Cheltenham

“ And the gipsies caught 'em these blackbirds cheap,
So Cheltenham bought them, spry and small,
And shoved them up in the dark to sweep.
[62] For Cheltenham town was cruel of old,
But she has been gathering garlands gay,
And the little wee lads are in green and gold,
For it's chimney-sweepers' dancing day.
And red as a rose, and blue as the sky,
With teeth as white as their faces are black,
The master-sweeps go dancing by,
With a gridiron painted on every back. ”

“ Thus each who tried to follow her teaching left the College not merely as a devoted pupil of Miss Beale, possibly even indifferent to her, but with a clearer consciousness of the ‘Light that lighteth every man,’ and the paramount necessity of walking in it.
Was the strenuous life all they learned at Cheltenham? It was doubtless not easy to tell the whole. The strength and greatness of their Head lay not alone in devising and carrying out important and detailed work. ”

“ When we arrived at Cheltenham, which is almost all one street, extremely long, clean and well paved, we had to turn out of the public way about a quarter of a mile, to proceed to Fauconberg Hall, which my Lord Fauconberg has lent for the king’s use during his stay at this place. ”

“ The story of the great queen whose life was given up to her country, ordered wholly for their good, with no private interests; whose marriage was an act of sacrifice; who ruled her people with large-minded beneficence, and under whom they prospered; who finally, as age came upon her, resigned for their sake, seemed strangely appropriate for the close of Miss Beale’s long work for Cheltenham. The very remoteness of the story, its gravity, the absence from it of such didacticism as abounded in Miss Beale’s interpretation of Britomart and Griselda, made it all the more forcible. ”

“ The advice of the man of the world prevailed over that of the man of God; and Rainscourt, after waiting in town, with impatience, for the answer, received a decided but kind refusal. He tore the letter into fragments, with indignation, and set off for Cheltenham, more violently in love with his wife than he was before her rejection of him. ”

“ No parent was ever more closely encompassed by the love of children. There were those at Cheltenham who thought for her, waited on her, read to her—no light task—those who, should she desire it, were ever at her beck and call. Some of these were on the College Council. One, in particular, Miss Flora Ker, who lived at Cheltenham, was always at hand, making the interests of the College and little attentions to Miss Beale the first duty of her day. Another, who had become head of a boarding-house, thought of her daily needs to the smallest details. ”

“ Bute was called away from Oxford, soon after his return for the October term, to attend the funeral at Cheltenham of his last surviving aunt, Lady Selina Henry. His mother had had three sisters, but he had never been intimate with any of them, although he appreciated their personal piety more, perhaps, than they did his. "When I return," he wrote from Cheltenham to his Oxford {54} friend, "I shall be able, perhaps, to add to your knowledge of the ultra-Protestant school, as I have already added to my own. It is wonderful how holy some people are in spite of everything." ”

“ Her friend, Elizabeth Ann Alston, wrote:—
“Of her power of teaching others and making them delight in their studies, there is no doubt. But you do not know her, as I do, in her home and daily life: there all look up to her and seek her counsel.”
Many testimonials were given as to her character and work, and these made such a favourable impression on the Cheltenham Committee that she was summoned for an interview on June 14. ”

“ Have whisk'd you o'er to Colonel B's, Or drove you up to Captain P's, Dons unto Cheltenham steady. But I forget the world, good lack, Have play'd enough with such a pack Of great court-cards already. 4 Malcolm Ghur, one of the very prettiest of the many pretty newly-erected mansions that give a character to the environs of Cheltenham. To its proprietor do I owe much for hospitality; a merrier man, withal, dwells not in my remembrance; he is of your first-rate whist players, though he rarely now joins in the game. ”

“ You are just come from Clifton, are you, ma'am?... I understand it is a very beautiful place, but terribly dull, I believe, when compared to this.... If a person knows Cheltenham well, and has a little notion how to take advantage of all that is going on, he may pass months and months here without ever knowing what it is to have an idle hour.... I don't believe there is such another place in the whole world for employing time. ”

