + +<p>Bessie would often arrange little surprises and pleasures for us +and give us flowers. She was anxious we should have all the variety +we could, and took the greatest pleasure in hearing an account of +what we had seen and done whilst away from her. She liked to see +visitors when she was well enough, but was often nervous about it, +fearing lest the excitement should do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> her harm, and interfere in +any way with what little she could do for the Institution.</p> + +<p>Perhaps few realised how much she suffered; she was so patient, so +bright, so sympathetic that it was difficult to do so. The last few +months of her life were full of pain.</p></blockquote> + +<p>No record of Bessie's illness would be adequate which did not speak of +the love that lightened every burden laid upon her. Sisters and brothers +bound by so strong a bond of family love as the Gilberts are even more +closely united by affliction. No day passed without its tribute of +affectionate remembrance from absent members of the family. Her eldest +brother, Mr. Wintle, always spent the afternoon of Sunday with her, when +she was able to receive him. The Vicar of Heversham, the beloved "Tom" +of her youth, saw her in London whenever it was possible. Married +sisters visited and wrote to her, and a whole cloud of nephews and +nieces hovered around her.</p> + +<p>She valued highly the friendship as well as the skill of Mr. Sibley, the +surgeon who for many years attended her. She depended upon him for +almost daily visits. Very little could be done to arrest the progress of +her malady; nothing to save her from much inevitable suffering. +Alleviation, not cure, was all that could be looked for, and he was +always ready to attempt, and often able to effect, some mitigation of +the ills she had to endure.</p> + +<p>Among many others who were kind and helpful, ready to aid her work and +so to give her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> almost the only pleasure she could receive, were the +Duke of Westminster, Lord and Lady Selborne, Madame Antoinette Sterling, +who would sometimes sing to her, and the old and dear friends of the +family, Dean and Mrs. Hook. No word can here be said of the two sisters, +whose whole life was given up to her; none would be adequate. They knew, +and they were known. That is enough. We may not lift the veil under +which they passed so many years with Bessie in her long agony.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> From <i>Lyra Germanica</i>, second series.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<p class="center">"In Thy light we shall see light."</p> + +<p>The summer of 1884 in London was hot and exhausting. In Bessie's +helpless condition excessive heat caused her real suffering; for she was +fixed immovable upon her couch. But if she longed for cool breezes, the +scent of flowers and song of birds, she uttered no murmur in their absence.</p> + +<p>The slight improvement recognised with so much gratitude in the spring +was not permanent, but the "change" she anticipated was at hand. "I feel +as if there would be a change," she had said.</p> + +<p>The autumn showed that she had seriously lost ground.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Her throat," continues her sister N., "always painful and +irritable, had now become a source of great suffering. There was +constant pain, greatly increased every time she swallowed; whilst +her weakness made it important that she should take plenty of +nourishment. A troublesome cough came on; fits of coughing that +lasted for hours and exhausted her terribly. At the same time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +neuralgia and rheumatism attacked the left leg and thigh, and +violent pain caused her, with all her courage and patience, to +scream in the most heartrending manner. Her whole body became most +sensitive to touch, and yet she was obliged to be moved on account +of the cough. Her limbs seemed to stiffen, and the body was like a +leaden weight pressing on the bed. To change her position, even to +touch her hair, caused her great pain; and it required four or even +five persons to move her with the minimum of pain."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This sad condition lasted through the autumn of 1884, but she improved +wonderfully about Christmas time, and there was alleviation and relief +for herself and all around her. On Christmas day, however, a fresh +sorrow befel her. Her brother-in-law, Mr. Bowles, died suddenly, and all +her old grief at the loss of her sister Mary, of her father, and of dear +friends, was reopened. She had a serious relapse, and before long the +condition of her throat made it desirable to seek further advice. Dr. +Semon was consulted, and he examined her throat by the help of the +electric light. She was greatly interested in this examination, in the +explanation of the apparatus used, and in the fact that hers was the +first throat so examined since Dr. Semon's apparatus had been perfected.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards her condition was aggravated by slight bronchitis, +and for four days and nights she had no sleep. On the 7th of February +1885 Dr. Sibley saw her between 12 and 12.30, and anticipated no +immediate danger. But he was again hastily summoned, and at 1.15 she +died; conscious to the last moment.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p><p>"She had been so tired the night before," writes her sister. "About +midnight she said: 'Art thou weary, art thou weary?' and we repeated the +beautiful hymn, which seemed to soothe her. Even that last night she was +full of thought for others. 'Mind you have some tea; do make yourselves +some tea,' she said. She evidently followed the prayers that we said, +and indeed her death was a falling asleep, so peaceful, with no pain or struggle whatever."</p> + +<p>The farewell of two old friends was by her bedside at Ascension Tide, +May 1884, when Bessie received the Holy Communion.</p> + +<p>Such a radiant light, such ineffable peace rested on her face when she +lay back in silence on her pillow, that the writer thought "so will she +look when at last her eyes are open to the eternal day." A kiss, a +pressure of the hand, a word of farewell, and there was no other place +of meeting in this life.</p> + +<p>Undaunted by suffering and privation, patient, heroic, she lived and +died. No murmur escaped her lips from early youth to age. She stood +trembling with awestruck face when, after she had said, "Oh how I should +like to see the sun!" her companion solemnly assured her, "And you shall +see," and turned the sightless face towards the glowing sky. All was +dark, the young girl could only answer, "I see nothing," as she turned +and went slowly homewards. She accepted her blindness. It was the will +of God. No word of lamentation escaped her throughout her life.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p><p>Again there came a time when a great cause had been entrusted to her, +when she felt that it was prospering in her hands, when she hoped to +raise the whole condition of the blind, to lift them up out of poverty +and dependence, and place them on a level with all industrious and +intelligent citizens. But a hand was laid upon her in the darkness. "I +can do nothing," she said; and once again she turned and went slowly +without a murmur, without repining, down the dark pathway to the grave +and gate of death. But the work for which she gave her life has not +died, and cannot die. Every good seed, sown upon good ground, must +spring up and bear fruit. Her patient efforts, her success in "removing +obstacles from before the feet of the blind," will help and encourage +other workers. Blind children in our schools, blind workmen and +workwomen in our shops and factories, will reap the harvest for which +Bessie Gilbert laboured, and may join in the acknowledgment of +dependence upon the Great Father which she so loved to utter: "All thy +works praise thee, O Lord."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h5><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i></h5> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the +Blind, by Frances Martin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + +***** This file should be named 31721-h.htm or 31721-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/2/31721/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind + +Author: Frances Martin + +Release Date: March 21, 2010 [EBook #31721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +ELIZABETH GILBERT + +[Illustration: Logo] + +[Illustration: (signed) Elizabeth Gilbert] + + +ELIZABETH GILBERT AND HER WORK FOR THE BLIND + + +BY FRANCES MARTIN + +AUTHOR OF 'ANGELIQUE ARNAULD,' ETC. ETC. + + +London +MACMILLAN AND CO. +AND NEW YORK +1887 + + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There is a sacred privacy in the life of a blind person. It is led apart +from much of the ordinary work of the world, and is unaffected by many +external incidents which help to make up the important events of other +lives. It is passed in the shade and not in the open sunlight of eager +activity. At first we should be disposed to say that such a life, with +its inevitable restrictions and compulsory isolation, could offer little +of public interest, and might well remain unchronicled. But in the rare +cases where blindness, feeble health, and suffering form scarcely any +bar to activity; where they are not only borne with patience, but by +heroic effort are compelled to minister to great aims, we are eager to +learn the secret of such a life. No details connected with it are devoid +of interest; and we are stimulated, encouraged, and strengthened by +seeing obstacles overcome which appeared insurmountable, and watching +triumph where we dreaded defeat. + +Elizabeth Gilbert was born at a time when kindly and intelligent men +and women could gravely implore "the Almighty" to "take away" a child +merely because it was blind; when they could argue that to teach the +blind to read, or to attempt to teach them to work, was to fly in the +face of Providence. And her whole life was given to the endeavour to +overcome prejudice and superstition; to show that blindness, though a +great privation, is not a disqualification. Blind men and women can +learn, labour, and fulfil all the duties of life if their fellow-men are +merciful and helpful, and God is on the side of all those who work +honestly for themselves and others. + +The life of Elizabeth Gilbert and her work for the blind are so +inextricably interwoven, that it is impossible to tell one without +constant reference to the other. + +A small cellar in Holborn at a rent of eighteen-pence a week was enough +for a beginning. But before her death she could point to large and +well-appointed workshops in almost every city of England, where blind +men and women are employed, where tools have been invented by or +modified for them, where agencies have been established for the sale of +their work. + +Her example has encouraged, her influence has promoted the work which +she never relinquished throughout life. + +Nothing was too great for her to attempt on behalf of the blind, nothing +seemed impossible of achievement. One success suggested a new endeavour, +one achievement opened a door for fresh effort. + +Free from any taint of selfishness or self-seeking, all her thought was +for others, for the helpless, the poor, the friendless. Her pity was +boundless. There was nothing she could not forgive the blind, no error, +no ignorance, no crime. She knew the desolation of their lives, their +friendless condition, and understood how they might sink down and down +in the darkness because no friendly hand was held out to them. + +And yet she was unsparing to herself, and a rigid censor of her own +motive and conduct. This she could not fail to be, because she believed +in her vocation as from God. She never doubted that her work had been +appointed for her; she never wavered in her belief that strength given +by God, supported her. She knew that she was the servant of God, sent by +Him to minister to others. This knowledge was joy; but it made her +inexorable and inflexible towards herself. + +There are but few incidents in her peaceful life. It was torn by no +doubt, distracted by no apprehensions, it reached none of the heights +of human happiness, and sounded none of the depths of despair. If there +were unfulfilled hopes, aspirations, affections, they left no +bitterness, no sense of disappointment. A beautiful life and helpful; +for who need despair where she overcame and gained so great a victory? + +The materials for recording the history of Elizabeth Gilbert are scanty, +but all that were possessed by her sisters and friends have been placed +at my disposal. My love for her, and our long friendship, have enabled +me, I hope, to interpret them aright. + +FRANCES MARTIN. +_October 1887._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + PAGE +CHILDHOOD 1 + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE DARK 14 + + +CHAPTER III + +LITTLE BLOSSOM 27 + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHAT THE PROPHETESS FORESAW 39 + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PALACE GARDEN 51 + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SENSE OF LOSS 70 + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BLIND MANAGER 82 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ROYAL BOUNTY 94 + + +CHAPTER IX + +REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS 110 + + +CHAPTER X + +TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS 129 + + +CHAPTER XI + +REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 142 + + +CHAPTER XII + +HER DIARY 150 + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FEAR OF GOD AND NO OTHER 158 + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EVERYDAY LIFE 175 + + +CHAPTER XV + +TIME OF TROUBLE 192 + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST LOSS 212 + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW THE WORK WENT ON 221 + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BLIND CHILDREN OF THE POOR 238 + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN TIME OF NEED 249 + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 259 + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM 279 + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TWILIGHT 293 + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE END 304 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD + + "Moving about in worlds not realised."--WORDSWORTH. + + +Elizabeth Margaretta Maria, born on the 7th of August 1826, was the +second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashhurst Turner +Gilbert, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of +Chichester, and of Mary Ann his wife, only surviving child of the Rev. +Robert Wintle, Vicar of Culham, near Abingdon. + +The little girl, Bessie, as she was always called, was christened at St. +Mary's Church, which is close to the old-fashioned house in High Street +known as the Principal's Lodgings, in which Dr. Gilbert lived. + +"A fine handsome child, with flashing black eyes," she is said to have +been; and then for three years we hear nothing more. There was a nest of +little children in the nursery, and in the spring of 1829 a fifth baby +was to be added to them. In the diary of the grandfather, Mr. Wintle, +we find the following entries:-- + + + 1829.--April 6. Little Elizabeth alarmingly ill with scarlet fever. + + " 7. Child very ill. + + " 8. Child somewhat better. + + " 18. Letter from Mary Ann [Mrs. Gilbert], + stating that little Elizabeth had lost one eye. + + " 21. Went to Oxford. Little girl blind. + + July 9. Dr. Farre and Mr. Alexander say + there is no chance of little Bessie seeing. + + +And so the "flashing black eyes," scarcely opened upon the world, were +closed for ever, and all memory of sight was very speedily obliterated. +Mrs. Gilbert had not been allowed to nurse or even to see her little +girl, who had been removed from the nursery to a north wing, stretching +back and away from the house. It was the father who watched over and +scarcely left her. Mrs. Gilbert believed that the child's recovery was +owing to his unremitting care. Dr. Gilbert's common sense seems to have +been in advance of the medical treatment of that period; and he insisted +on open windows, change of bedding and clothing to suit the exigencies +of the case. When the child was thought to be sinking, he took upon +himself the responsibility of administering port wine; this may or may +not have saved her life, it is certain she struggled through and +survived a dangerous, almost fatal attack. + +But the handsome, healthy baby was sightless; one eye was entirely and +the other partly destroyed, the throat ragged and certain to be always +delicate, ears and nose also affected. A childhood of much suffering was +inevitable--and then? + +It was the father who bore the first brunt of this sorrow. It was he who +listened to the pathetic appeal of the little one, "Oh, nursie, light a +candle," to her entreaty to be taken "out of the dark room," to the +softly-whispered question, "If I am a _very_ good 'ittle girl may I see +my dolly to-morrow?" He had been full of courage, hope, and resource at +the most critical times, but he was broken-hearted now, and would rush +weeping from the child's bedside. + +It was not until July, by that time a fifth baby was in the nursery, +that the parents took their little Bessie to London, and there, as Mr. +Wintle's diary tells, the case was pronounced to be hopeless. The +renowned oculist of that day, Mr. Alexander, told them that there was no +possibility of sight; the eyes were destroyed, the child was blind. Dr. +Farre, whom they also consulted, showed much sympathy with the parents +in their affliction, and they looked upon him as a friend raised up to +advise and comfort them. Many years later they appealed to him on behalf +of their blind child, and reminded him of the encouragement and help he +had given them. It was doubtless he who suggested that blindness should +be made as little as possible of a disability to the child, what other +help could he give in such a case?--that she should be trained, +educated, and treated like the other children; that she should share +their pleasures and their experience, and should not be kept apart from +the mistaken notion of shielding her from injury. + +It was with these views that the parents returned to Oxford, and it was +these that they consistently carried out henceforward. There was no +invention, no educational help for the blind which they did not inquire +into and procure; but these were only used in the same way that one +child might have one kind of pencil and another child another pencil. + +The sisters who were nearest her own age speak of Bessie as gay and +happy, "so like the others that it is difficult to pick her out from +them." Surviving friends who remember the Gilbert children, the +_sisterhood_, as the eight little girls came ultimately to be called, +say that the group is ineffaceably stamped upon the memory, but that +there was nothing special to attract attention to the individual members +of it. And yet the figure of the blind child does emerge, distinct and +apart, and the reminiscences of youth and childhood are numerous enough +to manifest the interest with which every part of her career was +followed in her own family. + +The parents had decided that she was to be treated exactly like her +sisters. When she came into a room they were not to give her a chair; +she was to find one for herself. Dr. Gilbert specially could not endure +to have it suggested that she could not do what the others did. "Let +her try," he would say. So Bessie tried, and, ordinarily, succeeded. He +was specially anxious that she should behave like the others at table, +should be as particular in eating and drinking as they were, and should +manage the food on her plate without offence to others. He encouraged +her in ready repartee and swift intellectual insight. When the father +joined his children in their walks it was always Bessie who took his +hand. She invariably sat by him at breakfast, and when the children went +in to dessert it was Bessie who sat by his side and poured out his glass +of wine. "How do you know when it is full?" some one asked. "By the +weight," she replied. The father, we may be sure, was training her in +the transfer of the work of one sense to another, and helping her to +supplement the lost eyesight by touch and sound, raising her up to the +level of other children; and his initiative was followed in the family. + +A special tie between the father and his blind child was always +recognised. If any favour was to be asked it was Bessie who was sent to +the father, and also if any difficulty arose amongst the children they +would say, "We will tell Bessie," "We will ask Bessie." + +There seems to have been no jealousy of her influence, no opposition to +it. The sisters thought it her right to be first, and looked upon it as +a great distinction, honour, and privilege to have a blind sister. It +was their part to make her feel as little as possible the difference +between herself and them, and to help her to be as independent as they +were. She was taught to dress herself unaided as early as the other +children. She was full of fun, and enjoyed a romping game; she would +much rather risk being knocked over than allow any one to lead her by +the hand when they were all at play. She was passionate as a child, +liable to sudden violent outbursts of anger; and as there were a good +many passionate children together, she was quite as often mixed up in a +quarrel as any of the others. + +One incident remembered against her was that at seven or eight years old +she seized one of the high schoolroom chairs and hurled it, or intended +to do so, at a governess who had offended her. Another was that when she +was somewhat younger, at the close of their daily walk, she and a little +sister hurried on to enjoy the luxury of ringing the front door bell. It +was just out of reach, and the little girls on tiptoe were straining to +get at it. An undergraduate, passing by, thought to do them a kindness +and pulled the bell. Bessie stamped with anger, and turned upon him a +little blind passionate face: "Why did you do it? You knew I wanted to +ring." + +"A most affectionate nature, unselfish, generous, but passionate and +obstinate; so obstinate no one could turn her from the thing she had +resolved on," says one of the sisters. + +In after life we find a temper under perfect control, and a will +developed and trained to sweet firmness and unwavering endurance; but +these showed themselves in the fitful irregularity of a somewhat wilful +childhood. + +In accordance with the precept of her father, Bessie wanted to do +everything that other children did. She _would_ try, and nothing but her +own individual experience would convince her of the limitations of her +powers. The fire and the kettle were great temptations to her. One day +in the nursery at Oxford she tried to reach the kettle, slipped and fell +in front of the fire, tried to save herself by grasping the hot bars of +the grate, and the poor little hands were badly burnt. We may be sure +how the parents would suffer with their blind child in such an accident, +and yet they would not encourage a panic, or allow any unnecessary +restrictions to be put upon her actions. + +A few years after scarlet fever the Gilbert children had measles. All +memory of the occurrence would have faded out had it not been for +Bessie. Her throat, as we have said, was ragged and impeded, and +throughout life the only way in which she could swallow any liquid was +in very small sips and with a curious little twist of nose and mouth. In +after life she used to compare herself to Pascal, saying how much better +her own case was, for Pascal was obliged to have his medicine warmed +before he could sip it, whilst she could take hers cold. + +There are some who still remember how they pitied her when they saw +Bessie sitting up in bed sipping a black draught, and they can recall +the resolution with which she did it, and the conscientiousness with +which she took all, to the last drop. + +Some twenty years later she was walking in the garden at Eversley with +Charles Kingsley, and he said to her, "When you take medicine you drink +it all up. I spill some on my frock, and then I have to take it over +again." It was one of those swift intuitive glances of his; he saw in +the delicate woman the same patient courage that had characterised the +child. She had much suffering from her throat throughout life, and as a +little girl was nearly choked by a lozenge. The noteworthy point of the +incident is that in the wildest tumult of alarm of those around her, the +child was quite calm. + +There was so little sense of her inferiority to others in early youth +that it was only as the sisters grew up that they realised how much +Bessie knew, and how much she could do, in spite of her blindness. As a +child they all looked upon her as very clever. One of their Sunday +amusements was to play at Sunday school, and Bessie was invariably made +the mistress. + +For a long time she and her sister Fanny, little more than a year +younger, were companions in their lessons, which were in every respect +alike. Bessie's were read aloud to her; she learnt easily, her memory +was good, and she made rapid progress. In French and German the grammar +was read to her, and she worked the exercises verbally. The governess, +Miss Lander, was devoted to her pupils, and specially interested in +Bessie, so that she turned to account every hint and suggestion as to +special methods for the blind. She drew threads across a piece of paper, +which was fixed to a frame, and taught the child to write in the +ordinary way. There was a box of raised letters which could be used for +spelling lessons, and there was leaden type with raised figures for +arithmetic lessons. The letters were arranged on an ordinary board; but +the figures were placed in a grooved board. Now arithmetic was the most +difficult and distasteful of all Bessie's lessons; the placing of the +figures correctly was a very perplexing task, and the working of sums an +intricate problem. But she did her duty and made her way steadily to +compound division, a stage beyond which no woman was expected to advance +fifty years ago. Miss Lander did her best to explain the various +processes, but the sums, alas, were only too often wrong, and a +passionate outburst would succeed the announcement of failure. That +little episode of the chair was probably not unconnected with +arithmetic. She was keenly interested in astronomical lessons, and the +home-made orrery, which explained the relative position of sun, moon, +and planets, was a source of unfailing interest. The little fingers +fluttered over the planets and followed their movements with great +delight. + +An eager, intelligent child, with parents and teachers all anxious to +smoothe her way and remove difficulties, we need not wonder that youth +was a happy time for her: "the brightest and happiest of all the +children," she is said to have been. + +"The Principal's Lodgings," as the old-fashioned, rambling house in +High Street, Oxford, was called, has no garden whatever. The front door +opens into a dark hall; spacious cupboards to the right; to the left the +dining-room; in front of you passages, doors, and two difficult +staircases. There was no one, we are told, who had not fallen up or down +these dark winding stairs except Bessie. On the first floor to the +front, with five windows looking into High Street, is the drawing-room. +This was divided, and one part of it was converted into a schoolroom. +The Principal's study was on the same floor at the back of the house. +What is known as the north wing stretches back, and has two or three +small rooms which can easily be isolated. It was in them that Bessie was +nursed through scarlet fever. + +There is also a south wing with excellent kitchens and good servants' +rooms. + +On the second floor the space above the drawing-room and schoolroom was +occupied by Mrs. Gilbert's room and the two nurseries; whilst a large +bedroom at the back, away from the street and over the study, the spare +room, was that in which all the children saw the light, and from which +eleven of them successively emerged. The second and ninth were boys, and +there were nine daughters. A little girl died in 1834, and is buried in +the adjacent churchyard of St. Mary's. Bessie, who was eight years old, +was taken into the room to bid farewell to her sister Gertrude, and laid +her little hand upon her. She never forgot it; and would say in after +years in a low tone of awe: "She was so cold." The impression produced +on a sensitive organisation was so painful that she was never again +taken into the chamber of death. + +There is a large "flat" or leaden roof above this "spare" room over the +study, to which there is access from an adjacent passage; but this roof +is too dangerous a place for a playground, and the children had none in +or near the house. The south windows in the front look into High Street; +an east window high up in the nursery looks out upon St. Mary's; and all +the windows to the north at the back of the house look over walls, and +houses, and chimney pots, and brick and mortar. The children played at +home in ordinary times, but in the long vacation they played in the +quadrangle, a grassy, treeless enclosure, but a very garden of delight +to them. The favourite part of it was near the figures called "Cain and +Abel," long since removed, and long since known not to have represented +Cain and Abel, but to have been a copy of antique sculpture. There were +grand games of hide and seek around "Cain and Abel," in which Bessie +always joined. + +Sometimes the children dined in the College Hall during vacation, and +were joined after dinner in the quadrangle by their friends amongst the +Fellows of Brasenose, who all had a kind word for the little blind girl. +She was also a special favourite with the College servants, and led, as +it were, a charmed life, watched over by every one, and unconscious of +their care. + +All memory of vision seems to have faded from her before she left the +sick-room; but, taught by those around her, she soon began to take an +imaginary interest in colour, and a very real one in form and texture. +An old nurse is still alive who remembers making a pink frock for her +when she was a child, her delight at its being pink, and her pleasure in +stroking down the folds. In 1835 or 1836 the young Princess Victoria, +with her mother the Duchess of Kent, visited Oxford. Bessie was amongst +those who went to "see" them enter the city. Returning home she +exclaimed, "Oh, mamma, I have seen the Duchess of Kent, and she had on a +brown silk dress." The language is startling; but how else could the +blind child express the impression she had received except by saying "I +have seen." Throughout life she continued to say, "I have seen," and +throughout life the words continued to represent a reality as clear and +true to the blind as the facts of sight are to those who have eyes. + +Very early Bessie knew the songs of birds and delighted in them. Very +early also she learned to love flowers. She liked to have them +described, and to hear the minutest particulars about them. Nothing made +her so happy as to gather them for herself. There were fields near +Hincksey which the Gilberts called "The Happy Valley." Thither they +resorted in the spring with baskets to gather forget-me-nots, the +flowering rush, and other blossoms, which they prized highly. In all +these expeditions Bessie was happy, and a source of happiness to others. +The tender and reverent way in which she examined a flower, the little +fluttering fingers touching every petal and bruising none, was a lesson +never to be forgotten. + +Her youthful admiration of Wordsworth was chiefly based upon his love of +flowers, but also upon personal knowledge. When she was about ten years +old, Wordsworth went to Oxford to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L. +from the University. He stayed with the Principal, in that large spare +room we know of, and won Bessie's heart the first day by telling at the +dinner-table how he had almost leapt off the coach in Bagley Wood to +gather the little blue veronica. But she had a better reason for +remembering that visit. One day she was in the drawing-room alone, and +Wordsworth entered. For a moment he stood silent before the blind child. +The little sensitive face, with its wondering, inquiring look, turned +towards him. Then he gravely said, "Madam, I hope I do not disturb you." +She never forgot that "Madam," grave, solemn, almost reverential. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE DARK + + "Every morn and every night + Some are born to sweet delight, + Some are born to sweet delight, + Some are born to endless night."--BLAKE. + + +The Gilbert children had a very happy home. In Oxford they were +constantly under the eyes of parents who loved them tenderly, and loved +to have them at hand. The schoolroom was between drawing-room and study, +the nurseries adjacent to the parents' bedroom. + +Mrs. Gilbert, a very handsome, large-hearted, attractive woman, was +devoted to her husband, and gave him constant and loving care so long as +she lived. She dearly loved her children; but she thought, though +perhaps she was mistaken, that she liked boys better than girls; and she +had so few boys! Husband and children were all the world to her; she was +happy in their midst, full of plans for them, greatly preoccupied with +their future, and looked up to and beloved by all. + +Dr. Gilbert was a schoolfellow of De Quincey, and in his +_Confessions_[1] De Quincey thus speaks of him: "At this point, when the +cause of Grotius seemed desperate, G----[2] (a boy whom subsequently I +had reason to admire as equally courageous, truthful, and far-seeing) +suddenly changed the whole field of view." + +And again referring to his leaving school, De Quincey writes: "To three +inferior servants I found that I ought not to give less than one guinea +each; so much therefore I left in the hands of G----[2], the most +honourable and upright of boys." + +What weeks and months of anguish must have been passed by these parents, +when the bright little three-year-old child was struck down into +darkness, and the light of the "handsome black eyes" extinguished for +ever. She was smitten into the ranks of the blind; and of the blind +nearly sixty years ago, when their privation was a stigma, an +affliction, "a punishment sent by the Almighty;" when even good and +merciful people looked upon it as "rebellion" to endeavour to mitigate +and alleviate the lot of those who lived in the dark. Bessie's parents +did not and could not accept this view. They saw their child rise from +her bed of sickness unchanged, though grievously maimed; but she was the +same little Bessie who had been given to them bright and clever and +happy, and by God's grace they resolved that she should never lose her +appointed place in the family circle. From the very first they were, as +we have seen, advised to educate her with her sisters. This advice they +followed; and at the same time inquired in all directions as to the +methods and material and implements which might give special help to +their blind child. Packets of letters yellow with age, long paragraphs +copied from old newspapers by Mrs. Gilbert and sent to people living in +distant parts, accounts of apparatus, lists of inventions and +suggestions bear constant and touching tribute to the loving care of a +mother upon whose time and strength in that large young family there +must have been so many demands. The surviving members of the family do +not even remember by name many of those whose letters have been +preserved; letters now valuable, not in themselves, but as showing that +if Bessie Gilbert lived to do a great work on behalf of the blind, and +did it, undaunted by obstacles and difficulty that might well have +seemed beyond her strength, she did but inherit the strong will and +indomitable courage, the power of endurance and devotion which +characterised her parents. + +These letters throw much light upon the condition of the blind at the +beginning of this century. One packet is specially interesting as the +story of the successful effort of a person unknown, and without +influence, to effect an improvement in a public institution. It may, +probably it must, have been told in later years to Bessie herself; it +would encourage her, and may encourage others, to persevere in efforts +on behalf of those who are helpless and afflicted. + +Mrs. Wood, wife of the Rev. Peter Wood, Broadwater Rectory, Worthing, +was interested in the condition of the blind. She had visited +institutions in Zurich, in Paris, had heard of work being done on their +behalf in Edinburgh, and was acquainted with the condition of the School +for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, London. + +She wrote in 1831 to Mr. Henry V. Lynes, Mr. Gaussen, Mr. Dodd, Mr. +Pigou, Mr. Capel Cure, and other members of the Committee of the St. +George's Fields School, begging them to inquire into the methods for +teaching the blind to read, recently discovered, and at that time +attracting attention. With her letter she sent specimens of books and +other data to be submitted to the Committee. + +Mr. Gaussen, writing from the Temple, 12th March 1831, replies that he +will have much pleasure in forwarding her excellent views, and that Mr. +Vynes has secured the reference of her plan to the Committee; that it +will be well considered, but for his own part he is bound to express the +greatest doubt as to the result. He suggests that instead of teaching +the blind to read there should be more reading aloud to them, "so as to +stimulate their minds to more exertion, which in many cases is the +source of the kind treatment they meet with." + +A brother of the Secretary, Mr. Dodd, writes that he also will do what +he can, although he has heard that the benefit of the plan "is so +limited that quite as much good may be accomplished by teaching the +pupils to commit portions of Scripture to memory as by teaching them to +read." + +Mr. Vynes informs Mrs. Wood that he has, at her request, attended the +meeting of the Committee, that only two of the other gentlemen she had +written to were present, Mr. Pigou and Mr. Gaussen. "The latter is not +favourable to the plan, neither is Mr. Dodd, the Secretary." The +gentlemen present who spoke were all "well satisfied with the amount of +religious knowledge which their blind pupils already possess, so that I +much fear they will take little trouble to increase it." He refers to a +"rumour" that the "art of reading" has been introduced into the +Edinburgh School for the Blind, but adds that the "Meeting did not seem +inclined to give any credit to it;" and suggests that, if it is true, +Mrs. Wood might let them hear more about it, as he had secured a +reference of the whole matter to the consideration of the House +Committee. + +Now Mrs. Wood was nothing daunted by these successive splashes of cold +water. She wrote afresh to members of the Committee. She obtained facts +from Edinburgh, and she wisely limited her appeal to a petition that the +blind should be enabled to read the Scriptures for themselves. But +whether at that time she recognised the fact or not, there can be no +doubt that the whole question of what the blind could do _themselves_ +would be opened by this step, and must be decided. + +Mr. Vynes writes to her again on the 29th March, and it is interesting +to observe that a Committee in 1831 was very much the same sort of thing +that it is now. + + + Among the seven or eight gentlemen present I found Mr. Jackman, the + Chaplain of the Institution, being the first time I had ever the + pleasure of meeting him. Both Mr. Jackman and Mr. Dodd [the + Secretary] affirm that these poor blind pupils are already as well + instructed as it is possible they should be, under their afflicting + circumstances. They are correctly moral in their general conduct, + influenced by religious feelings and principles, with contented and + pious minds. Mr. Jackman mentioned as a proof that they do think + beyond the present moment, the average number who now participate + at every celebration of the Lord's Supper is one or two and twenty, + though formerly there had been but three or four. They can repeat a + large portion of the Psalms, not merely the singing Psalms, but + take the alternate verse of the reading version without requiring + any prompting. And all the pupils have a variety of the most + important texts strongly impressed upon their memories. Their + memories are generally good, and they assure me they are fully + exercised upon sound truths. These gentlemen are of opinion that + more is to be learned by the ear than ever can be acquired by the + fingers, and therefore see no advantage attending the new plan + which can at all compensate the trouble and expense of introducing + it. + + Two of the gentlemen present, Mr. Capel Cure and Mr. Meller, very + handsomely supported your view of the subject, and recommended a + trial to be made. At the same time they candidly confessed + themselves quite unable to point out the best way, or indeed any + way, to set about it; upon which the Committee very naturally threw + the burthen upon me, or, my dear madam, you must allow me to say, + rather upon you. I read to them the plan which you had sketched + out, which, however, the Committee do not think very practicable. + They will not seek out an idle linguist as you recommend; but if + you will bring a qualified man to their door, with all appliances + to boot--that is, all the books requisite for introducing the + system, then they will be ready to treat with him. And here the + matter rests for the present. + + +"Here" probably the Committee expected it to rest. But not so Mrs. Wood, +who reconsidered and amended her suggestion as to "an idle linguist." + +The next letter from Mr. Vynes, 15th April 1831, announces that Mr. Gall +of Edinburgh "has offered to come to London to put our Committee in more +complete possession of his plan, and to instruct some of our teachers +gratuitously." The Sub-committee recommended that this offer should be +accepted; the General Committee had resolved to adopt the +recommendation. "They have also very properly," he continues, "agreed to +reimburse Mr. Gall the expenses of his journey and of his necessary +residence in London. The account which Mr. Gall has given of his +invention is doubtless overcharged; it exhibits all the enthusiasm which +generally attends all new discoveries. His estimate of the expense is +somewhat vague. He requires very little _time_ to enable his poor blind +pupils to read and to write as correctly, and almost as quickly, as the +more fortunate poor who have the blessing of sight. However, if Mr. G. +does but accomplish one-half of what he has promised, our Committee will +be quite satisfied. + +"Thus far, then, I may congratulate you, my dear madam, on the +successful result of your active and persevering exertions." + +After this there is a long pause; and the next letter from Mr. Vynes is +dated Clapton, 24th August 1831. We can picture to ourselves the +feelings with which Mrs. Wood would read it in the far-off Broadwater +rectory. + + + DEAR MADAM--I have now the pleasure of returning to you the various + books and papers which you so kindly sent up for the inspection of + the Committee of our Blind School, and have to give you our best + thanks for the use of them. You will be pleased to hear this new + system of reading and writing is making some progress in the London + school. As a proof that the General Committee are satisfied, I will + report to you the results of their meeting on the 13th of this + month. They first voted fifty guineas to Mr. Gall as a compliment + for the service he has already done to the Institution. But when + Mr. G. was called in and acquainted with their vote, he at once, + respectfully, but very positively, declined to accept of any + remuneration for what he had done, saying his object was to + introduce the new system to serve the poor blind and not himself. + + The Committee then elected Mr. Gall as Honorary Member of the + Corporation, and requested the House Committee to find out (if + possible) something acceptable to Mrs. Gall, and empowered them to + present it to her. I mention all this in justice to Mr. Gall. It is + indeed highly creditable to him, for we are told that he is by no + means in affluent circumstances. Mr. Gall continues in almost daily + attendance at the school, and will remain some short time longer, + so anxious is he to establish his system permanently in this + school. On the female side he has already pretty well succeeded; + Miss Grove, the sub-matron, and also one of the blind inmates + having qualified themselves to become teachers. + + On the male side, Mr. G. has hitherto been baffled, and therefore + has asked the Committee for some extra aid. This matter is still + under consideration.... On the whole, then, I think I may now + venture to congratulate you, my dear madam, on the attainment of + the object you have so much at heart--that these poor blind shall + be enabled to read those oracles which will give them comfort in + this world and lead them to perfect happiness hereafter. + + +And thus cautiously and quietly, with the inevitable resistance of +officials to any change, and the caution of a Committee on their guard +against enthusiasm, and not sanguine as to results, an important change +was inaugurated. Henceforward the blind were no longer to be treated as +incurables in a hospital, capable of no instruction and able to do no +more than commit to memory moral precepts and religious truths. They +were to learn reading and writing, a door was set open that would never +again be closed. Education was shown to be possible, and work would +follow. + +In August 1832 Mrs. Gilbert received the copy of a letter written by Mr. +Edward Lang, teacher of mathematics, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, to a +Mr. Alexander Hay. Mr. Lang had invented a system of printing for the +use of the blind, with simplifications of letters and the introduction +of single signs for many "redundant sounds." He is in favour of these +modifications, and adds: + + + Were not the prejudice so strong in favour of ordinary spellings of + words, I would, had I been engaged in the formation of such an + alphabet, have innovated much more extensively. But words, like + men, must carry their genealogy, not their qualifications, on their + coats-of-arms; and though this arrangement conceals many + obliquities of descent, and more than many real characters, it must + be acquiesced in, since the law of prescription in this, as in many + other cases, prevents the exercise of reason. He concludes: Most + warmly do I recommend your whole system to the attention of all who + feel interested in the diffusion of knowledge; and I trust that its + advantages will soon be felt by those who were once consigned by + barbarous laws, or by dark superstition, to destruction or to + neglect, but who now are re-elevated to their own station through + the light of a milder and nobler humanity. + + +At the close of this year, 1832, a Mrs. Wingfield sent to Mrs. Gilbert a +newspaper paragraph giving an account of a meeting of the Managers of +the Blind Asylum, Edinburgh. After some routine business these managers +had proceeded to examine the "nature and efficiency" of the books lately +printed for the use of the blind. Some of the blind boys in the Asylum, +who had been using the books for "only a few weeks," picked out words +and letters and read "slowly but correctly." By repeated trials, and by +varying the exercises, the directors were of opinion that the art +promised to be of "the greatest practical utility to the blind." Mr. +Gall also stated that the apparatus for writing to and by the blind was +in a state of considerable forwardness. This paragraph Mrs. Gilbert +copied and sent, on the 10th of January 1833, to her father's cousin, +Mr. J. Wintle of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who had, as she learnt, a friend +in Edinburgh. To this friend, Mr. Ellis, application was duly made, and +he set about instituting inquiries which resulted, on the 13th of April +1833, in the despatch of a portentous epistle, such a letter as at that +time was considered worthy of heavy postage. He had obtained for Mr. +Wintle every possible scrap of information on the subject in question. +Letters follow from him direct to Mrs. Gilbert, and on the 2d of +November 1833 Mr. Ellis "presents his compliments, and, after many +delays, is happy in being able at last to forward the articles he was +commissioned to procure for Mrs. Gilbert's little girl." + +The following list shows how much had been done in two years:-- + +1. Gall's First Book. Three other Lesson Books and the Gospel of St. +John. + +2. Hay's Alphabet and Lessons (Mr. Lang's friend), with outline sketch +of Map. + +3. The string alphabet, with a printed statement of its invention and +use. + +4. Seven brass types constructed on the principles of the string +alphabet. + +5. Several packets of metallic pieces representing the notes in music. + +Another letter preserved by Mrs. Gilbert was from a Mr. Richardson, of +11 Lothian Street, Edinburgh, to her uncle, Mr. Morrell, at that time +staying in Edinburgh, dated 14th January 1837. It gives an account of +the globes, maps, boards, etc., in use in the Edinburgh Asylum, and +shows what rapid advance has been made since the little boys were +examined by the managers in 1833. + +Mrs. Gilbert would learn not so much from the account of the things +done, as the manner of doing them; from the explanation of the method of +adapting ordinary maps and globes to the use of the blind, and of +employing gum and sand and string and pieces of cork; the little holes +in the map instead of the names of cities, and the movable pegs. All +these hints were very valuable to her; and every one of them was turned +to good account in the schoolroom at Oxford. + +In 1839 Mr. J. Wintle sends raised books from London. In 1840 he has +gone, out of health, on a visit to his friend Mr. Ellis, Inverleith Row, +Edinburgh. One of his first visits was to the Edinburgh Asylum, and he +writes an account of it to Mrs. Gilbert, "in the hope of being useful to +your daughter Bessie." He promises further information from Glasgow, +which is, so he learns, "the fountain-head of all works for the blind, +save those published in America," and he announces a copy of the New +Testament as almost ready, price L2: 2s. It was ultimately procured by +Mrs. Gilbert and presented to Bessie. + +And now we may lay aside the time-worn, yellow paper, the large and +copious letters, the anxious inquiries and the willing replies. They +did not, however, end at this period, they went on throughout the whole +life of these good parents. There was no new invention, no new system +into which they did not at once inquire, nothing that could be procured +which they did not obtain for their child. + +But they never swerved from their original intention to educate Bessie +at home in the schoolroom with her sisters. The apparatus which replaced +pen and pencil and slate might differ, as slate differs from paper. She +had to put her fingers on the globe upon which her sisters cast their +eyes, and to feel the movements of the planets around the sun, in the +orrery which gave her so much pleasure; but her lessons were given and +learnt at the same time, and she lost none of the happiness and +stimulating effect of companionship in work and play. + +There can be no doubt that she was influenced throughout life by her own +early training, which had made it impossible for her to believe in the +numerous so-called "disabilities" of the blind. Some of her friends +thought that she had not an adequate notion of what these really were. +Perhaps those who are born blind, or who have lost sight at so early an +age that no memory of it remains, do not adequately realise their +privation. Sight is to them a "fourth dimension," a something that it is +absolutely impossible to realise. They can talk about it, but it is +impossible for them to understand it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_, pp. 48 and 73, by Thomas de +Quincey. Edinburgh, 1862. + +[2] Gilbert. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LITTLE BLOSSOM + + "What, were ye born to be + An hour or half's delight, + And so to bid good-night?"