Chapter VIII: Early Educational Ideals

“The vocation of a teacher is an awful one. You cannot do her
real good; she will do others unspeakable harm if she is not
aware of its awfulness. Merely to supply her with necessaries,
merely to assist her in procuring them for herself—though that
is far better, because in so doing you awaken energy of
character, reflection, providence—is not fitting her for her
work; you may confirm her in the notion that the training an
immortal spirit may be just as lawfully undertaken in a case of
emergency as that of selling ribbons? How can you give a woman
self-respect, how can you win for her the respect of others, in
whom such a notion, or any modification of it dwells? Your
business is, by all means, to dispossess her of it; to make her
feel the greatness of her work, and yet show her that it can be
honestly performed.”—F. D. MAURICE, Lecture on opening Queen’s
College.

It is always of interest to compare dreams with deeds, the ideal with the actual. And this we are enabled to do with regard to Miss Buss’ educational ideals, since we have first her own words at different stages in her work, before any change was made, as well as during the time of transition; and afterwards, from a keen observer, we have a summary of results, and see how the dream had become fact, how the aim was attained.

There is very little of Miss Buss’ writing to be found in print. But we have one letter written, in 1868, to a lady in Otago, and published in a colonial paper, which gives us her ideas and her aims for future work just before the great change.

“North London Collegiate School for Ladies,
“12, Camden Street,
“Nov. 13, 1868.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I have read with much pleasure your interesting account
of the progress of education in your colony. You will soon leave
the old country behind if you go so rapidly. There is much to be
done before it can be said that England has a great national
system of education....

“Lord Lyttelton has taken a deep interest in education, and has
especially devoted himself to the consideration of the question
in relation to girls. If you have not seen it, I recommend to
your notice the Report of the Schools Inquiry Commission
presented to the Imperial Parliament at the beginning of this
year. It forms the first of a series of twenty-one Blue books,
all of which are interesting for all who care for middle-class
education. The chapter on the education of girls was, I believe,
written by Lord Lyttelton.

“The school of which I am head-mistress was opened eighteen
years ago, under the immediate patronage of the local clergy.
The girls’ school followed almost immediately the opening of a
boys’ school, which has numbered about four hundred for some
years past. Both schools have from the first been entirely
self-supporting. The girls have, however, outgrown their
accommodation in two good-sized houses, but will, I trust, in
time be located in a suitable building. The schools have always
been conducted on what is here called the ‘conscience clause’;
that is, the parents have the right of omitting the Church of
England Catechism or any part of the religious teaching they
object to. Even Jewesses[9] have received their whole education
in the school.

“The routine of English has been considerably improved by the
extension to girls’ schools of the Cambridge Local Examinations.
It is impossible, I think, to overrate the good already done in
girls’ schools by these examinations. A definite standard is
given, there is no undue publicity, but schools are able to
measure their teaching by the opinions of unknown and,
therefore, impartial examiners.

“I cannot, of course, judge of the wants of a new colony, but my
experience goes to show that it is better to include in the
routine of study all the necessary branches, and I think a
second language is one. It is almost impossible to teach English
well unless another language is studied with it, and that other
language should be Latin, or French, or German. Of course I do
not say that this should be taught in the elementary stages, but
I should not allow parents to have the power of stopping the
teaching on the ground of extra expense.

“We teach French, really, I think, allowing no option. Latin
also in the higher classes, with little or no option, except in
the case of delicate girls.

“After my many years of work, if I were now to found a school
for what might be called the middle section (and, indeed, the
upper section also) of the middle-class, I should include all
that I have mentioned, viz. English thoroughly, with Elementary
Science in courses such as I have alluded to, French, Latin,
bold outline drawing, careful part singing, _plain_ needlework,
and thorough arithmetic, with geometry and algebra in the higher
classes. I would rigidly and entirely omit all arrangements for
teaching instrumental music, which I believe to be the bane of
girls’ schools, in the time wasted and the expense entailed. I
have omitted, I see, harmony, by which I mean the laws of
musical construction, an interesting, and, in an educational
point of view, a most useful subject for mental training.
Instrumental music—the piano chiefly—might fairly be left to a
private teacher, as might dancing also. In Germany, I think,
instrumental music is never taught in the _Tochter Schule_, but
is always left to private teaching.

