May, 1890 . 
CONSTANCE C. W. NADEN. 
101 
picture of a contrast between the Birmingham of the present 
day and that of one hundred and forty years ago, thus 
concluded :— 
“ A society like ours ought to find its ideal in that ‘ possible 
future social type,’ which, in Mr. Spencer’s words, ‘willuse 
the products of industry neither for maintaining a militant 
organisation nor exclusively for material aggrandisement, 
but will devote them to the carrying on of higher activities 
—a type which, instead of believing that ‘ life is for work,’ 
will hold the inverse belief that ‘ work is for life.’ ” These 
were the impressive last words spoken in public by Constance 
Naden. 
It was a distinct triumph both for the author and the 
cause, and the memory of the meeting will for ever be 
treasured by those who had the privilege of being present. 
That the gifted lady herself appreciated her reception is 
confirmed by the following brief extract from a letter 
addressed to the President the next day:—“ I felt rather over¬ 
whelmed last night, and am beginning to consider myself a 
sort of Solar Myth ; but I did feel everyone’s kindness very 
much. I am afraid I shall not be fit for the Saturday 
Excursion, but I suppose I need not decide till to-morrow. 
How many do you think were present last night ? It was a 
much better audience than I expected.” Happily for once, 
as we now see it—for it might have hastened her end—the 
indifferent weather prevailing at this time proved a blessing, 
for we abandoned our intended excursion to Sutton Coldfield, 
to the disappointment of many, as her friend, Dr. Showell 
Rogers, had promised to read an interesting paper which, 
however, he afterwards gave at the Mason College. Miss 
Naden called on the writer of these lines for the last 
time, for a few minutes, on Friday, the 25th October, 
and. although she did not utter a word of complaint, 
her intelligent face looked anaemic, anxious, and care¬ 
worn, so very different from its radiant appearance only 
three nights before. Her energy, however, seemed unabated, 
and even at this time, with but little persuasion—which, 
however, was not attempted—she would have joined the 
excursion. Reference was made to the address, which was 
shortly to appear in the “ Midland Naturalist,” and she 
expressed herself pleased at the notice of it in the day’s 
Daily Post. Little thinking that we should never meet again, 
the writer bade a cordial good-bye to the cherished friend 
whom he saw no more. 
As read by the light of subsequent events, how inex¬ 
pressibly sad seems a passage in this address alluding to the 
incomplete knowledge of our own times:—“What are we 
