Her steady dislike to undue Government interference with movements for assisting the poor showed itself also in 1909, in that part of her Letter to her Fellow Workers which refers to the attempts of the War Office to exploit the Cadet Corps.
In the same year she was greatly encouraged by the progress of the housing reform, carried on in Amsterdam and other towns by her Dutch friends, a progress which gave her special satisfaction.
But all these hopes and efforts were marred in 1910 by the loss of her sister Miranda, who from her earliest days had brought so bright and helpful an element into Octavia’s life, and who since 1866 had been her right hand in work, and her great support and comfort in times of difficulty.
Though Octavia’s health was gradually giving way under various strains, her Letter to her Fellow Workers in 1911 was one of the most hopeful she had ever written; and there was no sign of decay in her interest in the work. She mentions a scheme which was very near her heart, for preserving land on the banks of the Wandle, as follows—“I have long been anxious to impress on people the importance of connecting larger existing Open Spaces by pleasant walking ways, away from dust and noise: these walks need not necessarily be very broad, but should be set with trees, have near them grass and flowers, if only at the edges, and should be provided with plenty of seats. To women and young children, who cannot get to far-off parks, these pathways would be of inestimable value; and they would save strong walkers, too, from having to tramp through ugly streets, or go by train or tram before reaching the open common or park. Doubly useful would these walking ways be if they could be along the banks of a river.
“I thanked last year those of my sister Miranda’s friends and pupils who had given in memory of her seven acres of Grange Fell in the Cumberland she loved so well. This year I record with deepest thanks that a part of this Wandle land has been given by a large group of her former pupils. They have sent offerings from far and near.”
I may mention here how much she would have appreciated the generous gift, since made by Mr. Richardson Evans, of land which forms part of the banks which she desired to save.
The same note of cheerfulness which marked her last “Letter to her Fellow Workers” appears in the letter written to her youngest sister at the opening of 1912 given at the end of this chapter.
Re Saint Didier,
June 10th, 1902.
To her Mother.