“No school ought to omit _physical training_—that is,
Calisthenics, or something equivalent. This we have of late
enforced among the elder girls. Our system, an American idea,
called Musical Gymnastics, is excellent. Easy, graceful, and not
too fatiguing, gently calling every part of the body into play
by bright spirited music, which cultivates rhythm of movement,
it has become popular, and has wonderfully improved the figure
and carriage of the girls. Our exercises last from twenty
minutes to half an hour almost daily—as much as we can manage,
always four days out of five.”

Footnote 9:

A letter from an old Jewish pupil, in the _Jewish Chronicle_, is full
of deepest regret for her loss, giving many instances of special
kindnesses received by the writer. “She was so strictly just that she
gave every consideration to the first Jewish pupil who wished to
participate in the honours not then open to Jews, acknowledging to
that same pupil in after years that she gave the consideration in
justice only, for, if anything, she was slightly prejudiced against a
race she had only read about and not known.”

Miss Buss then goes on to explain fully her ideal of what the education of girls should be, giving her preference for “large day schools, with all the life and discipline that numbers only can give; not to speak of the greater efficiency and cheapness of the teaching.” She thinks that “our young women are narrowed sadly by want of the sympathy, large experience, and right self-estimation which only mixing with numbers gives.” She sees that the head of the school should be a woman, “left free to work the school, on certain conditions, without a committee of management.” The buildings, of course, “should be vested in a body of trustees, of which some should be women.”

It has sometimes been urged as a reproach that Miss Buss employed women-teachers in preference to men. That she employed women wherever it was possible is certain, because she considered teaching a legitimate occupation for women, and set herself to fit them for the work. That women _could_ teach, she knew from her own experience. That they should teach better in the future than they had ever done in the past was one of her steady aims, and one that she attained.

Here is a strong expression of her feeling when she first read the report of the Edinburgh Merchants’ Company’s Schools, in 1872—

“The report is interesting, but I absolutely burn with
indignation (does not my atrocious handwriting bear witness to
it?) at the bare notion of _men_ teachers in the upper girls’
schools. It is shameful, costly (because some poor drudge of a
woman must accept starvation pay, in order to maintain decorum
by being present at every master’s lesson), and it is degrading
to women’s education. How can girls value it, when they see that
no amount of it will make a woman fit to teach them, except as
infants.

“Don’t be frightened, I feel well and even amiable, though I am
in a great hurry, and my hand aches.”

Her own deliberate opinion on this matter is expressed in the letter to her colonial correspondent—

“Although I advocate certain teaching being given by men to the
elder girls, it does not seem desirable that the head of a
girls’ school should be a man. There are many things in the
training of a young woman which cannot be enforced by a man, or
even by a woman whose position does not carry the weight of
authority. Women, also, teach young and ignorant children better
than men, their patience and sympathy being greater. On the
other hand, it is highly desirable, when girls are beyond the
drudgery of school-work, that their minds should be touched by
men. A certain fibre seems to be given by this means. At present
women’s ignorance prevents them from giving the highest kind of
teaching, but a brighter day is dawning for them I trust.”

All through her career, Miss Buss arranged for good lectures from men, as well as from women, and the regular religious instruction was always given by a clergyman. In early days there were courses of lectures by Dr. Hodgson and Mr. Payne. There were lectures on literature from French and German professors, in their own tongues. At one time the girls would be entranced by glimpses of the starry heavens from Mr. Proctor; at another, they were ready, _en masse_, to follow Captain Wiggins through the perils of the Arctic seas, to Siberia. In brief, these extra lectures included every possible subject that could tend to culture, in history, travels, art, or social matters.

How Miss Bass advanced in educational theory is shown in extracts from her letters in 1872, just after the private school had been made public, and while the work of organization was still going on—

“When we are once fairly started, matters will go on more
easily. The anxiety over money will go, for instance. After next
year, the public meeting will go, I hope. Then I may devote
myself to the inside of the school.

“I want to train up girl-students in _science_; I want to teach
music grandly—thoroughly in classes—making each girl understand
what she plays, as well as if she were reading some passage of
poetry, teaching her to find out the musician’s thought; _his_
mode of expressing it; other ways of expression of the same
thought, viz. _words_. The grammar of music should be known to
every musician.

“Of course, only some girls would _fully_ benefit by this
teaching, but all who were taught would get some good. In this
last point Miss Maclean, now Mrs. G. Fraser, will help. Indeed,
she will carry out my idea thoroughly.[10] We must have a room
with four pianos to begin with, and increase to six, or eight,
if necessary.

