Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind Part 15

L. told me things were rather uncomfortable between two of the women. I saw them each separately, and think and hope they will go on better, but the whole affair made L. think how necessary what I have often spoken to him about would be in future; namely, the possibility of arranging for board and lodging for learners not having means of subsistence....

Talked to L. about visiting the workmen at their own homes. He told me he thought I should have special advantages for so doing, and specially in speaking to them on spiritual matters.... Spoke about baskets not being made to measure. When good workmen do not make baskets according to order, something is to be taken off the price.... Went to Repository to try and find out what Susan M. had better do towards earning her living; am not sure about it, but so far as I can tell, don't think she would have musical talent enough to make her living by that; however, she has hardly learnt two years, so I think one can hardly judge.... Spoke to Mrs. L. about ventilator for Committee room, and about using disinfecting fluid in the workrooms on Sunday.... Mrs. H. gave me a towel made in a loom without steam, as a specimen of the linen proposed to be woven by a.s.sociation workpeople. She also talked about a home for the blind without friends, where they should pay and, as I suggested, be entirely free to leave at any time. She thought perhaps the weaving might be carried on in some such place at a little distance from London.... Dictated note to Mrs. L. to ask about the state of health in the homes of the workmen, and to get their exact addresses. Spoke to mamma about visiting them.

We may be sure that there would be some anxiety on the part of her parents as to these visits to the homes of the workmen, but her wishes prevailed, and an entry dated 19th June 1858 states:

Greatest part of the day occupied in visiting the workmen at their own homes. Was very glad to do it, but sorry not to visit more of them. Only went to four--Hounslow, Hemmings, Barrett, and Symonds.

Found the latter not so well off as I expected. He has not had much work besides a.s.sociation work. Altogether what I saw confirmed me very much in the belief that such an a.s.sociation as ours is very greatly needed.... Spoke to L. [Levy] purposely a little of what I had to give up for the work, only with a view of showing him that one often thought one would rather be doing other things, and of making him see that he was to some extent right in saying that I had made sacrifices. This was not at all with the view of making him suppose that I thought much of them, but in order to show him how true it is that one feels the work to be a sacred duty, for which, as for all other duties, sacrifices must be made. He is thoroughly imbued with this feeling, but I wish to keep it constantly both before him and myself, as I believe it is only thus that we can either of us work as G.o.d would have us work, and we both believe that He has made us His instruments for a special work for the blind....

Wrote to the Dean of Westminster (the very Rev. R. C. Trench, who was about to preach for the a.s.sociation in Mr. Llewelyn Davies'

church) to describe the different papers I sent, and telling him I thought that in what had been done for the blind, those who saw had perhaps committed the mistake of making the blind feel how much they needed their aid, rather than how far they might become independent of it.... Gave 5 of my own on Capelin's account, but find Capelin has been earning more than I expected towards his maintenance, so that what I owed was not very much.... Talked with L. about Newman, and heard a very sad letter from him, written from the Union where he now is. Settled that the resolution as to his being employed should be acted upon, but I am sorry he is a bad workman, as this will make the thing very difficult.... Told L. we ought to bring the a.s.sociation into such a position that it should be able to bear the loss from bad work while a man is improving.

Found, as I expected, that expense of management is about 300 a year, and think subscriptions now cover this entirely or very nearly.... Whilst I was at the Repository Herr Hirzel, master of the inst.i.tution at Lausanne, came; I was anxious to get all possible information as to relief printing. He, Levy, and I, went through the merits of many of the different systems, which took a long time.

Relief printing for the blind is a subject beset with difficulty. In every country where books are embossed for the blind there are two or three different alphabets. There are systems in which dots and lines and abbreviations take the place of letters; and there are systems where the alphabet is enlarged and modified to suit the requirements of a person who is going to read with fingers instead of eyes. The number of books printed in relief is very small; and the result of using several systems is that a blind reader finds that four out of five of the very small number embossed are unintelligible. He can read Moon or Lucas or Braille, but Frere and Howe and Alston and a host of others he cannot decipher. Bessie spent much time upon the subject of relief printing, and could read nearly everything printed for the blind. She thought that Braille's was in itself the best system, but that Moon's was the only one really useful to adults, more especially to those whose hands have been hardened by labour. All except Moon's system must be acquired by the young and sensitive fingers of a child. Bessie would have liked to see the systems narrowed down to two, if not to one; but she found, as many others have done, that it was impossible to obtain unanimity on this point, as too many interests are involved in it. She made no progress in the matter, and put it on one side.

On the 7th of July the diary tells us she was at the Repository giving advice to "Martha."

Talked much to Martha about her proposed marriage. Told her to ask if her intended husband would wish to go to Mr. Dixon on account of his near sight, saying that if this stood in the way of his getting something to do, and Mr. Dixon thought spectacles would help, he should have them.... L. sent me papa's motto, "The fear of G.o.d and no other." I had asked him to have it printed for the boarding-house.