--HERRICK. + + +Mr. Wintle gave his little grand-daughter a new name after her loss of +sight. He called her "Little Blossom." She was never to develop into +flower or fruit, he said, on account of her great affliction, and the +limitations that it must entail. Miss Trotwood may have had a similar +theory as to David Copperfield's Dora, but these were days before +Dickens had written of Little Blossom. The theory was by no means +adopted by Bessie's parents; and the name of Blossom was used by Mr. +Wintle only. + +Dr. Kynaston, in lines addressed "to Bessie," in 1835, tells how his +"soul" reproved + + + "That friend, as once I heard him say, + Oh, may it please Almighty God + To take that child away!" + + +We do not know who "that friend" was, who prayed for the removal, at +nine years old, of a singularly happy and engaging child; but the +prayer is indicative of the condition of the blind, the probable outlook +for the child, and the point of view from which blindness was regarded +even by people of culture and means. If such a one could pray for the +death of a blind child, what would the poor do? + +Despite the "Blossom" theory, or perhaps because of it, Bessie was a +great favourite with her grandfather. He liked to have her with him at +Culham Vicarage. She often stayed there for weeks together, and would +learn more about flowers and birds than she could do in Oxford. There +was also a delightful companion and friend at Culham, the black pony, +Toby. Bessie was a fearless little rider, and delighted in a gallop +round the field. But Mr. Wintle would not trust her alone with Toby, and +there was always a servant to walk or run by his side. The grandfather +makes an entry in his diary as to Bessie's first ride, and adds that he +"was much pleased with Blossom." + +It was at Culham that she was introduced to _Robinson Crusoe_. Mr. +Wintle gave it to the servant who was to walk out with her, and who read +aloud as she walked. Bessie was deeply interested, and would allow of no +pause in the reading: "She kept her going all the time:" says a sister. +Sometimes there were three or four little girls at Culham, and then in +the evening, grandpapa read aloud to them James's _Naval History_. It +was very little to their taste, and all but one paid little attention, +or if attending, could remember or understand but little. When, however, +the reading was ended, and grandpapa began to ask questions, it was +Bessie who knew how the vessels were manned and rigged, the complement +of men and guns, and all the details connected with the fitting out of a +man-of-war. And again Mr. Wintle had good reason to be "much pleased +with Blossom." + +The little girl learnt needlework with her sisters. She could hem and +sew, but never liked doing either. A very neatly hemmed duster, done +before she was ten years old, and presented to an aunt, is still +preserved in the family. Knitting and crochet she liked better, and a +knitted purse in bands of very bright colours has been kept unused by +the friend to whom she gave it as a child. Her favourite occupation of +this kind was the making of slender watch chains with fine silk on a +little ivory frame. All her friends will remember these chains, which in +many cases were an annual present. + +But needlework of any kind was always "against the grain." She liked any +other occupation better. + +Perhaps the chief characteristic of early youth was her love of poetry +and music. Wordsworth's poems, especially those that referred to +flowers; Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hemans, these were her favourites. A sister +says she cannot remember the time when Bessie was not in the habit of +sitting down to the piano to improvise. She set Mary Howitt's "Sea Gull" +to her own music before she was twelve years old. It was published at +the time of the Irish famine, and realised L20, which she gave to the +Famine Fund. + +Bessie's first music-mistress was the widow of an organist in Oxford, +but when her talent for music was more pronounced she had lessons from +Dr. Elvey, the brother of Sir George Elvey. Whilst she was learning a +new piece, a sister would sit by her side and read the notes aloud. She +quickly discovered if a single one had been omitted; and, as with +_Robinson Crusoe_, she kept her reader "going all the time." But her +enthusiasm and pleasure kindled the interest of those who certainly had +a dry part of the work. + +Bessie was not the only blind child in Oxford. Dr. Hampden, afterwards +Bishop of Hereford, had two blind daughters. The three blind children +used often to meet and walk together; but Bessie preferred the +companionship of the merry girls at home, in whose games she always +shared. She did not bowl a hoop, however, and in formal walks she was +the companion of the governess. + +Children's parties in Oxford were a source of much pleasure; she danced +with girls, she was very fond of dancing, but seldom with boys. She +wanted a little guiding, and the boys were possibly too shy to undertake +this; certainly very few of them were disposed to try. + +Bessie's birthday was, for the Gilbert children, the festival of the +year. This was owing partly to the fact that it fell in August, during +the long vacation, the time associated with out-door games in the grassy +quadrangle, whispered conferences near the mysterious and awe-inspiring +Cain and Abel, with dinners in the Hall and visits in the schoolroom +from friendly dons. There were three birthdays in August: a younger +sister and a brother were also born in that month; all three were +celebrated on the 7th, and Bessie was the "lady of the day." There was +always a water party to Nuneham in the house-boat or the barge. On +landing, the children would run to the top of a grassy slope and then +slide and roll down the slippery grass. Bessie joined in this game with +keen delight, untroubled by the silent watchfulness of a father, ever +alert to protect her from danger, and ever anxious that she should be +ignorant of special precautions on her behalf. + +Dr. Kynaston, "High Master of St. Paul's," and former Philological +Lecturer of Christ Church, Oxford, was nearly always included in the +birthday party, and was very fond of Bessie. When she was a very little +child she was leaning far out of the window of the boat so as to put her +hands in the water, and her father was alarmed. "I am holding her tight +by the frock," said Dr. Kynaston. "Yes," replied the father, "but I must +have something more solid than that held by." + +Of all these birthday parties, the most memorable to the blind child was +that on which she was ten years old. The day was fine, every one was +very good to her. Her special favourites, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. Bazely +(father of Mr. Henry Bazely, of whom a short biography has recently +appeared), were both present. A vase with a bouquet of the flowers she +loved, mignonette, heliotrope, roses, geraniums, was presented to her. +All her life she treasured those dried flowers and the little vase. But +the thing that made this birthday memorable was that not only her music +but her poems were beginning to receive consideration, and one written +at this time was considered worthy of being copied and sent to her +godmother, Miss Hales. A copy in her mother's writing is still extant, +and may be read with interest: + + + LINES WRITTEN AT TEN YEARS OLD. + + When morning appears, and night melts away, + Then comes the bright, dull, or enlivening day; + The dewdrops like pearls on the flowers are shining, + But the sunbeams to dry them are quickly inclining. + The sun now red peeps through the trees, + And now there springs up a freshening breeze. + The flowers which are by the sunbeams extended, + Droop no more o'er their green stalks bended. + All is cheerful and gay, at the dawn of the day, + And March's high winds are flying away. + A shower of rain now darkens the skies, + A few people begin to open their eyes; + It is early, 'tis dawn, 'tis the dawn of the day, + And the darkness of night is fast gliding away. + + +The child's verses are neither better nor worse than those of many a +little versifier of her age, but they are remarkable because they are +obviously untouched by elders, who could so easily have corrected rhythm +and metre; they are genuine, and they are written by a child who had +apparently forgotten that she had ever seen the light. She had learnt to +love it for some occult and mysterious reason which she could not +explain, perhaps for the physical effect which light exercises upon the +human organism. She loved light, she loved nature, and from early +childhood she loved beautiful scenery. Dreams were always a source of +delight to her, and her dreams were a feature in her life. She would say +that she constantly dreamt about beautiful landscapes. Did some memory +of sight revisit her in dreams? "There were beautiful intuitions in her +music," we are told. Had she "beautiful intuitions" as to sight? Had +she, in her dreams, visions of the scenes that passed before her in +those three first years of which she retained not the slightest +recollection in her waking hours? Beautiful scenery gave her pleasure; +there was always a response to any description of it. Once when a sister +was describing mountains she said: "I don't want to know how high they +are, how many hours it takes to climb them, and what they are made of. I +want you to tell me if they make you afraid, if they make you happy, +or," drawing herself up, "if they give you a kind of a proud feeling." + +In the April before this tenth birthday she had attempted to express in +verse her feeling as to the light; and on this day three sonnets were +addressed to her by Dr. Kynaston. + +What little girl would not be proud of such homage from a "High Master +of St. Paul's," and so dear a friend? + +The sonnets appear in _Miscellaneous Poetry_, by Rev. Herbert Kynaston, +M.A.,[3] and two of them are here given:-- + + + TO BESSIE ON HER BIRTHDAY. + + And art thou ten years old? one half the time + Is spent--oh say, thou heavenly-gifted child, + How hast thou, then, those weary years beguiled-- + That fills thy budding years to woman's prime. + Thou stand'st midway, as on a height sublime, + Sweet record here, sweet promise there as mild + Of childish days, of girlhood undefiled, + To lure thee on; heaven help thee now to climb + With fairest hope, as erst, the onward part + Of life's sad upland course that still is thine! + Had I one wish, fresh gathered from the heart, + To hang with votive sweets at friendship's shrine, + I'd pray--and yet, methinks, if thou wert mine, + I would not have thee other than thou art. + + + THE SAME SUBJECT. + + Forgive the thought, but I have learnt to love + What others deem privation; I have seen + How more than recompensed thy loss has been, + Dear gentle child! by Him who from above + Guides thy dark steps; and I have yearned to prove + The blessed influence, the joy serene, + The store of heavenly peace, that thou dost glean + From angels' steps, unseen, who round thee move. + Yea, I have owed thee much; thou art a thing + For sharpest grief to gather round, and grow + To mellowness; where sorrow loves to cling, + And tune to gospel strains the tears that flow + In harshest discord, sullen murmuring, + That will not learn the blessedness of woe. + + +In this same year, 1836, Bessie took her first long journey away from +home. Her father and mother had arranged to pay visits to some old +friends, and they took with them the two eldest girls, Mary and Bessie. +They stayed with the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Kaye, with an old college +friend, Mr. Stephens, at Belgrave, Leicester, and with several other old +college friends of the Principal's. They visited Matlock; and on her +return Bessie described to the younger sisters the excitement of going +into the caves, of crossing the Styx, and of listening to the blasting +of rocks. It is recorded of her at this time that she never hesitated or +shrank from anything required of her. She sat down in the boat, or stood +up, or bent her head just as she was told to do. The loving care of the +parents was not in vain, they saw their blind child fearless and happy, +and well able to take the place due to her as second daughter. It is +recorded that at Liverpool she was present for the first time at a +really good concert, and that the music she then heard was a great +stimulus to her, as well as a keen delight. + +Dr. Gilbert preached at Liverpool, and from Liverpool they went to +Stockport. In the church at the latter place there was a brass band, the +sudden braying of which was a shock to her nerves which Bessie never +forgot. She was too young to dine or spend much time downstairs in the +houses where they stayed, but she always remembered the kindness with +which she was treated in schoolrooms and nurseries, and looked back upon +these early visits with great pleasure. + +The family hurried back to Oxford on account of the unexpected death of +Dr. Rowley before his term of office had expired, and Dr. Gilbert at +once entered upon the duties of Vice-Chancellor of the University. + +Many little incidents connected with her father's tenure of office were +a source of amusement to Bessie throughout life. + +The University marshal made daily reports to the Vice-Chancellor, and +informed him of any disturbance. One morning he stated that he had found +two men fighting near Wadham College and separated them. Some time +afterwards he came upon them in another place and did not interfere. +"And pray, why not?" asked the Vice-Chancellor. "Well, sir, you see, +they were very comfortably at it." + +This story was repeated at the breakfast table and made a great +impression upon Bessie. She told it and laughed over it throughout life. +If she was seated near a table when telling it, she would push herself +away with her two hands as if she wanted more room to laugh, a way she +had when very much amused. + +It was also about the same time that the butler, standing one day by the +open door, saw a freshman pursued by the proctor coming at full speed +down the street. Seeing the open door the young man darted in, and +rushed up the staircase. Silence for a few moments, and then peeping +over the banisters the youth said in an urgent whisper, "Is he gone, is +he gone?" + +Now, the humour of the situation was that whilst he was so eager to +escape from the proctor, nothing but a thin partition separated him from +the Vice-Chancellor in his study. + +We can picture to ourselves the butler's "Do you wish to see the +Vice-Chancellor, sir?" and the hasty exit! + +Meanwhile the child Bessie returned to her poems, her songs, her +improvisings at the piano, to lessons in the schoolroom, to that +terrible frame and the leaden type and raised figures, and the sums +which would not "come right"; to the brothers and sisters and the happy +home life. But she too had seen something of the great world lying on +the outside of Oxford, and could refer back to "my visit to the North." + +An old friend of the family remembers the first sight of Bessie as a +girl of about twelve years old. She was in the Magdalen Gardens with a +nurse and the little brother Tom, the youngest boy, of whom she was +always very fond. She was standing apart on the grass; standing +peaceful, motionless, with a sweet still face, and all the sad +suggestion of the large darkened glasses that encased her eyes. The +little boy picked daisies and took them to her and showed her the gold +in the centre. She smiled as she took them, and her slender fingers +fluttered about them. And the children, the flowers, the sunlight, and +those beautiful gardens in the early summer, made a picture in which +this friend always loved to enshrine her memory of "Little Blossom." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Published by B. Fellowes, Ludgate Street, 1841. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHAT THE PROPHETESS FORESAW + + "Cette loi sainte, il faut s'y conformer + Et la voici, toute ame y peut atteindre: + Ne rien hair, mon enfant; tout aimer + Ou tout plaindre."--VICTOR HUGO. + + +The early summer of 1838 was spent by the Vice-Chancellor and his family +at Malvern. Bessie greatly enjoyed long walks on the hills, but either +from over fatigue, or because the air was too keen for her, she began to +suffer at that time from what she always spoke of as "my long headache." +It was a headache that lasted many months and caused the parents almost +as much suffering as the child. On their return to Oxford the family +doctor was called in and promptly applied a blister to the back of the +ears. + +The blister did no good; the child was often quite prostrate with pain, +probably neuralgia, but the doctor was a man of resource. The diary of +Mrs. Gilbert is instructive as to the treatment of such a case fifty +years ago. The entry "Gave Bessie two grains of calomel," begins in +August and is continued at short intervals throughout the month. +"Blisters behind the ears, to be kept open," are added to the calomel in +September. In October we have reached the more advanced stage of calomel +blisters, black draught (to be sipped, poor child), and leeches. The +treatment was continued, with additions, throughout November, and on the +21st of December Mrs. Gilbert makes the not very surprising entry, +"Bessie was worse this evening." + +The parents were by this time alarmed; and the doctor acknowledged that +he could do no more. Casting about for help, they bethought them of the +physician whom they had seen in London some years previously, of his +tenderness and sympathy. + +The rough draft of a letter written to him by Mrs. Gilbert still remains +to testify to the grave consideration given by the parents to the +adequate statement of the case, to their endeavour to recall it to his +mind and to their acknowledgment of his previous kindness and courtesy. +One point in their letter may be mentioned. "She is very fond of, and +has good talents for music," writes the mother, "but her pain is so much +increased by it that her music has had to be discontinued." + +Poor little girl! No privation could be greater. + +Of the answer sent by Dr. Farre there is no trace. But all drugs +disappear from the records, and there is an account of "veratrine +ointment," "a preparation of Hellebore known to Hippocrates," sent down +from London, and needing so much care in the application that the +Oxford doctor himself came every night to rub it on the child's brow. + +Early in 1839 she had quite recovered not only from the headache but +from the effects of the remedies. + +The music lessons were resumed, and before long she began the study of +the harp. A younger sister remembers sitting by her to teach the pieces +note by note. Bessie found it also very easy to play by ear and learnt +much in this way; but the harp was a difficult instrument, and the +management of it always fatigued her. + +During her childhood, Cardinal, then the Rev. J. H. Newman was incumbent +of St. Mary's, the church close to the house in High Street, and that +which the family attended. Even up to the last days of her life Bessie +used to say that she could not listen to a chapter in Isaiah, especially +any of those read in Advent, without hearing the sound of his voice. + +Cardinal Newman mentions in his _Apologia_ that, on account of his +doctrine and teaching, the Vice-Chancellor threatened no longer to allow +his children to attend St. Mary's. But the children knew nothing of the +proposed prohibition.[4] + +Augustus Short, afterwards Bishop of Adelaide, was one of Mr. Wintle's +curates at Culham. He remembers Bessie as a child, and visited her for +the last time when he was in England in 1884. Mr. Coxe, the late +Librarian of the Bodleian, was another of the Culham curates, the friend +of a lifetime, whose farewell letter to Bessie was written shortly +before his own death in 1881. He lived in Oxford, and went over to +Culham every Sunday. At first he was accompanied by his young wife, but +Mrs. Coxe was speedily overtaken by the cares of a family and could not +go with him. Mrs. Gilbert, with her warm, kind heart, took pity upon the +lonely wife, and invited her to spend the Sundays with them. In this way +she saw much of the _sisterhood_, the pretty name by which the eight +girls were known. + +They generally walked out on Sunday afternoons, and when they reached a +certain spot in Christ Church Meadows, Bessie would stop and say, "Here +you have the best view of Christ Church Towers." Other friends of this +and later times were Bishop Gray of Cape Town, Bishop Mackenzie, and Dr. +Barnes, Canon of Christ Church. The Provost of Oriel, Dr. Hawkins, and +Dr. Gilbert were great friends, and it was possibly on this account that +Bessie was a special favourite with the Provost. Mrs. Gilbert's uncle, +Mr. Wintle, was a fellow of St. John's. He was a wealthy bachelor, had a +fine voice, sang well, and was very fond of the society of his +great-nieces. The Gilberts were acquainted with nearly all the families +of the heads of colleges in Oxford, and the handsome, clever little +girls were favourites and were "made much of." When there was a dinner +party at home they came in to dessert, and accompanied the ladies to the +drawing-room, where Bessie would play and sing. She lived thus not +merely in a world of ideas, but in the external world of facts, of +things. When a friend once spoke of another lady as handsome, Bessie +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. ----, with such a nose!" + +Many of the fellows of Brasenose College were frequent visitors at the +Vice-Chancellor's Lodgings, and the old friends, Dr. Kynaston and Mr. +Bazely, were constant as ever. They joined the girls in their walks, and +paid frequent visits to the schoolroom, where the younger ones would +hide their caps to prevent them from leaving. + +Bessie used to delight in these visits, and looked back upon them as the +very sunshine of life at Oxford. Her poetry and music gained her much +sympathy. At this time, when she was about fourteen, she wrote a poem on +the violet which was much praised. At fifteen her intellectual activity +was the most remarkable point in her character, whilst at the same time +there was an equally remarkable absence of that rebellion against +authority which marks an epoch in so many young lives. Boys and girls of +that age begin to fret against the restrictions of childhood and youth; +they endeavour to cast aside laws and restraints; they are eager to +"live their own life" and to enjoy a freedom which they are all unfit to +use. Bessie knew nothing of this, or rather, she knew it in a very +modified, even attenuated form. The one extravagant desire which marked +her adolescence, was to be allowed the privilege of pouring out tea! + +It was urged in vain that she would not know if cups were full or half +full, that she could not give to each one what they wanted of tea or +water, milk or sugar. Her reply was always the same, she would know by +the weight. The decision of the parents, however, went against her, and +she had her one small grievance. She did not "take turns" in making tea. + +In the summer of 1841 Bessie, with a sister of nearly her own age, and +one of the little ones, went on a long visit to Culham. They took the +harp with them and practised diligently. They read history together. +Bessie gave daily lessons to her young sister, reading with her Scott's +_Tales of a Grandfather_, and teaching the child to love them as she +herself did. Whenever she had charge of a younger sister, poetry entered +largely into her scheme of education, and the "little sister" still +remembers the Scott, Wordsworth, and Mrs. Hemans, "Hymns for Childhood" +which she learnt at this time. + +Bessie loved romantic ballads and stories. She was more imaginative than +any of "the others;" and "the others" thought that the loss of sight +acted upon her like the want of a drag upon a wheel, when the coach goes +down hill. During this visit Bessie had such a constant craving and +eager desire for books, that even in their walks she induced her sister +to read aloud. They thus read Southey's _Curse of Kehama_, and she was +so much excited by it that somewhat to the alarm of younger persons she +went about repeating aloud "the words of that awful curse." + +There were plenty of books at Culham. Mr. Wintle interdicted two or +three, but amongst the rest his grandchildren were at liberty to select. +They picked out all that promised to be "most exciting," and this free +pasture made the visit memorable. Bessie was still "Blossom" to her +grandfather, a Blossom that he admired and loved, but Blossom only. +Never was a Blossom whose words and deeds have been treasured in such +loving hearts. + +"We looked upon her as a sort of prophetess;" and this view was +confirmed by incidents that occurred in 1842. The sisters were walking +together, and first one and then another suggested strange things that +might happen. "Why, who knows," said Bessie, "in less than a month our +house may be burnt down and we may be living in a palace!" Now within a +month it is recorded that a rocket let off in the street, and badly +aimed, went through the windows of the nursery in which several children +were asleep. The governess happened to be in the room, and with great +presence of mind seized the rocket and threw it back into the street. +Now here was at any rate the possibility of a fire. Still more +impressive was the fact that within the month Dr. Gilbert was appointed +to the See of Chichester. They would really live in a palace. + +Much excitement and no little awe in the nursery, not so much because +the father was a bishop as because Bessie was a prophetess. The bishop +would be comparatively innocuous in the nursery, but who could tell what +a prophetess might foresee! + +And so the pleasant Oxford life came to an end; and in spite of a +prospective palace, the _sisterhood_ thought the change a calamity. +Bessie specially disliked leaving her old friends, and her regret at +parting from them did not diminish but increased with time. Doubtless in +later years the inevitable restraint of her life lent an additional +charm to the memory of her youth in Oxford. The constant solicitude of +parents, friends, and sisters had kept from her in early days the +knowledge of limitations; but in the time that was at hand she was to go +forth to face the world and to learn more of the meaning of the +mysterious word blind. Canon Melville, who knew her in Oxford, writes to +one of her sisters as follows:-- + + + THE COLLEGE, WORCESTER, 1885. + + I have a very clear memory of the person and character of your + sister Bessie; it is a pleasure to me to recall them. + + The natural gifts and graces of her mind and disposition were only + heightened by the loss of her eyesight. That wonderful compensating + power which often makes amends for loss of faculty in one sense by + corresponding intensity in another, her moral and spiritual + sensitiveness with that inward joyfulness recording itself in + outward expression of a pleased and happy countenance, were + remarkably evident. Out of many little traits indicative of this + and her quiet intuition of what favourably or otherwise might + strike her moral sense, I remember once when the appearance of some + one she personally, for some unknown reason, disliked, was being + remarked upon, and I had pronounced my admiration of it, she turned + quite gravely to me, and with deep earnestness, as if she was then + seeing or had recently seen the form and figure of him of whom we + were talking, exclaimed, "Oh, Mr. Melville, I cannot agree with + you! How can you admire him!" Something that had jarred with her + moral perceptions having made her transfer her judgment on the + character to the form and features of the person, as though she had + seen the analogy she felt there must be between the outward and the + inward. + + Of the history of her self-devotion to the personal and industrial + improvement of those under like affliction with herself her whole + life was an illustration. Of that many must have much to tell. + + +During the removal from Oxford the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert were in +London with two daughters, of whom Bessie was one; Fanny and the younger +ones were left under the charge of the faithful governess, Miss Lander, +and in bright and copious epistles they inform Bessie of all that is +going on in the old home. They tell how they had heard Adelaide Kemble +in Oxford, whom Bessie is shortly to hear at Covent Garden; how they met +many friends at the concert; how one gentleman told them that Adelaide +Kemble sang better than Catalani; and how three who had not heard +Catalani said she was equal to Grisi. How some of the "Fellows" went +home to supper with them, and how they all stayed up till twelve +o'clock, a great event for the little girls and their governess, who +all send "love and duty to papa and mamma." + +There is another letter to Bessie, still in London, though the parents +have returned to Oxford, which gives a happy picture of last days there. +Bessie sends as farewell presents some of the little chains which she +makes, and the sisters sew them together for her. The father receives a +farewell presentation of plate, the elder girls darn rents in the gowns +of their friends, the Fellows of Brasenose, and so on it runs:-- + + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I write to you now in a great hurry to tell you to + send Mr. Melville's chain to-morrow by Mr. ----, as I expect we + shall see him some time to-morrow, and I could sew it for him. I + sent the mat on Tuesday, and when he came to tea in the evening he + said he must come to thank you for it to-day; but as I told him he + would not be able to see Sarah and Henrietta after this week, he + seemed to say that he should wait till next week to see you, which + I hope you will think quite fair. The plate was presented to papa + yesterday. The address was short, but a very nice one, and I + suspect chiefly written by Mr. ----. Papa's answer I have not seen, + as he had only one copy, which he left with the Vice-Principal. We + were none of us there, which I am almost sorry for, although it + would very likely have been too much for us. Papa is delighted + beyond measure with it.... We went last night to drink tea at + aunt's, and then went to sleep at the Barnes's. We are going to + dinner there to-night and sleep, for there is not a bed here. The + glasses and all the pictures are gone, and that has made the house + more deplorable than ever. Miss A. is here now, and seems pretty + well. You know that Mary and I have been mending Mr. A.'s gown for + him. + + He came this morning for it and stayed some time. He said he could + not have got it done anywhere else so nicely; that is a long darn + that Mary did for him. The B.'s have told Mr. W. that they will + keep their acquaintance with him for our sakes, so that he will not + be quite deserted; are not you glad of it? Will you ask Miss Lander + to send word where she left her Punch and Judy? If she doesn't + remember, I daresay it will be found; but we have not seen it. + There is a chance, I believe, of Mr. A.'s taking Selham, but you + must not say anything about it. All send love to + everybody.--Believe me to be your affectionate sister, F. H. L. G. + + +Whilst the parents were in London this year, Bessie paid one visit which +produced a great and lasting effect upon her. She accompanied her mother +to the blind school in the Avenue Road; and this seems to have been the +first time that the blind, as a class of the community, apart from the +majority, and separated by a great loss and privation, came under her +notice. The experience could not fail to be painful. She contrasted the +lot of these young people with her own in her happy home, and shrank +back in pain from institutions in which the afflicted are herded +together, the one common bond that of the fetters of a hopeless fate. +The matron of the girls' school, afterwards Mrs. Levy, remembers this +visit, and says the impression produced on her by the bishop's daughter +was that she was "delightful, beautiful, full of sympathy for the +blind." She remembers also that the Bishop preached in Marylebone Church +in aid of the blind school, taking as his text words that must often +have comforted and strengthened his own heart, "Who hath made the blind +and deaf, but I the Lord?" + +This year, 1842, was altogether a memorable one. Bessie's grandfather, +as a young man, had a living or curacy at Acton, where his chief friend, +the squire of the parish, was a Mr. Wegg. Another friend of whom he saw +much at this time was Mr. Bathurst, afterwards General Sir James +Bathurst, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington. A third was Miss +Hales, companion and friend of Mrs. Wegg. The Gilberts and the Bathursts +were Miss Hales's dearest friends; and she had a god-daughter in each +family, they were Catherine, younger daughter of Sir James Bathurst, and +Bessie, the blind grand-daughter of Mr. Wintle. Mrs. Gilbert always +corresponded with Miss Hales, sent her copies of Bessie's verses, and +information as to the health and progress of the child. Miss Hales died +in 1842, and by will divided her fortune between her two god-daughters. + +Bessie was thus placed in a different position from that of any of her +sisters; she alone when she attained her majority would have an +independent income during her father's lifetime. The Bishop was relieved +from anxiety as to the future of his blind daughter, and the necessity +of ample provision for her; but he felt strongly, and wished her also to +feel, that the possession of money brings with it duties and +responsibilities. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] "Added to this the authorities of the University, the appointed +guardians of those who form great part of the attendants on my sermons, +have shown a dislike to my preaching. One dissuades men from coming, the +late Vice-Chancellor threatens to take his own children away from the +church."--_Apologia pro Vita Sua_, p. 133. John Henry Newman, D.D. +Longmans, 1879. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PALACE GARDEN + + "Joy and woe are woven fine, + A clothing for the soul divine."--BLAKE. + + +By the autumn of 1842 the removal from Oxford to Chichester had been +accomplished. The Bishop and his family were installed in the palace, +which was to be their home for twenty-eight years. A new life was +beginning for Bessie, and one which, when the inevitable pain of parting +from old friends was over, she learnt to love very dearly. She had a +keen imaginative delight in the beauties of nature. She loved to hear of +clouds and sunset; of sunrise and the dawn, of green fields, of hills +and valleys. She loved the outer air, flowers, and the song of birds; +and she had passed the first sixteen years of her life in a house in the +High Street, Oxford. She was very proud of the architectural beauty of +Oxford, and always thought it a distinction to belong to Oxford; but her +whole heart was soon in the home at Chichester. + +The Bishop's palace has a beautiful old-fashioned garden, of which the +city wall forms the west and part of the southern boundary. A sloping +mound leads from the garden to within a few feet of the top of the wall, +and there is a green walk around the summit. There are grassy plots, +umbrageous trees, flowering shrubs, roses, roses everywhere; and there +are birds that sing all the long day in the spring-time. The black-cap +was a special favourite of Bessie's and of the Bishop's. A garden door +in the palace opens upon a straight gravel walk, with a southern aspect, +leading towards the western boundary wall. On the southern side of the +walk lies the garden, on the north a bank of lilacs, laburnums, and +shrubs. Here Bessie could walk alone; she needed no companion, no guide. +It was a new pleasure to her, and one of which she never grew weary. The +song of birds, the hum of insects, the rustle of the trees, all made the +garden a fairy palace of delight. A sister remembers how one summer +morning at three o'clock she found Bessie standing at her bedside +begging her to get up and dress, and go with her to the garden "to hear +the birds waking up." Her father always gave a shilling to whoever saw +the first swallow, and Bessie was delighted when the shilling had been +earned. + +The hall of the palace is a confusing place; there are many doors, +passages, rooms opening into and leading from it There was always a +moment of hesitation before Bessie opened the garden door or found the +turning which she wanted; but she quickly accommodated herself to all +other eccentricities in one of the most puzzling of old-fashioned +houses. + +She spent less time in the schoolroom at Chichester than she had done at +Oxford; she was indeed soon emancipated from the schoolroom altogether. +She was much with her mother in the pleasant morning-room adjoining the +bed and dressing rooms used by her parents. A steep spiral staircase, +without a rail of any kind, with half a stair cut away at intervals for +convenience of access to a cupboard or a small room, led from her +father's dressing-room to rooms above. One of these with a western +window so darkened by trees that no sunlight and very little daylight +entered, was assigned to Bessie and one sister, whilst another sister +was close at hand in another small room. The Bishop made a window to the +south in Bessie's room, which greatly improved it, admitting light and +air and all the sweet garden sounds and scents. The drawing-room is on +the first floor near the morning-room. You ascend to it by a few broad +stairs. A passage on the same floor leads to the private chapel attached +to the palace, where Bessie knelt daily in prayer. The dining-room on +the ground floor, the best room in the house, with its oak panels and +fine painted ceiling, was a great pleasure to her. Some years later, +when her work made it necessary that she should have a private +sitting-room, two rooms were assigned to her in the centre of the house, +one of which had been the schoolroom. Access to these is gained by a +long passage barely high enough to allow a full-grown person to stand +erect at the highest part, near the bedroom door; and sloping on the +other side to the floor and outer wall of the palace. Windows in the +steep roof look north into West Street. Bessie's rooms were close to the +angle formed by the centre and west wing of the palace, and had windows +facing south. + +Up and down the narrow steep stairs and along the passages to the +drawing-room, the morning-room, the dining-room, the chapel, the fragile +form of the blind girl was seen to pass with unerring accuracy. She +never stumbled or fell at Chichester any more than she had done at +Oxford. Indeed, Oxford was useful throughout life, as no difficulties +could be greater than those she had learnt to surmount in her childhood. + +Scarce a stone's throw from the palace is the cathedral, where the seat +of the Bishop's blind daughter is still pointed out. Bessie had a +personal pleasure, a pride and delight in the beauty of the cathedral, +spoke of it, as she did of any venerated object, with lowered tones; +knew its history and form, the plan of the building, the salient +architectural features, and all the best points of view. + +The Rev. Carey H. Borrer, Rector of Hurst Pierpoint, and Treasurer of +Chichester Cathedral, writes as follows of the impression produced at +this time: + + + My first introduction to Bessie Gilbert was when the Bishop had + just taken possession of the palace at Chichester. I had been + staying at Lavington with Archdeacon Manning (now the Cardinal), + and we went together to sleep at the deanery (Dean Chandler's), and + we all went to dine at the palace. Bessie was then very young, very + slight and fragile looking, dressed as usual in white muslin, and + with her dark spectacles immediately attracted my attention. In the + evening she went to the piano, and sang very sweetly and with much + pathos several familiar Scotch songs. I asked her if she knew + certain others, mostly Jacobite songs, with which I was familiar + from hearing my very dear friend William Harris (fellow of All + Souls', a devoted lover of Prince Charlie) sing them. She at once + warmed up and sang some of them. Others she did not know, and was + glad to hear something about them. Under that gentle aspect there + came out a heart full of fire and earnestness, which showed itself + in her interest for suffering and heroism, and afterwards found + field for its energy in her untiring efforts for the blind. + + Whenever we met there was always a warm shaking of the hand, and a + feeling of sympathy of tastes between us. + + I had not seen much of persons suffering from blindness, and I was + struck by her simple way of saying "I have not _seen_ him," or "I + should like to _see_ it"--something like Zacharias "_asking_" for a + writing-table. + + No one could be with Bessie Gilbert without feeling chastened by + the presence of a true, pure, warm-hearted, earnest Christian girl. + + I breakfasted at the palace the next morning after service at the + private chapel, and I was delighted at the Bishop's calling on one + of the younger girls to say grace. Mrs. Gilbert told me they took + it in turns. I should like to have heard Bessie's grace to her + Heavenly Father. + + +Very soon new friends gathered round the _sisterhood_; but at first the +change, so far as society was concerned, was keenly felt by them. There +were no Fellows of B.N.C. to come in with torn gowns to be mended, and +talk of Catalani and Grisi; no more dinners in the Hall, none of the +intellectual activity of university life. They had also far less of the +company of a father greatly beloved by all his children. Official +business at Chichester was much heavier than it had been at Oxford, and +absorbed more of his time. + +The Archdeacon of Chichester at that time was the Rev. E. H. (now +Cardinal) Manning. He was a frequent visitor at the palace, where a room +was set apart for him. As years passed on, the anxiety of his friends +with regard to his views increased. At last there came a day in 1851 +when he and Bishop Gilbert had a long talk with Bishop Wilberforce at +Lavington, and Archdeacon Manning returned to pay his last visit to the +palace. He wrote a day or two later to announce his decision to join the +Church of Rome. As he stood in the hall on this last visit he saw Bessie +enter from her favourite garden walk. She was as usual puzzled by the +doors, and hesitated a moment before coming to a decision. The +archdeacon saw this, and stepping forward took her by the hand: "I +believe you cannot find the way," he said. In speaking of this she would +add, in that gentle, solemn manner she had when she was deeply moved, "I +only said 'thank you,' but I thought is it I that cannot find my way?" + +In 1844 an event of great interest to girls in and out of the +schoolroom took place. A German governess, Frauelein D., replaced the +English lady who had for so long been a member of the household. German +became at once the most fascinating of all subjects of study for young +and old; and the Frauelein, with her open mind and, from the point of +view of those days, her advanced views, speedily acquired great +influence over Bessie. + +Frauelein D. describes the charm of the family circle at the palace, in +which the two prominent figures were the Bishop and his blind daughter. +Bessie had at this time a very tenacious memory. No matter how long the +reading of a book had been suspended, she could always repeat every word +of the last sentence. She was easily affected by any sad events that +were narrated, and would weep over them. Her parents, sisters, and +brothers had taken such pains to include her in all that was going +forward, and to make her and keep her one of themselves, that she would +say, "Oh yes, I see," and "How beautiful," when you talked to her. + +She was very particular about her dress, quite as much so as any of her +sisters, and specially scrupulous in the matter of gloves. Her hands +were small, white, delicately beautiful, and very feeble. She liked to +have such accurately fitting gloves that the time she took to put them +on was a joke in the family. + +Three of the sisters were at Culham when the Frauelein arrived, and many +bright letters passed between Bessie at Chichester and her own "special" +sister Mary at Culham. Bessie tells Mary how her brother Robert had +returned from the Continent, having learnt "a great many German words +and some French;" how he had grown fonder of music, and could allow +"that it is an art capable of giving a great deal of pleasure." She +gives all the little gossip of home, describes the new German governess +"a pretty figure, black hair, rather a large mouth, an animated +countenance, very lady-like and lively.... They (the younger ones) like +Miss D. very much, and so we do, all of us, I think." Bessie has read +_Don Carlos_, the _Bride of Messina_, and a play by Halm. Her reading +time is from four to five; but there are reading and needlework from +three to four, which all the elders try to join, and from which, we may +be sure, Bessie would not be absent. Then there is a dinner party at the +Palace: "She (the Frauelein) dined, and so did I." + +"As to the dinner part I managed very well. I had it all by heart. What +I was to have was all settled in the morning, so that I had very little +else to do but to talk, and that I did so much that I was really almost +ashamed. Mr. ---- took me down, and pleased mamma uncommonly by praising +me to her in the evening. I cannot think why." + +A little later Bessie is at Culham, and writes to Mary at Chichester. + + + Now don't make any more excuses about not writing. For my part I + have forgiven you, at least since this delicious weather, for we + have been out almost all day lately. Yesterday we walked to + Abingdon, did some shopping, and came back before breakfast. + [Inquiries about friends follow, and then:] Question upon question; + but no matter, answer another, who sent me the violets? though I + think my guess is right. If it was Mr. Ashworth it was very kind, + for I think they were the first he had found this spring. Take care + what you put in your letters to grandpapa. The last but one was + pronounced by a judge whose opinion I am sure you will agree with, + because you will think it right, to be very dignified and a perfect + specimen of epistolography. There were cries of "It won't do" all + through the letter. Do you think you shall come here soon? I begin + to want to see some of you. + + +Bessie, as usual, had charge of one of the little girls. She writes: "I +think Katie is improved since we have been here, but I cannot get her to +get up; so please ask mamma to say what time she is to get up, for now +it is not much before eight and often some time after." + +Now to an elder sister who wants to do her shopping at Abingdon before +breakfast, Miss Katie must have been a trial. But Bessie herself was by +no means perfect in this respect. Some years later she and a sister +about her own age paid a visit to an old lady, cousin of their father's, +in Yorkshire. This cousin rose early, was very punctual, and expected +her guests to be the same; but, "Say what I would," writes her sister, +"I could not get Bessie up in the morning, not even though I represented +that it made me appear to disregard Miss Dawson's wishes as well as +herself, and was not fair. The only answer I could get was, 'I say +nothing;' and the next morning she was as late as ever." Whether Mrs. +Gilbert was in this case also appealed to "to fix the hour" we are not +told. + +In the autumn Bessie is at home again, and, writing to her faithful +Mary, she says: "The week after next our house must stretch a slight +degree. There will be the Halls, the Churtons, the Woods from Broadwater +(it was Mrs. Wood who fought for the teaching of reading in St. George's +Schools thirteen years previously), the two Archdeacons, Mr. Garbett, +Mr. Simpson, and another gentleman, all in the house; and Mr. Wagner, if +he comes, will have a room at the inn. This will be something +like--won't it? I think mamma liked her visit to----." + +The Bishop, his wife, and one daughter, had been paying short visits to +influential people in the county. The young lady sends home letters +which show close and minute powers of observation and no small insight +into character. The rooms, the pictures, the plate and china, all are +described, and she ends by saying: + + + I suppose you will expect a comparison of the two families. The + gentlemen are far superior at A----; and though B---- is more + fascinating, and makes one feel for her as if one could do + anything, yet A---- seems to me to be superior to her in strength of + mind and also in acquirements. Lady C. is much younger than Lady + D., much more in awe of her mother, and being plain, has not the + appearance of being used to the homage of all around her like Lady + D. So ends my long story of a short but pleasant time, and if it + has tired your patience, at least you cannot complain of my not + having given you a full account. + + +Looking over these letters, taken back into the past by the yellow +paper, the faded ink, the old-fashioned writing, all angular and +sloping, letters fresh and vivid with youth, intelligence, and goodness, +one cannot but wonder if those written by a girl of seventeen, in these +days of high pressure, will be such pleasant reading forty years hence. + +Bessie was greatly interested in these visits, and she writes to Mary at +Culham: "Mamma saw some beautiful miniatures of the Pretender, the +Cardinal York and their sister the Princess Louisa. They were very +small, and set in turquoises and diamonds. I believe that princess +married the King of Sardinia." + +The Rev. T. Lowe, Vicar of Willingdon, who left Chichester thirty-five +years ago, says that he often met Bessie at the palace and in general +society at Chichester; that he made use of every opportunity he had to +cultivate her acquaintance. She liked to talk of music, and he +"remembers well the sweet expression of her mobile features, declaring +the peace and resignation that dwelt within. These, no doubt, made her +so alive to all pleasures within her reach. It was a touching sight to +see her joining, with evident enjoyment, in a quadrille at an evening +party at home or elsewhere." + +Mr. Lowe saw her occasionally after he left Chichester. She was +interested in some blind persons in his parish. One she rescued from +"the uncongenial life of the workhouse;" another acted as an agent for +her society; and she was specially interested in a third, both blind and +deaf, now dead. "Her sympathy with these sufferers was full of comfort +to them; and as to them, so to all to whom it is known, the history of +her long, patient suffering; of her submission to the heavy trial laid +upon her; of her thankful enjoyment of the blessings granted her; of her +loving endeavours to alleviate like suffering in others--will, I doubt +not, bring forth good fruit in other hearts and other lives." + +Mr. Wintle at Culham was now an aged man, and his infirm health gave +much anxiety to Mrs. Gilbert. After she had left Oxford one or two of +her daughters were nearly always with their grandfather. One of his +latest letters, written from his Oxford lodgings, was to his favourite +Blossom. + + + _27th November 1845._ + + MY DEAR BLOSSOM--As I have gained the reputation of not caring for + what I do or say, why may I not scribble a scrawl to you containing + what is found uppermost in my memorandum box? Not having been + admitted a member of the Abingdon Literary and Scientific Society, + you must look rather for trifles from a bagatelle warehouse than + for graver subjects culled from the repository of useful and + entertaining knowledge. But previous to opening my budget let me + express a wish that I may soon hear from one of the numerous palace + scribes of your mother's faceache having left her, and that you are + all as well as the damps of November will permit of your being. As + you probably knew nothing of my opposite neighbour Chaundy, + hair-dresser and perfumer, perhaps you will nothing grieve at + hearing that he is moving from the Corn Market to the High Street, + nor will you be much interested in hearing that Mr. ---- tells his + Oxford tradesmen that as he deals with them, he expects they will + come to his shop and buy a pig of him. Possibly you may be amused + by hearing that Mr. A. and Dr. B. have nominated five select + preachers, all ultra low church, of whom Mr. C. is one, who takes + an annuity of L500 from his parishioners in Holy Well, in + preference to a living from his college. So would not I. [And so on + through three pages of gossip ending:] And now with love to you + all, affectionately am I yours, R. W. + + +In the spring of 1846 the Bishop and Mrs. Gilbert, with many but not all +the daughters, were in the Isle of Wight. Mary was again at Culham with +her grandfather, who was recovering from a serious illness, and had been +out "in a sedan chair." Bessie writes full accounts: "You should have +heard Nora begging to go. She has gained her point, you see;" and then +follows a description of the little house at Ryde, of their visitors and +friends, the books they were to read, etc. During this visit Bessie once +walked from Ryde to Shanklin, and was proud of the achievement. + +The Bishop's house in London at this time was in Green Street, Grosvenor +Square. He and Mrs. Gilbert with some daughters were there in the early +part of the year 1846, and Bessie was left in the post of honour, at +home. The father writes to her without making any allowance for +blindness. She is to give orders and arrange for their return just as +Mary would have done. + + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I write to you as Mrs. House, Mrs. Pomona, Mrs. + Flora, _i.e._ as having, under your aunt and Miss Deiss, sovereign + rule in the domestic, horticultural, and floral departments at + Chichester, but not as Mrs. Ceres, as with respect to the farm I + reserve the rule therein to John and Symonds, and Smoker and + myself, which may account for the bad condition things in that + department are in.... Now, in your domestic department let me + suggest to you to order preparations for the return of the + veritable heads of the family, possibly on Friday next, to dinner, + but you may expect to hear again. Then, in the horticultural, know + that a tub of regent potatoes, and eke a tub of blues, containing + each about a sack, may daily be expected. They are to be used as + seed at your and Holmes's discretion. Those which are not so used + you may direct to be put from time to time into a pot and saved for + dinner. In your floral department I do not presume to give any + hint; the greater will be your responsibility if either violets are + drooping or snowdrops and crocuses not in sufficient abundance. + Poor me! I am afraid they are all over, blossomed and gone while I + have been smoke-dried here. But mind you show me something when I + come, or I may prove a rat without a tail. Pray, why do none of you + little pusses write to me? I desire I may have an olla podrida, a + bit of something from every one, without delay. How do you think I + am to get on here all by myself? Yes, indeed! Pray, look to it, + Mrs. House, and mind your P's and Q's, and do not laugh, but let me + have my letter from all in a cluster, and I daresay in a clatter + too forthwith. So no more at present from your and their fond + parent and most loving father, + A. T. CHICHESTER. + + I suppose you know poor aunt E. M. has left you her piano. If your + grandpapa does not think it too large and would let it go to + Culham, should you object? + + +In August 1846 Bessie completed a long poem founded on a belief "which +prevails in parts of Burgundy, that the first flower which blossoms on +the grave of a departed friend links the soul of the departed in eternal +love to that of the person who gathers it." The verses are moderately +smooth and pretty, but give no great promise of excellence in that +department. + +It is, however, characteristic of the writer that she represents the +"departed friend" not as a lover, but as the father of the girl who has +gathered the first blossom, and that she concludes: + + + And strength was given to her through prayer + In patience all her woe to bear, + Clearly her duty to discern, + And never more her life to spurn. + She lived, not wrapt in selfish grief; + Wherever she could give relief-- + In poverty, sickness, or despair, + A spirit of comfort, she was there; + One of that heavenly sisterhood + Who only live for others' good. + + +Such words are like a feather thrown up in the air, they show the +direction of the prevailing current. + +For two years longer the visits to Culham and Oxford recur at frequent +intervals, and there is repeated mention of the names of old friends. +Every event of interest that affects them--births, deaths, marriages, +arrivals, departures, promotions, bridesmaids' dresses--all are duly +chronicled. Once we are told of two merry girls shut up with some of his +pet MSS. by Mr. Coxe, the librarian of the Bodleian, who was too busy +to join them. They emerged from his den in a state of enthusiasm which +satisfied even his requirements; but they had to undergo a severe +brushing from "his own clothes-brush and at his own hands," for, +"learned dust as it was, we could not carry it through Oxford." + +In 1847 the youngest brother, Tom, met with an alarming accident at +Westminster School. By some means when preparing to act in a play his +cloak caught fire, and he was almost burnt to death. Bessie used to tell +how the little fellow was found kneeling with raised hands, and praying +aloud, in the midst of a crowd of terrified boys, whilst the flames +leapt up above his head. He was so much injured that it was more than a +year before he recovered. His first letter, written with the left hand +and the greater part of it unintelligible, is to Bessie. He is the +little boy who was pulling daisies for her in Magdalen Gardens, and +telling of their golden centres. + +In 1848 Mr. Wintle died at Culham. Mrs. Gilbert was staying with him, +and the Bishop with some of his daughters started at once for Oxford +when he heard how serious the case had become. Mr. Wintle had expressed +a special desire to see Bessie, but he was almost unconscious when she +arrived. He was told that "Little Blossom" had come. "Where is she?" he +asked, and with a last effort stretched out his hand towards her. + +The pleasant home was henceforth closed to them, all silent and empty. + +The great-uncle also passed away in 1855, and though many friends +remained, yet from this time Oxford recedes, and is no longer a second +home. + +At this period Martin Tupper resided at Brighton; and Bessie, who seems +to have sent him a copy of "The Sea Gull," received from him a letter +which she valued, and a copy of "A Hymn and a Chant for the Harvest Home +of 1847, by the author of _Proverbial Philosophy_." He wrote as follows: + + + FURZE HILL, BRIGHTON, _23d August 1848_. + + MY DEAR MISS BESSIE--An autograph of such affecting interest as + that with which you have this morning so kindly favoured me, gives + me the privilege of a letter of thanks in reply. And thank you I do + very cordially; especially for having so soon and so amiably + fulfilled your intention of honouring my verses with your melodious + tones. When they are quite ready, I shall look forward with much + interest to a manuscript copy; and I am not sure but that, some day + or other, I shall run over and pay my respects at the palace, very + much with the self-interested object of hearing you do justice to + your own music. I am sure you will not refuse me this, especially + as here we have no piano; not but that I will go _toute suite_ to + ask Miss Wagner or the Frauelein to give me an idea of your "Sea + Gull," so as not to be altogether ignorant of the "sweet sounds" + which you have married to Mary Howitt's "immortal verse." I have + nothing here to offer you in return for your musical authorship, + unless you might be pleased to accept "from the author" the + enclosed. Pray make my best respects acceptable to your father and + mother and sisters, and believe me, my dear Miss Bessie, your + obliged and faithful friend, MARTIN J. TUPPER. + + Miss Bessie Gilbert. + + +In 1849 Bessie, with two sisters and a brother, paid visits in Ireland. +One of her chief pleasures was in listening to the echoes at Killarney. +Wherever she went the young blind lady called out warm sympathy. On the +way from Glengariffe to Cork they stopped at Gougon Barra to see the +famous "Healing Well." The guide besought Bessie in the most earnest and +pathetic manner to try the water, saying that he was sure it would +restore her sight, and entreating her brother and sisters to urge her to +make use of it. + +This was the first time, since the visit to Liverpool, that she had been +far from home, and she enjoyed her journey. She liked staying at hotels; +the novelty was refreshing, and she liked the feeling that she also +could travel and "see" the world. + +The Bishop writes to Bessie on the 11th September 1849 from the "Old +Ship private house," Brighton, as follows:-- + + + Now I doubt not that you enjoyed the mountain scheme as well as any + of them, and, with the aid of the mountain air, the potatoes too + and milk of the cottagers, not omitting, however, I daresay, the + more substantial viands which accompanied you from the Hospitable + Hall. As for the wetting and all that, of course you treat that as + heroines are bound to do--that is as trifles, where it is not + convenient to exalt them above their true character. + + +The "Hospitable Hall" is that of Lismore, Archdeacon Cotton's house, +where the travellers stayed for some time. Bessie's eldest brother +married Archdeacon Cotton's daughter the following year, so that the +visit was one of special interest. + +The Bishop had now a house in London, 31 Queen Anne Street, and the +family life was divided between London and Chichester. When she was +twenty-one Bessie had the command of her own income. One of her first +acts was to subscribe to the Philharmonic concerts. The daughter of an +old friend of her parents, Mrs. Denison (now Lady Grimthorpe), lived in +the same street, and also subscribed; she used to call for and take +Bessie with her. The impression which Lady Grimthorpe received at that +time was, first of all, "How merry she is:" and next, what an intense +appreciation she had of beautiful music, and what a happy, trustful +confidence in those about her. One night at the concert the gas suddenly +went out, fears of an explosion were whispered about, and many persons +left the room. Bessie put her hand in Lady Grimthorpe's and said: "I +have no fear whatever, with you. Go or stay as you think best;" and they +stayed. + +She would return from these concerts so bright and beaming, and give +such pleasure to her father by her animated accounts of them, that he +learnt to associate her enjoyment with a scarlet cloak she then wore. He +said he would have her portrait taken, and in that cloak, for she never +looked so well in anything else. Some time later this was done by Sir W. +Boxall, and the frontispiece to this volume represents a picture which +gives as much of the spiritual beauty and delicacy of Bessie's youthful +face as the painter's art can render. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SENSE OF LOSS + + "When the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter + which is heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher by means + of this very material."