Part 21 (1/2)

Miss Lariting to Bessie on the 23d of January 1864, says:

I can indeedstill, under this dark shadohich has fallen around you; but surely by and by you will be enabled to see the light thatbehind it Oh, I do trust that the sad empty place in all your heartspresence of Him who has sounded all the deepest depths of huht kno to feel for and comfort us the better Yes, you ht of the fulness of her joy and rest and peace I ah his great trouble; he is rich in havingchildren to help and comfort him My book has been far more successful already than I had expected; there have been several very nice reviee are going to have theether, and then I will send you a copy Sohts abouttheh at times she revives wonderfully I was able to see her then 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 reatly interested her She looked forith confidence to her child's future happiness, and when her own condition becae 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

CHAPTER XVII

HOW THE WORK WENT ON

”He who has but one ais in one light, is able to abide steadfast, and to rest in God”--THOMAS a KEMPIS

Goods manufactured by the blind had been for soents on a system known as ”sale or return” This had proved satisfactory so long as the agents were carefully selected But there had been sonments had been oods, and ere found to be without either honesty or cash In 1864 the loss to the Institution by sale and return aed by the loss She felt so keenly the force of the temptations to which the blind were exposed, and the possibility that they had at first hoped and intended to be honest, and had only gradually fallen into evil ways, that it ith difficulty she could be induced to acquiesce in the abolition of a systeiven up, and she set to work to pay the debts incurred

Instead of the annualof May 1865, a bazaar in aid of the funds of the Institution was suggested

The first idea of this was very distasteful to Bessie She had a horror of the ordinary bazaar But it was pointed out that a sale of goods on behalf of the blind, held in the right place and by the right persons, would have none of the features to which she so justly objected Her scruples were overcoiven her consent she devoted the autumn and winter months of 1864 and the early part of 1865 to the necessary preparations for the undertaking She applied to the Duke and the late duchess of Argyle for pere They very kindly consented; and the duchess suggested that if any use was to be e the date fixed should not be too early in the spring In consequence of this advice it was resolved to hold the sale on the 21st and 22d of June

As the time appointed drew near, Bessie's labours were saddened and rendered difficult by a great loss Her brother-in-law, Colonel the Honourable Gilbert Elliot, who had never quite recovered frons, was taken seriously ill in March and died on the 25th of May 1865

The arrange, were now completed, and it was decided to proceed with it, but the as carried on by Bessie at great cost and with a heavy heart; for, as she says in one of her rare autograph letters, sent to Mrs Elliot on the 25th May: ”You knoe all love dear Gilbert”

Many friends caiven, and the sale promised to be a success The list of stall-holders was excellent, and encouraged Bessie to hope for a good attendance and good results

Lady Constance Grosvenor, Lady Blantyre, Lady Jocelyn, Lady Victoria Wellesley, the Marchioness of Waterford and Lady Anson, the Marchioness of Or, Mrs

Fox, Mrs C dyke and Lady Geraldine St Maur held stalls Gate oods produced 1078 Over 200 was received in donations, and the net result of the sale was ood reason to be satisfied, not only with the money but with the influential patrons she had secured for the Institution The report for the following year gives an i list of vice-patrons,--the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of Rutland and Argyle, the Earls of Abergavenny, Chichester, and Darnley, the Bishops of St

David's, Chichester, Lichfield, Oxford, St Asaph, and Lincoln, Lord Ebury, Lord Houghton, Mr Gladstone, Sir Roundell Palmer, the Dean of Westminster, and Professor Fawcett

The pecuniary result of the sale, though perhaps not all that was expected, see a West-end shop

They secured No 210 Oxford Street, and decided to keep the old houses in the Euston Road as workshops

Mr Levy, in a letter sent to Chichester on the 30th Septeements for a lease on the terms offered by the Committee He adds that one brushmaker has a shop nine doors off, and another brushmaker has a shop twenty-four doors off, but he thinks their vicinity will not injure the association He probably expected that influential patrons and their friends would purchase froo astray This expectation was not realised, and in the course of two or three years the vicinity of the two brush shops was found to be a serious disadvantage

During the early summer of this year Bessie received a letter written on behalf of the Co if their schoolmistress and her assistant, ere not themselves blind, could be received for ”a few days” in the ”asylu of it, and ht to women

Bessie replied that the Institution was not an ”asylum,” and that no one could be received to live in the house She expressed her disapproval of the ee with the Brighton Committee for the reception of one or two blind persons to be taught brush- teachers

She explained fully the objects of the association, and expressed her opinion that an attempt to acquire any trade ”in a few days” could only result in misconception and failure

There were several letters on both sides, but neither yielded Bessie would not consent to train ”sighted” teachers ”in a few days,” and Brighton would not send blind pupils

Three years previously the Davenport Institution had applied for a blind teacher A iven entire satisfaction He succeeded a ”sighted” teacher, and was said to have done more in six ed the necessity of eround that they alone could know all the difficulties of the blind; and it would have been irade a step as the training of ”sighted” teachers in an institution full of blind persons,others