“We have chosen the daisy as our emblem, the single eye, the true sunflower, the real heliotrope that stands ever gazing upward. It is changed into an image of the sun himself: it is like a censer ever burning towards heaven, a speck of heavenly beauty, a star come down to brighten the dark places of the earth.”
The Guild meetings were held every second year, and were a source of great pleasure, interest, and inspiration to those who had known Dorothea Beale as Principal.
“She had a wonderful memory,” writes one of her former pupils, “for her Old Girls, especially for those who, like me, belonged to the old days of Cambray House, and could remember the excitement and delight of going into the new building. I shall never forget the warmth of her greeting at that last Guild or how at the ‘At Home’ in the evening she stopped me in the corridor to say, ‘I was told that all five C——’s were here, and I have only seen four. Where is M——?’ I believe that there were about 1200 Old Girls there, and to think of her keeping count like that of those whom she had seen was simply amazing.”
Pupils of a later date, who thought Dorothea Beale had hardly known them at College, were often astonished to find that their old Principal not only knew them, but remembered incidents of their College days, or events which happened afterwards.
An older girl and her sister were both sent to College and the latter left from the third division because her people left Cheltenham; but her elder sister, Gertrude, stayed on and eventually joined the Guild. Years after the younger one met the Principal and went up to speak to her and, never thinking that she could possibly remember her, meant to explain who she was. But before she could do so Miss Beale, on seeing her, began without any preliminaries: “Why has your sister left the Guild?”
In the year 1876 Miss Margaret Newman had made an offer to Dorothea Beale that she would start a boarding-house for students who wished to become teachers and found it difficult to obtain the necessary training. She offered to pay £75 a year towards expenses, and in addition to give her time and services. This involved a good deal of strain and work, as it meant living in a small house with only one maid, and having in addition the responsibility of the girl students. At the end of one year Miss Newman became ill and died after a short illness. Those who knew her felt that death had been hastened by the devoted work for which she had hardly had sufficient strength. Her work, however, was not ended. In the brief space of one year Miss Newman had won such love and affection for herself and such sympathy with her noble object that people felt her work must go on. It was this strong feeling which made Dorothea Beale depart from her usual plan of not asking for money. As soon as she asked, £1200 was immediately given, half of it by the College staff.
“She had left,” said Dorothea Beale, “a legacy of £100 to carry it on, and, as has been mentioned, further sums were given by friends, and about £600 by the College staff. The number of students had steadily increased, and it was determined by the trustees in whom the management was vested to build a residential college and trust to the small profits each year gradually to pay off the debt thereby incurred. They therefore purchased the site on Bayshill, and arrangements were made for the erection of the building to designs prepared by Mr. Middleton. Cheltenham was one of the first colleges to establish training for Secondary Teachers. After much thought it was decided to call the new hall of residence St. Hilda’s.
“St. Hilda’s,” said she, “seemed a particularly appropriate ideal for our students. She was consecrated by Bishop Aidan and made Head of the most important house of education of her day. She had, Bede tells us, been diligently instructed by learned men and she was the patron of our earliest poet, Caedmon. She insisted much that those under her direction should attend to the reading of the Holy Scriptures. She taught the strict observance of justice and other virtues, particularly of peace and charity.”
On November 27, 1885, the building was formally opened. A beautiful statue of St. Hilda was presented by a brother of some old pupils. She holds in her hand the Vulgate open at the words “Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate: tune autem facie ad faciem. Nunc cognosco ex parte: tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum” (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Over the door are the words of Plato, χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά. On the study walls are these texts—“Shew Thy servants Thy work and their children Thy glory”: “Knowledge puffeth up, charity buildeth up”: “Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory”.
Seven years later another Saint Hilda’s was established, this time at Oxford.