TRIUMPH.
“There is now no such thing as a ‘Woman’s Education Question’
apart from that of education generally; and the real question
which has still to be fought for many a long year, I fear, is
one as old as education itself: how is the child of either sex
to be trained to the measure of the stature of the perfect human
being?”—_Letter from Mrs. Grey to Miss Buss, Dec., 1881._
In August, 1872, things suddenly assumed a fresh aspect. It was not till
July, 1879—still seven years of waiting and working—that the goal was
finally attained in the opening of the new schools. But, from August 2,
the date of a letter from Mr. Roby, the Secretary of the Endowed Schools
Commission, to Miss Buss, this goal came within sight. This letter Miss
Buss enclosed to me, with a few words of comment, which touched me not a
little.
“I send you a copy of a note which I got yesterday. Please send
it on, with my love, to Mrs. Offord. It is the realization,
probably, of our hopes. Yet I take it as quietly as I did Miss
Ewart’s donation of a thousand pounds—not ungratefully, I trust.
I have offered a meeting on Tuesday morning, but expect that
will be too late. So, in October, things must be settled.
“I leave this place on Monday, so as to get through heaps of
work in town, before starting for the Continent. My brother Sep
will be in Brussels by the time we get there. Probably it will
be better to say _very little_ about Mr. Roby’s note. ‘There’s
many a slip,’ etc.”
The letter, of so much interest to us all, ran as follows—
“92, Kensington Gardens Square, W., Aug. 2, 1892.
“DEAR MISS BUSS,
“I am very glad to be able to announce to you that the
Commissioners have proposed to the Brewers’ Company, who are the
Governors of Aldenham School, to subsidize the Camden Schools,
and that the Governors have agreed to this.[8] As to details,
nothing is settled, but I hope to get a handsome sum towards
building, so as to complete, with what you have collected, all
that is necessary, and also some annual endowments.
“The next step is for our Assistant-Commissioner to have a
conference with you and your Board, so as to ascertain what is
the amount needed, and what is the best form the assistance
should take.
“If your Board could meet Latham anywhere (either at the Camden
Schools, or at 2, Victoria Street) on an early day next week, it
would be well.
“If not, the matter must wait till October, as we are all
dispersing for the Vacation.
“Will you please to write to Latham at once?
“Yours very truly,
“(Signed) H. J. ROBY.”
Footnote 8:
In the reign of James II., “Richard Platt, a wealthy brewer, left a
piece of land in trust to the Brewers’ Company to maintain a school in
his native village, Aldenham.” On this piece of land now stands St.
Pancras Station. The value of the property became too great for only
the one school to be maintained, and the sum of £20,000 was given in
order to build our two schools, one in the Camden Road, and the other
in the Prince of Wales Road; in addition, a similar sum was given as
an Endowment, thus using the money in the Parish of St. Pancras.
On the following day I had another note from Miss Buss, and for some
time to come the whole story of the hopes and fears, the anticipation
and delay, may be given in her own words from these letters—
“Aug. 8, 1872.
“I had a note yesterday from Mr. Latham, agreeing to an
appointment with our Board, next Tuesday morning, at 2, Victoria
Street, ten o’clock.
“This is your notice; so please don’t say you were not invited!
“In consequence of the delay in getting Mr. Roby’s note to me, I
asked for an appointment next week, when Mr. Roby meant _this_
week. But, as it turns out, my mistake is of no consequence, as
Mr. Latham, the Assistant-Commissioner, is still in town.”
“Aug. 10, 1872.
“I did not write to you yesterday, because I expected that very,
very charming note, which came this morning. Dr. Storrar wrote
to me to say—however, I enclose his note—that the meeting had
better take place at 202, Camden Road. So I wrote at once to
every one _but you_ (and Miss Ewart and Mrs. Sidgwick, who are
abroad), to say that our meeting was to be held in Camden Road,
and not in Victoria Street. Twelve notes in all! Still, I think
Dr. Storrar is right, and as only the trouble fell on me, it was
better to ask every one to change. I hope Mr. Latham will not
mind.”
