he
enforced indignity of a beggar's life.

She bore her grief alone. She could not speak of it even to those she
loved most dearly, and entirely trusted. She could not consciously add
to the pain she knew they felt for her. But in those early years she
would often sit silent and apart in the drawing-room at Queen Anne
Street, tears streaming from her eyes. Sometimes she would spend hours
together upon her knees, always silent; but the flowing tears spoke for
her, and with an eloquence which she little realised. The sense of want
and suffering was to be for her as it is for many, the great instrument
of education. Whilst so many around her were craving for something to
set them above their neighbours, some gift of fortune, some distinction,
she was learning the need of that which should place the poor blind on
the same level as others, learning to renounce for herself and for them
any higher ambition than that of being like the rest of mankind.

The distress of her parents, who could only stand apart, watch and pray
for her, was very great. They did not see how help was to come, but they
continued in the old course. There was no aid for the blind, no
invention which they did not eagerly inquire into, since it might be the
appointed means of deliverance. Their sympathy was doubtless a great
comfort to Bessie in this time of trial. They may not have been able to
meet her in words, but she knew their hearts, knew that they never
despaired; that their past, present, and future, were alike irradiated
by hope for her, and, if for her, then for all those under like
affliction. There were many, doubtless, who at this time would have
justified the assertion of Mr. Maurice:[5] "The first impulse of most is
to say, in such circumstances, 'Hold your peace. We are very sorry for
you; but in the press and bustle of the world we have really not time to
think about you. We are very fortunate in possessing our senses; we
must use them. To be without them is no doubt a great calamity, but it
has been appointed for you; you must make the best of it.' That appears
to be a very natural and reasonable way of settling the question. If the
votes of the majorities ruled the world, that would be the only way."

Bessie cannot have failed to meet and speak with many of the "majority,"
whose quiet acquiescence in a misfortune that did not come near them,
would often "give her pause."

Social questions also attracted her attention at this time. A