‘shepherds of the people had need know the calendar of tempests in the state; which are commonly greatest when things grow to equality, as natural tempests about the equinoctia.’—bacon.
‘with no feeling of exultation should we meet to-day, my children. those of us who have long laboured at the work are indeed grateful that we have been permitted to see its accomplishment, but we are also deeply sensible that every increase of influence means an increase of responsibility;—that he who had five talents was required to bring other five. with larger numbers there is a stronger sense that we are a collective power for good or evil. and shall we doubt which is stronger? we dare not be so faithless. there is such a mighty prevailing power in the spirit of earnest devotion, that when only two or three are gathered together in his name, for work as well as for prayer, his power is felt. what a power might we be for good if we were his disciples indeed.
‘some say our school is church-like. i am glad, for churches are built to remind us that god is not far away, but very near to us, and this is the thought which should keep us from evil and fill us with gladness. may his presence be seen in this house, seen in the lives and hearts of his children: may they remember that they, too, form one spiritual building. as each stone stands here in its appointed place, resting on one stone, supporting others; so are we a little community, a spiritual building; each is placed in her own niche, each has her appointed place, appointed by the spiritual architect; each is needful for the perfection of his design.
‘may we ever form part of that spiritual building, whose foundations are laid in faith and obedience. “whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, he is like a man who laid the foundation and digged deep, and built his house upon a[159] rock.” st. john wished for one of his converts that he might “prosper even as his soul prospered.” let us desire only such prosperity. let us ask for true wisdom, for lowliness of heart, that we may esteem others better than ourselves. let us ask, above all, for that most excellent gift of charity, without which all else is as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. something of this spirit of love for one another does live among us, as we see by those who have come to join their prayers with ours to-day. i would ask them not to forget us afterwards, but to remember us when they return to their homes; and i would fain hope that this bond will last through coming years, and that the college, though transplanted to a new place, will always be to you “the old college.”’
in these words the lady principal addressed her staff, pupils, and a small sprinkling of friends on the first morning of assembling in the new building which, begun in january of previous year, was thus opened on march 17, 1873. as the school hours ended on saturday the 15th, a simple order had been given to take home all the books, and to bring them to the new college at the usual time on monday. in the course of the afternoon all desks and portable fittings were moved and arranged in order for work. the appointment of places in the new hall was, so far as can be remembered, a matter of a few minutes only, so quiet and free from fuss was all college organisation. there was certainly not half an hour of the ordinary lesson time lost. yet it was a change which made an undying impression. the quietness with which it came was wholly in accordance with the spirit of the school. the regular work, undisturbed even for an hour by the totally new surroundings, spoke emphatically of the response of duty to every fresh inspiration and larger freedom.
and how beautiful those new surroundings seemed to the hundred and fifty girls who were privileged to experience the change from the square, unadorned rooms[160] of cambray house. two churches at that time, one with its high, fine spire, another with its lavish decoration, were all that the town could show of the gothic renaissance which followed the teachings of ruskin and morris. the ladies’ college was early among non-ecclesiastical buildings of this type. to some it may have seemed florid, but not to the eyes of youth and hope, which took delight in the pierced and patterned stone, the flowers in the coloured glass, the arch of the windows, the unusual design of the lecture-rooms. these caused teachers and pupils to ignore for the most part the undoubted chilliness of the new rooms, and the ‘currents of air,’ about which some parents wrote complaining letters, for at that time people were even more afraid of draughts than they are to-day. it is worth mentioning, as characteristic of miss beale’s mind, that she forgot very soon the exact date of entrance into the new college; though when reminded of it each year by her own birthday, or by the approach of spring and lady day, she would on some suitable march morning say a few words at prayers: ‘it is —— years to-day since we entered,’ etc.
in 1873 the building was but begun. it is a question if miss beale herself dreamed of all that was to follow. there was as yet no house for the lady principal, and for a year, while it was being built, she lived with mrs. fraser, who had one of the three boarding-houses then existing. the house completed in 1874, there followed in 1875 the first enlargement of the college, the two hundred and twenty pupils for whom it was first designed having rapidly become three hundred. at this time a second large hall and more classrooms were added. in seven years the college had doubled its numbers; hence in 1882 were built the art and music wings and the[161] kindergarten rooms, to be followed almost immediately by science rooms and laboratories. after this the sound of the hammer was not heard for nearly four years; but it is one which has a resounding echo in the memories of college life. there were a few peaceful half-hours when it was stopped for scripture lessons, at all other times it was but a too persistent reminder of prosperity and growth. a memory also abides of crowded doorways and passages, overfull lecture-rooms, and a continual looking forward to the increased accommodation which each new enlargement would give.