In August of this year Bessie paid a visit to Miss Bathurst, who with her mother, Lady Caroline Bathurst, was then living at Stanmore. She met there Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave and Miss Butler. A friendship formed at that time with Miss Butler continued to the end of her life. She records the meeting in her diary, adding, "talked about the a.s.sociation."

Perhaps we should have been more surprised if she could have recorded that she talked about anything else.

On the 10th of August she left London for Chichester. The morning was spent in making arrangements for the a.s.sociation.

L. came. I told him to tell Hounslow that he was only to repay 3 out of the 6:10s. for the quarter's rent. Arranged to have a large applicant's book with full details. Found that all concerned were very much pleased with the boarding-house. Gave L. something for relief in special cases. Told him to see about getting several of Braille's small writing frames made, if he found the one I had sent to be successful. Impressed upon L. to take on more workpeople the very moment the sales would allow it. Talked to him of my plan for raising money to buy a West-end house, made him feel he must devote himself more than ever to the work, not that he is unwilling.

L. told me that the amount of goods bought in the past year had been too great, but that ba.s.s-broom and cocoa-mat making would do much towards keeping down this item.

The "purchase of goods" here referred to was always a sore point with Bessie. In order to fulfil the order of a customer, articles not made by the blind had often to be procured. The manager was on the horns of a dilemma. Custom was lost when an order was sent home incomplete, whilst, on the other hand, the Lady President wished nothing, or as little as possible, to be sold which was not the work of the blind. This difficulty, however, increased rather than diminished, and if there is any way of avoiding it, that way has not yet been discovered.

During the summer at Chichester, Bessie seems to have suffered much from exhaustion and fatigue, entries of "unavoidably nothing done" are frequent, as well as reports of "toothache."

The house in Euston Road was small and inconvenient, additional s.p.a.ce was urgently required, and when it was found that there were empty rooms in an adjacent house they were at once secured.

"Heard from L. that four rooms next door are engaged for 16 a year, and as the room where the materials were kept cost 5:4s., the extra expense will only be 10:16s."

A peaceful summer at Chichester brought time to spare for old pursuits.

She had the garden with its birds and flowers, and her music and poetry as a solace after the grind of a.s.sociation work.

"S. finished writing from my playing," she records, "a song from the _Saint's Tragedy_, which I hope I may get published for the good of the a.s.sociation; it was begun yesterday."

She had written to Mr. Kingsley for permission to set Elizabeth's "Chapel Song" to her own music, and received an a.s.surance that he would be very glad if any words of his could be useful to her, or any work of hers.

In September she was again in London for a Committee meeting, and there were the usual applications to consider, and the reading and talking with the workpeople. She inspected the new rooms and the boarding-house, and talked over the possibility of Levy's going to France upon business.

After her return to Chichester and for many months we find almost daily entries "Embossed much French and dictated a great deal for L."

During this summer she was oppressed by the consciousness that the mental training of the blind had not taken its due place in her scheme.

She wanted to find something that would afford instruction and at the same time recreation for the poor, something to awaken and enlarge their interest in the external world. She found that the perceptive faculties which take the place of sight suffer from a want of due cultivation, and she wished to remedy this by enabling the blind to obtain information about natural objects. Something, she thought, might be done by a development of the sense of touch, and by arranging a Natural History Museum in such a manner that every specimen could be handled. In connection with the Museum, she proposed to form a department for the exhibition of inventions in aid of the blind. These were to be arranged without reference to the "sighted," and in such a manner that the blind could easily examine and compare them. An exhibition of this kind was opened in Paris in October 1886, but the idea originated in the fertile brain of Bessie Gilbert.

Meanwhile the Museum for her poor was the first thing to be started, and she prepared for it by visiting the Chichester Museum. In September we read:

"Went to Museum to ask the cost of stuffing birds and about collections of eggs, and the order of arranging birds. Settled with E. that she should ask Mr. ---- to shoot some birds, and with Mr. H. that he should tell Smith the bird stuffer to come to me next Wednesday." Mr. ---- seems to have had only moderate success with his gun, as a later entry records, "Received two birds from Mr. ----." There are frequent accounts of "looking over eggs," "arranging gla.s.s case for the stuffed birds, and talking about the Museum to all who could give advice or make useful suggestions."

Early in this year a large oil painting of blind men and women at work round a table in the Euston Road was painted by Mr. Hubbard. An engraving taken from the picture, with an account of the inst.i.tution, was inserted in the _Ill.u.s.trated News_ of 24th April 1858, and in May the picture was purchased "by subscription" for the sum of ten guineas, and fixed outside the shop, where for many years it attracted the notice of pa.s.sers-by. It was engraved for the use of the Inst.i.tution, and may still be seen on the Annual Report, Price Lists, etc., whilst the original painting hangs in the Berners Street Committee Room.

The account given by the _Ill.u.s.trated News_ called attention to Bessie's work. It was followed by letters in _The Times_, _Daily News_, and other journals, and by an article in _Household Words_, believed to be by Charles d.i.c.kens, ent.i.tled "At Work in the Dark." Many subscriptions, donations, and promises of help were received in consequence of these notices in the Press.

