“For the greater part of the service large flakes of snow had been slowly falling. The day will ever remain in our hearts. Though one of deep sadness, yet there was withal a feeling of gratitude that we, too, had known her, and of pride that we were Miss Buss’ girls.
“Eleanor M. Hill.”
It is impossible to do more than merely indicate the feeling caused by the death of Frances Mary Buss, as evidenced in the piles of letters addressed to her family, and to Mrs. Bryant and members of the staff, by leaders in the educational world, as well as by pupils, past and present, and by friends from every part of the globe. The extracts already given will serve to represent this deep and widespread sense of loss, and to show in how many hearts her memory will live on.
Of outward and visible memorials there are several still in progress. One only is as yet completed, a window given by relatives and friends to Holy Trinity Church, where, on October 3, a special dedicatory service was held. The subject is St. Scholastica, the devoted sister of St. Benedict who founded Monte Cassino, the first monastery of the Western Church. St. Scholastica is said to have helped largely in the revival of religion and learning that marked the sixth century. She became the Head of the first community of nuns, and it is in this character that she is represented in the upper part of the window. In the lower part she is seated, with one of her young novices at her knee, in keeping with her name, and with the work of the great teacher thus commemorated, whose likeness is plainly recognizable in the features of the saint. Above the head of the upper figure runs a scroll with the words, “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith” (Rev. ii. 19). The inscription below is, “In loving memory of Frances Mary Buss, for forty-five years a communicant of this Church.”
The memorial window in the Clothworkers’ Hall, Sandall Road, which is to be the gift of the Company, is still in progress. The design represents four typical women from sacred history, all peculiarly appropriate—
I. Deborah, “a mother in Israel” (Judg. v. 7).
II. Huldah, “the prophetess,” with whom “many communed” (2 Kings xxii. 14).
III. Mary, who “chose the better part” (Luke x. 42).
IV. Phœbe, “a servant of the Church, and a succourer of many” (Rom. xvi. 1).
A portrait is introduced into the design.