“In science Mr. Aveling will help, and Miss Eliza Orme; but as
soon as we can get some of our girls quite ready our assistant
science teachers must come from them.

“Ah, ah, how I wish we could get a fine building for the Camden
School; we do want a lecture hall and gymnasium so much.

“If ever we have a little money, I should like the old furniture
in Camden Street to be turned to account in a still lower
school—at a shilling a week. We might work out this plan and
have two schools—not reckoning an evening one—in a room thus
used.

“Then I want to (perhaps) turn No. 202, Camden Road, into a Day
Training College for Teachers. When we have left the house, we
might give up the large room behind, and so diminish the rent.

“Of this Training or Normal College Miss Chessar could be
superintendent, without giving up her whole time. The house
would enable us to train at least a hundred students at a time,
and they must pay for their training; as much, certainly, as the
school fees would amount to.

“Our Training College should not receive _ignorant_ girls. None
should join who could not pass our examination at entrance.

“Our students should learn the history of great teachers, their
methods, etc., should learn how to teach and what to teach; how
to develop the mental, moral, and physical capacities of their
pupils (by moral I mean also spiritual). We would affiliate to
our College the National Schools, the School Boards of the
neighbourhood, and _our own_ girls’ schools, so that every
student in training should have the opportunity of seeing actual
schools in work.

“I have not mentioned this last to any one but Mr. Payne, for
several reasons, one being that I am ambitious for the cause of
education and especially for the _mixture_ of sexes; if the
College of Preceptors would take up the idea, it might be better
left to them. Our board might then rent to them our present
house. If the Preceptors _won’t_ do it, then I would urge our
board to try the question.

“Our chairman thinks this professional aspect of teaching
ridiculous. I remained silent while he was speaking, as I am
gradually growing into the idea that _teaching_ is one of the
noblest professions, not second even to medicine—one does with
the _body_, the other with the immortal _soul_!

“But one point will be to carry first the _half-time_ lower
school; no doubt the Brewers will warm to this, if I can
persuade them. This school might positively be built on _their_
estate, near Camden Street. The Danish model, I mean!”

Footnote 10:

Mrs. Fraser died within a year or so of her marriage in 1873, and Miss
Buss writes: “One sad cloud has overshadowed us—the death of my dear
old pupil and recent fellow-worker, Emma Maclean (Mrs. Fraser).... As
I write, my eyes fill with tears at the thought of that fair young
life thus early cut down.... You know how she stood at my side in all
the recent musical changes, but you cannot know what a wonderful
teacher she was. She inspired her pupils, and her power was so great
that no difficulty in managing them ever occurred. I have now to find
a successor to her; replace her I cannot.” A Musical Scholarship was
founded in memory of Mrs. Fraser.

The following letter, written by Miss Buss, appeared in the autumn of 1872:—

“SCHOOL-HOURS.

“_To the Editor of the ‘Times.’_

“SIR,—Having had the opportunity recently of becoming acquainted
with the system pursued in the Primary Schools of Sweden and
Denmark, it has occurred to me that we may learn something from
our Scandinavian neighbours with regard to the very important
question: hours of attendance.

“One great difficulty we have to face is so to arrange the hours
of school that the children shall be able to attend school and
yet find time for work.

“Throughout Denmark education is compulsory, the parents being
liable to fine and imprisonment for neglecting to send their
children to school; but the difficulty of combining school
attendance with freedom for work is met by the simple plan of
holding school twice a day for different sets of children. Five
hours being the required school attendance, one set of children
attend from 8 o’clock to 1, with an interval for recreation at
11, and another set from 1 to 6 o’clock, also with a short
interval.

“The parents are free to choose between the morning and
afternoon school, according to the work the children have to do.
In the first case, the children can work after 1 o’clock; in the
second, until that hour.

“This plan has also another advantage—it enables 2000 children
to be taught in a school-house built and fitted for 1000, and
this without in the least interfering with evening teaching.
This is an important economical question.

“One superintendent is sufficient for both schools, as he is not
expected to teach more than 18 hours a week. He has a staff of
assistants, some of whom are visiting teachers only, for special
subjects, such as gymnastics, singing, etc. Elementary teachers
are compelled to teach 36 hours a week, and may, if they wish,
earn extra payment by extra teaching to the extent of 42 hours.
The time-tables of the schools are so arranged that three sets
of teachers can thoroughly manage four schools.

