THE FIRST LOSS
"The thought of our past years in me doth breed
Perpetual benediction."--WORDSWORTH.
In August 1861 Bessie was removed to Bognor for the benefit of sea air,
and began to show signs of complete recovery. Some of the sisters were
her constant companions and devoted nurses; she received visits from her
parents, and loving letters from many friends.
She returned to Chichester in the late autumn, restored to her usual
average of health; and in December the Bishop wrote to her, the eldest
daughter at home, as he had done in the old days when she was a girl, to
prepare for the return of the family from Brighton.
Christmas was spent as usual at the palace, and with the new year Bessie
began gradually to resume her work for the Institution.
Her first frame letter was written in March 1862 to her father, and has
been preserved:
PALACE, CHICHESTER, _1st March 1862_.
MY DEAREST PAPA--I had long ago settled that my first letter with
the frame should be to you, and most thankful I am to be able to
be at the "stocking making" again, though very likely I shall not
make a very good workwoman; but please take the work, such as it
is, as a little sign that Bessie has not forgotten all the love
shown her while she was ill, how you used to come and sit with her
in the midst of all you had to do. I am very very thankful to be so
much stronger, and to have been brought through the suffering as I
have been.
I hope you will take care of yourself when you start for
confirmations, the winds now are so bitterly cold. Indeed, you do
provide well for us; it will be very enjoyable to have the Brownes.
Did you see that curious letter in _The Times_ not long since,
headed "Is it--;" I thought it would interest you. I hope it has
not been necessary to light gas to-day for morning service.
However, the day has not been very bright here. Yesterday I was out
in the garden in the morning, but I have a little cold and so was
not tempted to-day, as there was no sun. Robin is to sleep here
to-night; he preaches, I think, at St. Andrews. Very much love to
mamma and all.--I am ever your dutiful and loving child,
BESSIE.
The difficulties of the Association had increased during the period of
Bessie's illness and absence.
Subscriptions and donations now amounted to between two and three
thousand a year, and goods had been sold to about the same amount. But
so large a percentage on sales was paid to all blind agents and
travellers and to Mr. Levy that the increase of trade threatened to
swamp the undertaking. Moreover, sales did not keep pace with productive
power, and a large quantity of stock was on hand.
A Sub-Committee was appointed to investigate the financial condition of
the Association, and their report, practical and sound as it was, proved
very distasteful to Bessie.
They advised the employment of a sighted shopman, the substitution of
some easier and more accurate method of keeping accounts, the payment of
all money received into the bank, and an arrangement under which Mr. and
Mrs. Levy should receive a fixed salary in lieu of commission on sales.
They also intimated their belief that the time had come when the Society
must look to its director simply for general management, and must be
prepared to employ a thoroughly efficient staff in the shop and
workrooms.
The report really amounted to a suggestion to supersede her faithful
manager; a step to which Bessie and Levy were equally opposed. Bessie
hoped to avert it by raising money to pay the debts, and open a West-end
shop; and as the Committee was powerless without the alliance of the
Lady President, there was at any rate a reprieve.
To obviate one of the difficulties arising from want of funds, the
Bishop offered L40 a year as the wages of a sighted shopman, in addition
to his subscription of L5.
He announces this in a letter written from Queen Anne Street on the 22d
May 1862, to Bessie at Chichester. His offer was gratefully accepted by
the Committee. It was also arranged that donations and subscriptions
should be paid into the banking account; and not, as hitherto, used as
soon as received in the payment of bills and wages. But the director
was unwilling to relinquish any of his duties, and Bessie considered
that when her own health, which was rapidly improving, should be quite
re-established, the assistance she could give would lighten his duties
and responsibilities.
Under these circumstances there seemed no pressing need of reform in the
management. Bessie had one remedy for all the suggestions of the
Sub-Committee; and this was to plead both in public and in private for
money and custom. In 1863 there were articles and letters in _The
Times_, and in all the principal London journals, and a paper in Miss
Yonge's _Monthly Packet_ by Mrs. Hooper, who had previously written on
the subject in _Household Words_. Mr. Gladstone was asked to speak at
the annual meeting to be held in May, and replied:
11 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, _17th March 1863_.
MADAM--It would be with so much regret that I should decline a
request proceeding from you, that although uncertain whether my
public duties may permit me to attend the meeting to which you
refer, on the 11th May, I cheerfully engage to do so, subject only
to the contingency of any call upon me elsewhere, such as I may be
unable to decline.--I have the honour to be, madam, your very
faithful servant,
W. E. GLADSTONE.
Miss Gilbert.
