Part 28 (1/2)

Farrorites:

If the iven us a better position in the body of the hall no doubt we should have done more than we did The sales amounted to about 110 The donation boxes yielded 15 The cost of the undertaking about 29 The profits of the sale and [contents of] boxes included caeo The workpeople who represented the different branches are as follows I visited the hall several ti theto be learnt for the benefit of the association This year we have the whole of the work of the L S W Railway, and we have also obtained that of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington For the future I will not send in any tender unless I see the sa them

This blind man who ”examined the machinery” and must ”see the samples”

is one after Bessie's own heart, and there was always a h of approval when she spoke of his letters

A conference was held at York in 1883 on the condition of the blind It was followed in 1884 by aat Sheffield on the same subject, and presided over by Lord Wharncliffe

Bessie had, at Lord Wharncliffe's request, furnished suggestions and information He writes as follows:

WORTLEY HALL, SHEFFIELD, _12th January 1884_

MADAM--I have taken the liberty of sending to you a copy of the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ containing the report of ouron Thursday last, and have to express to you my warm thanks for the kindness hich you answered estions contained in your reply I can only hope that you will be interested with the report of our proceedings, and will approve of as then said--I remain, yrs faithfully, WHARNCLIFFE

Miss Gilbert

The paper of suggestions referred to, travels over round faht, adequately explored by those orking for the blind

She writes to Lord Wharncliffe:

”It is allehanded, to cope with all the difficulties hich he has to contend, and the result has often been begging or the workhouse Happily there are many more industrial institutions than there were”

One can iine hat a thrill of satisfaction she would write this, as she rein of all her subsequent work She continues:

It would be most desirable that the ordinary schools and such institutions should play into one another's hands, so as to shorten as far as possible the interval between the pupils leaving [school]

and their being eht soht perhaps even be ehted workpeople This would answer the double purpose of lightening the work of the Institution, and also of drawing attention to the blind and to what they are able to do, which is a very important point

As industrial institutions reat extent upon custom for their support, it is well to bear in ht can both help the as travellers People are often very ular recurring calls of the blind travellers Besides which it saves people trouble in dealing with an institution if they happen to live at some distance

It is almost needless to say that all the capabilities of the blind should be brought out as much as possible, as the hest interests are cared for, the more will their whole condition be elevated and i the blind to earn their own living is by no means an easy one, and is orthy of the attention of loving hearts and wise intellects for its solution

The whole tone of these wise and thoughtful remarks shows that Bessie had never lost touch with her work Her interest is as fresh, her expectation as vigorous as ever She throws out a new suggestion--that of the employment of the blind in special branches of a trade--which may even yet bear fruit She pleads for ”the elevation of the whole condition of the blind,” in contradistinction to the adrade them She had a wide experience of both systems, and could now speak with authority The letter indeedof hope about it It is not the utterance of one who speaks on the other side of a closed door You feel that the door is open and she hout 1884 an indefinable improvement and amelioration in her condition which led her, not perhaps to hope, but to entertain a thought of the possibility of such a ht once more enable her to take an active share in the work of the Institution It is not likely that this expectation was entertained either by her doctors or nurses; but Bessie had a distinct feeling that a change, an improvement, was before her ”Would it not be wonderful,” she said to the present writer in the early summer of 1884, ”if I should recover?”

And in reply to a question suggested by this ree”

CHAPTER XXII

TWILIGHT

”The noble es it retains of beings passed away; and so is the noble mind”

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

Fifteen years of suffering had left Bessie Gilbert unchanged as to the aiht had shown her the need that the blind have of help and sy work for theh the active charity of individuals and the co-operation of the State

And it was the ”General Welfare of the Blind” that engrossed her, and not merely their trades She knew, no one better, how much need they have of resources froiven by hope and aspiration Her long years of illness enlarged her ideas of what could be done and ought to be done for them She contrasted her own condition with that of the poor and untaught, and forgave them all their faults when she remembered their sad state