diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963-8.txt | 6264 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 130059 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 173178 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963-h/14963-h.htm | 6625 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963-h/images/ill-1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 34927 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963.txt | 6264 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14963.zip | bin | 0 -> 130028 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 19169 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14963-8.txt b/14963-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e6c103 --- /dev/null +++ b/14963-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6264 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World As I Have Found It + Sequel to Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl + +Author: Mary L. Day Arms + +Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation have been +retained as in the original.] + +[Illustration: MARY L. DAY ARMS] + + + +THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT. + +SEQUEL TO +Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl. + +BY MARY L. DAY ARMS. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION + +By Rev. Charles F. Deems, LL.D. + +BALTIMORE: +PUBLISHED BY JAMES YOUNG, +112 West Baltimore Street. + + + + + +ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by +MARY L. DAY ARMS, +In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Mrs. Arms has asked me to write an introduction to her book. It hardly +seems to need it. The title-page shows that it was written by one who is +blind. It is a sequel to another volume. That volume has been widely sold, +and all who read it will, I am sure, have some desire to see how the +stream of the life of its writer has been flowing since her first book was +written. Her patient perseverance under privations has won her a large +circle of personal friends, who will take pleasure in procuring and +preserving this fresh memento of the Blind Girl. + +Such a book as this has a value which, probably, has not occurred to its +author. She has put on record the phenomena of her life as she has +recollected them, with great simplicity, merely for the entertainment of +her readers, without attaching any importance to the value which every +such memoir has in the department of science. But it is just from the +study of such phenomena as these that the students in mental and moral +philosophy learn the laws of mind and the operations of a human soul under +a divine, moral government. As a matter of taste we might omit the +writer's description of her husband, whom she never yet has seen, p. 45, +and her account of her love affairs, p. 49; and if we had discretionary +editorship, and the volume had been written by one having always had her +sight, we should unhesitatingly exclude such passages. But, as the records +of the impressions, consciousnesses and general mental phenomena of a +blind girl _in love_, they stand to be, perhaps, quoted hereafter in some +abstruse scientific treatise, or bloom out in some perennial poem. + +There is an immediate practical usefulness in such a book as this. It has +its wholesome lesson for the young. It shows what strength of character +and vigor of purpose will accomplish under even extraordinary +embarrassments. The young lady had a hard early life. She had neither +friends nor money nor sight, but she unwhiningly took up the task of +taking care of herself, and discharged it so nobly as to make for herself +a wide circle of friends, and keep for herself that sense of self-reliance +as toward man, and of faith as toward God, which are worth more than all +the dirty dollars that wickedness can give to weakness. + +Let our young women who are in straitened circumstances, in circumstances +that seem absolutely exclusive of all hope of retaining virtue and keeping +life, read this book and its predecessor, and pluck up faith and hope. Let +all our young ladies, daughters of loving parents, daughters who have no +care for the morrow, daughters of delicious ease and happy opportunity, +read this book, and then let their consciences ask them how they are to +carry their idleness to be examined at the judgment sent of Christ, in +contrast with this blind girl's industry, fidelity and perseverance. + +CHARLES F. DEEMS. +CHURCH OF THE STRANGERS, +New York, 4th July, 1878. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Warriors and statesmen have their meed of praise, + And what they do, or suffer, men record; + While the long sacrifice of woman's days + Passes without a thought, without a word: + And many a holy struggle for the sake + Of duty, _sternly_, _faithfully_ fulfil'd; + For which the anxious soul must watch and wait, + Goes by unheeded as the summer wind, + And leaves no _memory_, and no trace behind! + Yet, it may be, more lofty courage dwells + In one meek heart that braves an adverse fate, + Than his whose ardent soul indignant swells, + Warmed by the fight, or cheered through high debate. + The soldier dies surrounded; could he _live + Alone_ to suffer, and alone to strive?" + +So was rendered the sad soul-music of one of the legion, + + "Who learned in sorrow + What they taught in song." + +and the weird words have been echoed by the voice of many a woman all +along, whose weary wanderings have burned the sacrificial fires; amid the +ashes of whose dead hopes the embers have flickered and faded only to +rekindle the lurid, lustrous light of added, and still added offerings. +There, waiting and watching the deep tracery "upon the sands beside the +sounding sea," find wave after wave wash away the mystic hand-writing. + +The ebbing tide carries afar the ships freighted with aching, anguished +hearts; when borne upon the swell of the flowing sea, come the swift sails +of Argosies richly laden with hope, full with fruition. + +Within the heart of all there lies deeply imbedded the "Black Drop" of +which the Mahometan legend tells, and which the angel revealed to the +Prophet of Allah. 'Tis in aching anguish this drop must be probed and +purified, to be healed only through the endless eloquence of duty done. + +The sightless eyes have vivid visions. Theirs is the light in darkness +which stirred the soul of a Milton with a "gift divine;" inspired a Homer +with the "fire and frenzy" which crowned an Iliad and an Odyssey, the +master pieces of Epic verse; gave to the antique and traditional +literature of the Celtic race its meteoric brilliancy, and produced the +weird, wondrous sublimity of an Ossian. + +All who have read the Invocation to Light by the blind authoress, Mrs. De +Kroyft, must have realized the luminous light of a soul sublimated by +sorrow and swelling and soaring in eloquent strains. + +'Tis but a simple song I must sing, a bird-note amid cathedral tones; but +may not its minstrelsy meet the heart and search the soul of many a +sorrowing one, or rise like the song of the nightingale to the throne of +Him who sees the lives enthralled? + +If this little lesson of life can find a single searcher for the truth it +tells, or bear on the breath of the breeze "one soft Ĉolian strain," may I +not hope that it may help to swell the harp-notes of the heavenly +harmonies? + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "I remember, I remember + How my childhood fleeted by-- + The mirth of its December, + And the warmth of its July." + + +In a former volume I have recounted the varied scenes of an eventful +childhood, whose auroral dawn was tinted with the rose-hue and perfumed +with the breath of light-winged moments; even as the Goddess of the +Morning ushers in the new-born day with her flower-laden chariot, and the +bright Morning Star lends its light ere it sinks under the horizon. + +Having my birth on the rich soil of a Southern land, and cradled under its +tropical skies and sunny smiles, I was early transplanted to colder climes +and ruder blasts, yet through the nurture of a mother's gentle hand, and +the ministrations of a loving band of sisters and brothers, whose +talismanic touch toned every note, softened every sorrow and heightened +every hope, I could but bloom like an Alpine flower in its bed of snow. + +But in the golden chain there came to be, in time, a "missing link;" the +mother's life went out, and from the darkened fireside vanished the little +flock, scattered through various ways to various destinies. + +My own was a slippery path to tread, and ofttimes led my weary feet into +the shadow, and gloom, and darkness. Through sickness, neglect and +maltreatment came all too soon "sorrow's crown of sorrow;" when over the +young life fell a dark pall, and eyes so used to light no longer held the +prisoned sunbeams, and passed forever under the relentless bond and cruel +curse of blindness. Then indeed my soul grew dark! And could my restless +eyes wait in thraldom for the dawn of an eternal day, and must my +wandering feet pass through the "valley of the shadow," ere I could see +the light "around the Great White Throne?" + +Through a singular complication of circumstances I was led to the home of +a sister in Chicago, from whom I had long been separated; and by equally +singular ways I was also there reunited to three of my brothers (Charles, +William and Howard). Then my veiled vision could not shut out the loved +lineaments living in the pictured halls of memory--the vision of a +love-hallowed home, and a mother's face crowning all. Scenes and faces +gone, passed like a panorama before my mind's eye, and + + "So the blessed train passed by me, + But the vision was sealed upon my soul." + +Through the agency of family friends I returned to my birth-place, and +with strange and mingled emotions was welcomed back to Baltimore, with +kind greetings from relatives and friends. Some had passed beyond the +portal of earthly existence, and others unexpectedly reappeared, among +whom was my father, whose face I could not see, but whose emotion +betokened great anguish at the sight of his blind daughter. Oh how many +memories must have passed through his mind, as he clasped to his heart his +chastened, motherless child, and, while other loves and other ties were +his, "the shades of friends departed" as told by Longfellow must have +entered a weird train, and amid other angel footsteps must have come-- + + "That being beauteous + Who unto his youth was given; + More than all things else to love him, + And is now a saint in Heaven." + +Notwithstanding so many former attempts at the restoration of my sight, +another effort was made, involving a trip to New York, where a most +painful operation was undergone. But, alas! although a brief period was +accorded me, in which I saw with rapture objects around me, it was only to +be shut out into utter and hopeless sightlessness. As the wounded hare +seeks some cover remote from the human ken, so did my sinking soul seek +the solace of solitude, where for twenty-four hours I searched my nature +to its depths, and made resolves for my future course, known only to God +and pitying angels. They alone comforted me then, and they have sustained +and soothed through every succeeding trial! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "The saddest day hath gleams of light, + The darkest wave hath bright foam near it. + And, twinkles o'er the cloudiest night, + Some solitary star to cheer it." + + +In the year 1855, my heart still heavy with its burden of blindness, I +entered the Baltimore Institution for the Blind. With kind friends to aid +and cheer me, high hopes, rich resolutions and ambitious aims to inspire, +I commenced the course of study which was to fit me for my new avocations. +Ofttimes was I found in the deep valley of humiliation, where I sat me +down and sighed; and in many a "Garden of Gethsemane" were seen the +trickling "tears of blood." The cross and the crucifixion came, but +afterwards came the resurrection of dead hopes and angels bearing the +crown. + +I must say with undying gratitude to all connected with the Institution, +that it is to them I am indebted for the might and the mastery; for while +many a daisy was crushed in my path, many a rose bloomed upon a thorny +stem, and these kind ones led me at last to the sun-crowned mountain-tops +and clear blue skies. + +After being in school for three years, without consulting with any friend, +I wrote, with much difficulty, a letter with pin-type, to Governor Hicks, +asking a three years extension of time. I preserved secrecy in this matter +in the fear of disappointment, and determined if it came to bear it alone. +One day a professor called me to him and said: "You have written to the +Governor, and his reply has come." With anxious, nervous silence, I +"waited for the verdict," and when it came in an affirmative, how happy +and joyous I felt! How determined to push on to the bright goal before me! + +Meantime I had written a history of my life, and through assistance from +ever kind friends had succeeded in securing its publication. A copy of it +was sent to the Governor, as a tiny token of my appreciation of his +kindness. I afterward accompanied a delegation from our school to +Annapolis, where we gave an entertainment. The Governor, coming up to our +little group, said, in cheerful tones, "I am going to see if I can +recognize the one who wrote the book." And in pursuance of this +announcement, easily selected me, and with kindly tones and hearty grasp +of the hand, spoke many words of comfort, which are still carefully held +in my casket of gems as + + "Treasures guarded with jealous care + And kept as sacred tokens." + +Continuing my course of studies, I graduated in 1860 with, I hope, a fair +degree of honor to myself and my instructors. Just previous to this time +there came among our many visitors a good friend from Loudon county, +Virginia, named Richard Henry Taylor, who promised if I would visit his +home he would furnish me every facility for the sale of my book; and of +him I shall have more to say hereafter. + +Now commenced the real struggle of life. Alone I must brave the world, and +with patience bear its frowns or enjoy its smiles, as the case might be. +Alone I must earn my bread. + +Meagre were many times the means and scanty was the allowance, yet they +came in the hour of need as manna in the wilderness, ofttimes wet with the +dews of heavenly love; and ever, in my laborious pilgrimage, I have been +allowed to stand upon Mount Gerizim, to bless the people and the "rulers +of the land." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Let us then be up and doing + With a heart for any fate; + Still achieving, still pursuing, + Learn to labor and to wait." + + +Deeming it proper to inaugurate my work in our nation's capital, I left my +"Alma Mater" with all the trepidation of a child going out from the +home-roof, and rushed into the exciting and excited vortex, where +centralize our national interests, and where, as it were, throbs the great +national heart, the city of Washington. I was kindly received at the house +of my cousin, Mrs. Reese, in which sanctum my heart took fresh hope and +courage. This was during the administration of Mr. Buchanan, and I first +repaired to the bachelor President, who received me in his private +audience-room with all of his characteristic and chivalrous courtesy. +Taking both my hands in his, he said, with deep emotion--"I am so sorry +for your deep affliction, but so glad that you have had the energy to +write a book and the courage to make it a resource for support. I pray +that God may bless and prosper you, and I know he will." + +After this expression of his faith he showed his works by buying a book, +for which he paid me two dollars and a half, more than double its price. +So spoke, so did, the noble man, in whose heart was enshrined the memory +of one cherished love, the idolized object of which precluded the +possibility of a second affection, while the grand heart of the statesman +went out in kindness and sympathy to all. + +My second call was at one of the government offices, where my nervous +excitement rendered me so nearly speechless that I could only silently and +tremblingly tender a book to a young man who was one of the clerks. Seeing +the movement, he asked: + +"Do you wish, to sell the book?" to which I nodded an affirmative. + +He turned jocularly toward me, and asked: "Were you ever in love?" + +Speech suddenly followed in the wake of offended dignity, and I promptly +replied: "Sir, I try to love every one." + +"But," said he, in soaring strain, "suppose a young man should say to +you--'You are the cherished idol of my worship, the one sweet flower +blooming in my pathway, etc., etc.' what would you think?" + +I quickly responded: "Sir, I should think he had more poetry than good +sense in his composition." + +Pleased, and apparently thoughtful, he turned from me, and going among the +other employees, returned with the money for a dozen copies of my book in +his hand, and on his lips a penitent and evidently heartfelt assurance +that he meant no harm or insult by his words, humbly craved my pardon for +the offense, and closed by wishing me many God speeds. + +My next effort was in the Treasury Department, where the first person I +approached exclaimed: + +"Mary Day! where did you come from?" This exclamation was followed by many +other expressions of joy and surprise. Suddenly the loving arm of a young +girl encircled me. Kisses fell upon my forehead, cheek and lips, and words +of endearment came in copious pearly showers. At the first lull in the +sweet confusion I asked: "Who are you all?" + +The first proved to be a brother of Mrs. Cook, of Michigan, who had been +so kind to me in the past, and the second was her daughter, who rapidly +recounted by-gone scenes, and lovingly lingered upon the many cherished +memories my presence had evoked. They took me to their home in the city, +and lavished upon me all the kindness and attention love could suggest. +Among the many reminiscences came the one sad story of the father's death. +In one of the darkest, sternest hours of my childhood he had held out to +me the kind, paternal hand, and welcomed me to the protection of his own +roof, and the story of his death deeply interested me. It was in substance +this: + +The family had returned from some festive scene on Christmas eve, and the +father, leaving them to stable his horses, was so long absent as to +arouse anxiety. They sought him everywhere, but found him not. After a +night of untold suspense the morning revealed to them the shocking sight +of his dead body lying in the corner of an adjoining lot, his face smiling +and peaceful in death, his arms folded and limbs outstretched. He had been +cruelly gored by a creature he had fed and fostered, cherishing it as a +pet among his domestic animals, and it had turned upon him as many +so-called human creatures repay those who have protected and loved them! + +They knew not whether his wounds or the intense cold had been the final +cause of death, but such was the sad dawning of their Christmas day, and +so, amid the joy of my reunion with those dear friends, came the sad +thought that-- + + Ever amid life's roses + Will the sombre cypress be twined, + And wherever a joy reposes, + A dream of sorrow we find. + +I feel it due to the various government officials at Washington to give +them an expression of gratitude for the great facilities afforded me in +the way of permits to canvass in the many public departments, knowing +their strict rules and rigid restrictions in this regard. + +I was volunteered an entrée everywhere, from the humblest government +office to the Capitol and White House, and in each and all was courteously +received. In subsequent years I had also great reason for gratitude to Mr. +Colfax, who not only gave his own patronage, but presented me to Congress, +the members of which vied with each other in liberality. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "Thus, with delight, we linger to survey + The promised joys of life's unmeasured way; + Thus, from afar, each dim discovered scene + More pleasing seems than all the rest hath been; + And every form that fancy can repair + From dark oblivion, glows divinely there." + + +My nature, in its first struggle with the world, shrank, like Mimosa, from +every human touch; but the kind words of love and gentle acts of kindness +already received transformed and ripened within me a more trusting and +hopeful character, and I almost unconsciously accepted as immutable and +inevitable the great law of compensation. + +It is well that it was in the season of youth that my career began, that +season which Jean Paul so poetically designates as "The Festival Day of +Life," in which period friendship dwells as yet in a serenely open Grecian +Temple, not, as in later years, in a narrow Gothic Chapel. + +My heart accepting as genuine these pure expressions of friendship, I +turned from Washington toward Virginia, and after a visit at Leesburg, in +which I had good success, I wrote to Mr. Taylor, the friend I have before +mentioned, asking him to meet me at Hamilton, which point was reached by +the old-time stage-route. Some doubt may have entered my mind as to his +remembrance of the promise to meet me, all of which must have been +dispelled when, upon the arrival of the stage, a cheery, gentle voice, in +a tone which would have filled the darkest moment of doubt with the +sun-ray of trust, exclaimed: "How does thee do, Mary?" Miss Rachel Weaver, +my companion, was a bright-eyed, sunny-hearted, English girl, whose +presence irradiated the atmosphere around her. She was presented to him, +and received the same quiet yet cordial greeting. His carriage was in +waiting for us, and a refreshing drive of three miles brought us to his +cozy home. The reception given us by his excellent wife was characterized +by all the depth and warmth of her expanded and exalted nature, and we +were at once domiciled as truly "at home." + +The next day was the beginning of their Quarterly Meeting, and the +impressions of a life-time can never efface the varied pictures stamped +upon memory by each phase of that religious gathering. Not in a gorgeous +chapel of Gothic architecture, frescoed nave and highly wrought transept; +no stained glass windows of rainbow hue; no gorgeously draped altar or +elaborate organ; but in a simple wooden meeting-house, upon a gently +sloping grassy seclusion, came the feet of those "who went up to the +worship of God." No robed priest with consecrated head was there, but +_all_ were privileged to express with the lips the heart's devotion. + +Mr. Taylor carried to this meeting a number of my little books, and I am +safe in saying that each member of that community bought one of them. + +At noon we partook of a collation upon the lovely green sward, where sweet +words solaced and kind hands tendered me hospitality. Prominent among the +guests was Mrs. Hoag, a lady of lovely character and cultured mind, who +insisted upon having us accompany her to her home, a mansion rich and +elegant in its appointments, and, above all, its halls resounding with the +music of innocent mirth, and hung with the "golden tapestry" of love. + +We remained in this community four weeks, a sweet "season of refreshment," +which so gently glided away that we awoke, like those aroused from +peaceful sleep and dear dreams of pleasure, renewed and buoyant. + +Our farewell was not unmingled with sad regret at parting, but upon my +return to Baltimore my friends failed not to note the favorable change in +my physical and mental condition. So talismanic is the touch of love, so +inspiring and life giving! and 'tis to this dear community of Louden +county, Virginia, I shall ever trace the first impetus which has given +momentum to all the subsequent movements of my life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "The muffled drum's sad roll has beat + The soldier's last tattoo: + No more on life's parade shall meet + That brave and fallen few; + On fame's eternal camping ground + Their silent tents are spread, + And glory guards, with solemn round, + The bivouac of the dead." + + +After a short period of reunion with friends in Baltimore, I resolved, +notwithstanding the agitated condition of the country, to wend my way +southward, for I restlessly yearned for an active continuation of duty. + +Miss Weaver having other engagements, it became necessary for me to seek +another traveling companion. Trusting to the good fortune which had +hitherto favored me in that regard, I engaged the services of Miss Mary +Chase, who proved a valuable attendant, combining in her character so many +graces and endowments, possessing, among her numerous attractions, a +voice of rare, rich and mellow flexibility. + +My uncle, Mr. Heald, having an interest in the Bay Line of steamers, his +son, my cousin, Howard Heald, attended me to the steamer Belvidere, +introduced me to the captain, and took every precautionary measure to +enhance the pleasure of my trip. Subsequent events proved how salutary +were these efforts. The captain did all that polite attention and study of +my comfort could suggest, attended us to the table, pointed out the +workings of the engine, the complications of the machinery and propelling +power of the steamer, which so airily and so gracefully "walked the +waters," directed attention to every object of note on the route and their +charm of historic interest, thus making the trip one replete with +instruction. Miss Chase, with the melody of a song-bird, drew around us a +circle of charmed listeners, and her voice became a source of constant and +soothing solace to me. + +Arriving at the city of Richmond at the untimely hour of four o'clock in +the morning, at the solicitation of the captain we remained on board until +a later and more convenient time, when we found the streets of the city +alive with soldiers and filled with sad sounds of sword and musketry, the +first low reverberation of the din of war, the opening of the battle-song, +whose weird refrain has been echoed by so many sorrowing ones, its mad +music adapted to the thousands of crushed and broken hearts! + +The little war-cloud, at first "no larger than a man's hand," was growing +deeper and darker, and the stern rumble of the conflict becoming +irrepressible. Every avenue in the way of business was closed, and being +told that if I desired remaining north of Mason and Dixon's line I must go +at once, I retraced my steps, and returned by the James river, since so +memorable in the history of our civil conflict, and sought shelter in +Baltimore, where I remained for the winter; and while so many relatives +and friends would have welcomed me to their homes, I felt impelled to +accept an invitation to the institution in which I had been educated, and +could enjoy the association of those who had first directed my tottering +steps, and my schoolmates, who were friends and co-workers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "But if chains are woven shining, + Firm as gold and fine as hair, + Twisting round the heart, and twining. + Binding all that centres there + In a knot that, like the olden, + May be cut, but ne'er unfolden; + Would not something sharp remain + In the breaking of the chain?" + + +Spring came with its "ethereal mildness" and budding beauty, and the ties +which bound me to the Monumental City must, although with convulsive +effort, be broken. + +Miss Chase was but "a treasure lent," her sweet, loving nature having won +the heart of one who made her his life companion; hence it became +necessary for me to find another to fill her place. She came in the person +of Miss Kate Fowler, a lovely young girl of seventeen years, who possessed +great charms of person, mind and soul, as the sequel will show. + +We traveled together throughout Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, +meeting with greater success than we could have hoped for while the din of +war was raging, always making sufficient for our support. + +At Hollidaysburgh, Penn., I learned of the presence of General Anderson, +and resolved that I would offer a tangible evidence of my appreciation of +the "Hero of Fort Sumter." Entwining one of my little books with red, +white and blue ribbons, I sent it to him with a little note, asking its +acceptance from the authoress, a Baltimore lady, in behalf of her native +city, then under a cloud, the Massachusetts troops having been stoned by a +mob collected from various points, and for which she bore the undeserved +odium. These I sent in their tri-colored dress, expecting only a silent +reception. But, as I sat at dinner in my hotel, there came a singular and +unexpected response in the person of the General himself. He was +introduced by the landlord, and was accompanied by his little daughter, +holding in her hand my token, as she smilingly approached me in her +fairy-like beauty. A delightful chat ensued, and an urgent request upon +his part that I should visit Cresson Springs, to which he had resorted +with his family in order to recuperate his health, shattered by the +protracted and gallant defense of one of our national citadels. + +With a kind "good bye" he left, and as I passed out of the dining-room +door I received an evidence of his great delicacy in a token he would not +publicly tender. The landlord handed me a box from him containing a +handsome plain gold ring, ever since cherished as a memento; and, although +worn by time, there is still legible the name engraved within this shining +circlet, even that of General Anderson. + +After canvassing Altoona I went to Cresson Springs and was no sooner +registered than I received a card from the General. Meeting me in the +parlor, he gave me a cordial welcome, after which he said: "Now I am going +to assist you in your sales." He drew together three of the parlor tables, +and, taking one hundred of my books, he placed them thereon, together with +specimens of my bead work, which he artistically arranged in the national +colors. It needed but a wave of the magician's wand, for such he seemed, +to evoke the spirits of generosity and love, and through these all of my +volumes vanished, as well as much of the bead work. At General Anderson's +request I took my work to the parlor, and amid a group of wondering ones, +many of whom were members of his own family, I showed them how the blind +could deftly weave these little trinkets, the fashioning of the "bijou" +baskets needing no sight to arrange the colors, with celerity and skill. I +was also, at his request, seated at his family table, and time will never +erase the memory of words which fell from the lips of the warrior, as +gently, as lovingly, as if a woman's voice were breathing words of comfort +and affection. In after time, when tidings of his death were borne from a +foreign land, when the perfumed breath of sunny France received the last +sigh of our hero, I dropped many a tear, which truly welled up from the +depths of a sorrowing heart. + +In the winter I made Philadelphia my head-quarters, stopping at the home +of Mr. and Mrs. Mack, both of whom were blind when married, and who both +possess great musical talent, which they utilized by teaching piano music, +thus earning a handsome support and purchasing the home they then +occupied, a tasteful, comfortable domicile. It was well for me I selected +this spot, for it afterward proved "a City of Refuge." I was soon +prostrated with a severe typhoid fever, and was so kindly cared for by +this dear family, who, by tender ministration, nursed the little spark of +hope, and brought me from death unto life. Their two sweet children and +their musical prattle will ever be recalled as illuminated pictures upon +the red-lettered page of life's history. + +Of the tender care of Miss Fowler too much cannot be said. It was to her +assiduous attention I was also, in a great degree, indebted for my +recovery. + +During this illness I could also number two other ministering spirits, Dr. +Seiss, a Lutheran minister, who constantly visited me, and gave me many a +word of comforting support, and Professor Brooks, who was called to my +bedside as medical attendant. + +He had been for many years an eminent allopathic physician, and was then a +professor in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia. + +He also faithfully and unremittingly ministered to me during the many +weeks of fever and prostration. + +When I was almost well I one day said to him: "Doctor, what do I owe you?" +The sweet serenity of his face merged into a benevolent beam, and in the +vernacular of the Society of Friends, of which he was a member, he said: +"Mary, Rachel and I have been talking it over, and we have concluded that +thee will be too delicate to travel this winter, and will need all thy +money; so thee does not owe me anything." + +Choking with grateful emotion, as soon as I could command control I said: +"Doctor, I could not expect you to give me such kind attention without +remuneration, but since you have so willed it, I can only say I thank you +for having saved my life." Whereupon there came the same luminous look, +and the gentle voice said: "Mary, it was not I that saved thy life; it +was thy Heavenly Father." + +As soon as I was well enough to ride he made arrangements for me to visit +his house. I took the street car, but by pre-arranged plan, he met me at +his door, lifted me from the car, and carried me in his arms into a +luxurious bed-chamber, where I was met by the sweet-voiced Rachel, who +gave me a reviving draught of rare old wine, and in every way studied my +wants during the day's visit, after which the Doctor drove me home in his +carriage. + +How do our hearts go out in gratitude to such true and loving natures, and +how fondly do we recall in after years the sweet sounds of sympathy, whose +melody pervades life's measured music. + +Once again I found myself in Baltimore, where I received a letter from my +brother William, urging me to spend the winter at his home in Pecatonica, +Ill. This, together with a meeting with my cousin Sammy Heald, determined +me to go West. My cousin was about to visit Iowa City, Iowa, where dwelt +his betrothed, and he offered to pay all my traveling expenses if I would +accompany him. The temptation of seeing one from whom there had been an +eight years separation made my cousin's entreaties irresistible, and I +yielded, receiving from him all the devoted attendance his kind nature +could dictate. So, after the lapse of so many eventful years, I turned my +face westward. I spent the winter at the home of my brother, and shall +never forget his kindness and that of his family, as well as other +residents of Pecatonica, who did so much to lighten the leaden-winged +hours, which, in a little hamlet, drag so slowly in comparison with the +din and bustle of city life, and the excitement of business and travel. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "So where'er I turn my eyes, + Back upon the days gone by, + Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me; + Friends who closed their course before me, + Yet what links us friend to friend, + But that soul with soul can blend. + Love-like were those hours of yore, + Let us walk in soul once more." + + +The dreary winter had passed away, one in sad contrast with the mild +southern season, and known only to those who have realized its storms and +wind and snow. + +The birds of spring were caroling their first songs of the season, and the +white mantle of snow disappearing under the sun-rays. These tokens told me +I must be "up and doing." Selecting a companion among the kind group of +Pecatonica friends, Miss Sarah Rogers, a lady of sterling virtue and +pronounced character, I went to Chicago. The war conflict being still at +its height, I could do little in the way of book selling, but managed to +dispose of sufficient bead work to be entirely self-sustaining. In my +business route in Chicago I entered a millinery establishment, and was +surprised by a greeting from the familiar voice of my sister Jennie, and +they alone who are members of a scattered household can realize what must +be such a meeting. In the lapse of years since our separation, our paths +had so diverged that we had lost trace of each other. I sat down and +eagerly listened to a recital of an experience fraught with varied +incident. They had moved from Chicago to Monroe city, Missouri, a place +which (as most will remember) received the baptism of fire, being utterly +destroyed by the Northern troops. My sister not only lost her home, but +was separated from her family for several days. As soon as they were +gathered together, and had gained sufficient strength to travel, they +returned without a resource to Chicago, there to begin life anew, my +sister lending a helping hand by opening this business. Her daughter Cora, +whom I had left a little girl, was then a graceful young lady, has since +married and is living in the city. + +My brothers, Charles and Howard, both entered the ranks of the army, +returned with health impaired from service, and afterward yielded up their +lives. + +My father had settled with his new family at Farmington, Ill., and thither +my brother Howard repaired when utterly broken down in health. No mother +could have more tenderly and steadfastly ministered to him, than did my +father's wife; she, her two bachelor brothers and a maiden sister +attending him, in the lingering, languishing hours of suffering, and +gently smoothing his "pathway to the grave." + +I must not fail to mention among Chicago friends the name of Mrs. Dean, +which has been written in letters of light upon a hallowed life page, +standing out in bold relief upon the background of years. Her house was my +home, and she was ever a fond mother to me. + +Her lovely little daughter, Ada, has since matured to womanhood, assumed +the relations and duties of a wife, and is now presiding over an elegant +home in one of the flourishing towns of Iowa. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "And when the stream + Which overflowed the soul was passed away, + A consciousness remained that it had left. + Deposited upon the silent shore + Of memory, images and previous thoughts, + That shall not die and cannot be destroyed." + + +For three years longer lowered the lurking war-cloud, and I, among so many +others, felt its baneful shadow. During this time I made Chicago my +headquarters, taking occasional trips upon the various railroad routes +converging there. + +Finally I ventured upon a trip to Louisville, Ky., and, while it was my +first introduction to that place, so cordially was I received by its +citizens, so much was done to place me at ease, that I could but feel that +I was revisiting a familiar spot and receiving the greetings of old-time +friends; and, in spite of the heavy war pressure, it was financially the +most successful visit I ever made, having sold five hundred volumes in +the short space of two weeks, a fact in itself sufficient to exemplify the +pervading spirit of its society, not one of whose members gave grudgingly, +but with unhesitating and cheerful alacrity. + +Thence I repaired to the "Blue Grass Country," the garden spot of +Kentucky, and to the city of Lexington, the reputation of whose beautiful +women has reached from sea to sea and from pole to pole, and the name of +whose hero, Henry Clay, has made the heart of our nation throb with +exultant pride. I was also a stranger there, yet I resolutely repaired to +the Broadway, its principal hotel, trusting to the hospitality of its +citizens. Nor did I "count without a host," for Mr. Lindsey, the +proprietor, received me with courtly cordiality, installing us in an +elegant suite of rooms upon the parlor floor, assigning us a servant in +constant attendance, and urging us to feel at home. At breakfast the +succeeding morning he greeted us with the pleasant tidings that he had +already sold sixteen volumes of my book, after which he came to our +apartment with a huge market basket, which he insisted upon filling with +books, adding that _I_ was too delicate to go out with them myself. This +was a second time filled and emptied, and before dinner there was placed +in my hands the proceeds of the sale of one hundred books. + +My companion, amazed at his success, begged of him to let her know the +secret, whereupon he said, laughingly: "Well, you see, I am a Democrat and +a Free Mason. I talked politics to one, gave the society sign to another, +and mixed a little religion with all. So I could not fail to succeed." + +I could but feel, however, in spite of his jest, that his innate goodness +was the Midas like touch, and that he bore in his own heart the +"philosopher's stone," transforming all into gold. + +It did not become necessary for me to appear in the streets of Lexington, +yet I reaped a rich harvest of gain, and, above all, found a mine of +wealth in the warm, true, loving, chivalric souls. Nor did the kindness +cease at the fountain-head, for the little ones of Mr. Lindsey's family, +laden with bead work, walked the streets of the city, trafficking for my +benefit, returning with little hands empty of trinkets, but filled with +money. + +To crown all this kindness I was only allowed, upon leaving, to pay half +the usual price for board, receiving letters of introduction to the +Capital House, of Frankfort, whose proprietor extended the same liberality +of terms, and whose citizens kindly and freely patronized me. + +Going to Paris, I received so many favors that I never think of Kentucky +and its noble sons and daughters without a thrill of loving gratitude. + +Mr. Lindsey requested me to write to him upon my return, and, after the +lapse of a long time, I did so, receiving a reply bearing the painful +tidings that, by security debts, he had been bereft of all his earthly +possessions, but was hopeful of regaining all. Surely such noble souls +should not be left in the cloud while so many sordid, selfish natures sail +upon a sea of success. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Hope like the glimmering taper's light, + Adorns and cheers the way; + And still as darker grows the night, + Emits a cheerful ray." + + +Upon our return from Kentucky we were received by motherly Mrs Dean, with +her ever warm welcome; but after the usual greeting a mischievous smile +was seen lurking on her face, and she archly told us that she had a very +attractive addition to her family, in the persons of two bachelor +boarders. This served but as a pastime of the moment, and I gave it little +further thought, until I was presented to Mr. Arms, a gentleman of medium +height, head of noble mould and fine poise, dark hair and luxuriant beard, +large brown eyes expressive and scintillating, quiet, unobtrusive manner +and somewhat low voice. + +Methinks that I can trace a meaning smile upon the faces of some of my +readers at the detailed description of one they deem too blind to see. Not +so, there is a strange mysterious masonry in human souls, and while + + "Few are the hearts, whence one same touch, + Bids the sweet fountain flow," + +an indescribable consciousness of mutual interest came with this meeting; +and while I little dreamed that this stranger would in after time stand by +my side in the _nearest_ and _dearest_ relation of life, even that of a +husband; his face, his form, his voice, his soul were all to me an open +volume, which by that inner sight, I read in every minute detail, and then +and there were all these photographed upon my heart. + +Before I had taken my next leave of Chicago I had passed through all the +phases of doubt, in which I deeply questioned my own heart, seeking there +the solution of why I had inspired an interest in this stranger. Ever +since my sickness in Philadelphia I had been a comparative invalid, +devoting much of my time to the restoration of health, and above all the +recovery of that sight which was still so dear to me, and so hard to +relinquish without a struggle. So with my depleted strength, moderate +means and somewhat darkened hopes, I seemed to myself a very unattractive +object. Be this as it may, while no formal engagement bound us, we parted +as acknowledged lovers. + +Miss Rogers entered into business for herself, and I went unattended to +Ypsilanti, Michigan, to be under the charge of a physician, who was to +test the effect of electrical treatment as a means of restoration to +sight. While he was deeply imbued with interest in my case, and gave me +every care and attention while I remained under his roof, he was +unfortunately wedded to one whose cold, unsympathetic suspicious nature +made a pandemonium for all within the circle of her baleful influence. Of +such unions Watts has truly said: + + Logs of green wood that quench the coals, + Are married just like sordid souls; + With osiers for a bend. + +To her I am indebted for many a dark and tearful hour, when not only my +heart, but my eyes, needed perfect repose. + +But beside this thorn-tree in the home garden bloomed for me, and for all, +a beautiful flower, in the person of her niece, Josie McMath, who, with +her loving, gentle touch, toned down the inequalities and smiled away the +frowns. + +She and I became fast friends, and afterward freely exchanged confidences, +telling to each other a mutual tale of girlish hope and trustful +affection. + +During my stay in Ypsilanti I received a letter from Rachel Weaver, who +had been bereft of her mother and had lost every means of support. She +earnestly desired to return to me; and as the letter brought with it the +magnetism of a former attachment, I wrote to her to come to me. + +Finding the prospect of recovery through my present treatment hopeless, I +went to Ionia, Michigan, repairing to the house of Dr. Baird, where I +awaited tidings of Rachel Weaver, and whom I met at Detroit, when we +returned to Chicago, where I was met by Mr. Arms, and who, soon as an +opportunity offered, rehearsed to me the workings of his own mind during +my absence. + +He told me he had been seriously thinking over the matter, and after +carefully reviewing his own feelings he could arrive at but one +conclusion, viz, that I had become necessary to his happiness, and that he +hoped for a mutual plan for speedy union. + +He owned a farm in Iowa, which he proposed to sell, and invest the +proceeds in a home in Chicago. + +He also begged a promise that I would never make another attempt to +recover my sight, which gave me an assurance that my blindness was no +barrier to his love. + +With a strange flutter of emotion my heart responded to his sweet +assurances, and, as a weary child confidingly rests upon its mother's +breast, so did my tired soul trustingly repose in the safe haven of his +manly love, and cast its anchor there! safe amid the lowering clouds of +life, serene amid its surging seas and wildest waves; for arching all was +the Iris of bright-hued hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Visions come and go; + Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng; + From angels' lips I seem to hear the flow + Of soft and holy song." + + "'Tis nothing now-- + When heaven is opening on my sightless eyes, + When airs from paradise refresh my brow, + That earth in darkness lies." + + +Leaving Chicago I traveled via Michigan Southern Railroad to the little +town of Jonesville, Michigan, the home of my childhood and the scene of so +many fond and sad recollections. + +Stopping at the village hotel for some preparation, I wended my way to the +little cemetery. There was a picture in memory of a green hill-side slope, +which, whenever the dark funeral day was recalled, formed a vivid and +prominent feature of the scene; and so, upon that day, I found within the +little "city of the silent" the identical hill-side, but, with the most +scrutinizing search, failed to find the sacred mound holding the most +hallowed form of the home group, and over which were shed the bitter tears +of childhood's grief, more poignant and more lasting than we usually +attribute to that period of life. + +In the hope of eliciting some information I entered a cottage near by, +which I found inhabited by aged people; but as they had been residents +only seven years, and twenty-four years had elapsed since my mother was +laid to rest, they could give me no light or aid, save the simple +suggestion that there were a number of graves covered by the undergrowth +of shrubbery, and perchance hers might be one of them. Accepting the +possibility I found the one I sought, which could not fail to be +recognized, for strange to say, time had dealt so gently that the slender +picket fence was undecayed by his "effacing; lingers," and the name +painted upon the little wooden head-board was distinctly visible. Grouped +in quadrangular growth were four little trees, gracefully arching in a +bowery drapery over the grave, as if nature in strange sympathy with the +mourners left behind had offered this tribute to the noble mother. How +vividly came back again the long lost childhood home, and as the wind +sighed through the leafy boughs, seemed to sob a sad requiem for the dead. +There was a little song I had learned in the Institution, and had so often +sang, when unknown to those around me every chord in my sad heart seemed + + "As harp-strings broken asunder, + By music they throbbed to express." + +Then the sweet, sad words come back in memory, + + "I hear the soft winds sighing, + Through every bush and tree; + Where my dear mother's lying, + Away from love and me. + + Tears from mine eyes are weeping, + And sorrow shades my brow; + Long time