Miss Buss enlisted Miss Ewart’s interest in the scheme, and a committee was formed consisting at first of Miss Buss, Miss Ewart, Mrs. Stair-Douglas, Mrs. Hertz, Mrs. Fitch, Mrs. Dockar-Drysdale, and myself. Miss Ewart became honorary secretary, mainly supplying the loan-fund, and to the present time has devoted herself to this work, proving effectually that the “amateur” can be thoroughly business-like, and that a very large amount of most useful work can be done in perfect silence, known only to those who have reaped the benefit of it.
Every educational work seemed to enlist Miss Buss’ help, as we find that, from 1865, she was a frequent visitor at the Working Women’s College, founded by Miss Martin.
As early as 1869, Dr. Hodgson gauged Miss Buss’ powers, and determined to use them in a sphere wider than her own work. He wrote to her as follows—
“My dear Miss Buss,
“I have a great favour to ask from you, though it affects your own sex more than it does me. I wish your consent to be nominated on the Council of Preceptors. The meetings, as you will observe from the card enclosed, are only eight in the year, and all these need not be attended. But no lady has ever yet been on the council, and some of us are determined to break through the barrier of custom which obstructs the doorway left open by the constitution of the council. You will have a large and powerful support, and success is almost certain, even at the first attempt.
“This will be a battle worth fighting. I have written to every member of the council whom I have thought at all accessible to reason, and every answer is favourable. Now, I confidently reckon on your passive support. You are not required either to labour, or to wait, at least beyond the 11th inst., when the election will take place. Your consent is all that is needed, and I am sure, for the sake of the principle involved, you will not withhold it.”
“Dec. 16, 1869.
“You would see from the papers that you were elected on the council. Though you come after the three gentlemen on the list, you came before them in the voting. You had fourteen votes, each of them had only twelve.”
In 1871, apropos to a deputation from the College of Preceptors, Dr. Hodgson again writes—
“My dear Miss Buss,