this constant expansion as funds permitted was entirely after miss beale’s heart. in 1891 she wrote to miss arnold:—
‘yes, i do hope you will build, a good building is the best investment for money, if you have it. let it be done gradually, as ours was. plan for more than you can do at first, and build only what you can afford at the time. don’t beg: it is much better to earn one’s living.’
strange as it may appear, the building of a fit home for the college had not taken place without opposition. miss beale relates in her history that after the site for it had been purchased, the annual general meeting of proprietors in 1871 voted by a majority interested in the cambray property that it should be re-sold. dr. jex-blake, the principal of the cheltenham college, and a member of the ladies’ college council, came to the rescue, and in a special meeting of the same year spoke earnestly in support of the plan for building. ‘teachers so able and energetic and successful have a right to the greatest consideration, and the very best arrangements for teaching. a ladies’ college so distinguished, second to none in england, has a right to every advantage that can be secured for it, a right to be lodged in a building[162] of its own, a building perfect in its internal arrangements, and outwardly of some architectural attractiveness; one that should be a college, and should look like a college. it is quite right to say, “let well alone,” but that does not involve letting ill alone. the college has achieved brilliant success, but that was not due to its having been cramped for room; and when no longer cramped, its success will be greater.’ the resolution of the earlier meeting was rescinded by fifty-nine votes to nine, and two months later a contract was accepted for building from mr. john middleton’s design. the site, for which ￡800 was given, was a part of the old well walk where, between their glasses, george the third and other famous water-drinkers had once taken their daily constitutional.
in the matter of the building, miss beale had a struggle to get her bold and comprehensive ideas carried out, but eventually she won the day. it was hard for her, at the very moment when she seemed about to realise her dreams for the expansion of the work of the college, to receive orders which she felt to be new limitations. she had constantly to explain her reasons and requirements to those who had a deep interest in the welfare of the school, but who had not also the knowledge needed for arrangements which miss beale felt and intended should be in the hands of the principal alone. the following letter which she wrote to a member of the council suggests some of her difficulties, and also her method of skilfully and apparently accidentally stating the inconvenience or disaster which would ensue if another arrangement than her own were adopted:—
‘i have drawn up a ground-plan and tables, by the help of which i hope i may succeed in making clear to you the impossibility[163] of conducting the college without the use of four class-rooms. i have never in the slightest degree departed from my original intention. time-tables, classes, teachers, furniture, and building were all arranged to harmonise. it never occurred to me that any one would wish to interfere in the internal management, as it had never been done during the fifteen years i have been here. great, therefore, was my surprise to receive a letter saying,—“i have had strict injunctions not to have desks put back into room 2.” if it is thought well to reduce the number of pupils, it can be done after midsummer but not now, and to give up two class-rooms we must reduce our numbers not by twenty, but by fifty, i.e. by two whole classes. our hall is only ten feet longer than that in cambray, and we then had the use of four class-rooms and one supplementary room, besides that assigned to drawing and callisthenics. with fifty additional pupils we cannot do with less, even though the class-rooms are larger. it is not impossible to teach a class sitting on chairs, i should not, therefore, insist on having desks, but they will certainly be much more convenient, and much more sightly; chairs will always look untidy. the desks i have match the furniture, the room was built to fit them, for examinations. i am therefore unwilling to have them sold for nothing. it is certainly necessary for the well-being of the college that the internal arrangements should be in the hands of one person; if this is not done, i can only foresee the occurrence of such disasters as we are familiar with, when the head master of a public school is interfered with by those who cannot see the daily working, and know all the complications.’