--MARCUS AURELIUS. + + +Bessie Gilbert, when she was about twenty, differed but little from the +sisters around her. She could read Italian, French, and German, and her +mental culture had been an education of the true and best kind. She had +an open mind, an ardent desire for knowledge, and a warm interest in all +the ways and works of humanity. The one accomplishment possible to her +was music, and from her childhood her singing and playing had given +pleasure to herself and others. "She never could sing out of tune:" says +a musical friend. + +She readily gained friends, for she was sympathetic and kind, and +inspired others with confidence. A lady, very young and shy at that +time, remembers calling in Queen Anne Street, and feeling alarmed at +every one except Bessie. Sitting by her side, and talking to her, the +shyest were at their ease. + +No hardships in her lot had up to this time come home to her. Indeed, +it is very doubtful if the want of sight to those born blind or those +who have lost the memory of sight, is in youth a greater conscious +privation than the want of wings. By degrees a different condition is +conceivable, because it is known in a certain way from description; but +as no person born blind can exactly realise what sight is, or what it +does, there is no conscious sense of loss. No person born blind can +comprehend the nature of the impression that sight conveys. Red may be +as "the sound of a trumpet," blue as the outer air, and green a +something connected with the meadows and the delight of flowers and +shade; but except to those who remember, the sense of sight is only a +name for the incomprehensible. + +Bessie did not remember, and therefore she did not know the special +hardship of blindness and that sense of irreparable loss, of "wisdom at +one entrance quite shut out," which is so heavy an affliction. + +As the years wore on she was, however, to learn the privations that +resulted from her loss of sight, although the loss itself was not, and +could not be, intelligible to her. + +Some day a gifted creature may tell us of the possession of an organ and +a sense revealing a dimension absolutely incomprehensible. We may come +to bewail our lower condition; but how without the organ or the sense +will it be possible to realise the nature of the loss or the advantage +of possession? + +Bessie by means of fingers or ears could get at the meaning of a book. +There is a third and quicker way, she is told, but how except through +fingers and ears can she realise it? Up to a certain point she has gone +hand in hand with sisters and brothers; if not indeed in advance of +them. She reaches that point full of ardour and enthusiasm, eager to +learn, to live, to work, and suddenly the way is barred. Blindness +stands there as with a drawn sword, and she can go no farther. + +The limitations of her condition touched her first on the side of +pleasure. She could join in a quadrille at Chichester, could dine at the +palace when there was a party, and "what she was to take" had been +arranged in the morning. But in London there were no balls for her, no +dining out except with a few very old friends, no possibility of +including her in the rapid whirl of London life. She had many +disappointments, and tried hard to conceal them. Only once, says a +sister, did she see a swift look of passing pain, when telling Bessie +about a ball from which in the early morning she had returned. It was +there for an instant, recognised by the loving and beloved sister, but +at once thrust away, and Bessie threw herself with more than ordinary +interest into the account of the pleasures of the evening. Another +sister tells how about this time Bessie began "to want to do impossible +things," to go out alone in London, to go alone in a cab, and if she +might not go alone, she wished to give her own orders to the cabman. + +Reading and writing depended largely on the time that others could give +her. Writing was a slow and laborious process. She could write in the +ordinary way, but to do so she had to remember not the form of a letter +but the movements of her own hand. Such writing had to be looked over in +case a word should be unintelligible, and she could therefore have no +private correspondents. Girls in Oxford and at Chichester had plenty of +spare time, but when the family was divided, and those in London or at +Chichester had the duties of their position as well as its pleasures to +attend to, there grew up almost insensibly a different order of things. +In childhood and youth the blind daughter was the centre of all activity +and pleasure; but the blind woman inevitably recedes more and more. She +no longer leads; she can with difficulty follow; and at a distance which +increases as the years go on. + +The five or ten years that elapse after she is twenty, form the turning +point in the life of a woman, whether married or unmarried. During that +period, when she begins to tire of mere pleasure, there will come either +the earnest and serious view of life which shows it all golden with +promise, as a gift to be used on behalf of others; or a settled drift +towards the current of levity, frivolity, and self-seeking, which may +carry her down to age, dishonoured and unloved. + +That which caused Bessie the keenest grief at this time was the +impossibility of achieving what she wished to make her life, and not the +loss of its pleasures. But it was the loss of pleasure which preceded +all other privations. Her tendency was, as it always had been, towards +things that were noble, and high, and good. Without any fault of her +own, without any change in her own condition, she discovered that +blindness would be a permanent bar to activity. Sisters began to marry +and be sought in marriage. A home of her very own, a beautiful life, +independent of the family life, and yet united to it; fresh interests +and added joy to all; the hope of this, which was her ideal of marriage, +she had to renounce. + +Work in the world, even a place in the world, there seemed to be none +for her. Blindness, which had been a name, was becoming a stern reality. +She asked about the blind around her, those who had to earn their bread; +and the same answer came from all. She saw them led up to the verge of +manhood and womanhood, and then, as it were, abandoned. They were set +apart by their calamity, even as she was. Their sufferings were not +less, but greater than her own. Poverty was added to them, and the +enforced indignity of a beggar's life. + +She bore her grief alone. She could not speak of it even to those she +loved most dearly, and entirely trusted. She could not consciously add +to the pain she knew they felt for her. But in those early years she +would often sit silent and apart in the drawing-room at Queen Anne +Street, tears streaming from her eyes. Sometimes she would spend hours +together upon her knees, always silent; but the flowing tears spoke for +her, and with an eloquence which she little realised. The sense of want +and suffering was to be for her as it is for many, the great instrument +of education. Whilst so many around her were craving for something to +set them above their neighbours, some gift of fortune, some distinction, +she was learning the need of that which should place the poor blind on +the same level as others, learning to renounce for herself and for them +any higher ambition than that of being like the rest of mankind. + +The distress of her parents, who could only stand apart, watch and pray +for her, was very great. They did not see how help was to come, but they +continued in the old course. There was no aid for the blind, no +invention which they did not eagerly inquire into, since it might be the +appointed means of deliverance. Their sympathy was doubtless a great +comfort to Bessie in this time of trial. They may not have been able to +meet her in words, but she knew their hearts, knew that they never +despaired; that their past, present, and future, were alike irradiated +by hope for her, and, if for her, then for all those under like +affliction. There were many, doubtless, who at this time would have +justified the assertion of Mr. Maurice:[5] "The first impulse of most is +to say, in such circumstances, 'Hold your peace. We are very sorry for +you; but in the press and bustle of the world we have really not time to +think about you. We are very fortunate in possessing our senses; we +must use them. To be without them is no doubt a great calamity, but it +has been appointed for you; you must make the best of it.' That appears +to be a very natural and reasonable way of settling the question. If the +votes of the majorities ruled the world, that would be the only way." + +Bessie cannot have failed to meet and speak with many of the "majority," +whose quiet acquiescence in a misfortune that did not come near them, +would often "give her pause." + +Social questions also attracted her attention at this time. A sister +remembers reading Lord Ingestre's _Meliora_ to her, and the intense +interest she took in the question of bridging over the chasm between the +rich and the poor. It was not a new question to her, this bridging over +a chasm. It was that which, under another aspect, was engrossing so much +of her attention. The discovery of a method, or even the suggestion of +the possibility of such a discovery, would be a sign of hope. + +The first ray of light, however, came through a very small chink, and +not at all in heroic form. + +During the Great Exhibition of 1851 her parents learnt that a Frenchman +was showing a writing frame of his invention, and that by means of it +the blind could write unaided. The inventor, M. Foucault, was invited to +Queen Anne Street. Bessie learnt to use the frame, and soon found that +it made her independent of supervision and assistance. She could write +and address a letter herself; and here at last she stood in one respect +on an equal footing with those around her. + +She used in later years to date from the time she had the Foucault +frame. A medal was awarded to the inventor, but owing to some mistake it +was not sent to him. Bessie was instrumental in procuring and having it +forwarded to a man whom she looked upon as her benefactor. + +Her friendship with Miss Isabella Law, which lasted throughout her life, +was inaugurated over the Foucault frame. A correspondence was carried on +between them with regard to it, and Miss Law, blind daughter of the +Vicar of Northrepps, who was preparing a volume of poetry for the press, +found it very helpful, and at the same time found a dear and valued +friend. + +Another use which Bessie made of the frame was to write, in 1851, to a +young blind man named William Hanks Levy, of whom she had heard at the +St. John's Wood School for the Blind. He was an assistant teacher there, +and in 1852 married the matron of the girls' school, with whom Mrs. +Gilbert had corresponded in Bessie's childhood, and who had sent +embossed books to Oxford. Levy did all the printing for the St. John's +Wood School, and Bessie wanted an explanation of the Lucas system in use +there. She could read every kind of embossed printing, and when she +heard of any new system, always inquired into it. She knew at this time +the triangular Edinburgh in which the first books she possessed were +printed, Moon, Braille, the American, and several shorthand types. She +could read Roman capitals and the mixed large and small hands. She +always considered the Edinburgh type the simplest; but when she found +how many adults lose their sight, and how slowly their sense of touch is +developed, whilst in some it is not developed at all, she thought that, +on the whole, it might be best to use Roman capitals for the blind, that +this would offer greater facility than any other system for those who +had previously learnt to read, and would present no greater difficulty +to those born blind. She made no effort for the advancement of her view +on this subject, and in later years always advocated the use of Moon's +type for those who lose sight as adults. + +Her own keenness of touch was marvellous, but then it had been carefully +trained from the time that the little child sat beside her father at +dessert, and poured out his glass of wine. She always knew the hands of +her sisters, could tell them apart by touch, and though they would +sometimes try, they were never able to deceive her. She also remembered +by touch people whom she had not met for years. But she recognised that +her power and that of some of the born blind was exceptional, and the +development of it due to careful training. + +And so her letter written to inquire into a system which she did not +understand, turned her thought for a time to a question which always +interested, though it never engrossed her, that of deciding upon a +uniform type for embossed printing. + +All paths are right that lead to the mountain top, provided we remember +that we are going up the hill and keep ascending. + +Bessie had taken this very humble path of typewriting, and it led her +upwards and onwards, showing her the possibility of giving aid to others +through experiments and trials of her own. + +It has already been mentioned that General Sir James Bathurst was an old +friend of the family; and in London his children and the Gilberts saw +much of each other. Sir James's eldest daughter, Caroline Bathurst, was +one of the little band of so-called "advanced" women who, about this +time, 1850, were interested in every movement having for its object the +development and intellectual culture of women, and the throwing open to +them of some career other than that of matrimony; since matrimony was +seen to be not possible or even desirable for some women, such, for +example, as Bessie Gilbert. + +Miss Bathurst had taken part in the opening in 1848 of Queen's College +for Women, Harley Street, by the Rev. F. D. Maurice and the Professors +of King's College, London. She also gave hearty assistance and +furtherance to the opening of a similar institution in Bedford Square by +the Professors of the University College, Gower Street. She was one of +those who gave earnest and deep thought to the difficult problems of +life, who was willing to work to the uttermost of her power, to give +all that she had,--time, money, health, even life itself, if only she +might aid in raising the condition of women and establishing them as +"joint heirs of the grace of life." + +No one has ever worked more ardently, more enthusiastically than she +did. Over women younger than herself she exercised an irresistible +fascination. Her courage, her hopefulness, her high and lofty aims, +carried others as by a mighty wave over obstacles that had seemed +insurmountable. She was a few years older than Bessie, had full +experience of all the best that life can give, and also of the deepest +sorrows. Those who have seen her will recall the slight graceful figure, +broad low brow, and eyes youthful and beautiful like a child's; eyes, +with love and trust and happiness looking out from them. And at this +very time she was suffering from an incurable malady, and enduring +martyrdom with heroic fortitude and without one murmur. + +Such a friend for Bessie and at such a time marks an epoch in her life. +The dear sister Mary was now married, and Mary had also seen with +heart-felt sorrow that the condition of her blind sister was inevitably +and painfully changed. On a subsequent visit to her old home it was she +who first suggested that Bessie should give her time and money for the +benefit of the blind. She urged that instead of being laid aside as +useless it might be that God was preparing her for a great work on +behalf of others. + +Miss Bathurst was at the same time laying before Bessie the duty and +the privilege of a career of some kind, telling of her own labours +amongst the poor, and doing all that was possible to loving sympathy in +order to stimulate and encourage her. + +By degrees the dark cloud of depression passed away. It was to gather +again and again during the course of her life, to blot out sun and sky +and present happiness, but never to settle down into despairing +incurable gloom. + +Bessie heard from Miss Bathurst much of the poor in London, of their +troubles, and of their poverty. Her own sympathies naturally led her to +consider the condition of the blind poor. She began to make inquiry as +to their number, the places they lived in, the work they did, their +homes and social condition. Note-books full of facts and dates and +numbers testify to the activity of this time. And then once again her +attention was directed to the blind teacher in the Avenue Road School. + +In the autumn of 1853, she was then twenty-seven years old, she wrote to +ask Mr. W. Hanks Levy to call upon her in Queen Anne Street. She said +she had been told that he could give her the information she wanted as +to the condition and requirements of the blind. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] MS. Sermon on the Blind, Rev. F. D. Maurice. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BLIND MANAGER + + "While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good." + MARCUS AURELIUS. + + +The interview in Queen Anne Street was one of the most important events +in Bessie's life. + +Her feeble health, her limited opportunities of ascertaining the +condition of the poor, her imperfect knowledge of their requirements and +their powers, made it imperative that she should find an ally with +health and energy, with experience that might supplement her own, and +with equal devotion to the cause she had at heart. + +W. Hanks Levy, who called at her request to tell her about the blind +poor, was one of whom she had often heard, and with whom she had already +corresponded. He was an assistant teacher at the school in Avenue Road, +married to the matron of the girls' department. + +Levy was of humble origin and blind from early youth. His education, +such as it was, had been received at the Avenue Road School, but he was +essentially self-taught. Outside of the narrow routine of the school he +had worked and striven to obtain knowledge, to find help for himself and +others. He was a man of small stature and of slender build, with +plentiful dark hair on head and face. He wore darkened spectacles, which +covered the sightless eyes. His nose was large and well formed, and the +mouth fairly good. All the features were marked by extreme mobility, a +sensitive tremulousness often seen in the blind. It is as if they did +their thinking outside. Bessie had this same tremulous mobility of +feature; her soul fluttered as it were about a thought, and you saw +hope, apprehension, joy, fear, or dismay when it was first presented to +her. + +Levy was a man of eager intelligence and generous heart. He earnestly +desired the amelioration of the condition of the blind. Their +disabilities had pressed upon him from his youth upwards, and upon all +around him. + +Living in an institution, and able to measure himself by no higher +standard than that which it offered, he had not, however, realised the +actual limitations of blindness. It is doubtful whether he ever did +realise them. He would, therefore, have been an unsafe guide, but he was +an excellent follower. He would have resented interference from those +whom he called "the sighted," but he submitted to the blind lady; her +nurture, training, and delicate sense of the fitness of things gave her +a strong hold over him. He accepted her judgment when it was opposed to +his own will, and faithfully carried out her views and wishes. + +During this first interview in Queen Anne Street he told her of the +various institutions in Great Britain and their work, and especially of +the work done in London. At her request he investigated carefully, and +obtained dates, facts, and figures that were reliable. Bessie found that +the institutions for the blind provided instruction for the young, and +for them only. Statistics showed, however, that by far the greater +number of blind persons lose their sight as adults, from such causes as +fever, smallpox, and accidental injury. They lose sight when others are +dependent upon them, and when blindness means either the life of a +beggar or life in the workhouse. And again she learnt that the existing +institutions dismiss young men and women who have been fairly educated +and taught a trade, on the assumption that, as adults, they can practise +their trade and earn a living. This conjecture tells cruelly upon the +blind. They leave many of the institutions with an adequate stock of +clothes, and either with tools or with money to purchase tools; and then +begins a hopeless struggle. Private friends diminish in numbers, and are +gradually lost. The blind men and women cannot go about from place to +place in search of work, cannot work without special contrivances, which +are not to be found in ordinary workshops, and have no market for their +goods if they work at home. + +But do blind people wish to work, or would they not rather beg? asked +many to whom Bessie spoke on this subject. To this she replied that she +did not know; must try to find this out. For some months, at her +request, Levy went into the streets and accosted every blind beggar whom +he met, asking him or her to tell the story of life to a blind man. +"Which would you rather do, work or beg?" he would ask when the speaker +had finished. And in almost every case the answer was "Work." "Why, I'd +rather work, but how can I get work; or, if I get it, how can I do it? +And where can I sell it, if I work at home without orders?" + +These were the difficulties that experience brought to light, and after +many months of close and patient investigation, Bessie at length saw a +way open before her. "Don't work yourself to death," a friend said to +her at this time. "Work to death," she said, with a happy laugh; "I am +working to life." + +She saw that some one must come forward to befriend the blind poor, some +one who could supply material, give employment, or dispose of the +articles manufactured. + +Why should she not do this? + +Her parents warmly approved of the course she proposed to take, and +brothers, sisters, friends encouraged her. They saw that it would bring +occupation and interest, which she sorely needed. They could not foresee +how the little rill was to widen into a broad stream, and what +far-reaching results it would have. + +In May 1854 "Bessie's scheme" was started. Seven blind men were employed +at their own homes, material was purchased for and supplied to them at +cost price; the articles manufactured were to be disposed of on their +account, and they were to receive the full selling price, minus the cost +of material. + +A cellar was rented in New Turnstile, Holborn, at the cost of eighteen +pence a week, and Levy was engaged as manager, with a salary of half a +crown a week, and a percentage upon the sales. The cellar was to be a +store-room for materials and goods, and as the basket-makers could not +bleach their baskets at home, a binn was fixed so that this part of the +work could be done in the cellar. Levy recommended a young man named +Farrow to put up the bleaching binn. Farrow had lost his sight at eleven +years old in consequence of a gun accident. He had been educated in the +St. John's Wood School, was a very good carpenter and cabinetmaker, and +a man who could readily turn his hand to anything. But like many others +who had left the school, he was without work or prospect of work. + +He fixed the bleaching binn and arranged the cellar as a store-room +without any assistance, and from 1854 to the present time he has been +employed by the institution which sprang from that small dark cellar in +Holborn. + +Levy's theory was that no man with sight should interfere with the +blind; that an opportunity ought to be afforded them of showing that +their work is thorough and complete, and that they can stand alone. It +may, at that time, have been necessary to take such a step in order to +convince the general public that blind men and women could do anything +at all, but the theory involves a limitation which is to be regretted. + +Bessie's education, experience, and sympathy would naturally lead her to +try to restore the blind to their place and their work in the world, to +ameliorate their condition but not to alienate them, not to separate +them from home and companions. Her own happy youth, her work in the +schoolroom at Oxford, her enjoyment of the home at Chichester, all +tended to prevent her from being drawn into the current with enthusiasts +who looked upon the blind, less as afflicted, than as persecuted and +oppressed. She had gradually learnt that blindness is a limitation which +the most loving and tender care cannot entirely remove. To be blind, to +be a woman, both imply considerable restrictions: but Bessie was not +predisposed to consider one state any more the fault of society than the +other. She would labour to remove the disabilities of either condition, +but she always recognised that they were inherent, and did not arise +from persecution or ill-will. + +It is necessary to say so much at this time, because we shall see that +in many points Bessie did yield to the judgment of one who took an +extreme view; who, himself educated in an institution, surrounded only +by blind people, often of a very feeble capacity, had learned to look +upon himself more as a member of an oppressed and persecuted race than +as an afflicted man. Levy wished to show that the blind could do their +work and manage their affairs in their own way, and that it was as good +a way as any other. No "sighted" man was to interfere in the workshop. +He invented a system of embossed writing, and he used to send to +Chichester weekly accounts of the money paid for basket and brush +material, and in wages. This money was remitted by Bessie, and when +brushes and baskets were sold she was to receive the price paid for +them. The liabilities that she undertook were rent, manager's salary, +percentages on sale, incidental expenses, and losses. These, with only +the cellar and seven blind men at work, would not be more than she could +afford, and with the approval of her family she set to work bravely to +sell her brushes. + +The only point on which the Bishop gave advice was, that difference of +creed should not be taken into consideration in selecting the workmen to +be employed. He urged this very strongly, and Bessie carried out his +wishes. + +Levy's bills, in embossed writing, were copied by Bessie's mother and +her sisters; the weekly accounts were kept by these ladies from May +1854, when the cellar was taken, until the end of the year. + +In the earliest records comes the pathetic entry: "Man to see colour." +This man, in spite of Levy's resolve to employ none except the blind, +reappears pretty often as the "Viewer." He used to "view" the baskets +and their colour. + +On the 16th of August 1854 Levy's wages were raised to 10s. per week, +and at that time the cost of rent, postage, and porter for one week +amounted to no more than two shillings and two pence. + +The cellar was, however, found to be inadequate to the requirements of +the undertaking, and it was decided that Levy should take a small house, +No. 83 Cromer Street, Brunswick Square. Bessie rented one room from him +at half a crown a week. It was to be used as a shop, and was known as +the Repository. The cellar in Holborn was given up. + +As the work of the seven blind men depended mainly upon orders, there +was no great accumulation of stock, but some few specimens were on hand. + +During the year 1854 Levy's accounts were copied sometimes by Mrs. +Gilbert, sometimes by Bessie's sisters or her sister-in-law. They were +quite clear to the two principals, but outsiders found them confused and +confusing. Bessie's younger brother took them in hand and tried to +reduce them to order, but the task was a hopeless one. Some bills were +entered more than once, whilst others were not entered at all. To +Bessie, who kept these accounts with unfailing accuracy in her head, the +difficulties with regard to entries must have seemed one of the +disabilities of sight. We learn some particulars as to the original plan +from a statement by Mrs. Gilbert; for each amanuensis kept her own +special copy of accounts. + +"As much is to come back from the men for material as has been +originally expended by Bessie for material. + +"The men take material weighed out by Mr. Levy one week and pay for it +the next week. + +"This, with the value of the stock of material on hand, should tally +with what has been originally paid for materials of mats or baskets." + +Some light is thrown on the view of all concerned with regard to these +pecuniary details by a letter from Levy, dated 5th December 1854, and +written from + + + W. H. Levy's + Repository for Articles + Manufactured by the Blind + Books and apparatus for their use + 83 Cromer Street + Brunswick Square. + + +He writes with regard to a description of mat which only one man, Burr, +can make, so that it will take him two or three weeks to execute an +order from Brighton, wanted immediately. He asks Miss Gilbert to have +the kindness to advise him concerning this matter, and says he has +enclosed last week's accounts, but is "fearful through the multiplicity +of business that the items, although correct in general, are somewhat +confused in detail." Then follows a lengthy superscription-- + + + I remain + Dr. Madam with + Gratitude and Respect + Your obedient + Humble S^t. + W. H. LEVY. + + +The "confusion in detail" seems to have been considerable, and Mr. +Gilbert's summary for 1854 was as follows:-- + + + Total of disbursements on Levy's account L159 11 0 + Total of Mandeville's bills not entered 60 5 8 + ------------ + L219 16 8 + + Total of receipts for material (presumably + from workmen) L54 4 11 + Total of other receipts (presumably sales) 32 8 9 + ------------ + Total receipts L86 13 8 + Loss 133 3 0 + + +To this are added the following remarks:-- + + + This account is only approximate. To the disbursement should + certainly be added about L6 paid to Levy for himself and not + entered, and one lost bill of Mandeville's (L4: 18: 6), if not more + than one. The receipts also are probably imperfect. + + +The word _loss_ is one that would not approve itself to either of those +chiefly concerned. Bessie was _giving_ freely of her income, Levy was +spending economically and carefully. Each knew that there was no error, +though there might be irregularities which seemed considerable to those +who were not primarily concerned in the great cause. + +For three months in 1855 there follow a most bewildering series of +accounts. Disbursements, receipts, sales, and a few donations are all +entered on one page. Such a course probably induced further remonstrance +from _the sighted_, and in March 1855 a more orderly system is adopted. +Receipts and disbursements are neatly kept on separate pages, and +confusion henceforth ceases. + +We may recall that Bessie always hated "sums," and found them +bewildering. She was, however, very accurate in mental calculation. She +knew what money she had advanced, on what occasions and to whom. No +amount was omitted or entered twice over in her memory. It was only by +slow degrees that she learnt the value of written records, the nature of +them, and the necessity of absolute accuracy in matters of business. +Ledgers and cash books and journals at first indicated merely a certain +incapacity in _the sighted_; but time and experience taught her that +they were indispensable. + +The work of the Repository had engrossed much of her time, but in the +summer she accompanied her parents and other members of the family on a +tour in Scotland. She was in very good health, and walked with a brother +and sister from Stirling to Bannockburn and back. Her love of early +Scottish history gave her a special interest in the places visited. As +they drove through Glencoe it was carefully described to her. Inverness, +as being near Culloden, was specially attractive. At Oban she heard of +the taking of Sebastopol, and this recalled her to the interests and +anxieties of that time. She enjoyed staying at Scotch hotels; but on the +whole she had derived less pleasure from the Scotch than from the Irish +tour. She found nothing so beautiful as the Killarney echoes, and missed +the warm-hearted sympathy and genuine interest of the Irish peasantry +and guides. + +The one point that stood out pre-eminent as the outcome of her visit to +Scotland was her inspection of the School for the Blind in Edinburgh. +The work done there gave her many ideas, inspired many hopes and plans. +But she saw more clearly than ever that her scheme was a new departure, +and returned with confidence in her own power, and that of her blind +workmen, to carry it forward. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ROYAL BOUNTY + + ... "From the cheerful ways of men + Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair + Presented with a universal blank + Of nature's works."...--MILTON. + + +We must remember that Bessie's scheme was at first a private matter, and +that there is no reason why a blind lady's accounts should be kept like +a tradesman's books. Bessie Gilbert had arranged that her weekly bills +should be copied by members of her family rather for their information +than for her own. So far as she was concerned she could remember what +she gave, and had only to take care not to exceed her income. This +seemed at first a simple matter, but before long the increased +expenditure in connection with "the Repository" began to be a source of +anxiety. The sale of goods entailed very serious loss. The workmen +received the full selling price of articles minus the cost of material, +and Bessie bore all charges and expenses, so that any considerable +development of the trade would have left the promoter of it penniless. + +Moreover, it was inexpedient to pay workmen as wages what was in +reality a gift. If they had received trade prices they could not have +lived on what they earned. Their work was much slower than that of the +sighted, and they had less of it. These conditions made the scheme an +experiment; and in the meantime the difficulty of the workmen was +surmounted by giving them everything. + +They executed an order for the trade or for an individual when it was +obtained, lived on the money, and waited for another order. This seemed +inevitable at the time; but the mistake was that for many years the men +considered the large sums paid as wages to be really their due. Now if +wages had from the first been fixed on the ordinary scale, and an +additional sum given as bonus, many subsequent difficulties might have +been avoided. + +About five-sixths of the articles produced by the seven workmen were +sold in the trade at a discount of from 25 to 40 per cent, the latter +being the ordinary sum demanded and allowed. A further discount of 25 +per cent was allowed to the blind salesman. Thus a deficiency of from 50 +to 65 per cent had to be made up on all articles sold to the trade, to +which must be added the cost of rent, manager's salary, printing, +porters, etc. + +To the blind lady and her assistant the only method that suggested +itself for the reduction of expenses was, that the articles manufactured +should be sold to the public and not to the trade. They must have, not +a repository but a shop, and a shop in a public thoroughfare. They must +make appeals for _custom_, and then income would suffice for the +expenses of management. It is doubtful whether Bessie ever wrote a +letter after 1855, save to members of the family, without an allusion to +the urgent need of customers. + +The work of the institution grew steadily, the number of applicants for +work increased. In reply to appeals for custom, donations were beginning +to come in, offers of subscription also, and it was evident that the +enterprise, begun in the cellar, was to grow and develop. Bessie found +that to make provision for supplying work, only in the homes of the +blind, would seriously restrict the industries to be carried on, some of +which required a special workshop. She saw that much more would be done +for the blind in a shop or factory, where they would find the requisite +material, often bulky as well as costly, and the requisite appliances. +These could not be provided in the single room of a blind man with a +wife and family. There was also a daily increasing demand amongst the +blind, not for charity but for work. It was not men only who applied. +Poor, respectable women, condemned by blindness and poverty either to +beggary or the workhouse, began to turn to her, to implore her to save +them also, to teach them a trade, and enable them to earn an honest +living. The opportunity for the employment of women was not to come for +a year or two, but the appeal issued on the behalf of work for blind +_men_ was changed to one on behalf of blind _persons_. + +After six months in the Holborn cellars and eight months in the little +room in Cromer Street, it was decided that Levy should take a house and +shop at 21 South Row, New Road (now Euston Road), and that in the first +instance four rooms should be rented by Bessie at L26 a year. Levy was +henceforward to receive 12s. 6d. a week as manager, and his wife was to +serve behind the counter and to have, as a temporary arrangement, 25 per +cent on all articles sold in the shop. + +This increase in the expenses made it necessary that Bessie should +obtain help from the outside public; and the change of her work from a +private to a public undertaking was anxiously discussed in her own home. + +The Bishop urged that there should be a Committee of Management as soon +as subscriptions were asked for; and pointed out to his daughter the +responsibility of administering money belonging to others. Having done +this he left the matter in her hands, and she, like a dutiful child, +submits her case when she has come to a decision. She writes on her +Foucault frame in July 1855, from 31 Queen Anne Street:-- + + + MY DEAR PAPA--I wanted to have spoken to you about what I am now + going to write, but had no good opportunity before you went. The + situation of the shop in Cromer Street stands very much in the way + of the sale of my mats and baskets. No one goes into that street + unless they go on purpose, therefore I am sure it would be better + to move into a really good situation, which I cannot do without + subscriptions. + + Mr. Taylor has said a good deal about the situation being a great + hindrance to the sale of the work, so have several people, so now + what I wish to tell you is that if you see nothing to the contrary + in the meantime, I shall begin on Monday to ask for subscriptions. + I have three promises, four rather, and I know I should soon get + more.... I remain, ever your dutiful and loving child, + + BESSIE GILBERT. + + You see I have taken rather for granted that you would have no + objection, and so as there is not much time now before we go, I + said Monday; as I thought it would be better to begin as soon as I + could. + + +To this the Bishop replied: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _6th July 1855_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--Your letter was nicely written, and I read it for + myself very fluently. If it must be so, it must; indeed you could + not launch into a high-rented house without subscribers. You may + put me down low in the list for five pounds [L5] a year. I do not + think you will do very much now until next spring, but you may make + a beginning. It will grow under God's blessing. You must let me + know, before I go into the North, what sum must be left accessible + at Hoare's for the wants of E. M. M. G. Levi and Co.--I am, my + dearest Bessie, yr. ever affectionate father, + R. T. CICEST^R. + + +On the 13th July Bessie writes again from Queen Anne Street: + + + MY DEAR PAPA--I would not be troublesome if I could help it, but I + cannot help it. I do think it would be well for my undertaking to + form a Society, and I want to know if I may set to work to do + whatever I can towards it. I send you a list of the people + Henrietta [a sister] and I have thought of for the Committee. Would + you mention any you think advisable? Of course I cannot tell that + any named in this list will agree to the proposal, so that it will + be well to be prepared with a good choice. Mr. Green and Mr. + Futvoye I am sure of, and Mr. Green will subscribe five guineas a + year. I am very anxious to get all this settled before leaving this + year, and as people will be leaving town soon, when once I have + your sanction I shall write to the people thought of, to ask them + whether they will undertake it. Of course there will only be a few + who will really work, but we must have names besides. I send you a + copy of the proposed rules. My notion is not to have a public + meeting this year, but only to let the Committee meet, and to hire + a room for this purpose. Levy suggested that Mr. Taylor should + visit the workmen at their homes. I think he would do this well. + Our love to mamma. We hope she is better.--Your loving, dutiful + child, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +The Bishop's reply has not been preserved; but as the first Committee +consists of persons selected from the list furnished, he probably had +few changes to suggest, and in forming a committee Bessie was carrying +out advice he had previously given. + +An appeal to the public was drawn up by her, of which the following is a +copy. On the reverse was a list of goods made by the blind, with prices. +The public was informed that these articles were superior in durability +and equal in price to those ordinarily offered. It was hoped that the +circumstance of their being entirely made by blind men would induce +purchasers to encourage the industry of those who labour under peculiar +disadvantages in obtaining employment. + + + ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + In addition to the many difficulties which the loss of sight + imposes on all blind persons, those whose livelihood depends upon + their own exertions labour under three great disadvantages. + + 1. Comparatively few have an opportunity of acquiring a trade. + + 2. The trades taught are very few in number. + + 3. Those who have acquired an industrial art rarely obtain constant + employment or a market for their manufactures. + + In consequence of these difficulties great numbers are reduced to a + state of beggary and degradation. These would, as a class, be only + too thankful to be enabled practically to refute the prevailing + idea that a life of pauperism, or at best of dependence upon + almsgiving, is an inevitable necessity of their condition. It is + surely the duty of the community at large to afford them an + opportunity of so doing, and thus enable them to take their right + position as active and useful members of society. + + An undertaking was set on foot in May 1854 by a blind lady to + ensure regular employment to blind working men. This has been + gradually extended, so that the number now employed is fourteen; + and a department for teaching new trades has been added, at which + there are six pupils, particular attention being paid to the + instruction of those who, on account of age, are ineligible for + admission to other institutions. The mental and religious welfare + of the blind is also sought; and a circulating library of books in + relief type has been established, to which the indigent are + admitted free of charge. + + To secure the continuance of the above undertaking, and in the hope + of its becoming, under God's blessing, gradually enlarged, and + eventually to a great extent a self-supporting National + Institution, an Association is now formed under the above title, + whose Committee, including the original promoter of the + undertaking, earnestly solicit the active support of all who + acknowledge its claims on the sympathy of the public. + + +Then follow the names of the first Committee. + + + The Treasurer, Henry Sykes Thornton, Esq., 20 Birchin Lane. + + COMMITTEE. + + Adams, James, Esq., 2 College Villas, Upper Finchley Road. + + Anson, Sir John, Bart., 55 Portland Place. + + Dale, Rev. Thomas, Canon of St. Paul's, 31 Gordon Square. + + Dixon, James, Esq., 1 Portman Square. + + Dyke, Charles, Esq., R.N., 6 Eaton Square. + + Elmsley, William, Esq., Q.C., 46 Harley Street. + + Futvoye, Edward, Esq., 8 Acacia Road, St. John's Wood. + + Gilbert, Miss, 43 Queen Anne Street, and Palace, Chichester. + + Glennie, Rev. John D., junr., 51 Green Street, Grosvenor Square. + + Green, Frederic, Esq., West Lodge, Avenue Road, Regent's Park. + + Hollond, Mrs. Robert, Stanmore Hall, near Harrow, and 63 Portland + Place. + + Johnson, George, Esq., M.D., 3 Woburn Square. + + King, Henry, Esq., 8 Lowndes Street. + + Kynaston, Rev. H., D.D., St. Paul's Churchyard. + + Powell, Mrs., 2 Palace Gardens, Kensington. + + Summers, William, Esq., 10 Great Marlborough Street, Regent Street. + + Bathurst, Henry A., Esq., 101 Baker Street, } + Portman Square, and 12 and 13 Great } + Knightrider Street, } Auditors. + } + Wintle, R. W., Esq., 10 Tavistock Square, and } + 22 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, } + + Fyers, Captain, R.A., 3 Westbourne Place, Paddington, Hon. Sec. + + Superintendent and Collector, Mr. William Hanks Levy, 21 South Row, + New Road. + + +The projected Committee seems not to have acted in 1855, as at the end +of the year the account-book shows no sign of the supervision of +auditors. + + + The disbursements for the year had been L323 1 1 + The receipts stand as 141 5 4 + --------- + No balance is drawn, but the sum contributed + by Bessie must have been L181 15 9 + + +Her efforts on behalf of the blind met with grateful recognition. +Amongst the letters which she valued and preserved is one which belongs +to this period; it was probably written in the winter of 1855-56. The +paper is old and ragged, doubtless the letter has often been read aloud +to her and to others. It is undated, and for obvious reasons unsigned, +the blind workmen could not write their names; orthography and +punctuation are uncertain, and capital letters scattered at random. The +scribe employed wrote badly and spelt imperfectly, but no doubt the +letter was a genuine one, the outcome of warm though somewhat +incoherent feelings of gratitude and affection. She to whom it was +addressed knew this, and prized the poor letter accordingly. The +spelling is now corrected, and some punctuation attempted in order not +too greatly to bewilder the reader. + + + The humble address of Blind Workmen employed by their benefactor + Miss Gilbert to the Same. + + MADAM--We the recipients of your bounty beg permission to be + allowed to express our gratitude collectively for the benefits we + have received from the Society instituted and under your + governance. With the deepest feelings of gratitude we have to thank + you for the great assistance during the last severe winter and the + constant support we have when no other work was to be procured. We + look upon this society as a time arrived in which our Heavenly + Father has placed in your hands the deliverance of the blind from + the worst of their afflictions, namely the Sting of Poverty. Madam, + we are assured it is a difficult undertaking and must be a great + trouble to contend with Tradesmen and to show forth our + capabilities. We must acknowledge that it is moved by God's + influence. It is what has been wanted since England has been a + nation, for a country so great not to employ their own blind in a + permanent manner appears to be a thing which no one till the + present ever attempted. We have considered that the truest manner + to show our gratitude and Satisfaction for the benefits received + would be allowed to present a small permanent testimonial which + shall impress on all minds the great blessing conferred upon us, + and how thankfully it is received by your humble Servants. + + +There is nothing to indicate the nature of the "permanent testimonial," +nor that it was ever presented; but the wish to make some return for +benefits received, and the gratitude for work done on their behalf, +could not fail to encourage the blind lady. + +She had now the moral support of her Committee, but there was at this +time no Association, properly so called. No rules had been drawn up, +there were no Committee Meetings, and Bessie had not only to "contend +with tradesmen," but to conduct in the best way she could "the sale of +my mats and baskets." + +Levy was strongly impressed with the necessity of showing the capacity +of the blind, their power as well as their desire to work. It was +necessary to ascertain what trades it was possible for them to follow, +what trades were open to them, and under what conditions. He had found +by his own inquiry that the greater number of the blind poor were +willing to work; he now occupied himself, with Bessie's approval, in +making experiments in various handicrafts. + +She had acquiesced in his wish that none but blind persons should be +employed in the Institution, and that no trades should be carried on +there except such as the blind could work at unaided. Her own +experience, as well as the theory of her parents, had shown that more +can be done for the blind by including them with, than by separating +them from the sighted. But the argument to which she yielded was one +often urged by Levy: that it would be impossible to interest the public +in the scheme, unless the blind worked unaided, and it was made clear +that they were capable of following a trade. He also urged, and with +more reason, that the teacher of the blind should be a blind man, who +knows from his own experience the difficulties and the limitations of +blindness, and who has overcome them; for the teacher who knows these +only from theory will not have so intelligent an appreciation of them, +nor be so likely to discover the aids required by the blind. + +No one could have worked with more enthusiasm or energy than Levy +himself. He learnt trades and tried experiments with tools, introduced +brush-making, and prepared the way for the great development which he +and Bessie now foresaw. She also was not idle; the possibility of +employing women was always before her, and she made experiments with +regard to occupations that might be suitable for them. + +Her private scheme was now about to expand into an Association managed +by a Committee. Before the final step was taken she wished to secure all +the objects for which she had hitherto laboured, and to prepare for the +changes which were imminent. She endeavoured to obtain friends and +allies, and the success which attended her efforts was no doubt in part +owing to the fact that she was the daughter of a bishop and was herself +blind. She was spared the long and weary search for patrons and support +to which many are condemned. Her name, her position, her privation, +secured immediate attention from those who were able to give both money +and influence. So great was her success, that in the winter of 1855 she +decided, all the necessary preliminaries having been arranged, to appeal +to the Queen. + +In January 1856 she sent to the Queen an autograph letter, written on +her Foucault frame, and with the consent of Her Majesty the +correspondence is now reproduced: + + + MADAM--The loving care ever shown by your Majesty for the welfare + of your subjects, together with the benevolent interest which your + Majesty and your Royal Consort are so well known to take in works + of mercy, have emboldened me most humbly to pray for the gracious + condescension of your Majesty and your Royal Consort towards an + undertaking for employing the blind which has been carried on + during the past year and a half, on so limited a scale that but + very few have derived benefit from it. Being myself blind, I have + been led to take a deep interest in the blind, of whom there are + stated to be twenty-seven thousand in Great Britain and Ireland, + out of which number but a small proportion can be received into the + existing institutions, on leaving which many even of this number + are reduced to beggary from the difficulty they find in obtaining + employment. Could the endeavour to remedy this evil become truly + national, the condition of the blind, as a class, would, with the + blessing of God, be materially raised and improved, and this + nothing could so effectually ensure as the sanction and gracious + patronage of your Majesty and of your Royal Consort. The plan of + the undertaking for which I have ventured humbly to plead with your + most gracious Majesty, is to ensure to the blind workman a fixed + sum weekly, in remuneration for his labour; and also to teach those + too old for admission into institutions, some trade. Should your + Majesty be pleased of your gracious condescension to grant this + request, the hearts of your Majesty's blind subjects will be ever + bound to your Majesty in love and gratitude.--Your Majesty's most + dutiful, loyal, devoted, humble servant, + E. M. GILBERT. + + +Perhaps at this point one may venture to call attention to the fact that +a person born blind or blind in early life can seldom spell quite +correctly. The training of the eye tells for much in the English +language, and the unaided memory cannot be relied upon. Bessie's +autograph letters are rarely free from defects; and the letter here +copied may have been discarded when it was found on supervision to +contain _admition_ for admission, _Concert_ for Consort, and one or two +other trifling inaccuracies. Some of her intuitions in spelling--only +think in how many cases a blind person's spelling must be intuitive--are +delightful. She gives instruction for a letter to be written to the +Rector of Marlbourne, our old friend Marylebone, and speaks of a +statement she remembers in De Feau. + +The autograph letter to the Queen was duly corrected, no doubt, and +despatched. It elicited the following reply from Colonel Phipps: + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + WINDSOR CASTLE, _15th January 1856_. + + MADAM--I have received the commands of Her Majesty the Queen to + inform you in reply to your application, dated the 11th instant, + that that paper does not contain sufficient intelligence with + regard to the institution which you advocate, to enable Her Majesty + to form any judgment upon it. + + I am therefore directed to request that you will have the goodness + to forward to me the prospectus of the institution in question, + containing the particulars of its objects, locality, and mode of + management, and also an account of its financial position, + including a balance-sheet of its income and expenditure. I shall + have then an opportunity of bringing the question fully under the + consideration of Her Majesty.--I have the honour to be, Madam, your + obed. humble servt., C. B. PHIPPS. + + +This letter was the most valuable contribution yet received, and the +suggestion of a balance-sheet the most practical thing done on behalf of +the scheme. + +There was immediate and anxious effort to comply with the suggestions +made, and on the 1st of February the details, dignified by the title of +"a Report" with such balance-sheet as could be produced, was forwarded +to Her Majesty. The reply of Colonel Phipps was again prompt, and as +Bessie justly considered it, "very gracious." + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th February 1856_. + + Colonel Phipps presents his compliments to Miss Gilbert. He has + laid the papers relative to her scheme for the employment of the + blind before Her Majesty the Queen, and has received Her Majesty's + commands to forward to her the accompanying cheque for L50 towards + the funds of this establishment, which promises to be so useful to + persons labouring under privation which particularly entitles them + to compassion. + + Should the plan prove successful, as Her Majesty hopes it may, and + have the appearance of becoming permanent, Colonel Phipps is + commanded to request that a further report may be made through him + to Her Majesty. + + +The kindly hand thus held out by the Queen to her blind subjects gave a +great and valuable impetus to the work. The Duchess of Gloucester sent a +donation through Colonel Liddell. Subscribers and donors came forward in +sufficient numbers to show that if blind men wanted work, both work and +wages would be provided. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS + + "Give unto me, made lowly wise, + The spirit of self-sacrifice."