Beale, Dorothea, 1831-1906; Cheltenham Ladies' College -- History; Teachers -- England -- Biography
In Elizabeth Alston Dorothea had a friend of her own age—a friend who
survives to tell of the many happy hours the young girls spent together,
of the books they read and discussed, their philanthropic works, and
dreams of good. Dorothea, always fond of teaching, gladly instructed
her friends. Miss Alston learned from her to read St. Mark in Greek,
and in return taught her to sing. ‘We would linger long at the piano,
as I sought to make her convey by her singing the depth of meaning in
the words, “But the Lord is mindful of his own.” She told me it was a
revelation to her.’
As late as 1902 Miss Beale wrote to that friend of her youth: ‘I think
with gratitude of those lessons you gave me in singing; this, I believe,
has helped much to make me able to teach without fatigue. “In questa
tomba oscura” was fine for a chest voice. I suppose you are as much
interested in music as ever.’ And in 1903, with an allusion to those
designs on all knowledge which the friends had shared, she wrote:
‘Sanscrit is very fascinating; my Sanscrit studies were cut short by my
coming here.’
The vacations of this period were spent sometimes at watering-places like
Brighton, or Blackheath, where she would be in charge of the younger
members of the family. To this day is remembered her conscientious way
of taking them for a walk with her watch in her hand. Sometimes she went
to Germany or Switzerland, where she took every opportunity of studying
schools and methods of education. She was most happy in her work. The
actual teaching, apart from the subject, was in itself a delight. That
power of inspiration which she held should be one of the gifts a teacher
should earnestly covet, was already hers. This was felt not only by the
elder pupils, whose minds under her guidance opened to the interests
of Latin and mathematics. The children in the school knew it also. An
unexpected tribute from one of these once reached Miss Beale, when the
parent of a pupil wrote: ‘I have just learned from my little girl that
the Lady Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College was my dear and
valued teacher of olden days, at Queen’s College.... I assure you I
have never ceased to cherish a warm affection for you, and I have never
forgotten your great kindness to me in Harley Street.’ In 1905, at the
time of the College jubilee, one who had been a child pupil of Miss
Beale’s wrote to her: ‘The few months during which I was under your
tuition more than fifty years ago were an epoch to me. Young as I was,
I ever afterwards judged teaching by the standard set by yours, and
very seldom indeed, I may truly say, has it been subsequently reached.
The fifty years that have since passed, full as they have been, have
never effaced the impression then received, both of your teaching and
of something more comprehensive than teaching, which contact with you
engendered, and which impels me to take this opportunity—late in the day
as it is—to express and to thank you for.... I had a most keen desire to
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