has she been sleeping-- + I have no mother now." + +After a long, lingering look, I turned sadly away, going to the little +marble yard in the vicinity, and seeking the proper person, I +communicated to him the desire for a head and foot-stone for the grave, +together with marble corner stones to support an iron chain for an +enclosure, asking him for an estimate of the cost. + +Looking at me with almost tearful emotion, he said, when the blind girl, +after the lapse of twenty-four years, comes back to offer a tribute to the +memory of her mother, the result of her own unaided earnings, I can but be +generous, and offered to do all for half the usual price. Knowing +instinctively that I could trust him, I left all in his hands, and have +never had occasion to feel that I had misplaced my confidence. + +Before leaving the village I visited a clothing store which had formerly +been the tin shop in which my father worked; and again I was a child, my +little form perched upon the wooden work-bench, and my ears soothed by the +melody of my father's song, for ever as he sat at his daily labor he lent +it the charm of his sweet voice. + +Strange to say, there was no one there who knew the "blind girl." All my +mother's friends had vanished, and "they were all gone, the dear familiar +faces." I fondly bade adieu to Jonesville with the consciousness of having +performed a sad duty, and proceeded with my avocation, with my wonted +success, until we reached Toledo, Ohio, where Miss Weaver was attacked +with a serious illness which kept me in constant attendance upon her for +several weeks. + +Her physician assuring me that she would be unable to resume her duties +for some time longer, we decided it best for all to send her East. +Procuring her a ticket, and placing her under kind protection, I sent her +to her friends in New York. + +I supplied her place with a lady I found in my boarding house, and who I +regret to record was in strange contrast with my former companions. Going +to Pittsburg we stopped at the Merchants' Hotel, near the depot, where, +after a singularly short time, she was visited by a gentleman whom she +represented to be a cousin, and while their whispered conversation in my +room (a place where I deemed it expedient for them to meet) aroused some +suspicion in my mind, I hushed all thought of wrong and hoped for the +best. + +She further stated that she had an uncle in Alleghany city, and thither +she went to spend the Sunday, leaving me in the hotel unattended; and from +subsequent revelations I must fain believe the time was devoted to the +so-called cousin. + +Upon her return on Monday she suddenly declared her intention of leaving +me, adding that she cared not what became of me. I calmly awaited a lull +in the excitement of this announcement, and told her kindly that if she +would remain with, me another week I would take her to her mother in Ohio, +and leave her in her hands, but she haughtily and peremptorily declined, +and so left me alone, and, as she supposed, uncared for. + +But I was so confident of protection that I felt not even a rankling pang +at the cruel injustice she had done me, but quietly waited until assured +she was gone, when I left my room, groped my way through the unfamiliar +hall and knocked at the first door I found, which fortunately proved to be +that of a lady named Harris. In as few words as possible I told her the +story of my desertion, and had sympathy and congratulation from all in the +house at my escape from one who had seemed to them so coarse and +unsympathetic. + +The clerk of the hotel, being a brother of Mr. Loughery, my old time +teacher, it was thought best to appeal to him. He met me with an +unmistakable expression of sorrow on his face, and as soon as he could +command language to do so, communicated the tidings of the sudden demise +of his brother in Greensburg, Pa., he having fallen dead in the street. As +he was about leaving, assistance from that source became impossible; yet, +overwhelmed as he was with this crushing sorrow, he urged me to accompany +him to the funeral, an invitation I could not accept, for a renewal of the +sad memories of my instructor and friend would have been _more_ than I +could bear, so I bade him adieu, and committed myself to the tender mercy +of Mrs. Harris, who kindly accompanied me to the post office and depot, +and started me safely toward Chicago, a letter being received which I knew +to be from Mr. Arms, from whom I had been awaiting tidings for three, +anxious, weary weeks. + +With a consciousness of some impending cloud, yet unable to read the dear +pen tracery, I never before so deeply felt the blight of blindness, for +the contents were too sacred for the desecration of stranger's sight. + +So all through that weary journey, softened as it was by the unremitting +kindness of all the railroad officials and attendants, I carried a +crushing weight of anxiety and suspense, until I reached Chicago, and dear +Mrs. Dean, who at once revealed to my waiting heart the contents of the +letter. + +Mr. Arms was in Indiana, and very ill at the time of writing (three weeks +previous) and earnestly desired my presence. The weary hours of night +dragged their slow lengths away, and the morning found me speeding on as +fast as steam could carry me, toward Indiana, yet all _too slow_ for my +fears and forebodings. + +I found him scarcely able to be carried to the post of duty, where, at the +mill being built under his superintendence, he watched the progress of +the work. + +'Tis needless to say how joyous was my welcome and how soon the invalid +gave signs of convalescence, under the influence of my long hoped for +presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "We strive to read, as we may best, + This city, like an ancient palimpsest, + To bring to light upon the blotted page + The mournful record of an earlier age, + That, pale and half-effaced, lies hidden away + Beneath the fresher writings of to-day." + + +After spending a fortnight with the invalid, in which "the golden hours on +angel's wings" sped on and away, bringing a returning glow of health to +his cheeks, strength to his steps and hope to his heart, so with renewed +resolution I started upon my mission, first going to Pecatonica to visit +my brother William and family, and to complete my plans for travel. + +Soon after my arrival I was introduced by my sister-in-law to Miss Hattie +Hudson, and by that inward sympathy which unites all kindred natures into +one, and the strange recognition of soul with soul, we were at once +friends. + +She was indeed + + "A perfect woman, nobly planned, + To warn, to comfort, and command." + +One who, aside from her physical attractions, possessed all the charms of +inner grace and beauty, idealizing and spiritualizing her nature. + +We at once also agreed that she should remain with me, and with such rare +companionship I started East. Stopped at the beautiful city of Cleveland, +so rural and yet so metropolitan in its characteristics, where, following +fast upon the din of business and the rush of trade, steals the sweet +murmur of waters, the "wave of woods" and flow of fountains, the shaded +park and perfumed pasture. + +Here, aside from the cheer of business success, my heart was gladdened by +a meeting with my old friend, Mrs. Bigelow, and little Willie, the whilom +blind boy I had met in New York city, and toward whom I had been drawn by +that "touch of nature" which "makes the whole world kin." + +He was now an elegant, educated gentleman, who, among his many +accomplishments, numbered that of music, a science he had so thoroughly +mastered, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" he helped us all to while +away many an otherwise weary hour. + +I visited the various places of note upon the New York Central Railway, +thoroughly and successfully canvassing all, and reaching New York city, +was received by my uncle Henry Deems with such a welcome as only a noble, +soulful man can extend. After a short, sweet respite from care, we turned +toward New England, the truly classic ground of America, every foot of +whose "sacred soil" has been trod by pilgrim feet and hallowed by their +hearts' devotion. + +Went to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and spent almost an entire day at Pilgrim +Hall in researches and study of its musty and time-worn relics. + +It was against the rules to open the cases containing these treasures of +the past to spectators, all of whom were forced to look at them through +doors of glass, even as the bereft ones are ofttimes allowed to look at +loved lineaments only through the lid of a closed casket; but the +gentleman in charge made mine an exceptional case, and, to use his own +language, as my sight lay in the sense of feeling, I should certainly +touch these relics. + +All the interest of varied historical association was imparted to me, and +my fingers allowed to rest upon everything. I closed this day, so rich in +research, with gratitude to him for his thoughtful kindness. + +There was in process of erection a monument upon Plymouth Hock, and I +stood upon that granite shrine, where first knelt the Pilgrim Fathers, and +pictured in my mind's eye the landing of the Mayflower and the grouping of +her freight of human souls, majestically towering above them all the +stalwart form of Miles Standish, with his "muscles and sinews of iron," +and close by the lithe, clinging, delicate form of + + "That beautiful rose of love + That bloomed for him by the wayside, + And was the first to die + Of all who came in the Mayflower." + +These and all their attendants passed through my fancy as they knelt upon +Plymouth Rock, and with the surging sea for a symphony, sent up their +first song of praise and deliverance, and in that hour of reverie there +was to me, indeed, + + "A rapture by the lonely shore; + A society where none intrudes. + By the deep sea--and music in its roar." + +Then again I moved away in almost rapt entrancement, and soon stood in the +old cemetery beside the moss-grown memorial stones which had stood amid +the flight of over two centuries, and emotions deep and strange struggled +in my breast, sealed by that _golden, sacred_ silence which sanctifies the +unutterable. + +Prominent among other objects there, was the resting-place of the Judsons, +to whose memory a suitable tomb had been erected. + +Going to Boston I spent three delightful weeks at the home of Mr. and Mrs. +Little, a dear old couple who had been married long enough to have +celebrated their "Golden Wedding." The old gentleman was wont to say, that +these fifty years were all links in the "honey-moon," but that he had not +as yet reached the end of the first "honey-moon." So these two old lovers, +like "John Anderson my Joe," and his devoted companion, had climbed the +hill and were standing "thegither at its foot" in happy contentment, +looking toward the golden sunset and catching the gleam of the light +beyond. + +I of course visited "Boston Common," "Bunker Hill Monument," "Old South +Church," the museums and galleries of painting, rare collections of +statuary, and even heard the "Great Organ." These localities are all +fraught with interest, but too familiar to tourists to require description +or comment; but I cannot leave the readers of this chapter without a +tribute of praise to the high attainments of this "Athens of America," and +a word of gratitude for their kindness. I found not the cold, phlegmatic +nature which had been depicted as that of the Yankee, nor did I see the +tight purse-grip so often attributed to them, for I have nowhere met +warmer hearts and more generous patronage than there, and indeed all New +England was pervaded by an equal spirit of liberality and kindness. +Lowell and the other manufacturing towns I visited were to me objects of +wonderful interest, the music of whose looms and shuttles, belts and +wheels, engines and flame, will ever come in vivid variety amid the many +voiced memories of life and its mystic music. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "There is an old belief that in the embers + Of all things, their primordial form exists; + And cunning Alchemists could recreate + The rose, with all its members, + From its own ashes--but without the bloom, + Without the least perfume. + Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science + Can from the ashes of our hearts + Once more the rose of youth restore? + What craft of alchemy can bid defiance + To time, and change; and for a single hour, + Renew this phantom flower?" + + +Taking New Hampshire in my route, I was pained to find the season too far +advanced to admit a trip to White Mountains, and among the great objects +of interest I must of necessity omit this "Noblest Roman of them all," and +pass silently by the grandeur of this rugged mountain scenery. + +I went to Waterbury, Vermont, the birth-place of Mr. Arms, and, after a +short rest at the hotel, walked through the meadow, and crossed the clear +trout-stream he had so often pictured to me as most prominent among the +reminiscences of his boyhood. Going to the homestead now hallowed to me as +his birth-place, I was kindly received by the widow of his brother, who +needed only the knowledge of my acquaintance with her friends in the West +to place me upon a familiar footing, and I became an earnest, attentive +listener to her well rendered rehearsal of the pranks of his urchin-hood. +So was this day marked as memorable in the calendar of life. From +Waterbury I went to Burlington, and thence to Montpelier, and finding the +Legislature in session the sale of my books was greatly enhanced by the +liberal patronage of its members; and here as elsewhere I had reason to to +thank our national convocations. + +The rigor of the approaching New England winter warned me of the necessity +for going South. While on the Hudson River Railroad I was accosted by a +gentleman who asked me if I could read the raised letters, and learning +that I could, he begged me to accept a copy of the Bible in that style of +lettering; I of course did so, and have this volume still in my +possession. + +Going to Chicago I found Mr. Arms established in business, which gave me +an additional hope for future happiness, and 'tis needless to say, + + "I built myself a castle + So _stately_, _grand_ and fair; + I built myself a castle, + A castle in the air." + +Delicate lungs and irritating cough, sent me still further South, and I +reluctantly left Chicago and all I held so dear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "There is a special Providence + In the fall of a sparrow." + + "There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them as we will." + + +I have never had occasion so especially to note the over-ruling majesty of +a supreme power as in my next journey, the circumstances of which I am +about to relate. + +I went via Indianapolis, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., to Memphis, Tenn. The +latter place rivals its sister cities in generous patronage, for, although +the whole southern country was so thoroughly devastated, I met with +success throughout its length and breadth. + +I was luxuriously entertained at the Southern Hotel of Memphis and, as I +had been over most of the railroad routes, I felt anxious to go to New +Orleans by water, and for that purpose sought the general agent of the +river line of steamers, anticipating the same liberality which had +characterized the railroads in granting passes. + +I was most haughtily received by this official, rudely addressed, and +decidedly and irrevocably denied a pass. + +Nothing daunted, I walked to the levee, where lay the steamer Platte +Valley, almost ready to leave, and besought Hattie, who was ever my +counselor, to pay our passage, and, in spite of repulse, enjoy the river +scenery. In her judgment it seemed better not to do so, but to use our +railroad passes, as usual. I cheerfully accepted her decision. The Platte +Valley started on her trip with brilliant prospects for a safe and +successful passage, but seven miles below Memphis she sank in the deep +waters of the Mississippi. Many of her passengers, especially the female +portion, were taking supper in the lower cabin, and, having no means of +escape, perished. Hence I had reason to be thankful to Hattie's decision, +to the agent's rude rebuff, and to that over ruling power which ofttimes, +in our blindness, we fail to discern. + +At Chattanooga I, of course, visited the National Cemetery, where lie the +ashes of so many fallen heroes. Ascended Lookout Mountain to the scene of +the "Battle in the Clouds," and I could almost evoke the presence of +General Joe Hooker, with his once grand proportions and noble mien, so +deservedly famed as The Hero of Lookout Mountain. I afterward ascended +another hill, which, although a pigmy in comparison with the Leviathan +Lookout, would, in the monotony of our prairie country, be ranked as a +mountain. It was upon its top were constructed the government water works, +and upon which my brother William was employed for two years, occupying as +a residence during that time a little cabin on the height, which was +plainly perceptible from the window of my hotel quarters, but which I +desired to visit in person, a source of real pleasure, perhaps enhanced by +the obstacles I had to surmount in the ascent. + +At Vicksburg, Miss., I was followed by the same tidal wave of success, in +spite of the sad stringency of the times and the cruel effects of war. + +While there a gentleman took us in his carriage to the earthworks +constructed by the soldiers as a fortification, taking great pains to +explain all to me, and allowed me to use the usual sense of feeling, which +so often served in lieu of sight. + +At Jackson, Miss., I was a guest of the same hotel in which lived General +Beauregard, who was Superintendent of the Jackson and New Orleans Railway, +and who, aside from other acts of kindness and civility, freely tendered +me a pass over his road. + +My stay at the "Crescent City" was not only marked by great business +success, but the three weeks of sight-seeing was a "continued feast." + +Although it was now the middle of January, flowery spring "seemed +lingering in the lap of winter." The perfume of the violet, the scent of +the rose, the gladness of the sun-beam and the brightness of the skies +will ever linger in memory, while the geniality and goodness of its people +will, in the "dimness of distance," glimmer like a soft love-light in the +life of the blind girl. + +I visited the French market, and drank a cup of the famed and fragrant +Mocha; went to its cemeteries, which, in their flowery beauty, robbed +death of its terrors; took a drive upon the shell road to Lake +Pontchartrain; walked in Jackson Square; and, indeed, visited all +localities of note in and around the city. + +Should my curious readers wish to know how I could enjoy and describe all +these, the answer will be found in my companion and friend, Hattie, who, +with her wonderful adaptation and ingenuity, added to her remarkable +descriptive powers, vividly pictured all to me, and, through an unwritten, +indescribable language known only to ourselves, it became a system of +mental telegraphy and soul language. + +There is in Europe a blind man, whose name I cannot recall, who is led +from Court to Court and from palace to palace by a frail young girl, and +between these there exists the same mystic yet unerring language. What +this little fairy is to him such was Hattie Hudson to me, or, to use the +language of another: + + "She was my sight; + The ocean to the river of my thoughts, + Which terminated all." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Devotion wafts the mind above, + But Heaven itself descends in love; + A feeling from the Godhead caught. + To wean from earth each sordid thought; + A ray of him who formed the whole, + A glory circling round the soul." + + +Leaving New Orleans with the fervid fire which the warm hearts of its +people had kindled still burning in my breast, and the many memories of +its fragrance and sunlight, and beauty, forever embalmed and enshrined in +my heart, I crossed in one of the great gulf steamers to Mobile, the home +of the celebrated Madame Le Verte; but, as her continued travels call her +so often away from the city in which she so gracefully and so heartfully +dispensed the hospitalities of home-life, and opened wide her doors to the +stranger, I was not privileged to meet her; nor can I note many of the +manifold celebrities of the city. I can only say I found it as beautiful +as a dream; its skies of sweet Italian softness; its waters clear and +pure as "Pyerian Springs;" its winds gentle as the whisper of an Angel; +its flowers gorgeous in tint and redolent with fragrance; the spirits of +its people attuned to harmony with their beautiful surroundings, and +overflowing with generous sentiment. + +Without the slightest intimation upon my own part, I was presented with +passes over the Mobile and Ohio Railway, by which I went to Cairo, and +thence by the magnet, which so often drew my spirit toward the pole to +Chicago. + +After a brief respite and rest I went to Minnesota, in whose life-giving +climate I spent the summer. Passing over the oft-told tale of financial +success, I must address myself to those who-- + + "Love the haunts of nature, + Love the sunshine of the meadow, + Love the shadow of the forest, + Love the wind among the branches + And the rushing of great rivers + Through their palisades and pine trees; + And the thunder of the mountains, + Whose innumerable echoes + Flap like eagles in their eyries." + +To these I must revert to the many beauteous haunts and hidden retreats +of nature, whose varied phases of quiet sweetness and sublime grandeur are +heightened and intensified by the charm of legend and of song. + +I visited the falls of "Minne-ha-ha," and could almost fancy the silvery +song and light laughter of the Indian girl in the happy purling music of +the waterfall, and, as it glided off into the gentler murmur of the +stream, below, I could imagine the still sadder song of the spirit +speeding to rest in + + "The Islands of the Blessed, + To the Land of the Hereafter." + +Minneapolis and St. Paul were visited, but they are all too celebrated to +need note. + +Back again to the "Garden City," and to the one who had so patiently +waited for the sunshine of success and the consummation of our plans for +the future; but, as "the best made plans of mice and men aft gang aglee," +we found ourselves no nearer the goal. One day he said to me: "Mary, we +have waited to be richer, but have still grown poorer; so is it not best +that, in defiance of our apparently adverse fate, we unite our interests +and our lives?" So hand in hand we resolved to share the joys and sorrows +of life, each catching the burden of the old refrain-- + + "Thy smile could make a summer + Where darkness else would be." + +We repaired to the house of Dr. O.H. Tiffany, and, in the presence of a +few friends, were quietly married, after which we made an unostentatious +wedding trip to Wisconsin to visit some of his family friends. + +With them all the "wonder grew" why it was that, among the many smiles +hitherto lavished upon him from beautiful eyes, he should have chosen the +blind girl. His reiterated assertion of faith in the purity and +unselfishness of the life, and the inner light of the soul, found in them +a ready acceptance of his choice, and they warmly extended to her all the +confidence and affection of kindred hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + "To know, to esteem, to love, and then to _part_, + Makes up life's tale to many a feeling heart." + + +A short time after our marriage Mr. Arms was offered a contract to +superintend the construction of a mill at Woodbine, Iowa, which it seemed +best for him to accept; and finding there were no comfortable +accommodations for a lady in that place, he left me in a boarding house in +Chicago, with Hattie for a companion. It was indeed hard for us to part so +soon, and the pang was rendered more bitter by the fact of his impaired +health, for he had never entirely recovered from the effects of the +malarial fever contracted in a miasmatic district in Indiana. + +After his departure time hung so heavily upon my hands, my present +aimless, carefree life being in such striking contrast to the activity and +excitement of travel, that I secretly resolved, as separation was +inevitable, to resume my old life, and thus be of assistance to my +husband. Unknown to him I wrote to my publishers for a fresh supply of +books, and started for Michigan, the State which held within its +boundaries the first scenes of sorrow my young life had known, when, amid +helpless and hopeless hours of persecution, my girlhood seemed rayless and +forsaken, but when kind friends had come in the hour of need, and helpful +hands had lifted me from the dark depths. From there I wrote to Mr. Arms, +communicating to him my intention to travel. He sent me a touching reply, +saying he had never intended me to battle with the outside world again, +but, if I deemed it best, it was perhaps well. + +I had cherished a desire to visit the place in which I lived with the +family of Ruthven, for then I could look above and beyond the clouds of +early days, and discern the many golden gleams and rosy rays, the many +halcyon hours of happiness and hope. So, after the spirit has passed +through the purifying fires of persecution, it can calmly look back with +a triumphant soul song. But these old scenes were in places so remote and +inaccessible that I was forced to forego the pleasure of visiting them; +but in many other places I found the old familiar landmarks gone, and the +transformations of time had placed in their stead forms and faces new and +strange. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + "A generous friendship no cold medium knows, + Burns with one love, with one resentment glows." + + +After remaining in Michigan until late in the winter, we crossed over to +Canada via the Grand Trunk Railway. Our first stopping place was at Saint +Mary's, where at the depot we found a nice sleigh awaiting us with, all +the necessary appurtenances for comfort, in the way of robes and blankets. +Deposited at the hotel in safety, we handed the driver seventy-five cents +and were astonished at having fifty cents returned. Supposing there was +some mistake, we demurred, when he said, "My charge is two York shillings +or twenty-five cents United States money." Surely we thought the spirit of +Yankee greed has not yet penetrated the Provinces, when two women, three +trunks, satchels, &c., can be comfortably transported for so small a sum. +At the hotel we were at once ushered into a warm and comfortable suite of +rooms, a pleasant contrast to the usual season of weary waiting for a +room. Indeed during our entire stay in the town there was not one omission +of attention to our comfort. + +At Port Hope we were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Mackey, of the Mackey House, +and received from them such kindness as we could scarce expect from old +friends. Just here let me say that I had heard so many sneering allusions +to the character of the "Canucks," that I was quite unprepared for the +universal polish, elegance, cordiality and kindness of the Canadians. + +We went from Port Hope to Toronto, the home of the celebrated Canadian +Oculist, Doctor Roseborough, whose fame had been heralded in every portion +of the Provinces I had visited. My past experience had so disgusted me +with eye surgeons that for one week I had daily passed his house, +instinctively avoiding an entrance. One day, however, I quite as +instinctively sought an interview with the Doctor, impelled by some +strange impulse I could not well define. I was familiarly but courteously +greeted with these words, "You have been in the city an entire week, and +yet have not called to see me." In reply I frankly confessed that I +avoided upon principle the members of his branch of the surgical +profession. + +His subtle magnetism would soon have dispelled all feeling of repulsion; +and before I was conscious of the degree of confidence he inspired, I +found myself almost persuaded to accept his cordial invitation to tea. The +only barrier I could interpose was want of acquaintance with his wife, and +that obstacle was soon removed. We found her a most intelligent and +charming person, and her mother, Mrs. Reeves, who was present, a +dignified, stately English lady of "the old regime." + +In a few moments after our meeting all her reserve vanished, and she +impulsively and almost tearfully drew near. She told in trembling tones of +a blind sister who had passed away some time before, and while she had +come in contact with so many who had resorted to her son-in-law for +treatment, she had never before met one who resembled her sister, while +in me she seemed to have found her counterpart. + +This became at once a bond between us, and throwing off all her usual +reserve, she insisted upon having us leave the hotel and spend the +remainder of the time of our stay with her. So pronounced was her +character and so peremptory her demand, there was no room for refusal, and +when in a succeeding conversation with her son I expressed some +compunction at our stay, I was at once silenced by the remark that his +mother was a woman of marked idiosyncracies, and when she so distinguished +an individual as to make them a guest the decision was final, and I must +not wound her by an expression of possible impropriety. It is needless to +say I left this family with deep regret, carrying letters from Doctor +Roseborough; and in my visits to the various places en route to Montreal I +found these credentials of great service. + +On arriving at Montreal we were handsomely domiciled at St. Lawrence Hall. +Our room was large and airy, and our bed stood in one of those quaint old +alcoves so peculiar to the English bed-chamber; while the table d'hote, +with its savory roast beef, plumb pudding, etc., was equally +characteristic of British comfort. + +This was during the blustering month of March, and all who have visited +that city at the season in which it becomes necessary to cut away the ice +from the streets will remember the pitfalls and realize how difficult it +would be for the blind, even with the kindest and most careful attendance, +to avoid danger. I escaped without any greater mishap than a fall into one +of these excavations, attended by a wetting of my feet, as well as a +thorough soaking of five books and their consequent loss. I had, however, +four weeks of successful canvassing, and during that time the condition of +the streets had quite improved. + +As my payments were made in the current coin of Canada, and I had the +advantage of easy access to the States, I exchanged my silver at a premium +of thirty-five per cent, and my gold at forty per cent., thus greatly +enhancing my profits. In this connection I must acknowledge the kindness +of the residents of Montreal, as well as their more than liberal +patronage, which I will ever gratefully remember. + +Returning to Toronto I rejoined my friends, and, after another short +season with them, I went to Ottawa, the delightful Capital of Ontario, +then Canada West, arriving there about two days after the news of the +assassination of D'Arcy McGee, his household being in mourning, and the +whole community convulsed and sobbing in responsive sorrow. + +This martyred man seemed to have had a singular premonition of death, +which came foreshadowed in a dream. He was visiting some intimate lady +friends, and after dinner threw himself upon a lounge for a short siesta, +when, suddenly springing up from a disturbed slumber, he exclaimed: "I +believe I am going to be murdered!" Whereupon he related his dream. He +said he thought himself in a little boat, floating upon a stream, and +accompanied by two men, who, in spite of his convulsive efforts to near +the shore, persistently allowed him to float down the stream to the falls +below, over which his boat was madly hurled, when, by his imaginary fall, +he was awakened with a strange and premonitory dread in his heart. His +devoted wife survived him but a short time, and was found dead at her +bedside in the attitude of prayer, where, as her spirit was wafted away +upon the wings of devotion, her face was left placid and smiling in its +last sleep. + + "So united were they in life, + And in death were not divided." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + "Howe'er it be, it seems to me + 'Tis only noble to be good, + Since hearts are more than coronets, + And simple faith than Norman blood." + + +The various localities in Ottawa being so familiar to so many readers and +tourists, I will not dwell upon them at length, but suffice it to say I +visited the various Government Departments, and could not fail to be +deeply impressed by the truly elegant manners and courtly bearing of the +officials. + +In one of these Departments I found an elderly gentleman, slightly +afflicted with deafness. According to the etiquette of their business +regulations I was received in standing attitude, and in the few moments' +interview were condensed the thoughts and feelings of years. He bought my +book, for which he paid two dollars and a half in gold, and, as he bade me +good-bye, he stooped and kissed my forehead with the stately grace of a +cavalier of the Crusades, which act of emotional deference was heightened +by the hot tears which fell from his eyes and dropped upon my cheeks, and +the fervor of his repeated--"God bless you, my child." + +At Hamilton we called at the Mute and Blind Asylums, which were then +combined in one, where we were received with great kindness, every +possible attention being lavished upon us to heighten our interest and +render our visit enjoyable. Going to Buffalo we had a social, cozy visit +with an aunt of Hattie's, after which we proceeded to Niagara Falls. + +It is no wonder that, as a nation, we are proud of Niagara, which, in +grandeur and sublimity, rivals any waterfall of note in the world. Taking +a carriage we drove to the Canada side, where are so many localities of +historical interest, and where, at certain points, are found the finest +views of the falls. I remained in the carriage while Hattie went under the +dashing, roaring, maddening sheet of water, which feat, as well as the +usual one of a trip in the Maid of the Mist, seems necessary, in its +apparent peril, to a full appreciation of the awful and stupendous +grandeur of this phenomenon of nature. + +I walked over Suspension Bridge in order to realize its construction +through the sense of feeling, and our driver seemed much amused at my +manner of seeing. Dismissing our carriage, we walked over Goat Island, in +order to better take in the diversified beauty. The old man at the bridge, +in consideration of my affliction, refused to accept the usual fee; so +hard-hearted as they seem, in their spirit of gain, they have still some +vulnerable point, some avenue left open to the heart, thus confirming the +humanitarian sentiment, that no nature is utterly depraved. + +Entering into conversation with the old bridge-tender, I was amused and +surprised at his fund of anecdote and wealth of wit. Among other playful +jests he declared he could define the exact condition of heart in each +individual who crossed over, as accurately as we note the mercury in the +barometer for atmospheric probabilities, even going so far as to say that +he could guess the "Yes" or "No," and consequently the engagement or +non-engagement of each returning couple. + +We followed the meandering paths and shaded seclusions, where tree and +flower, rock and stream make up the fairy realm, and crowned all by +standing in the tower on Table Rock, our hearts awed and reverent and our +lips inaudibly whispering "Be still, and know that I am God." + +Leaving by the Great Western Railway we stopped at London, Canada, where +Hattie had friends, and where I found a letter from my husband, who had +returned from Woodbine, and being about to establish himself for a time in +Milwaukee, where he was to build a mill, he desired me to return at once +and accompany him. Without delay we sped on in the lightning train to +Chicago, my impatient heart keeping time with the winged flight of the +cars. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + "And the night shall be filled with music, + And the thoughts that infest the day + Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, + And as quietly steal away." + + +Our hearts beating with high hopes and expectant joys, we once more +settled down to happiness in Milwaukee. A joyful trio were we, my husband, +Hattie and myself. Our location in the Lake House, then one of the most +popular little hotels in the city, augured well for a pleasant sojourn. + +Mrs. Towle, the proprietress, was one who had deeply drank of the cup of +sorrow, the first draught coming from the hand of one who had vowed her +his love and protection, and who, after twenty-five years of wedded life, +deserted her. When, with apparent penitence, he returned to her, he was +received to her forgiving heart, and then came the draining of the bitter +dregs in a second desertion. + +With her two children as her only dower, she patiently took up the burden +of life, and bravely bore all, supporting and educating her two daughters, +and never losing dignity or caste. + +No more delightful summer resort could be found than Milwaukee, familiarly +known as the "Cream City," from the light straw or creamy tint of the +brick, which forms so large a part in the architecture of that city, and +gives an air of charming cleanliness to the buildings. This shade is said +by chemists to be the result of the want of the usual element of iron in +the clay of which it is made, and so curious is it to strangers that it +has become a familiar saying that few people leave Milwaukee without +carrying away "a brick in their hats," this being doubtless in part a +jesting allusion to the apparently all-pervading spirit of the gay +Gambrinus apparent there and the numberless manufactories of the foaming +lager. Yet methinks this is no longer a more striking characteristic there +than elsewhere, in spite of the predominant German element. + +The word "Milwaukee" signifies rich land, and the truthful significance of +the appellation is amply testified by the rare flowers, green gardens, +fertile fields and towering forests in and around it, all of which are the +outgrowth of its soil of rich alluvial loam. + +Milwaukee is a city whose animus is in striking contrast to the daring, +dashing spirit of Chicago, but its substantial wealth, cash basis, and +slow, careful, steady progress, have led it on to sure success, so well +attested by the quiet and substantial elegance of its business buildings, +the palatial proportions and exquisite finish of its private dwellings, +with their appropriate appointments of cultivated conservatories, gorgeous +gardens and rare works of art. The well stored libraries evince an +advanced degree of cultivation, and the literary coteries a prevailing +element of the dilletante spirit, while the plain, rich habiliments, and +the elegant turnouts with liveried attendants, indicate a degree of +fashion and style unknown in many larger cities; and their manufactories +and business houses suggest great mercantile advancement, their elevators +and shipping a high order of commercial greatness. + +Their harbor is one of the finest in the world, and by travelers is said +to resemble that of the beautiful Naples. Indeed, the extended view from +the drive upon Prospect Street is without a rival. Beautiful Boulevardes +were then in quite advanced process of construction, and in time must rank +among the most shaded, flowery walks and drives in the world. + +Swiftly sped the summer hours in fair Milwaukee, with its gay gladiolas +and blue skies, its crystal waters and grand old forests, until it ceased +to be a wonder why so many health and pleasure seekers made it a resort, +and that it became, during the warm season, a fashionable watering place. + +One of our most frequent rendezvous was upon the lake shore, where, in a +sweet secluded spot, far away from the throng which resorted there, a +rough log for a seat, we were wont to sit for hours, listening to the +music of the bands upon the excursion boats as they came and went with +their scores of pleasure seekers, and the still more harmonious melody of +the waves as they rose and fell at our feet in low, soft, musical murmurs. + +Among the many attractions of Milwaukee is that of one of the several +noble institutions erected by our Government and known as National +Soldiers' Homes. + +It is located four miles west of the city, and is accessible both by +Elizabeth Street and Grand Avenue, two of the most delightful drives of +Milwaukee. + +Its eight hundred acres are beautifully enclosed and finely cultivated, +being laid out by one of its former chaplains, according to the most +artistic rules of landscape gardening; every coil and curve of avenue +being a line of beauty, and its fifteen miles of drive startling the eye +with its grouping of lake and garden, bridge and stream, fern-clad ravines +and sunny heights. + +Amid its dense groves are fairy pavilions, in which its maimed and scarred +veterans discourse sweet music by a silver cornet band, without one +grating sound or discordant note. + +Without the rigid discipline of active array life, these veterans have +sufficient military discipline for comfort and order, and one cannot fail +to remark the systematic precision which characterizes the performance of +their daily duties. + +I cannot say all I should like to say in regard to these institutions, but +suffice it to say that I found many sympathizing and some old friends +among the blind, and was glad to learn that these soldiers, as a class, +ranked among the most cultivated inmates. + +I cannot close my chapter upon this subject without alluding to the +magnanimous generosity of the Milwaukeeans in their donation of one +hundred thousand dollars to the National Home Fund, the proceeds of a +Sanitary Fair, in which white hands and deft fingers, faithfully and +patriotically wrought, for the benefit of the disabled soldiers, and few +cities could boast of a nobler donation. I must also allude to the high +appreciation in which the Homes are held by foreign dignitaries. + +Miss Emily Faithful, the fair amanuensis and confidential friend of Queen +Victoria, while visiting America in an official capacity, spent a day in +socially visiting and carefully inspecting the Soldiers' Home of +Milwaukee. Astonished and entertained she pronounced it the most +pleasurable day she had spent in this country. + +The Grand Duke Alexis left upon its register the only autograph written in +person in a public place, bestowing upon the institution the most +extravagant encomiums, both himself and his suite of traveled and titled +gentlemen pronouncing it a wonder and a marvel! + +The Reverend Doctor Smythe, of Dublin, Ireland, when in attendance upon +the Evangelical Alliance, visited the Soldiers' Home of Dayton, Ohio. +Examining its magnificent libraries, seventy thousand dollar chapel and +its hospital, the finest in the world, he was spell-bound. Going to its +music hall and listening to its band, inhaling the perfume of its +conservatories, visiting its grottoes, bowers and springs, rowing on its +lakes, seeing its aviaries with birds of all varieties of plumage and +song, and driving in its parks inhabited by buffalo, elk, antelope and +over five hundred deer; he exclaimed with evident fervor, "In the _Old +Country_, libraries, conservatories, bands and parks are for the nobility; +in the new world they are for the soldiery." And what nobler compliment +could he have paid to our country and its institutions? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + "Farewell! a word that must be, and hath been; + A sound that makes us linger; yet farewell." + + +The summer being ended, we visited the friends of Mr. Arms in Wisconsin, +after which he went to Grinnell, Iowa, in pursuit of his usual avocation. +My own delicate health made it necessary for me to be again winging my way +southward. Going to Atlanta, Ga., and making that my headquarters, I +visited with marked success all the towns of importance on the various +railroad routes diverging from this centre. I then made Macon another +headquarters, after which I canvassed the greater part of the State. + +The forests were filled with flowering shrubs and trailing vines, the +towering trees hung with the wild, weird drapery of the southern moss, and +the mocking birds sang their sweet songs from "early morn 'til dewy eve." +These scenes "vibrate in memory" with quivering, throbbing power, and come +back like odors exhaled from fading flowers or "music when soft voices +die." + +Selma, Alabama, became my third headquarters, where I boarded with Mrs. +Cooke, a lovely woman of the purely southern type, who, before the great +conflict, was a millionaire, and was afterward forced for her own support +to convert a large mansion into a huge boarding house, which, with its +hundred guests, was a cheerful, happy home; permeated as it was by the +sunshine she diffused, and lighted by the fairy face of her lovely +daughter, who was named for her native State, Alabama. + +As in the aboriginal tongue this signifies "here we rest," and it became +to us a name deeply fraught with significance, for in this pure untainted +heart we found "rest! sweet rest!" + +"En route" to Rome I met with my usual good fortune in finding another +friend in a lady resident of the country, who fondly urged me to leave the +hotel and make my home with her, where she lavished upon me every luxury +and kindness. Her husband was the only man in that region of country who +voted for Abraham Lincoln; and when General Sherman made his "March to the +Sea," she concealed none of her stores or treasures, but went to him and +asked protection for her property and home, when a guard was immediately +furnished her by the commander. + +She afterward married an officer of this guard, in consequence of which +she was disowned by her family and associates, but in the noble and +sterling qualities of her husband found ample compensation as well as a +subsequent reconciliation with friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + "'Tis a little thing + To give a cup of water; yet its draught + Of cool refreshment, drained by fervid lips, + May give a shock of pleasure to the frame + More exquisite than when nectarian juice + Renews the life of joy in happiest hours." + + +In order to reach Montgomery I took passage in one of the high-pressure +steamers of the Alabama river, and during the two days and nights of the +trip I was surrounded by a throng of sympathizing, interested passengers, +whose tender tones and gentle touch was as a cool, refreshing draught to +parched lips, a sweet morsel to the tongue, for human hearts ever hunger +and thirst for affection. How utterly unendurable would be this life, with +its desert wastes and hot siroccos, but for the sweet, verdant spots +dotting the sandy sea, whence spring the "fountains of perpetual peace" +and issue the healing waters. + +These loving ones surrounded me as I sat busily occupied with my bead +work, and not only delighted and entertained with their curious questions +and familiar chat, but freely bought my books and fifty dollars worth of +baskets, while they would doubtless have doubled the amount had not this +exhausted my little store. + +As we steamed in sight of Montgomery a gentleman came into the cabin and +requested me to make for him eight of the handsomest bead baskets before +we landed; and, seeing an amused and incredulous smile upon my face, he +said: "You work so dexterously and so rapidly that I did not realize that +my demand was unreasonable." Explaining to him that it would require eight +hours of the closest application to accomplish that amount of work, he +apologized and left me. Nor did this specimen of the "genus homo" evince +any unusual ignorance of woman's work, whose endless routine and +diversified drudgery ofttimes require the patience of a Job and the wisdom +of a Solomon. In the labyrinth of domestic entanglement more is needed +than the silken clue of Ariadne, and the vexed question of domestic +economy requires the unerring skill of the diplomatist, the subtle tact of +the politician, and the sure strength of the statesman. The "Poet of +Poets" has shown his appreciation of the character and life of woman in +the following lines: + + From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive; + They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; + They are the books, the arts, the academies, + That show, contain and nourish all the world. + +After a pleasant and successful visit to Montgomery we went via the Mobile +Railroad to Evergreen, a little town fitly named from its deeply shaded +evergreen surroundings. We reached this little hamlet at two o'clock in +the morning, and those who are familiar with the cold and penetrating +dampness of a southern night, even in mid-summer, could realize our +condition and desire for rest and warmth, and know something of our +disappointment at finding the one poor little hotel of the town without a +vacant room. Seeking the office for a resting place, we found the case +equally hopeless, for congregated within its narrow limits were men, +women and children, every one of whom was stretched in various attitudes +upon the floor, as peacefully enfolded in the arms of Morpheus, and, +perchance, as sweetly dreaming as if resting upon beds of down and +pillowed upon fine linen and gossamer lace. + +Sleep is indeed to such "tired nature's sweet restorer," and to those +whose healthy bodies and unambitious natures know no perturbation it is +balmy and refreshing. + +Turning from the unconscious, slumbering group for one friendly face, we +were greeted by Major Lanier, of the Confederate Army, whose manner and +tone not only betokened the gentleman, but whose acts of kindness evinced +the true and chivalrous heart so characteristic of the southern character. +After failing in repeated efforts to find us a room, he gave us his +blankets and great coat, and all through the dreary watches of the night +fed the fire with wood, which with one hand he chopped, while with the +other he fought off the rabid attacks of fierce and barking dogs, which +persistently assailed him. Had we been distinguished ladies, or had there +been any probability of the gallant major being praised, complimented, or +in any way preferred for this act of gallantry, it might have been less +appreciated, but it was an act of purely chivalrous courtesy to two +strange ladies in humble position, and his only reward was our poor thanks +and the approval of his own generous heart. It must have had its comic +side, too, to see a major of the regular Confederate service, who had done +battle on the field where glory was to be won, groping in the dismal dark +of the night and running the risk of being severely hurt, possibly of +being killed, by dogs, practicing war with one hand, and dispensing a +noble if not an ostentatious charity with the other. + +We had been promised the room opening into the office as soon as it was +vacated, and at the first streak of coming dawn the Major stationed +himself near the door, listening for the slightest sound; and when from +the carefully guarded chamber the faintest rustle came he would jocularly +exclaim: "Ladies, prospects are brightening!" and so he helped us to +while away the weary hours until we secured the promised room and bed, +where we rested until noon. + +When we arose from this refreshing rest we found that the session of court +had brought this throng, and we were soon surrounded with visitors, who +kept us constantly conversing and almost incessantly weaving baskets for +their amusement. These people not only bought large stores of my work, but +their talk sent crowds of people from far and near, all of whom made +purchases of some kind. Such was the interest of every member of the bar +and every attendant upon court that the four days I spent there completely +exhausted me, physically and mentally. + +Finding there were no other important towns beyond Evergreen, I returned +to Montgomery and repaired to Savannah, Georgia, where I was treated with +the most genial generosity, and should have been repaid for a trip to that +place in a visit to its cemetery, whose reputation has been spread +throughout the length and breadth of our land, and whose strange, sad +beauty is so infinitely beyond the conceptions of imagination, but +which-- + + "To be remembered + Needs but to be seen." + +Its grounds are densely grown with trees of live oak, whose huge and +spreading branches, seeming to bear the size and strength of a century's +growth; with the dark, drooping moss, which, as it mingles its weird, +fantastic drapery with the bending, swaying, weeping willow, seems like a +pall for the graves hidden in its sombre shades; while the millions of +birds which dwell therein lull their warbling notes to the measure of a +low funeral song; and every sound of Nature's many-voiced music seems to +murmur a requiem for the dead. As I sat subdued and listening, the low, +rustling sound of the wind seemed as a sigh of sorrow escaping the breast +of the bereaved, and I could picture in the far away land of Palestine +that sacred spot which had so often been described to me, even the "Church +of the Holy Sepulchre." + +This most benevolent city of Georgia, without solicitation, presented me +passes to Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Fla. The former was at that time +quite an unimportant place, but has since become a popular resort. + +While in Tallahassee I met with great sympathy and kindness from Governor +Rood, who bought a book and handed me five dollars. When change was +tendered to him he quietly and respectfully declined, and said with his +usual delicacy that it was worth that much to him. + +The Sheriff of the county was also very generous. Wishing to present me +with ten dollars, and fearing to wound me by so doing, he ordered that +amount of bead-work. + +Tallahassee was certainly the most quiet Capital City I had ever visited, +resting in its placid loveliness apparently undisturbed by the usual +wrangle of legislation. + +We returned via Live Oaks, at which place we encountered one of those +severe thunderstorms known only to tropical lands, and in which the angry +"war of elements" strikes terror to the hearts of those unschooled to it. +All through its thundering and lightning, its wind and torrent, I was in +such a state of nervous excitement, that when the last lurid light faded, +the last crash was echoed by a low reverberating moan and died away, I +gave one deep sigh of intense relief and sank exhausted from the reaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + "I lay upon the headland heights, and listened + To the incessant moaning of the sea + In caverns under me, + And watched the waves that tossed, + And fled, and glistened; + Until the rolling meadows of amethyst + Melted away in mist." + + +My visit to Charleston combined little of eventful note, and this city is +to well known as a seaport to require a detailed description. There, as in +all places in close proximity to the ocean, I was spell-bound amid the +ceaseless ebb and flow, the endless melody of the waves glowing and +scintillating with myriad gem-like hues from the amethyst, the emerald and +the diamond, to the many-hued opal, its varied and changing beauty bearing +all the brilliant glory of the fabled dolphin, born in its depths. + +In this sea-girt city I found the home of Mrs. Glover, and above all her +hallowed presence there. She is an accomplished lady, and once wrote an +attractive novel, more for pastime than from any literary aspirations. + +Vernon, the hero of her story of Vernon Grove, was blind, and as this +depiction of character was so much more true to nature than the +pen-pictures of other gifted delineators, even that of the shrewd searcher +of the human heart, Wilkie Collins, that she had won the sympathy and +interest of all at the Baltimore Institution, at which, in former years, +she had been so cheerfully greeted. + +Vernon possessed none of the melancholy, inanimate, suspicious +characteristics supposed by many to belong of necessity to the blind, but +was a brilliant, cheerful, high-minded person, who filled every position +in life with dignity, accepted every sorrow and disappointment with +resignation, in every struggle was a lion-hearted hero, and in every +contest a conqueror. + +This gifted lady was a sister of Mrs. Bowen, of Baltimore, who, as well as +her husband, was a warm, true friend to the blind, and ever joyously +hailed as a guest in the institution. + +After traveling through the Carolinas I went to Richmond, Virginia, the +Rome of America, and like that ancient city built upon seven hills, while +in its patrician pride and family loyalty it possessed much of the essence +of the old Roman spirit. + +My visit there was during the most fervid heat of the summer solstice, +when through the sultry days all living creatures are panting and +breathless, yet withal the stay of three weeks' duration passed away with +delightful rapidity, and time stole upon us and stole from us almost +imperceptibly. + +Leaving Richmond for White Sulphur Springs, I stopped at all important +intervening points. At Staunton I devoted an entire day to the inspection +of the Institution for the Blind, and in pleasant acceptance of +hospitalities dispensed both by inmates and officials. + +Arriving at White Sulphur after dark, we found the mountain air so cold +that we could almost imagine ourselves suddenly transported from the +Equator to the Pole, and were as thoroughly chilled as one unacclimated +would be from so great and sudden a transition. + +The mammoth hotel of this watering place, comfortably seated in its +dining-hall twelve hundred guests, and all its appointments were in +equally grand proportion. We occupied, from choice, one of the cozy little +cottages, nestling like a dove-cot in some bowery shade, with its patch of +green-sward and flower-garden in front and purling brook behind, holding +the double charm of rural simplicity and home-like air. Hattie led me +through every path and grove, nook and glen of this sweet seclusion, this +valley embosomed in mountains, and my thoughts reverted to the days when +the belles and beaux of our American court sought these sylvan shades; +when Washington and the successive Chief Magistrates of the Great Republic +had gracefully glided through the stately minuet and invested this spot +with a now classic interest. + +Prominent among the visitors was the leonine General Lee, a Colossus in +person and in mind. In spirit brave as a true hero, but in manner gentle +as a woman. In the sweet solace of sympathy his heart went out to the +blind girl, and assumed the tangible form of solid favors, for by his +personal efforts under the magic influence and royal mandate of his +imperial power many a little volume was appropriated that would have been +otherwise unnoticed. + +George Peabody was also a guest, but in this, his last visit to his native +country, he was too ill and prostrate to receive friends. I felt for him a +strong personal sympathy for his beneficence to my native city, to which +he ever acknowledged himself indebted for his first business success; and +in which the pure, white marble structure, with its magnificent library +and other appointments, so well known as "The Peabody Institute," stands +as a monument of his munificence. + +Returning to Richmond, we took the James River route to Baltimore, a trip +fraught with varied interest. + +At Yorktown, that city of eld, we landed to take in a cargo of freight, +not neglecting the usual store of oysters, of which we had at supper a +sumptuous feast and it was from no fickle epicurean fancy that all +pronounced these delicious bivalves the finest in the world, for, +certainly, never before or since have we partaken of them with such rare +relish and absolute gusto. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + "Sweet is the hour that brings us home, + Where all will spring to meet us; + Where hands are striving as we come, + To be the first to greet us. + When the world has spent its frowns and wrath, + And care been sorely pressing; + 'Tis sweet to turn from our roving path, + And find a fireside blessing; + Ah, joyfully dear is the homeward track, + If we are but sure of a welcome back!" + + +Home again in dear old Baltimore, where over my cradle was sung my +mother's first lullaby, and where so many localities were invested with +the charm of loved association. I of course visited the Institution for +the Blind, which would not, in its many changes, have seemed at all like +home but for the music of a familiar voice and the presence of dear Miss +Bond, who still with loving dignity presided as matron, throned in the +majesty of noble humanity, and crowned with purity and goodness. + +Dr. Fisher, Mr. Trust and Mr. Newcomer still faithfully held their +positions as Directors, and cordially welcomed me home. Mr. Morrison, the +new Superintendent, and his most estimable wife, although they had never +seen me, brought me near to them by the bond of sympathetic kindness, and +seemed not like strangers but friends. + +It seemed singular to those who had known little Mary Day to have her go +back to them a married woman, and indeed, for the moment, time seemed to +have gone backward in its flight; the dignity of the matron was forgotten, +and I was a child again, even little Mary Day. I felt glad of an assurance +from Miss Bond, that so fondly had my name been cherished, even by those +in the institution who had never met me, that it was regarded as a +"household word," and that enshrined in the most sacred niche of the +temple of love was the image of Mary L. Day. As a testimony of this +continued affection I was fondly urged to remain in the institution while +in the city, but, as I had so many resident relatives, I declined. + +My cousin, William Heald, who had by his kindness infused light into some +of my darkest hours, had won a lovely woman for a wife, and certainly no +one more richly deserved such a consummation. Cousin Sammy Heald had also +married his fair fiance, of the West, who in her sweet purity of +character, beauty of person and a life fragrant and blossoming with good +deeds, could justly be called a "prairie flower." He had been ordained a +Methodist minister, and was winning true laurels in his little charge in +Iowa, to which conference he belonged. He had chosen his proper vocation, +for as a preacher he was "Native, and to the manor born," for when a wee +boy, he had written and declaimed many a sermon, and had his mimic +audience been a real one these efforts would have produced electrical +effect. + +Among the many changes in my Baltimore circle was the vacant chair at the +fireside, once filled by my uncle Jacob Day, whose memory and whose life +was pervaded by the odor of true sanctity. It could truly be said of him +at the sunset of a beautiful life, that + + "Each silver hair, each wrinkle there, + Records some good deed done; + Some flower cast along the way, + Some spark from love's bright sun." + +He had been a great leader in the Sabbath School movement, and a prominent +feature of the funeral cortege was a procession of his pupils in pure +white raiment, who, in token of their love and bereavement, strewed his +grave with flowers. + +I cannot close my home chapter without an expression of exultant pride for +my classmates who have done so nobly in their various vocations. Two had +entered the literary ranks as book-writers, and had met with marked +success in the acceptance and sale of their works; three stood high as +teachers; one earned a good living by tuning pianos; several were engaged +in various departments of the institution; and two ranked high as +musicians, which profession has seemed an especial field for the blind. + +To use the musical measure of poetic prose as rendered by Mr. Artman, one +of the most renowned blind authors--"There is a world to which night +brings no gloom, no sadness, no impediments; fills no yawning chasm and +hides from the traveler no pitfall. It is the world of sound. Silence is +its night, the only darkness of which the blind have any knowledge. In it +every attribute of Nature has a voice; the beautiful, the grand, the +sublime, have each a language, and to me, whose heart is in tune, every +sound has a peculiar significance. Sounds fill the soul, while light fills +the eye only. 'In the varied strains of warbling melody,' as it winds in +its graceful meanderings to the deep recesses of his soul, or of the rich +and boundless harmony, as it swells and rolls its pompous tide around him, +he finds a solace and a compensation for the absent joys of sight." + +And so I close with a blessing upon the members of my class, and may the +God of light and love illumine their paths, and glorify their lives, is my +earnest, heartfelt prayer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + "The prayer of Ajax was for light; + Through all that dark and desperate fight, + The blackness of that noonday night, + He asked but the return of sight, + To see his foeman's face. + + "Let our unceasing, earnest prayer + Be, too, for light--for strength to bear + Our portion of the weight of care, + That crushes into dumb despair + One half the human race." + + +From Baltimore I went to Westminster, Maryland, to visit my cousin, +Charles Henniman, and my stay there was characterized by all the joy of +sweet reunion and eager acceptance of hospitalities so lavishly bestowed. +It was with mingled emotions of pleasure and pain I greeted my old friend, +Carrie Fringer. In person she was of a peculiar type of beauty, a face +regular in features as a Madonna, beaming with the soft, love-light of +rare, sweet eyes, in whose depths were imprisoned not only an intense +brightness, but the still deeper glow of a soul of love and truth. Curls +of soft brown hair fell upon her symmetrical shoulders and softened the +face they framed into an almost spiritual sweetness. From an affliction in +her childhood she had almost ever since been unable to walk, and indeed +none of the beautiful limbs were available for voluntary motion. Thus +deprived of more than half of life's joy, its sweet activity, many would +have lapsed into a morbid, nervous condition, over which we might justly +have thrown the mantle of charity, but this dear friend was so lovely and +chastened in her affliction, that she seemed almost a Deity in her +attributes of tender love and patient self-abnegation, united to a heroic +endurance of pain with which she was daily, hourly and momently tortured. +Surely + + "The good are better made by ill, + As odors crushed are sweeter still." + +Going to Washington I accompanied an excursion down the Potomac to Mount +Vernon, that sacred spot whose mention sends a thrill of patriotic pride +through every American heart, hallowed as it is by memories of George +Washington. So I became one of the zealous pilgrim throng who wended their +way to this our Mecca, dear to us as that sacred place in the old world to +the most devout worshiper of the Prophet Mahomet. + +Reaching our destination we first repaired to the tomb, and with bowed and +uncovered heads all reverently gazed upon the mausoleum of departed +greatness, and turned to the mansion, each department of which had its own +peculiar charm. + +Prominent among other relics were his war-equipments, the paraphernalia of +Revolutionary times; and as we ever associate him with his character as +general, these were especially significant from the sword so often wielded +with masterly power, to the little canteen, from which, after long and +weary marches, he refreshed his parched lips. + +In his bed-chamber, with its antique air and quaint garniture, there stood +a bedstead, the fac-simile of the one upon which he died. Here we lingered +long and lovingly, and turned to another department, in one corner of +which stood a harpsichord, once belonging to his niece, Miss Lewis. In +fancy I could see her fairy fingers as they swept in "waves of grace" over +its strings, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" ministered to a circle +of distinguished listeners. I could not resist the impulse to pass my +hands over the long neglected strings, and recalled the sentiment of the +old song, + + "As a sweet lute that lingers + In silence alone; + Unswept by light fingers. + Scarce murmurs a tone; + My own heart resembles, + This lute, light and free, + 'Til o'er its chord trembles + Sweet memories of thee." + +The garden still remained as arranged by his taste and dictation, and at +one corner of the house the magnolia tree, planted by his own hand, still +bloomed in fragrant beauty. + +In the yard was the old well, with "its moss-covered, iron-bound bucket," +and at the door the gray-haired negro, the inevitable servant of "Massa +Washington," who will doubtless, like a wandering Jew, out live all time, +and for centuries to come remain an attaché of our country's father. + +Several gentlemen present evinced and expressed great surprise that a +blind woman should go to _see_ Mount Vernon, yet I very much doubt if any +eyes really saw more than my own. When we reached the boat, each gentleman +carried in his hand a cane cut from the woods of Mount Vernon, and one and +all returned to Washington with the consciousness of having spent a +pleasant and profitable day. + +We soon left for Lynchburg, Virginia, after which we visited the towns en +route to Knoxville, Tennessee. At the latter place we had a very enjoyable +visit to the home of Parson Brownlow. He was absent in attendance upon the +Legislature, but his daughter gracefully and cordially dispensed the +hospitalities of their home, and did everything within the bounds of her +warm, sympathetic intelligence to heighten the pleasure and interest of +our visit. + +Back again to Chicago, we were welcomed by Mr. Arms, whom we found +engaged in erecting machinery in the Gowan Marble Works, the largest of +the kind in the North-west. Resting in the sweet haven of home, we passed +the winter in this sanctum. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + "I love not man the less, but nature more, + From these our interviews, in which I steal + From all I may be, or have been before, + To mingle with the universe, and feel + What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal." + + +Renewed and refreshed from our long winter rest, with the migration of the +birds we winged our way westward, alighting in many a lovely locality in +the flourishing State of Iowa, whose soft undulations of prairies were now +swelling in billows of gorgeous green, and touched with the varied tints +of flowery bloom. + +Our last resting place was in Council Bluffs, so celebrated for the +grandeur of its location at the foot of the beetling bluffs of the +Missouri River, and for its flourishing and progressive spirit, aside from +which it holds a place in our historic annals dating back to aboriginal +days. When this century was in its early infancy, and the shadowy dawn of +our young nation was still wrapt in the mists which enshrouded its first +struggling efforts; when the little far-away fur station of Astoria, near +the whispering waves of the Pacific coast, held not the mellowing memories +of time or the living light with which the genius of an Irving has since +invested it; when the great explorers, Lewis and Clarke, were leaving +their foot-prints on the land bordering the Columbia River, they held a +council with the Red Man at Kanesville, Iowa, ever since known as "Council +Bluffs." + +Thence we went to Omaha, which is one of the most flourishing places in +Nebraska, and from the improvised post-office of early days, the "plug" +hat of Mr. Jones, its first post-master, has grown the large distributing +office of the department. + +It was also a military post and winter garrison for our troops in +transitu, its cheerful barracks, well-kept roads and clean parade ground +converting it into a favorite drive and walk, where resort many strangers +to witness the dress parade of "The Boys in Blue." + +The Platte River Valley is well known to most of my readers from its +romantic association with the struggles of the vast army of emigrants, who +not only braved the dangers of its uncertain fords and deceitful +quicksands, but the tomahawk and scalp knife, ofttimes leaving a nameless +grave beside its waters; and, were it not for a laughable incident in this +connection, I would pass it by unnoticed. + +There are so many heroes of the Don Quixote school, who are so brave in +fighting wind-mills, who, in time of peace, are "soldiers armed with +resolution," but in the real conflict what Shakspeare designates as +"soldiers and afeard." There was in our train a young prig, who "played +the braggart with his tongue," telling of his brave exploits, like a very +Othello recounting the "dangers he passed," ending with a defiant show of +how he should act in the event of an attack from marauding Indians, to +which the trains were at that time so subject, after which he fell into a +profound slumber, resting upon his imaginary laurels. While he slept the +train had changed conductors, and it became necessary to see his ticket. +This new official passing by, and finding himself unable to arouse the +snoring sleeper by ordinary means, gave him a lusty shake, whereupon our +hero gave a hideous yell of "Indians! Indians!" his lips quivering and his +frame palsied with fear. The sound was so startling that the affrighted +passengers imagined themselves for the moment in the merciless grasp of a +band of Red Men. + +The conductor gave this quaking coward another energetic shake and an +imperious demand for "your ticket, sir!" and the quondam man of war +"smoothed his wrinkled front," and humbly subsided into a semblance of +sleep, while the conductor was no doubt astonished at the loud laughter +that followed a brief silence, during which the passengers recovered their +composure, and realized the full ludicrousness of the incident. In my +experience in life I have met a great many people who were ready to tell +what they would have done "had they been there;" but this priggish gascon +was the first I had ever seen put to the test, and I believe him to be a +fair sample of that smart class who could, if you take their words for it, +have done better on any given occasion than those whom the occasion found +"there." + +Emerging from the Platte Valley, we realized the fact that we were fairly +on our way to the far West, ready to take in with insatiable avidity all +the immensity and grandeur of our territorial scenery. + +Arriving at Cheyenne, we were surprised to find a comfortable +hotel-omnibus in waiting, and most of the concomitants of a metropolis, +notwithstanding the oft-expressed surprise and fear of friends at the +daring venture of two unprotected women in going alone to this lawless and +God-forsaken country. + +Alas for the demoralizing influence of so-called civilization! While in +the elegant counting-rooms of polished millionaires in more eastern +localities we had occasionally met with insults and snubs; in this place +of reputed "roughs" we received not one rebuff, and were greeted not +merely with respect, but with unbounded generosity. While we found rough +diamonds, they were diamonds nevertheless. + +Over this city has since swept the tidal wave of reform, and a great +temperance awakening evoked by one of the great workers in that movement, +Mr. Page, who, with gentle yet royal mandate, has said to the many +"troubled waters," with their sad wrecks of human souls--"peace! be +still!" + +We find it vain to depict by our feeble word-painting the many-hued, +many-voiced phases nature assumes in this almost boundless domain, and the +yet untold, undeveloped depths of our territorial resources. Mountains +looming up in imperial grandeur, their snow-crowned summits melting into +cloud and sky; weird cañons, in which the whispered words of worship from +a myriad devotees seem to echo and re-echo through their dark depths; +giant trees: + + "The murmuring pines and hemlock, + Bearded with moss and in garments of green, + Indistinct in the twilight, + Stand like Druids of Eld, + With voices sad and prophetic." + +Among the many military posts Fort Bridger, named for the famous trapper +and guide of oft-written and oft-told fame, is also renowned as one of the +posts of our gallant frontier officer, Albert Sydney Johnston, who won his +first laurels amid the first Mormon troubles, and gallantly fell at Shiloh +early in the Civil War. + +Many of the most romantic places have been named for some fair maiden of +the pioneer families, as Maggie's Creek, Susan's Valley, etc., while one +of the most noted and poetic spots is known as "The Maiden's Grave," the +once rude resting place of a gentle girl, whose remains were left there by +her mourning friends on their way to their home on the Pacific Slope. It +was afterwards found by a party of graders on the railway, and these rough +but sympathetic men erected a fitting mausoleum of solid masonry, +surmounted by a pure white cross of stone, whose symmetrical proportions +are prominently visible to every traveler upon the Union Pacific Railroad. + +One of the most interesting objects to me was the "Thousand Mile Tree," +whose towering height I could imagine and long to behold as described to +me by my companion and friend, its strange isolation sending a peculiar +thrill of loneliness through the heart of one who was fifteen hundred +miles from home. This old tree, through some strange freak of nature, +stood a solitary sentinel, a guide-post of nature to tell the traveler he +was a thousand miles from Omaha. + +As we neared Weber River our well known and popular conductor came into +the cars, and in a voice of deep, rich melody, sang the words of the then +favorite song: + + "Yes, we will gather at the river. + The beautiful, the beautiful river; + Gather with the Saints at the river, + That flows by the throne of God." + +The passengers, as we neared the kingdom of the Saints, catching the +magnetism of his song, joined in the sweet refrain until it swelled into a +soaring, reverberating harmony. + +We reached Ogden City just as the sun was setting in royal hues, and +repaired at once to the White House, the only gentile hotel in the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + "Westward the star of Empire takes its way; + The four first acts already past, + A fifth shall close the drama with the day; + Time's noblest offspring-is the last." + + +Our first emotion upon our introduction to Utah was one of fear and +foreboding, for our landlord seemed so assured that we should meet with no +success, selfishness being the established character of the Mormons, who +never allowed their hearts to go out in sympathy to any one outside of +their own church or community. + +Far away from home, "a stranger in a strange land," felt like those +old-time wanderers who sat them down by the "waters of Babylon," and +hanging their harps upon the willow, sang sad songs and wept bitter tears. + +I gathered sufficient courage to call upon the editor of the daily paper, +and his gentlemanly reception was very reassuring. He gave me a lengthy +and commendatory notice, and this emanating from a man with five wives +gave me a more charitable sentiment than I had formerly maintained toward +Mormon institutions, and it likewise gave me courage and a better opinion +as to my prospects. We remained there two days, and met with such +unexpected success that we turned in a more hopeful mood toward Salt Lake +City. + +On the road to that city is a celebrated sulphur spring, whose presence is +indicated for miles before it is reached by somewhat infernal fumes. A +woman in the car, overcome by the unpleasant odor, exclaimed, in evident +disgust: "Is that the way the Mormons smell?" She seemed so impressed with +the nearness of his Satanic Majesty, whom she intimately associated with +Mormondom, that it recalled the somewhat vulgar story of the "Teuton," +who, in nearing the Virginia White Sulphur Springs, with the same fumes in +his nostrils, cried out: "Mein Gott! pe shure, hell is not more as a mile +off!" + +Arriving at Salt Lake City at the close of a beautiful day, the western +sky gleaming with the royally gorgeous hues of a clear, bright sunset, +while the delightful surroundings and stimulating atmosphere lured us to +walk from the depot. + +Salt Lake being at that time a city of twenty thousand souls, and this +being prior to the opening of the mines, it was probably in the hey-day of +its beauty, and could boast of but one saloon, whereas they are now very +numerous. Its broad, regular avenues were shaded with trees of such +immense growth as are known only in our western lands, the coolness and +shade of whose leafy, spreading branches invitingly appeal to the +passer-by. Streams of limpid, crystal water, born in the pure mountain +snows, gurgle down each street, and, in their beautiful borders of +nature's green enamel, impart an almost marvelous beauty to the city. + +The twenty-third of July being the twenty-third anniversary of the +founding of the "City of the Saints," I had the pleasure of going to their +Temple and listening to the earnest oratory of their representative men, +and among them the "Prophet" himself. George Francis Train being also a +visitor in the city, gave a characteristic oration, in which he rehearsed +the pilgrimage of this people, their persecution, privations and pains +before reaching their haven, which seems, in its rare beauty, an almost +magical city, rising up in the wilderness as a lovely refuge, for, after +all, what magic is so potent as industry and perseverance, and how much of +both of these elements must have been brought to bear in the +accomplishment of so much in the short space of twenty-three years. + +The Honorable George Cocannon, the able editor of their daily paper, +representative in Congress, and one of their distinguished elders, gave me +a telling editorial, which, from its influential source, benefited me very +greatly, and could not fail to facilitate my sales. + +We called at the residence of Brigham Young, and he kindly gave us a half +hour of his valuable time, a favor much appreciated, and one which threw +great additional light upon their institutions. + +We visited their public schools, found the system of graded departments, +high schools, etc., very similar to our own, and all in an equally +flourishing condition. My companion was peculiarly attracted by the +uncommon beauty of the pupils, never having seen in an equal number of +children so much personal fascination. I also visited the public market, +where a man in one of the stalls bought a book, remarking at the same time +that he supposed he ought to buy four, as he had that number of wives. A +bystander asked if this did not sound very strangely in the ears of one so +unaccustomed to a plurality of wives. I quickly responded that the men of +Utah must have large hearts to be capable of taking in four wives, or even +more, when our men had scarce courage to marry one. My reply evidently +touched some responsive chord, for all at once bought books. Their system +of co-operative trade ofttimes leaves them destitute of ready cash, but +all who had money gave me the most liberal patronage. + +There is a peculiar feature of Salt Lake society which is truly worthy of +note, and that is the fact that even in social gatherings they open and +close with prayer. + +Thus, with the highest respect and gratitude for its citizens, I left +Salt Lake and returned to Ogden, where I hoped for a new supply of books. + +Finding neither letters nor books, and board being four dollars per day, I +began to feel symptoms of the "blues." Going to the landlord and stating +the case, he bade me have no fear, for no more would be demanded of me +than I was able to pay; and cheered by this unexpected kindness, I +resolved to patiently wait the issue of events. The next day being +election, it was strange to witness the procession of women voters wending +their way to the polls; but here, as in Salt Lake, the utmost order and +quiet prevailed, nor was bolt or bar necessary for protection at night, +when we were permitted to rest in sweet security from harm. + +On going to the express office we were approached by a gentleman, who, +pointing to me, handed Hattie an envelope with the simple words, "If you +please;" few indeed, but fraught with mystery to us, our only solution +being that the envelope contained election tickets, and we were supposed +voters. + +With a sense of relief we found the books at the express office, and we +took that opportunity to open the mysterious package, in which we found +five dollars. Describing the gentleman to the express agent, he said he +was a clerk in an eating house near by, a bachelor, and very liberal. +Certainly this act spoke nobly for the fraternity of bachelors, who are +supposed to go about armed with a coat of mail, especially invulnerable in +the region of the heart, while this unsolicited kindness unquestionably +indicated a large degree of tenderness of nature. + +We sent him a note of acknowledgment, which we felt to be but a feeble +expression of our gratitude, and, as "all seemed to work together for our +good," we left Utah with a benediction in our hearts and a silent but no +less earnest prayer on our lips, and turned toward the setting sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + "The quality of mercy is not strained; + It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven + Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed, + It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: + 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes + The throned monarch better than his crown." + + +Leaving Ogden we followed the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, making +no stops until we reached Elko, Nevada. It was the county seat of Elko +county, and, although at that time a place of comparatively small size and +population, it had an air of business activity known only to localities +alive with the excitement of railroad traffic. The mammoth depot and +freight-house gave it an air of importance; the pine trade, then so +active, and the busy stage-line to the neighboring, warm, mineral springs +and mines of purest silver, imparted to it an additional business +activity. + +We were delightfully entertained by Mr. Treet, the gentlemanly proprietor +of the Railroad House, and were presented by him with a letter of +introduction to Mrs. Van Every, of Sacramento. Thus did so many kind hands +smooth down the inequalities incident to a life of travel, and pleasantly +pave the way to so many warm friendships. + +On arriving at Sacramento on August 5th, a day of intense, almost stifling +heat, we went at once to Mrs. Van Every, who kept the most elegant +boarding house in the city, whose spacious apartments seemed filled with +the breath of Paradise, which added a grateful welcome to our travel-tired +bodies. Mrs. Van Every's mien of pure and native dignity, her voice of +silvery sweetness, gave the charm of a welcome and ease to her greeting; +and without delay we presented our letter, which was the "open sesame" to +her heart. + +We were at once assigned to a nice, clean and even luxurious apartment, +and after some real rest and quiet we sauntered out, as usual seeking the +most prominent editors, and found two, both of whom did us full justice in +the way of editorial notices of our presence and mission. + +One day, almost at the close of a two weeks' canvassing tour, we entered +the office of the Honorable N. Green Curtis, who, at the first glance, +declined to give us his patronage, but after a short conversation, in +which he learned that I was a native of Baltimore, + + "A moment o'er his face + The tablet of unutterable thought was traced, + And then, it faded as it came," + +he instantly arose, and, as if impelled by some new and life-giving +impulse, he took from my hand a book, and left in its stead a five dollar +bill, saying in hurried words, I never refused to assist a Southerner. + +Thus the memories of our native land are balmy with recollections of +childhood, and cling to us through a lifetime of sorrow and change. The +humblest Scottish shepherd boy can never forget that + + "'Twas yonder on the Grampian hills + His father fed his flock." + +Judge Curtis afterward revealed the fact that he was a native of South +Carolina, and the mere mention of the sunny land of his boyhood gave to +each latent sympathy new life and power. It was also probable that he was +not at first aware of my affliction, for he added the remark that he could +not refuse a favor to a blind person. When we were leaving his office he +arose and inquired if I needed aid in any other way; stated that he was a +widower and without other ties, hence had no claims upon his purse, and +hoped I would feel as free to ask as he was to give. + +I replied that I was doing too well in my legitimate business to require +direct pecuniary aid, and unless he could assist me in securing railroad +passes I had no requests to make. + +How kindly he did this was manifest from the fact that I afterward +received from Ex-Governor Stanford, who was President of the Central +Pacific Road, a yearly pass, and with this introduction the favor was +readily extended by all the railroads on the coast. + +A few evenings before I left Sacramento Mrs. Van Every, from her ever +overflowing goodness, improvised an entertainment for my pleasure and +benefit. It became necessary to initiate Hattie into the secret, but I +remained in blissful ignorance until one evening I received a not unusual +summons to go down to the drawing rooms, when I found myself the centre of +a charmed circle of the elite of Sacramento, the easy flow of whose +conversation was laden with love and sympathy for me, and then was +revealed the fact that each invited guest had received a card, upon which +Mrs. Van Every had traced the words "for the benefit of the blind lady." + +"Music with its golden tongue was there," and the halls resounded with +melody, which, with love's sacred inspiration, is sweet as Apollo's lute. + +Among the gathered guests was Mr. Charles Cummings and lady, Mr. Cummings +being one of the officers of the Central Pacific Railroad, of whom I shall +speak hereafter. A most sumptuous supper was served, each choice viand +being the result of Mrs. Van Every's culinary lore, which the most +epicurean taste could not but relish. + +The light-winged hours brought all unconsciously the time for parting, +and the beauty and chivalry of Sacramento, left laden with books and +baskets which had been spirited from my own room and tastefully disposed +in the parlors; and each good night was blended with a kind wish and +gentle benediction. + +Mrs. Van Every, and her sister, Mrs. Fulger, who lived with her, were +ladies of the noblest representative type of the Society of Friends, of +which my life already held such blessed memories. In general society, with +deferential etiquette, they adopted the usual form of speech, but in the +privacy of the home circle they used the "plain language" of their own +organization, hence it became to me doubly musical in its sacred +character. + +Before starting again upon our travels, we made Sacramento our home, to +which we could turn for rest in our wanderings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + "And this our life--exempt from public haunt, + Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in everything." + + +We next visited San Jose, one of the most romantically, beautiful towns in +California, which would require the subtle gift of genius, a touch of +poetic fire, and, above all, the fullness and richness of descriptive +power, to enable me to give any adequate conception of its charms. It was +almost a fairy realm, with its fields of waving grain, then golden with +the glow of the harvest season; trees laden with fruitage, and vineyards +drooping with their ripe, purple clusters. + +One of the prominent attractions of the place was the residence of General +Negley, nestling in the centre of extended grounds, combining the richly, +blending beauties of nature and art. Groves and streams, rustic bridges +and flowing fountains, shrubby labyrinths and flowery dells, were grouped +in happiest harmony. Received by the General with the genial hospitality +which should characterize the presiding spirit of such an Eden, dispensing +itself in so many pleasant ways, we were led from house to garden, and +from vineyard to wine press, where all were temptingly lured to taste the +freshly pressed grape juice. + +It was a novel sight to those accustomed only to white or negro labor, to +see the efficient corps of Chinese employees who had proven themselves +such valuable servants. It is with some degree of trepidation that I +follow a desire which impels me to describe a bunch of grapes I saw in +this vineyard. I must beg my readers to free me from any taint of the +spirit of the renowned Baron Munchausen, whose intensely magnifying vision +threw its impress upon all objects, but, without the faintest degree of +exaggeration, I can say, that while I am no Lilliputian in size, I stood, +holding with great difficulty, the weight of a single bunch of grapes in +my extended hand, while the other end of it rested upon the ground, nor +would I dare to tell this grape story unless many of my readers were +familiar with the mammoth fruits of California. + +After this delightful visit we took the horse car to Santa Clara, and +certainly the world cannot boast of a public route so redolent with beauty +as this. Both sides of the road are shaded with trees of almost a +century's growth; for this "Alameda" was planted by the Jesuit Fathers in +1799. These left the vines and olives of their native Spain, and planted +upon the soil of their new home this grove, which was, doubtless, intended +as a sacred haunt, never dreaming that its sanctity would be invaded by +the sacrilegious sounds of modern civilization, and, above all, by the +rumble of the horse car. + +All along this beauteous line of shade, musical with the melody of birds, +are elegant villas, evidently the abodes of wealth and fashion. + +Back again to Sacramento, we met Mr. Charles Cummings, who gave us a +general pass over the various stage routes of that portion of the State, +and we at once went to Stockton by rail, where we took the stage for the +celebrated Calevaros trees. So stupendous appeared every tree upon the +route, that a score of times we fancied ourselves nearing the world famed +giants, but how did these monsters dwindle into comparative insignificance +when we found the real grove. + +After this tedious, tiresome stage ride, it was indeed a luxury to find +ourselves safely ensconced in the large, elegant hotel in the midst of the +Calevaros, the season being quite advanced, and in consequence the hotel +less crowded. This being one of the few places in the State in which we +found cool water, we luxuriated in draught after draught of this crystal, +ice-cold beverage, and no fabled fountain of rejuvenating power could have +been more exhilarating. + +Next morning, in eager anxiety, we took an early look at the great trees, +all of which are named for some person of distinction. We stood first +beside General Grant, and, as Hattie laid her hand upon the side of the +hero, she bade me start around him and see what a distance it would be to +find her again. When I was upon the opposite side I felt quite isolated +and lonely, and when I regained her companionship it seemed to have been +after a long separation. We next took a reverent look at the "Mother of +the Forest," which is eighty-seven feet in circumference and four hundred +feet in height, and we must confess that these proportions made her look +quite like an Amazon. The "Father of the Forest" was quite prostrate, his +huge bulk, as he lay upon the ground, seeming that of a fallen hero. Thus +in the vegetable as in the animal world, the female has the greater power +of endurance. Man, in spite of his conceded superiority of physical +strength and supposed mental supremacy, bows before the tornado of life, +while woman ofttimes stands erect and fearless amid the storms and winds +of years. + +The heart of the Father had been bored out, and the hollow converted into +a drive, admitting a horse and rider for eighty-seven feet, and allowing +them room to turn and go back. I had the pleasure of taking this novel +ride, allowing my horse to be led. + +Many of my readers have seen, and most of them have heard of the novel +dancing-hall in the heart of one of these denizens of the forest, which +admits four quadrilles upon its floors, and can imagine the romance of +"tripping the light fantastic toe" amid such surroundings. Another tree +had been sawed into tablets, upon which each visitor left a name or +record. The day previous to our visit, a little boy of eight years old had +visited the grove. When his bright eyes rested for a time upon the tablet, +his little fingers grasped a piece of chalk, and he readily wrote: "And +God said, let there be a Big Tree, and there was a Big Tree." + +We looked admiringly upon the "Twin Trees" named for Ingomar and +Parthenia, and perhaps like these lovers of old, embodied "two hearts that +beat as one." During our three days visit we left no tree unexamined, each +one being fraught with individuality, and each in living language +addressing our hearts in its own characteristic sentiment. + +These veterans varied in age from twelve hundred to twenty-five thousand +years, and for their accumulated cycles commanded veneration. + +After fully satisfying our love of sight seeing, and taking time to fully +contemplate the beauty and sublimity of the wonders, we returned by way of +Sonora and Columbia to our temporary home in Sacramento, not only +satisfied but highly gratified by our tour. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + "Dared I but say a prophecy, + As sang the holy men of old, + Of rock-built cities yet to be + Along these shining shores of gold, + Crowding athirst into the sea; + What wondrous marvels might be told! + Enough to know that empire here + Shall burn her loftiest, brightest star; + Here art and eloquence shall reign + As o'er the wolf-reared realm of old; + Here learned and famous from afar, + To pay their noble court, shall come, + And shall not seek or see in vain, + But look on all with wonder dumb." + + +Once more away from Sacramento we visited Marysville, which is a beautiful +brick town, laid out with great regularity and width of street, each house +nestling in flower-garden and shade, and is a place of extensive +manufactures and trade. We went from there to Colusa, where I reaped a +rich harvest of gain. Indeed I never found a people more lavish in the +expenditure of money, seeming to value it only for the good it dispensed. + +Leaving Colusa, elated with the success we had met, we journeyed to +Marysville in a very happy state of mind that was doomed to undergo a +severe reverse on our arrival. When we started there were three hundred +dollars in "hard money" in my trunk, and when we arrived in Marysville my +heart sank within me and I could feel the blood leave the surface and my +face grow deadly cold when I learned that my trunk, which we had seen +stowed in the "boot" of the stage on starting, was not there on our +arrival. After a few moments, in which I considered what should be done, I +went to the stage agent, who telegraphed back to Colusa, and, after an +hour of deep and painful suspense, the answer came back that the trunk was +safe. By some singular omission the straps of the boot had not all been +buckled and my trunk had fallen out. It was picked up by some honest +farmer, who, believing that it belonged to a passenger in the stage, had +sent it to the office. The next morning it came to me, and I was amply +compensated for the delay in the kindness of the agent, who not only +expressed great regret for the mishap, but voluntarily defrayed all extra +expense incurred. + +We next visited Chico, at that time the terminus of the Central Pacific +Railway, where I hoped to meet Elder Hobart, the friend I had so loved in +my childhood. After some search I found his daughter, from whom I was +pained to learn that he had closed his earthly pilgrimage but a short time +before. My pain was not for him who rested from such faithful labors, but +for those bereft. The daughter, although married, forgot not the friend of +early days; and I accepted with alacrity her invitation to visit her +house, where we had a season fraught with pleasant reminiscence. + +We took the stage here for Red Bluff, the rain pouring in torrents and the +night dark as Erebus, it being the beginning of the regular rainy season +of this country. During the night we reached the Sacramento River, which +we could almost have imagined to be the Styx, with the sombre Charon for a +ferry-man, for we soon learned that we were obliged to cross upon a flat +boat. The wind was blowing in so fierce a gale that the boatmen could not +near the shore, and called upon the passengers for assistance. All the +gentlemen responded but one passenger, who, although a man, was not +gentle, settled himself upon the back seat and declared he would not pay +his passage and work it too. All attempts of the ladies to shame him into +activity were useless. He could not be induced to leave his snuggery, and +even as we talked he was lustily snoring. So do some selfish natures +smoothly slip through the emergencies of life, leaving to others the +responsibilities and exertion; and this man I was afterwards told was a +professional humorist, actually a humorous writer for the press, and I +must accept this as one of his jokes. + +After three weary hours we drifted to the shore, and next day went to Red +Bluff, a wild, uncanny place, but abounding in wealth and replete with +generous hearts, of whose bounty I was a rich recipient. + +Thence we went to Shasta, where Mr. Hudson, a cousin of Hattie, had rooms +in readiness for us at the American Hotel. The meeting of the cousins, +after a separation of nineteen years, was a joyous one, their animated +conversation keeping time with the quick, impetuous throbbing of their +hearts. The pleasure of our day there was also much enhanced by the +sprightly--even brilliant conversation of the hotel proprietress, Mrs. +Green, whose three-score years and ten were worn as gracefully as many a +maiden's sweet sixteen. + +As a protracted rain seemed inevitable, and all business possibilities +were precluded, we assented to Mr. Hudson's proposition to visit his +bachelor quarters in the country, which we found to be one of the most +romantic, sylvan shades imaginable, with its little three roomed-cot +embowered in vines and running roses, then in full bloom, and after the +storm, radiant in color, freighted with perfume and sparkling with liquid +gems. Alone he had occupied this secluded spot for nineteen years, and in +his isolation-- + + "Had made him friends of mountains; + With the stars and the quick spirits of the Universe, + He held his dialogues, + And they did teach to him + The magic of their mysteries." + +He was as familiar as a hunter, with every trail in the vicinity, and he +took us through every romantic, winding path, one of which led us to an +elevation commanding a view of Mount Shasta, the highest peak of the Coast +Range. + +Reluctantly we left this "pleasure dome," which, although less stately +than that "in Xanadu of Kubla Kahn," held all the fairy charms of a bright +Eutopia; and with the vain regrets which all must feel who leave some +fancy realm for the cold regions of reality, we took the stage route for +Weaversville, forty miles farther up the mountain heights, whose crests +were now white with snow, and the road in many places running within six +inches of the ragged chasms, thousands of feet in depth. + +Our stage was drawn by four horses, and, at one time, the snow accumulated +around the foot of one of the leaders until it formed a huge ball, and +with this impediment he was partially precipitated over the edge of a +precipice. This noble animal exhibited more presence of mind than would +have characterized many human beings under similar circumstances, and, +with great judgment, gradually extricated the foot from its snowy burden, +and resumed his journey, but not before the face of every passenger was +blanched with terror. + +After a few days at Weaversville, we returned to Sacramento, feeling that +we had enjoyed a pleasant and profitable trip. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + "A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays, + And confident to-morrows." + + +We made a trip to San Francisco at a time when life seemed a continued +carnival season, for there winter is the most delightful portion of the +year. We rented apartments in a delightful New England family, named +Collins. This, at that time, was the most comfortable way of living, for +in no part of the United States did restaurants furnish such good and +liberal fare at such reasonable rates. The characteristic cheerfulness of +California became intensified in San Francisco, where every face looked +radiant and happy as if all who entered the Golden Gate found a City of +the Sun. + +We had so often asked the reason of this, and were as often told that "it +was all owing to the climate." We finally concluded that the climate +carried an unusual weight of responsibility; indeed, according to Joaquin +Miller, among "the first families of the Sierras," every unusual +phenomenon of nature, whether it came in the form of a fascinating widow, +a spooney man, a premature birth, or a fish with gold in its stomach, was +all owing to "this glorious climate of Californy." + +Although San Francisco is pervaded by the business activity of a great +commercial metropolis, it is not possessed of the spirit of excessive +drudgery in the hot pursuit of the "almighty dollar" which prevails in +many other places. Every Saturday afternoon there is a lull in the labor +routine, business being entirely suspended, and the fashionable +promenades, Montgomery and Kearney Streets, are thronged with pleasure +seekers; husbands and wives, lovers and sweethearts, happy children, gay +colors and brilliant equipages. + +Among the beautiful resorts is that of the Woodward Gardens, with +zoological and floral departments, parks, lakes, dancing halls and skating +rink. A friend kindly accompanied us to the Cliff House, a delightful +resort upon the beach, about six miles from the city, and too well known +to require description. + +We remained in San Francisco about three months and a half, became every +day more fascinated with its charms, and would fain have rested longer +under the spell, but duty called us to many places on the coast, among +them the floral Oakland, a perfect bijou garden and grove, and, like +Alemeda, a beautiful, suburban home for the merchant princes of San +Francisco. + +We visited San Rafael and Santa Cruz, the Newport of California. At the +former place there was an incident, which, although of a personal nature, +we mention as illustrative of the magnanimous character of the +Californian, prone to err, but ever ready to confess a wrong. We entered +the office of the County Clerk and offered him a book. Without removing +his feet from the counter, upon which they were elevated at an angle of +forty-five degrees, he threw down a dollar and bade us "go along." + +We "stood not upon the order of our going," but went, taking care to leave +the dollar. A bystander said to me: "Take it! he is rich!" I quietly +assured him that I never accepted money without rendering an honest +equivalent, and as I left I heard the ejaculation: "She's plucky, isn't +she." On entering a livery stable on the opposite side of the street, a +gentleman took the proffered book and opened to a page containing the name +of Aunt Nancy Lee. With an exclamation of surprise he said: "I have an +aunt of that name." This led to further conversation and a better +acquaintance, the person really proving to be his aunt. While we were +talking, the four gentlemen from the office of the County Clerk came in, +and I being introduced in a new light they each bought a book, and the +clerk made an ample apology for his abruptness, which I readily accepted +as an "amende honorable." + +We went to Santa Barbara by steamer and greatly enjoyed the sail. Finding +no pier upon our arrival, we had to descend an almost perpendicular ladder +to a small boat. In this apparently perilous process, the boatmen were +actively assisted by Captain Johnson, whose mellow toned voice softened +and cheered the transit. In the descent, a woman dropped her baby into +the water, and, although it was quickly rescued by the seamen, her +continued screams even after its safe delivery quite intimidated me, but +with the usual sure-footedness of the blind, I went down with so much ease +that I was greatly complimented by the astonished captain. Our skiff-ride +to shore was a pleasant episode, and the romance was much heightened by +the floating sea plants around us, which could be easily touched with our +hands. There were no good hotels in Santa Barbara, but we were comfortably +accommodated in a private family. The climate is finer there than in any +locality in the State, the thermometer most of the time standing at +seventy degrees, hence it is so greatly sought by consumptives. + +It was to me a delightful pastime to spend an occasional hour with the +fishermen on the coast, who are so happy to impart any information +regarding their own calling, and from whom I learned many a valuable +lesson. + +From Santa Barbara we went down the coast to a little railroad landing and +took the train bound inland; after leaving the beach the road passes +through dense, fragrant orange-groves and rich, fruitful vineyards. A ride +of twenty-five miles brought us to Los Angeles, a town with the same +beautiful surroundings. It was, at that time, a quaint, old, dilapidated +Spanish place, with an air of shabby gentility, but the subsequent tide of +immigration and trade has doubtless transformed it. We returned to the +coast and took the steamer to San Diego, which, with its arid, sandy +waste, has little to recommend it to the visitor, save its truly, palatial +hotel, which must have been built in anticipation of the many projected +railways diverging from this point. + +While there, our hearts were rejoiced by a meeting with Dr. Baird and his +wife, a pleasure known only to those who, exiled from home, see a "dear +familiar face." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + "All that's bright must fade, + The brightest, still the fleetest; + All that's sweet was made, + But to be lost, when sweetest." + + +We returned to Sacramento with minds refreshed and spirits brightened by +the delightful scenes through which we had passed during our coast trip. +My life seemed to have received new radiance, and all things wore the +bright "couleur de rose," when one day there seemed something in Hattie's +touching tone which, like the "shadow of coming" events, sent through my +heart a strange, premonitory thrill of sadness. She paused as if for +prayerful preparation, ere she said: "Mary, I have something _sad_, +something _terrible_ to tell you, and I wish to prepare you to bear it +with patience, even as I for five months have borne the burden with silent +submission." She then carefully, calmly, quietly revealed to me the fact +that there was feeding upon her dear life one of those horrible vampires +of human disease--a cancer, which was slowly but surely drawing her nearer +the close. Suddenly all brightness and beauty died out for me, while cloud +and gloom gathered around me, deep, dark and impenetrable; for so had +Hattie entwined herself about my heart, that to my darkened days there +seemed for me no light, no life without her. Surely-- + + "Sorrows come not single spies, + But in battalions," + +And while I felt myself overwhelmed by this one deep grief in quick +succession came another. One morning while at our breakfast, and without +the slightest preparation, tidings was brought to me that Chicago was +destroyed by fire. + +My husband had just completed our new home, a comfortable resting place, +with lovely garden and pleasant surroundings, and thither I had hoped ere +long to go and rest from my labors. Daily, as the diagrams of the fire +reached us, we traced upon them the loved site of our home, as in the +burnt district. + +All telegraphic and mail communication being cut off, we could receive no +direct news, and in the intensity and terror of suspense pictured our home +desolated, and friends perished in the horrible holocaust. + +Feeling that a resumption of our life of labor was inevitable, we parted +with the dear Sacramento friends, who had so kindly clung to us for +fourteen months, with many a sigh and tear, and went to all the towns of +importance between that place and Reno, Nevada, at which point we took the +stage for Virginia City, and reached it after two weeks of inexpressible +agony, during which time food had scarce passed our lips or sleep visited +our eyes. On our arrival we were overjoyed to find awaiting us seven +letters from home. Oh the eternity that elapsed before the seals could be +tremulously broken! and the halcyon sweetness of relief of the happy +tidings of friends in safety and health. Although the fire-fiend had swept +his destructive wings over the property within a hundred yards of our +home, through a sudden shifting of the wind its course had been changed, +thus saving us from what would have seemed to me ruin. Gratefully we +resumed our business and remained for seven weeks in Virginia City and +vicinity, where we had most abundant success, for in spite of rock and +ledge, sand and tornado, the country abounds in full purses and warm +hearts. + +At Carson City we found an United States Mint, where a gentleman +designated Saturday afternoon, when the machinery was stopped, as a proper +time to give us the benefit of a full examination, allowing me to touch +everything, and giving a satisfactory explanation of the "modus operandi" +of money making. + +We went to Battle Mountain, where we took the stage for Austin, ninety +miles distant. We had nine passengers and twelve hundred weight of bullion +in the bottom of the stage, together with innumerable satchels, umbrellas +and brown-paper parcels. In this cramped position we traveled from one +o'clock in the afternoon until nine o'clock the next morning, an +infliction that was only rendered endurable by having a relay of horses +every fifteen miles, and being permitted to rest upon terra firma during +the changes. + +At Austin we unexpectedly met in the family of the hotel proprietor +friends of Hattie, from Illinois. The kind host proved to me a "Good +Samaritan," for finding myself unable to walk he carried me in his arms to +the hotel, and safely entrusted me to the ministering care of his kind +family. + +Desiring to cross over the country to Eureka, and the stage not venturing +to the eminence upon which stood our hotel, we were obliged to go to the +express office to take passage, where we were shocked at the sight of +three maudlin men in an advanced stage of inebriety, throwing showers of +silver money upon the ground, and ostentatiously allowing the crowd to +gather it up; while we were still more shocked to find that they were to +be inside passengers, and our only companions. + +With these three men and their "fade mecum," "the whiskey bottle," we +started on our journey that bleak, winter morning. Two of them soon became +so beastly drunk that their bottle fell out of the stage door and was +lost beyond recovery. Their companion remained for a time sufficiently +sober to prevent them from falling upon us in their constant oscillations, +but, by the time they had reached the convalescent stage, he became so +nauseated that it was necessary to hold his head out of the window for +relief, and, finally yielding to the soporific influence of his drams, he +laid himself at full length upon our feet. + +Meantime a most gentlemanly person, of whose presence we were at first +ignorant, would occasionally descend from the stage top, look at us +compassionately, ask if anything was wanted, and take leave. At one of his +calls I asked him if we were not near our dining place, when, much to our +discomfort, he informed us of the impossibility of finding anything to eat +on the road. We had provided no lunch, and, having partaken of a meagre +and untimely breakfast, were fast becoming exhausted. He politely offered +to share with us his store of provisions, and at the next stopping place +escorted us to the rude log cabin with the air of a Knight Errant, took +off our rubbers, placed them before the fire, and after other +indescribable and delicate attentions opened his basket and spread before +us a lunch of truly, royal viands, which, in spite of our rude +surroundings, was eaten with unrivalled relish. + +Arriving at Eureka, we stopped at the Parker House, in which Mr. Hinckley, +the proprietor, made every exertion to secure our comfort. It had rained +for a week, and the streets were in such a horrible condition that we were +filled with forebodings of failure. Quite unexpectedly we again +encountered our cavalier, who insisted upon lifting us over the deep mud +of the crossings, placing us entirely at ease by the assurance that it was +the custom of the country, after which he offered his assistance in the +sale of books, and, going into a faro bank, he sold twelve copies at a +dollar and a half apiece. + +We described this gallant gentleman to Mr. Hinckley, who informed us that +he was Pete Fryer, the most noted gambler of the Pacific coast, whose +unrivalled success and universal popularity were in a great degree owing +to his sobriety, his elegant presence and polished manner. + +Our next move was to Gold Point, where we spent a day. We met there a +Virginia physician with whom we had a long and interesting conversation. +We were boarders at the same hotel, and at the tea table he came over to +Hattie, and placing in her hand a ten dollar gold piece, said it was for +the blind lady, and he wished her to buy with it a keepsake. We went to +Palisades in a mud-wagon, the only means of transportation at our +disposal, and we found it highly appropriate, the mud being over the hubs +of the wheels. + +In this primitive style we reached our destination upon Christmas Eve, +weary and homesick; yet our Christmas dinner in this insignificant town +was choice and _recherche_, the quality and variety of the wines being +worthy of the cellar of a connoisseur. Our business success here was +greater than in many larger towns. + +We visited the places en route to Ogden, and on our arrival there found +snow almost two feet deep, and hundreds anxiously waiting for the arrival +of the Union Pacific train, which had not been in for two weeks. The +hotels were so intensely crowded that we were forced to wade through snow +over our knees for half a day to find a comfortable place to stay, and +were very thankful for a third rate boarding house. + +The next day, when almost in despair, we heard in the distance the welcome +sound of a locomotive whistle. The gentlemen rushed to the depot and soon +bore us the pleasant tidings that the train would leave in two hours and a +half. We hurriedly gathered together our baggage and sufficient supplies +for a week, arriving at the train just in time to secure a section in the +sleeping-car. Hoping for no more delay, we started, but ere long found +ourselves landed in a snow bank, with five trains ahead of us, in the same +predicament. A three-days stand-still of this kind, with its trying +tedium, can be imagined only by those who have been similarly situated, +and its tedium is equaled by nothing but an Ohio River sand bar +imprisonment on a stern wheel steamer. + +My sensibilities had quite a reawakening jog from an incidental abrasure, +received by coming in contact with one of the acute angles in the person +of Miss Susan B. Anthony, who honored us with her distinguished presence. +She was in company with the family of the Honorable Mr. Sargent, United +States Senator from California. This gentleman evinced great native +delicacy in his quiet, unobtrusive attentions. Miss Susan had been very +impatient at the long delay, and constantly berated the male sex and their +inadequacy to great emergencies, and was offered by the complimented +parties the privilege of engineering the train, an honor she respectfully +declined. One day I was saluted by a voice, not sweetly feminine in tone, +while an impetuous hand pitched, at me one of my own books. The voice +asked: + +"Were you ever in Michigan? Are you married? I knew a blind woman there +who had five children, and they were all deaf and dumb! _I think_ Congress +ought to pass a law to prevent these people from marrying and bringing +such _creatures_ into the world!" + +These burning words came with the fierce force of the tornado and the +horrible heat of the simoon. So abruptly had she taken her leave, that +she was beyond hearing before I could sufficiently recover to reply. Words +I would have spoken burned upon my lips, and emotions welled up from the +depths of an affection as deep, true and unfathomable as ever struggled in +such a heart as that of Susan B. Anthony. + +Long did I dwell upon the cruel words, wondering if they could have +emanated from a woman who advocated the inviolable rights and bewailed the +deep wrongs of her own sex, or if Congress had the power to exclude the +blind from loving and following the holiest impulses of their natures, +like other human beings! + +After our extrication we sped on to Sherman, the highest of the mountain +towns, and the Railroad Company treated us to a dinner, which, although +poor, was much relished, after our protracted dieting. After leaving +Laramie we had another delay of two days' length, after which we went via +Cheyenne to Omaha, rejoicing, and after eleven days of weary travel felt +ourselves really homeward bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + "'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark, + Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw + Near home; + 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye + Will mark our coming, and look brighter + When we come." + + +We reached home in mid-winter, and found a scene of indescribable +desolation, the fire having devastated so many familiar spots in the +city's approach; depots in ashes and entire streets a wide waste. Finding +no one to meet us, with the longed-for, loving welcome, we were tortured +with fear, and went at once to Mr. Arms' place of business, where we +learned that he was at home and sick. Thither we hurriedly wended our way, +and, although we found the invalid unable to leave his bed, we thought it +sweet to find ourselves in this our _first_ home, which, having been +reared in my absence, seemed like a magic castle bridging over the sad +separation. + +My husband soon convalesced and we began to lay plans for furnishing our +new abode. I still suffered from a cold upon my lungs contracted from the +long exposure on the plains, and it fell to the lot of Hattie to assist +Mr. Arms in the selection of our household goods. She had become eyes and +hands for me, and I never so fully realized how the touch of sympathy +could blend _two_ tastes in _one_, for every article met my entire +approval. I will not dwell upon the joys of our new home; but well has the +poet said-- + + "Each man's chimney is his golden mile stone, + Is the central point from which + He measures every distance + Through the gateway of the world + Around him. + + "We may build more splendid habitations, + Fill our rooms with paintings + And with sculpture; + But we cannot buy with gold + The old association." + +In every Paradise since the first Eden the inevitable trail of the serpent +has been over all, and too often it comes in its halcyon hours. +Insidiously and surely came the stealthy trail of our serpent in the +declining health of my husband, and the impending danger to the dear life +of Hattie. + +I took her to every physician who made her disease a specialty, going far +and near to consult them, each one of whom would shake their heads in +despair, yet all seeming willing to undertake her case. But to me she was +too precious to be submitted to experimental treatment. Finally the fame +of Dr. Kingsley reached us. He was known as the Great American Cancer +Doctor, and we went at once to his cure, in Rome, New York. + +The same ominous shade came with his examination, and he too failed to +promise a cure. Passing through the wards of his hospitals, with their +agonizing and appalling scenes, the shrieks of pain ringing like +death-knells in our ears, decided us, neither of us being willing she +should submit to a fate so fraught with fearful contingencies. + +We were stopping with a family named Crawford, who were friends of Hattie, +and whose unremitting kindness will be a life-long memory. + +We returned to them in deep despair, when we heard of Mr. Golly, a +neighboring farmer, who was performing almost miraculous cures, and we at +once took the stage and went to him. + +A few moments conversation inspired us with confidence in the man, whose +frank face was an index to his character, and whose sympathetic soul +breathed through every intonation of his gentle voice. + +He advised her to remain for treatment, assuring her, that if she was +unable to pay, it would cost her nothing. + +We were willing to remunerate if certain of cure, and, knowing the dread +uncertainty of the case, this noble man revealed in his offer his true +magnanimity. I remained with her two months, when home demands became +imperative, and I longingly left one who, through nine years of _close_ +and _dear_ relationship had become a life link hard to sever. + +With undying gratitude to good Mr. Golly, I left her confided to his +fatherly care, knowing he could not prove recreant to the trust. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + "There was a time when meadow, + Grove and stream, + The earth and every common sight + To me did seem + Appareled in celestial light, + The glory and the freshness of a dream. + It is not now as it has been of yore, + Turn where soe'r I may, + By night or day, + The things that I have seen + I now can see no more." + + +Upon our return to Chicago I found my husband so ill that he yielded to +the advice of his physician to go to the Mineral Springs of St. Louis, and +there being a heavy drain upon our finances, I felt it necessary to resume +my travels. Disagreeable as was the task, it was tolerable only for its +benefit to loved ones. + +Ida, the young daughter of my favorite brother, had just graduated, her +laurels still green and her heart full of girlish enthusiasm. With the +sanction of her parents she kindly consented to accompany me. Kindred ties +are deep and strong, and her society was like a ray of sunshine in my +clouded pathway. + +Mr. Keep, the Manager of the North-western Railway, presented us with a +general pass, and we started for the Lake Superior country, first visiting +many of the beautiful towns of Wisconsin, among which was Peshtigo, then +but partially rebuilt from its recent ravages from fire. In canvassing we +called at the house of Mrs. Armstrong, who kept a book, and asked us to +call in the afternoon for the money. + +During the day her little daughter had become so interested in the "story +of the blind girl," that she insisted upon going out to buy her a dress, +which she presented in person. Little Nellie's gift of simple calico was +as precious to me as if of silken texture and Tyrion dye, and "waxed rich" +with the royalty of sympathy and love. + +We visited Escanaba, a beautiful summer resort upon Lake Michigan, +spending a delightful week in the elegant hotel, which rests in the shaded +seclusion of park and garden, and gaining renewed health and vigor. + +We had a short, sweet stay at Marquette, saw the "Isle of Yellow Sands" +with its luring light, the "Pictured Rocks" bearing the tracery of the +Divine Artist, and all the well-known beauties of Lake Superior. + +On our way to Ishpenming we were presented with tickets to the concert of +"Blind Tom," the musical prodigy and whilom slave boy, through whose +God-given talent the former master had amassed quite a fortune. + +We heard his improvised and memorized melodies, and were struck with awe +and wonder. + +After the concert we went to the Commercial Hotel, where I was suddenly +and violently attacked with a congestive chill, in which emergency Mrs. +Newett, the landlady, proved a ministering angel, her thorough knowledge +of the disease and prompt devoted attendance no doubt saving my life. + +We next visited L'Anse, the terminus of the Marquette Railroad, and found +a delightful hotel, bearing the euphonious name of Lake Linden House, +suggestive of the beautiful grounds gracefully sloping to the edge of the +lake, whose "wide waste of waters" seemed a "sapphire sea" set with +emerald gems, from one of which verdant spots gleaming in the picturesque +distance rose the symmetrical spire of a cathedral, whose cross stood out +like a beautiful "bas relief" from the violet background; and the solemn +voice of the convent bell told the hour when orisons arose like holy +incense to the skies. A fitting resort for the student, and the recluse +was this secluded spot, where nature opened her fairest page, and beauty +planted her altars on earth, in air and sky, and where "devotion wafts the +mind above." + +We crossed in the steamer to Houghton, beautifully located upon a winding +stream, and we were pleasantly entertained at the Butterfield House. + +We remained some time, lingering among the towns in its vicinity, and +returned home improved in health and finances. + +Before settling down for the winter I resolved to visit a few towns in the +vicinity of Chicago, and among them Sycamore, where there was an +unexpected episode in my hitherto eventful career, a touching incident +and "words fitly spoken," which the good book says are as "apples of gold +in pictures of silver." + +My husband having once been engaged in business at Sycamore, I was in +constant expectation of meeting some of his old associates; hence, was not +so much surprised when, upon entering a store, a gentleman stepped down +from his desk, and warmly grasping both of my hands, exclaimed: "I know +you." I quickly and inquiringly responded, you are perhaps a friend of my +husband? Oh no, he replied, I do not know your husband, but I have great +reason to remember you, for you were the cause of my salvation! + +Moved and wondering, I tried in vain to recall the time when I could have +been an humble agent in the hands of the Heavenly Father, even to the +salvation of a human soul. + +Shakspeare has said that-- + + "Ofttimes to win us to our harm + The instruments of darkness tell us truths; + Win us with honest trifles, to betray us + In deepest consequence." + +And why should not the same "honest trifles" win us to good. + +He then explained to me that eight years previous he was in Burlington, +Wisconsin, having wandered far from the fold in which a patient, loving, +Christian mother had faithfully tended her flock, teaching them the wisdom +of divine truth and loving lessons of duty to God and man. + +He had entered a saloon and sat down to a card-table with a congenial +companion, when suddenly lifting his eyes a lady stood beside him offering +him a little book, and something in the expression of that face riveted +his attention and penetrated the depths of his soul, inspiring resolves +_new_ and _strange_. While years had passed since that time, he had never +forgotten the lineaments which had changed the whole tenor of his life. +Both his companion and himself bought books, threw down their cards, and +from his own assurance he has never since been tempted to indulge in a +game. + +The next winter he made his peace with God and became a consistent and +steadfast member of the Congregational Church. + +The following spring he was married to one who was in every way fitted to +minister to his higher impulses and lead him to a holier life, and while +he has ever since been actively engaged in every good "word and work," he +is especially engrossed with Sabbath School duties, in which field he has +planted many a seed, from which has been reaped richest harvests and +fairest fruitage. + +Their cozy, little home, is a fair and faithful mirror, reflecting the +unostentatious, goodness, purity and love which characterizes every act of +their private lives, whose peaceful, even tenor is indicated in the +tasteful apartments, pervaded with purity and touched with the delicate +tracery of taste. Fair flowers grace almost every nook of this truly +Eden-home, and its bright blooming garden is a fitting type of their +lives, blossoming with goodness and fragrant with the incense of holiness. + +It is not strange that these dear people seemed to me like loved +relations; our meeting like a reunion with some pure spirits with whom my +heart had held communion in other days, their voices coming to me like +some sweet strain of unforgotten music. + +I left them, feeling grateful that my little book had been the humble +instrument of so much good, and was happy in the thought that it had been +so thoroughly read and discussed in the little Sabbath School, that I had +many warm friends in Sycamore. + +Before I left he pleadingly besought me never to pass by a saloon in my +canvassing tours, for I little knew the good my presence might bring +about. I have faithfully followed his advice, ever buoyed by the hope of +some equally happy result, and never having met with an indignity or +repulse, this class of people ranking among my most generous patrons. + +As from every event in life we gather some golden lesson of wisdom, from +this I learned to-- + + "Think nought a trifle + Though it small appear + Small sands make up the mountain, + Moments make the year, + And trifles life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + "While, O, my heart! as white sails shiver, + And crowds are passing, and banks stretch wide; + How hard to follow with lips that quiver, + That moving speck on the far-off side! + Farther, farther--I see it--I know it-- + My eyes brim over, it melts away, + Only my heart, to my heart shall show it, + As I walk desolate day by day." + + +At home for the winter, I was joined by my husband, who had entered into +business, and constant tidings of Hattie's convalescence cheered me. Ida +being obliged to visit home, I was left in entire charge of my house, +daily bewailing the fatal effects of inexperience, when, as ever, a friend +was furnished me in the hour of need. Mrs. Leavitt, my neighbor "over the +way," was a lady of great personal attraction, whose beautiful head was +crowned with the glory of prematurely white hair. She ministered to me in +so many ways. In reading or conversation her melodious voice lent a charm +to the most ordinary theme. Nor did she deem it degrading to enter the +domestic realm, and there as everywhere she reigned a queen. + +The flutter of a handkerchief at the window blind was my "signal of +distress," and when my "Ship of State" seemed sinking amid the breakers of +domestic storms, her strong arm ever saved. When, the dread emergency of +dinner demanded more skill than my amateur art supplied, she came to the +rescue, and as she presided in the kitchen, teaching to compound some +savoury sauce or delicate dish, the process was interlarded with some sage +sentiment from Bacon and other profound philosophers; while, like Joe's +practical sermon over the "plum pudding" came her comments "My dear! +_knowledge_ is _power_," thus deeply impressing me with the potency of her +presence even in the culinary department. + +Hence from this dear friend I received not only the "fullness of +knowledge," but the richness of affection also. She finally drifted away +from me to the sunny, flowery land of Florida, whence sweet memories are +wafted to me through her love-laden letters, under whose sentiment there +flows the same deep under-current of thought. + +In the dreary month of January, Hattie came with the snow drifts, bringing +with her presence a bright sun-ray, for she was buoyant with the hope of +health, and I rejoicing that her life could be lengthened, perhaps saved, +hence the winter passed in mapping out plans for the future. But, with the +early spring, the dread disease reappeared with such intensity that I felt +her doom to be irrevocably sealed, while "hope fled and mercy sighed." +Prompted by a hope of enhancing her interest, I accompanied her to +Morrison, Illinois, where she was awaited by two loving sisters, who, +together with their noble husbands, so tenderly cared for her that it in +some degree appeased the sad reluctance of giving her into other hands. + +Mr. Arms' health had now become so seriously impaired that he had +determined to seek the benefit of the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and, after +he left, I secured the services of Miss Josie Tyson as traveling +companion, and started for the lead mining regions of Wisconsin, making +Mineral Point my headquarters. This town is the shipping-place for the +ore, and I was surprised to find it with several thousand +inhabitants--abounding in wealth and greatly advanced in culture, while it +became afterward endeared to me by the extreme kindness of its people. My +little jaunts from this place by private conveyance made a pleasant +variety in the monotony of travel, after which we visited Mendota and +South Western Iowa, where we spent a delightful summer. + +We returned to Morrison the day before Thanksgiving, and I lingered two +weeks with Hattie. Surely "blessings brighten as they take their flight," +and with us the sadly, blissful moments flew all too fast, both silently +impressed that it might be our last communion. In my absence her delicate +and refined taste had designed a gold ring which she had made as a parting +gift. As she placed it upon my finger she leaned her head upon my shoulder +and wept bitterly, telling me in tenderest tones her sorrow at leaving one +who so much needed her, pleading with me to have patience to bear the +separation. These tears from fountains deep and pure must have been as +potent at the throne of grace as the one so graphically described by +Sterne; even that of the Recording Angel, who, in the bright Empyrean, +dropped a tear upon the word left by the Accusing Spirit "and blotted it +out forever." + +Physicians agreeing that she might live at least a year, I yielded to her +persuasion to go South for the benefit of my own health, and-- + + "In silence we parted, for neither could speak; + But the trembling lip and the fast fading cheek + To both were betraying what neither could tell; + How deep was the pang of that silent farewell." + +After a short season devoted to the arrangement of home matters, I started +South via the Chicago and Alton Railroad. At Dwight, Illinois, we stopped +at the McPherson House, where we had a delightful suite of rooms. The +proprietor had attained to the years allotted to man, yet was so +wonderfully preserved that he seemed a stalwart man of fifty. He spent an +evening in our parlor, feasting us with the richness of his reminiscence. +He had served in both the regular army and navy, his travels leading him +to lands afar, and his naval service landing him at almost every port in +the world, yet he had never carried a more dangerous weapon than a +penknife, always having been unharmed and unmolested. His creed consisted +of six words, viz.: "Deal mercifully, walk humbly before God." These +"articles of faith," simple as the "new commandment" which Christ gave to +his disciples, I give unto you, and beautiful as the "Golden Rule" of +Confucius, were certainly in my own case carried out both "in the letter +and the spirit;" for he at first peremptorily refused any remuneration for +our elegant accommodations, but, finding me inexorable, very reluctantly +consented to accept half pay. + +The weather grew so cold, and the times so dull, we did not halt again +until we reached St. Louis, where we both had relatives and friends who +helped us to while away the holiday hours. While there we visited the +Institution for the Blind, our pleasure being much enhanced by the rare +music we heard and the polite attention of Professor Workman, the +Superintendent. + +The Superintendent of the Iron Mountain Railway presented us with a pass, +jocularly remarking that it was equal to an eighty dollar New Year's gift. + +Mr. C.C. Anderson, of Adams' express, upon the strength of our old +Baltimore acquaintance, gave me letters of introduction, which afterward +proved of infinite value. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + "With the fingers of the blind + We are groping here to find + What the hieroglyphics mean + Of the _unseen_ in the _seen_. + What the thought which underlies + Nature's masking and disguise, + What it is that hides beneath + Blight and bloom, and birth and death." + + +We left St. Louis with its noble depot and stupendous bridge, and reaching +Iron Mountain we seemed to have emerged from dense darkness into dazzling +light. Going to the clean, elegant hotel, our faces, covered with St. +Louis soot, were in such grim contrast with our sunny surroundings, that +we had to go through an elaborate course of ablution before we could feel +ourselves presentable. Iron Mountain is a _monster_ mass of iron, one of +the largest and purest of the kind in the world. In 1836 it was bought +for the insignificant sum of six hundred dollars, and now its worth is +incalculable. + +Being unwilling to brave mud and small towns, we made no stops until we +reached Little Rock, Arkansas, where, at the untimely hour of three +o'clock in the morning, we went to the Central House, the only hotel which +had survived their recent fires, and which we found so crowded that even +the doors were closed against us. + +Our party of five went out in quest of shelter, the night pervaded by "the +blackness of darkness," and the rain pouring in torrents. One of the +gentlemen was a member of the Legislature, and quite an invalid. Growing +faint from exhaustion, he fell into a mud hole, and was fairly immersed in +its slimy depths. After a long search we finally found a poor refuge and +an execrable bed, but in the morning were favored in securing comfortable +private accommodations. + +While at Little Rock we visited all the State institutions, and among them +that for the blind. After ten days of business success, we went to all the +towns on the Arkansas River, and were charmed with its scenery, for while +the classical meander, it winds in graceful beauty through forests which, +although too low and ragged to please the eye, clothe a country otherwise +picturesque in character. A strange peculiarity of the Arkansas River is +that of the emerald green color which deeply tinges its crystal clearness, +a fact which I found no one able to explain satisfactorily. + +Fort Smith is nominally at the head of river navigation, but is really +accessible by steamer only during a very small portion of the year, when +the water is at an unusually high stage. It is beautifully located, and +has a main street known as "The Avenue," which is between two and three +hundred feet in width. This avenue is a great business centre, and at +almost all times a scene of animated interest, while at its head stand +prominently a cathedral and a convent. + +The swift passing panorama of the avenue is ofttimes varied by a +picturesque group of Chocktaws or Cherokees, with grotesque costume, this +place being their principal rendezvous. Just at the edge of the town is a +National Cemetery of great natural beauty, with but little of the stiff +regularity which usually characterizes such places. + +We found a great lack of educational advantages throughout the entire +State of Arkansas, there being no public schools, and the private ones few +in number and poor in character; but it has never been my good fortune to +meet kinder hearts than were encountered among the masses. + +At Arkadelphia we had a regular Arkansas deluge, and the first class hotel +of this flourishing town of two thousand souls would indeed have been a +poor ark for Father Noah and his family. Its walls were lathed but not +plastered, and from our apartment we had an extended view of the entire +floor. + +Our furniture consisted of two wooden chairs, a box turned upside down for +a toilet-stand, a rickety bedstead, with unmusical creak, a tumble-down +lounge, and dismal, but genuine tallow dip. In these quarters we spent +four days, during which time the rain poured with unremitting constancy. + +In the parlor of the same edifice was an elegant piano, and magnificently +dressed ladies, and our constant amazement was, how, in this strange +country, extremes could so amicably meet. + +I found in Arkadelphia two blind gentlemen, who were prosperous merchants; +and to me, this spoke volumes for a community who would so generously +sustain the afflicted rather than allow them the condescension of beggary. + +We next visited Hope, a town of three thousand inhabitants, yet having +numbered but three years of existence; and while these people are +considered so slow in progression, this fact indicated a considerable +degree of Yankee go-a-head activity. This town is one of the important +cotton markets of the State, which branch of trade imparts an additional +business activity. + +We turned toward Hot Springs, the Baden of America, and when within twenty +miles of this wonderful place we encountered a throng of that class of +human pests known as "hotel runners," thick as bees, and more stingingly +annoying, for they especially abounded in low jests and ribald stories +which grate so harshly upon sensitive ears. It would certainly be an act +of philanthropy, both to the hotels and their patrons, to take some +measure for the suppression of this nuisance. + +The approach to Hot Springs, and the first glimpse of the stream, smoking +as if its bed rested upon some subterranean fire, are in themselves +awe-inspiring. The valley is narrowed to the limits of three hundred feet, +and the road winds gracefully around the base of the mountain, upon whose +top the cold spring furnishes a better beverage than iced champagne; while +close by its side bubbles the boiling spring, in which eggs can be cooked +to perfection; and with a little seasoning of salt and pepper, the most +luscious soup can be improvized, while the boiling water _au naturale_ can +be drunk in copious, life-giving draughts. + +The hotels are ranged upon either side of the road, and have all the +necessary bathing appointments. Among the many novelties to a stranger was +the process of dressing chicken, which was their staple article of food. +The hot stream was the only necessary cauldron for the scalding process, +while the feathers were thrown into the swift current, and rapidly carried +away by the natural sewerage, a decidedly labor-saving process, and +somewhat characteristic of the locality and its native cooks. + +The various forms of treatment consist of hot, cold, vapor and mud baths, +and have been so often described that a repetition would be monotonous; +their efficacy being almost unfailing, except in cases of pulmonary +disease, in which they would soon prove fatal. One who has ever enjoyed +these baths will always long for the luxury years after leaving them +behind. + +We reluctantly left this valley, teeming with rich quarries of valuable +stone and various ores, luscious fruits, and the trifling drawbacks of +rattlesnakes, centipedes and tarantulas, and went to Texaskana, which is +located at the junction of the three States of Texas, Arkansas and +Louisiana, hence its name. + +It is a great railroad centre, and it is very curious to visit the depot +amid the rushing thousands who daily pass through this place on their way +to Texas. It is a wildly romantic place, built upon a clearing of forty +acres without any decided plan, streets running at random very much like +the old cowpaths of Manhattan, and houses grouped in picturesque +confusion. Finding the main hotel crowded, the proprietor manifested an +unheard-of disinterestedness in a two hours search to find us suitable +accommodations elsewhere, an act of magnanimity worthy of especial note +and remembrance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + "Oh, ever thus from childhood's hour, + I've seen my fondest hopes decay; + I never loved a tree, or flower, + But it was first to fade away. + I never nursed a dear gazelle, + To glad me with its soft black eye, + But when it came to know me well + And love me, it was sure to die." + + +We reached Jefferson, Texas, when the excitement was rife over the murder +of Bessie Moore, the terrible details of which sent a thrill of horror +over the entire United States. It rained during the several days of our +stay there; but thanks to the earnest endeavors of Mrs. Frazer, of the +Frazer House, I did very well in my business. Many of the fairest portions +of the town had been laid waste by the destructive ravages of incendiary +fires, and had never been rebuilt. + +Marshall is one of the most enterprising towns in the State, being a great +railroad centre, and settled almost exclusively by Northern people. + +We had a most delightful visit to Shreveport, Louisiana: It lies at the +head of Red River navigation, and is the port of entry for New Orleans +steamers, being a place of great wealth and equal generosity. The editors +worked with great zest to aid me, and among the many people I met very few +failed to buy books. The genial skies and bright sunshine made it hard to +realize that it was the winter season; and I shall ever revert to its +warm-hearted people not only with pleasure but with gratitude. + +At Longview--in the dilapidated prison-like room of my hotel, I received +tidings of the death and burial of Hattie. My surroundings were in such +sad accord with my feelings, that I wondered if the sun would ever shine, +or the flowers bloom again, so much light went out with her dear life. + +At Longview we took a branch of the International Railroad to +Palestine--Mr. Smith, the Vice-President of the road, not only largely +patronizing me, but presenting me with a six months' pass and the +assurance that if I ever again visited the State a letter addressed to him +would ensure a repetition of the favor. + +Thence we went to Galveston, where Mr. Arms had been for three months +trying the efficacy of sea-bathing. This city is beautifully located upon +a fertile island in Galveston Bay. The streets are lined upon either side +with oleander trees, which, arching over at the top, form a very bower of +bloom, while every breath of the clear bright air is balmy with the odor +of orange blossoms. + +The Mesquite trees, with attenuated leaves and gracefully drooping pods, +adorn all the parks of the city, the beans forming a delicious dish either +cooked or raw. + +No wonder Texas is called "The Happy Hunting Ground," for the five +delightful weeks we spent in Galveston seemed like a dream of Paradise. +Its many pleasures were varied by sailing and bathing, every morning +finding us upon the pure, white beach, where the waves whispered the +sweetest melodies. + +We went back to Houston in the month of bloom, and no "vale of Cashmere" +could have been more beautiful in its "feast of roses." + +The street car ran to the depot, and we found in it but one passenger, a +gentleman who carried a rose in his hand. Noticing at once that I was +blind, he arose and said to me, "Although you cannot see the beautiful +flowers you can inhale their sweetness," at the same time asking me to +accept the rose. His delicate kindness and urbane manner struck a deep +chord in my heart, and I never think of Houston without recalling the +gentle touch and tone. + +I must not omit to mention an act of generosity upon the part of the +railroad office at Galveston. Leaving there I had paid fare to Houston, +and the agent refunded five dollars, adding that I should never be allowed +to pay railroad fare. + +After remaining two weeks at Houston I took the Sunset Route to San +Antonia, and stopped at the Central House on the main plaza. This is the +oldest town in Texas, and is called "The Stone City," its antique +buildings and narrow winding streets giving it a quaint, time-worn air. + +San Antonia River rises from a low spring, four miles distant from the +city, and gracefully winds through its streets, and is here and there +spanned by beautiful rustic bridges. + +The "City Gardens" are one block distant from the main plaza, and are +located upon an island of great natural beauty, romantically approached by +a floating bridge. The air is cool and refreshing from the river breeze, +fair flowers, bloom and sweet voiced birds rival the musical instruments +which lead the merry feet of the dancers. + +A mile from the city are the San Pedro Springs, a lovely park often acres +in area, where springs flow out into crystal purling streams, forming +islands, lakes, and ponds white and fragrant with their lily bloom, while +shining green lizards and other reptiles peep curiously out from the rocks +and glide away into the stream. + +Just across the main plaza stands the old Spanish cathedral, with its +musical chime of bells sending out on the perfumed air melodies sweet as +vesper songs. + +We went to the old Alamo, felt the antique cannon used by the Mexicans, +were shown the room in which Bowie died and the spot where fell the brave +Colonel Crockett, who, with his handful of men, so gallantly held the +citadel, at which time he was taken alive, together with five other +prisoners, and ordered by Santa Anna to be killed. + +Just before the fatal sword-thrust, which ended a life so fraught with +daring and danger, he sprang like a tiger at the throat of Santa Anna, his +face wearing even in death this expression of fiendish, scowling hatred. + +San Antonia being the great market for the frontier, is a place of great +business activity. While there I was struck with amazement to see a dirty, +ragged man mounted upon a jaded, dilapidated horse, a very Sancho Panza +and Rezinante, smilingly asking alms of the passer-by. + +I had often heard of, but never before saw a veritable "beggar on +horseback." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + "Light, warmth, and sprouting greenness, + And o'er all + Blue, stainless, steel-bright ether + Raining down + Tranquility upon the deep hushed town + The freshening meadow and the hillside brown." + + +We went from San Antonio to Austin, the capital of Texas, where I had a +delightful interview with Governor Hubbard, who, although much engrossed +with the cares of State, seemed for the time to lay them all aside, and +gave me his undivided attention. Certainly if "all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players," this versatile gentleman appeared as +well in the role of courtier as in that of the statesman. + +The Government Buildings are of finished architectural art, and stand amid +cultivated grounds, upon a commanding eminence. At the State House door is +a monument to the memory of Colonel David Crockett and the brave +companions who foil with him at St. Alamo. + +The public Institutions of Austin are a credit to "The Lone Star" State, +especially that for the Blind, at which I spent a day, and was charmingly +entertained by Dr. Raney and his accomplished wife. The matron also +dispensed hospitalities with so much true dignity and grace, and I never +visited an institution in which the inmates were so pre-eminently refined, +its sixty-five pupils numbering so many accomplishments. + +In response to a solicitation from Dr. Raney I addressed the school. This +was done through a social chat, in which the little group circled close +around me, and while I never so longed for "the poetry of speech" to +render the deep emotion of my heart, I really believe no elocutionist, +with all "the charm of delivery," could have had a more attentive +audience. + +Waco is known as the Athens of Texas, and among its many Institutions of +Learning is the Baptist University, open to both sexes. It is under the +charge of Doctor Burlison, who extended to me an invitation to meet the +school at their chapel exercises. + +The "sweet hour of prayer" being over, he disposed of many of my books and +baskets among the pupils. This gentleman was deeply engrossed with the +educational interests of the State, and had traveled over its length and +breadth to enhance its prosperity, being more especially engaged in the +public school system. The next day twenty-five of the young lady pupils, +chaperoned by their teachers, called upon me at the McLennan House. They +were all characterized by discreet and lady-like deportment, and as there +was a fine toned piano in the parlor, there was no lack of artistic music. +We had also an equally kind reception from the Reverend Mr. Wright and +lady of the Methodist College. + +Waco is on the Brazos River, which is spanned by a graceful suspension +bridge, the pride of the town. During my visit they held their celebrated +fete known as "The Maifest," which lasted two days, and the gay and +fantastic procession in which all professions and trades were represented +made it almost as gorgeous as a carnival. + +From Waco we went to Dallas, which is located upon Trinity River, and is +the Metropolis of Northern Texas. There was little to note in my stay +there, except the amusingly antagonistic reasons assigned by two men for +not giving me their patronage. Their business houses were upon the same +side of one street, and not very remote from each other. One refused +because my book was not sufficiently religious in its tone, and the other +because he saw the name of the Lord upon one of its pages. It was plainly +evident in both cases that the name of the "Almighty Dollar" as its price +was the most probable impediment. + +It was now the last of May, and the intense heat induced me to go +northward; indeed those who hope to enjoy a visit in that part of Texas +must go at some time between the months of September and May, for during +the remainder of the year the inhabitants do nothing but "try to keep +cool." + +We stopped over one train at the beautiful town of Sherman, and then +hurried on to St. Louis, where I found my old friend Mrs. Anderson, who, +having visited Baltimore the previous summer, had learned all the +particulars of the death of the beloved Superintendant of our Institution +during my life there. + +Mr. Charles H. Keener was the son of Christian Keener, the founder of +Greenmount Cemetery of Baltimore, a sweet resting place which could fitly +receive the appellation given their cemeteries by the Turks--"A City of +the Living." He was the brother of Bishop J.C. Keener, of the Methodist +Episcopal Church South, who is quite celebrated as a Divine. His life was +characterized by a succession of shining acts of self-sacrifice and +affection, and his nature, so quiet and unobtrusive, shrunk so sensitively +from ostentation, that greatness must have been "thrust upon him" ere he +held a name emblazoned upon the roll of fame. His character in contrast +with publicly great men has been most graphically told by the German poet, +who sang-- + + "One on earth in silence wrought, + And his grave in silence sought; + But the younger, brighter form, + Passed in battle, and in storm." + +As the Superintendent of our Institution, he held the hearts of every +inmate. His younger brother, in a letter of response to some queries, +said--"He was an Engineer in the United States Navy during the War of the +Rebellion, a devoted son, a true patriot, and an earnest Christian man." +He was afterward stationed on the "Island of Navassa," one of the West +India Group, within one hundred miles of Cuba, and was acting as +Superintendent of a Phosphate Company which owned, and worked the Island. +He had been there during eighteen months, when, in September, 1872, the +yellow fever broke out in the Island. After several weeks' resistance he, +too, succumbed to this terrible scourge, and, after a six days' illness, +died on the 9th of November, 1872. + +His brother also feelingly makes mention of his last letter, written upon +the day of his attack, as "a marvel of calm resignation." It runs thus: "I +am fast getting ready to be counted among the sick. When you know I am +really dead write to--(here follow the names of many friends) and tell +them to meet me in Heaven. One by one we are passing over, why should we +hesitate? why should I with no one to care for? Surely I have seen trouble +enough in this life! May I feel as little dread of dying at the last +moment as I do now." + +His last words were addressed to his second officer, who had been addicted +to dissipation, but who had pledged himself to reform. As he was carried +out to look upon the sea which he loved so well, he said: "Mawson, +remember your pledge," when his head immediately dropped and he entered +into the life eternal. + +So did the life of this good man pass gently away while he was still in +the prime of manhood. He was carried to beautiful Greenmount for burial, +near the city in which his name will be coupled with loving memories for +long years to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + "Alas for him who never sees + The stars shine through his cypress trees! + Who hopeless lays his dead away, + Nor looks to see the breaking day + Across the mournful marbles play! + Who hath not learned in hours of faith + The truth to flesh and sense unknown, + That Life is ever Lord of Death, + And love can never lose its own!" + + +A short time after our return home, Miss Tyson, having become weary of +traveling, I accompanied her to Morrison, and after spending a few days +there left her with friends and went alone to Pecatonica, when Ida again +accompanied me in my travels. On my return I stopped at Winnebago, +Illinois, to visit the hallowed spot in which Hattie lay buried. As I +approached the cemetery mingled memories of her beautiful life came +surging through my soul, and a deep silent awe stole over me. I sent my +friends away to another part of the grounds that I might be entirely +alone with my dead, and as I knelt in the stillness of that sacred hour I +felt that the grave held only the precious clay, and that the sweet +spirit-presence was there trying to comfort me as it had always done in +earth-life, while, as the soft sound of the June wind stole through the +trembling evergreen near by, it seemed to whisper a sweet song, whose +burden sighed-- + + Love will dream and faith will trust, + Since he who knows our needs is just; + That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. + +As I turned away I felt the strong ray of sunshine which fell upon her +grave, and rested there a halo and a promise! + +Our first stop going Westward was at Kansas City, and as it was the first +of August we found the colored people out in a well-filled procession, +celebrating this, one of their great Emancipation days. Ida having seen +very few colored people during her life was furnished an amusing +entertainment. We also visited Lawrence, which is so marked in Kansas +annals, and Topeka, the capital, but as my experience in this State +differs so materially from that in any other (not making sufficient +through my sales to cover expenses), I will hurriedly pass it by. + +We took the sleeping car at Topeka, but, as a "washout" had destroyed the +track for some distance, I left the train with the other passengers, and +walked with precision over culverts and places of danger with ofttimes +only a narrow plank for my track. A gentleman who kindly led me smilingly +said this was indeed "walking by faith," and it was true blind eyes never +have aught but faith "as a lamp to their feet and a guide to their path." + +After leaving Salina there was nothing to be seen but a blank, desolate +plain, as monotonous as a silent, sailless sea, grimly varied by an +occasional station, with a few "dugouts" for houses. The mail on this +train was most unceremoniously delivered by being thrown from the cars, +and it was very amusing to witness the confusion and rush for its +contents, for the love-laden and business-burdened missives are as dear to +these people as to the most cultured members of society. + +The frequent recurrence of the little sand-hill communities, known as +prairie dog cities, was of novel interest to us, and the habits of these +creatures a curious study. They build their sand-hill habitations as +skillfully as the beaver erects his dam, and are so untiring in following +their instinct of self-preservation that they stand as constant sentinels +at the entrance of their homes, and in any case of danger play to such +perfection the role of "the artful dodger" that they are never caught. + +It is a singular fact that these animals are very rarely killed, and if by +chance some "unlucky dog" should lose his life he is hurried out of sight +by his devoted companions with so much celerity that his body is never +found. + +Fifty miles before reaching Denver the snow crowned tops of Gray's and +James' Peaks are clearly revealed, while from one point alone will Pike's +Peak allow the traveler a glimpse of his glorious grandeur. We were told +that the former mountains were more frequently visible at a distance of +one hundred miles. We neared Denver just as the sun was sinking, +enthroned in purple and amber and gold, with a faint, delicate rosy flush +tinging the edge of the more royal hues. Its truly Italian beauty was so +vividly pictured to me by Ida, that I could almost realize the regal +splendor of a Colorado sunset. Completely tired out and covered with +alkaline dust, we were grateful for the rest and comfort afforded by the +elegant Wentworth House. + +We spent a week in Denver, fraught with interest, for while it is a city +destitute of the charm of historical associations and musty memories, +which add so much interest to most foreign cities and many American +localities, it so abounds in youthful life with its warm and bounding +currents, its vim and vigor, that it teems with varying attractions. Its +broad avenues, softened by shade, its stately residences and mammoth +business blocks, render it as imposing as many old cities, and indicate +but little of its real primitive struggles for life, and the dangerous +aggressions of the "Red Man;" its truly western pluck having ranked these +among the things that were. + +The elliptical basin in which Denver is built, sloping north and east, +gives it a picturesque and extended view; the mountains losing themselves +in one direction in the now historic "Black Hills," and in the other +merging into the "Spanish Peaks" and "Sangre de Christo Range," so named +from a natural symbol of the Christian faith, a snowy cross grandly +gleaming in the distance. + +Taking the Colorado Central Railway we went through the Clear Creek Cañon, +with its rich and fertile fields to Golden, so beautifully sheltered in +the valley at the base of the mountain, and whose air was more life-giving +to me than that of any other portion of Colorado. In the vicinity of this +little Eden we climbed a rock seven hundred feet high, and while two +laborious hours were occupied in the ascent, we were amply recompensed +when we stood upon the smooth rock which crowned its summit, where the +merry picnicers pause amid their pastimes, absorbed in the sublimity of +their surroundings, for while they are basking in the soft sunlight the +sound of the distant thundering and lightning in the mountain tops +recalls the story of Sinai, where the multitude below stood silent and +breathless, and from the roar of Heaven's artillery above issued the +written tables of stone. + +From this our lofty site the clear ether of the intervening fourteen miles +revealed the city of Denver looming up like a lonely vision. + +Turning toward the "Gold Centres," whose wealth, if the half were told, +would seem as fabulous as an "Arabian Nights Story," we visited "Central +City" and "Black Hawk,", which are so close together that it has been +facetiously said "It is impossible for a citizen to tell where he lives +without going out doors and looking at some landmark." + +These two places are really built upon foundations of gold, and many of +the houses constructed of gold-bearing quartz. + +The depot at Black Hawk might justly be denominated "Porter's Folly," for +this magnificent structure was built by a reckless miner for a +quartz-mill, at an expenditure of one hundred thousand dollars, and the +miner was General Fitz John Porter. + +At Central City we stopped at the Teller House, and received marked +kindness from Mr. Bush, the proprietor. Mr. Rhodes, editor of the daily +paper, aided me greatly in his well-written notices, and invited us to +dine at his house, where we were delightfully entertained by himself and +his accomplished wife. + +We crossed the country by stage to Idaho Springs, over a region not only +grand and diversified in scenery, but rich in mineral wealth, the road +winding through intricate mountain heights and wild cañons. The springs +are the chief resort of this portion of Colorado, and, aside from their +wildly beautiful surroundings, furnish great facilities for the +exhilarating hot soda baths and swimming bath-houses, in which elegantly +costumed bathers of both sexes hold high carnival. + +The hotel was quite romantically situated near a meandering creek, which +murmured by its side and made my pleasant room upon the ground floor +musical with its rippling flow. Days of dreamy beauty, and nights of +cool, invigorating rest, render this a watering place of remarkable +attraction. + +Georgetown stands next in size to Denver, and is an outgrowth of the rich +mining wealth with which it is environed. Indeed, it seemed as if some +geni had touched all around it with a magic wand. Silver-ore was strewn in +rich profusion, piled like cord-wood in huge masses at every step; was +talked of in the street, the hotel, and the home, until it seemed as if we +thought, ate, and breathed silver. + +At the beautiful town of Boulder we stopped at the prominent and luxurious +hotel known as the American House, and after a short stay took the stage +for Caribon, then the most elevated town in the State, standing +considerably over nine thousand feet above the sea-level. A romantic and +ever-ascending ride of a day's length was required to reach this eyrie, +and at noon-day the driver allowed us to stop for our dinner, when our +wayside inn was improvized from the sheltering shade of grand old trees, +our table a rock, our chairs the same. + +No ambrosia could have been sweeter to the gods than was our sylvan +feast, with the appetite induced by mountain air and exercise; no nectar +finer than the crystal draught, dipped from the little stream; no +orchestra more musical than its varied tones. Although it was yet +September, there was a severe snow-storm, and, the next day, when it had +subsided, a party went out to pick raspberries, which were sweet and +delicious in flavor, while beside the deep snow-banks bloomed flowers as +beautiful as the rarest exotics. + +Ladies are so vigorous in that country that they think nothing of a walk +of many miles, but the intensely rarefied air of the mountains made my own +respiration very difficult. + +We returned to Denver, where our few days' visit was all too short, for it +was with painful reluctance we yielded to the demands of business +interest, and left a city which to us was fraught with so much pleasure, +and went to Colorado Springs, a place of five thousand inhabitants, and +one of the most stirring towns in the State. It is very level, being +symmetrically laid out in broad and shaded streets, and derives its name +from the fact of being the station from which tourists take the stage for +the springs at Manitou, six miles distant. It is also the point from which +pleasure parties daily leave for Pike's Peak. + +One of the main features of interest in our visit to Colorado Springs, was +the presence of the great "Man of the Period," over whom the stupendous +heart of Barnum throbbed with exultant pride, and scientists waxed +wondering and eloquent. This august personage, who was no other than the +since sensational "Stone Man of Colorado," was lying in state, in all the +majesty of his marbleized grandeur, and was the magnet toward which +throngs of wonder-seekers were irresistibly drawn, all of whom, as if +entering the presence chamber of the King of Terrors, seemed awed by this +silent "representative of the dead past," and with hushed voices and bated +breath, lingered over the lineaments of one, which, if it had been known +at that time was not a real petrifaction, would perhaps have excited only +feelings of ridicule and words of derision. We were willing to be +humbugged with the rest for the sacred emotions experienced under the +silent potency of this phenomenon of the nineteenth century; nor can we +even in the light of subsequent revelations deny the fact that he was +"fearfully and wonderfully made." + +We next visited Pueblo, where this giant was exhumed, but were not at all +pleased with the town or its surroundings, and suffered greatly from +thirst rather than drink the offensive water for which the residents are +so heavily taxed. It was so apparently poisonous in odor, that if it had +been in the malarious climate of Chicago, instead of the exhilarating +atmosphere of Colorado, all would have died from its effects. + +We have never visited a State which held such diversified interest as that +of Colorado, a fitting resort for the invalid, the pleasure seeker, +artist, scientist or poet. No place but some haunt of the Muses could +boast the ethereal beauty of a "Glen Eyrie," and no wonder the "Garden of +the Gods" is supposed to have once been the abode of "Great Jove himself," +and that there fair Venus bathed her beauteous form, and girdled with the +fabled "Cestus," held her court amid the immortal beauties of the sacred +spot. + +We came through Kansas via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, +meeting with no better success than that which marked our former trip in +that region of country, and could only conclude, that while their crops +were at that time large and lucrative, the grasshopper raid had taught +them a lesson of economy which they were rigidly observing. + +Before returning home we visited the only surviving sister of my mother, +who lived in Salsbury, Missouri, and who not having heard from me since +the Chicago fire, concluded that I might have perished in its flames. She +and her husband were both over seventy years old, and strange to say, were +like so many of the old people I have met in my travels, that my readers +might suppose my heroes and heroines had found the "fabled fountain" and +secured immortal youth. Be this as it may, it could certainly be said of +her husband, as of the father of Evangeline: + + "Stalwart and stately of form + Was the man of seventy summers; + Hearty and hale was he + As an oak that is covered with snow-flakes." + +I had a delightful visit of two days with this aged couple, during which +my aunt rehearsed to me many incidents in the early life of my mother, and +presented me with a lock of her hair, which, as a memento, is ever +magnetically associated with the "loved ones gone before." + +Returning to Chicago, I found my husband, whose health was far worse than +when I saw him in Galveston. This, together with a combination of +surrounding circumstances, suggested the project of writing up "The World +as I have found it," and I spent the greater part of the winter of 1877-8 +in this work. + +If it should appear to my friends and readers, that I found only the +"sunny side" of life, and they should wonder why I so seldom saw the +shadow, or received the thrust of unkindness, I can simply say that I was +almost universally so well received, that the few cases of unkind +treatment became the exception and not the rule, and these were generally +so bitterly repented, and so amply amended, that I felt it would be an +act of ingratitude to note them in my experiences. + +Hoping that these last missives to my kind and noble patrons will be as +well received as was the first humble effort of my girlhood--"Incidents in +the Life of a Blind Girl," I can only add in conclusion, that if any one +of the patient followers of my wanderings has found aught of sufficient +interest to while away the tedium of an otherwise weary hour, or gleaned +from the dross a single "golden grain," I will be amply recompensed. + + + + +HELP THE BLIND TO HELP THEMSELVES. + + +Throughout the entire length my unpretending offering my aim has been, as +far as was compatible with a personal history, to make my pages +interesting to the general public, but I cannot close without addressing +some especial words to those, who, like myself, must be content to live +with vision veiled from the world's transcendant beauties, and whose +life-paths from a variety of causes seem ofttimes utterly rayless. + +Blindness has been universally regarded as one of the most terrible +afflictions of an adverse fate, nor can it be denied that it is one which +requires a great amount of grace, and all the reason and judgment one can +command, to bear the burden with any degree of patience, much less with +perfect resignation. + +It is so often the result of impaired health, while the severe test of +maltreatment or even the most skillful treatment, tends to deplete the +system and depress the spirits. + +Again, the blind are in the majority of cases the children of poor +parents, and subject to all the neglect and exposure incident to poverty, +while, if they are born in affluence, they are so petted and pampered, in +consequence of their affliction, that they become utterly dependent and +useless, and contract habits that should be and which under other +circumstances would be broken. + +It is no more necessary for a blind child, with proper instruction and +careful training, to become awkward and ungainly, than for one in full +possession of all the senses, the drawback of blindness simply demanding a +little more patience and perseverance to attain the ease and grace, which +is as inevitable as in other children. + +In all the category of first instructions for the period of childhood, +from the muscular education by which a babe is taught to take its first +tottering step or the voluntary movement necessary to grasp and hold an +object, to the lisping language of love intoned in the first sweet +prattle, the all-pervading spirit, from the first to the last lesson, is +that of self-reliance. While blind children of wealth are waited upon +until they become utterly incapable of helping themselves, and through a +mistaken kindness are so constantly ministered to, they lapse into +passive, pantomimic puppets, void of the vitality and sparkle which, by +their natural endowments, is attainable. + +I have made it a guiding rule, throughout my life, never to consider there +was anything which, with the proper effort, I could not do, and my +experience proves a confirmation of the fact that there were very few +things I could not accomplish. I would fain impress this lesson upon my +blind friends, feeling as I do that it would prove of untold service to +them. + +It is not at all necessary that the blind should so lose their dignity or +individuality, as to allow themselves to be addressed in word or tone at +all different from that directed to other people, and, as an illustration +of this point, I may be pardoned for relating an incident of my school +life. + +A gentleman once called at our Institution in Baltimore, and, immediately +after his introduction to a group of blind girls, of which I was one, he +said: "Ladies, how would you manage to select a husband?" + +Flaming with indignation, I impulsively replied: "Sir! We do not deal in +such merchandise?" and smarting with a sense of the indignity, I +immediately left his presence. + +I was afterward called to account by our worthy Superintendent to whom the +person in question preferred a complaint of rude treatment. Begging +permission to explain the situation, I respectfully enquired of our +official in case this same gentleman were thrown for the first time in the +presence of an equal number of society ladies, who could see if it would +be possible for him to address a similar remark to them, without being +charged with rudeness and presumption, or if it were not even questionable +whether he would dare to address them in such a way at all--and we, +although blind, felt that we had the right to demand the same deference +and respect. It is almost needless to say that I was fully exonerated from +all blame, and honorably discharged from the presence of my interrogator. + +In the course of my travels I am ofttimes asked if I desire my meals sent +to my room, presupposing, as would be naturally inferred, the possibility +of great awkwardness in my manner of eating; hence I invariably decline +this offer of privacy, as there need be nothing in our manner of eating at +all _outre_ or disagreeable. + +It is of course necessary to have a graceful attendant, and my first great +care is to instruct my guide in all the phases of table ministration, +which are more varied and important than is discernible to those who can +see. + +I also take great pains to instruct them in the art of walking with me +properly; never allowing them to _tell_ me how to proceed, but to give me +a tacit understanding _of_ their movements in order to direct my own, and +this system in my own experience has been reduced to a science. + +Many persons feel that it is far more sad and terrible to have once +possessed sight, and afterward to become blind, than never to have seen at +all, but I cannot agree with them, and will never cease to be grateful +that until I was twelve years old, I could grasp, through sight, the +unfolding beauties of nature and art, which are now so often reproduced +that I can see all the manifold loveliness spread out before me, and for a +season forget that I am blind. Those who are born in blindness, are, to a +great extent, denied this pleasure, for it is almost impossible through +the imagination to form any adequate conception of "things seen." + +One of the most deplorable results of blindness is the fact that so many +of its victims condescend to the degradation of beggary, thus bringing +disgrace upon those who try to make an honorable living. I once had +occasion to go into a prominent Express Office of Chicago upon important +business of my own. The agent discovering that I was blind, and in evident +anticipation of a draught upon his pocket, resorted to it and drew out +fifty cents. After learning my business he manifested considerable +embarrassment, and as slyly as possible deposited his money in its +original place, and no doubt hoped the movement was not observed. Thus it +so often becomes as apparent to us as to others, that the majority of +people jump at the conclusion, that if one is blind, they must of +necessity resort to begging, and I deeply regret that so many establish +this belief by their conduct. + +It has been to me a serious source of annoyance that so large a number of +persons endeavor to impress upon my mind the idea that it is an act of +charity to patronize me to the extent of the purchase of a single book, +while just after me a strong man, with faculties unimpaired, a man amply +able to do other work, may enter, and they buy from him anything he may +have to sell without ever dreaming that it is a charity to do so. + +But I am truly grateful to the majority of those with whom I come in +business contact for their appreciation of my energy and enterprise, as +they almost invariably consider mine a laudable way of making a living. + +A great many blind persons offer as an excuse for inactivity that they +have no capital to do with, but even this obstacle may be removed, as is +so often the case with impediments in the paths of those who see. + +In Marysville, California, I became acquainted with a gentleman who lost +his sight in middle life, and exhausted all his means upon oculists and +other measures intended to restore his eyes. Finding the case hopeless, +and having a family dependent upon him for support, instead of sitting +down in despair or resorting to begging, he went to a friend and borrowed +two dollars and a half. With this he bought a basket, filled it with fruit +and went out to sell it. This basket became the nucleus of an extensive +business for some years after, and, at the time I met him, he was a highly +respected citizen, possessing a comfortable home and a considerable bank +account, though still holding a large fruit-stand as a permanent resource. + +Another instance could be cited in the case of a young man of the same +State who became suddenly blind, when some friend told him he had better +go to San Francisco and hold out his hat, "for he would certainly do +well." Wounded to the quick at such advice, he replied that, in case he +accepted such a suggestion, he would solicit enough to buy a dose of +strychnine and close out his business. Soon after an artist made him a +proposition to travel for the sale of chromos in the interest of a +gallery. He accepted it, and by that means soon became successful and +independent. + +We do not feel it necessary to work for the sympathy of the public, for we +are already conscious of having that; but we do sincerely desire their +respect, and, if freely extended, their patronage, as do any other class +of people plying a legitimate vocation. + +Among the throng with whom. I have come in contact in the course of +canvassing, the vexed question, paramount in the minds of the majority, +and one frequently addressed to me in person. It is: why I do not avail +myself of an Institution for the Blind, or--as they almost universally dub +it--an Asylum in which I will be taken care of for life, almost +invariably adding that they are taxed for this purpose. + +I desire here to correct an impression which, in the main, is utterly +false. These institutions are (together with others) supported by the +States in which they are located, and in so far as every property holder +has a larger or smaller amount of State tax, they help to sustain the +Institutions for the Blind among others. These State institutions are +intended only for the education of the blind, and not for their support. +For the purpose of education there are a certain number of years allotted +to each pupil, according to their age at the time of admission. At the +expiration of this term they have no alternative but to go back to the +poor homes of their respective counties, more unfitted to endure their +privations than before they were permitted a taste of a better mode of +life, and no matter how sad their sacrifices, or how bitter their trials, +they are never looked after by the Institutions in which they graduate. + +In their new life, however high may be their excellence in music or any +other accomplishment, or how great their effort to make them available, +their surroundings are all against them, consequently they lapse into a +condition even worse than before their education, because their +enlightenment renders them more keenly sensitive to their affliction. + +But I am thankful there are so many who have courage to rise above all +these obstacles, and, with a heroism known only to those who have passed +through the crucible, to become noble men and women. + +Another question so often arising is, can the blind distinguish colors by +the sense of feeling? To this my invariable answer has been, "I believe it +to be an impossibility." Many insist upon the point that it is not only +possible, but that they can substantiate it as a fact--having seen it with +their own eyes. + +This I have, of course, no right to dispute, but in illustration of the +point in question, and in proof that one can be mistaken therein, I will +cite an incident that occurred in the Baltimore Institution. + +Three gentlemen visitors to that place having completed their inspection, +were about taking leave, when they were attracted by "little Joe," a +bright, intelligent boy pupil, and immediately asked him if he could +distinguish colors in the above-mentioned way. The quick-witted little +fellow assumed the serene dignity of a sage and calmly answered, "Of +course I can," whereupon the gentlemen stood in a row and offered Joe the +tempting bait of one dollar if he would tell each one the color of his +pants. Two of them were dressed in broad cloth, and the other in a coarse, +grey suit. The boy naturally inferred that the smooth, textured fabric was +broad cloth, and would most probably be black, and being aware of the then +prevailing style of grey business-suits, he, with great ease, hit the +truth exactly. + +They freely gave the promised dollar, and left fully satisfied that he did +it by the sense of touch. As soon as the door was closed, the mischievous +urchin exclaimed, "Golly, boys, suppose I hadn't guessed right?" + +Upon this matter I can only say in conclusion, that I have met during my +life many blind persons, and have made this question an especial study, +while not one instance has come under my observation in which the blind +could distinguish colors by touch. By a systematic method of arrangement, +association, etc, as well as through a remarkable recollection of certain +distinguishing characteristics in objects around us, we attain to that +which serves us much the same purpose as distinction of color. Indeed, in +this, as in all things, the blind must, of necessity, be very methodical +in everything they undertake to do. + +I sincerely hope that in my heterogeneous and apparently random remarks, I +may have uttered some word of comfort to the blind, some hint which may +truly aid them, some sentiment which may sustain, for my heart goes out to +them in the sympathy of a common affliction. + + +"SIGHT OF THE BLIND." + +Since closing my preceding article I have received from the author, who is +one of the most distinguished blind writers, an essay Which I take great +pleasure in introducing below, not only because of its eminent source, +but from its confirmation of some of the points I have attempted to +illustrate, and which, together with many original and suggestive +thoughts, are given with the plenitude and the power of eloquent +rendition. + + +"HOW DO THE BLIND SEE?" + +BY L.V. HALL. + + +This may be regarded by some as a paradoxical question; and yet it is not, +if we accept the word see, in its fullest and broadest sense. Webster +defines the verb see, as follows: "To perceive by mental vision; to form +an adequate conception of; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to +comprehend." True, we do not see through the same medium that you do, who +have perfect organs of sight, but we certainly perceive and comprehend the +relation and condition of things about us. The Creator has so wisely made, +and beautifully adjusted the external organs of sense, one to another, and +each to all, that when one is lacking the others are made able, by greater +exercise, to perform the functions of the missing one. For example, if +one loses his hearing, sight is rendered keener, and the nerves acquire a +sensitiveness almost painful. Dr. Kitto, who was deaf from twelve years of +age, speaks of this peculiar sensitiveness as follows: "The drawing of +furniture, as tables or chairs, over the floor, above or below me, the +shutting of doors, and the feet of children at play, distress me far more +than the same cause would do if I were in actual possession of my hearing. + +"By being unattended by any circumstances or preliminaries, they startle +dreadfully; and by the vibration being diffused from the feet over the +whole body, they shake the whole nervous system in a way which even long +use has not enabled me to bear." + +In the same interesting article on percussion, he says: "A few days since, +when I was seated with the back of my chair facing a chiffonier, the door +of this receptacle was opened by some one, and swung back so as to touch +my hair. The touch could not but have been slight, but to me the +concussion was dreadful, and almost made me scream with the surprise and +pain; the sensation being very similar to that which a heavy person feels +on touching the ground, when he has jumped from a higher place than he +ought. Even this concussion, to me so violent and distressing, had not +been noticed by any one in the room but myself." + +This physiological phenomenon is analagous to the sensation experienced by +the blind on approaching any tall or broad object. We feel their presence +when we are several yards from them. I have sometimes been startled by the +sudden impression produced by a lamp-post, or tree when in fact it was a +yard or more from me. The sensation is somewhat like receiving a smart +blow in the face. I am frequently aware of passing a building while riding +along a country road, and the proximity of trees, fences and other objects +is quite perceptible. + +This is not a latent sense, developed by circumstances, as some have +supposed, but a wonderful acuteness of the nerves of the face, and more +particularly of the nerves of the eye-lids. These phenomena may, I think, +be explained in this way. When one of the superior senses is absent, the +perceptive force that has watched at the eye, or listened at the ear, is +now transferred to other nerves of sensation. In other words, a deaf +person is all eyes, and extremely alive to tangible percussions, as will +be seen in the case of Dr. Kitto and others. The blind are all ears and +fingers, and certain of the inferior animals are all ears and heels; I am +not sure but there is some neck in both cases. Since it has been shown +that new perceptions and conditions have been developed in the absence of +one or more of the superior senses, that the deaf are so keenly cognizant +of vibration or jar, which is the father of sound; that the blind can feel +the presence of objects at short distances, which is analogous to sight, +it should not be thought strange that we make such frequent use of the +word _see_, or that the deaf should make use of the word _hear_, and that +these words are not without significance or import. Besides this there is +a mental perception (doubtless through a magnetic medium,) of the presence +or nearness of other minds. This accords with the experience of many +persons. I have frequently entered rooms that I supposed to be +unoccupied, judging from the silence that reigned, but on taking an +inventory of my feelings I found a consciousness of some one's presence, +and this I have done when not the slightest sound aroused my suspicions. + +A little incident that occurred while I was a teacher in the New York +Institution for the Blind will, perhaps, better illustrate this point. + +I called one evening at the matron's room to ask her to read a letter +which had just been handed me. Supposing it to be a confidential one, and +wishing to make sure that no one else was in the room, I enquired of the +matron if she was alone. On receiving an affirmative answer, I handed her +the letter, requesting her to read it. But, feeling a consciousness that +some other mind was present--a strange mind, with which I had no +sympathy--I walked round to the other end of the table and placed my hand +on a lady's shoulder, remarking to the matron that I felt sure there was +some one in the room beside herself, and asked that the letter might be +returned to me unopened. + +From the long experience of this perception, or intuition, has grown the +old adage, "The devil is always near at hand when you are talking about +him." I am not sure that this magnetic condition is more largely developed +in us than in those who see, but I am led to think it is for this reason, +eyes are of paramount importance to those who have them, and we who have +them not search for other media of communication. Mental presence is +either inspiring and assuring, or depressing and embarrassing. I have +observed that when in the presence of some people I have felt comfortable +and assured, while in the presence of others I have felt diffident and +uneasy, I allude here to persons with whom I had no previous acquaintance. +Minds are felt in a ratio proportionate to their will-power. Shallow, +conceited minds are not magnetic. I have been told by blind preachers, +public lecturers and concert singers, that they always feel the difference +between an intelligent and appreciative audience and one made up of coarse +and uncultured people, and this consciousness they have felt before any +demonstrations of applause or disapprobation were made. I have had many +opportunities to experiment on my own feelings in relation to this +magnetic influence or mental recognition. I was a concert singer in my +younger days and could always tell whether I was singing to a large or +small house, and whether my audience was in sympathy with me or not. + +If it is argued that I gained this knowledge through the ear, and not +through the magnetic medium that I suppose to exist, I will add other +experiences that will be more convincing to the reader. + +In pursuing my business as itinerant book-seller for many years, I have +frequently called at offices when their occupants were out, and on +entering have often said to my guide, "Oh, there is no one here, let us +go, and call again." On the other hand I have often been conscious when +entering a room that there was not only one mind but several minds +present. If I should be asked to describe this consciousness, or mental +recognition, I should not know what language to employ. These are some of +the compensations which the blind receive for the great loss they have +sustained. The sense of smell is ranked as the least important