the new building was not the only cause of difference. the lady principal, with her advanced ideas on women’s examinations, her desire to help teachers, to increase the number of the pupils, seemed to some members of the council to be pushing the work into other fields than those for which it was intended when first the proprietary college for ladies was founded. ‘local interest,’ a term not ominous of good in the ears of great educators, demanded a good day-school for the daughters of gentlemen, and nothing more. some felt that, in the pursuit of mathematical and scientific attainments for which special teachers and classrooms were[164] required, accomplishments such as drawing and painting would be neglected. some, who had watched the growth of the infant college, and looked upon it almost as their own, interfered in small ways, as in the arrangements of seats and rooms. the gossip mentioned already was at its height during the first year in the new college, and miss beale thought that it might have been prevented or much minimised had all connected followed her counsel of perfection by being superior to town talk.
more than all she felt the need of a larger outlook. the council should in her view include some members whose personal acquaintance with the college and the needs of the town would give them a special interest in it; but she desired to unite with these men and women of intellectual power and large views whose experience would rank them among educationists. and for the management of the boarding-houses, which were now becoming each year a more important element in the college life, opinion which could be untouched by local prejudices was needed.
some of the anxieties of this time were expressed by miss beale in a paper which she may have thought of reading to the council. it began thus:—
‘until we moved into the new college a year ago, i had been singularly free from interference. the lesson learned when miss procter resigned and our college was nearly wrecked, had not been forgotten. besides, we were poor, so there was little to quarrel about. with the removal to bays hill our real difficulties began. i had drawn the ground-plan with the greatest regard to economy of space. i was told the porch must not be used for entrance, and i was obliged to show we could not do without it.... then i was asked to do with two instead of four or five lecture-rooms, and so on. i was obliged to prepare elaborate documents with ground-plans, etc.,[165] ere i could get leave to use the space provided, and without which the college could not be carried on.’
there were perhaps others who cared for the college, who realised no less strongly than miss beale the advantage it would be to bring on to the council those who were less interested in it as a local institution than as one of educational value for the country at large, but it was she who undoubtedly took the lead in the steps made to this end. in this she showed courage, for even those members of the council who best understood her views hesitated to support them, fearing an abrupt change which would do more harm than good. they wrote to caution her:—
‘you must not expect men of mr. lowe’s mark to work on the c.l.c. council; and you must not expect to see all go as you would wish at the meeting. you will find no member of council but myself anxious to increase the powers of the lady principal, and probably they will not be much increased. and if you secure the majority of council being non-local, which will be hard to secure, you will not secure their attendance at meetings held out of london.
‘and to get a satisfactory list to propose to shareholders will be hard, for the best-known men in england will not join; and those who will join will not command votes largely; and so i advise moderation. i did my best at this last council meeting to prepare the way for a “bloodless revolution” or quiet transition ... and i have seen mr. verrall. he is very friendly to you and to the college, and is a man of very good judgment as well as energy, and you are safe in talking or writing to him. for myself i feel less and less inclined to advise strong measures; and i do not see my way to getting the college on as broad a basis as i think it should stand on.... i advise you to think well and long before you get into an inextricable difficulty; and i think you will find your best friend and best support in one who for fifteen years (or nearly) has given much time and thought to the college, mr. brancker.
‘at the last council meeting you showed great wisdom in accepting the adverse resolution with equanimity.’
[166]
differences of this kind pointed to a change of administration. as early as 1865, in her address at bristol, miss beale had pointed out the difficulties besetting a school organised on the lines of cheltenham:—
‘the machinery of proprietary colleges is somewhat complicated, and it is liable to get out of order. thus, for example, if the shareholders agitate when a measure does not at once commend itself to their judgment, they may interfere with the efficiency, and endanger the existence of the institution. secondly, none must attempt to carry out reforms in education, unless they have faith enough in their own system to work on quietly for a time, in the face of popular opposition, and unless they have a capital to fall back upon.’
union for the general good—a single purpose in principal, council, shareholders alike—this alone could prevent all serious and hindering differences of opinion among them. it was for this union miss beale was specially striving now. her paper to the council went on thus:—
‘ ... i should like this and other matters fixed, not in reference to my personal wishes, but according to what the most experienced persons think best. i shall see the heads of all the principal girls’ schools probably when i am in london, and probably also an endowed schools’ committee, and i shall learn from mrs. william grey what has been done at the board of the girls’ day school company; perhaps this may modify my views. meanwhile i enclose a few suggestions i sent to mr. verrall.... i feel very strongly with you that if the college is at all to go on doing good work, it must not be governed by local members, and that it is a matter of the greatest importance that we should have upon our board men of experience and judgment in educational matters. i would not keep more than two or three members of the present council. it should be made a rule that no person who derives pecuniary profit, either directly or indirectly, should be a member of it. the point on which i feel most strongly just now is that the principal must be able to select her fellow-workers, to appoint and dismiss.’
