Lastly and supremely, it was through Miss Beale’s own personal influence upon her teachers, her clearly defined example always before them, that the spirit of the College came to be what it was. She had the gift of inspiration in that rare degree which makes actual direction of less value. She did not neglect details; she would indicate minor matters deserving of attention which others would overlook; she often quoted at a teachers’ meeting the example of the great general who, on taking over a command, first paid attention to the boots of his men. But it was never necessary for her to harp upon little things, or to go personally to see if her wishes had been carried out. 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; all the threads responded to her lightest touch.... ‘The College, as Miss Beale made it, was an organism, the product of inner forces needing constant renewal of vitality, not a vast machine, working without friction for the production of clever women. ‘Then, for the first time, my soul conceived the possibility of a beneficent Spirit watching over the general good, and yet caring for the needs of the humblest individual. Thus she, who so loved to point out that outward things are sacramental exponents of the invisible, became herself a channel through which I realised things unseen.’