--WORDSWORTH. + + +Throughout 1856 Bessie was mainly occupied in writing letters to all and +sundry. She wanted money, and more even than money, she wanted custom. +From the very first she saw that customers were of greater importance to +her than subscribers, for it was customers who could ensure the +stability and permanence of her scheme. If the blind were to be +employed, there must be a sale for the articles produced; and the +greater the sale the larger would be the number of workmen required. +Hence the sale of goods, the appointment of agents in country towns, and +the sending out of price lists, were important matters. + +She received help and encouragement from many friends. Letters, which +came from those who had known and loved her as a child, gave her great +pleasure, and were carefully preserved. + +The following is from a former fellow of Brasenose, the Rev. J. Watson: + + + OXFORD, _2d June 1856_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--I fear I shall not quite respond to your wishes + exactly in the way you desire. But I will do something; I am not + fond of annuals, I forget them; and arrears are discreditable. Nor + indeed am I sure but that the enclosed (L10) may be more effectual + than an annual L1. _Vita brevis._ + + All nations have some prudential maxims about present possession. + La Fontaine has a fable to the point, but I cannot call it up. + There is our own famous English proverb, the very Magna Charta of + prudential security. A bird actually in grip is worth the more + abundant but doubtful contingencies of the distant bush. I am glad, + however, of the opportunity of being able to do so much in the way + of donation, following in a modest way the example of our most + gracious Queen and governor. + + Thankful too I hope that, being reduced myself to almost a state of + helplessness by the same calamity, I am not obliged to appeal to + the charity of others; and have even something to give to relieve + the necessities of fellow-sufferers. + + So much for request second. As to request first, I will do what I + can. But I am a bad beggar, and people are not very easily + persuaded (far from it); 6d. in the pound property tax, poor rates, + champagne, lighting, anything will do to stop the mouth of a + petitioner. I doubt not in the range of your philanthropical + experience you have met with many a cold shoulder. I believe you + might disperse a mob more effectually by the exhibition of a + subscription list than by reading the Riot Act. It is very useful + in clearing your room of officious visitors. Produce a list for the + conversion of somebody to some thing which he was not before (to + wit, the Pope to a coadjutor of Dr. Cumming or Lord John Russell to + an honest statesman), and, presto! the whole scene changes. "Well, + Watson," says one, "I must be off, I have several calls to make." + "Bless me," says another, taking out his watch, "it's getting on to + half-past five (the clock has just struck three) and it's my week + to read in Chapel." Helter-skelter away they go, like Leonora + pursued by the ghosts. + + + Der Mond scheint hell, + Hurrah! die Todten reiten schnell. + + + Well, Bessie, you have called up old times. Merry days they were, + and have left no sting. I sometimes see Mary. I go occasionally to + Didcot, where there are nice children; but Milton Hill is just a + mile and a half too far off. I can't walk as I could in those days + when we used to saunter through the scented glades of the happy + valley, or penetrate the mysterious horrors of Bagley. The last + fragment of those excursions was with Fanny and Henrietta to + Headington and round by Marston (as intended), but time was getting + on, and your good uncle would be waiting for his dinner. So in an + evil hour we made a short cut across the fields and verified the + proverb,--Hedges without a gap; ditches without a plank; gates + guarded with _chevaux de frise_ of prickly thorns. It was then that + Henrietta, madly pushing at an impracticable passage, uttered that + famous parody: + + + I'll brave the scratching of the thorn, + But not a hungry uncle. + + + But I am spinning out a double-thrummed homily, and you have better + things to attend to. My love to you all. Believe me, my dear + Bessie, _vuestros hasta la muerte_, + J. WATSON. + + +Bessie had sent as a Christmas present to Dr. Kynaston a silk +watch-chain of her own make, a favourite gift of hers to dear friends. +In his reply the doctor proposes to make an appeal to the public on +behalf of the blind. He writes: + + + ST. PAUL'S, _26th December 1856_. + + MY DEAR BESSIE--Your pleasing remembrance both of me and of old + times was a happy and early beginning to me of yesterday's holy + celebrations. I think you over-rate my love of flowers. Till we + used to pick them together, I fear I was but a Peter Bellish sort + of being, of whom it is said that + + + A primrose by the river's brim + A yellow primrose was to him, + And it was nothing more. + + + I seldom look at wild flowers now but I think how you used then to + take them in your hands and feel them, and exclaim, "How beautiful + they are," admiring and loving them far more than any of us, I + always believed. + + The chain, too, is highly prized, and I am delighted to show it to + my friends, and both to tell them that you could work it, and that + it was worked for me. + + I feel almost inclined to draw up a short account of your + institution, with a little memoir of the foundress, appending some + of the verses suggested in former years to my mind by your cheerful + and happy contentedness in the midst of those sad privations which + you now seek to alleviate in others. + + Circulated together with the more official and, of course, less + affectionate "statement" which was lately sent about, a little + memoir of this kind might do good to the cause. I should entitle it + "God's Fondness to the Blind," and it need not exceed many pages. + + If you approve I will set about it at once, and let you have the + results of my labour of love in the shape of proof sheets in a few + days. + + We join heartily in wishing you and all your home party a happy + Christmas, and with much affection, I am always, my dear Bessie, + most truly yours, + H. KYNASTON. + + Miss Gilbert, Chichester. + + +Dr. Kynaston's suggestion was not carried out, it must have been most +distasteful to Bessie. + +Just in proportion to her desire to make known the cause for which she +worked was her dislike to personal notoriety. She felt keenly moreover, +and at all times, the pain of becoming remarkable through a calamity or +a defect. She could appreciate the writer's motive, and would answer +kindly and gratefully; but the proposal was at once put firmly aside. + +Her eldest brother, Mr. Wintle (he had taken his grandfather's name), +gave her much valuable assistance during 1856. He and Mr. Henry +Bathurst, brother of her friend Caroline Bathurst, acted somewhat +informally as auditors during the year, compared vouchers, examined +bills, and no doubt enlightened her as to the method of book-keeping +which would have to be adopted so soon as the Committee was fairly +established, and had taken over the management of the institution. This +was not done until January 1857. Bessie was probably anxious to draw up +rules for the institution which should embody her own views; but during +the infancy of the scheme she saw that she had not adequate knowledge +upon which to establish them. She had still much to learn as to the +powers as well as the defects of the blind, and she shrank from +legislation until she understood "her people." + +Mr. Wintle opened an account at Drummond's, a "Fund for employing the +Blind," to which donations and subscriptions were paid. In reply to her +own appeals, as well as in consequence of newspaper accounts and +sermons, she received many letters. + +From all parts of the United Kingdom persons interested in the blind +applied to her for advice, or wrote on behalf of men who professed a +desire to learn a trade and earn their own living. Some of these were +really in earnest, but many were not. When arrangements had been made to +send them to work in London they drew back. Bessie was not discouraged. +She became more than ever convinced that the life of a beggar is +demoralising; but she knew that already, and had long seen that old +people will not give up begging, and that all efforts to improve their +condition must be made on behalf of the young. An extract from a single +letter will suffice to show the frequent result of a prolonged +correspondence and of final arrangements to receive a blind man as +pupil: + + + I was delighted to see Miss Gilbert's letter, and immediately had a + talk with him [the blind man] which was not satisfactory, for he + said that, even if we should succeed in getting him the employment, + he is sure he could not support himself by work, as he was a much + shorter time under instruction than is usually the case.... He + seems to think he can do better by making a basket occasionally and + carrying it about the streets for sale, and begging of the few + people who know him. I am sorry it ends so for the present, for I + think his case a very distressing one. He was born in New York, and + has no parish in England; he has one tiny child here who leads him + about. His wife, with, I think, two more children, is in the + Bristol Union. + + +Many similar cases helped Bessie to understand those on whose behalf she +laboured; but they never closed her heart to the appeal of a blind +person who was in need. The area of her work was enlarged, as well as +that of the aid which enabled her to carry it on. Not all those who +clamoured for employment really wanted it. They meant _alms_ when they +said _wages_, and drew back in disgust from the offer to teach them a +trade and make them self-supporting. They were often even more degraded +and vicious than poor. + +To see and know this, and yet not to lose heart, to "hold fast to that +which is good" when evil abounds, is a difficult task. Bessie did not +shrink from it, and she did not misunderstand her work. She was merciful +and compassionate to those who had fallen, felt for them in the +solitude, the poverty, the despair that had driven them to evil courses, +would relieve them in actual want, but she soon learnt that nothing +could be done with or for them in the workroom. They might be reached, +and indeed must be reached by other agencies, but the _teacher_ could do +nothing. + +The practical outcome of this experience was extreme care in selecting +the persons to be taught and employed, and a very tender compassion in +reference even to the hopeless and abandoned. Their lonely, sad +condition was never overlooked. + +Bessie was very cautious in the selection of members of the Committee +who would henceforth govern the Institution, and a letter written about +this time on her Foucault frame to an old Oxford friend will be read +with interest. She not only wrote many of her own letters at this time, +but addressed her own envelopes, and very puzzling the postman must +have sometimes found them. + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _16th January 1857_. + + MY DEAR MRS. B.--I hope you will not think this letter very + troublesome, but I know not in what other way I can gain the + information I wish than by troubling you with these lines. I + remember you have heard of my undertaking for employing blind + workmen. I have now formed an Association under the title of "The + Association for promoting the general welfare of the Blind," in + order to extend its usefulness, and to place it upon a more + permanent footing than it could have had when in the hands of one + individual. Now my object in writing to you is to ask whether Mr. + A., who is, I believe, a clergyman at C., knows or could find out + anything about a Mr. D., living, I believe, at C. He is a very + large fur dealer, very rich; he is blind, and I am anxious to have + him on the Committee of the Association, but must know more about + him before this can be done. He has a warehouse in the city, I + think, in Cannon Street or Cannon Street West. I want all the + information I can get with regard to his character and principles, + etc. I thought perhaps you would be able to get this for me through + Mr. A.'s family, or direct from himself if you would kindly write + to him on the subject. I send you some of the present price lists. + Brushes, hassocks, and servants' kneelers are now made, besides + mats and baskets. + + By far the greater number of the blind become so after the age at + which they can be admitted into institutions, so that in most cases + these have not even the opportunity of learning anything by which + they can earn a living. I am anxious to have this want supplied, + and six are now being taught trades who would not be admitted into + other institutions, and this branch will, I hope, be gradually very + much extended. Then there is a circulating library in raised books + to which the poor can belong free of charge, and others by paying + the subscription required by the Committee. If you think it would + be well, and will tell me so, I will write to Mr. A., but as I + thought you knew him, or, at all events, his family, I thought + perhaps you would be able, and would kindly undertake the matter, + which is only one of inquiry. We are a large family party now. M. + with her husband and three children, and E. with her two children, + are all here. Robert is gone back to London and law. Papa and mamma + are really very well, and would send kind messages did they know I + was writing. I hope you can give a good account of Mr. B. With very + kind New-Year greetings from us all to him and yourself--I am most + sincerely yours, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +During the whole of 1856 the possibility of giving employment to women +as well as men had been occupying Bessie's close attention, and it was +one of the things she wished to arrange whilst the management was in her +own hands. She found that the ordinary work of blind women, knitting, +crochet, etc., could not be relied upon as a means of livelihood. + +Experiments had to be made in brush making, chair caning, basket work, +wood chopping, and the trades that were being opened up for blind men. +These unremunerative experiments might not be sanctioned by a Committee; +and in fact the greater number of those made and the decision with +regard to them date back to the time when Bessie was the supreme and +ultimate authority; and they were made at her own cost. + +By the close of 1856 she had drawn up a set of rules to be submitted to +the Committee. One of the most important of these was that a +Sub-Committee should be appointed, whose duty it was to select the blind +persons to be employed. She would not hear of giving votes to +subscribers and enabling them to force upon the institution worthless +and incompetent persons. Careful selection was essential to her scheme, +and was one of the chief causes of its early success. + +Another matter which she deemed of importance was a stipulation that the +"present superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his +office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General Committee." + +The rules recapitulate the object and set forth the work of the +Association. They were submitted to a general meeting of the +subscribers, held on the 19th December 1856. + +The meeting having first resolved itself into the Association for +Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, unanimously approved of the +rules, and adopted them as the laws of the Association. They are +interesting as the outcome of Bessie's endeavours to ameliorate the +condition of the blind, and are therefore given at the end of the +chapter. + +A Committee was appointed on the 1st of January 1857, and in May of the +same year a report was issued, with a balance-sheet, showing +subscriptions and donations to the amount of L435, L75 of which had been +contributed by Bessie herself. Interesting tables were appended, giving +the age, address, cause of blindness, family, income, to what amount +employed by the institution, and nature of trade of all men working for +the Euston Road shop, together with similar lists of men and women +desiring employment, of applicants at the institution, and of members of +the circulating library. + +The three months' report was a preliminary to a meeting held in Willis's +Rooms on the 26th of May 1857. The Bishop of London was in the chair, +the Bishop of Oxford spoke, and afterwards wrote to Mrs. Gilbert: + + + LAVINGTON HOUSE, PETWORTH, _30th May 1857_. + + MY DEAR MRS. GILBERT--I must tell you with many thanks what + pleasure your kind letter gave me, and how glad I was to be able to + take part in _that_ meeting. I did not at all please myself in what + I said, _because_ I wanted to show in the instance of your own + daughter how God brought good out of such suffering; how the inward + character, intensifying and become sanctified by grace, made the + sufferers as an angel in the house, do what otherwise they never + would have done, by the example of her becoming the foundress of + this institution--but she was present, and I could not trust myself + to say all I felt. May God's blessing rest abundantly on this good + work.--I am ever, most sincerely yours, + S. OXON. + + Mrs. Gilbert. + + +We have now the result of Bessie's three years of arduous labour. Her +institution was fairly afloat. The Bishop of London had consented to act +as president, and the Rev. Thomas Dale, Canon of St. Paul's, was the +vice-president. Notices of the meeting appeared in the London papers, +and were copied in provincial papers. Donations, inquiries, and orders +increased, and so did applications for employment from blind men and +women. The Bishop of Chichester had written a prayer to be read before +Committee meetings, and this prayer was used by Bessie until the last +day of her life. She looked upon it as a solemn sign of her father's +approval, and as sanctifying all her efforts on behalf of the blind.[6] + +No period of her life was so rich and full as the few years that +followed the first development of her scheme. She was surrounded by +friends who were enthusiastic in the cause, ready to serve her, and +willing that she should guide and control the work which she had +initiated. Some of those who gathered round her in 1857 are still +working for the institution. Captain, afterwards Colonel Fyers, who for +a time filled the part of honorary secretary, was a faithful and +generous friend to the blind from 1857 until his death in July 1886. Mr. +Summers still sits on the Committee. + +One of the first things done by the Committee was to take a lease of the +house occupied by Levy, then known as 21 South Row, and subsequently as +127 Euston Road. It was prepared as a factory for the blind. Rooms were +set apart for the various trades, and the requisite fittings and tools +were supplied. A large front room on the first floor was assigned to +women. + +Many informalities and irregularities which had sprung up insensibly +whilst the undertaking was small and private had now to be abolished. +The Committee directed that subscriptions and donations should no longer +pass through the trade cash book, and we may assume that a strict method +of book-keeping was adopted. + +An initial difficulty there was, and always will be, in the management, +by amateurs, of business which involves the purchase of material from +foreign markets. Prices rise and fall, quality is open to deception, +wages have also to be adjusted, and manufactured goods must be sold +wholesale as well as retail. This is taken in hand by a Committee +consisting of ladies and gentlemen, many of whom could probably not +dispose of a basket of oranges on advantageous terms. + +Bessie herself by this time had acquired considerable information in +matters of business, and she knew the difficulties that surrounded her. +Practical knowledge of this kind would have justly given her a prominent +place on any Committee. Her own Committee placed her without hesitation +in a position from which she was never deposed. They looked upon +themselves as elected to carry out her aims and objects for the blind, +and they believed her to be the best guide they could have. She on her +side gave her whole time and attention to the mastery of all the +intricacies of trade and mysteries of book-keeping. She was soon +familiar with stock-book, ledger, cash-book, and banker's accounts. When +she discovered that her wish would be law, she became doubly anxious +and scrupulous. She had always treated every one around her with +courtesy and generous consideration, and now to the grace of nature was +added a strong sense of the duty she owed to those who trusted her and +relied upon her. She was careful to ascertain the wishes of her +Committee upon every subject to be presented to them, and she never +urged her own views until she saw that her friends were ready to receive +them. + +One further development of her work was of doubtful utility. Schools to +teach reading to the blind were formed in different parts of London. +Each scholar was paid threepence for his or her attendance, and guides +were also paid for. It was found some years later that classes for the +blind, under similar conditions, were rather extensively carried on, +were indeed a favourite form of private benevolence, and that there were +blind men and women who earned a living by going about as pupils. + + + RULES FOR GENERAL MANAGEMENT. + + _Title._ + + 1. That this Society be denominated THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR + PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + _Objects._ + + 2. That the more immediate objects of this Association shall be to + afford employment to those blind persons who, for want of work, + have been compelled to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be + tempted to do so. To cause those unacquainted with a trade to be + instructed in some industrial art, and to introduce trades + hitherto unpractised by the blind. To support a Circulating Library + consisting of books in various systems of relief printing, to the + advantages of which the indigent blind shall be admitted free of + charge, and others by paying the subscription required by the + Committee. To collect and disseminate information relative to the + physical, mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind. To + promote amongst the supporters of the various institutions for + their benefit, and among other friends of the blind, a reciprocal + interchange of the results of their efforts for ameliorating their + condition. + + _Members._ + + 3. That donors of L5:5s. at one time shall be life members of the + Association, and subscribers of half a guinea annually, members so + long as they shall continue such subscriptions. + + _Committee._ + + 4. That the management of the affairs of the Association be vested + in a General Committee, to consist of the founder, Miss Gilbert, + and two ladies chosen by her, a President, Vice-President, + Treasurer, and seven gentlemen, to be chosen annually by the + members from among themselves; which General Committee shall meet + on the first Wednesday in February, May, August, and November, or + oftener if necessary; three to be a quorum. + + 4b. That out of the fourteen elected members of the Committee, Miss + Gilbert shall nominate one to be Vice-President, who, together with + herself, the two ladies chosen by her, and two gentlemen, elected + from among their own number by the President, Treasurer, and + gentlemen of the General Committee, shall be a Sub-Committee, whose + business it shall be to select the blind persons to be employed by + the Association, and to regulate the details, subject to the + correction of the General Committee. This Sub-Committee to meet at + least once a fortnight, and three to be a quorum. + + 4bb. The President or Treasurer shall be capable of being nominated + Vice-President, and Miss Gilbert shall have the privilege of + introducing at the meetings of either the Committee or + Sub-Committee, her mother, or one of her sisters, who may take part + in the proceedings, but not vote. + + _Auditors._ + + 5. That two subscribers be chosen annually, by the members of the + Association, to audit the accounts of the ensuing year. + + _Treasurer._ + + 6. The Treasurer shall be elected annually by the members of the + Association, and shall present his accounts to the members, and + also to the auditors or the Committee whenever required. All drafts + upon the Treasurer shall be signed by two members of the Committee. + + _Annual Meeting of Members._ + + 7. That a General Meeting of the members of the Association be held + annually on the second Wednesday in May, notice thereof to be sent + to each subscriber on the first of that month, to receive from the + Committee a report of their proceedings, and to appoint the + officers for the ensuing year. But should any vacancy occur in the + offices of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Auditors, or + gentlemen of the Committee or Sub-Committee, the vacancy shall be + supplied by the Committee or by Miss Gilbert, as the case may be, + until the next general meeting. + + _Funded Property._ + + 8. All monies directed by the Committee to be funded, shall be + vested in the joint names of four Trustees, chosen by them, unless + otherwise directed by the donors; the dividends arising therefrom + shall be received by the Treasurer, and applied to the current + expenditure of the Association. As often as any vacancy shall occur + among the Trustees, or change appear necessary, the same shall be + supplied or effected by the Committee. + + No general meeting shall have power to sell or appropriate any part + of the capital funded property, until the order made by it for such + purpose be confirmed by a subsequent annual or extraordinary + general meeting, consisting of not less than twenty-four members of + the Association, of whom three-fourths at least shall vote for such + confirmation. + + _Auxiliaries._ + + 9. The Committee shall be empowered to form or to receive into + connection with the Association, upon terms to be agreed upon, + Auxiliaries in various parts of the kingdom, for the purposes of + increasing the funds and extending the utility of the Association. + + _Special Cases._ + + 10. The Sub-Committee may in a special case require the patrons or + friends of any indigent blind person to pay a donation, or provide + an annual subscription of such amount as they shall deem proper and + suitable, before admitting the applicant to the benefits provided + by the Association. + + _Secretary and Superintendent._ + + 11. A Secretary, and likewise a Superintendent of the Repository, + shall be appointed by the General Committee, each with a stipend, + if necessary. These offices to be held together if the Committee + shall so appoint. It shall be the Secretary's business to attend at + every meeting of the Committee and Sub-Committee; register the + proceedings, and keep the accounts of the Association. He must + always be ready to produce the books and accounts fairly written + out, to any member of the Committee. On his appointment he shall + give such security as shall be required by the Committee, for the + performance of the duties of his office, and for the due accounting + for such monies as may be paid him for the purposes of the + Association. The Superintendent of the Repository shall also give + security in like manner as the Secretary, and conduct the business + of the Repository with zeal and assiduity. The present + superintendent, William Hanks Levy, is to be continued in his + office until he shall withdraw, or be removed by the General + Committee. He must also be in attendance at each meeting of the + Committee or Sub-Committee, and be ready to give information at + other times also when required. + + _Visitor._ + + 12. That a subscriber who is not a member of Committee be appointed + by the Committee to visit the persons employed at their own homes + and the Repository, and other premises of the Association, and + present to them a quarterly report of the results of his + observations. + + + * * * * * + + + BISHOP GILBERT'S PRAYER. + + _To be offered up at all Meetings of the Committee and Members._ + + O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, in Thy ministry upon earth, didst make + the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, lepers to be + cleansed, the dead to be raised up (Matt. xi. 5, Luke vii. 22), and + by Thy holy apostle has commanded Thy followers, that we should + bear one another's burdens (Gal. vi. 2), regard with Thy favour, we + beseech Thee, and aid with Thy blessing, our humble endeavour to + remove stumbling-blocks from before the feet of the blind, to + smooth their difficulties, and to strengthen their steps. + + Prosper our efforts, we humbly beseech Thee, O Father, to their + worldly relief, and sanctify them, by Thy Spirit, to the increase + in us of humility, faith, thankfulness, and charity, and to the + growth in our afflicted brethren and sisters of patience and + resignation, of goodwill to those around them, and of love to all, + with all other graces that adorn the Christian life. Of Thy mercy, + O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one ever blessed Trinity in Unity, + hear our prayer, and accept and bless the work of our hands. O + prosper Thou our handiwork. Amen. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] The prayer is inserted at the end of this chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS + + "Boundless pity for those who are ignorant, misled, and out of the + right way."--KINGSLEY. + + +Bessie was now thirty-two years old, and during 1857, 1858, and part of +1859 she was probably at the height of her power, physical and mental. +The physical never amounted to very much. Her health was feeble. She was +liable to long fits of depression, to long attacks of headache and +prostration, to much suffering from nervous exhaustion. During the year +1857 the progress and development of her work, the encouragement and +offers of help which she received, stimulated her to unusual activity. +To a great extent she took her life into her own hands, and choosing a +confidential maid to accompany her, she visited blind men and women, the +institutions established for them, and her own friends, new and old, as +well as many influential persons to whom she had received introductions. +She made and carried out her own arrangements, and might fairly consider +herself emancipated from control. The only restriction placed upon her +by her parents and not yet removed was that she should not travel alone. +She submitted, but often wished to ascertain for herself, and by +experience, if the prohibition was necessary. + +On one occasion, when travelling from Chichester to London, she sent her +maid into an adjacent carriage. She wished to try the experiment of +being alone in the train. At the last moment a gentleman rushed into the +station, jumped into the first available carriage, that in which she was +seated, and had just time to close the door when the train started. +Bessie was a little disturbed by this incident. As her companion did not +address her, she knew him to be a stranger. She soon found that he was +reading a newspaper, and as it was an express train she remembered that +she must have his company as far as London. Her companion was not aware +that the train was express, and when it dashed through the station at +which he had hoped to stop, he---- + +At this point, when she recounted the adventure, Bessie paused: + +"What did he do?" was asked. + +In an awe-struck voice she answered, "He swore----an _oath_." + +The look of startled pain with which she must have heard that oath +passed over her face, and the sensitive mouth quivered. She knew nothing +about an oath; she had been told that sometimes there was bad language +in a book or in a newspaper, but no one had ever said an oath to her, or +read an oath. And now in the solitude of this railway carriage she was +shut up with a man,--swearing. + +"What did _you_ do?" was asked. + +"I held on tight to the arms of the seat. I was so frightened. I did not +know what he might do next." + +"What _did_ he do?" + +"He was very quiet; it seemed a long time; then he said 'I beg your +pardon;' and after that he did not speak again, and he jumped out as +soon as we reached London." + +She referred to this as one of the most painful adventures of her life, +and said she passed through an agony of apprehension and suspense until +the train arrived at the terminus. + +This journey took from her all desire to travel alone, and she made no +further experiment in that direction. + +The success of her efforts on behalf of the blind began now to be spread +abroad, and institutions in many parts of England were disposed to +consider the possibility of not only teaching but permanently employing +the blind. Many inquiries were made of her, and she gave cordial +encouragement to all who asked her advice. Levy was often sent to teach +a trade, and to give information as to the best manner of carrying it +on. + +One letter from him may be given as a sample of many, and of the fresh +interests that were being opened out: + + + 127 EUSTON ROAD, N.W., _26th October 1857_. + + DEAR MADAM--On Monday the 19th inst. I left home for Bath, where I + continued till the following Thursday, when I went to Bristol, + which I left on Saturday and returned home. My presence being + required in London, I felt it prudent to defer my visit to + Hereford, which I think you will approve when I have the pleasure + of acquainting you with the details of the reasons which influenced + me. The results of these visits are of the most satisfactory kind, + being briefly the following: Commenced chair caning at the School + Home, Bath, and suggested improvements in basket-making which the + Committee approved, and the basket-makers showed every disposition + to carry out; taught two pupils to write, that they might teach + others to use the writing frame which they purchased; advised the + introduction of a laundry and tuning pianos, and arranged for the + sale of each other's manufactured goods. Before leaving Bath I + received orders for nearly thirty brushes and brooms, and had the + satisfaction of receiving from their Committee an offer to pay all + my expenses, which the vote of L5 enabled me to decline. The master + of the Bristol school promised to bring before his Committee the + subject of employing men who are not connected with their + institution. I have promised to send him some material, that he may + commence brush-making there. Miss Stevens advances money to a + workman which is regularly repaid; she complains much of the apathy + of the people in Bristol. Capelin is succeeding; business is + pressing and promising. Lady Byron's order will be forwarded this + week; there is not any difference made to Mr. Moon's subscribers, + but a grant might be obtained from the Bible Society, or the + Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; an arrangement with the + shopkeeper would be advantageous. Hoping that you will excuse + brevity, I am, dear madam, with gratitude and respect, + WM. HANKS LEVY. + + _P.S._--We are all quite well. + + +The blind throughout Great Britain were beginning to learn that they +had a friend; and Bessie received numerous letters and appeals for help. +The Rev. J. Burke, a blind clergyman, was elected in 1857 by the Mercers +Company to a Lectureship at Huntingdon, and he writes to thank Bessie +for efforts made on his behalf which had resulted in his appointment. +The employment of women called forth a fresh burst of enthusiasm and +gratitude from the blind. One of the first workwomen was Martha Trant, +subsequently employed for more than twenty years. + +A copy of verses by "W. Heaton and Martha" probably belong to this early +period. They were laid by with several similar testimonials, all yellow +with age and worn by use, but carefully preserved as the "jewels" of the +blind lady. + +William Heaton had been trained as a teacher for the blind, and, poor +fellow! his gratitude was far in excess of his poetical power:-- + + + Yes, I for one have felt the good, + And hope to feel it still; + For I a teacher soon shall be, + Then do my best I will. + + I thank you for the favour that + You have conferred on me, + For thus admitting me to learn + A teacher for to be. + + +Martha's verses are upon the same level as William's:-- + + + Oh that we had the power to speak + The gratitude we feel, + But words are vain, and oh how weak, + The feelings to reveal. + + Dear lady, we most humbly hope, + You kindly will accept + This token of our gratitude, + Our love and deep respect. + + +And so on through several not very interesting pages. But to Bessie the +value of these effusions was very great. They showed not only the +gratitude but the happiness of her workpeople. They indicated a renewed +life of the intellect and affections, and were received with encouraging +sympathy. The composition of verses had given pleasure to herself from +early childhood, and no doubt the form of expression chosen by the +workpeople was influenced by her own example. + +The time had now come when she was to learn more of the effects of +blindness upon the character than had hitherto been revealed to her. She +had inaugurated work on behalf of a special class, a course always beset +by difficulties, and she was open to the influence of the fanatics of +that class, of those who had been embittered by suffering and had +allowed themselves to drift to the conclusion that they were set in the +midst of cruel enemies. + +There are some blind people who, when the full knowledge of all that +their calamity entails is borne in upon them, have the courage, faith, +and hope of a Christian to support them. They go forward in the +certainty that as this cross has been appointed, strength will be given +to bear it. + +There are others who resolve to live their life, to carry out their +aims, to press forward along the lines laid down for them, and not allow +a mere physical privation to reduce them to a condition below the high +level to which they had resolved to attain. Christian faith animates and +supports the former, physical and mental force will carry on the latter. +In rare cases, Bessie's was one of them, the two are combined. But there +is a third and perhaps a more numerous class--those who consider +themselves as unjustly afflicted, and look upon mankind as enemies. +Mankind is the majority, the blind are the minority. They speak of the +attitude of "the majority," the neglect and selfishness of "the +majority," the duty of "the majority." Their only outlook seems to be in +restrictions to be applied to the more fortunate. They are the +one-legged men who want to abolish foot races. They seek not so much to +raise those that are cast down, as to abase those who stand erect. +Bessie's knowledge of the blind would not have been complete if she had +remained ignorant of this large class. + +She had deep sympathy with those who were embittered by sorrow and loss. +She could feel for the man upon whom blindness entails sudden collapse; +all his prospects shattered; himself and those dependent on him plunged +into poverty. He sees himself set aside and made of no account. He +forgets the blind whom he has known and neglected without any thought +of injuring, and suspects every man who is indifferent to him of being a +secret and cruel enemy. + +Numerous letters addressed or submitted to her show that the morbid +bitterness of many a heart had been revealed to her, and that she had +been urged, again and again, to lead a forlorn hope, and storm the +heights that were held by the sighted. + +She knew what it was to hear her "humble work and low aims" spoken of +with contempt, and to find that those whom she loved and honoured were +objects of ridicule to the advanced thinkers amongst the blind. She +could not work with men and women of such a type, but her sympathy gave +her faultless intuitions with regard to them. Underneath a hard, +aggressive exterior she felt the beating of a heart that was torn and +bleeding. She could make allowance for wild words and angry +exclamations, she could try to understand their meaning, but she was +never dragged into the whirlpool of mere clamour, nor wrecked upon the +hidden rocks of despair. + +A few extracts will show the dangers to which she was exposed, dangers +not unfamiliar to many of those who read the story of her life. + + + We are all of one opinion that the blind ought to be educated and + restored to the privileges of social life and happiness from which + they have been unjustly and selfishly excluded.... The present + condition of my own private affairs and the desolate prospect of + the future do not deter me from persevering, nor shall I desist so + long as God gives me health of mind and one or two links by which I + may communicate with the selfish and insensible Levites of the + sighted world.... No permanent success will be gained till the + education of the blind and their reception into social life be + recognised and insisted on as a Christian duty; till the old and + selfish indifference of animalism, that is almost everywhere + manifested, be superseded by a more earnest and generous anxiety + for their wellbeing, something more worthy of the spirit of + humanity. + + Until this real Christian sympathy be awakened to take the place of + that evasive and reluctant sham, so offensively paraded, misleading + the benevolent and deeply injuring us, we shall not be able to make + any progress. It is to arouse this sense of duty that I direct all + my efforts. I see plainly it is the only road to success. We must + first look to the enlightened, conscientious, and humane of every + creed, trade, profession, and rank, who believe in and practise + that Catholic duty of individual effort. Next those who by official + position ought to lead the way; and here we come first to the + minister of religion, who basely deserts his duty if he attempts to + snub into silence the just clamours of those who are hourly sinking + into the wretchedness of conscious degradation and social exile, + merely because the well-meaning sighted do not wish to be disturbed + in their enjoyment of all the blessings of the visible world and + social existence, by these melancholy and distressing subjects. If + the ministers of religion do but their duty, it must then be taken + up by the Board of Education, and public opinion will then call on + men of science, especially the medical profession, to direct their + physiological inquiries to higher subjects too long neglected. If + but one hundredth part of the mental energy that has been of late + years directed to the constitution and habits of the insect world + and of shellfish, had been devoted to an inquiry into the means of + restoring to healthy action the imprisoned, stagnant, and + deteriorating mind of the blind, something long before now would + have been done more worthy of the name of philosophy.... As to + gaining information from the teachers of schools, I do not expect + you would be treated with much respect in our present degraded and + unrecognised condition. With the exception of ---- and ----, I + never met with any one who treated me with the respect due to an + educated man; the manner in which I have been treated by others + connected with such institutions has almost universally been that + off-hand supercilious disrespect, with which an imaginary superior + treats one of a lower grade, such as a beadle will show to a + workhouse child.... The reckless and unprincipled disregard of + truth to which the supposed-to-be helpless, dependent, and + incapable blind are so generally exposed, has long taught me to + keep copies of my letters.... I could fill pages with many an act + and their consequences, which have contributed to my present ruined + position, the miserable desolation of my mother's old age, and the + blasted prospects of those who must sink and degenerate into + isolated poverty, who would otherwise have formed a happy, + self-supporting, united, and self-elevating family. This would + never have happened had not those who know well where to find when + convenient those sacred texts, "Thou shalt not lead the blind out + of their way! Thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before the + blind," taken a foul advantage of my supposed incapacity to protect + my own interests, and had they not practically ignored the _equally + sacred obligation_ that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." And + when I have occasionally heard the Jesuits railed against for + advancing the doctrine that the end sanctified the means, I have + assured such, that those equally were to be dreaded who privately + practised without openly advocating it. + + +Bessie's nature was too healthy, and her own experience had been too +favourable to allow her to believe in the organised opposition of +society to the afflicted. But she was deeply moved by these cries out +of the dark. They made her more than ever resolute to labour on behalf +of the blind; they also showed her that she must stand aloof from plans +and schemes which assume that the blind are struggling against their +enemies, and that if they are successful, a time of subjection for the +sighted will follow. + +In May 1858 one of the earliest entries in her Common Place Book refers +to this subject, and treats of the position of the blind in a world +specially adapted for the sighted. The sensible, clear view, calm and +dispassionate, is characteristic of one trained to look on all sides of +a subject, and to recognise that which is just for all. The child's love +of what was fair comes in to help the woman to see that a majority has +rights as well as a minority. She had to learn that, amongst the blind +workers, she stood almost alone in this recognition. She was surrounded +by men, some of whom attributed their misfortunes and failures not so +much to the loss of sight as to malignity and oppression, whilst others +believed and endeavoured to persuade those around them that blindness +induces an intellectual superiority, characteristic of the blind man. +Many of these were predisposed by early experience to suspect +intentional persecution, but Bessie never shared their views; and an +exalted notion of her own conduct, merits, and powers was impossible to +her. + + + L. [Levy] asked me the other day [she writes] if I had ever thought + that it was an additional hindrance to the blind that so much in + the way of communication between human beings was carried on by + means of sight, that so much, in short, in the world was adapted to + the sense of sight, and that only: for instance, that all signals + are addressed to sight, and not to any of the other senses. He + thought that hearing and smell could be made much more available + than they are at present. I have often thought this; but of course + it is only natural that the intercourse of the world should be + adapted to the senses of the majority of its inhabitants; indeed, + it would not be well, either for the world in general or for any + minority under any peculiar circumstances that this rule should be + departed from, only there ought to be the possibility of training + this minority in such a way as that it might avail itself as far as + possible of the means in use for general intercourse, and where + this is impracticable, of substituting other means which shall + answer the end in view. For example, the senses of hearing, touch, + and smell might, I believe, be very much more accurately educated, + and more fully developed than they are for the most part; but I + have much to find out on this point. I can now, however, quite + understand that systems of signals might be made very intelligible + to the senses of hearing and smell. I remember Dufeau thinks that + these senses might be much more developed; but he does not think + that the principles upon which this should be done are yet + sufficiently understood to establish a system of accurate training + of them. + + From what I have seen, nothing does this so effectually as the + necessity of using all the faculties in self-maintenance, though it + is true sometimes that when this struggle is too hard the whole + being seems so utterly depressed that all the faculties seem to be + dormant. + + I wish I had time for more personal intercourse with the blind. I + have, however, had more this year. One of the women at the + Repository, Jane Jones, strikes me very much as having a good deal + of spiritual insight, for I know not what else to call it. It is + strange, for her other faculties seem to be below the average; + perhaps, however, partly from the want of having been called out. + Among the women there seems to be a great mutual kindliness. A. L., + the most intelligent of them, is full of energy, and seems to have + a strong desire for improvement in every way. She is only one and + twenty, and more educated than the rest. She has much to contend + with. I hope she may do much in teaching. + + I have found the only two men I have as yet taken to teach, + wonderfully patient, and most willing to learn. One has a very good + notion of spelling, and is evidently really fond of arithmetic. The + other has scarcely any idea whatever of spelling, and it is very + difficult to give him a notion of the sound of the letters; but as + far as his mind has been opened to different subjects he has, I + suspect, a good deal of information and seems full of interest, + especially in accounts of travels. The history of Egypt, so far as + he knows it, seems to have seized upon his imagination in a way at + which I was quite astonished. He is an Irishman. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS + + "Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt, + Nothing's so hard but search will find it out." + LOVELACE. + + +The entries in Bessie's Common Place Book are not numerous, but they are +very valuable. They are the result of careful study, of long-continued +and anxious thought, and they are the most important original work left +by her. They will be read by all who have endeavoured to help the blind +with no less interest than by the blind themselves. + + + _Education of the Blind._ + + In the preface to a poem entitled Genius of the Blind, by E. H. + White, a blind man, he speaks of the great amount of labour and + money which have been spent in attempts to educate the blind; of + the comparatively small result, and of the bad effects of bringing + up the blind in asylums, and thus estranging them from their + families. It seems to me, however, that some such plan is necessary + for those who cannot be educated at home; though perhaps in the + case of pupils whose homes are in the town in which the institution + is situated, the evil complained of might in a measure be remedied + by their being admitted as day scholars, as I once remember Mr. + Bird suggesting. But even here in London and other large towns, + distance might be a great difficulty; and for those pupils not + residing in the town itself, I see nothing to prevent this evil + except holidays, and perhaps in many cases even this might not be + practicable. There is also this to be said, that among the poor it + is by no means the blind only who become estranged from their + homes: I think this may be said of the majority with more or less + truth; and it has often struck me that in all the different plans + for improving the condition of the people, this very evil is too + little thought of and guarded against. Indeed, I think that in all + classes this is hardly recognised to be as great an evil as I + believe it really to be. No doubt it was always intended that + families should separate and disperse; but much more might be done + than is done, to keep the home affections fresh and living, in the + hearts of their members. Certainly the blind have, if anything, + greater need of receiving and exercising the social affections than + others. And here I would lay particular stress on the necessity of + their exercising those affections towards others, as I am sure that + the necessity of their being the objects of affection is often too + exclusively dwelt upon, and that sufficient opportunity for showing + their gratitude towards their fellow-creatures is not afforded + them. I believe this to be the cause of much apathy or + irritability, as the case may be, among them. One remedy for this + result of the school system would be the multiplying of schools; as + then a greater number of the blind would have opportunities of + attending as day scholars. From all I can learn from others, and + from the little I have seen myself, I believe there is one great + evil at the root of the system of education in blind schools, which + is, that each institution wishes to take rank as the first in + importance, and is therefore more bent on making such an appearance + before the public as will secure its own reputation, than upon + practically benefiting the pupils, so far as lies in its power. + This is one reason of the pupils being taught to make things for + sale, which do not really help their progress in their trade, but + which please and attract visitors, and are on that account often + purchased, though in themselves utterly useless. Indeed I have + heard it remarked what very useless things are made in blind + asylums, and in other charitable institutions. + + Anderson says that one prominent feature in institutions for the + blind is, the desire to carry forward the pupil at any sacrifice, + to accomplish such pieces of work as may call forth the mere + surprise of the passing visitor. If this is bad in an asylum where + it is very little practised, it is far worse in a school. The time + of a pupil ought to be considered most sacred, and as much as + possible appropriated to the acquirement of that which he will be + able to perform and find a ready sale for, on his leaving the + school. + + There is, however, one thing to be urged in excuse of this practice + in blind schools, viz., that the funds of most of them are not + equal to their expenses, without the aid of the sale of the pupils' + work. I believe that every such school, in order to be efficient, + ought not to derive benefit from the work of the pupils; as when + this is the case, the learners are often hurried over the different + steps of their trade without due care being taken that they should + each be able to take such steps securely when entirely unassisted. + Thus on leaving the school the blind man often finds himself at + fault when left to his own resources in practising the trade of + which he was believed to be the master, in the acquiring of which + much time, labour, and money have been spent, and from which far + greater benefit might have been derived had it not been for the + root-evil which has been mentioned. The aim of every school for the + blind should be to fit them to fill their station in the world, be + it what it may, as Christian men and women, and therefore to earn + their own living, when this is necessary, as in far the majority of + cases it is. + + I hope and trust that one day the whole school system will be + improved. I know that Liverpool, which led the way in England, + started with the best possible aims and intentions; although it has + now greatly degenerated. Indeed, I believe all the first + institutions to have been good, though the scope of many is, I + suspect, very narrow. But it strikes me that all fall more or less + below their first intentions, not only in their practice but even + in their theory, and this I believe partly unconsciously. I do not + see why it should be so, but I am afraid this is but too true. + However, I can't help thinking that the rendering of such + institutions independent of any gain from the labour of the pupils + would go far towards improvement. + + Much might be done in schools to prevent the blind from being + isolated, by giving them an interest in the subjects of the day. + For instance, in the Bristol School, a newspaper is read to them. + + The older pupils should have opportunities for discussion not only + with each other, but with visitors and friends. For instance, there + might be an inexpensive entertainment once a week, or at some such + stated time, for the purpose. I should think also lectures at + Mechanics Institutes might be attended with advantage, as these are + never given till the evening; and means such as these would open + and enlarge the minds of the pupils, and would all tend to foster + in them the sense of membership with the community at large. It + should always be borne in mind that there is much in the condition + of blindness, and indeed in any other exceptional state, to smother + and weaken this feeling; and if not counteracted almost entirely to + destroy it. This is the tendency of the gathering together of the + blind into asylums as adults; and I am sorry to find from what I + have read to-day that this is being increasingly done on the + Continent. Many institutions there, seem to be rich in the + different inventions for the blind; but as far as I can see, all + seem to derive more or less profit from the manual labour of the + pupils. It has this moment occurred to me that the right use of + this labour would be to realise thereby a fund which should be + spent in some way for the benefit of each pupil when he or she + should leave the institution; or, in cases where it should be + deemed advisable, it should be made over to the pupil to be used at + his or her own discretion. Perhaps it would be well always to allow + the pupils to appropriate a certain portion of their earnings; this + would teach them the value of money, and would educate them in the + management of it. No doubt the answer to these suggestions would + be, want of funds. I should reply that much more real good would be + done by lessening the number of pupils, so as to be able to effect + it in proportion to the funds at command. I do believe such a + system would go far towards giving the blind workmen a better start + in the race for a livelihood than institutions have hitherto shown + themselves able to give. + + The importance of systematically training and developing the + remaining senses of their pupils cannot be too strongly impressed + on those who educate the blind. I am delighted to find that + Monsieur K., the blind director of the institution at Breslau, has + succeeded in obtaining permission for his pupils to _feel_ the + specimens of natural history contained in the Museum of that city. + How glad I should be to hear of such permission being given in + England. I think, as I have heard Mr. D. Littledale, a blind + gentleman, say, that in schools there ought to be classes formed + for the special object of exercising the touch. He himself has + begun to form a Museum of objects with this view for the York + School. But here I must say that I think the education of the blind + will never attain the perfection of which I believe it is capable, + unless teachers are specially trained for the work, and also unless + at least a proportion of these are themselves blind. Among the + blind I think individuals would be found capable of commencing and + carrying on such training schools; then of course each fresh + teacher so trained might be able either to superintend another + school, or to carry on in a blind school something of the + pupil-teacher system now adopted for ordinary schoolmasters and + mistresses. + + In every country there ought to be at least one normal school where + teachers for the blind may be trained. A simple way of effecting + this would be for the Government to allow to one establishment, + which should first be ascertained to be a superior one in its + management and results, such an annual grant of money as should + enable it to retain several young men as assistant-teachers, who + would be ready to supply vacancies, and to take charge of + newly-established institutions. + + This kind of assistance would be, perhaps, the most valuable + encouragement which a Government could give. It would ensure the + training of persons to continue and perfect an art which has been + kept in a state of infancy from the want of such a provision. + + The blind may be divided into two classes--those so born and those + who become so from disease or accident; the latter is by far the + most numerous class. Bowen says he believes there is no authentic + instance of any one born blind being restored to sight by human + means. I should rather doubt this, as I have been told that + congenital cataract can be removed if the operation takes place + early enough, viz. at the age of one or two years. The same author + says it is believed that blindness in after life might often be + prevented were the organisation of the eye more thoroughly + understood by physicians. He then gives some facts to show the + extent to which blindness prevails. Bowen says the first accounts + which we have of schools for the blind are those in Japan. They + existed some years before that in Paris, thought to be the first in + Europe, though there is a doubt between it and the school at + Amsterdam. In Japan the instruction appears to be oral. The blind + seem to have fulfilled the office of historians to their nation, + and to have formed no small proportion of the priesthood. The first + regular system of embossed printing in Europe was the invention of + Valentin Hauey, the founder of the Paris institution. Many alphabets + have since been invented, of which I will not speak now, as this + subject should be treated separately, but will only say that the + education of the blind will receive an immense impulse when the + improvement of which I believe embossed printing to be capable, is + effected. There are many contrivances for writing; and here also I + am not sure that all which is necessary is yet obtained, though + much towards it has certainly been done. But in this case also, any + increase of speed would be an immense help. + + The blind have different wants in writing to those who see. They + want to write easily and rapidly, and they want to commit their own + thoughts or those of others to paper, or, in short, anything they + wish to keep in a tangible form, by means of some rapid and easy + process. + + If possible they should have the power of making notes, and + referring to them when made, with as much facility as the sighted. + This at least ought to be the object aimed at. Perhaps it might be + impossible fully to realise this idea, but I think very much might + be done towards it. Even now Braille's embossed system goes far + towards this, but I shall hope one day to treat of both reading and + writing as distinct subjects. I will therefore only now say that + every improvement and facility given to the blind in these two + branches will do a great deal towards bringing their education to + perfection. I have said given to the blind, but I would rather say + every improvement and facility invented and contrived by the blind, + as I believe in truth they must be their own helpers and + deliverers, at least to a great extent. + + Before leaving this subject, I will add that I believe the power + of writing in some tangible form, with the greatest possible ease + and rapidity, to be of the highest importance to the blind; and + with this view I should like to see Braille's system in use in all + our schools. + + This system was the invention of a blind man, and is, I believe, + the best that has yet been contrived. I am sure the mind of many a + blind person remains far below the degree of cultivation and + maturity to which it might attain, simply from the want of being + able to emboss its thoughts upon paper. Some one, I know not who, + says: use the pen to prevent the mind from staggering about; and + this help should certainly be placed by some means or other within + the reach of the blind generally. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HER DIARY + + "The older we grow, the more we understand our own lives and + histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of wisdom is the + spirit of love, that the true way to gain influence over our + fellow-men is to have charity towards them."--KINGSLEY. + + +In addition to the Common Place Book, which contains the result of many +years of thought and investigation, Bessie kept during 1858 a diary. +This shows not only her thoughts but her deeds. Her whole life was now +engrossed by her work for the blind. French, Italian, German, the harp, +the guitar, were all laid aside. Friends were made no longer for herself +but for the blind. She was eagerly occupied with experiments in trade, +with instruction, with visits to the workshop and the homes of her +people, with letters and appeals, and with efforts to make known not +only what was being attempted, but the need there was that more should +be done. + +She studied the census of 1851, and upon it based her statements as to +the number of the blind throughout Great Britain and their condition. +She learned that a large proportion of the number lose their sight after +having reached the age at which they are admissible to the existing +institutions. She saw, therefore, that she must add to her scheme for +employment that of the instruction of adults in trades by which they +could earn a living. She did not believe in doles, pensions, and +so-called "Homes." She believed in work, in a trade, a handicraft, the +possibility of earning one's own living, as the means of restoring blind +men and women to their place in human society. There is nothing that she +records in the diary with more satisfaction than the progress made by +adult pupils. The instruction and employment of women was also +succeeding beyond her expectation, and the wages they earned +approximated more nearly to the wages of sighted women than had been +expected. But even her remarks on this proficiency of the women show her +usual fair and broad view. She says: + + + There are seven men and six women pupils. The best workwoman can + earn seven shillings a week, working eight hours a day. Upon this + she contrives to support herself and a little sister. A sighted + brushmaker employing a hundred workwomen states that she must be a + very good workwoman who can earn six shillings a week at eight + hours a day. The women he employs often work twelve or fourteen + hours to increase their earnings. This is great drudgery. It seems + as if brush drawing was more a matter of touch than of sight. If we + can only discover them, it may be that several trades will answer + for the blind on this very account. I think at present that this + will apply even more to women than to men. The male pupils work + well and make great progress, but their earnings, I think, would + not bear the same proportion to those of sighted workmen as do + those of the women. Still, as their work includes more than one + branch, this may be a mistake, and at all events it must take them + longer to become thoroughly good workmen, as they have more to + acquire. + + +On 6th May 1858 she writes in the diary: + + + Joined for the first time in the daily prayer and reading at the + Repository [the Association was known by this name]. This was what + I had often wished to do. Saw Mr. Dale, asked for his schoolroom + for a lecture for the benefit of the Association; he gave leave. + Told him what F. B. was doing about the _Times_. Took four [blind + persons] for reading, and think they are getting on. Saw Mr. Bourke + for the first time; had a long talk with him; think he will be more + active than he has been in seeking out the blind and looking into + their condition. Saw Levy Esqre. [not the manager], who showed me + specimens of turning done by Mestre at Lausanne, who is blind, + deaf, and dumb. Got Mr. Levy to promise to attend the meeting, on + the 18th. Talked with Levy [manager] about the meeting. Corkcutting + to be introduced before Walker's life-belt is made. Talked about + furnishing carpenter as the next trade taught, also about embossed + printing; think much might be done towards improving it.... + + _8th May._--Looked over, corrected, and altered proof of report. + Dictated a note to Levy about it. Wrote to Mr. Cureton, asking if + he could lend his church for Dr. Thompson to preach in, in July, if + not earlier. Wrote to Mrs. Jones asking about Dr. Thorpe's chapel, + also to Mr. Eyre, asking him to preach at Marylebone Church. Sent + papers to both clergymen. Received from Mrs. Sithborp her guinea + subscription. Entered letters of yesterday and to-day. Dictated + some notes and thoughts for the Common Place Book. It is a great + pleasure to get some of these thoughts actually expressed. It gives + them, as it were, a shape and a body, besides, I can never do what + I wish without this, as I should never have the necessary + materials. Saw Mary Haines. Wrote to Miss Repton.... Read a letter + in two systems. + + +This allusion to "what she wishes" refers to her desire to write a book +upon the condition of the blind. She had this object before her for many +years, and prepared for it by accumulating statistics and information +from every available source. She read the lives of blind men, books +written by blind men, took copious notes, or had them taken for her, +sometimes by her younger brother, sometimes by a sister. She "thought +out" every statement made, every suggestion offered, with regard to the +blind. Her book would have been singularly valuable. Her sound judgment, +her power of looking at all sides of a question, would have saved her +from the danger of forgetting that, although there are 30,000 blind in +the United Kingdom, there are some millions who have the gift of sight. +The book was never written, but her preparation for it made her a +storehouse of information and of wise and tender thought, not only for +the blind, but for all those who are afflicted and suffering. + + + 17th May.... Saw Sir W. Reid, heard from him that a brush, with the + Repository stamp, is left in the Museum at Malta; was very glad of + this. Received from him L5. Heard he had seen Lord Cranbourne, and + that Lord C. thought I was wrong in using and teaching T. M. L. + system. I talked to Sir W. Reid of the different systems, also + asked him for the names of books upon the blind mentioned to him + by Lord C. Wrote to Lady Mayne to ask if she could get St. + Michael's, Pimlico, lent. + + Afternoon.--Went to Miss ----. Very little done there for the + Association. Saw Dr. Jelf there; heard he would come to the meeting + next day. + + +The list of letters written and embossed and duly recorded in the +Journal will be omitted. They are the inevitable drudgery of such a work +as she was now engaged in. Explanations, petitions, acknowledgments, +inquiries, information, requests for the loan of pulpits from which the +claims of the Association may be urged, of schoolrooms in which meetings +can be held, all these things were part of her daily work. The sisters +tell that Bessie could at this time emboss a letter upon her Foucault +frame and dictate two others at the same time; always without mistake or +omission. + +On the 18th May 1858 the Annual Association Meeting was held, and the +First Annual Report presented. + +We learn from the balance-sheet that the receipts during this, the first +year of accurate and formal management, had been L1784:3:11. + + + Of this, subscriptions and donations + amounted to L648 1 2 + Balance in hand 25th April 1857 215 9 3 + Sale of goods, etc. 920 13 6 + ----------- + L1784 3 11 + + +There was a balance in hand at the end of the year of L118:15:1. The +number of blind men and women who had been employed during the year at +the Institution, or in their own homes, was forty-three. + +The sum required for payment of rent, officials, teachers, and +supplementary wages to the blind, amounted to L744:10:4. The annual +subscription paid by Bessie was at this time L75, and in addition there +is a donation of L10 for broom-making, and L2 for advertising. But the +sum that appears in the subscription list is only the smallest part of +that which she devoted to the service of the blind. Her private charity +amongst them was at all times far-reaching and unstinted. She had many +pensioners in London, and pleasant stories of them abound. There was a +poor blind woman called Mary H., elderly and very lonely, whose +wonderful trust and patience called forth Bessie's admiration. She +ultimately procured the placing of Mary's name on the list of recipients +of the Queen's Gate Money, she taught her to read, and allowed her +monthly a certain quantity of tea and sugar. + +One day when she came for her reading lesson Mary said: + +"Oh, miss, I had such a strange dream last night!" + +"Well, Mary, what was it?" + +"Why, miss, I dreamt you were dead." + +"Did you, Mary? and what did you think about it?" + +"The first thing I thought, miss, was, what shall I do for my tea and +sugar!" + +The honesty and simplicity of this answer delighted Bessie, and she +frequently spoke of Mary's dream. + +The saying of another pupil also pleased her. She taught a blind boy at +Chichester to read, and when he came for his lessons the boy used to ask +innumerable questions. One day she remarked upon this, and he frankly +exclaimed: + +"Oh yes, marm, so I do, I always likes to know up to the top brick of +the chimney." + +Brush-making, first introduced by Bessie and taught by Farrow, had +proved a successful and remunerative occupation for the blind. +Encouraged by this success, the making of bass brooms was now added to +the work carried on in the Euston Road. The coarse fibre used for this +purpose has to be dipped in boiling pitch, and then inserted and fixed +into holes in the wooden back of the broom. By an ingenious contrivance +of the teacher, the hand of the blind man follows a little bridge across +the boiling pitch, reaches a guide, at which he stops and dips his +bristles into the shallow pan. He then withdraws his hand along the same +bridge, kneads the pitch, and fixes the fibre in its hole. Several men +sit round a table, and are thus enabled to work without risk of a burn +at a trade which requires no skill. + +The blind carpenter Farrow, who had made the fittings for the Holborn +cellar, had been from that time permanently employed in the Institution. + +In 1858 he was the teacher of thirteen blind men and women who were +learning a trade. Levy had visited Norwich and Bath during the year +1858. In the latter city a Blind Home was formed for the employment of +women instructed in the Bath Blind School. This was done in consequence +of a Report of Bessie's institution which had been sent to the Committee +at Bath. The School for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, +Southwark, had also opened departments for instructing and employing the +adult blind, but we have no sheaf of old letters to give the history of +this further development. + +The Committee of the Association might well look back with pleasure, and +forward with hope. They well knew on whom the success of the work mainly +depended; and in spite of Bessie's objection to the introduction of her +name, the following paragraph closes the Annual Report issued in May +1858: + + + Your Committee feel that their report would be very imperfect if + they did not allude to the great services which have been rendered + to this society, during the last year, by Miss Gilbert, the + foundress of the Association. Whenever pecuniary embarrassment has + threatened the efficiency of the Institution, her active zeal has + soon replenished the funds; and when the Association has been + unable to relieve the most distressing cases that have been pressed + on their notice, the sufferers have found her ever ready to afford + them timely help; and that, too, in a way which has shown such + sympathising interest in their privations, as well as so much + consideration for their feelings, that the value of the aid thus + afforded can be fully appreciated only by those who have received + it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FEAR OF GOD AND NO OTHER + + "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." + + +Bessie's early education and happy home life counted for much in her +work on behalf of the blind. She knew the advantage of being thrown on +her own resources, of learning the ways of a house and the paths of a +garden. She knew also that the happiness of the blind depends chiefly on +companionship. "A deaf person," she used to say, "is very cheerful +alone, much more cheerful than in society. It is social life that brings +out his privation. But a blind man in a room alone is indeed solitary, +and you see him at his best in society. It is social life which +diminishes his disabilities." + +Whilst she acquiesced, therefore, in Levy's wish that the work of the +Institution should be exclusively carried on by blind persons, she was +anxious that they should not be set apart and kept apart from other +workmen. + +Her diary for 1858 contains the following passage: + + + Spoke to Levy about the workpeople in the Repository not having + intercourse enough with those who see, and thought of the + possibility of their belonging to Mr. Maurice's Working Men's + College; I think that might be just the thing. L. asked what I + thought about their attending a Bible Class by any of Mr. Dale's + curates. I said I should like it, provided the mistake was not made + of talking to them upon religion as if it must be a sort of last + resource to the blind, to make up for the want of other things. L. + understood what I meant, and said he was glad I had mentioned it. + + +Any display of the blind with the object of calling attention to their +affliction, and extorting money on account of it, was extremely painful +to Bessie. She had too much reverence and tenderness for her +fellow-sufferers to make a show of them, and she would not accept help +if it involved any lowering of the tone she hoped to establish in the +workshop. Blind men and women were to be taught that they could do an +honest day's work and earn their own living. + +An entry in the diary shows that she had to educate more than her +workpeople before her views were adopted. + + + L. spoke to me about a suggestion for employing blind beggars to + carry boards to advertise the Association. Told him I strongly + objected, and why. + + +The workpeople also frequently caused her anxiety. + + + Felt and compared brushes from W. with those made at Repository. + Our make is the best. + + L. told me things were rather uncomfortable between two of the + women. I saw them each separately, and think and hope they will go + on better, but the whole affair made L. think how necessary what I + have often spoken to him about would be in future; namely, the + possibility of arranging for board and lodging for learners not + having means of subsistence.... + + Talked to L. about visiting the workmen at their own homes. He told + me he thought I should have special advantages for so doing, and + specially in speaking to them on spiritual matters.... Spoke about + baskets not being made to measure. When good workmen do not make + baskets according to order, something is to be taken off the + price.... Went to Repository to try and find out what Susan M. had + better do towards earning her living; am not sure about it, but so + far as I can tell, don't think she would have musical talent enough + to make her living by that; however, she has hardly learnt two + years, so I think one can hardly judge.... Spoke to Mrs. L. about + ventilator for Committee room, and about using disinfecting fluid + in the workrooms on Sunday.... Mrs. H. gave me a towel made in a + loom without steam, as a specimen of the linen proposed to be woven + by Association workpeople. She also talked about a home for the + blind without friends, where they should pay and, as I suggested, + be entirely free to leave at any time. She thought perhaps the + weaving might be carried on in some such place at a little distance + from London.... Dictated note to Mrs. L. to ask about the state of + health in the homes of the workmen, and to get their exact + addresses. Spoke to mamma about visiting them. + + +We may be sure that there would be some anxiety on the part of her +parents as to these visits to the homes of the workmen, but her wishes +prevailed, and an entry dated 19th June 1858 states: + + + Greatest part of the day occupied in visiting the workmen at their + own homes. Was very glad to do it, but sorry not to visit more of + them. Only went to four--Hounslow, Hemmings, Barrett, and Symonds. + Found the latter not so well off as I expected. He has not had much + work besides Association work. Altogether what I saw confirmed me + very much in the belief that such an Association as ours is very + greatly needed.... Spoke to L. [Levy] purposely a little of what I + had to give up for the work, only with a view of showing him that + one often thought one would rather be doing other things, and of + making him see that he was to some extent right in saying that I + had made sacrifices. This was not at all with the view of making + him suppose that I thought much of them, but in order to show him + how true it is that one feels the work to be a sacred duty, for + which, as for all other duties, sacrifices must be made. He is + thoroughly imbued with this feeling, but I wish to keep it + constantly both before him and myself, as I believe it is only thus + that we can either of us work as God would have us work, and we + both believe that He has made us His instruments for a special work + for the blind.... + + Wrote to the Dean of Westminster (the very Rev. R. C. Trench, who + was about to preach for the Association in Mr. Llewelyn Davies' + church) to describe the different papers I sent, and telling him I + thought that in what had been done for the blind, those who saw had + perhaps committed the mistake of making the blind feel how much + they needed their aid, rather than how far they might become + independent of it.... Gave L5 of my own on Capelin's account, but + find Capelin has been earning more than I expected towards his + maintenance, so that what I owed was not very much.... Talked with + L. about Newman, and heard a very sad letter from him, written from + the Union where he now is. Settled that the resolution as to his + being employed should be acted upon, but I am sorry he is a bad + workman, as this will make the thing very difficult.... Told L. we + ought to bring the Association into such a position that it should + be able to bear the loss from bad work while a man is improving. + Found, as I expected, that expense of management is about L300 a + year, and think subscriptions now cover this entirely or very + nearly.... Whilst I was at the Repository Herr Hirzel, master of + the institution at Lausanne, came; I was anxious to get all + possible information as to relief printing. He, Levy, and I, went + through the merits of many of the different systems, which took a + long time. + + +Relief printing for the blind is a subject beset with difficulty. In +every country where books are embossed for the blind there are two or +three different alphabets. There are systems in which dots and lines and +abbreviations take the place of letters; and there are systems where the +alphabet is enlarged and modified to suit the requirements of a person +who is going to read with fingers instead of eyes. The number of books +printed in relief is very small; and the result of using several systems +is that a blind reader finds that four out of five of the very small +number embossed are unintelligible. He can read Moon or Lucas or +Braille, but Frere and Howe and Alston and a host of others he cannot +decipher. Bessie spent much time upon the subject of relief printing, +and could read nearly everything printed for the blind. She thought that +Braille's was in itself the best system, but that Moon's was the only +one really useful to adults, more especially to those whose hands have +been hardened by labour. All except Moon's system must be acquired by +the young and sensitive fingers of a child. Bessie would have liked to +see the systems narrowed down to two, if not to one; but she found, as +many others have done, that it was impossible to obtain unanimity on +this point, as too many interests are involved in it. She made no +progress in the matter, and put it on one side. + +On the 7th of July the diary tells us she was at the Repository giving +advice to "Martha." + + + Talked much to Martha about her proposed marriage. Told her to ask + if her intended husband would wish to go to Mr. Dixon on account of + his near sight, saying that if this stood in the way of his getting + something to do, and Mr. Dixon thought spectacles would help, he + should have them.... L. sent me papa's motto, "The fear of God and + no other." I had asked him to have it printed for the + boarding-house. + + +In August of this year Bessie paid a visit to Miss Bathurst, who with +her mother, Lady Caroline Bathurst, was then living at Stanmore. She met +there Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave and Miss Butler. A friendship formed at +that time with Miss Butler continued to the end of her life. She records +the meeting in her diary, adding, "talked about the Association." +Perhaps we should have been more surprised if she could have recorded +that she talked about anything else. + +On the 10th of August she left London for Chichester. The morning was +spent in making arrangements for the Association. + + + L. came. I told him to tell Hounslow that he was only to repay L3 + out of the L6:10s. for the quarter's rent. Arranged to have a + large applicant's book with full details. Found that all concerned + were very much pleased with the boarding-house. Gave L. something + for relief in special cases. Told him to see about getting several + of Braille's small writing frames made, if he found the one I had + sent to be successful. Impressed upon L. to take on more workpeople + the very moment the sales would allow it. Talked to him of my plan + for raising money to buy a West-end house, made him feel he must + devote himself more than ever to the work, not that he is + unwilling. + + L. told me that the amount of goods bought in the past year had + been too great, but that bass-broom and cocoa-mat making would do + much towards keeping down this item. + + +The "purchase of goods" here referred to was always a sore point with +Bessie. In order to fulfil the order of a customer, articles not made by +the blind had often to be procured. The manager was on the horns of a +dilemma. Custom was lost when an order was sent home incomplete, whilst, +on the other hand, the Lady President wished nothing, or as little as +possible, to be sold which was not the work of the blind. This +difficulty, however, increased rather than diminished, and if there is +any way of avoiding it, that way has not yet been discovered. + +During the summer at Chichester, Bessie seems to have suffered much from +exhaustion and fatigue, entries of "unavoidably nothing done" are +frequent, as well as reports of "toothache." + +The house in Euston Road was small and inconvenient, additional space +was urgently required, and when it was found that there were empty +rooms in an adjacent house they were at once secured. + +"Heard from L. that four rooms next door are engaged for L16 a year, and +as the room where the materials were kept cost L5:4s., the extra expense +will only be L10:16s." + +A peaceful summer at Chichester brought time to spare for old pursuits. +She had the garden with its birds and flowers, and her music and poetry +as a solace after the grind of Association work. + +"S. finished writing from my playing," she records, "a song from the +_Saint's Tragedy_, which I hope I may get published for the good of the +Association; it was begun yesterday." + +She had written to Mr. Kingsley for permission to set Elizabeth's +"Chapel Song" to her own music, and received an assurance that he would +be very glad if any words of his could be useful to her, or any work of +hers. + +In September she was again in London for a Committee meeting, and there +were the usual applications to consider, and the reading and talking +with the workpeople. She inspected the new rooms and the boarding-house, +and talked over the possibility of Levy's going to France upon business. +After her return to Chichester and for many months we find almost daily +entries "Embossed much French and dictated a great deal for L." + +During this summer she was oppressed by the consciousness that the +mental training of the blind had not taken its due place in her scheme. +She wanted to find something that would afford instruction and at the +same time recreation for the poor, something to awaken and enlarge their +interest in the external world. She found that the perceptive faculties +which take the place of sight suffer from a want of due cultivation, and +she wished to remedy this by enabling the blind to obtain information +about natural objects. Something, she thought, might be done by a +development of the sense of touch, and by arranging a Natural History +Museum in such a manner that every specimen could be handled. In +connection with the Museum, she proposed to form a department for the +exhibition of inventions in aid of the blind. These were to be arranged +without reference to the "sighted," and in such a manner that the blind +could easily examine and compare them. An exhibition of this kind was +opened in Paris in October 1886, but the idea originated in the fertile +brain of Bessie Gilbert. + +Meanwhile the Museum for her poor was the first thing to be started, and +she prepared for it by visiting the Chichester Museum. In September we +read: + +"Went to Museum to ask the cost of stuffing birds and about collections +of eggs, and the order of arranging birds. Settled with E. that she +should ask Mr. ---- to shoot some birds, and with Mr. H. that he should +tell Smith the bird stuffer to come to me next Wednesday." Mr. ---- +seems to have had only moderate success with his gun, as a later entry +records, "Received two birds from Mr. ----." There are frequent accounts +of "looking over eggs," "arranging glass case for the stuffed birds, and +talking about the Museum to all who could give advice or make useful +suggestions." + +Early in this year a large oil painting of blind men and women at work +round a table in the Euston Road was painted by Mr. Hubbard. An +engraving taken from the picture, with an account of the institution, +was inserted in the _Illustrated News_ of 24th April 1858, and in May +the picture was purchased "by subscription" for the sum of ten guineas, +and fixed outside the shop, where for many years it attracted the notice +of passers-by. It was engraved for the use of the Institution, and may +still be seen on the Annual Report, Price Lists, etc., whilst the +original painting hangs in the Berners Street Committee Room. + +The account given by the _Illustrated News_ called attention to Bessie's +work. It was followed by letters in _The Times_, _Daily News_, and other +journals, and by an article in _Household Words_, believed to be by +Charles Dickens, entitled "At Work in the Dark." Many subscriptions, +donations, and promises of help were received in consequence of these +notices in the Press. + +Mr. Walker, who invented a life-belt, offered the benefit of its +manufacture to the Association, and a new trade, corkcutting, was set on +foot. + +In the course of the year the "Association of Blind Musicians" applied, +through Mr. Swanson, blind organist of Blackheath Park Church, to be +admitted to union with Bessie's influential society. She was warmly +interested in the appeal, and willing to grant such help, pecuniary and +other, as the greater Association could render to the less. The aim of +Mr. Levy, Mr. James Lea Summers, Mr. Swanson, and other blind musicians +was to give a thorough musical training to, and to obtain employment as +organists and teachers for, blind men with a talent for music. + +The petition was courteously received, and after much discussion by the +Committee and consideration by Bessie, the prayer for union, but without +pecuniary aid, was granted. The Musical Association, however, had +neither sufficient funds nor enough influence for the undertaking. But +the promotors acted as pioneers, and a few years later Bessie saw that +the efforts of Dr. Campbell and the establishment of the Normal College +for the Blind at Norwood, would satisfactorily accomplish all that the +Blind Musicians had attempted. + +The trades hitherto taught to women had been leather and bead work, and +the making of nosebags for horses. These were found to be +unremunerative, and it was necessary to substitute others for them. +There was at that time a great demand for fine baskets imported from +France, and it occurred to Bessie that if they could procure the blocks +upon which these baskets were made and the tools used, she might learn +the art of basket-making and teach the workwomen. + +But there was a difficulty in the way. The manufacture of these baskets +was a monopoly, and the firm to which they were consigned would give no +information as to the locality whence they came. Some one must go to +France and find out. Who could go except Levy! + +It was to prepare him for this journey that for more than a year Bessie +had been at every spare moment "embossing French words for L.," as the +diary informs us, or dictating a vocabulary. In the autumn of 1858 he +and his wife set out on their journey of discovery. Bessie had applied +for a grant in aid of Levy's expenses, but the Committee did not accede +to her request, so that funds were provided from her private purse. + +The blind man and his wife took the wrong train at Calais, and for some +time did not discover their mistake. However, they retraced their steps, +and after many adventures learnt that the baskets arrived in large +crates at Calais from the north of France, and were shipped for England. +No one knew exactly whence they came. Levy commenced a search which +threatened to be fruitless, when one day at St. Quentin he met a +_comis-voyageur_, who told him that the village in which these baskets +were made was Oigny, about eight miles distant. + +On the following day Levy and his wife stood at the door of the very man +who supplied baskets to the Institution, and found that their appearance +caused surprise and alarm. But when Levy explained the object of his +visit he met with a cordial reception. The manufacturer showed and +allowed him to purchase blocks and tools; taught him the ingenious +contrivance by which the blocks could be taken to pieces and removed +when the baskets were completed, and gave him all the information in his +power as to the method and cost of production. He also took him to the +village where the workpeople lived; but it is a cider-growing country, +and many were away at the apple harvest. Levy and his wife were kindly +received in the cottages, and he wrote to Miss Gilbert that a canary was +singing in every house, and that many of the villagers grew their own +osiers. + +The result of this journey was very encouraging, although Bessie did not +learn the trade or become a teacher of basket making. She had other work +to do. Levy himself taught the blind women, and says that he found them +apt pupils. When Bessie visited London in November she reports that she +"felt A. at the basket work, and was shown the use of all the tools and +the blocks. The English ones are made much better than the French, but +after French patterns. Found from all I saw and heard that a great +advance has been made, but there are seventy-six more applicants for +work. Saw and talked to H. to encourage him." + +Before long the women are reported to be making fine baskets which +please customers, and are bought in preference to the French. They had +plenty of employment in executing orders, until, unfortunately for them, +fine baskets went out of fashion, and bags came in. + +For some time after his visit to France, Levy wrote and printed his +name Levy. + +The autumn brought a new scheme. Collecting boxes were to be fixed in +different parts of London, and application was made to hotels and other +places of resort to receive the boxes, together with specimen cases of +the work of the blind. Bessie had, as usual, a busy time with her +letters, but she did not forget the Museum. + +When she went to town in November she talked to the workpeople about it, +and they liked the idea. She had taken "two or three things from the +garden" to show them; and in December, when she went to town for the +"women's tea-party," she "took the crocodile," and "the women were +delighted with it." + +She wrote a letter at this time for publication, pleading for the +education of blind children in the ordinary schools for the poor. She +was also in correspondence with Mrs. Hooper, who was preparing a +magazine article on the work of the blind. She records that she urged +Mrs. Hooper to attach "more importance to donations and subscriptions, +to speak of the Museum, and to tell the educated blind that they ought +to assist the blind poor to help themselves." Through a friend she also +applied for the custom of Cheltenham College for Ladies. + +Bessie had decided to give L2000 to the Association as an endowment +fund. The conditions of her gift were brought before the Committee, +discussed, and accepted. The money was invested in the names of three +trustees, and the Association seemed now to stand upon a sure footing. +These conditions will be read with interest. + + + CONDITIONS. + + 1. As long as those employed and taught by the Association, or + receiving any benefit whatsoever therefrom, shall be admitted by + the decision of the Committee, or by some one deputed by + themselves, and not by the votes of the subscribers. + + 2. As long as blindness shall not disqualify any person from + holding the office of Superintendent, Traveller, or Porter. + + 3. As long as it is a fundamental rule of the Association that the + immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment + to those blind persons who for want of work have been compelled to + solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so; to cause + those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some industrial + art; and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the blind; + also to support a circulating library consisting of books in + various systems of relief printing, to the advantages of which the + indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon + payment of the subscription required by the Committee; to collect + and disseminate information relative to the physical, mental, + moral, and religious condition of the blind; and to promote among + individuals and institutions, seeking to ameliorate the condition + of the blind, a friendly interchange of information calculated to + advance the common cause among all classes of the blind. + + 4. As long as the Committee shall consist of both ladies and + gentlemen. + + 5. As long as at least six blind men or women shall be supplied + with work at their homes by the Association, each at a sum of not + less than six shillings per week; and so long as at least three + blind men and three blind women shall be receiving instruction at + the cost of the Association. + + +These conditions deserve the careful consideration of every one +interested in the blind, and should be religiously observed in the +Institution founded by Bessie Gilbert. + +Her work had now greatly increased; a large number of blind persons were +regularly employed, and the public had responded to every appeal for +funds. A meeting was held in May 1859, with the Bishop of London in the +chair, and the time seemed to have come for that further information +which Colonel Phipps had intimated might be sent to the Queen. + +In April 1859, therefore, a letter was written to Her Most Gracious +Majesty, by her very dutiful and humble servant E. M. M. Gilbert, to +which the following reply was received: + + + BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _7th May 1859_. + + MADAM--In reply to your letter of the 29th April, I have now the + pleasure to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen has been + graciously pleased to grant her patronage to the Association for + Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, for which you have + shown so much sympathetic interest and so large and liberal a + benevolence.--I have the honour to be, madam, your obedient humble + servant, C. B. PHIPPS. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Bessie returned very dutiful acknowledgments and grateful thanks to the +Queen, who had for the second time granted her petition and rendered +signal service to her cause. + +Henceforward, on the first page of annual reports, and on all bills and +notices, appear the magical words-- + + + Patroness. Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen. + + +They were doubtless, as Bessie believed them to be, a tower of strength +to her, inspiring confidence, securing friends, bringing custom and +money. + +Proud and happy too were the blind workmen as they sat round their +little table, cautiously dipping fibre into the boiling pitch. They +could reply to inquirers that orders had been received from Buckingham +Palace, from Osborne, and from Windsor Castle, and that they were +"making brooms for the Queen." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EVERYDAY LIFE + + "Ce que peut la vertu d'un homme ne se doit pas mesurer par ses + efforts, mais par son ordinaire."--PASCAL. + + +In January 1859 Bessie, with a younger sister, paid a ten days' visit to +Fir Grove, Eversley, the home of her friend Miss Erskine. It was at this +time that she became personally acquainted with Charles Kingsley. She +heard him preach in his own church, and the sermon was one that she +always referred to with gratitude as having helped and strengthened +her.[7] + +Miss Erskine remembers that Bessie walked and talked with Mr. and Mrs. +Kingsley, and that they learnt to love her dearly. They quickly +recognised the brave and faithful nature of the blind lady. "When you +have medicine to take you drink it all up," said Charles Kingsley.[8] +Never was there a truer remark. + +She might, in the diary she was then keeping, have recorded many +interesting incidents connected with that visit. But she merely makes a +note of work done on behalf of the Association, and there is one +solitary mention of Mr. Kingsley's name--"talked to Mr. Kingsley about +the Museum." That she talked about the Association it is unnecessary to +add, and as a proof of it we find in the spring that Mr. Kingsley asked +the Rev. Llewelyn Davies either to preach or to lend his pulpit in aid +of her work. + +On her return to Chichester the remainder of January was spent in +writing letters to ask for anecdotes concerning the blind, and in +obtaining material for her proposed book. + +An autograph letter soliciting patronage was written at this time to the +blind King of Hanover. She tells how she first dictated, then copied it +herself, and also wrote herself to enclose it to Miss Boyle, by whom it +was to be forwarded. "Seems little enough," she adds, "but took a long +time." + +With regard to her biographies, Levy writes as follows: + +"I think Mr. Taylor would lend any work he has; the best he has I think +are all German. The translations which I have heard from them remind me +of the efforts which have been made to discover the North-West Passage, +you are continually boring through ice, and if perchance you do meet +with a piece of clear water you are no sooner aware that it is such than +you are hemmed in with ice again. + +"If you were to write and ask him to lend you any work on the biography +of the blind it would do good, but all that Germany has produced for the +blind is not worth spending much time upon." He proceeds to tell her of +a meeting held at St. John's Wood, and of the feeling that seemed to +prevail that the institution there for the blind must either adopt "our +views" or else come to the ground; and how in consequence of this the +title had been changed to "The London Society for teaching the blind to +read and for teaching the Blind Industrial Arts." He ends his letter, +"It seems truly miraculous that in so short a space of time so much +should be done with the various institutions. There is St. John's Wood, +St. George's, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, York, and Bath of which we +know." + +Bessie's friends heard of her proposed book on the blind with interest. +Mr. Browne, the Rector of Pevensey, wrote in warm approval, and offered +when in London to consult books for her at the British Museum. The late +Colonel Fyers wrote from Dover Castle, enclosing an account of the life +of a blind doctor, Rockliffe, of Ashley in Lincolnshire. Her brother Tom +writes from Trinity College, sending notes on the life of the blind +professor, Sanderson of Cambridge, who died in 1739. He speaks of a +picture on the stairs of the library, of which he thinks she might make +use. Her own note-book is filled with accounts of the lives of Holman, +Gough, Huber, Laura Bridgman, and others. Many letters sent to her at +this time have been preserved; one from a blind man, Elisha Bates, +interested her greatly:-- + + + ELISHA BATES. I am thirty-three years of age. I was born at Coburn + near Richmond, Yorkshire. My parents were agricultural labourers. I + was born quite blind. I was always fond of horses. I used as a + little boy to drive the horses in Mr. Fryer's threshing machine. I + began this about nine years of age. I went daily to the ploughing + fields, and although so young I was allowed to drive the horses for + the ploughman. I could very early find my way about the village and + to the different fields of the farmers. Up to eleven years of age I + went with the other boys of the village to seek birds' nests, and + often found my way to and from the neighbouring villages. I always + had an excellent memory for recollecting the turns in the road and + the variations of the surface, by which I was guided. I never had a + stick up to this time, and up to the present time I rarely use one. + I went to the Liverpool Blind Institution at twelve years of age, + and learnt to read in the characters for the blind, and was taught + the trade of ropemaking. I was so good in finding my way at + Liverpool that I used to take charge of an old man [Hewell Kennedy] + in our walking excursions. He was lame, deaf, and blind, and I used + to take him about three miles up the London Road to the Old Swan + Inn. I never forget a road I have once travelled over. I have no + difficulty in avoiding obstacles. I think I do so from the + acuteness of my hearing; I listen attentively to my footfall, and + when approaching any object which may intercept my progress, even a + lamp-post, I can discover a slight difference in the sound. If I + have any doubt I tread a little louder, so as to satisfy my ear. I + never fail in making it out. The difference in the sound is + difficult to describe; but if I am near a wall or any object in my + path I feel the sound to be more confined and not to extend itself + as in an open space. It comes quicker to my ear. I left Liverpool + at the age of seventeen and returned by railway to my native + village. I remained a year at home and drove the farmer's horses. I + then went to the Victoria Asylum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I + earned 8s. a week in making ropes. I remained there until I was + twenty-two years old. Whilst in Newcastle I got thoroughly + acquainted with the streets, and used to take out and deliver goods + in the town. I came home by the railway and stayed two or three + months. I then found my way on foot and alone to Sunderland, 45 + miles. I asked people on the way how to steer my course. I always + learnt what turns I had to take and the distance from place to + place. I could calculate very accurately the time it took me to + complete any given distance, and knew exactly when I arrived at the + end of it. I then found my way from Sunderland to Newcastle, some + 15 miles of very busy road, and had a great many of the colliery + railways to cross. I walked back from Newcastle to Colburn + unattended and alone. I then, after remaining at home a short time, + started for Leeds, and walked above 50 miles in two days. I am a + very quick walker on a good road. I went in search of work. I went + alone from Leeds to Bradford, 10 miles of very busy road. I + returned home walking alone the whole way by Otley, Knaresborough, + and Leming, about 50 miles. I married after my return from + Newcastle and have two children. After my last journey from + Bradford I settled down at Richmond. My wife never travels with me, + I always go alone. At Richmond I commenced with a donkey and cart + as a firewood gatherer. My wife and I gathered firewood and brought + it in my cart to Richmond, and sold it to my customers. I next got + a pony and larger cart, and have ever since regularly led coals + from the railway station into the town. I can find my way to any + house in the town and never have any assistance in driving my cart + and going about. I get off and on to my cart as well as any other + driver, and when it is empty I sit on my cart and drive with reins. + With a load I go by the horse's head. I can tell instantly when any + other vehicle is either coming towards me or coming past me in the + same direction, and I turn my horse accordingly to avoid them. I + never have any falls in walking alone, and never come in contact + with anything when driving. I have never had any accident I groom + my pony myself and go to purchase all the food it requires. I have + always enjoyed good health. I have my amusements as well as work. I + go angling in the River Swale with rod, and salmon roe as bait, and + occasionally get a good dish of trout. I have also been a + nut-gatherer, and found my way to the woods, and have gathered + large quantities, which I have sold. I am fond of singing, and used + to play the piano a little at Liverpool. I have not had any + opportunities of doing so since. I do not always confine my leading + coals to the town of Richmond; I occasionally take a load of coals + or other articles, such as furniture, to a distance of 10 or 12 + miles from the town. I was the other day employed with my horse and + cart at Crake Hall near Bedale, 12 miles from Richmond. Of course I + do all my work by myself and unattended by any one. + + RICHMOND, _2d June 1859_. + + +Bessie refers in her diary at this time to MSS. in a considerable "state +of advance;" but the only part of her work actually completed by herself +and now recoverable is the title-page. She was too closely occupied with +the work done in the Euston Road to give much time to the writing of a +book. In the midst of a record of her literary work we come upon such an +entry as "sold two brushes." Indeed there was no time in which she +would not gladly throw aside anything else in order to "sell two +brushes." + +Early in February she paid a short visit to friends at Ashling, in +Sussex; and on the 26th of February we have the last entry in her diary. +The full details of her busy life are at an end. There is no further +detailed account of the interminable letters and appeals, the visits to +blind men and women, the arrangements and plans and suggestions. They +are all to go on for many a long year; but the labour of recording them +is abandoned, and there is an attempt to diminish work which threatens +to be overwhelming. + +One of her letters at this time is to Mr. Eyre, "Rector of Marlbourne." +What almost insuperable difficulties spelling must offer even to the +educated blind! How much more we all learn from sight, from reading, +than from the dictionary! When a word occurs for the first time to a +blind person he can only spell by ear; and Marlbourne for Marylebone is +a very creditable solution of a difficulty. + +One of the most interesting workmen in the Institution at this time was +both blind and deaf. Levy heard of, and, at Bessie's request, visited +him in his own home. The poor fellow had worked to support two sisters +and an aged mother until severe illness, fever, robbed him of sight and +hearing. He had regained health, but sat in one corner of the room +moaning "I am wretched, very wretched." Hearing no sound of his own +voice he had ceased to speak to others, and sat in silence, save for +these incessant moans, and in darkness; roused from time to time by a +push on the shoulder and a plate of food put into his hands. The sisters +did their best to support themselves and him by their needle, but he was +as one living in the grave, and he was only twenty-one. + +Such a case excited Bessie's deepest compassion. In a single afternoon +Levy roused the poor fellow from almost hopeless despondency, and placed +him once more in communication with the world around; taught him the +letters of the dumb alphabet on his own hand, and spelt out the joyful +information that he could learn a trade and earn his living by it. He +did not readily believe this, but from that time the moans of "wretched, +very wretched" ceased. He was admitted at once as a pupil at Euston +Road, and learnt so rapidly that in six weeks he was able to write +letters to his friends. Also he had ceased to "spoil material," which is +the general occupation of learners for many months, and was earning +between four and five shillings a week; whilst at the end of a year he +was in receipt of excellent wages. + +Bessie went frequently to the workshop "to talk to A." He would repeat +aloud the letters formed upon his hand, and guess words and even +sentences in a surprising manner. It was instructive to remark how soon +an intelligent listener knows all you are going to say, and how +unnecessary are many of our long explanations. Valuable lessons in +brevity and conciseness were to be learnt from A., and the blind and +deaf man soon brought you down to the bare bones of the information you +had to give. An angry glance was thrown away upon him, and finger talk +has no equivalent for that slight and incisive raising of the voice +which implies that the speaker intends a listener to hear him to the +end. + +The slow, monotonous utterance of the deaf man, a pronunciation which, +as years passed on, became strangely unreal, and a sense of the +loneliness to which he was condemned, attracted much attention to this +intelligent man. + +After a time he married. His wife, a widow with a little girl, was no +comfort to him; but the child soon became his inseparable and devoted +companion. When work was over she used to read a newspaper to him. She +uttered no sound, but sat with the paper in her lap, whilst her little +fingers fluttered about his hand like the wings of a bird, and his slow +monotonous voice followed her, repeating words and sentences, or telling +her to go on to something else. + +One day Bessie, who was often accompanied by a friend, took with her +Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth, daughter of the late Bishop of Lincoln, to +have a chat with A. + +Miss Wordsworth sent her the following poem in memory of the visit: + + + A MINISTRY OF LOVE TO ONE BLIND AND DEAF. + + Near him she stands, her fingers light + In quick succession go + Across his yielding palm, as white, + As swift, as flakes of snow. + + The diamond on her hand, that gleams + And flashes when it stirs, + Toward other eyes may fling its beams, + But never gladden hers. + + No word she speaks, no whisper soft + His inner mind to reach; + No glances casts, tho' looks are oft + More eloquent than speech. + + The smile that gilds a friendly face + Shall never meet his eye; + Songs, footsteps, laughter, tears, give place + To dreary vacancy. + + Silence and darkness, brethren twain + For ever at his side, + Still hold him in their double chain + Inexorably tied. + + Yet love is stronger still, and she + Even hither wins her way, + And soothes the long captivity + Beneath that iron sway. + + Such tenderness, long years ago, + The nymphs of ocean led + To stern Prometheus stretched in woe + Upon his stony bed. + + Or in the shape of insect, flower, + Or bird has helped to cheer, + In later times, full many an hour + Of bondage, sad and drear. + + But what can comfort, like the heart + That sorrow's self has known; + Since that has learnt the healing art + From sufferings of its own. + + And casting selfish grief away + Forgets its own distress + In sorrows heavier still, that prey + On some more comfortless. + + This she has learnt--the secret this + Of her calm life below; + This gives those lips that sober bliss + And smoothes that peaceful brow. + + Yet more; the love of human kind, + How pure soe'er it be, + Can never fill the heart, designed + To grasp infinity. + + True, when the night of grief is dark + It gladdens us to ken + The distant cottage fires, and mark + The peaceful homes of men. + + But such as upward lift their eye + Will see a worthier sight, + The myriad stars, that in the sky + Seem homes for angels bright. + + Thus guided they pursue their way + Thro' loneliest heath and dell, + Till on their work of mercy, they + Come where their brethren dwell. + + And such as she no earthly glow + Would e'er suffice for them, + Shine on her, 'mid these dwellings low, + Thou Star of Bethlehem! + + +The "Song of Elizabeth" from the _Saint's Tragedy_ was published during +the year 1859, and Bessie writes to Addison and Hollier to say that +instead of an engraving she will have the price-list of the Association +on the title-page. This remarkable decision they seem to have induced +her to abandon, for the title-page is of the ordinary kind. There were +at this time about a hundred and fifty blind persons deriving benefit +from the Association: sixty-three were supplied with work at their own +homes; forty-seven were employed at the Euston Road; the remainder were +pupils, agents, travellers, shopman, and superintendent, whilst three +received pensions. So many more were applying for work and instruction +that at the May meeting the Bishop of Oxford offered a donation of L20 +on condition that nineteen similar donations were announced in a given +time. He thus raised L400 for the relief of some of the more pressing +cases amongst the applicants. The increase of workmen made an increase +in the sales necessary, and the trade of the Association was assuming +formidable dimensions. The buying and selling, the control of workrooms +and management of stock, the care of ledgers, accounts, bills and +receipts, might now with great advantage have been made over to a +competent and adequately paid sighted manager. Such an arrangement would +have left Bessie free to devote herself to the charitable part of her +enterprise; to elevate and educate the blind, to investigate cases, and +make experiment with trades. With Levy as her faithful coadjutor how +much might she not have done! + +She was pledged, however, to a more ambitious attempt, and felt herself +bound in honour to show what the blind can do alone and unaided. A +proposal was made in January 1859 to employ a "sighted" accountant, but +as this was opposed by Bessie it was not carried. And yet at this very +time the incessant and anxious work of past years was beginning to tell +upon her, and she had urgent need of rest. + +She was mainly responsible for the funds necessary to carry on the +business. Being familiar with every detail of the business, she was +called upon to explain its intricacies to her Committee. She had often +to justify and secure the carrying out of arrangements which did not +meet with general approval. Every scheme, proposal, experiment, rested +ultimately upon her; upon this one blind lady, whose health had never +been good, but whose strenuous energy and strong sense of duty forbade +her to say no to any appeal on behalf of fellow-sufferers. + +Museum, boarding-house, sick fund, musicians' association, with its +classes for vocal and instrumental music, endowment fund, fund for +establishing a West-end shop, fund in aid of tradesmen who had lost +their sight; all these are the outcome of a single year's work. There +are also letters innumerable to be written and answered, appeals to be +made, applications to be replied to. She threw herself with fervid zeal +into all her work, and a day was accounted lost if she had not +accomplished in it something for the Association. + +Two sisters were married in 1858, but the diary contains no other record +of such important events than "unavoidably nothing done." Her heart +beat warm and true as ever, home and friends were dear as ever, but for +a time her horizon was bounded by the narrow walls of one small dark +house in the Euston Road. + +Herr Hirzel, director of the blind institution at Lausanne, who had +visited the Association during the summer, was so well pleased with all +he saw that he decided on his return to Switzerland to open workshops +for the blind. At different times some six institutions had also applied +for teachers or blind superintendents, but no workmen had been trained +or were qualified to fill such posts. Bessie saw that this was an +omission in her scheme, and at once resolved that special facilities for +the training of intelligent blind men ought to be provided. + +In the autumn, however, the long threatened reaction from overwork set +in, and she was prostrated by weakness and depression. In November she +was induced to try the effect of complete rest, and paid a long promised +visit to Miss Isabella Law, at Northrepps Rectory, near Cromer. + +She took with her a Foucault frame and taught Miss Law to use it, and +what further employment she found during her short holiday is best told +in Miss Law's letters. + +Writing at Christmas 1859 she says: + + + It is just six weeks to-day since you left us. I can never forget + that miserable morning; it is always haunting me like a dreadful + dream that I try in vain to get rid of.... I hardly know what to + tell you about myself; it is a very difficult subject to write + about. I have been trying to do more in the school lately than I + ever did before. I think of you when I am there, and try to do my + best. Still I am afraid, as Madame Goldschmidt said of the + clergyman, my best is very little. My sisters are going next week + to spend a few days with some friends in the neighbourhood: how I + should like to have you with me then. I remember so well your once + speaking to me about accustoming myself to be alone whenever it was + necessary, and not to depend too much on others for companionship, + so now you see I am going to have a little trial in that way. You + will think of me then, won't you? and I shall be thinking of you + more than ever.... I took a bit of my writing this morning to show + the school children, and they seemed delighted with it.... I must + say good-bye now, ... and how much love I send I never could tell + you. + + +On the 5th of January 1860 Miss Law writes: + + + I sincerely hope that this new year may be a very happy one to you + and to all who are dear to you. It seems so strange to me to look + back to this time last year. I feel somehow as if a change had come + over my life since then. I mean I seem to see things in quite a new + light, and to feel my responsibilities far more than I did before; + and I know it is all through your influence. I feel it would have + been indeed a happy year to me if the only blessing it had brought + me had been your friendship, which I value far more than I can ever + tell you.... My heart clings to every little remembrance of you one + by one, and they are all very dear to me. + + +No account of her life would be adequate which did not bring out the +stimulating effect of Bessie's friendship, and the way in which even an +hour spent with her would have its result, and open a way to useful +activity. Miss Law was specially influenced with regard to her poems, in +which Bessie took a warm interest. At first they were sent for approval +and criticism, but before long Miss Law was more than able to stand +alone, and she published a small volume, which was well received and +favourably noticed. + +The following pretty lines have been preserved amongst Bessie's +papers:-- + + + Will you please tell me very truly what you think of this little + poem? You know I have a great respect for your opinion, and that is + why I send it. + + WHAT IS SYMPATHY? + + It is the perfect tune that lies + Underneath all harmonies. + The brook that sings in summertide + Between the flowers on either side. + It is that voiceless under part, + That, still unheard, heart sings to heart. + The interchange of thoughts that lie + Too deep for louder melody. + The breath that makes the lyre move + With silent echoings of love. + ISABELLA LAW. + + +Bessie paid other short visits to old friends at this time. We hear of +her with Miss Bathurst at Stanmore, and greatly interested in Miss +Bathurst's most honoured friend, Lady Byron. She also stayed with Miss +Butler, who remembers that one day when she was about to mount her horse +Bessie stood stroking his legs, saying: "Surely this must be +thorough-bred." Another time, as Bessie stood near him, the horse +stretched out his head and took the rose she was wearing so gently from +her dress that she did not know it until she was told that he was eating +it. Bessie used to drive in a pony carriage with Miss Butler, and to +puzzle her hostess by a request for a description of the scenery. + +On one occasion a gentleman who had become recently blind was asked to +meet Bessie at Stanmore. It was very touching to see her sit by the +blind man's side, take his hand and try to encourage and comfort him. +Work for others, help for others; these were the things she told him +that would make life worth living, and her own ardour was able to +inspire him as well as others with hope and energy. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] _Town and Country Sermons_; 18. "Character of Peter." + +[8] Page 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TIME OF TROUBLE + + "Good times and bad times and all times pass over." + BEWICK'S VIGNETTES. + + +Bishop Gilbert's family circle was fast diminishing. His eldest son and +four daughters were married. The _sisterhood_ was broken up. Numerous +home duties at Chichester and in London, together with the care of +parents whose health was beginning to fail, engrossed the time and +thought of the daughters at home. Bessie still received sympathy and +assistance, but she lived a very independent life, and relied more and +more upon the services of a confidential maid, who wrote her letters, +made the entries in diary, note-book, and journal, from which we have +taken extracts, and accompanied her wherever she went. + +Her entire absorption in the work of the Institution could not fail to +become a source of isolation; and it began to cause anxiety to parents +and friends. They knew her delicacy and the need in which she stood of +constant watchful care, and they followed her with apprehension as she +sailed out into the ocean of labour and endeavour. + +Some remonstrances from old and dear friends reached her, and the +faithful Frauelein D. wrote as follows: + + + Don't you allow that one great interest to absorb all others.... + Remember that our very virtues can become snares of sin to us if we + do not watch ourselves, our purest actions may lead us wrong. One + great difficulty we have to deal with, in this our so complex state + of trial, is to keep within us an even balance of things. Do the + one thing, but do not leave the others undone, and above all seek, + in all we do, not our own but the glory of God.... Don't you show a + little want of faith and trust in your own eagerness and + over-anxiety about your Institution, which, though most laudable in + itself, may become a snare to you if it makes you neglect duties + quite as, if not more, sacred? + + +Bessie preserved this letter, and in her humility she would lay it +deeply to heart; but she knew that the Institution was not a work in +which she sought her own glory. She was labouring for the blind, who +depended upon her, and whom she could not forsake. She had "put her hand +to the plough," and could not draw back. + +In a very different tone we find a few words from her father, written +after Miss Law had paid Bessie a visit in Queen Anne Street. + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _28th September 1860_. + + MY DEAREST BESSIE--They tell me it will be a doleful parting + between you and poor Miss Law, especially on her side, which I can + well understand, as she has not the resource in active occupation + which you have. Your mistake and suffering may be in taking too + much of it, without allowing yourself, or rather, taking as a part + of duty also, the _delassement_ of passing events, of social + conversation and intercourse. Well, this is not exactly what I + meant to say, but it may do on the principle of "a word to the + wise." They tell me too you want L15, so here is my cheque for L15 + and Archdeacon Mackenzie's, also on Coutts's, for L20. He says only + it is a donation for your Institution in Euston Road. H. told me + you have a notion he gave it for some specified purpose, the West + End, for instance, but he says nothing of the kind. The cheques are + each of them payable just as they are on being presented at + Coutts's. I have acknowledged the L20 to the Archdeacon. Those at + home do doubtless give you the chitchat news.... I suppose some one + will write besides me, so I only add that I am, my dearest Bessie, + yr. ever affectionate father, A. T. CICESTR. + + +In the early part of 1860 Miss Bathurst wrote to congratulate Bessie on +a "noble donation," coming "doubtless in answer to the law that they +that seek shall find," and the donation has a pleasant history. + +One day when Bessie was in Queen Anne Street a servant told her that a +lady wished to see Miss Gilbert. She went downstairs accompanied, as +usual, by her maid, and on entering the room found one whom she +discovered by her voice to be a very old lady, whose first words were: + +"My dear, I am very tired; send your maid for a glass of sherry." + +This was done, and when she had finished the sherry the old lady said: + +"My dear, I bring a contribution for your work. You see my relations +have kept me a long time from having the control of my money, and now I +am determined they shall never get a penny of it." + +Then she turned to the maid who had brought the sherry: "Young woman," +she said, "count these notes." + +They were carefully wrapped in newspaper, ten notes for L50 each, and +every note in its own piece of newspaper. They were duly counted and +passed to Bessie. "You will acknowledge them, my dear," said the old +lady, "in the _Times_ and under initials." + +And that was all. No more was ever heard of her, and there was no clue +to her identity. + +Singularly enough there was a second donation of L500, also from a lady, +in October of the same year. The first announcement of it came from +Levy, who writes from 127 Euston Road. + + + _17th October 1860._ + + DEAR MADAM--In speaking finances yesterday I said that we could do + nothing more than we had done unless God sent us a special + blessing. God has sent us a special blessing in a donation of + + Five Hundred Pounds. + + His instrument in this gift is a lady, who did not wish her name + mentioned, but Mr. Evans, the gentleman to whose discretion the + giving or holding the donation was left, quite agreed with me that + her name should be published. Her name is Miss Terry.--I am, dear + madam, yours truly, W. H. LEVY. + + +The following letter is from the Mr. Evans alluded to: + + + _17th October 1860._ + + MADAM--I think it will give you pleasure to be informed that, + having L500 placed in my hands yesterday for a Blind Institution, I + searched out the one with which you were said to be connected. + After going round Euston Square twice, calling at the wrong places, + I at last traced it to the Euston Road, where I saw the Report and + Mr. Levy. When I told him my object he literally cried for joy, and + this I think will be interesting also to you to know. The lady who + gives this handsome donation is Miss Mercy E. Terry of Odiham, + Hants, through her bankers, Messrs. Child and Co. I need not say, + rejoicing as I do in such charitable gifts, that it affords me very + considerable pleasure in being the bearer of this intelligence to + you, although a stranger, as greatly interested in the aforesaid + Institution. The money has this day been paid to Messrs. Williams + and Co. on account of the Society.--I am, madam, yours very + obedly., E. P. EVANS. + + +Bessie, in acknowledging the letter, asks if the donation is in response +to an appeal for help. Mr. Evans replies: "Thanks are due to Miss Terry +alone, but chiefly to a watchful Providence who so appropriately guided +her charity to your Institution in need of it. Your individual +application had no influence in the matter; for, in fact, applications +of that kind are so numerous that it is not my practice to give them +attention. I did not know that you had written until you told me; but +now I find that you did so, because your letter lies amongst others put +aside. + +"Your wishes and prayers are, however, answered in another way, and +that is very satisfactory." + +These donations gladdened Bessie's heart, and were frequently referred +to as coming at a time when heavy pecuniary anxiety was pressing upon +her. She had applied this year to Mr. Tatton of Manchester, but he +replied that it would be impossible to raise funds in Manchester for a +London institution; people would feel that the many indigent blind in +Lancashire and Cheshire had a stronger claim upon them. He wishes her +success, and informs her that they are busily engaged in erecting a +large addition to the Blind Asylum in Manchester to enable them to carry +out the system of teaching trades to, and finding regular employment +for, non-resident blind. "The success of your Association," he adds, "in +establishing and carrying out such a system, has been one main cause of +inducing us to take such steps as will enable us, although at a very +heavy cost, to give the plan a fair trial in Manchester, and I feel very +sanguine as to its success." + +This information would give as much pleasure in its own way as the +announcement of a donation of L500. + +In addition to her autograph letters, a circular asking for custom for +the Institution, and signed by the Rev. W. Champneys, Sir John Anson, +and the Rev. Pelham Dale, was issued in 1860. These earnest, patient, +importunate appeals went steadily on; they were written by herself or by +any friend whose sympathy she could enlist, and sent to any and every +newspaper that would consent to insert them. But in spite of all efforts +stock was increasing, sales diminishing, and an augmented number of +blind applicants clamouring for admission. The boarding-house began to +be a source of anxiety, not only on account of the expense connected +with it, but by reason of the character of many of the inmates. Blind +men were sent to the London boarding-house at the suggestion and with +the warm approval of persons interested in them; and in the belief that +they would learn a trade and earn their own living. But in many cases +the man only looked upon London as a happy hunting ground. The last +thing he intended to do when he got there was to work. He wanted a +comfortable home, a small and certain allowance, and to beg in the +London streets. Tied up together are letters warmly recommending a man +to the benefits of the Institution, detailing his many virtues as well +as his needs, followed by others from the same writer sorrowfully +recognising failure, and very frequently acknowledging that the man was +"at his old tricks again." + +Bessie's faith in her cause was unshaken even by these painful +experiences. She showed infinite pity and tenderness to all blind +applicants, and gave to each one who was admitted a fair opportunity to +improve and reform. She believed that honesty, goodness, and habits of +industry were constantly found beneath the garb of the blind beggar, and +that he must not be judged by the ordinary standard, because his +condition of idleness had been enforced, and was often of long +standing. She learned to know all the temptations to which the blind +were exposed, and whilst she fully recognised and acknowledged them, she +endeavoured to show a way of escape. In spite of many failures she could +point to individuals and families rescued from beggary and placed in a +position to which it had seemed impossible even to aspire. + +Still, with all allowances which her wide charity and large experiences +were ready to make, it soon became apparent that a boarding-house for +blind men and women conducted by a blind man would not answer. Abuses +crept or rather leapt in, and Bessie, suffering and depressed, was +unable to intervene actively, as she would have done if her health had +permitted. There seemed to be no alternative, and the boarding-house was +closed. + +Mrs. Powell, sister of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, and twin sister of Mrs. +Julius Hare, was one of Bessie's old and dear friends. She was a member +of the Committee of the Association, and took keen interest in its work. +We learn from her letters that Bessie was too ill to take part in the +arrangements for the workpeople at Christmas 1860, or to attend the +Committee meeting in January 1861. Mrs. Powell sends a prescription for +a plaster "which seems to do wonders in neuralgia, and in soothing the +brain after there has been any strain upon it." + +Miss Bathurst also writes frequently at this time. "How earnestly I hope +sleep may be given back to you," she says. "Those long nights of waking +will try you sorely." She tells of a sermon preached by Mr. Maurice on +the text, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit," and how he had +dwelt on the change in the meaning of the word endeavour since it was +first used by the translators, and that it was at that time a word full +of energy, implying, "Put out all your force as for something which you +are capable of accomplishing." + +But Bessie was in no condition to receive encouragement from words which +would at another time have roused her like the call of a trumpet. + +The day of endeavour was for the present at an end; weary months passed +on, and her condition was unchanged. An abscess formed in the lower jaw, +and, after consultation, it was resolved to remove eleven teeth. It was +also decided to perform this severe operation all at one time and +without the use of chloroform. There were special difficulties on +account of the condition of Bessie's throat and the adjacent tissues +which seemed at the time to justify this decision; but the result was +disastrous, almost fatal. It was months before she rallied from the +shock of the acute and prolonged pain. When, three weeks after the +operation, she was at the lowest ebb and her condition very critical, it +was discovered that the spire of Chichester Cathedral was in imminent +danger and must shortly fall. Just that part of the palace in which her +room was situated was believed to be in danger of being crushed if the +spire fell, and it was absolutely necessary that she should be removed. +The Dean and Mrs. Hook made immediate preparations to receive her at +the Deanery, which was supposed to be out of danger. She was taken from +her bed on the 21st of February 1861, and carried to the safest room in +the palace, but before she could be removed from the house the spire +fell, collapsing like a house of cards, injuring no animate thing, and +doing little harm to any other part of the structure. Bessie was really +proud of that spire. It had been good and beautiful in life, and its +fall was the type of a peaceful and appropriate end. Chichester mourned +its loss; it was, as the local journal said, "the most symmetrical spire +in England, on which the eye of Her Majesty and her Royal Consort when +in the Isle of Wight must have sometimes rested with delight." + +To the blind lady the cathedral and its beautiful spire had also been +very dear. But as she had been too ill for apprehension, so she was at +first spared the sharp pang of regret. Many months of prostration +followed the dental operation, and it was more than a year before she +was again restored to health. As soon as she could attend to letters, +she received frequent reports of the work in London. The underground +railway was in course of construction, and had blocked the Euston Road. +Trade was annihilated there, and the blind had lost all ready-money +custom. Debts were assuming ominous proportions, and Levy, upon whom the +whole strain and responsibility now fell, showed signs of failing +health. + +Mrs. Powell wrote on the 7th of May 1861 from Palace Gardens, to give +Bessie an account of the Committee meeting. She said that: + + + Levy was in a weakly, nervous state, soon exhausted. He said it was + nervous fever from which he suffered, and that the doctor told him + he must have rest. In his absence from the room it was proposed to + arrange that he might spend every Saturday and Sunday out of + London. Mr. Dixon, the oculist, who was a member of the Committee, + said he must be careful not to go too far, as in a weak state of + health people suffered more than they gained by long railway + journeys. Levy came back into the room and announced that nothing + could be done or thought of till "the annual meeting" was over. + There was a debt of L1400 hanging over the Institution, half of it + trade debt, and half from customers who could not be got to pay + ready money; and Levy announced that the loss of custom from the + underground railway stopping access to the shop amounted to L20 a + week. + + +Mrs. Powell concludes by saying: + + + I need not add that much sympathy and regret were expressed by the + Committee at your continued weakness and suffering, and all hoped + soon to see you there again. I know how anxious you must feel to be + amongst them; but you will remember "your strength is now to sit + still," until it can be said "Arise, He calleth thee." In patience + you will possess your spirit. May God bless you at all times. + + +On the 13th of May the Bishop writes to give an account of the annual +meeting held at St. James's Hall, and presided over by the Bishop of +London. + + + QUEEN ANNE STREET, W., _13th May 1861_. + + MY VERY DEAR BESSIE--Ford [her maid] gives a most encouraging + account of your progress and walking performances, and I can + reciprocate with a capital one of this day's meeting. The room was + quite full, galleries and all; 2067 were stated to be present. + There were some donations, but I have not heard yet the amount of + the collection. + + It is clear to me the Association has now taken its footing in + London and in the nation, and that with God's blessing it will go + on and become a national Institution, and that you, my dear child, + may humbly rejoice in it. I have not time for more.--Yr. ever + affectionate father, A. T. CICESTR. + + +Such a letter would greatly help forward Bessie's convalescence, which, +though slow, was beginning to show signs of progress. In July a letter +from Levy must have reassured her as to the state of his health, and it +is interesting as the description of a blind man at a fire, with all his +wits about him, and other blind men to help him. + + + 127 EUSTON ROAD, _3d July 1861_. + + DEAR MADAM--Last night a fire of an alarming character broke out + nearly opposite the Institution, and at one time our premises were + placed in great danger, large masses of fire falling thickly over + our premises for upwards of half an hour. + + It is a matter of thankfulness that I was at home. + + Our officers and other people hastened from their homes to our + assistance. I caused the cocoa-matting to be taken from the floors, + immersed in water, and spread over the roof, and every vessel + capable of holding water was filled and passed from hand to hand in + regular succession, so that the stream was continually kept up on + all exposed parts. + + The office books were tied in blankets ready to be carried away, + but providentially the wind changed and we were relieved from + anxiety. Four houses were destroyed or injured, but the only + damage we have received is from the water, which is very slight--I + am, dear madam, yours truly, W. H. LEVY. + + +During the early summer of 1861 a tent was set up in the garden at +Chichester, to which Bessie was carried on all suitable days. She was +happy with birds and trees and flowers around her, and received visits +from many old and tried friends. Her recovery was very slow, but there +was always sufficient progress to point to the ultimate restoration of +health. + +Throughout the year the workpeople sent affectionate greetings and +appreciative verses to their generous friend and patron. Bessie resumed +the occupations of her youth, and in the months of her enforced absence +from London and the work of the Association she wrote long poems and +gave her time to music and reading. + +With a view to publication, she submitted some of her poems to her old +friend, the Rev. H. Browne, asking for a candid opinion. He writes as +follows: + + + PEVENSEY, EASTBOURNE, _15th August 1861_. + + DEAR BESSIE--I have read your poems, and, as you desired, have + criticised closely. The faults are chiefly in the versification. + Here and there I suspect they have not been written down correctly + from your dictation. The thoughts, sentiments, and images are very + pleasing, and the expression generally good. That on "The Poplar + Leaves" is exceedingly pretty and gracefully expressed. It needs + but a few alterations to make it all that it should be. "Spring" is + striking in point of thought, but the versification should flow + more smoothly, and the diction here and there needs correction. + + "Thoughts Suggested by a Wakeful Night" are so good that I should + like to see them made as perfect as possible, and as blank verse + needs more finish than rhyme this task will need some pains. I hope + you will not be discouraged at my criticism. If you think of + sending any of these poems to some magazine "The Poplar Leaves" + would best lead the way. I am sorry I cannot help you in this, + having no connection with that kind of periodical literature nor + any acquaintance with its conductors. You will see that I have made + no notes on "Jessie." There are many pleasing lines in it, but it + wants unity, the introductory part having no necessary connection + with the catastrophe, and the latter being only a distressing + accident.... + + +The poems, which with returning health and strength were laid aside, are +very defective in form, but the thoughts and feelings that were a solace +to the blind lady cannot fail to interest the reader. These poems also +show what the Chichester garden was to her, and what intellectual +interests and resources she had when she was incapable of the active +work of her Association. + + + THE POPLAR LEAVES. + + The poplar leaves are whispering low + In the setting summer beams; + As they catch the lovely farewell glow + That lights the hills and streams. + + What tell they in those murmurs low, + Under the rising moon? + As they wave so gracefully to and fro, + I would ask of them a boon. + + Have you any word for me, + A word I fain would hear? + 'Twas dropped perchance beneath your tree + Too faint for human ear. + + Ye whisper so very low yourselves, + That as they lightly pass, + Ye needs must hear e'en fairy elves + At revels in the grass. + + Then tell me, tell me, if she came + Beneath the setting sun, + And breathed a song, a sigh, a name + Or sweet word ever a one. + + Then whisper it again to me, + Ye have not let it go, + It thrilled the whole height of your tree + Through every leaf I trow. + + Yet still they whispered on and on, + But never a word for me; + Till, from the hill-tops, light was gone; + And I left the poplar tree. + + Again I stood beneath that tree + When the fields were full of sheaves; + But now it mattered not to me + What said the poplar leaves; + + For one stood with me 'neath the moon, + As they dropped their whispers low, + From whom I gained that precious boon, + The word I longed to know. + + + LINES SUGGESTED BY A WAKEFUL NIGHT. + + Oh sleep, where art thou? I could chide thee now + That truant-like thou'rt absent from thy place; + Or e'en could call thee by a harsher name, + Deserter; yet I will not brand thee thus. + Oh! wherefore dost thou leave me? Haste and come, + That in thy presence I forget all else. + Except thou grant me from thy precious store + Some lovely dream of joy; that, like a child, + Lies folded to thy breast, but which thou canst + At will send forth to wander here or there, + Bearing some wondrous message on its way. + Are such dreams thine? scarce know I whence they are, + Yet sleep in sober earnest, I believe + They are not truly thine, but dwell above + In worlds of light where thou art all unknown. + Yet hold they here strange intercourse with thee, + So that thy soft'ning veil is o'er them thrown, + And a mist in part doth dim their brightness, + And dull the melody of their sweet voice. + While, in the language of their home, they tell + Of its joy and beauty, bidding our souls, + As treasures, keep the whispers which they bring. + For though their sweet voice muffled be and low, + And though thy dewy mist enfold them, + Yet speak they truly with such heavenly power, + That in the joy and light of such a presence + Doth the spirit see this world, and heaven + To be more near than ofttimes we can tell + In the movements of our life; when the links + Uniting both, by us are left untraced; + While sad and weary we do often mourn + Their dreary distance, since our faithless hearts + Will sunder them so far, then cannot rest + In the sever'd world they make unto themselves, + Since that they are inheritors of both. + And He who dwelt on earth, to prove with power + That both these worlds were one, meeting in Him, + Since by His mighty will of love He came + To link again upon the Cross the chain + Which should so closely evermore have bound them, + Which, save for Him, had utterly been sever'd, + He hath said, for every age to hear, + Within is the Kingdom of God; blest truth, + Within; and yet we look afar and gaze + Around in search of somewhat we call heaven, + And oft perchance thinking 'tis found, rejoice, + But soon in sadness is the quest renewed. + For that we seek a kingdom of our own, + No hope than this more utterly forlorn, + We have no kingdom and we cannot reign, + In serving only can we find our life + And perfect freedom, the true life of kings. + But whom to serve we may, nay needs must, choose; + And if the happy choice be made, then ours + Is the glorious privilege to know + That earth and heaven (howe'er Rebellion, + With his sceptre point in triumph, saying + Behold me, by earth's homage, king confessed), + One kingdom are, rul'd ever by one King. + Who through His love will teach this, more and more + Until our hearts, living His life of love, + Shall know and feel His presence all their heaven. + + + EVENING. + + 1. + + Ye sounds of day, why all so still, + And hushed as if in sleep? + Is there some power whose sovereign will + Bids you such silence keep? + I ask'd, no voice replied, it seemed + The while as tho' all nature sweetly dreamed, + But soon that spirit of the shade + The breeze, in softest whispers, answer made. + + 2. + + Hast thou seen the sun, with fainting beams + In parting, kiss the hills and streams, + Didst mark the blush of that farewell glow + And how he linger'd loth to go? + For soon to the queen of the glowing west, + He knew he must yield and sink to rest. + + 3. + + He had caught the sound of her step from far, + Had heard her greet her own bright star, + And triumphing tell how the god of day + Would yield his kingdom to her sway, + And how she comes to reign alone, + For he is gone, that glorious one. + + 4. + + O'er sounds she holds entire sway, + When she wills silence all obey, + Soon as her coming draweth near, + Many are hush'd, that she may hear + Those only which she makes her own, + Whose music breathes a lulling tone. + + 5. + + The streams that flow in melody, + The soothing insect-hum, + The green leaves whispering softly + While I, on light wings come, + And with low murmurs lull the groves, + These all make music which she loves; + All these, when the stirring day doth end, + To give her sweet welcome their voices blend. + + 6. + + Then ceas'd the voice, but all around + Floated a gentle murmuring sound; + While fragrant breath of greeting rose + From flowers sinking to repose, + To welcome evening's peaceful reign, + The while responding to the strain, + Their willing tribute of thanks and praise + My heart and voice at once did raise: + + 7. + + Oh evening, I will sing to thee, + Thou silent mother of thought; + My heart shall breathe the melody, + With glowing rapture fraught; + Yes, I will sing to thee, and tell + How I love thy solemn hour, + How in thy stillness lies a spell + Of soothing holy power. + + 8. + + Thou comest in calm majesty + To thy bowers in the west; + And weary nature blesseth thee, + For she knows thou bringest rest, + She waits thy coming anxiously, + And all the lovely flowers + Droop their leaves in thanks to thee, + For life-renewing showers. + + 9. + + Well may they bless thee, for I trow + When the joyous morn doth wake, + And with its beams their slumbers break, + All fresh and bright their leaves shall glow; + And to the deep feeling heart, + That which can love thee best, + How beautiful thou art! + Cradle of peace and rest. + + 10. + + It loves thy presence, and to thee + By chains of deepest thought is bound. + Such thought as sets the spirit free + Hallowing all around. + + 11. + + Then wakes in man his nature high, + He feels his immortality; + And in the peace at evening given + Bethinks him he is heir of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST LOSS + + "The thought of our past years in me doth breed + Perpetual benediction."--WORDSWORTH. + + +In August 1861 Bessie was removed to Bognor for the benefit of sea air, +and began to show signs of complete recovery. Some of the sisters were +her constant companions and devoted nurses; she received visits from her +parents, and loving letters from many friends. + +She returned to Chichester in the late autumn, restored to her usual +average of health; and in December the Bishop wrote to her, the eldest +daughter at home, as he had done in the old days when she was a girl, to +prepare for the return of the family from Brighton. + +Christmas was spent as usual at the palace, and with the new year Bessie +began gradually to resume her work for the Institution. + +Her first frame letter was written in March 1862 to her father, and has +been preserved: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _1st March 1862_. + + MY DEAREST PAPA--I had long ago settled that my first letter with + the frame should be to you, and most thankful I am to be able to + be at the "stocking making" again, though very likely I shall not + make a very good workwoman; but please take the work, such as it + is, as a little sign that Bessie has not forgotten all the love + shown her while she was ill, how you used to come and sit with her + in the midst of all you had to do. I am very very thankful to be so + much stronger, and to have been brought through the suffering as I + have been. + + I hope you will take care of yourself when you start for + confirmations, the winds now are so bitterly cold. Indeed, you do + provide well for us; it will be very enjoyable to have the Brownes. + Did you see that curious letter in _The Times_ not long since, + headed "Is it--;" I thought it would interest you. I hope it has + not been necessary to light gas to-day for morning service. + However, the day has not been very bright here. Yesterday I was out + in the garden in the morning, but I have a little cold and so was + not tempted to-day, as there was no sun. Robin is to sleep here + to-night; he preaches, I think, at St. Andrews. Very much love to + mamma and all.--I am ever your dutiful and loving child, + BESSIE. + + +The difficulties of the Association had increased during the period of +Bessie's illness and absence. + +Subscriptions and donations now amounted to between two and three +thousand a year, and goods had been sold to about the same amount. But +so large a percentage on sales was paid to all blind agents and +travellers and to Mr. Levy that the increase of trade threatened to +swamp the undertaking. Moreover, sales did not keep pace with productive +power, and a large quantity of stock was on hand. + +A Sub-Committee was appointed to investigate the financial condition of +the Association, and their report, practical and sound as it was, proved +very distasteful to Bessie. + +They advised the employment of a sighted shopman, the substitution of +some easier and more accurate method of keeping accounts, the payment of +all money received into the bank, and an arrangement under which Mr. and +Mrs. Levy should receive a fixed salary in lieu of commission on sales. +They also intimated their belief that the time had come when the Society +must look to its director simply for general management, and must be +prepared to employ a thoroughly efficient staff in the shop and +workrooms. + +The report really amounted to a suggestion to supersede her faithful +manager; a step to which Bessie and Levy were equally opposed. Bessie +hoped to avert it by raising money to pay the debts, and open a West-end +shop; and as the Committee was powerless without the alliance of the +Lady President, there was at any rate a reprieve. + +To obviate one of the difficulties arising from want of funds, the +Bishop offered L40 a year as the wages of a sighted shopman, in addition +to his subscription of L5. + +He announces this in a letter written from Queen Anne Street on the 22d +May 1862, to Bessie at Chichester. His offer was gratefully accepted by +the Committee. It was also arranged that donations and subscriptions +should be paid into the banking account; and not, as hitherto, used as +soon as received in the payment of bills and wages. But the director +was unwilling to relinquish any of his duties, and Bessie considered +that when her own health, which was rapidly improving, should be quite +re-established, the assistance she could give would lighten his duties +and responsibilities. + +Under these circumstances there seemed no pressing need of reform in the +management. Bessie had one remedy for all the suggestions of the +Sub-Committee; and this was to plead both in public and in private for +money and custom. In 1863 there were articles and letters in _The +Times_, and in all the principal London journals, and a paper in Miss +Yonge's _Monthly Packet_ by Mrs. Hooper, who had previously written on +the subject in _Household Words_. Mr. Gladstone was asked to speak at +the annual meeting to be held in May, and replied: + + + 11 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, _17th March 1863_. + + MADAM--It would be with so much regret that I should decline a + request proceeding from you, that although uncertain whether my + public duties may permit me to attend the meeting to which you + refer, on the 11th May, I cheerfully engage to do so, subject only + to the contingency of any call upon me elsewhere, such as I may be + unable to decline.--I have the honour to be, madam, your very + faithful servant, + W. E. GLADSTONE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Mr. Gladstone attended the meeting and advocated the claims of the +Association, not, as he said, from motives of philanthropy but as a +political economist, and because it was founded on sound principles. He +said: + +"While this Association aims to promote the general welfare of the +blind, it aims at promoting that welfare in a very specific manner and +by well-determined means. It is not founded on the idea that the blind, +because they have suffered a great and heavy visitation, are therefore +to be the mere passive recipients of that which the liberality of their +fellow-creatures may bestow. It does not proceed on the idea that +because the blind are so, they have therefore ceased to partake in other +respects in that mysterious nature of which we are all partakers, with +its immense capabilities and powers, with its high hopes and great +dangers. For in all other respects the blind continue to be sharers in +every thing pertaining to us as men; and if I rightly apprehend the idea +of this Institution, it is this, that while we minister to the wants of +the blind in a specific manner, yet we still consider them as rational +beings, as members of society, as capable of various purposes, as not +intended to be sent into a corner, or to be excommunicated from us; but +as intended to bear their part as citizens, as enlightened and civilised +creatures, and as Christians. Employment given to the blind is a great +source of happiness. The sentence which was termed the primeval curse, +if on one side it presented the aspect of a curse, also presented on the +other the aspect of a blessing,--the necessity, the condition of true +happiness. Employment is a blessing for us all, but it is much more to +the blind. Employment to the blind is the condition of mental serenity, +of comfort and resignation. Employment to the blind is also the +condition of subsistence,--that is, of honourable and independent +subsistence. It is a great thing for an institution when we are enabled +to say that its rules and practice are in harmony with political +economy, for political economy is founded on truth. I believe that the +rules of the Association are based on the laws which regulate the +accumulation and distribution of the means of subsistence. In this +Association we have the union of what the coldest prudence would +dictate, and of what the most affectionate Christian heart would +desire." + +Mr. Gladstone was at that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his +advocacy was very valuable. The pecuniary result of the meeting, which +had given her some months of labour, was most gratifying to Bessie, and +she resumed her work of collecting funds with fresh ardour. We find her +making application, in vain, for a grant from the Peabody Fund. The +question of State aid for the blind was suggested to her, and she set to +work in the usual patient and thorough way, to obtain information and to +look around for influential help. But the autumn brought sorrow and +grave anxiety, which almost put a stop to other work. Mrs. Gilbert, +whose health had long been failing, declined rapidly. Bessie remained at +Chichester, and wrote constantly and very tenderly to the sister, Mrs. +Elliot, who was unable to leave her own home, and yet anxious to be with +her mother if the illness should prove alarming. Bessie writes an +autograph letter on 9th December 1863, tells of the arrival of married +sisters at the palace, of the anxiety of Dr. Tyacke and her father, of +the sympathy they all feel for the one who cannot join them, "we know +how much your heart is with us, and how much we should like to have you +here.... I have just heard that Mary thinks mamma looking better than +she expected, and Sarah says she does not think her looking quite so ill +as on Monday. It is a pleasure to tell you anything the least +cheering.... You do not know how sorry we all are for you; I hope you +will not find this letter difficult to read. I wished especially to +write to you to-day to tell you how we all think of you, and feel for +and with you in all this difficulty and anxiety." + +That evening a younger sister prepared some arrowroot in the sick-room, +and the blind daughter administered it carefully, spoonful after +spoonful, to her dying mother. "It pleased them both so much," we are +told, and it was the last office of love, for on the 10th December Mrs. +Gilbert died. + +The death of this warm-hearted, generous woman, who had made home so +happy for her children, devoted wife and loving mother, was a crushing +blow. Death had not visited the home for nearly thirty years, and this +great grief opened up the possibility of future loss, and was as a +pillar of cloud that followed them. + +Miss Law, writing to Bessie on the 23d of January 1864, says: + + + I can indeed most fully enter into all you have felt and are + feeling still, under this dark shadow, which has fallen around you; + but surely by and by you will be enabled to see the light that must + be shining behind it. Oh, I do trust that the sad empty place in + all your hearts may each day be filled more and more with the + loving presence of Him who has sounded all the deepest depths of + human sorrow and suffering, that He might know how to feel for and + comfort us the better. Yes, you must indeed feel comforted already + in the thought of the fulness of her joy and rest and peace. I am + very glad your poor father has been so strengthened through his + great trouble; he is rich in having many loving children to help + and comfort him.... My book has been far more successful already + than I had expected; there have been several very nice reviews; we + are going to have them reprinted altogether, and then I will send + you a copy.... Some day I should like to know your thoughts about + my little poems, and which ones you like best among them. Dear Miss + Proctor [Adelaide] is still very ill, though at times she revives + wonderfully. I was able to see her twice when I was in town. She + writes to me now and then herself, and her sister Edith constantly. + + +Not long before Mrs. Gilbert's death the possible marriage of a younger +daughter had greatly interested her. She looked forward with confidence +to her child's future happiness, and when her own condition became +serious she begged that in no case might the marriage be postponed. It +was therefore solemnised in March 1864 as quietly as possible. This +sister, H----, had been for some years Bessie's special ally, and the +loss of her active help and unfailing sympathy was severely felt. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW THE WORK WENT ON + + "He who has but one aim, and refers all things to one principle, + and views all things in one light, is able to abide steadfast, and + to rest in God."--THOMAS A KEMPIS. + + +Goods manufactured by the blind had been for some years advanced to +blind agents on a system known as "sale or return." This had proved +satisfactory so long as the agents were carefully selected. But there +had been some relaxation in the requisite caution, and large +consignments had been made to blind men who returned neither money nor +goods, and who were found to be without either honesty or cash. In 1864 +the loss to the Institution by sale and return amounted to more than +L1200. + +Bessie was not discouraged by the loss. She felt so keenly the force of +the temptations to which the blind were exposed, and the possibility +that they had at first hoped and intended to be honest, and had only +gradually fallen into evil ways, that it was with difficulty she could +be induced to acquiesce in the abolition of a system which worked so +badly. However, it had to be given up, and she set to work to pay the +debts incurred. + +Instead of the annual meeting of May 1865, a bazaar in aid of the funds +of the Institution was suggested. + +The first idea of this was very distasteful to Bessie. She had a horror +of the ordinary bazaar. But it was pointed out that a sale of goods on +behalf of the blind, held in the right place and by the right persons, +would have none of the features to which she so justly objected. Her +scruples were overcome, and after she had given her consent she devoted +the autumn and winter months of 1864 and the early part of 1865 to the +necessary preparations for the undertaking. She applied to the Duke and +the late Duchess of Argyle for permission to hold the sale in Argyle +Lodge. They very kindly consented; and the Duchess suggested that if any +use was to be made of the grounds of Argyle Lodge the date fixed should +not be too early in the spring. In consequence of this advice it was +resolved to hold the sale on the 21st and 22d of June. + +As the time appointed drew near, Bessie's labours were saddened and +rendered difficult by a great loss. Her brother-in-law, Colonel the +Honourable Gilbert Elliot, who had never quite recovered from the +effects of the South African and Crimean campaigns, was taken seriously +ill in March and died on the 25th of May 1865. + +The arrangements for the sale, which was a public undertaking, were now +completed, and it was decided to proceed with it, but the work was +carried on by Bessie at great cost and with a heavy heart; for, as she +says in one of her rare autograph letters, sent to Mrs. Elliot on the +25th May: "You know how we all love dear Gilbert." + +Many friends came forward to offer such help as could be given, and the +sale promised to be a success. The list of stall-holders was excellent, +and encouraged Bessie to hope for a good attendance and good results. + +Lady Constance Grosvenor, Lady Blantyre, Lady Jocelyn, Lady Victoria +Wellesley, the Marchioness of Waterford and Lady Anson, the Marchioness +of Ormonde, Miss Gilbert, Mrs. Imwood Jones, Mrs. Green, Mrs. King, Mrs. +Fox, Mrs. C. Dyke and Lady Geraldine St. Maur held stalls. Gate money +and the sale of goods produced L1078. Over L200 was received in +donations, and the net result of the sale was more than L1300. + +Bessie had good reason to be satisfied, not only with the money but with +the influential patrons she had secured for the Institution. The report +for the following year gives an imposing list of vice-patrons,--the +Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of Rutland and Argyle, the +Earls of Abergavenny, Chichester, and Darnley, the Bishops of St. +David's, Chichester, Lichfield, Oxford, St. Asaph, and Lincoln, Lord +Ebury, Lord Houghton, Mr. Gladstone, Sir Roundell Palmer, the Dean of +Westminster, and Professor Fawcett. + +The pecuniary result of the sale, though perhaps not all that was +expected, seemed to justify the Committee in taking a West-end shop. +They secured No. 210 Oxford Street, and decided to keep the old houses +in the Euston Road as workshops. + +Mr. Levy, in a letter sent to Chichester on the 30th September 1865, +announces the completion of the arrangements for a lease on the terms +offered by the Committee. He adds that one brushmaker has a shop nine +doors off, and another brushmaker has a shop twenty-four doors off, but +he thinks their vicinity will not injure the Association. He probably +expected that influential patrons and their friends would purchase from +the blind, and that no orders would go astray. This expectation was not +realised, and in the course of two or three years the vicinity of the +two brush shops was found to be a serious disadvantage. + +During the early summer of this year Bessie received a letter written on +behalf of the Committee of the Blind Asylum at Brighton; asking if their +schoolmistress and her assistant, who were not themselves blind, could +be received for "a few days" in the "asylum in the Euston Road." They +wanted to see the working of it, and more especially to learn the trades +taught to women. + +Bessie replied that the Institution was not an "asylum," and that no one +could be received to live in the house. She expressed her disapproval of +the employment of "sighted" teachers, but offered to arrange with the +Brighton Committee for the reception of one or two blind persons to be +taught brush-making and other trades, with a view to becoming teachers. +She explained fully the objects of the Association, and expressed her +opinion that an attempt to acquire any trade "in a few days" could only +result in misconception and failure. + +There were several letters on both sides, but neither yielded. Bessie +would not consent to train "sighted" teachers "in a few days," and +Brighton would not send blind pupils. + +Three years previously the Davenport Institution had applied for a blind +teacher. A man trained by the Association had been sent, and had given +entire satisfaction. He succeeded a "sighted" teacher, and was said to +have done more in six months than his predecessor in two years. Bessie +always urged the necessity of employing blind teachers, on the ground +that they alone could know all the difficulties of the blind; and it +would have been impossible for her to sanction so retrograde a step as +the training of "sighted" teachers in an institution full of blind +persons, many of whom were quite capable of teaching others. + +Bessie left London much exhausted by the labours and sorrow of the +spring. + +She required a long rest to restore her strength. We have a short +account of her summer in the following letter to Miss Butler, written in +October, from Queen Anne Street. + + + MY DEAR MISS BUTLER--... I am sure you must have thought it + strange that I have not answered your letter long before this, but + I wanted to have the pleasure of writing to you myself, and I have + just lately had a good deal of work, I mean handy-work, which has + prevented my so doing. Added to which I only returned home about a + fortnight ago after, for me, a wonderfully long absence, about + which I must tell you presently. + + I have come up to-day from Chichester for our Committee to-morrow, + and am talking to you in this way in the evening. I too am very + sorry not to have seen you this year, but I hope we may see you + still. How are you after all your nursing and anxiety. You must + want some refreshment, I should think. + + Now with regard to Mr. ---- I shall be very glad to do anything I + can, but I really hardly see what I can say or do. My father + generally likes these sort of things to be official, and I really + don't think I should do any good by mentioning Mr. ----'s name + before the ordination. Papa would only say to me: "The examination + must take its usual course, and I cannot do anything," he would + say. Still I will take an opportunity of saying something, nor + would I hesitate at all about it, but that I really think that with + papa such a mention would do no good. I hope you will quite + understand that I have not said all this from any unwillingness to + do what you ask, but really because I don't see how to do so to any + purpose; otherwise it would give me particular pleasure to do it + for you at your request. I am very glad indeed you have succeeded + so well with ----. Every such practical proof of what a blind person + can do is a help more or less to the general cause. Thank you very + much for making the experiment with her. + + I told you I had been long away from home. I felt I wanted a + complete change. I don't know when I ever felt this so much. Well, + I paid some visits, one at about twenty-three miles from + Birmingham, and from thence I went to the festival. I heard _St. + Paul_; and the day but one after the _Messiah_. I cannot tell you + what enjoyment this music was to me; never did I hear such + choruses. Each individual singer seemed to love the music. I shall + never forget the wondrous beauty of the singing. However, I was + completely knocked up afterwards for three or four days, but it was + well worth all the headache and exhaustion which I had after it. + The journey there and back was a very great additional fatigue. + Altogether I enjoyed my visits very much, and am all the better for + them, ready, I hope, please God, for plenty of work this winter. + Will you please send me the money in your hands before December. We + have deposited money towards the working capital, and I am most + anxious if possible to find money for current expenses without + touching this capital, and also if possible to add to the deposit. + Of course the more custom the better; I very much want regular + custom from wine merchants for baskets, that we may employ + basketmakers accordingly. + + Can you get some such custom with my love to your Mother I am yours + ever affectionately Bessie Gilbert my sisters are well only Sarah + at home Papa very well good bye. + + +The last sentence is printed as it stands, and gives a specimen of the +occasional want