Mr. Gladstone attended the meeting and advocated the claims of the
Association, not, as he said, from motives of philanthropy but as a
political economist, and because it was founded on sound principles. He
said:
"While this Association aims to promote the general welfare of the
blind, it aims at promoting that welfare in a very specific manner and
by well-determined means. It is not founded on the idea that the blind,
because they have suffered a great and heavy visitation, are therefore
to be the mere passive recipients of that which the liberality of their
fellow-creatures may bestow. It does not proceed on the idea that
because the blind are so, they have therefore ceased to partake in other
respects in that mysterious nature of which we are all partakers, with
its immense capabilities and powers, with its high hopes and great
dangers. For in all other respects the blind continue to be sharers in
every thing pertaining to us as men; and if I rightly apprehend the idea
of this Institution, it is this, that while we minister to the wants of
the blind in a specific manner, yet we still consider them as rational
beings, as members of society, as capable of various purposes, as not
intended to be sent into a corner, or to be excommunicated from us; but
as intended to bear their part as citizens, as enlightened and civilised
creatures, and as Christians. Employment given to the blind is a great
source of happiness. The sentence which was termed the primeval curse,
if on one side it presented the aspect of a curse, also presented on the
other the aspect of a blessing,--the necessity, the condition of true
happiness. Employment is a blessing for us all, but it is much more to
the blind. Employment to the blind is the condition of mental serenity,
of comfort and resignation. Employment to the blind is also the
condition of subsistence,--that is, of honourable and independent
subsistence. It is a great thing for an institution when we are enabled
to say that its rules and practice are in harmony with political
economy, for political economy is founded on truth. I believe that the
rules of the Association are based on the laws which regulate the
accumulation and distribution of the means of subsistence. In this
Association we have the union of what the coldest prudence would
dictate, and of what the most affectionate Christian heart would
desire."
Mr. Gladstone was at that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his
advocacy was very valuable. The pecuniary result of the meeting, which
had given her some months of labour, was most gratifying to Bessie, and
she resumed her work of collecting funds with fresh ardour. We find her
making application, in vain, for a grant from the Peabody Fund. The
question of State aid for the blind was suggested to her, and she set to
work in the usual patient and thorough way, to obtain information and to
look around for influential help. But the autumn brought sorrow and
grave anxiety, which almost put a stop to other work. Mrs. Gilbert,
whose health had long been failing, declined rapidly. Bessie remained at
Chichester, and wrote constantly and very tenderly to the sister, Mrs.
Elliot, who was unable to leave her own home, and yet anxious to be with
her mother if the illness should prove alarming. Bessie writes an
autograph letter on 9th December 1863, tells of the arrival of married
sisters at the palace, of the anxiety of Dr. Tyacke and her father, of
the sympathy they all feel for the one who cannot join them, "we know
how much your heart is with us, and how much we should like to have you
here.... I have just heard that Mary thinks mamma looking better than
she expected, and Sarah says she does not think her looking quite so ill
as on Monday. It is a pleasure to tell you anything the least
cheering.... You do not know how sorry we all are for you; I hope you
will not find this letter difficult to read. I wished especially to
write to you to-day to tell you how we all think of you, and feel for
and with you in all this difficulty and anxiety."
That evening a younger sister prepared some arrowroot in the sick-room,
and the blind daughter administered it carefully, spoonful after
spoonful, to her dying mother. "It pleased them both so much," we are
told, and it was the last office of love, for on the 10th December Mrs.
Gilbert died.
The death of this warm-hearted, generous woman, who had made home so
happy for her children, devoted wife and loving mother, was a crushing
blow. Death had not visited the home for nearly thirty years, and this
great grief opened up the possibility of future loss, and was as a
pillar of cloud that followed them.
Miss Law, writing to Bessie on the 23d of January 1864, says:
I can indeed most fully enter into all you have felt and are
feeling still, under this dark shadow, which has fallen around you;
but surely by and by you will be enabled to see the light that must
be shining behind it. Oh, I do trust that the sad empty place in
all your hearts may each day be filled more and more with the
loving presence of Him who has sounded all the deepest depths of
human sorrow and suffering, that He might know how to feel for and
comfort us the better. Yes, you must indeed feel comforted already
in the thought of the fulness of her joy and rest and peace. I am
very glad your poor father has been so strengthened through his
great trouble; he is rich in having many loving children to help
and comfort him.... My book has been far more successful already
than I had expected; there have been several very nice reviews; we
are going to have them reprinted altogether, and then I will send
you a copy.... Some day I should like to know your thoughts about
my little poems, and which ones you like best among them. Dear Miss
Proctor [Adelaide] is still very ill, though at times she revives
wonderfully. I was able to see her twice when I was in town. She
writes to me now and then herself, and her sister Edith constantly.
Not long before Mrs. Gilbert's death the possible marriage of a younger
daughter had greatly interested her. She looked forward with confidence
to her child's future happiness, and when her own condition became
serious she begged that in no case might the marriage be postponed. It
was therefore solemnised in March 1864 as quietly as possible. This
sister, H----, had been for some years Bessie's special ally, and the
loss of her active help and unfailing sympathy was severely felt.