“Aug. 11, 1872.
“Any money given to us by the Endowed Schools Commission will be
for _both_ schools. My only hope for the Upper School has been
centred in the Endowed Commission. Our plan of placing the
schools side by side will make the ground more easy to get.... I
have long expected a grant from the Commission, but these things
are so long about that there was a doubt on my mind whether the
grant would be made for years to come.
“Mr. Latham says the part of the Platt income available for St.
Pancras amounts to about a thousand a year. He does not like the
notion of the two schools being together. So it is proposed that
we ask for about £16,000 for the two buildings and ground for
the Lower School, on the Platt estate, which belongs to the
Brewers.”
The good news had come just as Miss Buss was starting for her summer
holiday, this year spent in Germany and Switzerland. On her return she
writes—
“Myra Lodge, Sept. 14. 11.30 p.m.
“Out of sight has not been out of mind, I assure you.
“I got back yesterday at about one o’clock a.m. and have ever
since been in a whirlpool of work and consequent worry.
“There are more than _fifty_ new entries for the North London
School, 54 in fact, and more are coming on Monday.
“Over sixty are entered in the Camden School. The new buildings
look very well—as a temporary thing—but must be furnished
immediately in order to receive the new pupils; teachers must be
found—housekeeper, servants, etc. I have been dashing through
all sorts of work to-day, to get things in train.
“Anyway, our success justifies our taking the new place, and
puts us into the way of paying for it.
“My holidays were perfectly delightful; but I must tell you
about them at some other time.
“My dear Annie, I am not sure at all about success not being too
elating! I will try to guard against myself, but feel doubtful.
Success of a certain kind is necessary to make one learn one’s
self; but too much may be puffing up.
“However, it has gone midnight, so I will say no more than that
I am
“Your loving
“ARNIE;
“that I am glad you are all well; that I shall not get any time
to myself to-morrow, as I am to go to my father after service
for the rest of the day, and that Monday will be a dreadfully
hardworking day.
“Will you take care of the _Times’_ account of the Prize Day?
The mighty Thunderer sent his own Reporter!”
“Myra Lodge, Dec. 10, 1872.
“There has been a long—2½ hours—conversation with Mr. Roby and
Mr. Latham. It is proposed to send us a draft of the scheme
before it is published, and this draft is (if possible) to be
_here_ by Monday week, the 23rd.
“Next Monday we shall send out notices for a _special_ meeting
to consider the draft.
“If the Brewers will give the sum £40,000, it is calculated that
the buildings will cost from £20 to £25 per head, and about 400
girls in each school; but there will be _sites_, law, and
scholarships to be provided.
“Mr. Roby thought the sum mentioned would not be too much for
the two schools. This school is to be a _First Grade_, fixed pay
of mistress £100 per annum, and a maximum cap. fee of £3. So my
income might amount to £1300 per annum! The Camden mistress
might get about £450 as a minimum, or £700 as a maximum. £200
endowment for rates, repairs, and £200 in each school for
scholarships.”
“Jan. 1, 1873.
“My head aches at the thought of the worry of settling the
claims to entry of the candidates waiting for admission. Your
friends are somewhere about fiftieth.
“Our scheme is not yet published. I am anxious to see it in the
_Times_, so that the three months may soon pass.”
Then came six months of waiting before Miss Buss writes, on July 31,
1873—
“You will be glad to know that the Endowed Schools Amendment Act
has passed the Commons. The Lords may turn it out. Perhaps they
will. Won’t that be dreadful? I don’t know when the reading
takes place.”
But on August 9, she writes from Bruges to the Rev. S. Buss—
“Of course you know that OUR Act—the Endowed Schools
Commission—is really an Act now. It is mentioned in the Queen’s
Speech.
“This morning, a copy of the scheme AS PUBLISHED has been sent
to me. So the Commissioners have lost no time. In three
months—that is, on the 7th or 8th Nov.—the scheme will be
prepared for presentation to the Privy Council and then to
Parliament. So that, humanly speaking, the whole scheme will be
accomplished in a year’s time.