[167]
there is also an interesting letter to mr. verrall on the subject of her authority:—
‘of course, you are more likely than i am to know what is best in matters of government, still i think it may be well to express, as clearly as i can, what i feel in reference to the subject of my authority.
‘it does not seem to me as if things would be likely to go on long without revolutions in an institution governed by two irresponsible powers. the authority of an irresponsible principal must of course be checked in some way, if not by constitutional means, then by a russian system. it may be that the czarina has been trying to carry out some good reforms, but if her plans differ from those of the councillors, there is an end of them. our present councillors are now afraid of being in their turn made an end of by a shareholders’ meeting, but if the constitution, as i understood it, were carried, the shareholders would be powerless, and the council might, for mere personal dislike, get rid of a principal who opposed what was wrong. of course, it will not do for a committee to interfere with the principal’s choice of teachers, and there will be anarchy unless she has the power of dismissal; but virtually there will always be a power of appeal to the committee inasmuch as they would, if partisans of any official, dismiss the principal to reinstate her.’
many members of the college council desired change and enlargement. one wrote: ‘i cannot think it right to leave miss beale or any other lady principal to the mercies of a purely local council ... for i think with such a council no good lady principal could long agree.’
among those whom miss beale consulted at this crisis, and from whom she received sympathy, were dr. jex-blake, then head-master of rugby, and sir joshua fitch, who later on became a member of the council.
the desired reform was brought about in 1875, when at a general meeting in march the relative powers of the proprietors, council, and principal were more clearly[168] defined and the number of the governing body increased. the council then elected consisted of the following:—
life members
the right hon. earl granville, k.g., d.c.l., f.r.s., chancellor of the university of london.
the right hon. lord lyttelton.
the right hon. sir edward ryan, m.a., f.r.s.
j. storrar, esq., m.d., chairman of convocation of the university of london.
the rev. h. walford bellairs, rector of nuneaton.
the rev. canon barry, principal of king’s college, london.
miss buss, principal of the north london collegiate school for girls.
w. dunn, esq., cheltenham.
h. verrall, esq., brighton.
t. marriott, esq., victoria street, westminster.
s. s. johnson, esq., nottingham.
ordinary members
the rev. herbert kynaston, principal of the cheltenham college.
the rev. w. wilberforce gedge, malvern wells.
the rev. dr. morton brown, cheltenham.
e. t. wilson, esq., m.b. (oxon.), cheltenham.
general m’causland, cheltenham.
f. d. longe, esq., cheltenham.
john middleton, esq., cheltenham.
t. morley rooke, esq., m.d. (london), cheltenham.
miss mary gurney, london.
miss lucy march phillipps, cheltenham.
mrs. james owen, cheltenham.
miss catherine winkworth, clifton.
much was gained by this remodelling, but the period of uneasy development was not yet over. one annual meeting which discussed the constitution of the college appears in private notes made by the principal for her history as ‘bear garden.’ reorganisation was seen to be essential. the college, founded in 1853 as a voluntary[169] association, had by 1880 grown far beyond the calculations of its founders. besides the school buildings and the lady principal’s house, it possessed fauconberg house and the sanatorium at leckhampton. to give it a safe legal foundation it was therefore registered ‘with limited liability’ under the companies’ acts of 1862 and 1867, without the addition of the word ‘limited’ to its name. new regulations concerning the holding of shares and property—the appointment of officers—were also made.
‘the shareholders formally renounced all interest on their shares, and on january 31, 1880, the college was duly incorporated. on may 1 of the same year, the lady principal and other officials were formally re-elected.
