“The numbers increased so rapidly, now being 390, that a third house, No. 18, Camden Street, was taken and adapted, and no other change was made until May, 1878, when the school moved to the new buildings in the Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, of which the foundation-stone was laid by Miss Buss. The numbers had reached 420, with generally 90 or 100 waiting admission.”
The present head-mistress of the Camden School, Miss Lawford, is also good enough to give some details of more recent date—
“My recollections of Miss Buss begin with my school-days, and with the very earliest of them. It was to the North London Collegiate School for ‘Ladies,’ as it was then called, that I was sent, after a very short experience of school-life elsewhere.
“But when the time came to take up work as head of the Camden School, how greatly was my responsibility lightened by the sound advice and help which she gave me. I remember one case of more than usual difficulty which caused me considerable anxiety, and in which a false step might have given me and the school an unpleasant notoriety. I took the matter to her, she seized the point at once, was quite clear as to the action to be taken, and the whole affair ended happily. The clearness of her intellect and the facility with which she grasped a situation were salient traits in her character.
“The tie which connects her with the Camden School as its founder is one which we are proud to remember. She took the keenest interest in all its work, and in all her visits (she) always had a word for any girls who had distinguished themselves, or who were connected in any way with old friends and pupils of her own. We always looked for her on red-letter days such as Prize Day and Founder’s Day. On one of these latter she gave us a lecture on Lady Jane Grey which we specially valued. On these occasions so many friends wanted her at the North London Collegiate School that it was not often she could spare more time than to go round the gymnasium and the schoolrooms, and to speak a few gratifying words to the girls. She often invited the upper part of the school to lectures at the North London Collegiate School; one much enjoyed by them, ‘A Trip to Sunshine in December,’ gave an account of a Christmas holiday spent in the Riviera. She remembered us in other substantial ways. The splendid photograph of the Colosseum which decorates one of our rooms was brought by her from Italy. The lending library was partly started by a sum given by her for the purpose. The building of the gymnasium and the introduction of trained teachers for physical exercise was her initiative.
“What one feels more especially about Miss Buss is her utter sincerity. Whether she was helping you in a difficulty or promoting some great educational movement you felt she did it without thought of self. There was no touch of the little mind about her, no thought of adding to her own prestige. She spent her life in the cause of education with loyalty and single-hearted devotion. It was the happy lot of some of us to be associated with her in her work. We have indeed lost a friend whose greatness of mind and purpose ever stimulated us. We can only be thankful for the privilege which has been ours, and seek to carry out the high aims which she set before us.”
We know now—a quarter of a century after—what has been achieved by this great worker whose life remains as an inspiration for the times to come. What she aspired to may be best given in her own self-estimate in those early days.
I had sent her an account of a great spiritual work done by Mary Lyon, a distinguished American teacher, and received in acknowledgment the following note:—
“July, 1871.
“Dear Miss Ridley,