me little Bessie who had been given to them bright and clever and
happy, and by God's grace they resolved that she should never lose her
appointed place in the family circle. From the very first they were, as
we have seen, advised to educate her with her sisters. This advice they
followed; and at the same time inquired in all directions as to the
methods and material and implements which might give special help to
their blind child. Packets of letters yellow with age, long paragraphs
copied from old newspapers by Mrs. Gilbert and sent to people living in
distant parts, accounts of apparatus, lists of inventions and
suggestions bear constant and touching tribute to the loving care of a
mother upon whose time and strength in that large young family there
must have been so many demands. The surviving members of the family do
not even remember by name many of those whose letters have been
preserved; letters now valuable, not in themselves, but as showing that
if Bessie Gilbert lived to do a great work on behalf of the blind, and
did it, undaunted by obstacles and difficulty that might well have
seemed beyond her strength, she did but inherit the strong will and
indomitable courage, the power of endurance and devotion which
characterised her parents.

These letters throw much light upon the condition of the blind at the
beginning of this century. One packet is specially interesting as the
story of the successful effort of a person unknown, and without
influence, to effect an improvement in a public institution. It may,
probably it must, have been told in later years to Bessie herself; it
would encourage her, and may encourage others, to persevere in efforts
on behalf of those who are helpless and afflicted.

Mrs. Wood, wife of the Rev. Peter Wood, Broadwater Rectory, Worthing,
was interested in the condition of the blind. She had visited
institutions in Zurich, in Paris, had heard of work being done on their
behalf in Edinburgh, and was acquainted with the condition of the School
for the Indigent Blind, St. George's Fields, London.

She wrote in 1831 to Mr. Henry V. Lynes, Mr. Gaussen, Mr. Dodd, Mr.
Pigou, Mr. Capel Cure, and other members of the Committee of the St.
George's Fields School, begging them to inquire into the methods for
teaching the blind to read, recently discovered, and at that time
attracting attention. With her letter she sent specimens of books and
other data to be submitted to the Committee.

Mr. Gau