‘ ... The first step was to add to the Committee a number of foreign members; eighteen were chosen, amongst whom were Mr. Stanley and myself. Then, after arranging the order of the day, we separated and formed ourselves into sections, each person selecting the question which interested him most. In each section a President and Vice-Presidents and a reporter were elected. I was chosen a Vice-President of Section IV.[83] ...
‘I was told that we were to speak our own language, as was the case at the Congress held at the Health Exhibition in London. However, the general wish was at last complied with, that we should all produce our thoughts in more or less foreign French, and it was nearly always intelligible.
‘ ... One question (“The methods best adapted for the Secondary Instruction of girls, specially as regards Modern Languages and Science”) gave rise to a good deal of warm discussion. We were surprised to find that less than two hours in a week were given to a modern language in French schools for girls. The importance of beginning very early was not generally recognised. The English, specially Mr. Widgery and Miss Beale, contributed a great deal to this part of the discussion, insisting much on a truly scientific gymnastic of sound as opposed to the haphazard mode of teaching pronunciation.’
The Misses Andrews who accompanied Miss Beale on this occasion were impressed by the way she was received and heard. Her deafness did not prevent her taking a part in the discussion, and speaking as she did in a foreign tongue, she yet dominated her large international audience. She showed extraordinary indifference to her own comfort. Miss Alice Andrews remembers, for instance, a luncheon in the neighbourhood of the Sorbonne, at a little restaurant to which they had been guided by some acquaintance. Miss Beale and Miss Buss found themselves in the midst of artists and students, some of whom carried on pronounced flirtations with the waitress girls. Miss Beale sat calmly writing her speech for the next meeting, indifferent to her déjeûner and unconscious of her surroundings.
The Congress of Secondary and Superior Instruction was followed by a Congress of Primary Teachers, for which Miss Beale was induced to stay. One day she addressed it:—
‘I said a few words on the work of teachers in enlarging the sympathies and diminishing prejudice and enabling us therefore to understand one another better.
‘It is the seen, the material, about which nations quarrel; it is the unseen, that which belongs to the intellect, the spirit, which unites us in a generous emulation, in which all are gainers, for in such contests all may obtain the prize.’
Greatly pleased as Miss Beale was with much she saw, she quickly perceived that she could not work herself with such a system as prevailed in France. ‘I do not wish to see secondary education in England subject in any way to a Government department, or secondary schools in England assimilated to primary.’
All the intervals of the Congress were filled with visits to various educational institutions and interviews with leading educationists. There was a visit to Fontenay-aux-Roses, to a deaf school, to a primary school and kindergarten, to the Musée Pédagogique. There were also some visits less of the nature of business. Once, at least, they went by invitation to the Théâtre Français, where they witnessed a representation of the Femmes Savantes. There were also many receptions. Miss Alice Andrews wrote:—
‘We had two evenings at the Ministère de l’Instruction Publique, just for the members of the Congresses. These were more like our Guild meetings; no amusement was provided, but the members found it for themselves in walking about and conversing; and so did we, for by the end we had made many acquaintances and a few friends, and there we met some of those who, in the day, had been seated on platforms and had interested us by their eloquence. On the last evening there was a dinner-party of about fifty persons, at which the principal foreign members of the Congress were entertained. To this Miss Beale was invited, and placed at table on the right hand of the minister.’[84]