Possibilities of making improvements at Casterton now began to weigh on her mind. Unless things were changed she felt she could not stay, but she was not inclined to give up without an effort at amelioration. She determined to take a very bold step and to appeal to the Committee. Her father was kept in touch with all her plans at this time and wrote:-- “I think we must be content to wait, at any rate for the present, and see if any good comes from your interview with the Committee. You notice two points chiefly--the low moral tone of the school and the absence of prizes [distinctions, responsibilities, etc.]. The want of sympathy and love (the great source of woman’s influence in every condition of life) was the prominent feature of the establishment in my mind after talking it over with you. But nothing can flourish if love be not the ruling incentive....” He goes on to say that he realises how much love and devotion she puts into her work, but how useless it is when she is unsupported. “Weigh the matter well before this Christmas,” he continues, “and if you find no changes are made, the same cold management continued, send in your resignation.” Then the affectionate father concludes:-- “I cannot contemplate your not coming up at Christmas. As we grow older each year makes us more desirous of the company of those we love; perhaps, because we feel how soon we shall part with it altogether; perhaps, because we are become more selfish, but such is the fact.” The six members of the Committee apparently consented with some reluctance to hear Dorothea, but she did get a hearing and brought her chief objections before them. The experience was not so trying as she had anticipated, and the Committee appeared fairly conciliatory. She explained--in speaking of the absence of prizes--that by this term she meant rather distinctions, privileges, and opportunities of doing good. She offered to resign, but the Committee said, “Oh, no, certainly not”. And she came away feeling that her efforts might have some good result. Few people, whether individuals or collective bodies, can endure criticism, and Dorothea Beale’s complaints seem to have caused a great deal of discomfort in her relationship with those connected with Casterton. This was increased very much by a suspicion that she was not orthodox according to the evangelical low-church point of view. She was considered “high,” and was suspected of holding extreme views about baptismal regeneration, one of the storm centres of religious controversy at this time. This caused even one of her chief friends on the Committee to wish her to leave. With the tenacity of purpose that characterised her through life, she tried to believe that it was right for her to stay and fight the difficulties at Casterton. Gradually, however, the impossibility of doing so became evident, and she wrote to her father:--