of all the +senses, yet it is of great value to the blind. Through this avenue to the +mind come many pleasurable sensations. By it we are aided in the selection +of our food, in choosing ripe and healthful fruits, in detecting +decomposition, dirt and filth, and in ascertaining much that eyes discover +to those who have them. Without it flowers would have no attraction for +us, and life would lack many of its pleasures. At the risk of being +classed among dogs and vultures. I acknowledge that I am often guided by +my olfactories in doing things that seem so very unaccountable to my +friends. + +In passing along the business streets my attention is continually +attracted by the odors that issue from stores, shops, saloons, etc., and +these peculiar smells often direct me to the very place I wish to find. +From groceries come the odors of spices, fish, soaps, etc. From clothing +and dry goods stores the smell of dye-stuffs. From drugs and medicines, +the combined odor of many thousand volatile substances, such as perfumes, +paints, and oils, asafaoetida, etc. From shoe stores comes the smell of +leather; and from books and stationery the smell of printer's ink. Hotels, +saloons and liquor stores, emit that unmistakable odor of alcohol, the +prince of poisons. To me the smell of alcohol, wines, etc., has always, +since my earliest recollection, been grateful and fascinating; and had I +cultivated an appetite for strong drink, it would be as difficult for me +to pass a liquor saloon as for a man whose eyes are tempted by a +magnificent display of mirrors and bottles. I have often been made aware +of open cellar doors by a damp, musty smell that commonly proceeds from +underground rooms, and have, I think, been saved from falling by this odd +warning. I should have fallen, however, only a few days ago, into one of +these yawning horrors had it not been for my ever watchful wife who was +providentially near and called to me in time to save me from injury. Some +workmen were laying a patch of side-walk on Main street, in the town in +which I reside, and had opened a cellar-way near which some of them were +at work, but did not warn me, doubtless because they did not see me, for +workmen are always very kind to me. + +I am guided and governed more by the ear, however, than by either of the +other organs of sense. If I wish to cross the street it tells me when +teams are coming, how far they are away, at what rate of speed they are +traveling, and when it will be safe to cross. If I find a group of men +conversing, it tells me who they are. If I wish to enter a store, or any +place, it tells me where the door is, if open, by the sounds that issue +therefrom, but in this I have sometimes been misled by going to an open +window, which always makes me feel awkward. Sound to me is as important as +light is to the seeing, and brings to the mind a great many facts that are +gathered through the eyes when sight is made the prime sense. + +Much of my information, however, is received through the fingers. They are +properly the organs of touch. Although this sense is distributed over the +whole body, even to the mucous membrane that lines the mouth and covers +the tongue. When the finger's ends have been hardened by labor, or from +any cause, the lips and tongue are the most sensitive, and are often used +in threading needles, stringing beads, etc, very innocent uses surely to +put the tongue to. This sense of touch is of _necessity_ cultivated by the +blind until it often reaches a state of perfection seldom, if ever, found +in the seeing. Of course its development is gradual, as is the growth of +all the faculties. When I was quite a little child, and my fingers were +soft, I could readily distinguish all the variety of flowers that grew in +my sister's flower garden, and could call them by name. From touch I knew +all the common fruits, from the peach with its velvet skin, to the +strawberry in the meadow, for which I used to search diligently with my +fingers, and sometimes find, as I remember, thistles, which were never +quite to my taste. One thing among my childish sports and amusements, for +they were limited, always gave great pleasure; and does even now. I loved +to play along the brook or lake shore, to feel for smooth and odd shaped +stones, for pretty shells, etc. Their beauty to me existed only in the +great variety of shapes they presented, and in their smooth, pearly +surfaces, as they never suggested to my mind any idea of color. Winter +afforded me few opportunities for cultivating my love for the beautiful. +Summer was my heaven, with its singing birds, its tinkling brooks and its +fresh and delicious fruits. + +I took great pleasure in examining, with my fingers, flowers, leaves and +grasses, because their great variety of shape and texture fed an innate +longing after something that I could not then comprehend. + +When but an infant, I am told nothing amused me so well as a branch of +green leaves. + +My early boyhood was spent in rambling through the woods, hunting nuts, +squirrels, chipmunks, etc., with other boys of my own age, in climbing +trees, digging for wood-chucks, skating, coasting, and in performing all +the feats common to boyhood, such as standing on my head, hopping, +jumping, whistling, shouting, &c. I shall regret to have this page come +under the eyes of my boys, for in noisy mischief they already exceed my +most sanguine expectations, and need not a record of their father's +boisterous childhood to encourage them. + +This kind of life, however, has fitted me to enter upon a systematic +course of study, which I did at the age of sixteen. I was received as a +pupil of the New York Institution for the Blind in 1844. I entered in a +good, healthy condition of body and mind. Found there boys and girls like +myself, without sight, yet earnestly engaged in pursuing the various +branches of English education. Many of them were like myself, full of +life, fond of fun and mischief. Many laughable incidents and anecdotes +characteristic of such an institution are fresh in my memory, which, I +should be pleased to relate, did they illustrate the subject in hand. Here +I found sight, which I had always supposed so necessary, somewhat at a +discount. I discovered that books, slates, maps, globes, diagrams, &c., +could be seen through the fingers, and that children could learn quite as +rapidly in this way as with sight. I was not long, either, in discovering +that the older pupils and graduates were intelligent, accomplished and +refined; that they were treated more as equals by the officers, and that +they were trotted out to show off the merits of the institution, while we +young blockheads were kept in the background. This, I think, did much +toward inspiring me with ambition. My progress at first was slow, having +to learn how to use the appliances. My fingers must be trained, my memory +disciplined and my habits of inattention corrected. + +No effort was made, however, to take the mirthfulness out of me, and I +doubt if anything could have succeeded in this. My first introduction to +tangible literature was in placing my hand on a page of the Old Testament +in embossed print. At first I could feel nothing like letters or any +regular characters, only a roughness as though the paper had been badly +wrinkled. A card was then placed in my hand on which the alphabet was +printed in very large type, and my attention called to each letter. My +fingers, then soft and supple, were not long in tracing the outlines of +each character, and, my memory being naturally retentive, I was soon able +to distinguish each letter, and give its name as my finger was placed on +it. Another card was then given me in smaller type, which I mastered in +the same way, and so on till I could read our smallest print. + +I have been thus minute in describing the rudimentary process of finger +training, that my readers may understand how it is possible for the +fingers to be made useful to the blind. To show how quick is the +perception through this avenue to the mind, it should be known that we +cannot feel a whole word at once, but a single letter. And yet some of us +are able to read more than a hundred words per minute, and to trace on +raised maps boundary lines, rivers, mountain chains, lakes, straits, +gulfs, bays, to find the location of towns, islands, &c. + +It would seem that the fingers are capable of grasping almost everything +that the eye embraces, though of course more slowly, and from the +wonderful acuteness of which they are susceptible has grown the popular +impression that the blind can feel colors. I have been asked this question +many thousand times, and have invariably replied that we can no more feel +colors than the deaf can see sounds or the dumb sing psalms. I am aware +that it is stated by some eminent writers that the sense of touch in some +persons has reached this perfection, but I have many reasons to doubt it. +I have no personal object in contradicting this statement, other than to +correct a popular error. Should be glad if it were true. It has been +accounted for by scientific men upon this hypothesis: that colors differ +in temperature, that red is warmer than yellow, and yellow warmer than +green, and so on through the spectrum. That violet is a cold color as its +rays are less refracted, that these differences are appreciable to +delicate fingers. I have tried many experiments both with my own fingers +and with persons at our several institutions, who, like myself, were born +without sight, and, have never yet found one who could form the faintest +idea of colors from impressions received through the fingers. Indeed +there is nothing in tangible qualities that suggests color, except +differences in texture. We may feel that a piece of broad-cloth has a +harsh texture, and call it black, or a soft texture, and call it drab or +brown. In this we may guess right, for it is only a guess after all. Wool +buyers and dealers in cloth judge frequently of their quality by touch; +and it is true that we who are without sight come to be very expert in +judging of the quality of cloths, furs, &c. But, to one who has never seen +light, there is no suggestion of color through finger perception. + +Between sound and color there is a much closer analogy traceable, as both +are the result of vibration. The same language is used to express the +qualities of each. + +We talk of harmony in sounds and harmony in colors, of lights and shades, +of chromatics, blending, softness, sweetness, harshness, high, low, +bright, dull, &c. + +May not a grand anthem or chorus be to the mind of one who has never seen +the light, what a fine picture is to one who has never heard sounds. I +should not be surprised to hear that some blind Yankee or Frenchman has +invented a telephone through which we can hear in the rippling brooks and +bubbling fountains the color of their waters, in the song of birds the +gorgeous tints of their plumage, and in the distant roar of Niagara, the +mighty grandeur of its scenery. To an imaginative mind a well tuned, well +voiced organ may be made to represent all the colors of the rainbow, from +the faintest violet of the piccolo to the darkest crimson of the sub-bass. +Some blind person on being asked what he supposed red to be like, answered +"Like the sound of a trumpet." He might have said "Like a flame of fire." +I once asked a blind boy, who had never seen light, if he could imagine a +house on fire and how he supposed it would look. He answered, "If it was a +big fire it would look like a thousand trumpets all blowing in a different +key." I then asked him what a picture is like. "Like anything in _shape_ +you may wish to paint," he said, "but in color (if it is a fine picture) +like one of Mozart's grand symphonies." I have many times asked my blind +lady friends how they knew in what way to arrange their colors so as to +make their fancy work look tasty and attractive. How they knew what colors +blended and what were discordant, and I have often received this answer: +"By associating the names of the seven primary colors with the seven +sounds of the diatonic scale, placing red as No. 1 or key note, orange +next, yellow next, then green, and so on to violet. Thus red will not +blend with orange, being the first and second of the scale, but red and +yellow harmonize better, being third in the scale, red and green still +better, and so on to red and deep violet, which are sevenths in the scale +and do not harmonize. Thus we get the tetrachord red, yellow, blue and +violet, which may be represented by the flat seventh of the chord C." But +I leave this theory for some one to elaborate or refute, who has seen +color, and return to my institution life. + +The ear and voice are also trained at these schools for the blind, and +music is made one of the chief arts. Piano tuning is also taught in a +practical way. If this business is not taught in all the institutions, it +ought to be, for it comes fairly within the scope of our capabilities. And +I will here say for the benefit of my brothers in the dark that I have +been very successful as a piano tuner, and the business is a practical one +for the blind. Any one with a good ear may learn to tune well, but no one +should undertake to repair so delicate a piece of machinery as a piano +action without long experience, mechanical ingenuity, great caution and +good judgment, having had no opportunity to acquire the requisite skill. + +It was not my intention at the outset to write a sketch of my own life, +but to demonstrate by my own experience that the inferior senses may be +made to perform many of the offices of sight. The eyes have some +functions, however, which the ears and fingers cannot perform. + +For example, if a piece of silk or woolen goods be handed me for +examination the nerves of my fingers will tell me whether it is fine or +coarse, whether it has a harsh or soft texture, whether it is highly +finished or rough and uneven, but they bring me no intelligence of color. + +I may pronounce the goods beautiful, because I find in it certain +qualities that address themselves to my taste, but it is not beauty +addressed to the eye. Light and color, to one who has never seen, is as +inconceivable as music to the deaf. We may get some faint idea of what +light is as a medium of communication, or why color pleases the eye as +qualities of texture please the touch, but the conception is vague and +unsatisfactory. + +I have often had the remark made to me, "Well, if you have never seen, it +is not so bad after all, you have less desire to see." This, I think, is a +mistake and a poor consolation. Has the man who has never visited the +great Niagara cataract, but has many times heard and read of its wonders, +less desire to see it than one who has witnessed those grand displays of +God's power in the flood? Has the boy who loves to read of travels and +strange adventures less desire to see the glaciers of the Alps, the skies +of Italy or the jungles of Southern Africa, than the traveler who +described them? However well we may see with our mental vision, however +well suited to our taste may be our surroundings, however pleasant may be +our family relations, and however kind may be our companions, we cannot +help that irrepressible desire to know what there is about light and +color, about the indescribable beauty of a sunset, the splendor of an +evening sky, the glory of a cloudless day, and the awful grandeur of a +storm. There is yet one thing we greatly desire to know, which the fingers +cannot grasp. + +We are told in poetry and romance that the human face divine is the index +of the spirit. That its ever changing lines express every mood of the mind +and every emotion of the soul, from a smile of ineffable beauty to a +midnight frown, from the sunshine of hope, and joy, and gladness, to +clouds of wrath and hatred. That the spirit looks out through the eye and +melts you with a beam of tenderness, or pierces your heart with a flash of +electric love, or charms you by revealing in its crystal depths the pearl +of purity, or transfixes you with a glance of displeasure. Is all this +talk about sunlit faces and starlit eyes, fine sentiment only, or does the +face really express feeling as unmistakably as we hear it in voices? To +show that the deaf have as great a desire to hear the music of the human +voice as we to see the language of the face, I quote from Dr. Kitto the +following touching passages of personal history: + +"Is there anything on earth so engaging to a parent as to catch the first +lispings of his infant's tongue, or so interesting as to listen to its +dear prattle, and trace its gradual mastery of speech? If there be any one +thing arising out of my condition, which, more than another, fills my +heart with grief, it is _this_: it is to _see_ their blessed lips in +motion and to _hear_ them not, and to witness others moved to smiles and +kisses by the sweet peculiarities of infantile speech which are +incommunicable to me, and which pass by me like the idle wind." + +Although there are but few experiments in common between the deaf and the +blind, I am able to sympathize fully with this eminent deaf author in the +intense desire he feels to hear the sweet voices of his children. There +is no other object this side of heaven I so ardently wish to see as the +faces of my family. A feeling sometimes comes over me akin, I fancy, to +the impotent rage of a caged lion, who vainly tries to break his prison +bars and gain his liberty. The moral certainty that I must finally leave +this world of beauty without having enjoyed many of its highest blessings +and purest delights often oppresses--so oppresses me, that I can only find +relief in prayer for grace to say--"Thy will be done, O God." I hear the +merry voices of my children, know their step, figure, contour of their +heads and faces, and in my day dreams I see them around me, full of life +and health, fun and frolic, and I know their little hearts are full of +love for me; I know, too, God has given them to me as some compensation +for other blessings he has withheld. Let me trust, then, in His great +mercy, that in the far future I may see the faces of my dear ones in the +light of eternity; of her who gave me birth, but whose fond look of +affection and yearning tenderness I was never able to return; and the +face of her who is now to me even more than a mother, who helps me to bear +my many burdens with Christian patience and fidelity. Then, if I am +permitted to behold the glorified face of Him who hath redeemed us, I +shall rejoice that I have lived and suffered, and wept and wept, and +prayed that I might dwell with Him forever. + + +INVOCATION TO LIGHT. + +BY MRS. HELEN ALDRICH DE KROYFT. + +Oh, holy light! thou art old as the look of God and eternal as God. The +archangels were rocked in thy lap, and their infant smiles were brightened +by thee! Creation is in thy memory. By thy touch the throne of Jehovah was +set, and thy hand burnished the myriad stars that glitter in His crown. +Worlds, new from His omnipotent hand, were sprinkled with beams from thy +baptismal font. At thy golden urn pale Luna comes to fill her silver horn, +and rounding thereat Saturn bathes his sky girt rings, Jupiter lights his +waning moons, and Venus dips her queenly robes anew. Thy fountains are +shoreless as the ocean of heavenly love; thy centre is everywhere, and +thy boundary no power has marked. Thy beams gild the illimitable fields of +space, and gladden the farthest verge of the universe. The glories of the +Seventh Heaven are open to thy gaze, and thy glare is felt in the woes of +the lowest Erebus. The sealed books of heaven by thee are read, and thine +eyes like the Infinite can pierce the dark veil of the future, and glance +backward through the mystic cycle of the past. + +Thy touch gives the lily its whiteness, the rose its tint, and thy +kindling ray makes the diamond's light. Thy beams are mighty as the power +that binds the spheres. Thou canst change the sleety winds to soothing +zephyrs, and thou canst melt the icy mountains of the poles to gentle +rains and dewy vapors. The granite rocks of the hills are upturned by +thee, volcanoes burst, islands sink and rise, rivers roll and oceans swell +at thy look of command. And oh! thou monarch of the skies, bend now thy +bow of millioned arrows, and pierce, if thou canst, this darkness that +thrice twelve moons has bound me. + +Burst now thy emerald gates, O Morn, and let thy dawnings come! Mine eyes +roll in vain to find thee, and my soul is weary of this interminable +gloom. The past comes back robed in a pall which makes all things dark. +The present blotted out, and the future but a rayless, hopeless, loveless +night of years, my heart is but the tomb of blighted hopes, and all the +misery of feelings unemployed has settled on me. I am misfortune's child +and sorrow long since marked me for her own. + + + + +IS IT MORE TO LOSE THE EYES THAN THE EARS? + +(From Mrs. De Kroyft's forthcoming work, entitled "My Soul and I.") + + +Ah no! dark and empty and lonely as the world may be to us, no intelligent +blind person could be found who would exchange hearing, and its attendant +gift of speech, for a pair of the brightest eyes in the world; while, for +myself, I have sometimes even wondered if, after all, it be, in the +strictest sense of the word, a misfortune _not to see_. + +All of our other senses are certainly not only immeasurably quickened, but +is not our whole nature improved, and our immortal being greatly elevated +through this darkest of human privations? + +Just imagine for a moment a touch like Cynthia Bullock's, so exquisite as +to feel with ease the notes, lines and spaces of ordinary printed music; +then add to that a hearing that almost notes the budding of the flowers, +and you will see how little one must possibly lack, even in the scale of +pleasurable existence, while perception in us becomes verily _a new +sense_. Indeed, what shade of thought or feeling ever escapes us? Almost +quicker than a thing has been uttered we have felt or perceived it. What +marvelous power, too, memory comes to possess, and how tenaciously she +clings to everything, often astonishing even to ourselves; while +imagination, that loftiest and most winged attribute of the soul, not only +becomes more fleet, but literally turns creator, reproducing before our +spirit eyes not only all that we have lost, clothed in the beautiful +ideal, but unbars the gates to every new field of intellectual research, +often enabling us to compete even more than successfully with those who +see. + +Alas! if there could be only a seat of learning for the blind, with all +its lessons oral or in the form of lectures, as at most of the German +Universities, what could we not achieve? + +But, as it is, enough renowned have arisen from our ranks to prove that, +while blindness fetters the hands and the feet, it verily adds wings to +_thought_. Indeed, the world has but one Homer, who sits forever shrouded +in darkness, _the veiled god_ and father of song; and but one Milton, who +gave to the world its "Paradise Lost" and its "Paradise Regained," while +he bequeathed to the blind of all ages the glory and the beacon light of +his name. + + + + +EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. + +A brief description of the methods employed in their literary, artistic +and industrial education. + + +I should not consider this work finished without a chapter on the mode of +educating those who have been so unfortunate as to be deprived of the +readiest medium through which education is imparted--the sight. The +systems, although some of them are in use in nearly every State in the +Union, are very little understood, and are always inquired into with every +evidence of interest by visitors to the institutions, where they often +express quite as much surprise as gratification at what they see. I have +therefore, in the following, endeavored to give as full a description as +possible of the various methods and appliances employed to convey through +the sense of feeling, information to which our eyes are closed. + +On entering the schools the children are generally wholly uneducated, and +have first to be taught the form and value of letters. To effect this the +letters are raised, and the pupil learns their form by passing the fingers +over them till their forms, names and their use are fully understood. With +some this is a long and tedious task, but others master it in a short +time. I mastered the alphabet in one day, but I was not a child and had a +mind sharpened by experience. By constant exercise the sense of feeling +becomes so acute that very slight differences of form are readily +detected, and reading by the touch becomes an easily mastered art. Having +thus the key of knowledge the subsequent progress of the student is in his +own hands, and, to the credit of the afflicted, it must be said it is +generally very rapid, one reason for which is that loss of sight shuts off +one fruitful source of distraction, and the mind is more easily +concentrated. Another reason is that the necessity for education is +generally appreciated, and the student is eager to acquire it. + +The form and use of figures is taught in a similar manner, but the +teaching of arithmetic is largely mental, on account of the difficulty of +producing raised figures with sufficient rapidity, and the study of higher +mathematics is pursued even more strictly from oral teaching. + +The art of writing, which, to those not acquainted with the educating of +the blind, is considered the most difficult task, becomes comparatively +easy. It is a two-fold art, including the art of writing for blind readers +and the ordinary Roman script. Of the "blind writing" there are several +systems, but in this I shall be content to describe but two--the pin type +and the "New York Point System." The first consists of movable types, the +letters on which are formed of pin points, and with which the writer +impresses the paper one letter at a time, producing the letter raised on +the opposite side of the paper, which, on being reversed, may be read with +eye or fingers. The point system is the arrangement and combination of six +dots on two lines. Those on the upper line are numbered 1, 3 and 5, and +those on the lower 2, 4 and 6. These are made within spaces about +three-sixteenths of an inch square each, by a styles which resembles a +small, dull awl or centre punch. To prevent the dots being confused the +writer uses a writing board, to which the paper is clamped by a metallic +guide-rule perforated with two or more rows of these squares. The pupils +make these punctured letters with great precision and rapidity, and +frequently conduct their correspondence with their friends by that means, +giving them the alphabet and key by which to learn to read them. + +The writing of ordinary script is performed with more difficulty. A +grooved pasteboard is used for the purpose, the grooves being of the width +of the smaller letters. The letters extending above or below the line are +gauged by the ridge. The right hand is followed close by the left, which +guards the written lines from a second tracing of the pencil, and marks +the spaces. By these methods correspondence is maintained between the +blind and their distant friends, and it is even possible for a blind +merchant to keep his own books if necessary. + +In writing the common script the pencil is always used, the pen never. +Care has to be taken to keep the pencil pointed, or much care and labor +may be lost. An incident which Mr. Loughery, founder of the Maryland +Institution, used to relate of himself, shows how necessary it is to +observe great care in this matter. When a student he wrote a long, gossipy +letter to a friend, and in a short time was surprised, and for the time +greatly annoyed, at receiving a reply asking him if he had gone mad. It +enclosed his own letter, and on examination of it the two words "Dear Ed." +were found to be its sole contents. In his absorbed condition of mind he +had not noticed the breaking of his pencil, and had proceeded with his +writing, as the scratched paper, on which the traces of the wood of the +pencil were visible, but not legible, indicated. + +The most interesting things seen in an Institution for the Blind are the +apparatus for teaching geography, philosophy and physiology. For +geography miniature continents, states, hemispheres, etc., are used, in +which, the political divisions, the physical conformation and +characteristics, the rivers, lakes, seas, etc., etc., are reproduced as +nearly as possible. The boundaries are described by rows of raised dots, +the capital cities by studs of peculiar shape, the larger cities by studs +different in size or shape, the rivers by grooves in the surface, deserts +by spaces being sanded on the surface, the lakes, seas, etc., by +depressions, and the islands by spots elevated above the seas' surface. +Mountain ranges are shown by raised models or miniature mountains, and +that volcanoes may be fully understood, separate models of these and of +other remarkable formations are used, that the student, by a thorough +manual examination, may get a correct knowledge of them. In nearly every +school I have visited there were maps, the sub-divisions of which +consisted of movable blocks. Supported like a table, these maps would be +studied by the pupils taking out the blocks and returning them to their +places as they learned their names, etc. It is no uncommon thing to see a +pupil throw these blocks into a confused heap, mix them all up, and, then +picking them up one by one, put each in its place with as much accuracy as +the most accomplished pianist will strike each key in a simple march or +polka. + +The philosophical apparatus consists of miniature machinery: the spring, +the simple and compound lever, the wheel, the cog, the cam, etc., even to +the miniature engine are brought into use, and the pupils examine them by +themselves, and in their various applications and relations to each other. +In teaching those who never could see great difficulty is experienced in +conveying the nature and properties of gases, vapors, etc., but with those +who have any recollection of what they have seen the task is comparatively +easy. + +Where the apparatus is possessed the teaching of physiology and natural +history are comparatively easy, the pupil handling and examining +skeletons, skulls and models of the various parts of the human system, +learning their various offices, etc., but many schools do not possess +them, while others have fine collections including busts of eminent or +notorious personages, zoological collections, plaster models, etc., by +which the loss of sight is largely compensated for. + +Music is taught by raised notes until the rudiments are mastered. It forms +a great part of the course in all the institutions, and is cultivated with +great assiduity. When the rudiments have been mastered and the pupil is +familiar with the instrument, the music is read to them, the notes +indicated by names and value, and they memorize the music. So thoroughly +do many of the blind master the art that several are now, within my +knowledge, successful teachers of the art to large numbers of seeing +pupils. On the other hand much valuable time is wasted in the effort to +teach music to those who have no talent for it, and whose time might be +more profitably employed in the pursuit of other studies. + +In the education of the blind the greatest care is given to the +cultivation and strengthening of the memory and the success that is met +with is truly marvelous, for the amount and variety of knowledge with +which some minds have been stored is to many almost incredible. + +The industrial education of the blind is perhaps the most important of +all, and all the institutions are provided with workshops, in which the +inmates learn some useful mechanical or domestic art. The female pupils +are taught to make all kinds of ornamental bead-work, to crochet and knit +woolen and worsted goods, to sew by hand and with machines, and some of +them acquire surprising skill, though my own experience does not give me a +high opinion of the efficacy of attempting to teach sewing, so very few +ever practice it after leaving school, though I have found it convenient +to sew on a button or repair a rent on occasion. Sewing by the blind, +though it may surprise the beholder for the skill acquired under +difficulties, will seldom claim their admiration for its own merit. + +I have more faith in the efficiency of the industrial education of the +boys and men, because, in the course of my travels, I have found numbers +of them prospering in the pursuit of the trades learned in the +institutions, and some of them carrying on quite extensive operations. +Boys are taught to make brooms, brushes, cane seats for chairs, +mattresses, door mats, to weave carpets and do many other forms of useful +work. It looks strange to be shown a brush in which black and colored +bristles are formed into lines of beauty--initials, flowers, etc., and to +be told that a blind man made it. It looks like a miracle, but when you +learn that the forms were traced on the block by cutting grooves in its +surface to form the figures, and that the black bristles were kept in a +round box, and white ones in a square box, near the maker's hand, the +mystery disappears. + +Connected with the Philadelphia Institution are extensive manufactories, +in which large numbers of workmen are employed. They are the largest in +the United States that are operated almost exclusively by the blind. These +shops enable numbers of men to support themselves and their families in +decency and comfort. + +The great interest manifested in the education and training of the blind, +by thousands of noble people and earnest workers throughout the country, +deserves the gratitude of not only those who suffer the great deprivation, +but of the whole people; for the benefits they have conferred on us by +educating and rendering us useful and independent, rank in the scale of +beneficence next to giving us sight. + + + + +POEMS BY THE BLIND. + + +I take the liberty of introducing a few poems by blind authors, feeling +that they will be appreciated by the public. Poetry seems to possess +peculiar charms for blind people, who, deprived of material sight, seem to +love to revel in the beautiful visions presented by the imagination. Among +blind poets and rhymesters there are, of course, as many different grades +of merit as among the more favored writers, but the proportion of doggerel +writers is fortunately much smaller among the blind, and they cannot so +readily inflict their scribbling in such volume on a patient public. The +poems here presented are selected from among a number of the best +productions of the best writers. + + +LUCY A. LITTLE. + +I take great pleasure in introducing into these leaves the following +simple poem from the pen of Miss Lucy A. Little, a young blind girl, +toward whom I have been drawn by deep sympathy and affection. She was +educated in the Wisconsin Institution for the Blind, where she graduated +with high honor. + +She possesses great personal attractions and much intrinsic merit, being +the household pet in the home of her grand-parents; and, as the blind have +missions, it seems to have been especially hers to minister to those who +regard her with doting fondness, and to whom she is a bright prismatic +ray, making the shortening path of the old people radiant with, its light. + + +A JUNE MORNING. + + Early one morn in leafy June, + When brooks and birds were all in tune, + A maiden left her quiet home + In meadows and in fields to roam. + She wandered on, in cheerful mood, + Through verdant fields and leafy wood. + At length she paused to rest awhile + Upon a little rustic stile. + She made a pretty picture there, + With her bright, curling, golden hair, + And dress of white, and eyes of blue, + And ribbons of the self-same hue. + And while she sat absorbed in thought, + A form approached. She heeded not + Until a hand was gently laid + Upon the shoulders of the maid. + Then, looking up in sweet surprise, + She saw a pair of jet-black eyes, + A perfect form of manly grace, + A handsome, open, honest face. + Then said the maid, in voice so clear: + "How did you know that I was here?" + Said he: "I sought you at your home, + They told me you had hither come, + And so, I came, this bright June day, + To say what I've so longed to say. + When first we met in by-gone days, + You charmed me with your winning ways. + Since then the time has quickly flown, + Each day to me you've dearer grown, + And you can brighten all my life + If you will but become my wife." + She raised her eyes unto his own, + And in their depths a new light shone, + While in a voice so soft and low + She said: "I _will_; it shall be so." + And then they homeward took their way, + While birds were singing sweet and gay, + Now oft they bless that day in June + When brooks and birds were all atune. + + +GOLD WORSHIPPERS. + +BY L.V. HALL. + + Within a faded volume, dim and old, + I find this musty maxim tersely given: + "The magic key to human hearts is gold, + But love unlocks the crystal gates of heaven." + + Our homes are not so happy as of old, + Our hearts are not so merry as of yore, + We find that nought can purchase love but gold, + That virtue begs a pittance at the door. + + There was a time when Beauty bore the sway; + There was a time when Wit the world controlled; + There was a time when Valor won the day; + But now the noble knight that wins, is Gold. + + The ancient Ghebers worshipped light and fire; + The Brahmins bowed to gods of wood and stone; + But now, 'neath marble dome and gilded spire, + The deity adored is gold alone. + + It overlays the altar and the cross; + It dignifies the monarch and the clown; + The wealth of moral worth is counted dross; + The million miser wears the golden crown. + + 'Tis time this mad idolatry should cease; + 'Tis time her prophets and her priests were slain; + Let earth do homage to the Prince of Peace, + And the reign of gold shall be the golden reign. + + The Christ came not with pomp and princely show; + His followers were lowly and despised; + He courted not the high, nor shunned the low; + A very God in human flesh disguised. + + He brought a marvelous message from above: + A gift of grace and pardon from the King. + He claimed no tithe or tribute but of love-- + A penitent and contrite heart to bring. + + He banished brokers from the house of prayer; + He raised the dead and made the dumb to speak; + Unsealed the blinded eye, unstopped the ear; + He fed the poor and lifted up the weak. + + The way to life, He said, is plain and straight, + It leads to joy, and peace, and heavenly light + The way to death is through a golden gate + And broad the way that leads to endless night. + + Shall we accept the sacrifice he made + And enter in the Shepherd's sheltering fold? + Or, like the Judas who his Lord betrayed, + Sell soul and hope of Heaven for miser's gold? + + Say, which is best, true piety or gold? + This metal worship or the living God? + Ye cannot have them both, so we are told, + See to it then which pathway shall be trod. + + Array your idol in his robes of state! + Set up his image on his golden throne! + Throw open wide the temple's gilded gate, + And thus proclaim that gold is God alone! + + Or else array yourselves in plain attire; + Set up the love of Christ in every heart + Let each affection feel its fervent fire, + And in this money-worship bear no part. + + Now make your choice between your gold and heaven; + Buy all the sinful pleasures wealth can bring; + Increase them through the years to mortals given + And die, at last--a beggar--not a king. + + Yes, make your choice between your gold and heaven; + Find peace and pardon in a Saviour's blood; + Freely bestow what, free to you, is given, + And meet, at last, the welcoming smile of God. + + +THE DOUBLE NIGHT. + +BY MORRISON HEADY, + +Of the Kentucky Institution for the Blind. + +_To the shades of Milton and Beethoven_. + + "Silence and Darkness, solemn sisters, twins + From ancient Night, who nursed the tender thought + To reason, and on reason build resolve-- + That column--of true majesty in man-- + Assist me--I will thank you in the grave."-- + +_Night Thoughts_. + + +DARKNESS. + + Go, bring the harp that once with dirges thrilled, + But now hangs hushed in leaden slumbers, + Save when the faltering hand untimely chilled + Steals o'er its chords in broken numbers. + It hangs in halls where shades of sorrow dwell, + Where echoless Silence tolls the passing bell, + Where shadowless Darkness weaves the shrouding spell + Of parting joys and parting years. + Go, bring it me, sweet friend, and ere we part, + A lay I'll frame, so sad 'twill wring thy heart + Of all its pity, all its tears + + As fitful shadows round me gather fast, + And solemn watch my thoughts are holding, + Comes Memory, Panoramist of the Past. + The rising morn of life unfolding, + Now fade from view all living toil and strife; + Time past is now my present; death, my life; + All that exists is obsolete; + While o'er my soul there steals the pensive glow + Of sainted joys that young years only know, + And past scenes, looming dimly, rise and throw + Their lengthening shadows at my feet. + + I see a morn domed in by pictured skies; + The dew is on its budding pleasures, + The gladsome, early, sunlight on it lies, + And to it from this dark my pent soul flies, + As misers nightly to their treasures. + And, as I look, I see a glittering train, + In airy throng, across the dreamlit plain, + Come dancing, dancing from the tomb; + Flitting in phantom silence on my sight; + In silence, yet all beautiful and bright, + The ghosts of joy, and hope, and bloom. + But passed me by; their lines of fading light + Tell of decay, of youth's and beauty's blight; + Then, like spent meteors shimmering through the night, + The vision melts in closing gloom. + + Another day in sable vesture clad, + All drear with new blown pleasures blighted, + Comes blindly groping through the twilight sad, + As one in moonless mists benighted. + O! Day unhappy! could oblivion roll + Its slumberous billows o'er my shrinking soul, + Thee scarce I could, e'en then, forget: + A life, bereft of light, no memory need + To tell of night that ne'er to morning leads, + Of day that is forever set. + + From yonder sky the noonward sun was torn, + Ere day dawn's rosy hues had banished; + A starless midnight blotted out the morn, + Ere childhood's dewy joys had vanished. + No slow paced twilight ushered in the night; + A spangled web, the Heavens were swept from sight; + The full moon fled and never waned; + And all of Earth that's beautiful and fair. + Became as shadows in the empty air-- + A boundless, blackened blank remained! + + I heard the gates of night, with sullen jar, + Close on the cheerful day forever; + Hope from my sky sank like the evening star, + Which finds in darkness, zenith never, + For scarce she knew, blithe offspring of the day, + How there to shine, where night held boundless sway; + And shapes of beauty, grace and bloom, + And fair-formed joys that once around me danced, + Bewildered grew, where sunbeams never glanced, + And lost their way in that wide gloom. + + Pensylla, o'er me many sunless years + Have flown, since last the beams of heaven, + The soft ascent of morn through smiles and tears, + The sweet descent of dreamy even-- + Or sight of wood and fields in green arrayed, + Vernal resplendence or Autumnal shade, + Or Winter's gloom or Summer's blaze; + Bird, beast or works that trophy man's abode, + Or he divine, the image of his God, + Met my rapt gaze. + + Look, gentle guide! Thou see'st the imperial sun + Forth sending far his ambient glory, + O'er laughing fields and frowning highlands dun, + O'er glancing streams and woodlands hoary. + In orient clouds he steeps his amber hair, + With beams far slanting through the flaming air, + Bids Earth, with all her hymning sound, declare + The praise of everlasting light. + On my bared head I felt his pitying ray, + He loves to shine on my benighted way; + But ah, Pensylla! he brings to me no day-- + Nor yet his setting, deeper night. + + Prime gift of God, that veil'st His sovereign throne, + And dost of Him in sense remind me-- + Blest light of Heaven, why hast thou from me flown? + To these sad shades, why hast resigned me? + On pinions of surpassing beauty borne, + When Nature hails the glad advance of morn, + In thine unsullied loveliness. + Thou com'st; but to my darkened eyes in vain-- + My night, e'en in the noon of thy domain, + Yields not to thee, since joy of thine again + Can ne'er my dayless being bless. + + + SILENCE. + + Next, Silence, fit companion of the Night, + In drearier depths my being steeping, + Like the felt presence of an unseen sprite, + With muffled tread comes creeping, creeping. + Before me close her smothering curtain swings, + And o'er my life a shadeless shadow flings; + Sinking with pitiless weight, and slow + To shroud the last sweet glimpse of Earth and Man, + And set my limits to the narrow span + Of but an arm's length here below. + + O, whither shall I fly, this stroke to shun? + Where turn me, this side death and heaven? + Almost I would my course on earth were run, + And all to Night and Silence given! + I turn to man: can he but with me mourn? + Alike we're helpless, and, as bubbles borne, + We to a common haven float. + To Him, th' All-seeing and All-hearing One, + Behold, I turn! More hid than he there's none, + More silent none, none more remote! + + Alas, Pensylla, stay that pious tear! + Now nearer come, I fain thy voice would hear, + Like music when the soul is dreaming; + Like music dropping from a far off sphere, + Heard by the good, when life's end draweth near. + It faintly comes, a spirit seeming, + The sounds at once entrance me, ear and soul: + The voice of winds and waves, the thunder's roll. + + The steed's proud neigh, and lamb's meek plaint, + The hum of bees, and vesper hymn of birds, + The rural harmony of flocks and herds, + The song of joy, or praise, and man's sweet words-- + Come to me fainter--yet more faint + Was my poor soul to God's great works so dull. + That they from her must hide forever? + Earth too replete with joy, too beautiful, + For me, ingrate, that we must sever? + For by sweet scented airs that round me blow, + By transient showers, the sun's impassioned glow, + And smell of woods and fields, alone I know + Of Spring's approach, and Summer's bloom; + And by the pure air, void of odors sweet, + By noontide beams, low slanting, without heat, + By rude winds, cumbering snows, and hazardous sleet, + Of Autumn's blight and Winter's gloom + + As at the entrance of an untrod cave, + I shrink--so hushed the shades and sombre. + This death of sense makes life a breathing grave, + A vital death, a waking slumber! + 'Tis as the light itself of God were fled-- + So dark is all around, so still, so dead; + Nor hope of change, one ray I find! + Yet must submit. Though fled fore'er the light, + Though utter silence bring me double night, + Though to my insulated mind, + Knowledge her richest pages ne'er unfold, + And "human face divine" I ne'er behold-- + Yet must submit, must be resigned! + + +TO THE SHADES. + + To thee, blind Milton, solemn son of night, + Great exile once from day's dominion bright, + Whose genius, steeped in truth and glory, + Like some wide orb of new created light, + Rose, in the world, bewildering mortals' sight-- + I'll sing till earth's young hills grow hoary! + For what of joy I've found in life's dark way, + And what of excellence have reached I may, + Much, much is due thy wondrous rhyme, + Which sang the triumphs of Eternal Truth, + Revealed blest glimpses of immortal youth, + Of Heaven, e'er angels sang of time: + Of light, that o'er the embryon tumult broke, + Of earth, when all the stars symphonious woke, + Till man, as if from Heaven a seraph spoke, + Entranced, hung on thy strains sublime. + + Day closes on the earth his one bright eye, + That Night, her starry lids unsealing, + May ope her thousand in a loftier sky, + God's higher mysteries revealing. + So when thy day from thee its light withdrew, + And o'er the night its rueful shadows threw, + And "from the cheerful ways of men" + Thy steps cut off, thy mind, thick set with eyes, + As night with stars, piercing thy shrouded skies, + And proving most illumined then, + When darkest seeming, soared on cherub wings-- + Those star-eyed wings--higher than ever springs + The beam of day, to see, and tell of things + Invisible to mortal ken. + + O'er earth thy numbers shall not cease to roll + Till man to live, who to them hearkened; + Thy fame, no less immortal than thy soul, + Shall shine when yon proud sun is darkened. + Thee, now, methinks, I see, O bard divine! + Where ripen no fair joys that are not thine, + And God's full love is pleased on thee to shine, + Still by the heavenly Muses fired, + And starred among the angelic minstrel band, + The sacred lyre thou sway'st with sovereign hand, + While seraphs, in awed rapture, round thee stand, + As one by God himself inspired. + + Sublime Beethoven, wizard king of sound, + Once exiled from thy realm, yet not discrowned-- + Assist me; since my spirit, thrilling + With thy surpassing strains, is mute, spell bound; + For through the hush of years they still resound, + With music weird my spent ear filling. + When Silence clasped thee in her dismal spell, + And Earth born Music sang her sad farewell; + Thy mighty Genius, as in scorn, + Arose in silent majesty to dwell, + Where from symphonic spheres thou heard'st to swell, + As on celestial breezes borne, + Sounds, scarce by angels heard, e'en in their dreams; + Which, at thy bidding, wrought a thousand themes, + And pouring down in rich pellucid streams, + Filled organ grand and resonant horn; + With rarest sweetness touched each dulcet string, + Made martial bugle and bold clarion ring, + Soft flute provoked like the lone bird of spring, + To warble lays of love forlorn; + Woke shrilly reed to many a pastoral note + Thrilled witching lyre and lips melodious smote, + Till earth, in tuneful ether, seemed to float-- + As when first sang the stars of morn! + Till wondering angels were entranced to chime, + With harp and choral tongue, thy strains sublime + And bear thy soul beyond the reach of time, + Heaven's halls harmonious to adorn. + + Ah, me! could I with ken angelic, scan + Celestial glories hid from mortal man, + I'd deem this night a day supernal! + Could music, borne from some far singing sphere, + Float sweetly down and thrill my stricken ear, + I'd pray this hush might be eternal! + + +RESIGNATION. + + Pensylla, look! With tremulous points of fire, + The sun, red-sinking lights yon distant spire + O'er leafy hill and blossoming meadows, + Spreads wide and level his departing beams, + Then sinks to rest, as one sure of sweet dreams, + 'Mid pillowing clouds and curtaining shadows. + Night draws her lucid shade o'er sky and earth; + Solemn and bright, Heaven's starry eyes look forth; + The evening hymn of praise and song of mirth + Rise gratefully from man's abode. + O, Night! I love her sombre majesty! + 'Tis sweet, her double solitude, to me! + Pensylla, leave me now! Alone I'd be + With Darkness, Silence and my God. + + O Thou, whose shadow is but light's excess, + The echo of whose voice but silentness, + Whose light and music, half expended, + Would flood, dissolve the sphery frame; 'twixt whom + And man no endless night can throw its gloom + Till long Eternity is ended-- + Which ne'er shall end--to thee, my trust, I turn! + To one, for whom in vain thy lamps now burn, + A hearing deign; nor from thy footstool spurn + The prayer of an imprisoned mind. + + Father, thy sun is set; night veils the world, + That orbs more beauteous be to man unfurled, + Then in my Night, let me but find + New realms, where thought and fancy may rejoice; + Let its long silence ne'er displace Thy voice + From whispering hope and peace, 'twere my choice + To be thus smitten deaf and blind! + Fill me with light and music from above, + And so inspire with truth, faith, courage, love, + That Thou and man my work can well approve-- + Father, to all I'm then resigned! + + Harp of the mournful voice, now fare thee well! + My sad song ended, ended is thy spell. + Perchance thine echoes, memory haunting, + May oft awaken, shadowing forth the swell + Of long sung monody and long tolled knell, + And o'er the dead past, dirges chanting; + But for me, ever hang in Sorrow's hall! + Bid Night and Silence spread oblivion's pall + O'er earthly blooming joys, that seared must fall + And leave the stricken soul to weep:-- + Ever, till this devoted head be hoar, + And the swart angel whispering at the door; + When I thy slumbers may disturb once more. + Ere double night bring double sleep, + Till then, I sing in happier, bolder strain: + What's lost to me is God's; what's left, for pain + Or joy still His: and endless day, His reign: + And reckoning of my Night He'll keep! + + +AUTUMN. + +BY ELLENOR J. JONES, + +Of the Indiana Institution. + + Oh Autumn, sweet sad Autumn queen, + With robe of golden brown, + Our hearts are bowed with grief and pain, + As each leaf flutters down. + + In every drooping flow'ret, + In every leafless tree, + By warbling birds deserted, + We find some trace of thee. + + Thou'rt lovely, oh, so lovely, + And yet how brief thy stay, + Why is it all things beautiful + Must droop and fade away? + + All, all thy gorgeous painted leaves, + With colors bright and gay, + Were touched by nature's magic brush, + Then rudely cast away. + + And thus our dearest hopes are crushed, + By fate's relentless will, + Like withered leaves they pass away-- + But peace, sad heart, be still. + + Thou too must breast the adverse wind, + Be wildly tempest-tossed, + Perhaps when thou art hushed in death, + Thou'lt meet the loved and lost. + + But for this sweetly, solemn thought + That thrills us with delight, + This life, so marred by grief and pain, + Could never seem so bright. + + Then welcome, sweet, sad Autumn days, + Though brief the hallowed reign, + For every smile must have its tear, + And every joy its pain. + + +A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. + +BY ELLEN COYN, + +Of the Arkansas Institution. + + I sat down at the window, where + I oft had calmed my ruffled feeling, + For summer evening's balmy air + Has for the wounded spirit healing. + + That morning I had been quite glad, + For hope had prospects bright in keeping, + But fortune changed, and I was sad, + And there I sat in silence weeping. + + 'Tis vain I said to hope for good, + Or cherish bliss for one short hour, + If morn puts forth a fragrant bud, + Ere night 'tis but a withered flower. + + My Bible lay upon the stand, + In which I'd ofttimes found a blessing, + I quickly took the book in hand, + In hope to learn a useful lesson. + + I read upon its open page, + "There is a time and purpose given, + It has been so from age to age, + For everything that's under Heaven." + + 'Tis vain and wrong to wish, I thought, + That life with me be always sunny, + My cup with bitter never fraught, + But always overflown with honey + + When fortune frowns I'll not despair, + I'll only weep away my sorrow, + 'Twill ease my heart and brow of care, + I'll laugh when joy returns to-morrow. + + +DRIFTING. + +BY ELLENOR J. JONES. + + We are drifting on the sea of life, + Like ships we're tempest-tossed, + And 'mid this world of care and strife + How many are wrecked and lost! + + Our vessels are sometimes set afloat, + 'Neath a bright and cloudless sky, + But far in the distance hid from view, + The breakers are sure to lie. + + Others are launched on an angry sea, + When the waves are dashing high, + And the wild winds give a ghostly tone, + To the curlew's troubled cry. + + But the good ship Faith is gaily launched, + For the pilot, Hope, is there, + And Love, with his flaming lamp of light, + Maketh all things wondrous fair. + + Soon Faith is wrecked by a careless word, + And beautiful Hope is dead, + And Love, with the holy light of life, + In an angry moment fled. + + And thus on the wide wild sea of life, + We are drifting day by day, + Without one thought of the solemn truth, + That we all shall pass away. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + +***** This file should be named 14963-8.txt or 14963-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/9/6/14963/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/14963-8.zip b/14963-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfd0811 --- /dev/null +++ b/14963-8.zip diff --git a/14963-h.zip b/14963-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfe4d70 --- /dev/null +++ b/14963-h.zip diff --git a/14963-h/14963-h.htm b/14963-h/14963-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2be601c --- /dev/null +++ b/14963-h/14963-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6625 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .poem span.i11 {display: block; margin-left: 11em;} + .poem span.i15 {display: block; margin-left: 15em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:5%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World As I Have Found It + Sequel to Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl + +Author: Mary L. Day Arms + +Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/ill-1.jpg" +alt="MARY L. DAY ARMS" +title="MARY L. DAY ARMS" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><b>MARY L. DAY ARMS</b></p> + + + +<h1>THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT.</h1> + +<h2>SEQUEL TO +Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl.</h2> + +<h2>BY MARY L. DAY ARMS.</h2> + +<div><br /></div> + +<p class="center">WITH AN INTRODUCTION</p> + +<p class="center">By Rev. Charles F. Deems, LL.D.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">BALTIMORE:<br /> +PUBLISHED BY JAMES YOUNG,<br /> +112 West Baltimore Street.<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by<br /> +MARY L. DAY ARMS,<br /> +In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. +<br /><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">[<i>Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation have been +retained as in the original</i>.]<br /><br /></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + +<div style="margin-left: 43%; margin-right: 15%;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#INTRODUCTION"><b>INTRODUCTION.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>CHAPTER XXV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>CHAPTER XXX.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><b>CHAPTER XXXI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><b>CHAPTER XXXII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXXIV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><b>CHAPTER XXXV.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXXVI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#HELP_THE_BLIND_TO_HELP_THEMSELVES"><b>HELP THE BLIND TO HELP THEMSELVES.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#IS_IT_MORE_TO_LOSE_THE_EYES_THAN_THE_EARS"><b>IS IT MORE TO LOSE THE EYES THAN THE EARS?</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#EDUCATION_OF_THE_BLIND"><b>EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> <a href="#POEMS_BY_THE_BLIND"><b>POEMS BY THE BLIND.</b></a></td></tr></table> + +</div> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" />.</h2> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION" />INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Arms has asked me to write an introduction to her book. It hardly +seems to need it. The title-page shows that it was written by one who is +blind. It is a sequel to another volume. That volume has been widely sold, +and all who read it will, I am sure, have some desire to see how the +stream of the life of its writer has been flowing since her first book was +written. Her patient perseverance under privations has won her a large +circle of personal friends, who will take pleasure in procuring and +preserving this fresh memento of the Blind Girl.</p> + +<p>Such a book as this has a value which, probably, has not occurred to its +author. She has put on record the phenomena of her life as she has +recollected them, with great simplicity, merely for the entertainment of +her readers, without attaching any importance to the value which every +such memoir has in the department of science. But it is just from the +study of such phenomena as these that the students in mental and moral +philosophy learn the laws of mind and the operations of a human soul under +a divine, moral government. As a matter of taste we might omit the +writer's description of her husband, whom she never yet has seen, p. 45, +and her account of her love affairs, p. 49; and if we had discretionary +editorship, and the volume had been written by one hav<a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" />ing always had her +sight, we should unhesitatingly exclude such passages. But, as the records +of the impressions, consciousnesses and general mental phenomena of a +blind girl <i>in love</i>, they stand to be, perhaps, quoted hereafter in some +abstruse scientific treatise, or bloom out in some perennial poem.</p> + +<p>There is an immediate practical usefulness in such a book as this. It has +its wholesome lesson for the young. It shows what strength of character +and vigor of purpose will accomplish under even extraordinary +embarrassments. The young lady had a hard early life. She had neither +friends nor money nor sight, but she unwhiningly took up the task of +taking care of herself, and discharged it so nobly as to make for herself +a wide circle of friends, and keep for herself that sense of self-reliance +as toward man, and of faith as toward God, which are worth more than all +the dirty dollars that wickedness can give to weakness.</p> + +<p>Let our young women who are in straitened circumstances, in circumstances +that seem absolutely exclusive of all hope of retaining virtue and keeping +life, read this book and its predecessor, and pluck up faith and hope. Let +all our young ladies, daughters of loving parents, daughters who have no +care for the morrow, daughters of delicious ease and happy opportunity, +read this book, and then let their consciences ask them how they are to +carry their idleness to be examined at the judgment sent of Christ, in +contrast with this blind girl's industry, fidelity and perseverance.</p> + +<p> +CHARLES F. DEEMS.<br /> +CHURCH OF THE STRANGERS,<br /> +New York, 4th July, 1878.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" /><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" />CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Warriors and statesmen have their meed of praise,<br /></span> +<span>And what they do, or suffer, men record;<br /></span> +<span>While the long sacrifice of woman's days<br /></span> +<span>Passes without a thought, without a word:<br /></span> +<span>And many a holy struggle for the sake<br /></span> +<span>Of duty, <i>sternly</i>, <i>faithfully</i> fulfil'd;<br /></span> +<span>For which the anxious soul must watch and wait,<br /></span> +<span>Goes by unheeded as the summer wind,<br /></span> +<span>And leaves no <i>memory</i>, and no trace behind!<br /></span> +<span>Yet, it may be, more lofty courage dwells<br /></span> +<span>In one meek heart that braves an adverse fate,<br /></span> +<span>Than his whose ardent soul indignant swells,<br /></span> +<span>Warmed by the fight, or cheered through high debate.<br /></span> +<span>The soldier dies surrounded; could he <i>live</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Alone</i> to suffer, and alone to strive?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So was rendered the sad soul-music of one of the legion,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Who learned in sorrow<br /></span> +<span>What they taught in song."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and the weird words have been echoed by the voice of many a woman all +along, whose weary wanderings have burned the sacrifi<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" />cial fires; amid the +ashes of whose dead hopes the embers have flickered and faded only to +rekindle the lurid, lustrous light of added, and still added offerings. +There, waiting and watching the deep tracery "upon the sands beside the +sounding sea," find wave after wave wash away the mystic hand-writing.</p> + +<p>The ebbing tide carries afar the ships freighted with aching, anguished +hearts; when borne upon the swell of the flowing sea, come the swift sails +of Argosies richly laden with hope, full with fruition.</p> + +<p>Within the heart of all there lies deeply imbedded the "Black Drop" of +which the Mahometan legend tells, and which the angel revealed to the +Prophet of Allah. 'Tis in aching anguish this drop must be probed and +purified, to be healed only through the endless eloquence of duty done.</p> + +<p>The sightless eyes have vivid visions. Theirs is the light in darkness +which stirred the soul of a Milton with a "gift divine;" inspired a Homer +with the "fire and frenzy" which crowned an Iliad and an Odyssey, the +<a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" />master pieces of Epic verse; gave to the antique and traditional +literature of the Celtic race its meteoric brilliancy, and produced the +weird, wondrous sublimity of an Ossian.</p> + +<p>All who have read the Invocation to Light by the blind authoress, Mrs. De +Kroyft, must have realized the luminous light of a soul sublimated by +sorrow and swelling and soaring in eloquent strains.</p> + +<p>'Tis but a simple song I must sing, a bird-note amid cathedral tones; but +may not its minstrelsy meet the heart and search the soul of many a +sorrowing one, or rise like the song of the nightingale to the throne of +Him who sees the lives enthralled?</p> + +<p>If this little lesson of life can find a single searcher for the truth it +tells, or bear on the breath of the breeze "one soft Æolian strain," may I +not hope that it may help to swell the harp-notes of the heavenly +harmonies?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" /><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" />CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I remember, I remember<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How my childhood fleeted by—<br /></span> +<span>The mirth of its December,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the warmth of its July."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In a former volume I have recounted the varied scenes of an eventful +childhood, whose auroral dawn was tinted with the rose-hue and perfumed +with the breath of light-winged moments; even as the Goddess of the +Morning ushers in the new-born day with her flower-laden chariot, and the +bright Morning Star lends its light ere it sinks under the horizon.</p> + +<p>Having my birth on the rich soil of a Southern land, and cradled under its +tropical skies and sunny smiles, I was early transplanted to colder climes +and ruder blasts, yet through the nurture of a mother's gentle hand, and +the ministrations of a loving band of sisters and brothers, whose +talismanic <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" />touch toned every note, softened every sorrow and heightened +every hope, I could but bloom like an Alpine flower in its bed of snow.</p> + +<p>But in the golden chain there came to be, in time, a "missing link;" the +mother's life went out, and from the darkened fireside vanished the little +flock, scattered through various ways to various destinies.</p> + +<p>My own was a slippery path to tread, and ofttimes led my weary feet into +the shadow, and gloom, and darkness. Through sickness, neglect and +maltreatment came all too soon "sorrow's crown of sorrow;" when over the +young life fell a dark pall, and eyes so used to light no longer held the +prisoned sunbeams, and passed forever under the relentless bond and cruel +curse of blindness. Then indeed my soul grew dark! And could my restless +eyes wait in thraldom for the dawn of an eternal day, and must my +wandering feet pass through the "valley of the shadow," ere I could see +the light "around the Great White Throne?"</p> + +<p>Through a singular complication of cir<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" />cumstances I was led to the home of +a sister in Chicago, from whom I had long been separated; and by equally +singular ways I was also there reunited to three of my brothers (Charles, +William and Howard). Then my veiled vision could not shut out the loved +lineaments living in the pictured halls of memory—the vision of a +love-hallowed home, and a mother's face crowning all. Scenes and faces +gone, passed like a panorama before my mind's eye, and</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"So the blessed train passed by me,<br /></span> +<span>But the vision was sealed upon my soul."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Through the agency of family friends I returned to my birth-place, and +with strange and mingled emotions was welcomed back to Baltimore, with +kind greetings from relatives and friends. Some had passed beyond the +portal of earthly existence, and others unexpectedly reappeared, among +whom was my father, whose face I could not see, but whose emotion +betokened great anguish at the sight of his blind daughter. Oh how many +memories must have passed through his mind, as he clasped to his heart his +chastened, motherless <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" />child, and, while other loves and other ties were +his, "the shades of friends departed" as told by Longfellow must have +entered a weird train, and amid other angel footsteps must have come—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"That being beauteous<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who unto his youth was given;<br /></span> +<span>More than all things else to love him,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And is now a saint in Heaven."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Notwithstanding so many former attempts at the restoration of my sight, +another effort was made, involving a trip to New York, where a most +painful operation was undergone. But, alas! although a brief period was +accorded me, in which I saw with rapture objects around me, it was only to +be shut out into utter and hopeless sightlessness. As the wounded hare +seeks some cover remote from the human ken, so did my sinking soul seek +the solace of solitude, where for twenty-four hours I searched my nature +to its depths, and made resolves for my future course, known only to God +and pitying angels. They alone comforted me then, and they have sustained +and soothed through every succeeding trial!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" /><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" />CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The saddest day hath gleams of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The darkest wave hath bright foam near it.<br /></span> +<span>And, twinkles o'er the cloudiest night,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some solitary star to cheer it."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In the year 1855, my heart still heavy with its burden of blindness, I +entered the Baltimore Institution for the Blind. With kind friends to aid +and cheer me, high hopes, rich resolutions and ambitious aims to inspire, +I commenced the course of study which was to fit me for my new avocations. +Ofttimes was I found in the deep valley of humiliation, where I sat me +down and sighed; and in many a "Garden of Gethsemane" were seen the +trickling "tears of blood." The cross and the crucifixion came, but +afterwards came the resurrection of dead hopes and angels bearing the +crown.</p> + +<p>I must say with undying gratitude to all connected with the Institution, +that it is to <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" />them I am indebted for the might and the mastery; for while +many a daisy was crushed in my path, many a rose bloomed upon a thorny +stem, and these kind ones led me at last to the sun-crowned mountain-tops +and clear blue skies.</p> + +<p>After being in school for three years, without consulting with any friend, +I wrote, with much difficulty, a letter with pin-type, to Governor Hicks, +asking a three years extension of time. I preserved secrecy in this matter +in the fear of disappointment, and determined if it came to bear it alone. +One day a professor called me to him and said: "You have written to the +Governor, and his reply has come." With anxious, nervous silence, I +"waited for the verdict," and when it came in an affirmative, how happy +and joyous I felt! How determined to push on to the bright goal before me!</p> + +<p>Meantime I had written a history of my life, and through assistance from +ever kind friends had succeeded in securing its publication. A copy of it +was sent to the Governor, as a tiny token of my appreciation of his +<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" />kindness. I afterward accompanied a delegation from our school to +Annapolis, where we gave an entertainment. The Governor, coming up to our +little group, said, in cheerful tones, "I am going to see if I can +recognize the one who wrote the book." And in pursuance of this +announcement, easily selected me, and with kindly tones and hearty grasp +of the hand, spoke many words of comfort, which are still carefully held +in my casket of gems as</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Treasures guarded with jealous care<br /></span> +<span>And kept as sacred tokens."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Continuing my course of studies, I graduated in 1860 with, I hope, a fair +degree of honor to myself and my instructors. Just previous to this time +there came among our many visitors a good friend from Loudon county, +Virginia, named Richard Henry Taylor, who promised if I would visit his +home he would furnish me every facility for the sale of my book; and of +him I shall have more to say hereafter.</p> + +<p>Now commenced the real struggle of life. Alone I must brave the world, and +with pa<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" />tience bear its frowns or enjoy its smiles, as the case might be. +Alone I must earn my bread.</p> + +<p>Meagre were many times the means and scanty was the allowance, yet they +came in the hour of need as manna in the wilderness, ofttimes wet with the +dews of heavenly love; and ever, in my laborious pilgrimage, I have been +allowed to stand upon Mount Gerizim, to bless the people and the "rulers +of the land."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" /><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" />CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Let us then be up and doing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a heart for any fate;<br /></span> +<span>Still achieving, still pursuing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Learn to labor and to wait."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Deeming it proper to inaugurate my work in our nation's capital, I left my +"Alma Mater" with all the trepidation of a child going out from the +home-roof, and rushed into the exciting and excited vortex, where +centralize our national interests, and where, as it were, throbs the great +national heart, the city of Washington. I was kindly received at the house +of my cousin, Mrs. Reese, in which sanctum my heart took fresh hope and +courage. This was during the administration of Mr. Buchanan, and I first +repaired to the bachelor President, who received me in his private +audience-room with all of his characteristic and chivalrous courtesy. +Taking both my hands in his, he said, with deep emo<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" />tion—"I am so sorry +for your deep affliction, but so glad that you have had the energy to +write a book and the courage to make it a resource for support. I pray +that God may bless and prosper you, and I know he will."</p> + +<p>After this expression of his faith he showed his works by buying a book, +for which he paid me two dollars and a half, more than double its price. +So spoke, so did, the noble man, in whose heart was enshrined the memory +of one cherished love, the idolized object of which precluded the +possibility of a second affection, while the grand heart of the statesman +went out in kindness and sympathy to all.</p> + +<p>My second call was at one of the government offices, where my nervous +excitement rendered me so nearly speechless that I could only silently and +tremblingly tender a book to a young man who was one of the clerks. Seeing +the movement, he asked:</p> + +<p>"Do you wish, to sell the book?" to which I nodded an affirmative.</p> + +<p>He turned jocularly toward me, and asked: "Were you ever in love?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" />Speech suddenly followed in the wake of offended dignity, and I promptly +replied: "Sir, I try to love every one."</p> + +<p>"But," said he, in soaring strain, "suppose a young man should say to +you—'You are the cherished idol of my worship, the one sweet flower +blooming in my pathway, etc., etc.' what would you think?"</p> + +<p>I quickly responded: "Sir, I should think he had more poetry than good +sense in his composition."</p> + +<p>Pleased, and apparently thoughtful, he turned from me, and going among the +other employees, returned with the money for a dozen copies of my book in +his hand, and on his lips a penitent and evidently heartfelt assurance +that he meant no harm or insult by his words, humbly craved my pardon for +the offense, and closed by wishing me many God speeds.</p> + +<p>My next effort was in the Treasury Department, where the first person I +approached exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Mary Day! where did you come from?" This exclamation was followed by many +other <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" />expressions of joy and surprise. Suddenly the loving arm of a young +girl encircled me. Kisses fell upon my forehead, cheek and lips, and words +of endearment came in copious pearly showers. At the first lull in the +sweet confusion I asked: "Who are you all?"</p> + +<p>The first proved to be a brother of Mrs. Cook, of Michigan, who had been +so kind to me in the past, and the second was her daughter, who rapidly +recounted by-gone scenes, and lovingly lingered upon the many cherished +memories my presence had evoked. They took me to their home in the city, +and lavished upon me all the kindness and attention love could suggest. +Among the many reminiscences came the one sad story of the father's death. +In one of the darkest, sternest hours of my childhood he had held out to +me the kind, paternal hand, and welcomed me to the protection of his own +roof, and the story of his death deeply interested me. It was in substance +this:</p> + +<p>The family had returned from some festive scene on Christmas eve, and the +father, leav<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" />ing them to stable his horses, was so long absent as to +arouse anxiety. They sought him everywhere, but found him not. After a +night of untold suspense the morning revealed to them the shocking sight +of his dead body lying in the corner of an adjoining lot, his face smiling +and peaceful in death, his arms folded and limbs outstretched. He had been +cruelly gored by a creature he had fed and fostered, cherishing it as a +pet among his domestic animals, and it had turned upon him as many +so-called human creatures repay those who have protected and loved them!</p> + +<p>They knew not whether his wounds or the intense cold had been the final +cause of death, but such was the sad dawning of their Christmas day, and +so, amid the joy of my reunion with those dear friends, came the sad +thought that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Ever amid life's roses<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will the sombre cypress be twined,<br /></span> +<span>And wherever a joy reposes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A dream of sorrow we find.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I feel it due to the various government officials at Washington to give +them an expres<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" />sion of gratitude for the great facilities afforded me in +the way of permits to canvass in the many public departments, knowing +their strict rules and rigid restrictions in this regard.</p> + +<p>I was volunteered an entrée everywhere, from the humblest government +office to the Capitol and White House, and in each and all was courteously +received. In subsequent years I had also great reason for gratitude to Mr. +Colfax, who not only gave his own patronage, but presented me to Congress, +the members of which vied with each other in liberality.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" /><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" />CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Thus, with delight, we linger to survey<br /></span> +<span>The promised joys of life's unmeasured way;<br /></span> +<span>Thus, from afar, each dim discovered scene<br /></span> +<span>More pleasing seems than all the rest hath been;<br /></span> +<span>And every form that fancy can repair<br /></span> +<span>From dark oblivion, glows divinely there."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>My nature, in its first struggle with the world, shrank, like Mimosa, from +every human touch; but the kind words of love and gentle acts of kindness +already received transformed and ripened within me a more trusting and +hopeful character, and I almost unconsciously accepted as immutable and +inevitable the great law of compensation.</p> + +<p>It is well that it was in the season of youth that my career began, that +season which Jean Paul so poetically designates as "The Festival Day of +Life," in which period friendship dwells as yet in a serenely open Grecian +Temple, not, as in later years, in a narrow Gothic Chapel.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" />My heart accepting as genuine these pure expressions of friendship, I +turned from Washington toward Virginia, and after a visit at Leesburg, in +which I had good success, I wrote to Mr. Taylor, the friend I have before +mentioned, asking him to meet me at Hamilton, which point was reached by +the old-time stage-route. Some doubt may have entered my mind as to his +remembrance of the promise to meet me, all of which must have been +dispelled when, upon the arrival of the stage, a cheery, gentle voice, in +a tone which would have filled the darkest moment of doubt with the +sun-ray of trust, exclaimed: "How does thee do, Mary?" Miss Rachel Weaver, +my companion, was a bright-eyed, sunny-hearted, English girl, whose +presence irradiated the atmosphere around her. She was presented to him, +and received the same quiet yet cordial greeting. His carriage was in +waiting for us, and a refreshing drive of three miles brought us to his +cozy home. The reception given us by his excellent wife was characterized +by all the depth and warmth of her expanded and exalted nature, and we +were at once domiciled as truly "at home."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" />The next day was the beginning of their Quarterly Meeting, and the +impressions of a life-time can never efface the varied pictures stamped +upon memory by each phase of that religious gathering. Not in a gorgeous +chapel of Gothic architecture, frescoed nave and highly wrought transept; +no stained glass windows of rainbow hue; no gorgeously draped altar or +elaborate organ; but in a simple wooden meeting-house, upon a gently +sloping grassy seclusion, came the feet of those "who went up to the +worship of God." No robed priest with consecrated head was there, but +<i>all</i> were privileged to express with the lips the heart's devotion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Taylor carried to this meeting a number of my little books, and I am +safe in saying that each member of that community bought one of them.</p> + +<p>At noon we partook of a collation upon the lovely green sward, where sweet +words solaced and kind hands tendered me hospitality. Prominent among the +guests was Mrs. Hoag, a lady of lovely character and cultured mind, who +insisted upon having us <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" />accompany her to her home, a mansion rich and +elegant in its appointments, and, above all, its halls resounding with the +music of innocent mirth, and hung with the "golden tapestry" of love.</p> + +<p>We remained in this community four weeks, a sweet "season of refreshment," +which so gently glided away that we awoke, like those aroused from +peaceful sleep and dear dreams of pleasure, renewed and buoyant.</p> + +<p>Our farewell was not unmingled with sad regret at parting, but upon my +return to Baltimore my friends failed not to note the favorable change in +my physical and mental condition. So talismanic is the touch of love, so +inspiring and life giving! and 'tis to this dear community of Louden +county, Virginia, I shall ever trace the first impetus which has given +momentum to all the subsequent movements of my life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" /><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26" />CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The soldier's last tattoo:<br /></span> +<span>No more on life's parade shall meet<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That brave and fallen few;<br /></span> +<span>On fame's eternal camping ground<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their silent tents are spread,<br /></span> +<span>And glory guards, with solemn round,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The bivouac of the dead."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>After a short period of reunion with friends in Baltimore, I resolved, +notwithstanding the agitated condition of the country, to wend my way +southward, for I restlessly yearned for an active continuation of duty.</p> + +<p>Miss Weaver having other engagements, it became necessary for me to seek +another traveling companion. Trusting to the good fortune which had +hitherto favored me in that regard, I engaged the services of Miss Mary +Chase, who proved a valuable attendant, combining in her character so many +graces and endowments, possessing, among her numerous <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27" />attractions, a +voice of rare, rich and mellow flexibility.</p> + +<p>My uncle, Mr. Heald, having an interest in the Bay Line of steamers, his +son, my cousin, Howard Heald, attended me to the steamer Belvidere, +introduced me to the captain, and took every precautionary measure to +enhance the pleasure of my trip. Subsequent events proved how salutary +were these efforts. The captain did all that polite attention and study of +my comfort could suggest, attended us to the table, pointed out the +workings of the engine, the complications of the machinery and propelling +power of the steamer, which so airily and so gracefully "walked the +waters," directed attention to every object of note on the route and their +charm of historic interest, thus making the trip one replete with +instruction. Miss Chase, with the melody of a song-bird, drew around us a +circle of charmed listeners, and her voice became a source of constant and +soothing solace to me.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the city of Richmond at the untimely hour of four o'clock in +the morning, at the solicitation of the captain we remained on board until +a later and more convenient <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28" />time, when we found the streets of the city +alive with soldiers and filled with sad sounds of sword and musketry, the +first low reverberation of the din of war, the opening of the battle-song, +whose weird refrain has been echoed by so many sorrowing ones, its mad +music adapted to the thousands of crushed and broken hearts!</p> + +<p>The little war-cloud, at first "no larger than a man's hand," was growing +deeper and darker, and the stern rumble of the conflict becoming +irrepressible. Every avenue in the way of business was closed, and being +told that if I desired remaining north of Mason and Dixon's line I must go +at once, I retraced my steps, and returned by the James river, since so +memorable in the history of our civil conflict, and sought shelter in +Baltimore, where I remained for the winter; and while so many relatives +and friends would have welcomed me to their homes, I felt impelled to +accept an invitation to the institution in which I had been educated, and +could enjoy the association of those who had first directed my tottering +steps, and my schoolmates, who were friends and co-workers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" /><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29" />CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"But if chains are woven shining,<br /></span> +<span>Firm as gold and fine as hair,<br /></span> +<span>Twisting round the heart, and twining.<br /></span> +<span>Binding all that centres there<br /></span> +<span>In a knot that, like the olden,<br /></span> +<span>May be cut, but ne'er unfolden;<br /></span> +<span>Would not something sharp remain<br /></span> +<span>In the breaking of the chain?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Spring came with its "ethereal mildness" and budding beauty, and the ties +which bound me to the Monumental City must, although with convulsive +effort, be broken.</p> + +<p>Miss Chase was but "a treasure lent," her sweet, loving nature having won +the heart of one who made her his life companion; hence it became +necessary for me to find another to fill her place. She came in the person +of Miss Kate Fowler, a lovely young girl of seventeen years, who possessed +great charms of person, mind and soul, as the sequel will show.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30" />We traveled together throughout Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, +meeting with greater success than we could have hoped for while the din of +war was raging, always making sufficient for our support.</p> + +<p>At Hollidaysburgh, Penn., I learned of the presence of General Anderson, +and resolved that I would offer a tangible evidence of my appreciation of +the "Hero of Fort Sumter." Entwining one of my little books with red, +white and blue ribbons, I sent it to him with a little note, asking its +acceptance from the authoress, a Baltimore lady, in behalf of her native +city, then under a cloud, the Massachusetts troops having been stoned by a +mob collected from various points, and for which she bore the undeserved +odium. These I sent in their tri-colored dress, expecting only a silent +reception. But, as I sat at dinner in my hotel, there came a singular and +unexpected response in the person of the General himself. He was +introduced by the landlord, and was accompanied by his little daughter, +holding in her hand my token, as she smilingly approached me in her +fairy-like beauty.<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31" /> A delightful chat ensued, and an urgent request upon +his part that I should visit Cresson Springs, to which he had resorted +with his family in order to recuperate his health, shattered by the +protracted and gallant defense of one of our national citadels.</p> + +<p>With a kind "good bye" he left, and as I passed out of the dining-room +door I received an evidence of his great delicacy in a token he would not +publicly tender. The landlord handed me a box from him containing a +handsome plain gold ring, ever since cherished as a memento; and, although +worn by time, there is still legible the name engraved within this shining +circlet, even that of General Anderson.</p> + +<p>After canvassing Altoona I went to Cresson Springs and was no sooner +registered than I received a card from the General. Meeting me in the +parlor, he gave me a cordial welcome, after which he said: "Now I am going +to assist you in your sales." He drew together three of the parlor tables, +and, taking one hundred of my books, he placed them thereon, together with +specimens of my <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32" />bead work, which he artistically arranged in the national +colors. It needed but a wave of the magician's wand, for such he seemed, +to evoke the spirits of generosity and love, and through these all of my +volumes vanished, as well as much of the bead work. At General Anderson's +request I took my work to the parlor, and amid a group of wondering ones, +many of whom were members of his own family, I showed them how the blind +could deftly weave these little trinkets, the fashioning of the "bijou" +baskets needing no sight to arrange the colors, with celerity and skill. I +was also, at his request, seated at his family table, and time will never +erase the memory of words which fell from the lips of the warrior, as +gently, as lovingly, as if a woman's voice were breathing words of comfort +and affection. In after time, when tidings of his death were borne from a +foreign land, when the perfumed breath of sunny France received the last +sigh of our hero, I dropped many a tear, which truly welled up from the +depths of a sorrowing heart.</p> + +<p>In the winter I made Philadelphia my <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33" />head-quarters, stopping at the home +of Mr. and Mrs. Mack, both of whom were blind when married, and who both +possess great musical talent, which they utilized by teaching piano music, +thus earning a handsome support and purchasing the home they then +occupied, a tasteful, comfortable domicile. It was well for me I selected +this spot, for it afterward proved "a City of Refuge." I was soon +prostrated with a severe typhoid fever, and was so kindly cared for by +this dear family, who, by tender ministration, nursed the little spark of +hope, and brought me from death unto life. Their two sweet children and +their musical prattle will ever be recalled as illuminated pictures upon +the red-lettered page of life's history.</p> + +<p>Of the tender care of Miss Fowler too much cannot be said. It was to her +assiduous attention I was also, in a great degree, indebted for my +recovery.</p> + +<p>During this illness I could also number two other ministering spirits, Dr. +Seiss, a Lutheran minister, who constantly visited me, and gave me many a +word of comforting support, <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34" />and Professor Brooks, who was called to my +bedside as medical attendant.</p> + +<p>He had been for many years an eminent allopathic physician, and was then a +professor in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>He also faithfully and unremittingly ministered to me during the many +weeks of fever and prostration.</p> + +<p>When I was almost well I one day said to him: "Doctor, what do I owe you?" +The sweet serenity of his face merged into a benevolent beam, and in the +vernacular of the Society of Friends, of which he was a member, he said: +"Mary, Rachel and I have been talking it over, and we have concluded that +thee will be too delicate to travel this winter, and will need all thy +money; so thee does not owe me anything."</p> + +<p>Choking with grateful emotion, as soon as I could command control I said: +"Doctor, I could not expect you to give me such kind attention without +remuneration, but since you have so willed it, I can only say I thank you +for having saved my life." Whereupon there came the same luminous look, +and the gentle <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35" />voice said: "Mary, it was not I that saved thy life; it +was thy Heavenly Father."</p> + +<p>As soon as I was well enough to ride he made arrangements for me to visit +his house. I took the street car, but by pre-arranged plan, he met me at +his door, lifted me from the car, and carried me in his arms into a +luxurious bed-chamber, where I was met by the sweet-voiced Rachel, who +gave me a reviving draught of rare old wine, and in every way studied my +wants during the day's visit, after which the Doctor drove me home in his +carriage.</p> + +<p>How do our hearts go out in gratitude to such true and loving natures, and +how fondly do we recall in after years the sweet sounds of sympathy, whose +melody pervades life's measured music.</p> + +<p>Once again I found myself in Baltimore, where I received a letter from my +brother William, urging me to spend the winter at his home in Pecatonica, +Ill. This, together with a meeting with my cousin Sammy Heald, determined +me to go West. My cousin was about to visit Iowa City, Iowa, where dwelt +<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36" />his betrothed, and he offered to pay all my traveling expenses if I would +accompany him. The temptation of seeing one from whom there had been an +eight years separation made my cousin's entreaties irresistible, and I +yielded, receiving from him all the devoted attendance his kind nature +could dictate. So, after the lapse of so many eventful years, I turned my +face westward. I spent the winter at the home of my brother, and shall +never forget his kindness and that of his family, as well as other +residents of Pecatonica, who did so much to lighten the leaden-winged +hours, which, in a little hamlet, drag so slowly in comparison with the +din and bustle of city life, and the excitement of business and travel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" /><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37" />CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"So where'er I turn my eyes,<br /></span> +<span>Back upon the days gone by,<br /></span> +<span>Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me;<br /></span> +<span>Friends who closed their course before me,<br /></span> +<span>Yet what links us friend to friend,<br /></span> +<span>But that soul with soul can blend.<br /></span> +<span>Love-like were those hours of yore,<br /></span> +<span>Let us walk in soul once more."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The dreary winter had passed away, one in sad contrast with the mild +southern season, and known only to those who have realized its storms and +wind and snow.