of capitals and of punctuation almost inevitable when +the writer is hurried. But think of the concentration required to write +letters which allow of no interruption and no revision. + +In the autumn of this year an excellent scheme was inaugurated, capable +of a development which it has never yet received. The object of it was +to enable blind persons living in the country to learn a trade suited to +their own neighbourhood, and to be instructed in reading and writing +without the expense and very grave risk of a prolonged residence in +London. + +It was proposed to send a blind teacher, with his wife, to lodge in any +village or town where there were persons whose friends were willing and +able to provide for their instruction. These persons were to be taught +at their own homes, or in some more convenient place, a remunerative +trade, such as cane and rushwork, the making of beehives, rush baskets, +and garden nets; mat-making, chair-caning, etc. They were also to be +taught reading, and the use of appliances for writing and keeping +accounts. + +The Association did not undertake to supply any work, it had to be found +in the neighbourhood. With the help of the charitable it was considered +that this ought not to be difficult; and even if the blind did not +entirely earn their own living, the little they could do would be a help +so far as it went. Bessie had proved long before this that employment, +with the intercourse it brings, is the greatest alleviation to the +suffering of many a blind man or woman. During the autumn of 1865 two +blind persons in the country were taught trades at their own homes, and +also learned to read and write. The cost was not more than L10 for each +person, a sum much less than that which has to be provided for those who +are sent to London for training. + +Some day, perhaps, these peripatetic blind instructors may once more be +sent out by the Institution, with advantage both to themselves and +others. + +A period of steady quiet work was now before Bessie. Letters, appeals, +investigations, and reports filled her time. + +The Archbishop of York presided at the annual meeting in 1866, and the +balance-sheet for that year shows receipts amounting to L7632. She found +herself engaged in a large commercial as well as a philanthropic +undertaking; and the success of her industrial work began to tell, not +only in Great Britain, but in the United States of America. She was much +gratified by the report of the Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution +for the Instruction of the Blind, 1866, in which the following passage +occurs: + + + We are gratified to report the successful working of the literary + and musical branches of the Institution, and also the favourable + progress of our manufacturing department, in teaching and employing + blind persons in useful trades; experience every year confirms the + necessity of a house of industry for the regular employment of + pupils whose term of instruction has terminated, and of the adult + blind. + + The education of the blind is a simple matter; nor is it + susceptible of much improvement in the way of securing their future + welfare. The great idea which encourages the establishment and + support of all such institutions by the several States is the + preparation of the blind for future usefulness and happiness, by + self-dependence. Their misfortune unfits them for the large number + of industrial and professional pursuits open to the seeing; but + there are mechanical arts in which they become good, if not rapid + workers. The difficulty with many, especially those without + friends and homes, is in securing employment, and in earning fully + enough for their support. Without this, the failure, idleness, and + demoralisation which too often follow prove how imperfect is their + previous instruction in this direction. + + The "Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind," + founded in London by Miss E. Gilbert, is an example of a very + practical organisation for the employment of the blind, which has + been alluded to in our former reports. It gives work, in various + ways, to about 170 adult blind persons, many of whom were + previously begging in the streets. The deficiency of their earnings + is supplied by annual subscriptions and legacies, the usual sources + of support in Great Britain for the benevolent institutions. + + Such institutions will never be self-sustaining. But the support of + an industrial association which enables every blind person to earn + 100, 200, or 300 dollars a year, is certainly better than to throw + such persons upon the charities of the wayside, or to consign them + to pensioned idleness. + + +In the autumn of this year Bessie was at Chichester, and in addition to +the difficulty of walking, which she experienced after any time of hard +work, she began to discover that vibration from any great or sudden +noise affected her painfully. She drove with her father and a sister +from Chichester to Kingly Bottom, a vale in the South Downs, for the +last day's shooting of the rifle volunteer corps in September 1866. The +sharp crack of the rifles tried her greatly, and brought on so much pain +that she was glad to accept a seat in the carriage of a friend and go +home, instead of waiting, as the Bishop wished to do, for the end of +the match. The noise seemed to exhaust her. + +During the autumn of 1866 Mr. F. Green, who for many years had rendered +great service by his work on the Committee, presented to the Association +five shares of L100 in the Marine Insurance Company, of which he was a +director. They yielded at that time L40 a year, and the gift was a +source of much gratification to Bessie. + +She was at Chichester in December, and wrote thence on the 21st to her +widowed sister, Mrs. Elliot, dwelling on the service she could render to +others: + + + "Having you must make all the difference," she says, when alluding + to a succession of troubles which had fallen upon Lady Minto, with + whom Mrs. Elliot was staying. "Really there is not and will not be + any lack of work for you. You have had, I should think, quite as + much as you could do for some time past.... There is a chance of + Tom's coming in January.... I suppose you know all about him and + his doings. I can't think how he would have got on without you." + + +Then she gives news from home: + + + I am expecting them in after the ordination every moment. This time + it is in the cathedral; twelve candidates I think. Papa came down + to breakfast this morning, and was to go in time for the whole + service. Only think, one of the priests has been in agonies of + toothache all through the examination; but in spite of it Mr. + Browne was delighted with all he did. The poor man had two teeth + taken out, and happily to-day was flourishing.... I do hope you + will like the little paper knife which I am so very glad to send + you. I was quite taken with the little bells of the lilies.... Nora + to-day is quite in her element and full of work, putting up a + number of parcels to send off in different directions.... Ever your + loving sister, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +"Tom," of whom she speaks, had recently been appointed Vicar of +Heversham, near Milnthorpe; and Mrs. Elliot had visited him at the +vicarage, and superintended the domestic arrangements of her bachelor +brother. + +Bessie received no Christmas box which gave her more pleasure than the +following poem, which appeared in _Punch_ on the 29th of December: + + + A BOX FOR BLINDMAN'S BUFF. + + Sit down to eat and drink on this glad day, + And blest be he that first cries, "Hold, enough!" + Gorge, boys, and girls; and then rise up to play. + You _can_. A game in season's Blindman's Buff. + + The ready fillet round the seamless brow + Of youth or maiden while quick fingers bind, + Beneath the golden-green pearl-berried bough, + What fun it is to play at being blind! + + But some at Blindman's Buff with eyes unbound + Might join, for whom less sport that game would be + Because it is their life's continual round: + The Blindman's Buff of those that cannot see. + + If poor, for alms they can but grope about. + But Science to their need assistance lends; + And "knowledge, at one entrance quite shut out," + Puts veritably at their fingers' ends. + + Thus they who else would starve to labour learn. + Does that consideration strike your mind? + Their living do you wish that they should earn, + Instead of crying "Pity the poor Blind?" + + Then know there's not a charitable Dun, + Subscription seeking at your gate who knocks, + That more deserves your bounty than the one + Who for the Blind requests a Christmas Box. + + At Oxford Street's two-hundred-and-tenth door + Inquire within about the Blind Man's Friend. + Or send your guinea, if you like, or more; + As many more as you can spare to send. + + _Punch, 29th December 1866._ + + +In August 1867 Bessie paid her first visit to the Vicar of Heversham. +She writes a "frame" letter from the North to Mrs. Elliot, and sends +warm appreciation of her work in the house, and of the "little +three-cornered things in the pink room." The "nice woman" was probably a +certain Jane Todd, formerly a servant, but at that time settled in a +home of her own. Quite an extraordinary friendship sprang up between her +and Bessie, and to the end of her life Jane Todd daily offered up +special prayers on behalf of her friend the blind lady. + +There are again ominous allusions to her difficulty in walking. "I walk +better here," she says; and again, "I can't tell you how much I enjoy +moving more freely." + + + HEVERSHAM, MILNTHORPE, _23d August 1867_. + + MY DEAR K.--I meant my first frame letter from here to be to you, + so now I am beginning it. I have the morning room which you used + to have, and enjoy it very much. How nice the house is, and how you + must have worked to make it so. Mrs. Argles and Mrs. Braithwaite + seem very much impressed with all your hard work. Is it true that + those little three-cornered things in the pink room with the china + on them were washhand stands? You have made a capital use of + them.... I walked up the lower Head yesterday, then stayed there + and had some tea brought me, and afterwards walked to the school + through all those stiles. After the meeting we came back by the + road. I have been able to walk better here, and it is such a + pleasure. I can't tell you how much I enjoy moving more freely. + Wednesday I walked as far as the house at Levens and back after a + rest at a cottage near, where we found a very nice woman who + certainly talked Westmoreland, but really with a pretty accent.... + Your loving sister, BESSIE. + + +The difficulty in walking, to which she alludes, had again increased; +and in 1867 or 1868 she consulted Sir James Paget with regard to it. He +thought it proceeded from weak ankles and general debility, and +prescribed rest and care. + +She was at Queen Anne Street in February 1868, and much interested in a +public dinner at Chichester at which her father was to be present Dean +Hook wrote to give her an account of the proceedings. + + + THE DEANERY, CHICHESTER, _5th February 1868_. + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I cannot help writing to tell you that the + dear good Bishop was yesterday more animated and more eloquent than + I ever heard him. He seemed so well and so happy that I am glad he + went. It was indeed an ovation to his lordship, as much as to the + Mayor; he was so enthusiastically received. As I knew that you were + anxious about him, under the notion that he was doing too much, I + trouble you with this note. The calm serenity with which he always + does his duty, and in performing it does his best, is a very + beautiful trait in his character, and I doubt not now that he will + get through his visitation duties without suffering too much from + fatigue. It is not work, it is worry which tries a man, and all his + clergy will exert themselves to save him from worries.--Believe me + to be, your affectionate friend, + W. F. HOOK. + + +Bessie's own work at this time was mainly the preparation for the annual +meeting in May, together with appeals for custom to the secretaries of +public institutions. + +The Lady Superintendent of the Hospital for Sick Children in Great +Ormond Street replies that brushes for the Hospital are always purchased +at the depot in Euston Road. + +The Secretary of the Islington Shoe Black Brigade tells her that so far +as he can, consistently with the interests of his Society, and as +regards the price charged for various articles, he has always given the +Society for the Blind as much custom as possible. These are types of +innumerable answers; and she went on with this drudgery year after year; +every ignoble detail of it glorified by the constant presence of the aim +for which she worked. The sufferings of the blind poor were always borne +in her heart; the hope of alleviating them was the mainspring of all her +actions. Letters, accounts, appeals, petitions, these are all the +machinery with which she works. She has learnt the proportion of result +to be expected, and is seldom disappointed or disheartened by +indifference or coldness. But encouragement and approval from those whom +she honours is very helpful to her. + +At the meeting held on 14th May 1868 Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Fawcett, and +Professor Owen were amongst the principal speakers. Mr. Gladstone wrote +as follows on the 8th: + + + 11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, S.W., _8th May 1868_. + + MY DEAR MADAM--If Mr. Levy will kindly call on me at half-past one + on the 14th, I will take the instructions and information from him + with reference to the meeting. I cannot be quite sure of escape + from my duties in the House (which meets on Wednesdays at twelve) + but unless necessity keeps me away you may depend upon me.--I + remain, very faithfully yours, + W. E. GLADSTONE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +Mr. Gladstone's speech at that meeting is best described by its effect +upon Bessie herself. She writes as follows: + + + PALACE, CHICHESTER, _20th June 1868_. + + MY DEAR KATE--I have long been wishing to write to you, and, + indeed, before the meeting a dictated letter was just begun to you, + but there was no time to write it. After the meeting I was only too + glad to do anything rather than write letters; any, therefore, + which I could avoid I did, and also I wished to wait until I should + have time and opportunity to write to you quietly myself. So now + you see I have begun. Had it been at any other time I should have + liked you to have been present at the meeting. To you I can say + without fear of reproof that some of Mr. Gladstone's words often + come back upon me with a force and power that seems to kindle new + life within me. I long to realise them, that I may more really feel + them to be deserved. Professor Owen's was a beautiful speech. I + think we shall clear about a hundred and twenty pounds.... From + your ever loving sister, BESSIE. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BLIND CHILDREN OF THE POOR + + "Toutes les bonnes maximes sont dans le monde, on ne manque qu'a + les appliquer."--PASCAL, 391. + + +The education of blind children had occupied Bessie's thoughts for many +years. So far back as 1863 she had been in communication with Mr. +Lonsdale of the National Society, inquiring as to the State aid given to +industrial schools, and the conditions under which schools for the blind +could be certified so as to secure the benefit of the Acts. She had +begun in her usual careful and systematic way by obtaining all the +available statistics of existing schools; and now in view of a new and +enlarged scheme for the general education of the poor, the time seemed +to have arrived for action. She resolved to lay before those in +authority the needs of the blind, their number, the possibility of +minimising their affliction, and by means of adequate education opening +to them avenues of employment and independence. This work engrossed her +time and thoughts in 1869 and the early months of 1870. + +The co-operation of all societies working on behalf of the blind was +necessary. It was essential to submit to the ministers of the Crown such +reliable evidence as to the number of blind children, and the urgency of +their claims, as to make it impossible that they should be overlooked in +any adequate system of education for the people. + +Bessie sent out in the first place a Memorandum to all institutions for +the blind in Great Britain, and to several influential and friendly +members of Parliament. In this she set forth the step she proposed to +take, asked for suggestions, conditions, additions, alterations, or +proposed omissions in the petition, of which a copy was enclosed; for +information as to presenting it, for support and assistance in the +labour involved. She also asked the opinion of those to whom she wrote +as to the best method of procedure, whether by petition to Parliament or +by a memorial to the Lords of the Privy Council. + +The replies which she received were very encouraging, and she found that +general opinion was in favour of a Memorial. The document was prepared, +and copies of it were submitted for approval, together with a circular +letter. A private letter written by Bessie herself to the authorities, +and to all influential friends, accompanied the printed documents. She +sent these papers to the Oxford Street shop to be folded and addressed, +and as an example of her minute care, the following episode is of +interest. + +Amongst her papers there is the copy of instructions sent to Oxford +Street, after she had inspected the circulars. She writes that the +titles of institutions must be copied from the list she had previously +furnished, that full titles must be used in the Memorials to +institutions and to private individuals, and that abbreviations are only +admissible on the envelopes. She gives instructions for writing out +afresh all those memorials in which she had found the titles to be +abbreviated. + +These preliminaries occupied the early months of 1869. The Memorial was +completed and sent up in July, and Lord de Grey promised to receive a +Deputation in support of it. Bessie drew up a list of the names of those +members of Parliament and influential members of her own and of kindred +institutions who should be invited to form the Deputation. All +arrangements being made, the Deputation met at the Westminster Palace +Hotel, on the 10th of February 1870, and proceeded thence to the +Education Office. Bessie, with other ladies, remained at the hotel, and +subsequently received a report of the proceedings. + +Earl de Grey and Ripon, Lord President of the Privy Council, with whom +was Mr. Forster, received the Deputation. The representatives of +twenty-nine institutions for the blind were present, and also Lord +Houghton, Lord Manvers, Dean Hook, Sir James Hamilton, Admiral Ryder, +Admiral Sotheby, General J. Graham, and the following members of +Parliament: Messrs. D. M'Laren', Beresford Hope, H. Woods, W. J. +Mitford, W. D. Murphy, F. Wheelhouse, Sir J. Anson, and Lt.-Colonel +Gray. + +Lord Houghton introduced the Deputation, and said they desired to +impress on Lord de Grey the advisability of giving all possible +consideration to the Memorial presented by Miss Gilbert in the previous +July, praying that a large number of Her Majesty's subjects who, at +birth or afterwards, were deprived of sight, should have a fair share of +protection and interest in any measure of general education which might +be designed by the Government. It was most desirable that a class which +was so helpless should receive the best consideration which could be +given to their condition. + +Dean Hook spoke in support of the object of the Deputation, and many of +the members of Parliament and others who were present gave information +as to the condition of the blind in different parts of the country. + +Lord de Grey asked several questions as to the instruction which the +blind received, and said he would carefully consider the representations +made to him by so important and influential a Deputation. He said there +were many points connected with institutions for the blind which placed +them in a different category from the elementary schools which it was +the object of the parliamentary grant to aid. Other questions were +involved, and other institutions might put forth claims, as, for +example, those for the deaf and dumb. It would be the duty of the +Council to weigh most seriously the practicability of the Memorial, and +he assured the Deputation that they had the utmost sympathy of Mr. +Forster and himself. + +Upon this Lord Houghton thanked Lord de Grey for his courtesy, and the +Deputation withdrew. + +There was no immediate action as the result of the labour of a whole +year, and probably no special action on behalf of a class, however +afflicted, can be expected from the Government of a country. But +Bessie's work was not unproductive. She tried to show, and succeeded in +showing, that the blind need not be separated and isolated. Her own +example and her own life demonstrated this, and pleaded more powerfully +than words could do. If the time ever comes when blind children are duly +provided for in our schools, and blind men and women in our workshops, +it will be chiefly owing to the lifelong endeavours of Bessie Gilbert, +and to her unfaltering and earnest devotion to a cause that she thought +worthy of living for and, if need be, of dying for. + +The condition of her own health had now become very serious. After the +Memorial had been sent in and before the Deputation was received Bessie +was so exhausted, and movement had become so difficult and painful, that +Dr. Little was consulted on her behalf. + +He pronounced the spine to be in fault, ordered a mechanical support, +tonics, regular exercise, much rest in a recumbent position, and +recommended Folkstone and sea air for some months. Bessie followed his +directions most obediently. She was very brave in bearing the discomfort +and oftentimes the pain of the cumbersome "support." She persevered in +walking for an hour daily according to his orders, dragging herself +along with great difficulty, and getting so heated and overtired that +the sister who accompanied her thought the walk did more harm than good. +But she had been told to do it, and with the old submission to authority +she did it. Her faithful attendant, Charlotte Gadney, was also with her +at Folkstone from the end of July to October. She spent much time out of +doors, on the Lees, in a bath chair. By the autumn she and those with +her were convinced that, in spite of rest and care, she could not walk +so well as she had done in the spring. There was much reading aloud, for +she was compelled to allow herself more time than usual for relaxation. + +The sisters especially remember her enjoyment of George MacDonald's +_Robert Falconer_. In later times, if any one spoke of violins or +violinists, she would say "Ah, do you remember _My Beautiful Lady_?" She +heard parts of _Sir Gibbie_ also; and said of _Janet_, "She realises +most fully the truth that we are indeed all members one of another." + +There were several pleasant days to stand out in after years as +associated with the months spent at Folkstone. One of these was a day at +Saltwood with Canon and Mrs. Erskine Knollys. Bessie drove there, and +then the Canon himself wheeled her in an arm-chair to the American +Garden. Even in late autumn this was very beautiful, and she enjoyed the +description of it. An afternoon at Cheriton with Mr. and Mrs. +Knatchbull-Hugessen was also a great pleasure to her. At this time +riding in a carriage was not only no fatigue, but she was able to enjoy +long drives and all that they brought within her reach. + +She returned to Chichester and London in somewhat better health, and +resumed work on behalf of the Deputation. + +Whilst she was at Folkstone her time was chiefly occupied in writing +letters, and in reply to one of her petitions she heard from General +Knollys that "it would afford the Prince of Wales much satisfaction to +be placed on the list of Vice-Patrons of the Society in aid of the +Blind;" and also "that H. R. H. had been pleased to direct him to +enclose a cheque for twenty-five guineas in aid of the funds of the +Society." + +The following letter, which she received at this time from Pennsylvania, +interested her: + + + TO MISS GILBERT. + + NO. 1040 PENN STREET, + READING, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., + _13th September 1869_. + + I take the liberty of addressing you as one who has taken so + philanthropic an interest in the blind. About the mid-winter of + '62-3 I was travelling in Idaho Territory, and, owing to the severe + effects of the "glare" produced by the sun's rays upon the snow, my + sight received so severe a shock that I became temporarily blind. + Afterwards I partially recovered my sight; but through the want of + skill in my medical attendant and general improper treatment, the + optic nerve became entirely and, as I fear, hopelessly paralysed. + I am now completely deprived of sight. Being thus, unfortunately, + among those with whom you so greatly sympathise, I too, losing in + my full-grown manhood, this perhaps most benign of the Great + Father's gifts to poor humanity, feel a strong personal interest in + my fellow-sufferers. + + Understanding then that you have successfully established an + "Association for the General Welfare of the Blind," in which each + occupant is finally paid for his labour, in contradistinction to + the usual plan of blind asylums, where there is no remuneration, + except what education may afford, I purpose attempting a similar + enterprise. + + Will I therefore be taxing your kindness too much in asking you to + forward to me to this place (as headed) the last report of your + noble institution, and, if not contained therein, such instructions + as will enable me to establish such institution in this country? + And praying that the Good God may prosper you in your benevolent + designs, I remain, with the greatest respect, your obt. servt., + THEODORE B. VACHE. + + +A bright letter to the present writer shows Bessie in a playful mood. It +was written after her return from Folkstone, and when health and spirits +were much better than they had been in July. But locomotion had become +very difficult; and it was painful to witness her laboured efforts to +move and walk, and the difficulty she experienced in getting into or out +of a cab or carriage. + + + THE PALACE, CHICHESTER, _October 1869_. + + MY DEAR F.--I hope you will soon receive another polling paper. I + suppose you did not pay your subscription last year, and so paid + for two years in one. If I were as clever as Mr. Lowe perhaps I + should contrive to squeeze a little more out of our subscribers, + and make them all the while feel that it was the most natural thing + in the world that they should make double payments. This is the way + to do business, is it not? Double payments, bringing about double + receipts; very nice thing, you know, for the receivers; and as to + the other side of the question, why, you know, we needn't look too + closely into that. You see many persons are quite unable to look at + more than one side of a question, so that limited views have their + advantages. Does Mr. Lowe think so? + + Well, I should hope very much to see you and Miss B. on Thursday, + and if you can't have me, please just write to 210 Oxford Street + and say so, and then I will tell you where to come. I don't know + yet where I shall be, but very probably at Miss R.'s at 117 Gloster + Terrace. Love to Miss B. From yours affectionately, + E. GILBERT. + + +At this time Bessie was warmly interested in, and very hopeful as to the +results of, Mr. Gladstone's efforts on behalf of Ireland, and referred +frequently to the subject. In the following letter to her sister, Mrs. +Elliot, there is a mention of orders for work. She was unable on account +of the state of her health to write as much as usual, and therefore gave +more time to knitting vests and muffetees, and making watch chains. The +money received for them went to her "work-bag," and helped to relieve +the necessities of deserving blind people: + + + THE PALACE, CHICHESTER, _23d December 1869_. + + MY DEAR KATE--I send you my loving Christmas greetings with some of + the home violets to sweeten them withal. It was very tantalising + seeing you, or rather not seeing you, like that in London. I was so + glad you thought I moved better. I do, and it is such a comfort I + can't tell you. Still I find a difference directly if I get too + much tired. I had hoped to have had some muffetees ready for you, + but must do them afterwards, as I have had to knit two under-vests + as an order, and have not yet finished the second. You cannot think + how wonderfully well papa got through the ordination. Dr. Heurtley, + who presided, was quite astonished. Only think of it, H. is coming + on Monday for a week. I am so very glad of it. No time for more, + your loving sister, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +Bishop Gilbert's health had slowly but very steadily declined after the +death of his wife in 1863. He was surrounded by the loving care of +daughters devoted to him. But the loss of the friend and partner of his +whole life was one from which he never recovered. + +Bessie was the only member of the family not keenly alive to the failure +of her father's health. Partly, no doubt, owing to her blindness, and +partly to the effort that the Bishop always made to be bright and +cheerful in the society of his "dear child Bessie," she did not perceive +how seriously the burden of work and responsibility told upon him. The +sisters at home were glad to spare her the anxiety which they felt, and +she passed the Christmas time of 1869-70 without alarm and without that +sense of impending loss which was weighing heavily upon others. When at +last the blow came it fell suddenly, and fell heavily upon her, and was +not softened by any sense of relief that the burden of his life was +removed. + +She had gone to London for the Deputation to Lord de Grey on the 10th +of February 1870, and was still there when she was summoned to +Chichester by telegram on Sunday the 20th. + +The sisters at home had been conscious for some days of a greater sense +of uneasiness than usual, but there was nothing definite to take hold +of. The Bishop came down as usual to the dining-room on Friday the 18th. +On Saturday the 19th he kept his room for the early part of the day, and +dined in the morning-room, that room adjoining his own in which Bessie +used to spend so much time with her mother when first they went to +Chichester. The absent sons and daughters were informed of this failure +of strength on Saturday morning, but there were no alarming symptoms +until the evening. Then and on the following morning, Sunday the 20th, +telegrams summoned them to Chichester without delay. Bessie reached the +palace about 10 P.M. on Sunday. Her father recognised her, but he was by +that time too weak to speak. There were no last words, and he sank +peacefully to his rest, dying at 5 A.M. on Monday, 21st February 1870. + +Bessie had left home without even a suspicion that she might be recalled +by a sudden summons, and now it seemed to her impossible that her +father's death should precede her own, and that a loss that she had not +dared even to think of, should have fallen upon her. She was stunned by +the blow, but she bore it with characteristic and Christian courage, +patience, and submission. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN TIME OF NEED + + "The grave is heaven's golden gate, + And rich and poor around it wait."--BLAKE. + + +It was deemed undesirable for Bessie to remain at Chichester during the +sad week that followed the death of her father. She went to her elder +sister, Mary, the beloved Mary of her youth, now the mother of a family +and head of a large household. + +She wrote with her own hand a short note to one of the sisters at the +palace, which reassured them as to her condition. + + + MILTON HILL, _28th March 1870_. + + MY DEAR SARAH--Thank you for all your letters. As you say, all the + preparations must be painful, but I am very thankful to hear you + and Nora are pretty well. You know without my telling you so, how + very much you are in my thoughts. I hope to come back Tuesday or + Wednesday, but Mary wants me to stay. Is it so, that we need not go + till after Easter? I should like to know, because of what I may + have to do about my own things. I think the appointment seems very + good. As for me I am rather better to-day, having slept better two + nights; but it is difficult to me as yet to do things, I have so + little energy or interest in anything. I will write again about my + coming. Mary is really pretty well I think, the last day or two + have been much pleasanter. Love to you all from your loving sister + BESSIE. + + +She returned to the palace but did not stay long, and spent the greater +part of the two months of preparation for leaving Chichester with her +sister, Mrs. Woods. She went, however, to her old home in April, and +left it finally with her brother and two unmarried sisters on the 21st +of April 1870. + +Loving words greeted them on the day of their departure. "Wherever we +are," wrote one of the sisters, "we shall all know that we are thinking +of each other." + +The house in Queen Anne Street was let at this time; two sisters went to +St. Leonards, but Bessie, with her faithful maid, took the much shorter +and easier journey to Slinfold Rectory, near Horsham, the home of her +sister Lucy, Mrs. Sutton. + +She was sad and in very feeble health. All the future seemed dark and +uncertain; she could make no plans, she could not look forward. At such +a time the tender and loving care of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton were very +precious to her. Insensibly, almost unconsciously, she was helped by the +numerous children around her. Living in their midst she learnt to know +them intimately, and they cheered her and amused her. The little boys +had quaint ways and odd sayings, and they made her forget herself and +listen to them and wonder at them. The eldest girl, also a Lucy, had +always been a pet, and now became very dear to her. From Slinfold she +went to her sister Fanny, Mrs. Casson, at Torquay, and there found +another kind brother-in-law, another large family of nephews and nieces, +all ready to love and to wait upon the dear "Aunt Bessie." Four homes, +in all of which she was a welcome and honoured guest, were thus open to +her. Hitherto her time had been divided between London and Chichester. +She had not allowed herself the luxury of visits to married sisters, and +had only seen them and their children on the occasion of their visits to +the palace or London. Now she began to be intimate with them, to be +interested in the character and dispositions of the young people, and to +enjoy the family life of which one and all helped to make her feel she +was a member. + +Meantime old and dear friends gathered around her and sought to comfort +and encourage her. She preserved many letters which she prized and had +found helpful. One of the first to speak was the Rev. H. Browne, who +held the living of Pevensey. He was one of the Bishop's chaplains, the +author of _Ordo Saeclorum_, a student of German theology, and, that which +most attracted Bessie, he was a very good reader, and at Chichester had +often read aloud Shakespere's plays to the _sisterhood_. Mr. Browne now +was the first to strike a note to which she could respond: + + + He rests from his labours and his works do follow him. Yours + remain. It is needless for me to say it, for you must all know it + better than I, he counted it among his mercies that a work had been + raised up for you, which when father and mother were gone would be + to you the work and the blessing of your life. He evidently + acknowledged this as God's calling to you, and as one of the + thoughts in which he was greatly comforted in looking forward upon + your future life. + + +Many other writers dwelt upon the unsparing labour and self-denying zeal +of her father, and all recognised that she, the daughter so near his +heart and always the object of his most tender love and watchful care, +must be the one most deeply stricken by the pain of separation. + +"To you, I imagine, the blow will come heaviest," wrote Mrs. Powell; and +this sentiment is repeated in almost every letter. + +A letter from the Secretary of her own Association, informing her of a +vote of condolence passed by the Committee, begins, oddly enough, with + + + "I have the _pleasure_ to inform you," + + +The blind workmen and workwomen did their best to express their regret +at the death of "his lordship the Bishop," and a note is enclosed to her +by the Rev. B. Hayley, written by a poor fellow in the Chichester Union, +"just to show what the poor, the very poorest in the diocese, think of +your dear father." + +The Rev. Dr. Swainson, Canon of Chichester, now Master of Christ's +College, Cambridge, heard that Bessie's grief was heightened by the fact +that she had spent the last fortnight before her father's death in +London, engrossed by the work of the Deputation to Lord de Grey. His +letter of sympathy and consolation may be as helpful to others as it was +to her, and it is therefore inserted unabridged. + + + SPRINGFIELD, NEWNHAM, CAMBRIDGE, + _30th March 1870_. + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I hope you will permit me to write you a few + lines on the subject which I hear from many quarters has caused you + much additional sorrow in regard to the death of our dear father in + God. I mean your absence from Chichester during the last fortnight + of his life. I really do not know that you should regret it: + because it was really of God's appointment: you were engaged over + your work for Him: your sisters over their work for Him: your dear + father over his work for Him: each and all to the best of your + powers, and why should you repine if it pleased God to remove him + so quietly, so gently, so lovingly, without telling you beforehand + that He was going thus to take him? May you not rejoice rather that + his last days of consciousness were filled with thoughts that you + were able to go on with that work in which he took so deep an + interest, that some have thought that the best memorial of the love + of the diocese to him would be an effort to strengthen your hands + in that work? Of course I have often thought of the way in which my + dearest father and dearest mother were taken away from me. I was + absent from both: but I could not regret my absence. Mrs. Swainson + was present at the removal of both her parents: but was not all + this of God's appointment? When we ask Him to guide us day by day, + may we not leave it to Him how He guides us? I am sure you will + excuse me writing thus: the loss is indescribable, the centre of + your earthly affections removed: on this I need not speak. But I + feel sure that you need not and you should not take any blame to + yourself, because your work carried you away at the time when God, + who so arranged it, was pleased to call your father home.--Believe + me to be, my dear Miss Gilbert, ever yours very truly, C. A. + SWAINSON. + + +The Bishop of Rochester wrote, "His course, ever since he has been a +bishop, has been so straightforward, so true, that he has won +everybody's admiration and respect." + +These and other tributes Bessie preserved and treasured. They helped +her, and after a time they comforted her. In May we have one of the +first letters written by her own hand, and speaking of her own feelings. +It is addressed to a dear friend of the early Oxford days. + + + SLINFOLD RECTORY, HORSHAM, _1st May 1870_. + + MY DEAR MRS. BURROWES--I was very grateful for your most kind + affectionate letter, although I have not written to tell you so. + For some time I really could hardly do anything. No loss in the + world could be what this loss is to me. I am always wanting him, + always missing him, still I am now better able to feel the + blessedness for him, and also better able to think of his being + spared suffering and infirmity, which would probably have + increased; and yet in spite of all this I often cannot help feeling + how my heart would rebound with life if I could know that he could + be here again with us. But I long for the hope of being with him to + grow stronger and stronger, so that it may be more and more a + living power within me, and a real comfort. I am much better and + stronger than I was; but cannot say much for my powers of walking. + I cannot say that I take much interest in things yet, and am often + oppressed with a feeling of the dreary length of the days without + seeing him or hearing anything about him; but as you so kindly say + in your letter I shall hope, when able to do so, to work better + than I have done if God will grant me help to strengthen me for + this work. I did go up from hence to London for the day for our May + Committee, and am very glad I did so, and made a beginning of + taking up the work again. I have also done a little towards it in + other ways, but just now my own nice maid is having a little + holiday, and instead Mrs. Gadney is with me; she cannot write much, + while I am not up to much business yet. Lucy, I am sure, would send + you her love, but I am writing in my room. She would have written + to you, but that I said I would do so myself, as I had intended for + some time to write and thank you for your very affectionate + letter.... Believe me, my dear Mrs. Burrowes, yours affectionately, + BESSIE GILBERT. + + +Miss Mackenzie, sister of Bishop Mackenzie, wrote: + + + I shall never forget his kind fatherliness and his beautiful + courtesy and his loving thoughtfulness for every one. What a + comfort it is to have all that to look back upon, but now whilst it + is all so fresh your hearts must bleed. Dear Bessie, I am so + thankful you have your work, your calling, your vocation to attend + to, and in trying to alleviate the troubles of others, as you have + always done, you will find the best relief to your own sorrow. + + +The letters from those she loved, whilst full of sympathy, also dwelt +upon the call and claim of duty, in the fulfilment of which Bessie could +alone find peace. She struggled bravely to respond, but the task before +her was more difficult than any that she had yet accomplished; and +there was no renewal of physical power, even when she began to recover +from the shock of her great sorrow. She paid many visits with her +sisters, and returned to Queen Anne Street in August 1871. The change in +her health was at that time painfully evident to her friends in London. +She moved slowly, with difficulty, and was easily exhausted by slight +fatigue. Still she resumed her work for the blind, as we find by a +letter from the Dean of Westminster [Dean Stanley] written on the 22d of +June 1871. He informs her that he will have much pleasure in acceding to +her request to preach on behalf of the Association for the Blind on +Sunday morning, 23d July, at Whitehall. + +In reply to an appeal to Mr. Ruskin, made somewhat later, she received +the following characteristic answer: + + + DENMARK HILL, S.E., _2d September 1871_. + + MADAM--I am obliged by your letter, and I deeply sympathise with + all the objects of the Institution over which you preside. But one + of my main principles of work is that every one must do their best + and spend their all in their own work, and mine is with a much + lower race of sufferers than you plead for--with those who "have + eyes and see not."--I am, madam, your faithful servant, J. RUSKIN. + + The Lady President of the Association for Promoting the Welfare of + the Blind. + + +In the autumn of 1871 Bessie joined a great gathering of the Gilbert +family at Heversham for the celebration of the marriage of the rector, +their youngest brother, the "Tom" of early days. She returned to spend +a few months only in Queen Anne Street, for she and two sisters had +taken a house in Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, which was to be their future +home. + +The Queen Anne Street house was associated in many ways with Bessie's +life and work in London, with the visits to her of the blind workpeople, +with the early days of the Association, with the growth and development +of the objects that had engrossed her life. Perhaps it was dearer to her +than either the Oxford or the Chichester home. Certainly the wrench of +separation was more painful than any previous one had been; and she had +less hope and energy for the unknown future that was before her. + +When the change of house had been accomplished she paid a visit to Mrs. +Bowles, at Milton Hill, but this did little to restore her exhausted +energy. During May and June 1872 there was a marked deterioration in her +condition; she walked with greater difficulty, could not rise from a +chair without assistance, and before the end of June had to be carried +up and down stairs. She went to church for the last time early in June, +driving to All Saints, Norfolk Square, and walking home. + +Greatly alarmed at her condition, the family now turned in many +directions for the help and advice of eminent medical men. Sir William +Jenner took perhaps the most hopeful view. He thought it not impossible +that the nerves of motion might regain power, and prescribed in the +meantime "the life of a cabbage." Dr. Little was never sanguine. Dr. +Hughlings Jackson and Dr. Hawkesley held out but little hope of +improvement. All agreed that she must rest, vegetate, lead the life of +an invalid. + +When the prospect of the future really dawned upon her, who can wonder +that she found submission, acquiescence, exceedingly hard. "My whole +being revolts at the very idea," she said one day. + +On another occasion, with a part humorous, part pathetic expression, she +exclaimed, "The change is great and," after a pause, "not pleasant." But +in later years, after long and patient suffering, she was able to say, +"Many have a heavier cross." + +She announced by letter to the present writer the verdict of her +physicians, adding the pathetic words, "Love me to the end." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + "By two wings a man is raised above the earth, namely by Simplicity + and Purity."--THOMAS A KEMPIS. + + +There was still much within Bessie's power; and in tracing her work at +this period we find little diminution in her correspondence. She +received letters almost daily from Colonel Fyers on the business of the +Institution. Levy wrote frequently and fully to her. She had given him +great assistance in writing a book on _Blindness and the Blind_, and her +own notes were made over to him. + +A letter which she received in March 1872 is interesting as a +description of preparations made by a blind man, Levy, carried out by a +blind carpenter, Farrow, and related to the blind lady, Miss Gilbert. +The occasion was the Thanksgiving for the Restoration of the Prince of +Wales in February 1872, when the streets were gay with decorations and +every window full of spectators. No house showed more bravely than the +Institution for Promoting the Welfare of the Blind in Oxford Street; +subscribers and their friends, the Committee and their friends, filled +every window, and the blind were keenly alive to all that was going on +around them, and to the distinction of the Prince's plume and gas jets +and the letters V.R., "each about four feet long in gold paper." + + + "The decorations," writes Levy, "consisted of a Union Jack flag at + the top of the house, and about half way up a crown and Prince's + plume, made of gold paper, projecting from the wall, and the + letters V.R., each about four feet long and two feet broad, made in + thick rossets in silver paper on crimson ground, also projecting + some distance from the wall, a wreath of flowers extended from the + house to the post at the curb of the pavement, the lamp of which + contained a transparency. + + "At night the illumination consisted of a Prince's plume in gas + jets, which we bought for three pounds ten instead of hiring a + similar one for ten pounds; the wood used for seats will be made + into housemaids' boxes, etc. and the American cloth with which they + were covered made available for dress baskets. + + "I think if you give five pounds it will be enough, as ten pounds + will cover the whole expense. The goods and glass cases were taken + out of the shop windows and three rows of seats, which gradually + receded and increased in height, were formed. The same kind of + seats were in the Committee room and the apartments above, out of + which the windows were taken. A rail was put to keep people from + going on to the balcony, as it was not safe; tables with wine and + biscuits were placed, and Mr. Osmond had something more substantial + in his rooms, with which Mr. Reid and others were well pleased." + + +On the 1st April 1872 the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice died. Bessie +had been but slightly acquainted with him, but he was the brother of +her old and dear friends, Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Julius Hare. She had been +less startled by his written and spoken words than many of those in her +own circle, and on his death she recognised that a great power had gone +from amongst us, and sincerely mourned his loss. + +She worked as usual at the arrangements for the annual meeting in 1872, +and on the 22d June the Archbishop of York, who presided, wrote to tell +her of its success. + + + _22d June 1872._ + + MY DEAR MISS GILBERT--I attended the meeting and made my short + speech. There never was a nicer meeting, the speakers were full of + gratitude to you for all you had done. We could have had twice the + number of speakers if we had wanted them. + + I hope, my dear Miss Gilbert, that God will strengthen you and + enable you to carry on for many years your excellent + Association.--Ever with much regard, yours truly, W. EBOR. + + +The Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar, sister of the Duke of Richmond, +conveyed a request from Bessie to the Duke and Duchess of Teck, whose +interest she hoped to enlist for the annual meeting of 1872. They were +abroad in the spring, but the Duke returned in time to preside at the +June meeting. Bessie never dropped any of the links in her chain, and +her early life at Chichester had given her many valuable allies. + +In her long days of enforced inactivity she would recall to mind visits +to Goodwood, to Arundel, interest expressed and shown in the objects +she had at heart, and would redouble her efforts to raise up friends for +the blind. + +Meantime there was a steady deterioration in her own physical condition. + +The malady which had been making insidious progress for so long was +degeneration of the spinal cord. The disease is one that generally owes +its origin to accident or injury, but so far as could be ascertained +Bessie had never met with either. + +The physicians who attended her throughout the last years of her life +inclined to the view that the poison in the blood left by scarlet fever +was the cause not only of the condition of the throat, from which she +suffered throughout her whole life (it will be remembered that she could +only drink in sips), but also of this degeneration of the spinal cord. + +Looking back, the members of her family recalled to mind that her powers +of motion had not for many years been free and unimpeded. The +significant entries in diary and letters, as to her moving and walking +better, will not be forgotten. But the true cause of this had not been +suspected, except by Dr. Little; for mischief to the spinal cord may be +carried very far before there is any outward sign to manifest it. The +power of motion and merely animal functions are affected by it; but +intelligence remains alert and the brain power unaffected. The symptoms +which accompany it are at first attributed to weakness, overwork, +physical fatigue, any of which would be sufficient to account for them +before the disease has reached the stage in which its true nature is +unmistakably revealed. Mental trouble will often accelerate the progress +of this malady, and occasion its more rapid development. This cause had +also been at work. + +The death of her father in 1870 was sudden and most unexpected to +Bessie. The subsequent giving up of the two homes, at Chichester and in +London, which long years had endeared to her; the necessity of planting +herself in and learning to accommodate herself to a new house, with all +the old familiar landmarks swept away--all these things were sources of +suffering to one of her delicate nervous organisation; and doubtless +they gave an added impetus to the progress of disease. + +She met her troubles with great courage; she bore them with unmurmuring +patience; but they produced their inevitable result, and flung her aside +when the storm was over as a weed is cast up by an angry sea. + +There were a few months during which various remedies were suggested and +tried, but all unsuccessfully. The two sisters, who henceforward devoted +their whole life to her, now took it in turns to sleep on a sofa in her +room, so as to help her to move and turn in bed during the night. But +when she realised that loss of power was not a phase but one of the +conditions of her illness, she would not allow them to do this, saying +she must have them "fresh for the daytime." A sick nurse was engaged, +and, with Charlotte Gadney, ministered to her. + +For a little time she was able occasionally to be taken into Hyde Park +in an easy bath chair and always recumbent, but she could only bear the +vibration of the movement for a very short distance. When she reached +the park she would remain for some hours enjoying the air. + +Quiet and fresh air (two things that London cannot give) seemed more and +more essential; and in August 1872 her sister Mary (Mrs. Bowles) wrote +to propose that she should pay a long visit to Milton Hill, in +Berkshire. Her doctors warmly approved of the proposal, if only she +could bear the journey; and Mr. Bowles, to whom she was warmly attached, +busied himself with preparations for her comfort. + +After many anxious inquiries and careful arrangements, it was settled +that, accompanied by her sister Sarah, she should undertake the journey +in an invalid carriage, "by road and rail," being lifted in at her own +door and lifted out at Milton Hill. + +This was done; but the railway officials attached the carriage to the +end of an express train; the oscillation and vibration were +insupportable, and she reached Milton Hill almost unconscious from pain +and fatigue. In the hope of lessening her suffering she had been held in +the nurse's arms all the latter part of the railway journey; but even +this could do little to diminish the agony she endured. She was carried +to bed as soon as she reached Milton Hill, and after some days of +complete rest she began to rally. It was then a great pleasure to her to +note all that had been done by the "best and kindest brother-in-law +that any one ever had." + +"Did you ever know such a brother-in-law!" she used to say. + +Rooms for her and her servants had been arranged on the ground floor, +with easy access to the beautiful garden and grounds. She arrived in +August, and as soon as she had somewhat recovered, she was carried every +day that the weather allowed, to a tent that had been put up in a +pleasant part of the garden. She enjoyed being read aloud to; she had +great delight in her nephews and nieces; but most of all she appreciated +the opportunity of uninterrupted intercourse with her sister. They were +again the "Mary and Bessie" of youthful days; not friends learning to +know and love each other, but sisters with a wealth of buried +recollections to be brought out to the light of day; interests, tastes, +and affections in common; only a spark, an electric flash of memory, +needed to illuminate the whole. No wonder that the time passed happily, +and "life between four walls" dawned upon the sufferer, not without +promise of alleviation. + +For, in spite of the hours spent in the tent, it was practically already +life within four walls. All thought of work or occupation outside her +own home had to be abandoned; she must keep only that which she could +guide and control from the sick-room. "I feel like a train which has +been left upon a siding," she used to say. + +Throughout the winter of 1872-73 she gave all the strength and time at +her disposal to the interests and occupations of the blind. A fresh +anxiety troubled her. Levy's health was failing seriously, and several +members of the Committee wished him to take a long leave of absence. The +work connected with his book, added to his ordinary duties as manager of +the Association, had exhausted his strength. Bessie received letters +from friends on the Committee telling her that Levy must have rest, and +from Levy saying it was impossible for him to take it during her +absence. The year 1873 was passing on with this, which seemed a heavy +cloud, hanging over her, when suddenly a storm burst, which swept away +all other anxiety in the one engrossing sorrow which it brought. + +After less than a week's illness her beloved sister Mary, Mrs. Bowles, +died on 20th October at Milton Hill. Bessie was in the same house, but +was too ill to be taken to her sister's room; and they never met after +the day on which Mrs. Bowles was attacked by a fatal malady. Bessie's +sick-nurse, and an old and faithful servant of the Gilbert family, who +happened to be staying at Milton Hill, were unremitting in their +attention to Mrs. Bowles; and from them Bessie heard of the variations +in her condition almost from hour to hour. When all was over Bessie, in +her weak condition, was crushed and exhausted. She seemed unable to +endure the shock of this sudden blow, and at first could only lie and +moan, "Oh, why was she taken and I left?" + +Archdeacon Atkinson, a near neighbour and old friend of her sister's, +did his best to soothe and comfort her. The grief of Mr. Bowles and the +children roused her. She saw how much they needed help, and before long +she was the old brave Bessie, full of thought for the sorrow of others, +and engrossed by her endeavours to console and comfort them. + +Before the death of Mrs. Bowles it had been arranged that Bessie should +spend the winter at Torquay. This plan was adhered to; and in November +1873, travelling in one of the railway companies invalid carriages, she +bore the journey fairly well, and reached Torquay without the terrible +suffering caused by her previous journey. + +She had bright and sunny rooms in Sulyarde Terrace, and on fine days she +was still able to spend a few hours out of doors, reclining in an +invalid chair; sometimes also she could sit up in her chair for an hour +or two, and at this time, when her food was duly prepared, she was still +able to feed herself. Her sister Lucy, Mrs. Casson, with husband and +many children, resided at Torquay; and she found here, also, a kind +brother-in-law, unremitting in his attentions, and numerous young +nephews and nieces, whom she knew and loved. In January 1874 Levy died. +Father, mother, and sister; house and home and health had been taken +from Bessie; and now the faithful servant and friend of her whole life +followed. She had put great constraint upon herself at the time of her +sister's illness and death, but she was powerless against this blow. +Deep depression settled down upon her, which took the form of constant +self-reproach. She, the most unselfish and considerate of women, was +given over, as it were, to an avenging spirit, which upbraided her with +faults never committed, and exacted expiation for imaginary crimes of +selfishness and self-seeking. Such dark passages may be borne in mind by +other sufferers, tortured with self-questionings and doubt. + +The first thing to rouse her was the desire to say some words to the +blind men and women on whose behalf Mr. Levy had worked for so many +years. As soon as she had somewhat recovered, she wrote perhaps the most +touching record we have of her work, her hope, her sorrow, and her +submission. + + + 2 SULYARDE TERRACE, TORQUAY, _10th February 1874_. + + MY DEAR FRIENDS--I feel that both you and I have had a very great + loss indeed, and my heart yearns to say to you that you do not know + how grieved I am for you; you know full well what the loss is to + yourselves, but you can hardly tell what it is to me; you cannot + know how he who is now taken and I have worked together with the + self-same end of helping you, and now I am left, deprived of all + the help that your dear and true friend gave me, and it is + impossible for me to tell you how deeply I feel the loss. + + Mr. Levy never spared himself when your interest was at stake, and + now that he is taken from us, and I am left alone, I feel that I + must ask you all to give me all the help in your power, and you can + help me by giving me your confidence, by showing me that you feel I + will do the best I can for you, and, above all, by trying, with + God's help, to become the men and women He would have you to be. + Nothing gives me greater joy than for the Association to be the + means of helping you, by God's blessing, to lead really Christian + lives. This means that you should have in your hearts the love of + God and the love of your neighbour, which love will prevent you + hurting anybody by word or deed, make you true and just in all your + dealings, and temperate and sober in your living. My earnest desire + is that the Association should help you to learn and labour truly + to get your own living; but you know that this must be a work of + time. If I could prevent it there should not be one blind person + begging, but all should have the blessing of earning their living; + but, as I say, it will take a long time to bring this to pass. Had + I been asked I should have said, "You would do better without me + than without him who is taken from us; but God does not ask us, and + does what He sees and knows to be best, and He has taken Mr. Levy + to his rest and reward, and has left me." + + If it is His will that I should have strength, I will, with His + help and with the aid of the friends engaged in the work, do the + best I can. Many of you I have never seen; I wish this were not so, + but I cannot help it; but to you all I earnestly say: please think + of me as of one who has your truest interest at heart, who is, like + yourselves, without sight, and who tries, to the best of her power, + to understand what it is to be poor as well as blind, and who longs + for your help and co-operation in the work of endeavouring to help + you to help yourselves. You will help me, will you not?