A Short History of Newnham College, CambridgeGardner, Alice
History
A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge
Gardner, Alice
Newnham College
One of the last
visitors from abroad whom she received, lying on a sitting-room couch,
was a lady from Australia who could bring tidings of a University
hostel managed by a former student. Miss Clough was not sure that this
student was working on the best lines, and was anxious to hear about
her and to send her a message of kindly warning.
The end came quietly on February 27th, 1892. To very many it seemed
as if the world could never be quite the same without her. Certainly
the College, however wisely and generously conducted, was bound to
follow new courses. Yet in a sense Miss Clough was _felix opportunitate
mortis_. She had lived to see her work set on a stable footing; she
might safely leave it in the hands of those like-minded with herself;
and she was spared the pain of friction and later of bitter opposition
which the College and its promoters had to suffer in seeking a
permanent place within University borders.
Miss Clough's kinsfolk showed great breadth of mind, generosity, and
appreciation of her own desires and feelings, in arranging that the
funeral should be rather of a collegiate than of a family character.
She had expressed a wish that her remains should rest in a churchyard
rather than a cemetery, and as she possessed a little property in the
parish of Grantchester, the burial was in the pleasant ground attached
to the church there. A simple slab was afterwards erected with name,
date, and the words: "After she had served her generation by the will
of God, she fell on sleep." The first part of the service was, by the
kind offer of the Provost and Fellows of King's College, read in the
beautiful chapel of that College, the services of which had been to
her, for many years, a perpetual solace and aid. The Staff of Newnham
walked behind the coffin. The Chapel was crowded with members of the
University and a great number of former students from all parts of
England. The following Sunday (the First in Lent) it fell to Dr. Ryle
(now Dean of Westminster) to preach a sermon, and the subject suited
to the season and also to Miss Clough's character and work suggested
his text: "Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." His
reference was very appreciative and delicate. Perhaps it might have
struck some hearers that though Miss Clough would have thoroughly
appreciated the idea of service in the Christian army, she might not
have considered that she had "endured hardness" as much as many others.
Her strenuous efforts and personal restrictions were so entirely
dictated by the needs of her cause and of the individuals in her
charge, that there was no place for asceticism in her life, though much
for plain living and high thinking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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