“It is curious how little elated one is, when fruition is so
near!”
The next letter to me comes in the same strain, dated August 26—
“The Scheme is now advertised, and must wait three months, in
order that opposition may be made. Then it goes to the Privy
Council, and next year to Parliament. Altogether we may expect
the twenty thousand (_cash_ value, _i.e._ about eighteen
thousand pounds) some time next year.
“I am most deeply grateful, but I am not elated. One’s
elasticity gets sadly diminished as one grows older.”
After this a whole year elapses, filled with steady work in the schools,
and brightened with gleams of help, such as are recorded on June 4,
1874—
“Within the last half-hour a note has come to me from Mr. Owen
Roberts, clerk to the Clothworkers’ Company, to say they give us
£105 per annum, during pleasure, for scholarships: 50 guineas to
Girton, and two of 25 guineas for Merton. It is very pleasing.”
The reason for this prolonged delay was shown at the next date, November
18, 1874—
“Mr. Lee called at the office of Committee of Council a few days
ago, to ascertain how our scheme was progressing.
“He found that the Vicar of Aldenham had been opposing it, and
that practically not anything has been done. It will be again
advertised, and then wait two months, and, if opposed again,
must go before Parliament. So there is no chance of its passing
for an indefinite period. Shall I say, if ever?
“And the question now arises what are we to do about other
matters? Are we to go on as we have been doing? What are we to
do? Submit, I suppose, to the inevitable. But is it inevitable?
“Altogether, I feel we are in an _impasse_.”
A month later comes a little more hope—
“Oct. 8, 1874.
“I heard to-day (from a governor of that St. Martin’s School
which carries off Miss Derrick) that he had met a Brewer who
talked quite warmly of our school, and also of the plan to take
up the North London Collegiate School for boys, but that the
head wanted good money consideration for it. I am very glad to
hear this in every way. This last certainly entitles _me_ to
‘good consideration,’ and not to lectures from—various persons!”
The next step comes in a note from Mrs. Grey—
“18, Cadogan Place, Jan. 18, 1875.
“MY DEAR MISS BUSS,
“I enclose a note I received on Saturday morning from Mr.
Richmond, which please return. I congratulate you with all my
heart on this crowning of your labours.
“Mr. Holloway has given us no further sign.
“Most sincerely yours,
“M. G. GREY.”
This news of course came in due form to the governing body, but it seems
to have been known to various friends earlier, giving them the
opportunity of expressing their sympathy, as, in sending me Mrs. Grey’s
note, Miss Buss remarks—
“Mrs. Grey’s note enclosed one from Mr. Richmond, secretary of
Endowed Commission, saying that the Lord President of the
Council—I suppose that means Education Department—‘had approved
of the scheme for giving Miss Buss’ Schools the Platt
Endowment’—or words to this effect. Curiously enough, I am not
in the least elated, but have a sort of choking sensation when I
stop to think.
“Mr. Fitch wrote to me on Saturday somewhat to same effect, and
Miss Davies, as I told you, gave me a message from him, on the
14th, Sep’s birthday, and Dr. and Mrs. Hodgson’s wedding-day.
“Are you willing to beg a little for the foundation of a Chair
of Education? The Scotch have JUST founded two, and the
Government—Conservative too!—have given £10,000 to complete
them. We might get some help from Government if we got £5000
before asking it.”
“Endowed Schools Department,
“2, Victoria Street, S.W.,
“April 12, 1875.
“MY DEAR MISS BUSS,
“Aldenham and the North London Schemes were both approved
by the Lord President on Jan. 15. The former was, on petition
laid upon the table of the two Houses of Parliament; but no
petition was presented praying that the latter should be so
submitted to Parliament. However, the time provided by the Act
has expired, and both schemes will almost certainly be approved
by Her Majesty at the next Council.
“So it is the opinion both at the Council Office and here, that
the Schemes are as safe as anything can be which has not
actually received formal and final sanction.
