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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
There is a sacred privacy in the life of a blind person. It is led apart from much of the ordinary work of the world, and is unaffected by many external incidents which help to make up the important events of other lives. It is passed in the shade and not in the open sunlight of eager activity. At first we should be disposed to say that such a life, with its inevitable restrictions and compulsory isolation, could offer little of public interest, and might well remain unchronicled. But in the rar
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
"Moving about in worlds not realised."— Wordsworth. Elizabeth Margaretta Maria, born on the 7th of August 1826, was the second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashhurst Turner Gilbert, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, and of Mary Ann his wife, only surviving child of the Rev. Robert Wintle, Vicar of Culham, near Abingdon. The little girl, Bessie, as she was always called, was christened at St. Mary's Church, which is close to the old-fashioned
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
The Gilbert children had a very happy home. In Oxford they were constantly under the eyes of parents who loved them tenderly, and loved to have them at hand. The schoolroom was between drawing-room and study, the nurseries adjacent to the parents' bedroom. Mrs. Gilbert, a very handsome, large-hearted, attractive woman, was devoted to her husband, and gave him constant and loving care so long as she lived. She dearly loved her children; but she thought, though perhaps she was mistaken, that she l
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
Mr. Wintle gave his little grand-daughter a new name after her loss of sight. He called her "Little Blossom." She was never to develop into flower or fruit, he said, on account of her great affliction, and the limitations that it must entail. Miss Trotwood may have had a similar theory as to David Copperfield's Dora, but these were days before Dickens had written of Little Blossom. The theory was by no means adopted by Bessie's parents; and the name of Blossom was used by Mr. Wintle only. Dr. Ky
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
The early summer of 1838 was spent by the Vice-Chancellor and his family at Malvern. Bessie greatly enjoyed long walks on the hills, but either from over fatigue, or because the air was too keen for her, she began to suffer at that time from what she always spoke of as "my long headache." It was a headache that lasted many months and caused the parents almost as much suffering as the child. On their return to Oxford the family doctor was called in and promptly applied a blister to the back of th
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
By the autumn of 1842 the removal from Oxford to Chichester had been accomplished. The Bishop and his family were installed in the palace, which was to be their home for twenty-eight years. A new life was beginning for Bessie, and one which, when the inevitable pain of parting from old friends was over, she learnt to love very dearly. She had a keen imaginative delight in the beauties of nature. She loved to hear of clouds and sunset; of sunrise and the dawn, of green fields, of hills and valley
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
"When the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter which is heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher by means of this very material."— Marcus Aurelius. Bessie Gilbert, when she was about twenty, differed but little from the sisters around her. She could read Italian, French, and German, and her mental culture had been an education of the true and best kind. She had an open mind, an ardent desire for knowledge, and a warm interest in all the ways and works of humanity. The
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
The interview in Queen Anne Street was one of the most important events in Bessie's life. Her feeble health, her limited opportunities of ascertaining the condition of the poor, her imperfect knowledge of their requirements and their powers, made it imperative that she should find an ally with health and energy, with experience that might supplement her own, and with equal devotion to the cause she had at heart. W. Hanks Levy, who called at her request to tell her about the blind poor, was one o
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
We must remember that Bessie's scheme was at first a private matter, and that there is no reason why a blind lady's accounts should be kept like a tradesman's books. Bessie Gilbert had arranged that her weekly bills should be copied by members of her family rather for their information than for her own. So far as she was concerned she could remember what she gave, and had only to take care not to exceed her income. This seemed at first a simple matter, but before long the increased expenditure i
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
Throughout 1856 Bessie was mainly occupied in writing letters to all and sundry. She wanted money, and more even than money, she wanted custom. From the very first she saw that customers were of greater importance to her than subscribers, for it was customers who could ensure the stability and permanence of her scheme. If the blind were to be employed, there must be a sale for the articles produced; and the greater the sale the larger would be the number of workmen required. Hence the sale of go
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
"Boundless pity for those who are ignorant, misled, and out of the right way."— Kingsley. Bessie was now thirty-two years old, and during 1857, 1858, and part of 1859 she was probably at the height of her power, physical and mental. The physical never amounted to very much. Her health was feeble. She was liable to long fits of depression, to long attacks of headache and prostration, to much suffering from nervous exhaustion. During the year 1857 the progress and development of her work, the enco
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
The entries in Bessie's Common Place Book are not numerous, but they are very valuable. They are the result of careful study, of long-continued and anxious thought, and they are the most important original work left by her. They will be read by all who have endeavoured to help the blind with no less interest than by the blind themselves. Education of the Blind. In the preface to a poem entitled Genius of the Blind, by E. H. White, a blind man, he speaks of the great amount of labour and money wh
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
"The older we grow, the more we understand our own lives and histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of wisdom is the spirit of love, that the true way to gain influence over our fellow-men is to have charity towards them."— Kingsley. In addition to the Common Place Book, which contains the result of many years of thought and investigation, Bessie kept during 1858 a diary. This shows not only her thoughts but her deeds. Her whole life was now engrossed by her work for the blind. French,
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Bessie's early education and happy home life counted for much in her work on behalf of the blind. She knew the advantage of being thrown on her own resources, of learning the ways of a house and the paths of a garden. She knew also that the happiness of the blind depends chiefly on companionship. "A deaf person," she used to say, "is very cheerful alone, much more cheerful than in society. It is social life that brings out his privation.