“Would not the adoption of some such plan, modified to suit
local cases, clear away some of our difficulties? A _maximum_
attendance of four hours daily, from 8.30 to 12.30, and from 1
to 5 o’clock, would, perhaps, be better suited to London, with
one day’s holiday in a fortnight.

“The system appears to work well in Denmark, and to produce the
desired results. The children attend school 30 hours a week. A
diminution of the school-hours would still secure 24 hours a
week for each school; but questions of detail must, of course,
depend on local conditions. I merely wish to call attention to
the possible solution of one, at least, of our difficulties.

“A PRACTICAL TEACHER.”

This last dream never came true. But the advance in the elementary schools met all need of this kind. The higher Board Schools form now the connecting-link with the Camden School.

It may be of interest here to show how Miss Buss carried out her thought about the Camden School, now housed as nobly as she could have desired. From Miss Elford, the first head-mistress of the Camden School, as well as from her successor, there are touching notices of their relations with the founder of their school—

“Miss Buss had long felt the need of such a school, and for her
to feel the need was for her to leave nothing undone until the
need was supplied. It was as far back as the summer of 1868,
when Miss Buss intimated to me—an old pupil—that in all
probability a school would be founded in connection with her
school, the fees of which would be four guineas a year. And
would I like to be its head-mistress! The lowness of the fees
rather alarmed me; but without hesitation, in full confidence of
the success that must attend any scheme she took up, I said yes!

“Foresight and forethought were two of Miss Buss’ many and great
qualifications. I have frequently heard old girls say, ‘If Miss
Buss told me to do a thing of which I could not quite see the
advisability, I should do it, knowing that she could see the
necessity for it, and the good that would result from it, for
she never makes a mistake.’

“The Camden School for Girls, however, was not started until
January, 1871, in the old school-houses, Nos. 12 and 14, Camden
Street, which had been until that time occupied by the North
London Collegiate School. It began with the head-mistress and
Miss Buss as superintendent, and was opened with 45 pupils on
the first day, January 16, 1871; 78 entered during the first
term, and the first year closed with 192 pupils.

“Miss Buss, deeply interested in its success, watched carefully
its progress, and entered fully into the whole working of the
school. In the early days, the curriculum of work was entirely
under her supervision. She had the power of making others
capable of carrying out her suggestions, and of making them
realize their own ability. The teaching was precisely on the
same lines as those for girls of the same age in the North
London Collegiate. The visits of Miss Buss to the school were
frequent, sometimes she came alone, sometimes with visitors; but
Thursday afternoons, for several years, were specially set apart
for work with us. She would visit every class, and, for the
first year or two, knew most of the girls, encouraging some,
stimulating others. All were so glad of her kind word. Her dress
was pulled timidly by a little child to obtain the desired
smile.

“Thursday thus became the red-letter day of the week. No
question ever arose but she might be depended on for the wisest
solution of the difficulty.

“The need for the school soon spoke for itself, for at the end
of the second year, 1872, there were 331 pupils. And in January,
1873, as many as fifty were unable to be admitted. Girls from
all parts of London, north, south, east, and west, were
anxiously waiting to come in; for at this time there existed no
Polytechnic day schools, nor middle schools for girls. The
enthusiasm to enter was so great that one case may be mentioned
of a little girl and her mother, who hearing that there were so
many new ones applying, got up at six o’clock in the morning to
catch the first train from Acton ‘to be in time.’ Alas! there
was no vacancy.

“In 1871, seven pupils passed the College of Preceptors’
Examination in the lowest class. In 1872, seven passed the
Junior Cambridge Local, and 17 the College of Preceptors’. This
would be but little now, but Miss Buss said, let them feel they
can do something, or, as she so often said, ‘Aim high, and you
will strike high.’

“The numbers increased so rapidly, now being 390, that a third
house, No. 18, Camden Street, was taken and adapted, and no
other change was made until May, 1878, when the school moved to
the new buildings in the Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, of
which the foundation-stone was laid by Miss Buss. The numbers
had reached 420, with generally 90 or 100 waiting admission.”

The present head-mistress of the Camden School, Miss Lawford, is also good enough to give some details of more recent date—

“My recollections of Miss Buss begin with my school-days, and
with the very earliest of them. It was to the North London
Collegiate School for ‘Ladies,’ as it was then called, that I
was sent, after a very short experience of school-life
elsewhere.