“With the kindest good wishes,
“I am ever, my dear Miss Buss,
“Very truly yours,
“J. G. FITCH.”
On May 14, 1875, I received this welcome note—
“MY DEAR ANNIE,
“The Queen signed our scheme at yesterday’s Privy Council.
The news has just come from Mr. Fitch.
“Ever your loving
“ARNIE.”
This looked like the end of all anxieties. But there were still four
years to elapse before that point was reached. Action was taken at once
in the appointment of Mr. E. C. Robins as architect, and Miss Buss’
spare time went in plans and in consultation with him at special
committees without end. It had to be discussed over and over whether the
two schools should be together or separate; the choice of sites occupied
time and thought, and, interesting and exciting as it all might be, it
was all so much added to the pressure of the work, where success meant
increasing numbers and constant reorganization in both schools.
Here is a specimen of the extra worries that from time to time came to
swell the account—
“June 8, 1876.
“A new complication has sprung up. The Charity Commissioners
write to ask how much money we intend to put by yearly, to
accumulate at compound interest, to buy up the lease when it
expires. We must call a meeting. It seems to me like a
rent-charge, and if we are to do this, I want to know _how_ we
are benefited?
“We had better have been left alone. Suppose the school numbers
went down, where would the governors be?
“In my lifetime, too, this would mean paralysis of every thing
we need, in order to put by money.
“It is _very_ trying.”
This difficulty was overcome, but still the plan remained for both
schools to be erected on one site—
“June 10, 1876.
“Mr. Latham has written a long (private) letter to me in which
he objects (as I do in my heart) to both schools being put on
the same site, and suggests cutting down our plans and
_borrowing_.”
Again sweets mingled with the bitter, when Miss Buss could report on
December 18, 1876—
“DEAREST ANNIE,
“Will you return Mr. Owen Roberts’ letter? Is it not a
delightful Christmas box? A whole hall!”
This letter announced the intention of the Clothworkers’ Company to add
the Great Hall to the new buildings contemplated by the Brewers’
Company.
But still came further difficulties—
“Jan. 25, 1877.
“What do you think of my feelings at reading the following
passage in the last letter from the Charity Commission? ‘We
sanction the plans for the Camden School, on the distinct
understanding that the buildings of the Upper School remain, for
the present, in abeyance.’
“Poor Mr. Robins! He wants to go on with the Camden, but that
seems to me to doom the Upper School. Is it not a constant
worry? We must face the only possible outlet: Mr. Latham’s
suggestion of ‘raising the fees without delay.’”
The next letter is dated February 8, 1877, and shows Miss Buss in one of
her (fortunately rare) depressed moods; but it also shows her usual
self-sacrifice—
“We have to-day received a note, saying that, unless we have new
facts to lay before them, the Charity Commissioners _adhere to
their decision_, though they will hear what we have to say on
Thursday. This means that the Upper School must be left as it
is, and the Camden be begun.
“There seems no outlook. On the whole, matters look very gloomy.
I have been struggling so much against a sort of sick despair
that I am literally sore all over. The revulsion from hope to a
state of hopelessness has produced on me the strange bodily
soreness alluded to.
“There seems only one chance, and that is, to give an annual sum
of £800 or £1000 a year towards the debt out of my income from
the school, and to make my friends insist on the plans being
carried out. If, in addition, we raise the fees one guinea per
annum, _i.e._ 7_s._ per term, we shall realize another £500, and
the saving of rent, when buildings are completed, will add
another £300. All this could be applied to paying the debt, so
that the debt could soon be paid off, supposing the school to go
on successfully.
“The discipline of life is very hard, and one’s faith is not as
strong as it ought to be. I do try to cast all my care on Him,
who careth even for me; but it is very, very hard to cling
closely.
“I have to go to Cheltenham to-morrow. I shall not be home until
_late_ on Saturday night.
“No doubt the sun is still shining behind the clouds! Perhaps
even these may clear off in some unexpected way.”
“Feb. 13, 1877.
“Yesterday’s meeting went smoothly. Miss Ewart was very kind.