“ The Ladies’ College did not originate with Miss Beale. She brought to it, when it was but a weakling and like to perish, all her dreams and all her energies. She made it emphatically her own; but its first inception was with a small number of Cheltenham residents, notably with the Reverend H. Walford Bellairs, then H.M. Inspector of Schools for Gloucestershire, [30] and the Reverend C. A. Bromby, [31] Principal of the Training Colleges. Its foundation was a continuation of work already begun in the town with the opening of Cheltenham College, in 1843. ”

“ My friend looked at me with a very altered and disrespectful air at this interrogation. “Who?” said he, “why, the Countess of Babbleton, and her two daughters, the Honourable Lady Jane Babel, and the Honourable Lady Mary Babel. They are the great people of Cheltenham,” pursued he, “and it’s a fine thing to get into their set.”
Meanwhile Lady Babbleton and her two daughters swept up the room, bowing and nodding to the riven ranks on each side, who made their salutations with the most profound respect. ”

“ The passengers who still remained on shore were numerous. There was an old colonel, returning from a three years’ furlough, the major part of which had been spent at Cheltenham. He was an Adonis of sixty, with yellow cheeks and white teeth; a man who had passed through life doing nothing; had risen in his profession without having seen service, except on one occasion, and of that circumstance he made the most. ”

“ And now know that, since the last sentence was written, I have been to Cheltenham, and called at your Mother’s; and seen her, and Matilda, and Horatio: all well: Alfred is with the Lushingtons and is reported to be all the better for the water-cure. Cheltenham seemed to me a woeful place: I had never seen it before. I now write from Leamington; where I am come to visit my Mother for a few days. . . .
All the world has been, as I suppose you have read, crazy about Jenny Lind: and they are now giving her £400 to sing at a Concert. What a frightful waste of money! ”

“ One, who had had some years’ experience in teaching before she arrived at Cheltenham as a student, spoke with something like rapture of the College organisation as it appeared to her coming fresh from other places of education.
‘If I had a spare hour in the morning, it was useless to try and concentrate my thoughts on any study, I was simply fascinated by the superior attraction of watching Miss Beale’s government of her little kingdom. No monarch ever had more absolute sway over his subjects ”

“ In the next year, of the three who passed from Cheltenham one was the famous Greek scholar, Miss Jane Harrison, another bore the name—so dear to its generation—of Marian Belcher.
There was plenty of criticism. There were many to repeat the old complaint that women were being unfitted for their proper duties. It was Miss Beale’s delight to show that those who did well in examinations could also excel in domestic duties. She would tell how one successful candidate of the London examination proved first a helpful sister, then a devoted wife and mother. ”

“ After this mental revolution he felt unable to return to Cheltenham, but after doing duty for two months at St Ebbe’s, Oxford, he entered in August 1847 on his famous ministry at Trinity Chapel, Brighton. Here he stepped at once into the foremost rank as a preacher, and his church was thronged with thoughtful men of all classes in society and of all shades of religious belief. ”

“ Hester, however, had slept all through it, and had dreamed that ponies were running away with her towards a country entirely peopled by black spaniels and governed by a grey queen in top-boots.
As for Gregory, his dream was that he was Lord Bruce.
CHAPTER 17 THE ADVENTURE OF THE LOST BABY
They entered Cheltenham at about half-past eleven, and were having lunch on the top of Leckhampton Hill, on the other side of it, by half-past one. Robert had not allowed any stop in Cheltenham except for shopping. "We don't want towns," he said, "except historic ones." ”

“ During his incumbency of Cheltenham the population more than doubled. In the town he erected, or caused to be erected, five district churches, with schools, and also contributed largely to the establishment of Cheltenham College. On the recommendation of Lord Palmerston he was nominated dean of Carlisle, 24 Nov. 1856, and in the same year had the degree of D.D. conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He held the perpetual curacy of St. Mary, Carlisle, from 1865 to 1868. He tried by every means in his power to improve the condition of the poor in Carlisle. ”