--Believe + me, my dear friends, to be most sincerely yours, + ELIZABETH GILBERT. + + _P.S._--I have signed my name with the pen which Mr. Levy invented + for us. You and I must pray that God will help me to do what will + be best for you. I know God will not leave us, for He loveth the + blind, as He doth all human beings, more than we can possibly + understand or know, so that we must try and trust in Him fully in + all our trials. May God bless you all! + + +With advancing spring the cloud of depression was dispelled. She became +more cheerful, began to talk of a return to London, and to look forward +to her life there. The return journey was undertaken in the second week +in June. It was safely accomplished, though at the cost of very great +weariness and exhaustion. When she reached Stanhope Place and had been +carried to her room, she said, "No more journeys for me." This was +indeed her last journey, for though in 1877 she had such a longing for +fresh country air that there was a consultation, and her physicians +sanctioned removal, yet when the time came her heart failed, and she +remained at home. + +On her return from Torquay she went into Hyde Park about half a dozen +times in an invalid chair, but after October 1874 she left the house no +more. She was, however, still able for a time to be dressed, to sit up +for an hour or two, and to be carried up and down stairs. As the winter +advanced a sitting-room was arranged on the same floor as her bedroom, +and then she came downstairs daily no more. In spite of all precautions +against cold she had a severe attack of bronchitis in 1875, and was +attended by Dr. Hawkesley, whom she knew and liked as a fellow-worker on +the Council of the Normal College for the Blind. He was struck by the +manner in which she threw off the attack. "She is doing so gallantly," +he said. But she did not regain the strength lost during this illness, +and resumed life after every access of sorrow and suffering on a lower +level, as it were, and with diminished vital powers. After the spring of +1875 she was not dressed again, and never sat up. Recumbent on one of +Alderman's couches, in a pretty dressing-gown, with soft warm shawls, +and lace, and bright colour, such as she loved, about her, she spent her +good days. On the bad ones she was not lifted from her bed. + +She had indeed become like a train that is left upon a siding, and all +her busy life was hushed and silent. + +When the summer came, and her rooms were to be repapered and painted, +she was carried downstairs. The drawing-rooms were specially prepared as +her bed and sitting-rooms, and she would stay in these her "country +quarters" for six weeks or two months. After that she was taken upstairs +in the same way for the autumn, winter, and spring. This removal +required great care and very skilful management, as the couch on which +she reclined had to be lifted over the bannisters, and any jerk or +unexpected movement caused both pain and apprehension. + +A fresh sorrow awaited her. In 1876 Charlotte Gadney, her faithful and +affectionate attendant, had a paralytic seizure, and it was necessary +for the sake both of mistress and maid that they should part. Bessie +could not at first acquiesce in separation; she reproached herself as +the cause of Charlotte's illness, and could not rest until she was +informed of all the minutest details connected with her. + +But when the parting was over Bessie's anxiety gradually diminished, and +Charlotte's recovery was more rapid than had been expected. She was +never well enough to resume attendance upon her beloved mistress, but +from time to time she came on a short visit, much to her own and +Bessie's delight. + +Meanwhile the Association struggled on under the care of successive +managers. Levy's illness and frequent absence had caused confusion, +irregularity, and loss, which his successors were not slow to take +advantage of. They found it easy to persevere in defects occasioned by +his failing health and want of sight; but the untiring devotion to the +cause of the blind, and unwearied efforts on their behalf, which had +made these defects of comparatively small importance, were lost to the +Association for ever. + +Bessie knew and lamented the shortcomings, but she could no longer +supplement them. Successive years diminished her powers of work. +Sleeplessness, pain, exhaustion, wore her out; and sometimes for days +together she could not bear even an allusion to the Association and its +work. Occasional fits of deafness, to which she had always been liable, +depressed her more than they had ever previously done. These attacks +recurred several times, and lasted for many weeks at a time. It was +difficult for her to shake off the gloom that accompanied them, and the +sense of isolation and solitude. Her hands and arms were too feeble to +allow her to read or work for more than a few moments, so that she was +not only cut off from the society of those she loved, but unable to +occupy herself in any way. + +From time to time she regained a little strength, and then it was +touching to see how she at once resumed her labours. At the beginning of +her illness she took great interest in the inauguration of the Normal +College for the Blind. Dr. Campbell had several long conversations with +her in 1871, before she left Queen Anne Street, and at his request she +had joined the Committee of the College and even attended some of its +meetings. She rejoiced in the success that now attended Dr. Campbell's +efforts; but she was convinced that a musical career was, in most cases, +impossible for the blind. "Many adult persons lose their sight, but the +loss does not entail a love of music," she would say. She saw, and had +always seen, that handicrafts were the only possible occupation for the +majority, especially amongst the poor and uneducated; and one of her +chief objects was to increase the number of trades which the blind could +follow. She used to say that, with a little ingenuity and contrivance, +many additional trades might be thrown open to them. With this end in +view she continued to make herself acquainted with the details of +different occupations, and wished that experiments "on a very small +scale" should be carried out. But there were too many difficulties in +the way. Want of health, want of money, want of space for workrooms, met +her at every turn. Still, whenever there was a bit of work that she +could do, she did it. In November 1874 a special Committee had been +appointed by the Charity Organisation Society to consider "what more can +be done to promote the welfare of the blind, especially in relation to +their industrial training." The Earl of Lichfield presided, and the +subjects to be considered were as follows: + + + 1. What is being done industrially for the blind, and in what ways? + + (_a_) For learners. + + (_b_) For journeymen. + + 2. What more can be done through existing agencies? + + (_a_) By improvements in system of working. + + (_b_) By co-operation between the agencies. + + (_c_) By fresh retail shops. + + 3. May not a large proportion of the able-bodied blind be rendered + thoroughly self-supporting? + + 4. Should the education and training of the blind be to any extent + provided for from the rates or other State sources, and, if so, to + what extent? + + +The first paper read on the welfare of the blind had been forwarded by +Bessie, with an expression of deep regret "That the state of her health +prevented her from attending the meeting." She wrote as follows: + + + In endeavours to promote the welfare of the blind, it is essential + that some important facts should be borne in mind, viz.-- + + _1st._ That many blind persons, although instructed in some trade, + are either reduced to begging or are driven to the workhouse, not + through their own fault, but simply for the want of any regular + employment in their trade. + + _2d._ That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind, + as about nine-tenths of the thirty thousand blind in the United + Kingdom become so above the age of twenty-one. + + _3d._ That about half the sightless population live in rural + districts. + + _4th._ That the health of persons without sight is, as a general + rule, below that of others. + + _5th._ That this cause operates, in addition to loss of sight, to + bring about the slow rate at which the blind work as compared with + the sighted. + + _6th._ That social ties are even more essential to the blind than + to others. + + + OBJECTS TO BE AIMED AT. + + _1st._ To foster self-reliance, and to enable the blind to help + themselves. + + _2d._ To eradicate the habit of suspicion by promoting friendly + intercourse between the blind and the sighted. + + _3d._ To develop the faculties of the blind in every direction. + + _4th._ To improve their physical condition. + + _5th._ In industrial training to endeavour to lessen, as far as + possible, the difference in speed in the work between the work of + the blind and that of the sighted, while making it the first object + to secure good and efficient work. + + _6th._ To do everything to reduce the dependence of the blind as + far as possible, while endeavouring, by Christian instruction, to + enable them to accept the unavoidable dependence of their condition + in a spirit of humility and thankfulness which will soften and + sweeten it to them, and will turn this dependence into one of their + greatest blessings, as it will be the means of uniting them more + closely to their fellow-creatures. + + + MEANS TOWARDS THESE ENDS. + + _1st._ Endeavour to enable the blind to earn their own living, and + with this view seek out and send children to existing blind + schools. + + _2d._ Promote the establishment of institutions for providing the + blind on leaving the schools with regular employment, and for + teaching trades to persons ineligible for admission to the schools, + which is the case, as a rule, with those above twenty-one years of + age. + + _3d._ When practicable, supply blind persons with regular + employment at their own homes, and encourage them to do anything + they can on their own account independently of any institution. + + _4th._ Try to introduce trades hitherto not carried on by the + blind, giving the precedence to such as can be practised without + sighted aid. + + _5th._ Cultivate habits of method and precision in the blind, which + will all tend to improve the rate at which they work. + + _6th._ Make the training of efficient blind teachers a special + object. + + _7th._ Encourage residence in the country rather than in towns by + giving employment at home, thus cementing family ties and promoting + health. + + _8th._ Form lending libraries of embossed books in all the various + systems in use, and establish classes for religious and other + instruction. + + + OBSERVATIONS. + + Many other means besides those here mentioned might be suggested, + but the aim of this paper has been to state some of the chief facts + bearing on the subject, and to mention some of the most obvious + means for improving the condition of the blind. + + Regular employment at their own homes, when practicable, is of + great service to the blind, and especially as by this means + numbers in the country can be reached. It might also be possible to + some extent to carry out what might be called Rural Home Industrial + Teaching, of course regulating the trades taught according to local + circumstances. + + The importance of opening new trades to the blind can hardly be + exaggerated, and friends of the blind must welcome every successful + effort in this direction. Next to the benefit of real Christian + principles must be placed that of enabling the sightless to earn + their own living; but where this is impossible pensions should be + given. + + _Lastly._ Let the blind themselves be consulted, and have as much + voice as possible in the measures adopted for their welfare; and + this is said not only with a view to the educated, but especially + to the more intelligent blind in humbler positions, since, as is + well known, the mass of those without sight will be found among the + poorer classes. The more this is done the more will the blind feel + that the sighted desire to carry out such measures as shall act + like so many levers with which to raise them from their present + depressed condition, and will then heartily second the efforts + made, and thankfully grasp the friendly hands held out to them; but + which they will only accept reluctantly and coldly, not having + their own heart in the work, unless convinced that the main object + in view is to enable them, by their own efforts, to stand as far as + possible on an equality with their fellow-creatures. + + +The suggestions made in this little paper had all been thought out upon +a bed of pain, and with sorrows of her own that might well have +engrossed her attention. But Bessie never, to the end of her life, lost +an opportunity of working and speaking on behalf of those to whom that +life had been devoted. + +Two events in the history of the Association which deeply interested +her were the removal from Oxford Street to more commodious premises in +Berners Street, and the Special Bequest of L10,000 by Mr. Gardner. She +was gratified to learn that the Special Bequest was no bar to the +participation of the Association in the general advantages provided by +Mr. Gardner for the blind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM + + "They also serve who only stand and wait."--MILTON. + + +During the last few years of life Bessie Gilbert never left her invalid +couch and bed. In addition to blindness she was liable to distressing +attacks of deafness, to sleeplessness, agonising pain, and weary +exhaustion. Her throat was often affected, swallowing was difficult. She +had lost power in the upper limbs, could only use her hands for a few +seconds to read the raised type for the blind, or to do a few stitches +of chain work for those she loved; even that became impossible before +the end. The record of work for the Institution dwindles down during +these years, but she lived for it as completely as she had ever done. +She would deny herself the one pleasure that remained--a visit from some +one she loved, because it would exhaust her and render her incapable of +the little she could now do. + +For three or four years she received almost daily business letters from +Colonel Fyers, and dictated replies to them when her health allowed, +but this uncertain interposition was of little value, and by degrees +matters of business ceased to be submitted to her. When any question on +which she entertained a strong opinion was brought forward, she would +occasionally explain her view in a letter to the Committee, but these +letters also diminished in number. Her interest in individuals never +decreased; the blind workpeople and their affairs occupied her to the +very last. + +In 1878 she heard that one of the workmen was about to marry a +workwoman, since dead, who was blind, deformed, and very much out of +health. She could not approve of such a marriage, and did her utmost to +prevent it. She wrote to express her views, and sent a favourite +sick-nurse to the Institution to emphasise them. The result was that she +received the following letter, informing her that the engagement was at +end: + + + INSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE BLIND. + + 28 BERNERS STREET, LONDON, W., _3d August 1878._ + + MADAM--I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind letter of + the 2d inst., and to express to you how deeply I feel the very + great interest you on all occasions have shown towards me, and + especially now. I know you must have my welfare at heart, otherwise + you would not have favoured me with this communication, for which I + sincerely thank you. I, as well as L. W., have, through the means + of your kind letter, seen the matter of our proposed marriage from + a different point of view, and have therefore decided to act in + harmony with your wishes, which no doubt are for our best. + + I regret very much that any uneasiness should have been caused you + by this affair, and trust that in future nothing on my part will + occur to cause it again.--I am, madam, your obedient servant, C. C. + + Miss Elizabeth Gilbert. + + +Bessie warmly approved of marriage for the blind, and was sometimes +charged with promoting it injudiciously. In this case she would have +been very glad if C. could have found a healthy, capable wife, who would +have made him happy. She used to say that blindness was the strongest +possible bond of sympathy between husband and wife; and as she did not +for herself witness the untidiness and discomfort in the homes where man +and wife are both blind, and the almost unavoidable neglect of young +children, she could not share the objection of many members of the +Committee to marriage between the workpeople. + +In 1879 her widowed sister, the Hon. Mrs. Elliot, was married to Mr. +Childers. Mr. Childers had not previously known Bessie personally, but +he saw her several times afterwards, and was greatly impressed by her +marvellous patience and resignation. + +In one of her early interviews with him she had asked for information as +to the Blind and Deaf Mute Education Bill, which Mr. Wheelhouse, member +for Leeds, Mr. Mellor, and others, had introduced into the House of +Commons, but had been unsuccessful in passing. She wished to see any +papers Mr. Wheelhouse could send, and was much interested in his efforts +and in the correspondence which followed her request. + +Many letters received at this time have been preserved, and they show +the influence which, from her bed of pain, she exercised on all around +her. + +The following is from her old friend, Mr. Coxe, librarian of the +Bodleian. It is his last letter to her; he died in the following July: + + + NORTHGATE, OXFORD, _S. Stephen's Day, 1880_. + + MY VERY DEAR BESSIE--How much I thank you for thinking of me on my + sick-bed, and sending me such a welcome Christmas gift to perfume + my existence. My wife immediately seized upon one (as owing, or + due, to her) and carried off the rest to some secret store-room, + unknown to me as yet, in my new house. I have been now nearly three + months in my bed and bedroom; how dare I speak of it to you in a + spirit other than of deep thankfulness that I have been allowed to + brave all weathers, and to work unscathed even to my 70th year. + Dear Fan ("old Fan!" it was such a pleasure seeing her!) will have + told you what nice quarters we have fallen on wherein to end our + days. It was one of the two houses I used in days gone by to covet; + the other was old Mr. Parker's, now young Fred Morrell's. Well, + dear Bessie, this season has had its message of peace too for you. + I am sure that you have received and welcomed it; that simple + message in these sad days of rebuke and blasphemy becomes more and + more precious. I am not likely to be again a traveller, tho' I + should like to see Hilgrove in his new home, only fifteen miles + away, so that I am not likely to see you again in this life. May it + be granted that we may enjoy a happy reunion in that which shall + be. Best love to the "Duchess" and Nora, with much to yourself + from yours, dearest Bessie, ever affectionately, H. O. COXE. + + +The year 1881 brought to Bessie a long fit of depression, due mainly to +an attack of deafness; but she had also much anxiety with regard to the +Association. She heard of custom diminishing, a manager dismissed for +dishonesty, heavy losses upon Government contracts undertaken in order +to give work to the blind throughout the winter, diminished income and +subscriptions, and increased demands for aid. In the old days she would +have stirred up her friends, made appeals through the press, organised a +public meeting, and surmounted all difficulties. + +The utmost she could now do was to draw up a short circular, asking all +those interested in her work to become Associates, and to subscribe a +sum of not less than one shilling a year. Such Associates were to pledge +themselves to promote the sale of goods made by the blind. She submitted +her scheme and circular to the Committee, and was advised to make the +minimum subscription half a crown. In this form it was issued, but, +lacking the energy with which she would in former time have launched it, +there was no appreciable result. + +On the 2d of May 1882 a concert in aid of the Association was held, by +the kindness of the Duke of Westminster, at Grosvenor House. Bessie did +what she could, but by far the greater part of the work connected with +it fell upon her sisters. The Duke wrote directly it was over to +congratulate her upon a very successful result; and Bessie was greatly +cheered to learn that when all incidental expenses were paid, there +would remain the sum of L326: 17: 6. + +The Committee endeavoured as far as possible to save her the distress of +knowing the difficulties in which they were involved. Sir E. Sotheby was +untiring in his zealous endeavours to promote the interests of the +Association, and to shield Bessie from anxiety. Colonel Fyers, though in +failing health, never lost sight of the object he had so long worked +for. But all efforts were unavailing. Every fact and figure connected +with the undertaking had been impressed upon an inexorable memory. +Nothing now escaped her. She detected every financial error, and every +departure from her original aims and objects. She saw what grave +difficulty lay in the fact that since the death of Levy no manager had +been appointed who had any special interest in the blind. She feared +that the work of her whole life would be ignored; and that there would +be no higher aim than to keep open a shop and carry on a trade. +Oppressed by this fear, she made one last appeal, one final effort, on +behalf of those whom she had loved and served for so long. + +The address to the Committee, bearing date Whit Monday 1882, may be +looked upon as her last will and testament. Internal evidence shows that +it was in that light she herself looked upon it, and that she +endeavoured to sum up in one short statement, which recapitulates the +most important points in the early rules of the Association, the result +of a lifetime of work, thought, experience, and devotion. + + + THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE BLIND + + WHITMONDAY, _29th May 1882._ + + This title should always be borne in mind by those managing the + Association, as it clearly indicates the scope of the undertaking. + Trade is a most necessary and essential part of the work; and the + more sure the foundation upon which the trade is carried on the + better will be the security for its prosperity; but trade is by no + means the most important part of the undertaking, and indeed it is + my earnest desire that the Association should never under any + circumstances become a mere trading institution. This would be a + great falling off from the original scope and object with which + this Association was founded. I wish those who may be at any time + entrusted with the management of the Association always to remember + that it is open to them to do everything they can, that is likely + to promote the welfare of the blind. The particular directions in + which this may be done will often be clearly indicated by the + circumstances of the Association, and by opportunities which may + arise at any given time. Still, certain fixed principles should + always be kept in view, as laid down in our rule No. 2, "That the + immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment + to those blind persons who, for want of work, have been compelled + to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so. To + cause those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some + industrial art, and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the + blind. Also, to support a Circulating Library consisting of books + in various systems of relief print, to the advantages of which the + indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon + payment of the subscription required by the Committee. To enable + blind musicians to show that the loss of sight does not prevent + their being efficient organists and scientific musicians. To + collect and disseminate information relative to the physical, + mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind; and to + promote among individuals and institutions seeking to ameliorate + the condition of the blind, a friendly interchange of information + calculated to advance the common cause." + + Rule 16 also provides, "That with a view to increase the funds and + extend the utility of the Association, the Committee shall have + power to receive into connection with the Association other kindred + institutions, and shall seek to form auxiliaries in various parts + of the kingdom." + + The Association will probably never be called upon to undertake + anything with regard to music, as the field is now so well and + fully occupied by the Royal Normal College; but the rule is quoted + exactly as it stands in order to show the breadth of the original + design, which design should be kept steadily in view. It is most + desirable that among those who may direct the Association there + should always be some persons who should make it their special + object to study the condition of the blind, and in this study the + knowledge of the following facts will be found of service, viz.-- + + _1st._ That many blind persons after leaving the schools are, + although instructed in some trade, reduced to begging or driven to + the workhouse, not through their own fault, but simply for the want + of any regular employment in their trade. + + _2d._ That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind; + as about nine-tenths of the 30,000 blind in the United Kingdom + become so above the age of twenty-one, and are then ineligible for + admission to most blind schools. + + _3d._ That about half the sightless population live in rural + districts. + + +The address ends here abruptly. Probably the writer's strength was +exhausted with the effort to think and to dictate. + +During 1882, 1883, 1884 Bessie carried on at long intervals a +correspondence with Mr. Wood, Superintendent of the School for the +Blind, Sheffield. She learns that his pupils are taught to read embossed +type on Braille's system, which her own experience had shown to be +unsuited to those who have hard manual labour to perform. In every +letter she requests information on this point: "Can the workpeople still +read Braille's type?" she asks. The opening up of fresh trades, the +establishment of workshops for the benefit of those who leave the +school, are questions which she suggests for the serious consideration +of the Sheffield Committee, and she asks Mr. Wood for information, at +any time he can send it, as to work in any way connected with the blind. + +About this time Bessie heard that John Bright had spoken at the Normal +College, Norwood, and appealed to him on behalf of Berners Street. He +replied: + + + 132 PICCADILLY, _26th July 1883._ + + DEAR MADAM--I thank you for your letter and for the volume you have + sent me. My engagements are so many and so constantly pressing that + I cannot hope to do much for the cause you have at heart. I hope, + however, the cause is making progress, and it is not unlikely that + some general inquiry into the condition of the blind will be made + before long, and that good may come from it. My presence and + speech at Norwood were accidental. I must leave more practical work + to others.--I am, very truly yours, + JOHN BRIGHT. + + Miss Gilbert, 5 Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, W. + + +The volume sent was most probably Levy's _Blindness and the Blind_. + +During 1883 Bessie received frequent letters from the Chairman of her +Committee, Sir E. Sotheby, and the Hon. Secretary, Captain Hume Nicholl. +They referred to her the different appeals from blind men, women, and +boys which reached them; these she carefully investigated and reported +upon. During her illness, as throughout her whole life, the utmost help +and best advice she could give were always at the disposal of the blind. +Farrow, who had worked twenty-eight years at the Institution, loses no +opportunity of sending her cheering news. He writes at this time with +respect to the brushmakers: + + + During the last six months orders have poured in from all quarters, + and I can say that all the years I have been connected with the + Institution we have not done so much before in the same time. + Brushes manufactured indoors in 1882 amounted to L3200. The present + year, from the 1st January to the 1st of June, amounted to L1471: + 6: 4 in twenty-two weeks. + + +There was an Industrial Exhibition in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, +in 1883, and the blind stall from Berners Street was always crowded. +Farrow writes: + + + If the manager of the Agricultural Hall had given us a better + position in the body of the hall no doubt we should have done more + than we did. The sales amounted to about L110. The donation boxes + yielded L15. The cost of the undertaking about L29. The profits of + the sale and [contents of] boxes included came to L50, leaving a + balance of L21. I superintended the arrangements of the benches as + two years ago. The workpeople who represented the different + branches are as follows.... I visited the hall several times for + the purpose of examining the machinery, to see if there was + anything to be learnt for the benefit of the Association.... This + year we have the whole of the work of the L. S. W. Railway, and we + have also obtained that of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. For the + future I will not send in any tender unless I see the samples + first, as it was often done before without my seeing them. + + +This blind man who "examined the machinery" and must "see the samples" +is one after Bessie's own heart, and there was always a merry laugh of +approval when she spoke of his letters. + +A conference was held at York in 1883 on the condition of the blind. It +was followed in 1884 by a meeting at Sheffield on the same subject, and +presided over by Lord Wharncliffe. + +Bessie had, at Lord Wharncliffe's request, furnished suggestions and +information. He writes as follows: + + + WORTLEY HALL, SHEFFIELD, _12th January 1884_. + + MADAM--I have taken the liberty of sending to you a copy of the + _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ containing the report of our meeting on + Thursday last, and have to express to you my warm thanks for the + kindness with which you answered my letter, and for the valuable + suggestions contained in your reply. I can only hope that you will + be interested with the report of our proceedings, and will approve + of what was then said.--I remain, yrs. faithfully, WHARNCLIFFE. + + Miss Gilbert. + + +The paper of suggestions referred to, travels over much of the ground +familiar to Bessie for so many years, and never, as she thought, +adequately explored by those who were working for the blind. + +She writes to Lord Wharncliffe: + +"It is almost impossible for a blind man, singlehanded, to cope with all +the difficulties with which he has to contend, and the result has often +been begging or the workhouse. Happily there are many more industrial +institutions than there were." + +One can imagine with what a thrill of satisfaction she would write this, +as she remembered the little cellar in Holborn and the humble origin of +all her subsequent work. She continues: + + + It would be most desirable that the ordinary schools and such + institutions should play into one another's hands, so as to shorten + as far as possible the interval between the pupils leaving [school] + and their being employed. Sometimes the blind might be taught some + special branch of a trade, and might perhaps even be employed by + masters among their sighted workpeople. This would answer the + double purpose of lightening the work of the Institution, and also + of drawing attention to the blind and to what they are able to do, + which is a very important point. + + As industrial institutions must depend to a very great extent upon + custom for their support, it is well to bear in mind that some + persons without sight can both help themselves and the institution + employing them by acting as travellers. People are often very much + interested by this means, and look forward to the regular + recurring calls of the blind travellers. Besides which it saves + people trouble in dealing with an institution if they happen to + live at some distance. + + It is almost needless to say that all the capabilities of the blind + should be brought out as much as possible, as the more this is done + and the more their highest interests are cared for, the more will + their whole condition be elevated and improved. The problem of + enabling the blind to earn their own living is by no means an easy + one, and is well worthy of the attention of loving hearts and wise + intellects for its solution. + + +The whole tone of these wise and thoughtful remarks shows that Bessie +had never lost touch with her work. Her interest is as fresh, her +expectation as vigorous as ever. She throws out a new suggestion--that +of the employment of the blind in special branches of a trade--which may +even yet bear fruit. She pleads for "the elevation of the whole +condition of the blind," in contradistinction to the administration of +charitable doles to degrade them. She had a wide experience of both +systems, and could now speak with authority. The letter indeed marks a +recrudescence, and has a ring of hope about it. It is not the utterance +of one who speaks on the other side of a closed door. You feel that the +door is open and she may enter and resume work. There was, in fact, +throughout 1884 an indefinable improvement and amelioration in her +condition which led her, not perhaps to hope, but to entertain a thought +of the possibility of such a measure of recovery as might once more +enable her to take an active share in the work of the Institution. It +is not likely that this expectation was entertained either by her +doctors or nurses; but Bessie had a distinct feeling that a change, an +improvement, was before her. "Would it not be wonderful," she said to +the present writer in the early summer of 1884, "if I should recover?" +And in reply to a question suggested by this remark, she added, "I feel +as if there would be a change." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TWILIGHT + + "The noble mansion is most distinguished by the beautiful images it + retains of beings passed away; and so is the noble mind." + WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. + + +Fifteen years of suffering had left Bessie Gilbert unchanged as to the +aims and work of her life. Long lonely hours of thought had shown her +the need that the blind have of help and sympathy, the impossibility of +independence and self-supporting work for them unless through the active +charity of individuals and the co-operation of the State. + +And it was the "General Welfare of the Blind" that engrossed her, and +not merely their trades. She knew, no one better, how much need they +have of resources from within, the pleasures of memory, the courage +given by hope and aspiration. Her long years of illness enlarged her +ideas of what could be done and ought to be done for them. She +contrasted her own condition with that of the poor and untaught, and +forgave them all their faults when she remembered their sad state. + +Bessie had been carefully prepared for the inevitable solitude of her +lot. Her mind was richly stored and her memory so carefully trained, +that it seemed to allow no escape of anything that interested her. +During the long weary days and nights of illness, when deafness isolated +her even more than blindness, she would go over the whole story of a +book read to her years before. She would recall the symphonies and +sonatas she had listened to in early days, and find exceeding great +enjoyment in the memory of her music. Indeed, towards the end she had +but little pleasure in music heard through the outward ear, for her +nerves were not able to endure the shock of a sudden or unexpected +outburst of sound. But the music which she could call from out the +chambers of memory was soft and tender, and its most impassioned +passages gave her no pain. The soul of the music spoke to her soul, and +silence brought to her the rapture of spiritual communion. + +In early youth she had been accustomed, in the daily family prayers, to +read in turn her verse of the Lessons and the Psalms. In later years she +always read them to herself or had them read aloud to her. During her +illness she scarcely ever failed to hear them; and the evening Psalms +ended her day. She knew very many of the Psalms by heart, and "specially +delighted in the glorious ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving in +those for the thirtieth evening of the month." She liked to think that +every month and every year at its close was accompanied by praise and +thanksgiving. "It pleased and touched her greatly," writes her sister +N., "that in the New Lectionary the miracle of restoring sight to the +two blind men at Jericho, came as the second lesson for the evening of +her birthday, 7th August. + +"One of her most favourite verses in the Psalms was, 'Thou hast given me +the defence of thy salvation. Thy right hand also shall hold me up, and +thy loving correction shall make me great.'" + +Two poems from the _Lyra Germanica_ gave her constant comfort, and were +in her heart and on her lips. She found in them the embodiment of her +faith, and could use them not only as expressing her own feelings, but +as bringing comfort and help, because they were the utterance of the +ardent faith and devotion of others. + +These two hymns really open to us the inner life of Bessie Gilbert. They +show from whence she derived the strength and courage that supported her +in the efforts and trials of her early life, and they reveal the source +of the patient endurance of fifteen years of isolation and suffering. + + + PASSION WEEK.[9] + + I. + + IN THE GARDEN. + + Whene'er again thou sinkest, + My heart, beneath thy load, + Or from the battle shrinkest, + And murmurest at thy God; + Then will I lead thee hither, + To watch thy Saviour's prayer, + And learn from His endurance + How thou shouldst also bear. + + Oh come, wouldst thou be like Him, + Thy Lord Divine, and mark + What sharpest sorrows strike Him, + What anguish deep and dark,-- + That earnest cry to spare Him, + The trial scarce begun? + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Oh wherefore doth His spirit + Such bitter conflict know? + What sins, what crimes could merit + Such deep and awful woe? + So pure are not the heavens, + So clear the noonday sun, + And yet He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Oh mark that night of sorrow, + That agony of prayer; + No friend can watch till morrow + His grief to soothe and share; + Oh where shall He find comfort? + With God, with God alone, + And still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + Hath life for Him no gladness, + No joy the light of day? + Can He then feel no sadness, + When heart and hope give way? + That cup of mortal anguish + One bitter cry hath won, + That it might pass: "Yet, Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + And who the cup prepared Him, + And who the poison gave? + 'Twas one He loved ensnared Him, + 'Twas those He came to save. + Oh sharpest pain, to suffer + Betray'd and mock'd--alone; + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + But what is joy or living, + What treachery or death, + When all His work, His striving, + Seems hanging on His breath? + Oh can it stand without Him, + That work but just begun? + Yet still He saith: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + He speaks; no more He shrinketh, + Himself He offers up; + He sees it all, yet drinketh + For us that bitter cup, + He goes to meet the traitor, + The cross He will not shun,-- + He saith: "I come, My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + My Saviour, I will never + Forget Thy word of grace, + But still repeat it ever, + Through good and evil days; + And looking up to heaven, + Till all my race is run, + I'll humbly say: "My Father, + Thy will, not mine, be done!" + + W. HEY, 1828. + + + FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. + + Be thou content; be still before + His face, at whose right hand doth reign + Fulness of joy for evermore, + Without whom all thy toil is vain. + He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays + Make glad with life and light thy weary days. + Be thou content. + + In Him is comfort, light, and grace, + And changeless love beyond our thought; + The sorest pang, the worst disgrace, + If He is there, shall harm thee not. + He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands, + And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands. + Be thou content. + + Or art thou friendless and alone, + Hast none in whom thou canst confide? + God careth for thee, lonely one, + Comfort and help will He provide. + He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief, + He knoweth when to send thee quick relief. + Be thou content. + + Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows, + Thy secret sighs He hears full well, + What to none else thou dar'st disclose, + To Him thou mayst with boldness tell; + He is not far away, but ever nigh, + And answereth willingly the poor man's cry. + Be thou content. + + Be not o'er-mastered by thy pain, + But cling to God, thou shalt not fall; + The floods sweep over thee in vain, + Thou yet shalt rise above them all; + For when thy trial seems too hard to bear + Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer. + Be thou content. + + Why art thou full of anxious fear + How thou shalt be sustain'd and fed? + He who hath made and placed thee here + Will give thee needful daily bread; + Canst thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand, + Who feeds all living things on sea and land? + Be thou content. + + He who doth teach the little birds + To find their meat in field and wood, + Who gives the countless flocks and herds + Each day their needful drink and food, + Thy hunger too will surely satisfy, + And all thy wants in His good time supply. + Be thou content. + + Sayest thou, I know not how or where, + No hope I see where'er I turn; + When of all else we most despair, + The riches of God's love we learn; + When thou and I His hand no longer trace, + He leads us forth into a pleasant place. + Be thou content. + + Though long His promised aid delay, + At last it will be surely sent: + Though thy heart sink in sore dismay, + The trial for thy good is meant. + What we have won with pains we hold more fast, + What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last. + Be thou content. + + Lay not to heart whate'er of ill + Thy foes may falsely speak of thee, + Let man defame thee as he will, + God hears and judges righteously. + Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side, + Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride? + Be thou content. + + We know for us a rest remains, + When God will give us sweet release + From earth and all our mortal chains + And turn our sufferings into peace. + Sooner or later death will surely come + To end our sorrows and to take us home. + Be thou content. + + Home to the chosen ones, who here + Served their Lord faithfully and well, + Who died in peace without a fear, + And there in peace for ever dwell; + The Everlasting is their joy and stay, + The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say + Be thou content! + + PAUL GERHARDT, 1670. + + +For weeks together during her illness Bessie was at times unable to +sleep during the night. She was too considerate to her nurses to disturb +them for mere sleeplessness. She would then, as we have said, recall to +memory music and books which she had heard, and at these times +Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott were a great resource to her. The +characters she admired lived for her, and she would try to picture to +herself how they would act in circumstances which she invented for them. +Her knowledge of English history was also a source of interest, and +often astonished those around her. One evening in 1884 a young niece +preparing for an examination asked in vain for information as to the +"Salisbury Assize" until the question was put to "Aunt Bessie," who at +once explained it. + +There were long lapses, as it were, in her life. After the sleepless +nights she had to sleep when she could, and her room in the daytime was +hushed and silent, all external life and interest excluded. At night she +was again fully awake, but it was to find herself alone in the "chambers +of her imagery." + +One of the two sisters who were her constant companions, and nursed her +with unfailing devotion for fifteen years, writes as follows: + + + All through her illness, with the occasional exceptions when she + suffered from deafness, her cheerfulness was marvellous, her + patience never-failing, and her consideration and thoughtfulness + for those around her very wonderful and touching. + + She had a special name of her own for each of her nurses, all of + them loved her, and upon several of them the influence of her + patience and goodness was strongly marked, and will be of lifelong + endurance. Her first sick-nurse came in 1872 and stayed two years. + She often afterwards visited her. She came to see us after Bessie's + death, and said with tears, "Oh, I did not do enough for her. I + wish I had done more." + + Bessie would often arrange little surprises and pleasures for us + and give us flowers. She was anxious we should have all the variety + we could, and took the greatest pleasure in hearing an account of + what we had seen and done whilst away from her. She liked to see + visitors when she was well enough, but was often nervous about it, + fearing lest the excitement should do her harm, and interfere in + any way with what little she could do for the Institution. + + Perhaps few realised how much she suffered; she was so patient, so + bright, so sympathetic that it was difficult to do so. The last few + months of her life were full of pain. + + +No record of Bessie's illness would be adequate which did not speak of +the love that lightened every burden laid upon her. Sisters and brothers +bound by so strong a bond of family love as the Gilberts are even more +closely united by affliction. No day passed without its tribute of +affectionate remembrance from absent members of the family. Her eldest +brother, Mr. Wintle, always spent the afternoon of Sunday with her, when +she was able to receive him. The Vicar of Heversham, the beloved "Tom" +of her youth, saw her in London whenever it was possible. Married +sisters visited and wrote to her, and a whole cloud of nephews and +nieces hovered around her. + +She valued highly the friendship as well as the skill of Mr. Sibley, the +surgeon who for many years attended her. She depended upon him for +almost daily visits. Very little could be done to arrest the progress of +her malady; nothing to save her from much inevitable suffering. +Alleviation, not cure, was all that could be looked for, and he was +always ready to attempt, and often able to effect, some mitigation of +the ills she had to endure. + +Among many others who were kind and helpful, ready to aid her work and +so to give her almost the only pleasure she could receive, were the +Duke of Westminster, Lord and Lady Selborne, Madame Antoinette Sterling, +who would sometimes sing to her, and the old and dear friends of the +family, Dean and Mrs. Hook. No word can here be said of the two sisters, +whose whole life was given up to her; none would be adequate. They knew, +and they were known. That is enough. We may not lift the veil under +which they passed so many years with Bessie in her long agony. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] From _Lyra Germanica_, second series. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE END + + "In Thy light we shall see light." + + +The summer of 1884 in London was hot and exhausting. In Bessie's +helpless condition excessive heat caused her real suffering; for she was +fixed immovable upon her couch. But if she longed for cool breezes, the +scent of flowers and song of birds, she uttered no murmur in their +absence. + +The slight improvement recognised with so much gratitude in the spring +was not permanent, but the "change" she anticipated was at hand. "I feel +as if there would be a change," she had said. + +The autumn showed that she had seriously lost ground. + + + "Her throat," continues her sister N., "always painful and + irritable, had now become a source of great suffering. There was + constant pain, greatly increased every time she swallowed; whilst + her weakness made it important that she should take plenty of + nourishment. A troublesome cough came on; fits of coughing that + lasted for hours and exhausted her terribly. At the same time + neuralgia and rheumatism attacked the left leg and thigh, and + violent pain caused her, with all her courage and patience, to + scream in the most heartrending manner. Her whole body became most + sensitive to touch, and yet she was obliged to be moved on account + of the cough. Her limbs seemed to stiffen, and the body was like a + leaden weight pressing on the bed. To change her position, even to + touch her hair, caused her great pain; and it required four or even + five persons to move her with the minimum of pain." + + +This sad condition lasted through the autumn of 1884, but she improved +wonderfully about Christmas time, and there was alleviation and relief +for herself and all around her. On Christmas day, however, a fresh +sorrow befel her. Her brother-in-law, Mr. Bowles, died suddenly, and all +her old grief at the loss of her sister Mary, of her father, and of dear +friends, was reopened. She had a serious relapse, and before long the +condition of her throat made it desirable to seek further advice. Dr. +Semon was consulted, and he examined her throat by the help of the +electric light. She was greatly interested in this examination, in the +explanation of the apparatus used, and in the fact that hers was the +first throat so examined since Dr. Semon's apparatus had been perfected. + +Shortly afterwards her condition was aggravated by slight bronchitis, +and for four days and nights she had no sleep. On the 7th of February +1885 Dr. Sibley saw her between 12 and 12.30, and anticipated no +immediate danger. But he was again hastily summoned, and at 1.15 she +died; conscious to the last moment. + +"She had been so tired the night before," writes her sister. "About +midnight she said: 'Art thou weary, art thou weary?' and we repeated the +beautiful hymn, which seemed to soothe her. Even that last night she was +full of thought for others. 'Mind you have some tea; do make yourselves +some tea,' she said. She evidently followed the prayers that we said, +and indeed her death was a falling asleep, so peaceful, with no pain or +struggle whatever." + +The farewell of two old friends was by her bedside at Ascension Tide, +May 1884, when Bessie received the Holy Communion. + +Such a radiant light, such ineffable peace rested on her face when she +lay back in silence on her pillow, that the writer thought "so will she +look when at last her eyes are open to the eternal day." A kiss, a +pressure of the hand, a word of farewell, and there was no other place +of meeting in this life. + +Undaunted by suffering and privation, patient, heroic, she lived and +died. No murmur escaped her lips from early youth to age. She stood +trembling with awestruck face when, after she had said, "Oh how I should +like to see the sun!" her companion solemnly assured her, "And you shall +see," and turned the sightless face towards the glowing sky. All was +dark, the young girl could only answer, "I see nothing," as she turned +and went slowly homewards. She accepted her blindness. It was the will +of God. No word of lamentation escaped her throughout her life. + +Again there came a time when a great cause had been entrusted to her, +when she felt that it was prospering in her hands, when she hoped to +raise the whole condition of the blind, to lift them up out of poverty +and dependence, and place them on a level with all industrious and +intelligent citizens. But a hand was laid upon her in the darkness. "I +can do nothing," she said; and once again she turned and went slowly +without a murmur, without repining, down the dark pathway to the grave +and gate of death. But the work for which she gave her life has not +died, and cannot die. Every good seed, sown upon good ground, must +spring up and bear fruit. Her patient efforts, her success in "removing +obstacles from before the feet of the blind," will help and encourage +other workers. Blind children in our schools, blind workmen and +workwomen in our shops and factories, will reap the harvest for which +Bessie Gilbert laboured, and may join in the acknowledgment of +dependence upon the Great Father which she so loved to utter: "All thy +works praise thee, O Lord." + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the +Blind, by Frances Martin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIZABETH GILBERT *** + +***** This file should be named 31721.txt or 31721.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/2/31721/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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