She told me in my room that she was quite sorry for me and that
she sympathized strongly.
“Mr. Buxton and Mr. Worsley, as representatives of the donors of
the money, mean to protest against abandoning the Upper School,
or delaying its buildings. Mr. Lee and Mr. Thorold also will
make a stand; the former is coming up on purpose. I will send
you a line to say what hope there is.
“We have another meeting on Monday, of which you have probably
had notice.
“The governors granted all the things I asked for, in the way of
salaries, house expenses, etc. Mr. Robins was not kept waiting,
and got away when he had explained to Miss E. the ventilation
matter.
“At the last meeting, he was kept two hours, and then not
summoned. It made me quite fidgety and uncomfortable. I think
his patience is _almost_ exhausted. What a good friend he is!
“I wrote a note to the chairman for yesterday’s meeting,
offering—(1) on condition of not letting the Upper School be
‘put in abeyance,’ (2) of raising the fees, and (3) of adding
the sum so obtained to the rent saved by the buildings (about
£800 per annum)—to pay another sum of £800 per annum towards the
building fund, during my working life, or so long as necessary.
This note was read in my absence.
“I must, as Alfred says, be allowed ‘to endow my own child.’ I
also wrote to Mr. Lee, making the same offer. I tell you, as you
would have heard it had you been able to be present.
“My very dear Annie, if only some of my cares would save you
from yours, how thankful I should be.
“May God bless and strengthen you.
“Ever yours lovingly,
“ARNIE.”
“Feb. 18, 1877.
“The answer from the Charity Commissioners is expected next
week. I should think it will be favourable.
“All this discipline is strengthening, and helps one to
strengthen others, if one will but learn the lesson it is meant
to teach. I have not been rebellious this time, I think, but
have tried to use means and be content with the issue.”
“April 14.
“Mr. Worsley writes to say that the Brewers’ Company will take
up the loan of £8000, and therefore there need be no delay in
beginning the Camden School.
“Also that there will be no necessity for me to insure my life
for the debt.
“So ends our great difficulty!”
In July, 1878, there is a note referring to the work involved in laying
the memorial stones of the new building, and an indication of delay,
since Miss Buss says—
“The Clothworkers gave us a cheque for £2500, which will carry
us on till October, by which time we hope either to have the
freehold or the Alice Owen money. If not, I am to advance what I
can, and that wonderful Mr. Robins will also advance, if
necessary. So far as I can understand, the Charity Commissioners
have suggested to the Brewers that the latter should lend us
money, at a moderate rate of interest, from their other
educational trust, the Alice Owen, in Islington. The committee
met to discuss and report on the security, etc. I hear that the
best security will be a life insurance taken up by me, but
nothing was settled.”
The grand _finale_ came at last when the buildings were completed, as
more extracts will show—
“March 14, 1879.
“Mr. E. N. Buxton was splendid to-day at the governors’ meeting,
and he urged that we should go on, and never mind about the
Charity Commission difficulties. We have asked the Princess of
Wales!”
“April 3, 1879.
“The Princess of Wales accepts our invitation to open our new
buildings and give the prizes. I do hope nothing will prevent
her keeping her promise. _As yet_ I do not want the fact known
in the school. I shall be torn to pieces, and have to fight over
every examination paper and mark, because every girl, and her
parents, will be so resolved to get a prize from the hands of
our fair, young, and beloved Princess!
“I want, in the future, _Foundation Day_ to be always a day of
importance in the year. Twenty-nine years! Almost a lifetime.”
“June 28, 1879.
“How are you all? I often think of you, but the pressure of work
now is hardly to be imagined! Independently of the Royal visit,
there are the festivities of the girls themselves, in connection
with the New Hall. Some French proverbs to be acted, and some
extracts from _Les Femmes Savantes_, also the final scene in the
_Merchant of Venice_.”