‘the new constitution provided for a governing body of twenty-four members, of whom eighteen, namely twelve men and six women, were to be members elected by the shareholders, and the remaining six representative members, each holding office for six years. the six representative members were to be appointed by: (1) the bishop of gloucester and bristol; (2) the hebdomadal council of the university of oxford; (3) the council of the senate of the university of cambridge; (4) the senate of the university of london; (5) the lady principal; and (6) the teachers.
miss beale did not often speak of the difficulties which necessarily she had to meet, as one called upon to direct the development of a great institution. but she had counsel and sympathy for those who were similarly placed. miss buss wrote thus to miss ridley of help she obtained from her:—
‘i had a long and grave talk to miss beale, who counsels fight, but not on any personal ground. she says, “resign, if there is interference with the mistress’ liberty of action. that is a public question, and one of public interest.” she was so good and loving; she was so tender; and she is so wise and calm. she told me some of her own worries, and said that sometimes she quivered in every nerve at her own council[170] meetings. people came in and asked for information, involving hours of work for no result; ignored all that had been done, and talked as if they alone had done everything and knew everything. she urged me to try and be impersonal, so to speak; to remember that these and similar difficulties would always occur where there are several people. she said that women were always accused of being too personal, and harm was done by giving a handle to such an assertion.’[46]
the first efforts of the new council to grapple with their task revealed that one source of difficulty lay in the government of the boarding-houses. the early founders had foreseen this when, in their first prospectus, they announced that they would not be responsible for any houses. experience, however, soon showed that by this policy, grave dangers were at the same time incurred. into miss beale’s early struggle for pupils the question of boarding-houses scarcely entered, though for the want of them she often had sadly to witness the loss of good pupils to the college. there were among the day-pupils many children of anglo-indians in england for a time. on the return of these parents to india, they were forced to make boarding arrangements for the children left behind. it was not till 1864 that the first regularly constituted boarding-house was opened under miss caines. this was at 24 lansdown place, now joined to no. 25, and known as st. helen’s. in 1870 miss caines removed to fauconberg house, the first property purchased by the college.
it was only through actual experience that the position of the boarding-house and its head could be defined. in point of fact, this situation had to grow and develop according to the requirements of the college, which as formerly had to constitute precedents and make experiments. it is but seldom that the details of any great[171] scheme can be arranged beforehand with deliberate judgment, that all difficulties can be foreseen, and occasions of conflict avoided. they are more often worked out by single-minded intention which can endure through small errors and trifling disputes. the lady principal’s position was rendered more difficult by the tacit opposition of ‘local interest’ to the extension of boarding-house accommodation. the very existence of the college had been for many years precarious. few people in cheltenham wished it to become anything more than a suitable day-school for the sisters of boys at the college. consequently a lady who took boarders was regarded with no special favour, and her actions were very often severely criticised.
in the difficult work of forming and increasing boarding-houses, mistakes were made by many. miss beale’s own belief in others, her habit of accepting people at their own estimate, of believing they were what she wished them to be, of judging character from her wide experience of books rather than from that of life, sometimes led her astray in her choice of fellow-workers. she who in her lonely position often felt the need of sympathy, to which she was ever responsive, was anxious to give it, even where she could not understand. this made her slow to bring about a change, lest sufficient opportunity for amendment had not been given. on the other hand, sometimes she could see that a change should be made promptly, but as she could not act alone a dangerous delay would ensue.
at first the position of a head of a boarding-house was little defined, and it was hard sometimes for a clever, well-intentioned woman, anxious to do the best for the children in her care, not to regard the work of the house as primary, that of the college as secondary only. one[172] lady, who was extremely capable and interested in her work, was ambitious to make her boarding-house a complete institution in itself, rather than an integral part of the college. many of the girls in her charge came as her own relations or friends; she chose to adopt the position that it was right for her to decide whether they should be taught at her house or sent to college, and she denied the right of any one to interfere in her management. she also claimed the right to take another house for herself and her own children, where she could receive and entertain her friends. as soon as miss beale’s eyes were opened to the danger of such independent action, she did not hesitate a moment on the right course to be pursued with regard to the boarding-house management. she perceived that in this matter, as in the work of the school, there was no standing ground between obedience and independence. ‘i am so sorry for miss beale,’ wrote mrs. william grey to miss buss, ‘and so glad our council determined to have nothing to do with boarding-houses. i cannot help thinking that the wisest course for the cheltenham council would be to wash their hands of them, only reserving to themselves, as we have, the right to refuse pupils from a house they disapprove of. there seems to me no tolerable alternative between this and the hostelry system.’