“But when the time came to take up work as head of the Camden
School, how greatly was my responsibility lightened by the sound
advice and help which she gave me. I remember one case of more
than usual difficulty which caused me considerable anxiety, and
in which a false step might have given me and the school an
unpleasant notoriety. I took the matter to her, she seized the
point at once, was quite clear as to the action to be taken, and
the whole affair ended happily. The clearness of her intellect
and the facility with which she grasped a situation were salient
traits in her character.

“The tie which connects her with the Camden School as its
founder is one which we are proud to remember. She took the
keenest interest in all its work, and in all her visits (she)
always had a word for any girls who had distinguished
themselves, or who were connected in any way with old friends
and pupils of her own. We always looked for her on red-letter
days such as Prize Day and Founder’s Day. On one of these latter
she gave us a lecture on Lady Jane Grey which we specially
valued. On these occasions so many friends wanted her at the
North London Collegiate School that it was not often she could
spare more time than to go round the gymnasium and the
schoolrooms, and to speak a few gratifying words to the girls.
She often invited the upper part of the school to lectures at
the North London Collegiate School; one much enjoyed by them, ‘A
Trip to Sunshine in December,’ gave an account of a Christmas
holiday spent in the Riviera. She remembered us in other
substantial ways. The splendid photograph of the Colosseum which
decorates one of our rooms was brought by her from Italy. The
lending library was partly started by a sum given by her for the
purpose. The building of the gymnasium and the introduction of
trained teachers for physical exercise was her initiative.

“What one feels more especially about Miss Buss is her utter
sincerity. Whether she was helping you in a difficulty or
promoting some great educational movement you felt she did it
without thought of self. There was no touch of the little mind
about her, no thought of adding to her own prestige. She spent
her life in the cause of education with loyalty and
single-hearted devotion. It was the happy lot of some of us to
be associated with her in her work. We have indeed lost a friend
whose greatness of mind and purpose ever stimulated us. We can
only be thankful for the privilege which has been ours, and seek
to carry out the high aims which she set before us.”

We know now—a quarter of a century after—what has been achieved by this great worker whose life remains as an inspiration for the times to come. What she aspired to may be best given in her own self-estimate in those early days.

I had sent her an account of a great spiritual work done by Mary Lyon, a distinguished American teacher, and received in acknowledgment the following note:—

“July, 1871.

“DEAR MISS RIDLEY,

“I have read Mary Lyon’s ‘Training School.’ In the past I
have often had visions of such, or similar work, but as life has
grown out upon me I have seen these higher hopes and aspirations
fade a good deal. Still, I recognize many blessings and some
usefulness in my life. It has not been a wasted or misused one.
One must do what one can, and leave the issue to Him who guides
all things right.

“Yours affectionately,

“FRANCES M. BUSS.”

From this modest self-appraisement I turn now to the thick volumes—six of them, almost all in her own handwriting—notes of the addresses she gave in school and at Myra, embracing every topic—moral and religious—that touches a girl’s life.[11] How they affected the girls who heard them letter after letter tells; and we, not so favoured, may imagine what they must have been, given in that clear impressive voice, as the results of most careful thought, and brightened by anecdote and illustration, gathered in these note-books, from everyday life and from past history. What is most striking in these notes is not merely an observation which let nothing slip, but the wise selection of a varied culture and extensive reading amounting to high scholarship. And as we remember that this work was all done amid the pressure of daily teaching, through all the long struggle of the establishment of the new schools, and then amidst the whirl of public life, we scarcely can tell where lies the greatest wonder—in the work itself, or in the humility which could include it all in those simple words: “but one must do what one can!”

Footnote 11:

A selection from these “Notes” is being prepared for the use of
teachers by Miss Toplis, and will shortly be published by Messrs.
Macmillan and Co.

It is easy, after going through these notes, to be sure of the secret of her great influence. It is teaching that goes straight to the point because it comes straight from the heart of the teacher, whose happy pupils had good reason to say, “What before may have been only words to us then became facts. She was not so much a teacher as an inspiration!”

How these earlier ideals stood the test of time we may read in a record given a quarter of a century later by the colleague who best knew her work of “Education as known in the North London Collegiate School for Girls.”

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NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.
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