For a very pleasant little sketch of the school buildings I am indebted
to Miss Edith Aitkin—
“The school buildings, which are the fruit of so much thought
and endeavour, stand at the corner of Sandall Road, a few yards
back from the main Camden Road. They are of dark red brick, and
group themselves round a part of the original structure which is
three stories high, and which culminates in a conical-roofed
tower, from which each morning a bell rings out to summon the
neighbourhood and all and sundry happily, not ‘unwillingly, to
school.’ It is to be regretted that small and rather
mean-looking houses crowd round too closely to allow the
ordinary passer-by to form any adequate idea either of the size
of the place or of its real dignity of proportion. The building
falls naturally into two parts; first, there is the original
structure, modified and extended, facing Sandall Road; and
secondly, round the corner is the Clothworkers’ Hall, and the
main body of class-rooms behind it. This hall, with its long,
stained-glass windows, their tops breaking the line of the roof,
and its handsome gateway of honour, is the most interesting
feature of the building as seen from outside.
“The usual entrance is at the corner, in the very middle of the
school, and the impression received is at once delightful and
characteristic. Frances Mary Buss, the daughter of a painter,
all her life delighted in light and colour. She was no ascetic,
but aimed always at full use of all good gifts. As one enters to
the left is the head-mistress’ sitting-room—the ‘Blue Room,’
reminding one that blue was her favourite personal colour, the
colour she wore as a girl, the colour of the satin dress in the
early Victorian portrait painted of her by her father. The tiles
of the fireplace, painted by the elder girls, are green and
blue, and, dare one say, Morris-y before their time. In front we
see a stained-glass window, to the memory of pious founders,
Dame Alice Owen, and Alderman Richard Platt. To the right is a
handsome brass recording the main facts of the foundation of the
school. On each side of this are doorways leading to the office,
where visitors are received in the first instance, and to the
library wing. Passing forwards, we mount a few steps and turn to
the left into the hall. This was always Miss Buss’ pride, and
deserves the exclamation, ‘Oh, how pretty!’ which nearly every
one makes on entering it for the first time. Other schools have
halls, some large and fine in their way, but I do not think
there is any other so bright and cheerful, so warm with
harmonious colour, so _pretty_. At one end is the main platform,
with the organ—the gift of old pupils—recessed in the wall
behind it. The long windows, with window-seats and high ledges
on which are plants, pour down coloured light along one side.
Some are already filled with stained glass, and the middle one,
which has always been called Founders’ Window, because it was
partly filled by the arms of those companies and individuals who
have endowed the school, is to be completed as the special
memorial of her who was, after all, our main founder. Along the
opposite side and across the end runs a gallery of pitchpine.
The walls have a dado of pitchpine, and are lined with smooth
terra-cotta brick, let into which at one end, under the gallery,
are two medallions, one a portrait of the Princess of Wales, to
mark the day of her visit, and all that it signified, ‘with a
white stone,’ as Miss Buss said. Five class-rooms open into the
hall along one side under the gallery, five more on to the
gallery, and others on to a corridor above. To secure quiet in
the hall for examinations, etc., curtains can be drawn shutting
off the part under the gallery as a passage-way to the
class-rooms. These are bluish-green, and, with the flowers of
the platform and window-ledges, give a pretty effect of colour.
To the left of the platform hangs Miss Buss’ portrait, so that
she seems to be amongst us still in a strange quiet fashion.
“To describe one class-room is, to the outsider, to describe
them all. A teacher’s platform facing thirty desks, with a large
slate or blackboard behind—Tobins’ pipes, and ventilators over
the doors—this is the now familiar appearance of a schoolroom.
More distinctive features are the window-gardens, the pitchpine
dado, and eminently practical lining of smooth brick, on which
numerous photographs display themselves. Miss Buss’ Roman visits
explain the fact that very many are views of Rome and of
classical sculpture. To those interested in the details of the
school class-rooms take on distinctive features. In one is the
challenge cup held for the term as the result of a singing
competition amongst a number of classes. In another are copies
of Raphael’s Cartoons. In another a very special and original
fireplace decoration. In some we notice spinal chairs, or
modified desks, recommended for special girls by the lady doctor
attached to the school.
