‘There are problems enough for our successors on this planet. I wonder what we shall find to do,—what battles to fight when we pass out of sight.... I don’t think we shall want only rest.’
In the summer, having at first declined the invitation, Miss Beale was persuaded to address the Head-mistresses’ Conference, which met on June 8 and 9 at the Clapham High School. In spite of the deafness, which made her dread committee meetings, she took her share in the discussions. Speaking on a resolution concerning the suffrage she said: ‘The underpayment of women went to the heart of all as a crying evil, and made every one earnest about the extension of the suffrage.’ She also in a later discussion expressed her emphatic disapproval of afternoon compulsory school, and related the history of the change made at Cheltenham in 1864.
The address to the assembled head-mistresses on the following morning, Miss Beale’s last public utterance, may well find a place here. Full of the tenderest regard for the past, appreciating as no younger worker could the ideals and conflicts of her own generation, that utterance showed a front of marvellous courage and hope to the anxieties of the present and future.
‘I feel a sorrowful pride as I remember some of the Heads of the great Schools, who have passed out of sight, but whose works follow them. We were happy in our founder:[97] with such a leader one felt ashamed of any evil spirit of competition: she always wanted to impart any good gift and introduce improved methods of teaching: to recommend new books, and to propose arrangements for the better organisation of schools, for the training of teachers, for extending the sphere of women’s work, for relieving them of the pressure of anxiety about old age: these things occupied her thoughts while she was still herself bearing the burden of financial responsibility, and generously caring for those bound to her by strong ties of family affection.... It was the celestial light which shone inwardly that irradiated her outward life. Of external work she undertook perhaps more than she ought to have done. She was on the Governing Body of the Church Schools Company, a member of our Governing Body, and of that of several other schools. She spared no pains in labouring for others, always sympathising and sustaining, fighting for the best good. Above all, actuating her, and enabling her to go on bravely, was that optimism which came from the belief that God had given her this work to do, and that His Spirit would sustain her. Most gracefully did she descend from her throne when the end came. I shall not forget our last interview, when she playfully alluded to the fact that she had now to become again as a little child, to obey where she had ruled, and she was content to pass on the work into the hands of one so able, so beloved, so trusted as Mrs. Bryant.
‘Another early member was Miss Benson, the first Head-mistress of the Girls’ Public Day Schools Company’s School at Oxford, and afterwards, for a few months, at Bedford; she was a burning and a shining light, unsparing in her demands upon herself and others;—she might have been called Zelotes.
‘Of her successor, our own beloved Miss Belcher, it is hard for me to speak. She was the soul of honour. I remember one day she and her friend[98] came to me and said one of them would like to apply for a good post, at a time when head-mistress-ships did not abound. I said, “I think I ought to tell you that events are impending which may shake our College to its foundations.” Some would have said, “Let us seek another shelter.” Their answer was, “We shall not apply.” Sometimes one thinks that if she could have had a less onerous work than the rule over the great school at Bedford, which left but little leisure for exercise, she might be at work now. But we will put aside “Might-have-beens,” as we see how her spirit lives in her school. One of the Bedford Council thought when a salary of over £1000 was offered, there would be many applications—thought we might send a second Head as her successor, but not one of our staff would apply, for Miss Belcher had chosen.
‘This year has taken from us one of my best-beloved pupils, the late Head-mistress of Truro High School, afterwards the wife of Canon Charles Robinson; all who knew her regarded her as indeed a saint.
‘I may not speak of the living—none are happy till their death—but it is a joy to me (now the most ancient grandmother of all) to see with intimate knowledge the good work being done by those whom I have learned to know as friends and fellow-workers. Specially close ties bind me to those Head-mistresses whom we ourselves have sent forth. Of these in the Association there are now twenty presiding over important schools, and ten who are no longer Heads, not to name many who for various reasons do not belong to our Association.
‘To turn to less personal matters, we who belong to Secondary Schools have been happy in escaping the troubles which beset those schools which receive Government grants. So far, Secondary Schools have been allowed some individuality. I think we may give thanks for the liberty of “prophesying,” that we have hitherto enjoyed. I rather dread the result of the absorption into Trusts of the great School Companies. “Wha dare meddle wi’ me?” has been the cry of some of us, and the prickles have protected the flower.
‘Then we have escaped payment by results, and interference from inspectors, some of whom are able to see the body but not the soul which moves it.