To this humility Miss Beale also bears witness, touching first on a point of special interest in connection with their professional work—
“The next thing that struck us was her generosity, not only in money—though that was very great—but in personal service, in thoughtfulness of others. If there was any improvement she could suggest in organization, in methods of teaching, she made it her business, at no little expense of money and time, to distribute the information to others; never considering them as rivals, but as fellow-workers, in a common cause.
“Next to her charity, one was impressed by her humility. ‘Let each esteem other better than themselves,’ was the rule of her own life, while she always seemed to look for excellences, rather than failings, and to seek to develop, in all, the right emulation, ‘If there be any virtue, any praise, think of these things.’”
One of our greatest teachers tells us that “the test of a truly great man is his humility,” and certainly to the small, self-centred soul no grace is more difficult of attainment.
This humility was very striking in its contrast with the strength and power of this strong woman. In things large or small it was the same; she was the first to admit, either to teachers or pupils, any error of judgment, or any small seeming inconsiderateness, so easy in her terribly overcrowded life. Of this, one of the staff says aptly—
“She had also the power, so often wanting in a strong leader, of acknowledging a mistake. I shall never forget the impression made on me on receiving a note from her, apologizing for what I might perhaps characterize as a failure in courtesy. That was several years ago, but even then she was able to plead the pressure on her nerves of the work whose magnitude none of us can ever know.”
And one of the party of a Roman holiday relates, with moist eyes, how, one day when she had retired to her room, up a long flight of stairs, she heard a knock at the door, and there found Miss Buss, who had followed her all the way up just to say, “I am afraid, my dear, that I passed you without saying good morning; but I was thinking of something else at the moment, and only remembered it afterwards!”
In speaking of “our dear friend and helper, Miss Buss,” Miss Cooper, of Edgbaston, takes up the lesson of the life just closed, as she says—
“The whole of the educational world will grieve, and will feel the void caused by her death. But the full realization of the loss can only be felt by those who were drawn into the more intimate personal and professional relations in which Miss Buss showed her great and generous spirit in the best aspect.