it may be safely said that never, even in moments of worst annoyance, did miss beale ever propose to ‘wash her hands’ of the boarding-houses. she felt they should be ‘organically related’ to the college life, a part of it which she could not do without, one which had in it great possibilities for extending and strengthening the influence of the college teaching, one which, neglected, must be an infinite source of difficulty, by which the[173] standard of the corporate life might be lowered, and its best work hindered.
so she persisted, lending her whole mind and strength to help in the evolution of a system which should be fair to individuals and the best for the college as a body. in 1890, after she had won her point, she wrote to miss arnold, then head-mistress of the truro high school, who had consulted her on the subject:—
‘i think i told you that after many years, i have prevailed on our council to take the whole risk of the boarding-houses,—the pecuniary risk is of course very great, and in case of war or sudden depression, i don’t exactly see how we should meet it, but one must have risks, and we find the moral risks of not taking pecuniary ones so great that we decided for the latter—and indeed we had to pay pretty considerable sums in law expenses and to get rid of unjust claims too. we could not prove that these ladies had not lost money, if they said they had—and if they were bad managers they did perhaps lose—and an outcry was raised that we ruined poor ladies!’
but the difficulties to be encountered on the way to this consummation were by no means slight, and involved great personal anxiety and pain. it was especially hard to her that she should be known by her own pupils to be in opposition to any who had been set over them. it was hard to feel that many with their partial knowledge of facts must misunderstand her, or childishly attribute her actions to commonplace motives of jealousy and love of power. some part of these difficulties became fully public in 1882, when the college was involved in a libel case, and a lawsuit which was settled by arbitration. exoneration from all blame followed in both instances. in the arbitration case the judgment was delivered by mr. justice charles, and placed in a sealed envelope with the injunction that either party might open it on payment of ￡350. the council did[174] not think it necessary to pay this money. eventually those who had brought the action against the college did so, to find that the judgment had been pronounced against them on every count. it was a victory for the college and the principal, but it had not been achieved without great toil and suffering on miss beale’s part. she dreaded the cross-examination with all the nervousness of a sensitive nature. speaking of it afterwards, and of all it had cost her, she ever associated with the pain the remembrance of the immense help and sympathy she had received from her friend mrs. james owen, then a member of the council, and would say, ‘mrs. owen said i should not be scorched in the fire.’ she was also upborne by the loyalty of her fellow-workers, both teachers and boarding-house mistresses, who signed a joint expression of their sympathy with her in her time of anxiety. miss buss gave more than words of sympathy, she was present herself in the arbitration-room when the case was tried. when it was over she wrote to her friend to this effect: ‘yesterday i made the personal acquaintance of miss ——. i fell in love with her because she is so intensely loyal to cheltenham and to “dear miss beale.” i think if you could have heard her talk, unknown to her, you would have felt that the severe trial you have had to go through was more than compensated for by the love and loyalty it has called out to you and the college.’
the increase in the number of the boarding-houses, with their slightly different characteristics, brought an obvious advantage to the college. it led the way to still cheaper houses, and to the promotion of that work so dear always to miss beale, helping poor students and training teachers. never heartily sympathetic with what is generally called charitable work, afraid of seeing[175] money given without a really equivalent return in usefulness and good work, there was one appeal to which she never turned a deaf ear. probably she never knew any case of a girl honestly trying to improve herself, and failing in the effort for want of means, without trying to help her. her usual plan was to advance money, which she found was almost invariably returned to her in the course of time. she would, wherever it seemed right, ask for its return on the ground that it might be of use to others, and because she was ever careful to make those she helped recognise that the possession of money is a stewardship only. but it was offered and lent and sometimes given in such a way that there should be no personal feeling of obligation and debt. ‘there is a loan fund,’ she would say when there occurred a question of the removal of a promising pupil from the college on the score of expense. and hardly any one ever heard her say more than this of the large system of help which she initiated and to a very great extent sustained alone. some of the boarding-house mistresses generously took one girl free, or for very low terms, but the work was quietly done, known only to few.