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
"Ce que peut la vertu d'un homme ne se doit pas mesurer par ses efforts, mais par son ordinaire."— Pascal. In January 1859 Bessie, with a younger sister, paid a ten days' visit to Fir Grove, Eversley, the home of her friend Miss Erskine. It was at this time that she became personally acquainted with Charles Kingsley. She heard him preach in his own church, and the sermon was one that she always referred to with gratitude as having helped and strengthened her. [7] Miss Erskine remembers that Bess
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
"Good times and bad times and all times pass over." Bewick's Vignettes. Bishop Gilbert's family circle was fast diminishing. His eldest son and four daughters were married. The sisterhood was broken up. Numerous home duties at Chichester and in London, together with the care of parents whose health was beginning to fail, engrossed the time and thought of the daughters at home. Bessie still received sympathy and assistance, but she lived a very independent life, and relied more and more upon the
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
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 o
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
"He who has but one aim, and refers all things to one principle, and views all things in one light, is able to abide steadfast, and to rest in God."— Thomas à Kempis. Goods manufactured by the blind had been for some years advanced to blind agents on a system known as "sale or return." This had proved satisfactory so long as the agents were carefully selected. But there had been some relaxation in the requisite caution, and large consignments had been made to blind men who returned neither money
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
"Toutes les bonnes maximes sont dans le monde, on ne manque qu'à les appliquer."— Pascal, 391. The education of blind children had occupied Bessie's thoughts for many years. So far back as 1863 she had been in communication with Mr. Lonsdale of the National Society, inquiring as to the State aid given to industrial schools, and the conditions under which schools for the blind could be certified so as to secure the benefit of the Acts. She had begun in her usual careful and systematic way by obta
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
It was deemed undesirable for Bessie to remain at Chichester during the sad week that followed the death of her father. She went to her elder sister, Mary, the beloved Mary of her youth, now the mother of a family and head of a large household. She wrote with her own hand a short note to one of the sisters at the palace, which reassured them as to her condition. Milton Hill , 28th March 1870 . My dear Sarah —Thank you for all your letters. As you say, all the preparations must be painful, but I
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
"By two wings a man is raised above the earth, namely by Simplicity and Purity."— Thomas à Kempis. There was still much within Bessie's power; and in tracing her work at this period we find little diminution in her correspondence. She received letters almost daily from Colonel Fyers on the business of the Institution. Levy wrote frequently and fully to her. She had given him great assistance in writing a book on Blindness and the Blind , and her own notes were made over to him. A letter which sh
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
"They also serve who only stand and wait."— Milton. During the last few years of life Bessie Gilbert never left her invalid couch and bed. In addition to blindness she was liable to distressing attacks of deafness, to sleeplessness, agonising pain, and weary exhaustion. Her throat was often affected, swallowing was difficult. She had lost power in the upper limbs, could only use her hands for a few seconds to read the raised type for the blind, or to do a few stitches of chain work for those she
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
"The noble mansion is most distinguished by the beautiful images 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 aims and work of her life. Long lonely hours of thought had shown her the need that the blind have of help and sympathy, the impossibility of independence and self-supporting work for them unless through the active charity of individuals and the co-operation of the State. And it w
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
"In Thy light we shall see light." The summer of 1884 in London was hot and exhausting. In Bessie's helpless condition excessive heat caused her real suffering; for she was fixed immovable upon her couch. But if she longed for cool breezes, the scent of flowers and song of birds, she uttered no murmur in their absence. The slight improvement recognised with so much gratitude in the spring was not permanent, but the "change" she anticipated was at hand. "I feel as if there would be a change," she
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