“A complete survey is a long business, and even a cursory
inspection involves some walking, for we cannot omit to mount to
the end of the top corridor to see the large drawing-school,
with its array of casts, glass, perspective planes, etc. This is
lighted from above, and contains over the fireplace a large
painting by Mr. R. W. Buss, of an Elizabethan Christmas,
throwing out a fine glow of colour. Several small isolated rooms
on this floor also are used as music-rooms.
“On the gallery floor it is absolutely necessary to inspect the
lecture-room and laboratory. The former can seat about a hundred
and fifty girls, and is provided with a proper lecture-table for
experiments, and also with a lantern and screen. The laboratory
is fitted with working benches for twenty-four girls at a time.
In the little room between is a really good balance for the use
of the more advanced students.
“A plunge into the basement must follow, for the care with which
provision has been made for cloak-rooms, lavatories, kitchen,
dining-room, and drying-room for wet clothes in winter, is very
striking. Also a long passage, floored with wooden bricks, leads
to the gymnasium, a splendid room a hundred feet long, and about
forty feet high. This offers a certain amount of compensation
for a very moderate playground behind the school. The
playground, such as it is, is immensely prized for rounders,
skipping, etc., while competition is very keen for the three
fives courts which open on it at one side. The gymnasium is in
constant use all the morning, for every class goes down there
for a gymnastic lesson, on Miss Chreimann’s system, twice a
week, besides a daily short drill directed by the form
mistresses. A special class is held on one afternoon for
additional gymnastic exercises, and another for medical drill,
when girls with a tendency to some special defect are put
through special exercises recommended by the doctor mentioned
above, who examines all the girls of the school at certain
intervals.
“Visitors may very well be glad to rest before leaving. The main
library will probably contain sixth-form girls studying under a
strict silence rule. Not to set a bad example, we will pass
through to the museum to do any talking. The teachers’ library
is beyond again, a pretty room with several sofas, and a
window-seat under the stained-glass window which decorates this
wing.
“There are many details one would like to comment upon, such as
the fountains on each floor supplied with filtered water, the
special taps to be used in case of fire, with directions as to
the best method of procedure hung up beside them, the plans
displayed for reference of the whole system of gas- and
water-pipes. All these are very eloquent of her whose
dream—realized as all dreams are not—has borne the translation
into a reality which can never be truly prosaic, and stands here
in solid brick, the North London Collegiate School for Girls,
Sandall Road, Camden Road, N.W.”
On July 18, 1879, the whole of St. Pancras was astir with the unwonted
excitement of a Royal visit, and the crowds that for miles lined the
streets showed their loyalty by hearty acclamations.
* * * * *
The Prince and Princess, accompanied by the Countess of Macclesfield and
Baron Colville of Culross, with Mr. Holzmann and Lieut. Clarke, were met
at the door of the new building by Miss Buss and the Bishop of
Rochester—then chairman of the Board—passing through a double line of
governors on their way to the library, where Miss Aitkin, the winner of
a Girton Scholarship, presented a bouquet of Malmaison roses. The whole
party then proceeded to the tent erected in the playground, where the
Camden Street pupils waited to receive their prizes from the gracious
lady whose coming had been so ardently desired.
[Illustration:
THE GREAT HALL, NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.
]
Adjournment to the great hall followed, when the girls of the Upper
School had their turn, a hundred and fifty being made happy possessors
of prizes from the same kind hand. Songs and speeches came next, and the
Prince certainly looked as if his words were no empty compliment, as he
said that none of their many functions had given greater pleasure either
to the Princess or himself than their visit to these schools.
In the library, where tea was served, the Prince and Princess talked for
some time with Miss Buss about her work. In addition to the whole body
of governors, there were present Canon Spence, Vicar of St. Pancras, the
Rev. William Rogers, Founder of the Cowper Street School, the Rev.
Llewellyn Davies (Miss Davies being unable to be present), Sir T. Fowell
Buxton, Mr. Edward North Buxton, the Masters of the Brewers’ and of the
Clothworkers’ Company, Mr. Robins, the architect to the schools, and
other friends.