“ Sir Ludovic Grant, Dean of the Faculty of Law, thus summed up Miss Beale’s claim to a national recognition:—
‘No feature of the national progress during the last fifty years is more remarkable than the revolution which has transformed our girls’ schools from occidental zenanas into centres of healthy activity. In the great crusade which has been crowned with this most desirable consummation, the foremost champion was the cultured and intrepid lady who guides the destinies of the Ladies’ College, Cheltenham. ”

“ In this connection one might mention that she never cared much for scholarships, though as time went on she accepted one or two for the College, and she herself founded one at Casterton School. She preferred to lend money to those who wished for training which they could not afford. During her time at Cheltenham she lent money to many students: it had to be returned when the student began to earn money, and in hardly any cases did the student fail to do so. ”

“ Ordained deacon in 1838 and priest in 1839, he was licensed in 1838 to the curacy of Chesterfield. In 1843 he became vicar of St. Paul's, Cheltenham, and first principal of the Cheltenham training college for school masters and mistresses, which he organised with marked success. ”

“ William Grey made an appeal for help in organising some definite movement among the mothers of England against the sins which create the necessity for rescue, [304] Miss Beale responded warmly, urging her to come forward herself to lead it.
‘Ladies’ College, Cheltenham, August 5, 1885.
‘Dear Mrs. Grey,—Your beautiful letter was sent me by an old pupil, who with her husband, Mr. Mitchell, is one of the most earnest workers in the cause. The labours they have gone through patiently and quietly for years are immense. ”

“ Especially is it an evil when quite raw girls—some ignorant girls such as we have at College—pretend to teach. Children accustomed to proper teaching of course fidget. I should have been a little rebel myself, if I had had to hear the wretched stuff that some children do at Sunday School. But it does, when done properly, draw classes together.’
Institutions and societies designed to help the poor of Cheltenham came of course before Miss Beale’s notice. ”

“ In her reply to the various questions asked, Dorothea Beale gave a good deal of information about her own school and the condition of education it revealed. The Entrance Examination at Cheltenham showed as a rule deplorable results. Frequently girls came from expensive schools incapable of writing, spelling, or composing in their own language, almost ignorant of French [Pg 40] grammar and scarcely able to work correctly the simplest sums in arithmetic.
“I think the remedy for bad work,” said she, “is to bring such work to the light. ”

“ It is sad to see that this new Education Act is shutting out women, and making the hope of the suffrage less. Here the Town Council and the [309] County Council both asked me to nominate a woman—and four of our staff here have been asked to be managers of schools—but of course two or three women will be able to do very little.’
Cheltenham pupils who in course of time took up the cause of the poor and degraded, found the greatest sympathy and help from Miss Beale. She was always specially ready with sympathy for those who were engaged in an unpopular struggle for good. ”

“ But pray remember that to neglect (the care of your health) is the worst economy in the world.”
In 1862 Dorothea Beale had the great sorrow of her father’s death, an event which left a great blank in her life.
Holidays at this time were spent partly at Cheltenham, partly abroad. When on the Continent she visited schools and gained new ideas for her work. For, to her, life and work were one. Nearly everything she did bore directly or indirectly on the one purpose of her life. It is impossible to enter into the spirit of her life unless one realises this singleness of aim. ”

“ I shudder when I tell you he loves a pretty girl; the Opposition to a man are all fond of pretty girls! They go about like lions in pursuit of your wives and daughters. Lord Hood's pious Committee will swear to it,' &c.
July 27, 1788. Effects of the Ninth Day's Express from Covent Garden, just arrived at Cheltenham.—The King had retired to Cheltenham, where, according to the artist, he was taking the waters with his family; a postilion has arrived express from London with the latest intelligence concerning the election for Westminster. ”