Mr. Walker, who invented a life-belt, offered the benefit of its manufacture to the a.s.sociation, and a new trade, corkcutting, was set on foot.

In the course of the year the "a.s.sociation of Blind Musicians" applied, through Mr. Swanson, blind organist of Blackheath Park Church, to be admitted to union with Bessie's influential society. She was warmly interested in the appeal, and willing to grant such help, pecuniary and other, as the greater a.s.sociation could render to the less. The aim of Mr. Levy, Mr. James Lea Summers, Mr. Swanson, and other blind musicians was to give a thorough musical training to, and to obtain employment as organists and teachers for, blind men with a talent for music.

The pet.i.tion was courteously received, and after much discussion by the Committee and consideration by Bessie, the prayer for union, but without pecuniary aid, was granted. The Musical a.s.sociation, however, had neither sufficient funds nor enough influence for the undertaking. But the promotors acted as pioneers, and a few years later Bessie saw that the efforts of Dr. Campbell and the establishment of the Normal College for the Blind at Norwood, would satisfactorily accomplish all that the Blind Musicians had attempted.

The trades. .h.i.therto taught to women had been leather and bead work, and the making of nosebags for horses. These were found to be unremunerative, and it was necessary to subst.i.tute others for them.

There was at that time a great demand for fine baskets imported from France, and it occurred to Bessie that if they could procure the blocks upon which these baskets were made and the tools used, she might learn the art of basket-making and teach the workwomen.

But there was a difficulty in the way. The manufacture of these baskets was a monopoly, and the firm to which they were consigned would give no information as to the locality whence they came. Some one must go to France and find out. Who could go except Levy!

It was to prepare him for this journey that for more than a year Bessie had been at every spare moment "embossing French words for L.," as the diary informs us, or dictating a vocabulary. In the autumn of 1858 he and his wife set out on their journey of discovery. Bessie had applied for a grant in aid of Levy's expenses, but the Committee did not accede to her request, so that funds were provided from her private purse.

The blind man and his wife took the wrong train at Calais, and for some time did not discover their mistake. However, they retraced their steps, and after many adventures learnt that the baskets arrived in large crates at Calais from the north of France, and were shipped for England.

No one knew exactly whence they came. Levy commenced a search which threatened to be fruitless, when one day at St. Quentin he met a _comis-voyageur_, who told him that the village in which these baskets were made was Oigny, about eight miles distant.

On the following day Levy and his wife stood at the door of the very man who supplied baskets to the Inst.i.tution, and found that their appearance caused surprise and alarm. But when Levy explained the object of his visit he met with a cordial reception. The manufacturer showed and allowed him to purchase blocks and tools; taught him the ingenious contrivance by which the blocks could be taken to pieces and removed when the baskets were completed, and gave him all the information in his power as to the method and cost of production. He also took him to the village where the workpeople lived; but it is a cider-growing country, and many were away at the apple harvest. Levy and his wife were kindly received in the cottages, and he wrote to Miss Gilbert that a canary was singing in every house, and that many of the villagers grew their own osiers.

The result of this journey was very encouraging, although Bessie did not learn the trade or become a teacher of basket making. She had other work to do. Levy himself taught the blind women, and says that he found them apt pupils. When Bessie visited London in November she reports that she "felt A. at the basket work, and was shown the use of all the tools and the blocks. The English ones are made much better than the French, but after French patterns. Found from all I saw and heard that a great advance has been made, but there are seventy-six more applicants for work. Saw and talked to H. to encourage him."

Before long the women are reported to be making fine baskets which please customers, and are bought in preference to the French. They had plenty of employment in executing orders, until, unfortunately for them, fine baskets went out of fashion, and bags came in.

For some time after his visit to France, Levy wrote and printed his name Levy.

The autumn brought a new scheme. Collecting boxes were to be fixed in different parts of London, and application was made to hotels and other places of resort to receive the boxes, together with specimen cases of the work of the blind. Bessie had, as usual, a busy time with her letters, but she did not forget the Museum.

When she went to town in November she talked to the workpeople about it, and they liked the idea. She had taken "two or three things from the garden" to show them; and in December, when she went to town for the "women's tea-party," she "took the crocodile," and "the women were delighted with it."

She wrote a letter at this time for publication, pleading for the education of blind children in the ordinary schools for the poor. She was also in correspondence with Mrs. Hooper, who was preparing a magazine article on the work of the blind. She records that she urged Mrs. Hooper to attach "more importance to donations and subscriptions, to speak of the Museum, and to tell the educated blind that they ought to a.s.sist the blind poor to help themselves." Through a friend she also applied for the custom of Cheltenham College for Ladies.

Bessie had decided to give 2000 to the a.s.sociation as an endowment fund. The conditions of her gift were brought before the Committee, discussed, and accepted. The money was invested in the names of three trustees, and the a.s.sociation seemed now to stand upon a sure footing.

These conditions will be read with interest.

CONDITIONS.