the establishment of scholarships did not fit into miss beale’s educational schemes. she was not wholly opposed to them. one, in 1870, was accepted for the college, when colonel pearce bestowed a gift of ￡1000 to found the pearce scholarship for the daughter of an army officer, and miss beale in the last year of her life established one for casterton. but she had a great horror of a system by which one school or college could buy promising pupils from others, and she held that it was hard on earnest students who were not naturally quick to see assistance given only to ability. ‘i have[176] refused,’ she said at a later period, ‘all scholarships except one, the chief condition of which is poverty. three scholarships have been offered unasked, and an endowment for two prizes, which would have formed a good advertisement, every year, but i have refused all.’
as the college grew, miss beale felt more and more the need of a house where those who were trying to train themselves to be teachers could board inexpensively, and in 1876 was made that beginning which, as she said, was ‘full of blessing to the college, and of much use beyond its bounds.’ this was before the maria grey training college was opened, and when there was no institution at all in which women could receive definite preparation for becoming teachers in secondary schools.
miss mary margaretta newman, member of a family which had shown itself sympathetic and interested in miss beale’s work from the first, offered to take a furnished house for a small number of students, to give her services, and contribute besides ￡75 a year towards expenses. miss newman had seen, whilst helping miss selwyn in her school at sandwell, how much some such assistance was needed; how many girls of good social standing were struggling to obtain the training necessary to fit them to earn their living as teachers. she therefore provided a home for a few, and by her quiet, gentle influence supplemented the college work, and won the affections of her household. ‘what we felt most was the simplicity with which she gave so much. she seemed unconscious that she was doing anything remarkable in going to live in a small house, with one servant, and undertaking all the labour such an economy implied.’[47]
miss newman’s work went on for scarcely a year,[177] for at the end of 1877, after a very short illness, aggravated by the burden she had willingly laid upon herself, she died, leaving the work but just begun indeed, yet full of promise, and rendered by her sacrifice and death a sacred charge to the college and the lady principal. so indeed miss beale felt it to be, and in after years she would remember the life given in the cause she herself had so much at heart, and would write in her diary on december 31: ‘i think of miss newman’s death. shall i not follow her example?’ then for the first time miss beale, who had always maintained and acted on the principle that the college should earn its own living, asked for money to buy and furnish a suitable house for girls who could not afford the terms of the boarding-houses. she could not bear to refuse the many applications she received from those who were too poor to help themselves. about ￡1200 was immediately collected, one half being contributed by the college staff.
the work thus begun extended so rapidly that in little more than five years it was seen to be necessary that it should have a building of its own, and the trustees who had the management of the funds decided to build a residential college. this was opened under the name of st. hilda’s in 1885.
the first ten years in the new buildings were a time of larger development for the college than any other in its history. miss beale’s own active life was also more full, and not less anxious, than it had ever been. there was never again a time of depression such as the year 1871 had been, when the college seemed to be almost losing ground, when in the whole course of the year only three fresh pupils entered. but the rapid increase on every hand of new, good, cheap schools[178] naturally fed her anxiety at a period when she had to justify to the council her constant demand for more classrooms, music-rooms, halls, laboratories. she saw the immense importance of keeping ahead in these things. other schools had endowments or guaranteed capital, the college could only increase and improve its plant out of the fees paid by the pupils. the lady principal did not wish it otherwise; but the constant remembrance of this made her very careful in expenditure, and ever desirous that all individual interest should be lost to sight in regard for the common welfare. there was something sharper than anxiety to bear over the boarding-house difficulties and the reconstitution of the council. so much patience was needed, so much judgment in decisions, in avoiding mistakes, in retrieving them when made, that time and thought might well have been occupied with the care of actualities alone.
yet it will not be surprising to some to know that it was just in these years that her inner life also became more full and more active, and that she was called upon to go through mental crises of great moment. the habit of prayer, difficult to maintain in a busy life, was strengthened by attendance at retreats; a practice begun in 1877 to be continued yearly. reading of every kind, with the exception of fiction, was diligently kept up, and thought was never more active.
the intellectual and spiritual struggles of this time permanently affected miss beale’s work and teaching. they cannot be passed over.