On the same evening, the occasion was celebrated by a dinner given by
Canon Spence and the Churchwardens of St. Pancras, when the health of
the founder of the schools came after that of the Royal visitors. Mr.
Robins, in giving this toast, remarked that “Miss Buss had been of great
help to him in the building of the schools, for she was a thoroughly
practical woman, and knew more about plans than many men.”
Taking it altogether, there was every ground for the satisfaction which,
as the Rev. A. J. Buss said, in response, his sister must feel in a day—
“to which she had long looked forward, and to which she would
look back with gratification, of which no small part would be
due to the recognition of her services by the representatives of
the parish in which she had spent her working life.”
From among the innumerable letters of congratulation pouring in from all
sides a few may be given which were specially treasured by the Founder,
who from this day felt herself set free for the internal work of the
schools, all anxiety being ended as to their external conditions.
Foremost among these is one from Mr. Spencer Charrington, who, as Master
of the Brewers’ Company, thanks Miss Buss for his reception, expressing
his full satisfaction in the completion of the work in which the Company
had taken so deep an interest.
Not less gratifying was a testimony from Mr. Fitch to the scholastic
value of Miss Buss’ own special part of the work—
“5, Lancaster Terrace, July 23, 1879.
“MY DEAR MISS BUSS,
“Let me congratulate you, as I do most heartily, on the
remarkable success which has attended your candidates at the
London Matriculation. I know of no school, either for girls or
boys, which, having sent up sixteen candidates, has passed nine
of them in the Honour division and in the First Class. Nobody
needed any additional proofs of the wisdom and value of the
methods which you have adopted, and which you have done so much
to extend and popularize. Still, every new evidence of the fact
must be gratifying to you; and I assure you it is not less so to
the many friends who know of your work, and who have long
recognized it as some of the soundest, the most fruitful, and
the most beneficent work of our time.
“The high proportion of success attained by the female
candidates was the subject of special remark at the Senate this
afternoon; and I need hardly say, of special felicitation to a
good many of us.
“Yours very truly,
“J. G. FITCH.”
To the same effect is the expression of warm sympathy from Mrs. Grey—
“Harbledown Rectory, Canterbury, July 20, 1879.
“MY DEAR MISS BUSS,
“I must write you a few lines to congratulate you on your
splendid opening ceremonial and prize-giving. When I remember
the position of the schools when I had the good fortune to make
your acquaintance, and compare it with the statements made last
Tuesday, it seems like something in a fairy-tale. And yet with
what ceaseless toil has each step been won. It does one’s heart
good, and makes one think better of life, to see such a brave,
life-long fight as yours crowned at last—crowned, too, while
your head can still wear the crown, and with years before you in
which to ripen the fruits of your victory. I have often feared
that you would break down under the strain of final success come
too late. Thank God it is not so.
“I do not know when I shall see you, unless you come to Rome at
Christmas.
“Do not forget me on my shelf, and believe me ever,
“Yours affectionately,
“MARIA G. GREY.”
Not less warm, nor less warmly appreciated, was a letter from Dr.
Thorold, who had acted as the first chairman to the united governing
body, after the reconstruction which admitted the representatives of the
Brewers’ and the Clothworkers’ Companies. During his chairmanship, Dr.
Thorold had been raised to the Bench, but, with all his new duties, as
Bishop of Rochester, he had remained faithful to the work of which he
had been one of the very earliest friends—
“Selsdon Park, July 19, 1879.
“DEAR MISS BUSS,
“I must write one line of warm and sincere congratulation
to you, on what I may call the coronation day of the work to
which you have given your life.
“While I was careful privately to inform the Prince of Wales of
the service you have so conspicuously rendered to the education
of girls for so many years past, all that he and the Princess
saw must only have confirmed their impression of the solidity of
the work to which they gave their cheerful and ample
recognition.
“I say to you, God bless your work, and you in it, to the glory
of His Holy Name!
“And I say it as one of your warm and sincere and many
friends....
“Most truly yours,
“A. W. ROFFEN.”
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