Miss Beale’s difficulties were no doubt aggravated by religious questions. Her chief friend on the Committee, one who appreciated her sense of duty and intellectual power, did not wish her to remain at the school. He disliked her theological opinions. She seems hardly to have realised this at the time, though her father may have done so, as can be seen from the following letter:—
‘November 8, 1857.
‘Say, if you have an opportunity, as much of what you have written to the Committee as will show them you sought the situation at Casterton for the sake of the school. For this I accepted for you—for this alone. Do not retain it without sufficient authority to carry forward the minds and morals of the pupils. You went there in a missionary spirit, I know, as to a post of usefulness; and you have hitherto retained it in the same spirit. Maintain this feeling, but assert it with meekness. We shall all be rejoiced to find you are coming home; but I dare not urge you beyond this. I was a party to the compact by which your remuneration was arranged, and I felt no difficulty in making any concession between what I felt was due to the order of educated governesses which you represented, and what the institution could afford to pay; but I would not recommend you to compromise one iota of authority which may be fit to carry forward the minds of your pupils, or of discipline to enforce obedience. Your pupils are no longer children, and, as the daughters of clergymen and intended to teach others, are lights upon a hill, and in point of education, manners, and morals, great charges indeed. I am witness, too, how roundly and unequivocally you stated your religious principle.... I mention this much because I think you have been treated unfairly on this subject. If the denial of the doctrine of regeneration by baptism were a sine quâ non by the governess, it ought to have been so stated. Mr. Mariner represented their religious basis as far more broad. Doubtless the Committee have a right to limit the assent of their teachers to such points; and doing so, I cannot object to Mr. Shepheard’s voting for your exclusion, neither do I see how they can accept money from those who think differently from the Committee. It is a question which has divided larger societies than at Casterton ... and I can remember when it convulsed the Choral Society.... You and I are both labouring to raise the status and influence of the governess, and you will do it, first by your attainments and education, and rectitude of conduct under all circumstances, and I by bringing before those public bodies interested in the matter, the influence and importance of legislating for their protection and recognition. We may neither of us live to see the changes which shall come, but even in our limited spheres we are breaking ground, and you are gaining whilst yet young most valuable experience.
‘ ... Above all things take care of your health.... I am quite sure that you have a long course of usefulness before you. The flattering regard in which you are held at Queen’s College, and the constant means you always have in London of constantly improving yourself, must teach you somewhat of your own value; though I would not indeed presume upon it farther than to give you confidence to act rightly. But good governesses are very scarce, and are far better treated than they used to be, though not as well as they deserve.
‘Casterton ought to be from the great advantages it offers, a national institution; but it will not be so if its principles are narrowed by anything like sectarian jealousy, or if its standard of education be not high. But Casterton has not yet been as fortunate as the good intentions of its founder would seem to deserve. The time will come, I hope, when this and kindred establishments will seek the visit and inspection of examiners from the Board of Government, Inspectors of Schools, and governesses.... I write to you when I begin currente calamo, and could do so much longer upon a theme in which we are both interested, and I fear I have given you no direction. Fear nothing; be firm, but very gentle.’
The matter of the resignation seems to have been hanging on all through the month of November. Miss Beale evidently wrote home again for advice, for on the 26th she received another letter from her father:—
‘November 26, 1857.
‘Far from dissuading you from sending in your resignation, I think it will be expected. We did not appeal to the Committee that their attention should end in talk, but in giving you support moral and professional. With less than this, it is inconsistent with self-respect, or the duty you owe to the children, to remain.... Now Christmas is approaching, and, as matters remain as they were, certainly not improved,—I would seek at once to be relieved. Do not suppose for a moment I shall consider you are forsaking an appointment to which you have been called, or in which time would afford you redress.... Leave it then, and if nothing more congenial presents itself, we can afford to wait our time, and let us try together if we cannot carry forward, or at least make more widely known, our views of what might be effected if your half of the human family more extensively used that influence of which they are all the dispensers, as men are of their power. This is indeed, as Christ said to the woman of Samaria, “living water,” if derived from Him, satisfying all thirst from its welling up from within; and by its purity testing the value of everything it is brought in contact with. You say you have learned much at Casterton. What matters it if you have to wait for the Harvest that we are sure “we shall reap if we faint not,” and gather “fruit unto life eternal.” It is often in this world, indeed, that “one soweth and another reapeth,” but though delayed the seed is not lost.’
Before Miss Beale could formally send in her threatened resignation to the Committee, she received the following letter from the Chairman:—
‘On your last interview with the Committee you implied an intention of resigning in case certain alterations should not be made by the Committee....