</p> + +<p>The birds of spring were caroling their first songs of the season, and the +white mantle of snow disappearing under the sun-rays. These tokens told me +I must be "up and doing." Selecting a companion among the kind group of +Pecatonica friends, Miss Sarah Rogers, a lady of sterling virtue and +pronounced character, I went to Chicago. The war conflict being still at +its height, I could do <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38" />little in the way of book selling, but managed to +dispose of sufficient bead work to be entirely self-sustaining. In my +business route in Chicago I entered a millinery establishment, and was +surprised by a greeting from the familiar voice of my sister Jennie, and +they alone who are members of a scattered household can realize what must +be such a meeting. In the lapse of years since our separation, our paths +had so diverged that we had lost trace of each other. I sat down and +eagerly listened to a recital of an experience fraught with varied +incident. They had moved from Chicago to Monroe city, Missouri, a place +which (as most will remember) received the baptism of fire, being utterly +destroyed by the Northern troops. My sister not only lost her home, but +was separated from her family for several days. As soon as they were +gathered together, and had gained sufficient strength to travel, they +returned without a resource to Chicago, there to begin life anew, my +sister lending a helping hand by opening this business. Her daughter Cora, +whom I had left a little girl, was then a <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39" />graceful young lady, has since +married and is living in the city.</p> + +<p>My brothers, Charles and Howard, both entered the ranks of the army, +returned with health impaired from service, and afterward yielded up their +lives.</p> + +<p>My father had settled with his new family at Farmington, Ill., and thither +my brother Howard repaired when utterly broken down in health. No mother +could have more tenderly and steadfastly ministered to him, than did my +father's wife; she, her two bachelor brothers and a maiden sister +attending him, in the lingering, languishing hours of suffering, and +gently smoothing his "pathway to the grave."</p> + +<p>I must not fail to mention among Chicago friends the name of Mrs. Dean, +which has been written in letters of light upon a hallowed life page, +standing out in bold relief upon the background of years. Her house was my +home, and she was ever a fond mother to me.</p> + +<p>Her lovely little daughter, Ada, has since matured to womanhood, assumed +the rela<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40" />tions and duties of a wife, and is now presiding over an elegant +home in one of the flourishing towns of Iowa.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" /><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41" />CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i15">"And when the stream<br /></span> +<span>Which overflowed the soul was passed away,<br /></span> +<span>A consciousness remained that it had left.<br /></span> +<span>Deposited upon the silent shore<br /></span> +<span>Of memory, images and previous thoughts,<br /></span> +<span>That shall not die and cannot be destroyed."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>For three years longer lowered the lurking war-cloud, and I, among so many +others, felt its baneful shadow. During this time I made Chicago my +headquarters, taking occasional trips upon the various railroad routes +converging there.</p> + +<p>Finally I ventured upon a trip to Louisville, Ky., and, while it was my +first introduction to that place, so cordially was I received by its +citizens, so much was done to place me at ease, that I could but feel that +I was revisiting a familiar spot and receiving the greetings of old-time +friends; and, in spite of the heavy war pressure, it was financially the +<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42" />most successful visit I ever made, having sold five hundred volumes in +the short space of two weeks, a fact in itself sufficient to exemplify the +pervading spirit of its society, not one of whose members gave grudgingly, +but with unhesitating and cheerful alacrity.</p> + +<p>Thence I repaired to the "Blue Grass Country," the garden spot of +Kentucky, and to the city of Lexington, the reputation of whose beautiful +women has reached from sea to sea and from pole to pole, and the name of +whose hero, Henry Clay, has made the heart of our nation throb with +exultant pride. I was also a stranger there, yet I resolutely repaired to +the Broadway, its principal hotel, trusting to the hospitality of its +citizens. Nor did I "count without a host," for Mr. Lindsey, the +proprietor, received me with courtly cordiality, installing us in an +elegant suite of rooms upon the parlor floor, assigning us a servant in +constant attendance, and urging us to feel at home. At breakfast the +succeeding morning he greeted us with the pleasant tidings that he had +already sold sixteen volumes of my book, after which he <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43" />came to our +apartment with a huge market basket, which he insisted upon filling with +books, adding that <i>I</i> was too delicate to go out with them myself. This +was a second time filled and emptied, and before dinner there was placed +in my hands the proceeds of the sale of one hundred books.</p> + +<p>My companion, amazed at his success, begged of him to let her know the +secret, whereupon he said, laughingly: "Well, you see, I am a Democrat and +a Free Mason. I talked politics to one, gave the society sign to another, +and mixed a little religion with all. So I could not fail to succeed."</p> + +<p>I could but feel, however, in spite of his jest, that his innate goodness +was the Midas like touch, and that he bore in his own heart the +"philosopher's stone," transforming all into gold.</p> + +<p>It did not become necessary for me to appear in the streets of Lexington, +yet I reaped a rich harvest of gain, and, above all, found a mine of +wealth in the warm, true, loving, chivalric souls. Nor did the kindness +cease at the fountain-head, for the little ones of Mr.<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44" /> Lindsey's family, +laden with bead work, walked the streets of the city, trafficking for my +benefit, returning with little hands empty of trinkets, but filled with +money.</p> + +<p>To crown all this kindness I was only allowed, upon leaving, to pay half +the usual price for board, receiving letters of introduction to the +Capital House, of Frankfort, whose proprietor extended the same liberality +of terms, and whose citizens kindly and freely patronized me.</p> + +<p>Going to Paris, I received so many favors that I never think of Kentucky +and its noble sons and daughters without a thrill of loving gratitude.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lindsey requested me to write to him upon my return, and, after the +lapse of a long time, I did so, receiving a reply bearing the painful +tidings that, by security debts, he had been bereft of all his earthly +possessions, but was hopeful of regaining all. Surely such noble souls +should not be left in the cloud while so many sordid, selfish natures sail +upon a sea of success.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" /><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45" />CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Hope like the glimmering taper's light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Adorns and cheers the way;<br /></span> +<span>And still as darker grows the night,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Emits a cheerful ray."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Upon our return from Kentucky we were received by motherly Mrs Dean, with +her ever warm welcome; but after the usual greeting a mischievous smile +was seen lurking on her face, and she archly told us that she had a very +attractive addition to her family, in the persons of two bachelor +boarders. This served but as a pastime of the moment, and I gave it little +further thought, until I was presented to Mr. Arms, a gentleman of medium +height, head of noble mould and fine poise, dark hair and luxuriant beard, +large brown eyes expressive and scintillating, quiet, unobtrusive manner +and somewhat low voice.</p> + +<p>Methinks that I can trace a meaning smile <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46" />upon the faces of some of my +readers at the detailed description of one they deem too blind to see. Not +so, there is a strange mysterious masonry in human souls, and while</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Few are the hearts, whence one same touch,<br /></span> +<span>Bids the sweet fountain flow,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>an indescribable consciousness of mutual interest came with this meeting; +and while I little dreamed that this stranger would in after time stand by +my side in the <i>nearest</i> and <i>dearest</i> relation of life, even that of a +husband; his face, his form, his voice, his soul were all to me an open +volume, which by that inner sight, I read in every minute detail, and then +and there were all these photographed upon my heart.</p> + +<p>Before I had taken my next leave of Chicago I had passed through all the +phases of doubt, in which I deeply questioned my own heart, seeking there +the solution of why I had inspired an interest in this stranger. Ever +since my sickness in Philadelphia I had been a comparative invalid, +devoting much of my time to the restoration of health, and above <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47" />all the +recovery of that sight which was still so dear to me, and so hard to +relinquish without a struggle. So with my depleted strength, moderate +means and somewhat darkened hopes, I seemed to myself a very unattractive +object. Be this as it may, while no formal engagement bound us, we parted +as acknowledged lovers.</p> + +<p>Miss Rogers entered into business for herself, and I went unattended to +Ypsilanti, Michigan, to be under the charge of a physician, who was to +test the effect of electrical treatment as a means of restoration to +sight. While he was deeply imbued with interest in my case, and gave me +every care and attention while I remained under his roof, he was +unfortunately wedded to one whose cold, unsympathetic suspicious nature +made a pandemonium for all within the circle of her baleful influence. Of +such unions Watts has truly said:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Logs of green wood that quench the coals,<br /></span> +<span>Are married just like sordid souls;<br /></span> +<span>With osiers for a bend.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To her I am indebted for many a dark and <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48" />tearful hour, when not only my +heart, but my eyes, needed perfect repose.</p> + +<p>But beside this thorn-tree in the home garden bloomed for me, and for all, +a beautiful flower, in the person of her niece, Josie McMath, who, with +her loving, gentle touch, toned down the inequalities and smiled away the +frowns.</p> + +<p>She and I became fast friends, and afterward freely exchanged confidences, +telling to each other a mutual tale of girlish hope and trustful +affection.</p> + +<p>During my stay in Ypsilanti I received a letter from Rachel Weaver, who +had been bereft of her mother and had lost every means of support. She +earnestly desired to return to me; and as the letter brought with it the +magnetism of a former attachment, I wrote to her to come to me.</p> + +<p>Finding the prospect of recovery through my present treatment hopeless, I +went to Ionia, Michigan, repairing to the house of Dr. Baird, where I +awaited tidings of Rachel Weaver, and whom I met at Detroit, when we +returned to Chicago, where I was met by<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49" /> Mr. Arms, and who, soon as an +opportunity offered, rehearsed to me the workings of his own mind during +my absence.</p> + +<p>He told me he had been seriously thinking over the matter, and after +carefully reviewing his own feelings he could arrive at but one +conclusion, viz, that I had become necessary to his happiness, and that he +hoped for a mutual plan for speedy union.</p> + +<p>He owned a farm in Iowa, which he proposed to sell, and invest the +proceeds in a home in Chicago.</p> + +<p>He also begged a promise that I would never make another attempt to +recover my sight, which gave me an assurance that my blindness was no +barrier to his love.</p> + +<p>With a strange flutter of emotion my heart responded to his sweet +assurances, and, as a weary child confidingly rests upon its mother's +breast, so did my tired soul trustingly repose in the safe haven of his +manly love, and cast its anchor there! safe amid the lowering clouds of +life, serene amid its surging seas and wildest waves; for arching all was +the Iris of bright-hued hope.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" /><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50" />CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Visions come and go;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng;<br /></span> +<span>From angels' lips I seem to hear the flow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of soft and holy song."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>"'Tis nothing now—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When heaven is opening on my sightless eyes,<br /></span> +<span>When airs from paradise refresh my brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That earth in darkness lies."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Leaving Chicago I traveled via Michigan Southern Railroad to the little +town of Jonesville, Michigan, the home of my childhood and the scene of so +many fond and sad recollections.</p> + +<p>Stopping at the village hotel for some preparation, I wended my way to the +little cemetery. There was a picture in memory of a green hill-side slope, +which, whenever the dark funeral day was recalled, formed a vivid and +prominent feature of the scene; and so, upon that day, I found within the +little "city <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51" />of the silent" the identical hill-side, but, with the most +scrutinizing search, failed to find the sacred mound holding the most +hallowed form of the home group, and over which were shed the bitter tears +of childhood's grief, more poignant and more lasting than we usually +attribute to that period of life.</p> + +<p>In the hope of eliciting some information I entered a cottage near by, +which I found inhabited by aged people; but as they had been residents +only seven years, and twenty-four years had elapsed since my mother was +laid to rest, they could give me no light or aid, save the simple +suggestion that there were a number of graves covered by the undergrowth +of shrubbery, and perchance hers might be one of them. Accepting the +possibility I found the one I sought, which could not fail to be +recognized, for strange to say, time had dealt so gently that the slender +picket fence was undecayed by his "effacing; lingers," and the name +painted upon the little wooden head-board was distinctly visible. Grouped +in quadrangular growth were four little trees, gracefully arching in a +bowery <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52" />drapery over the grave, as if nature in strange sympathy with the +mourners left behind had offered this tribute to the noble mother. How +vividly came back again the long lost childhood home, and as the wind +sighed through the leafy boughs, seemed to sob a sad requiem for the dead. +There was a little song I had learned in the Institution, and had so often +sang, when unknown to those around me every chord in my sad heart seemed</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"As harp-strings broken asunder,<br /></span> +<span>By music they throbbed to express."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then the sweet, sad words come back in memory,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I hear the soft winds sighing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through every bush and tree;<br /></span> +<span>Where my dear mother's lying,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Away from love and me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Tears from mine eyes are weeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sorrow shades my brow;<br /></span> +<span>Long time has she been sleeping—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I have no mother now."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After a long, lingering look, I turned sadly away, going to the little +marble yard in the vicinity, and seeking the proper person, I +com<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53" />municated to him the desire for a head and foot-stone for the grave, +together with marble corner stones to support an iron chain for an +enclosure, asking him for an estimate of the cost.</p> + +<p>Looking at me with almost tearful emotion, he said, when the blind girl, +after the lapse of twenty-four years, comes back to offer a tribute to the +memory of her mother, the result of her own unaided earnings, I can but be +generous, and offered to do all for half the usual price. Knowing +instinctively that I could trust him, I left all in his hands, and have +never had occasion to feel that I had misplaced my confidence.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the village I visited a clothing store which had formerly +been the tin shop in which my father worked; and again I was a child, my +little form perched upon the wooden work-bench, and my ears soothed by the +melody of my father's song, for ever as he sat at his daily labor he lent +it the charm of his sweet voice.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, there was no one there who knew the "blind girl." All my +mother's <a name="Page_54" id="Page_54" />friends had vanished, and "they were all gone, the dear familiar +faces." I fondly bade adieu to Jonesville with the consciousness of having +performed a sad duty, and proceeded with my avocation, with my wonted +success, until we reached Toledo, Ohio, where Miss Weaver was attacked +with a serious illness which kept me in constant attendance upon her for +several weeks.</p> + +<p>Her physician assuring me that she would be unable to resume her duties +for some time longer, we decided it best for all to send her East. +Procuring her a ticket, and placing her under kind protection, I sent her +to her friends in New York.</p> + +<p>I supplied her place with a lady I found in my boarding house, and who I +regret to record was in strange contrast with my former companions. Going +to Pittsburg we stopped at the Merchants' Hotel, near the depot, where, +after a singularly short time, she was visited by a gentleman whom she +represented to be a cousin, and while their whispered conversation in my +room (a place where I deemed it expedient for them to meet) aroused some +<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55" />suspicion in my mind, I hushed all thought of wrong and hoped for the +best.</p> + +<p>She further stated that she had an uncle in Alleghany city, and thither +she went to spend the Sunday, leaving me in the hotel unattended; and from +subsequent revelations I must fain believe the time was devoted to the +so-called cousin.</p> + +<p>Upon her return on Monday she suddenly declared her intention of leaving +me, adding that she cared not what became of me. I calmly awaited a lull +in the excitement of this announcement, and told her kindly that if she +would remain with, me another week I would take her to her mother in Ohio, +and leave her in her hands, but she haughtily and peremptorily declined, +and so left me alone, and, as she supposed, uncared for.</p> + +<p>But I was so confident of protection that I felt not even a rankling pang +at the cruel injustice she had done me, but quietly waited until assured +she was gone, when I left my room, groped my way through the unfamiliar +hall and knocked at the first door I found, which fortunately proved to be +that of a lady <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56" />named Harris. In as few words as possible I told her the +story of my desertion, and had sympathy and congratulation from all in the +house at my escape from one who had seemed to them so coarse and +unsympathetic.</p> + +<p>The clerk of the hotel, being a brother of Mr. Loughery, my old time +teacher, it was thought best to appeal to him. He met me with an +unmistakable expression of sorrow on his face, and as soon as he could +command language to do so, communicated the tidings of the sudden demise +of his brother in Greensburg, Pa., he having fallen dead in the street. As +he was about leaving, assistance from that source became impossible; yet, +overwhelmed as he was with this crushing sorrow, he urged me to accompany +him to the funeral, an invitation I could not accept, for a renewal of the +sad memories of my instructor and friend would have been <i>more</i> than I +could bear, so I bade him adieu, and committed myself to the tender mercy +of Mrs. Harris, who kindly accompanied me to the post office and depot, +and started me safely toward Chicago, a letter being received which I knew +to be from<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57" /> Mr. Arms, from whom I had been awaiting tidings for three, +anxious, weary weeks.</p> + +<p>With a consciousness of some impending cloud, yet unable to read the dear +pen tracery, I never before so deeply felt the blight of blindness, for +the contents were too sacred for the desecration of stranger's sight.</p> + +<p>So all through that weary journey, softened as it was by the unremitting +kindness of all the railroad officials and attendants, I carried a +crushing weight of anxiety and suspense, until I reached Chicago, and dear +Mrs. Dean, who at once revealed to my waiting heart the contents of the +letter.</p> + +<p>Mr. Arms was in Indiana, and very ill at the time of writing (three weeks +previous) and earnestly desired my presence. The weary hours of night +dragged their slow lengths away, and the morning found me speeding on as +fast as steam could carry me, toward Indiana, yet all <i>too slow</i> for my +fears and forebodings.</p> + +<p>I found him scarcely able to be carried to the post of duty, where, at the +mill being <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58" />built under his superintendence, he watched the progress of +the work.</p> + +<p>'Tis needless to say how joyous was my welcome and how soon the invalid +gave signs of convalescence, under the influence of my long hoped for +presence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" /><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59" />CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"We strive to read, as we may best,<br /></span> +<span>This city, like an ancient palimpsest,<br /></span> +<span>To bring to light upon the blotted page<br /></span> +<span>The mournful record of an earlier age,<br /></span> +<span>That, pale and half-effaced, lies hidden away<br /></span> +<span>Beneath the fresher writings of to-day."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>After spending a fortnight with the invalid, in which "the golden hours on +angel's wings" sped on and away, bringing a returning glow of health to +his cheeks, strength to his steps and hope to his heart, so with renewed +resolution I started upon my mission, first going to Pecatonica to visit +my brother William and family, and to complete my plans for travel.</p> + +<p>Soon after my arrival I was introduced by my sister-in-law to Miss Hattie +Hudson, and by that inward sympathy which unites all kindred natures into +one, and the strange recognition of soul with soul, we were at once +friends.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60" />She was indeed</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"A perfect woman, nobly planned,<br /></span> +<span>To warn, to comfort, and command."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One who, aside from her physical attractions, possessed all the charms of +inner grace and beauty, idealizing and spiritualizing her nature.</p> + +<p>We at once also agreed that she should remain with me, and with such rare +companionship I started East. Stopped at the beautiful city of Cleveland, +so rural and yet so metropolitan in its characteristics, where, following +fast upon the din of business and the rush of trade, steals the sweet +murmur of waters, the "wave of woods" and flow of fountains, the shaded +park and perfumed pasture.</p> + +<p>Here, aside from the cheer of business success, my heart was gladdened by +a meeting with my old friend, Mrs. Bigelow, and little Willie, the whilom +blind boy I had met in New York city, and toward whom I had been drawn by +that "touch of nature" which "makes the whole world kin."</p> + +<p>He was now an elegant, educated gentle<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61" />man, who, among his many +accomplishments, numbered that of music, a science he had so thoroughly +mastered, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" he helped us all to while +away many an otherwise weary hour.</p> + +<p>I visited the various places of note upon the New York Central Railway, +thoroughly and successfully canvassing all, and reaching New York city, +was received by my uncle Henry Deems with such a welcome as only a noble, +soulful man can extend. After a short, sweet respite from care, we turned +toward New England, the truly classic ground of America, every foot of +whose "sacred soil" has been trod by pilgrim feet and hallowed by their +hearts' devotion.</p> + +<p>Went to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and spent almost an entire day at Pilgrim +Hall in researches and study of its musty and time-worn relics.</p> + +<p>It was against the rules to open the cases containing these treasures of +the past to spectators, all of whom were forced to look at them through +doors of glass, even as the bereft ones are ofttimes allowed to look at +loved <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62" />lineaments only through the lid of a closed casket; but the +gentleman in charge made mine an exceptional case, and, to use his own +language, as my sight lay in the sense of feeling, I should certainly +touch these relics.</p> + +<p>All the interest of varied historical association was imparted to me, and +my fingers allowed to rest upon everything. I closed this day, so rich in +research, with gratitude to him for his thoughtful kindness.</p> + +<p>There was in process of erection a monument upon Plymouth Hock, and I +stood upon that granite shrine, where first knelt the Pilgrim Fathers, and +pictured in my mind's eye the landing of the Mayflower and the grouping of +her freight of human souls, majestically towering above them all the +stalwart form of Miles Standish, with his "muscles and sinews of iron," +and close by the lithe, clinging, delicate form of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"That beautiful rose of love<br /></span> +<span>That bloomed for him by the wayside,<br /></span> +<span>And was the first to die<br /></span> +<span>Of all who came in the Mayflower."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These and all their attendants passed <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63" />through my fancy as they knelt upon +Plymouth Rock, and with the surging sea for a symphony, sent up their +first song of praise and deliverance, and in that hour of reverie there +was to me, indeed,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"A rapture by the lonely shore;<br /></span> +<span>A society where none intrudes.<br /></span> +<span>By the deep sea—and music in its roar."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then again I moved away in almost rapt entrancement, and soon stood in the +old cemetery beside the moss-grown memorial stones which had stood amid +the flight of over two centuries, and emotions deep and strange struggled +in my breast, sealed by that <i>golden, sacred</i> silence which sanctifies the +unutterable.</p> + +<p>Prominent among other objects there, was the resting-place of the Judsons, +to whose memory a suitable tomb had been erected.</p> + +<p>Going to Boston I spent three delightful weeks at the home of Mr. and Mrs. +Little, a dear old couple who had been married long enough to have +celebrated their "Golden Wedding." The old gentleman was wont to say, that +these fifty years were all links in the<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64" /> "honey-moon," but that he had not +as yet reached the end of the first "honey-moon." So these two old lovers, +like "John Anderson my Joe," and his devoted companion, had climbed the +hill and were standing "thegither at its foot" in happy contentment, +looking toward the golden sunset and catching the gleam of the light +beyond.</p> + +<p>I of course visited "Boston Common," "Bunker Hill Monument," "Old South +Church," the museums and galleries of painting, rare collections of +statuary, and even heard the "Great Organ." These localities are all +fraught with interest, but too familiar to tourists to require description +or comment; but I cannot leave the readers of this chapter without a +tribute of praise to the high attainments of this "Athens of America," and +a word of gratitude for their kindness. I found not the cold, phlegmatic +nature which had been depicted as that of the Yankee, nor did I see the +tight purse-grip so often attributed to them, for I have nowhere met +warmer hearts and more generous patronage than there, and indeed all New +England was pervaded by an <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65" />equal spirit of liberality and kindness. +Lowell and the other manufacturing towns I visited were to me objects of +wonderful interest, the music of whose looms and shuttles, belts and +wheels, engines and flame, will ever come in vivid variety amid the many +voiced memories of life and its mystic music.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" /><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66" />CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"There is an old belief that in the embers<br /></span> +<span>Of all things, their primordial form exists;<br /></span> +<span>And cunning Alchemists could recreate<br /></span> +<span>The rose, with all its members,<br /></span> +<span>From its own ashes—but without the bloom,<br /></span> +<span>Without the least perfume.<br /></span> +<span>Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science<br /></span> +<span>Can from the ashes of our hearts<br /></span> +<span>Once more the rose of youth restore?<br /></span> +<span>What craft of alchemy can bid defiance<br /></span> +<span>To time, and change; and for a single hour,<br /></span> +<span>Renew this phantom flower?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Taking New Hampshire in my route, I was pained to find the season too far +advanced to admit a trip to White Mountains, and among the great objects +of interest I must of necessity omit this "Noblest Roman of them all," and +pass silently by the grandeur of this rugged mountain scenery.</p> + +<p>I went to Waterbury, Vermont, the birth-place of Mr. Arms, and, after a +short rest at the hotel, walked through the meadow, and <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67" />crossed the clear +trout-stream he had so often pictured to me as most prominent among the +reminiscences of his boyhood. Going to the homestead now hallowed to me as +his birth-place, I was kindly received by the widow of his brother, who +needed only the knowledge of my acquaintance with her friends in the West +to place me upon a familiar footing, and I became an earnest, attentive +listener to her well rendered rehearsal of the pranks of his urchin-hood. +So was this day marked as memorable in the calendar of life. From +Waterbury I went to Burlington, and thence to Montpelier, and finding the +Legislature in session the sale of my books was greatly enhanced by the +liberal patronage of its members; and here as elsewhere I had reason to to +thank our national convocations.</p> + +<p>The rigor of the approaching New England winter warned me of the necessity +for going South. While on the Hudson River Railroad I was accosted by a +gentleman who asked me if I could read the raised letters, and learning +that I could, he begged me to accept a copy of the Bible in that style of +lettering;<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68" /> I of course did so, and have this volume still in my +possession.</p> + +<p>Going to Chicago I found Mr. Arms established in business, which gave me +an additional hope for future happiness, and 'tis needless to say,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I built myself a castle<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So <i>stately</i>, <i>grand</i> and fair;<br /></span> +<span>I built myself a castle,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A castle in the air."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Delicate lungs and irritating cough, sent me still further South, and I +reluctantly left Chicago and all I held so dear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" /><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69" />CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"There is a special Providence<br /></span> +<span>In the fall of a sparrow."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"There is a Divinity that shapes our ends,<br /></span> +<span>Rough-hew them as we will."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>I have never had occasion so especially to note the over-ruling majesty of +a supreme power as in my next journey, the circumstances of which I am +about to relate.</p> + +<p>I went via Indianapolis, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., to Memphis, Tenn. The +latter place rivals its sister cities in generous patronage, for, although +the whole southern country was so thoroughly devastated, I met with +success throughout its length and breadth.</p> + +<p>I was luxuriously entertained at the Southern Hotel of Memphis and, as I +had been over most of the railroad routes, I felt anxious to go to New +Orleans by water, and for that purpose sought the general agent of the +river line of steamers, anticipating the same <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70" />liberality which had +characterized the railroads in granting passes.</p> + +<p>I was most haughtily received by this official, rudely addressed, and +decidedly and irrevocably denied a pass.</p> + +<p>Nothing daunted, I walked to the levee, where lay the steamer Platte +Valley, almost ready to leave, and besought Hattie, who was ever my +counselor, to pay our passage, and, in spite of repulse, enjoy the river +scenery. In her judgment it seemed better not to do so, but to use our +railroad passes, as usual. I cheerfully accepted her decision. The Platte +Valley started on her trip with brilliant prospects for a safe and +successful passage, but seven miles below Memphis she sank in the deep +waters of the Mississippi. Many of her passengers, especially the female +portion, were taking supper in the lower cabin, and, having no means of +escape, perished. Hence I had reason to be thankful to Hattie's decision, +to the agent's rude rebuff, and to that over ruling power which ofttimes, +in our blindness, we fail to discern.</p> + +<p>At Chattanooga I, of course, visited the<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71" /> National Cemetery, where lie the +ashes of so many fallen heroes. Ascended Lookout Mountain to the scene of +the "Battle in the Clouds," and I could almost evoke the presence of +General Joe Hooker, with his once grand proportions and noble mien, so +deservedly famed as The Hero of Lookout Mountain. I afterward ascended +another hill, which, although a pigmy in comparison with the Leviathan +Lookout, would, in the monotony of our prairie country, be ranked as a +mountain. It was upon its top were constructed the government water works, +and upon which my brother William was employed for two years, occupying as +a residence during that time a little cabin on the height, which was +plainly perceptible from the window of my hotel quarters, but which I +desired to visit in person, a source of real pleasure, perhaps enhanced by +the obstacles I had to surmount in the ascent.</p> + +<p>At Vicksburg, Miss., I was followed by the same tidal wave of success, in +spite of the sad stringency of the times and the cruel effects of war.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72" />While there a gentleman took us in his carriage to the earthworks +constructed by the soldiers as a fortification, taking great pains to +explain all to me, and allowed me to use the usual sense of feeling, which +so often served in lieu of sight.</p> + +<p>At Jackson, Miss., I was a guest of the same hotel in which lived General +Beauregard, who was Superintendent of the Jackson and New Orleans Railway, +and who, aside from other acts of kindness and civility, freely tendered +me a pass over his road.</p> + +<p>My stay at the "Crescent City" was not only marked by great business +success, but the three weeks of sight-seeing was a "continued feast."</p> + +<p>Although it was now the middle of January, flowery spring "seemed +lingering in the lap of winter." The perfume of the violet, the scent of +the rose, the gladness of the sun-beam and the brightness of the skies +will ever linger in memory, while the geniality and goodness of its people +will, in the "dimness of distance," glimmer like a soft love-light in the +life of the blind girl.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73" />I visited the French market, and drank a cup of the famed and fragrant +Mocha; went to its cemeteries, which, in their flowery beauty, robbed +death of its terrors; took a drive upon the shell road to Lake +Pontchartrain; walked in Jackson Square; and, indeed, visited all +localities of note in and around the city.</p> + +<p>Should my curious readers wish to know how I could enjoy and describe all +these, the answer will be found in my companion and friend, Hattie, who, +with her wonderful adaptation and ingenuity, added to her remarkable +descriptive powers, vividly pictured all to me, and, through an unwritten, +indescribable language known only to ourselves, it became a system of +mental telegraphy and soul language.</p> + +<p>There is in Europe a blind man, whose name I cannot recall, who is led +from Court to Court and from palace to palace by a frail young girl, and +between these there exists the same mystic yet unerring language. What +this little fairy is to him such was<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74" /> Hattie Hudson to me, or, to use the +language of another:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11">"She was my sight;<br /></span> +<span>The ocean to the river of my thoughts,<br /></span> +<span>Which terminated all."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" /><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75" />CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Devotion wafts the mind above,<br /></span> +<span>But Heaven itself descends in love;<br /></span> +<span>A feeling from the Godhead caught.<br /></span> +<span>To wean from earth each sordid thought;<br /></span> +<span>A ray of him who formed the whole,<br /></span> +<span>A glory circling round the soul."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Leaving New Orleans with the fervid fire which the warm hearts of its +people had kindled still burning in my breast, and the many memories of +its fragrance and sunlight, and beauty, forever embalmed and enshrined in +my heart, I crossed in one of the great gulf steamers to Mobile, the home +of the celebrated Madame Le Verte; but, as her continued travels call her +so often away from the city in which she so gracefully and so heartfully +dispensed the hospitalities of home-life, and opened wide her doors to the +stranger, I was not privileged to meet her; nor can I note many of the +manifold celebrities of the city. I can only say I found it as beautiful +as a dream; its skies of sweet Italian softness; <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76" />its waters clear and +pure as "Pyerian Springs;" its winds gentle as the whisper of an Angel; +its flowers gorgeous in tint and redolent with fragrance; the spirits of +its people attuned to harmony with their beautiful surroundings, and +overflowing with generous sentiment.</p> + +<p>Without the slightest intimation upon my own part, I was presented with +passes over the Mobile and Ohio Railway, by which I went to Cairo, and +thence by the magnet, which so often drew my spirit toward the pole to +Chicago.</p> + +<p>After a brief respite and rest I went to Minnesota, in whose life-giving +climate I spent the summer. Passing over the oft-told tale of financial +success, I must address myself to those who—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Love the haunts of nature,<br /></span> +<span>Love the sunshine of the meadow,<br /></span> +<span>Love the shadow of the forest,<br /></span> +<span>Love the wind among the branches<br /></span> +<span>And the rushing of great rivers<br /></span> +<span>Through their palisades and pine trees;<br /></span> +<span>And the thunder of the mountains,<br /></span> +<span>Whose innumerable echoes<br /></span> +<span>Flap like eagles in their eyries."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To these I must revert to the many beau<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77" />teous haunts and hidden retreats +of nature, whose varied phases of quiet sweetness and sublime grandeur are +heightened and intensified by the charm of legend and of song.</p> + +<p>I visited the falls of "Minne-ha-ha," and could almost fancy the silvery +song and light laughter of the Indian girl in the happy purling music of +the waterfall, and, as it glided off into the gentler murmur of the +stream, below, I could imagine the still sadder song of the spirit +speeding to rest in</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The Islands of the Blessed,<br /></span> +<span>To the Land of the Hereafter."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Minneapolis and St. Paul were visited, but they are all too celebrated to +need note.</p> + +<p>Back again to the "Garden City," and to the one who had so patiently +waited for the sunshine of success and the consummation of our plans for +the future; but, as "the best made plans of mice and men aft gang aglee," +we found ourselves no nearer the goal. One day he said to me: "Mary, we +have waited to be richer, but have still grown poorer; so is it not best +that, in defiance of our appar<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78" />ently adverse fate, we unite our interests +and our lives?" So hand in hand we resolved to share the joys and sorrows +of life, each catching the burden of the old refrain—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Thy smile could make a summer<br /></span> +<span>Where darkness else would be."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We repaired to the house of Dr. O.H. Tiffany, and, in the presence of a +few friends, were quietly married, after which we made an unostentatious +wedding trip to Wisconsin to visit some of his family friends.</p> + +<p>With them all the "wonder grew" why it was that, among the many smiles +hitherto lavished upon him from beautiful eyes, he should have chosen the +blind girl. His reiterated assertion of faith in the purity and +unselfishness of the life, and the inner light of the soul, found in them +a ready acceptance of his choice, and they warmly extended to her all the +confidence and affection of kindred hearts.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" /><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79" />CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"To know, to esteem, to love, and then to <i>part</i>,<br /></span> +<span>Makes up life's tale to many a feeling heart."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>A short time after our marriage Mr. Arms was offered a contract to +superintend the construction of a mill at Woodbine, Iowa, which it seemed +best for him to accept; and finding there were no comfortable +accommodations for a lady in that place, he left me in a boarding house in +Chicago, with Hattie for a companion. It was indeed hard for us to part so +soon, and the pang was rendered more bitter by the fact of his impaired +health, for he had never entirely recovered from the effects of the +malarial fever contracted in a miasmatic district in Indiana.</p> + +<p>After his departure time hung so heavily upon my hands, my present +aimless, carefree life being in such striking contrast to the activity and +excitement of travel, that I secretly <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80" />resolved, as separation was +inevitable, to resume my old life, and thus be of assistance to my +husband. Unknown to him I wrote to my publishers for a fresh supply of +books, and started for Michigan, the State which held within its +boundaries the first scenes of sorrow my young life had known, when, amid +helpless and hopeless hours of persecution, my girlhood seemed rayless and +forsaken, but when kind friends had come in the hour of need, and helpful +hands had lifted me from the dark depths. From there I wrote to Mr. Arms, +communicating to him my intention to travel. He sent me a touching reply, +saying he had never intended me to battle with the outside world again, +but, if I deemed it best, it was perhaps well.</p> + +<p>I had cherished a desire to visit the place in which I lived with the +family of Ruthven, for then I could look above and beyond the clouds of +early days, and discern the many golden gleams and rosy rays, the many +halcyon hours of happiness and hope. So, after the spirit has passed +through the purifying fires of persecution, it can calmly look back <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81" />with +a triumphant soul song. But these old scenes were in places so remote and +inaccessible that I was forced to forego the pleasure of visiting them; +but in many other places I found the old familiar landmarks gone, and the +transformations of time had placed in their stead forms and faces new and +strange.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" /><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82" />CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"A generous friendship no cold medium knows,<br /></span> +<span>Burns with one love, with one resentment glows."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>After remaining in Michigan until late in the winter, we crossed over to +Canada via the Grand Trunk Railway. Our first stopping place was at Saint +Mary's, where at the depot we found a nice sleigh awaiting us with, all +the necessary appurtenances for comfort, in the way of robes and blankets. +Deposited at the hotel in safety, we handed the driver seventy-five cents +and were astonished at having fifty cents returned. Supposing there was +some mistake, we demurred, when he said, "My charge is two York shillings +or twenty-five cents United States money." Surely we thought the spirit of +Yankee greed has not yet penetrated the Provinces, when two women, three +trunks, satchels, &c., can be comfortably transported for so small a sum.<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83" /> +At the hotel we were at once ushered into a warm and comfortable suite of +rooms, a pleasant contrast to the usual season of weary waiting for a +room. Indeed during our entire stay in the town there was not one omission +of attention to our comfort.</p> + +<p>At Port Hope we were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Mackey, of the Mackey House, +and received from them such kindness as we could scarce expect from old +friends. Just here let me say that I had heard so many sneering allusions +to the character of the "Canucks," that I was quite unprepared for the +universal polish, elegance, cordiality and kindness of the Canadians.</p> + +<p>We went from Port Hope to Toronto, the home of the celebrated Canadian +Oculist, Doctor Roseborough, whose fame had been heralded in every portion +of the Provinces I had visited. My past experience had so disgusted me +with eye surgeons that for one week I had daily passed his house, +instinctively avoiding an entrance. One day, however, I quite as +instinctively sought an interview with the Doctor, impelled by some +strange <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84" />impulse I could not well define. I was familiarly but courteously +greeted with these words, "You have been in the city an entire week, and +yet have not called to see me." In reply I frankly confessed that I +avoided upon principle the members of his branch of the surgical +profession.</p> + +<p>His subtle magnetism would soon have dispelled all feeling of repulsion; +and before I was conscious of the degree of confidence he inspired, I +found myself almost persuaded to accept his cordial invitation to tea. The +only barrier I could interpose was want of acquaintance with his wife, and +that obstacle was soon removed. We found her a most intelligent and +charming person, and her mother, Mrs. Reeves, who was present, a +dignified, stately English lady of "the old regime."</p> + +<p>In a few moments after our meeting all her reserve vanished, and she +impulsively and almost tearfully drew near. She told in trembling tones of +a blind sister who had passed away some time before, and while she had +come in contact with so many who had resorted to her son-in-law for +treatment, she had <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85" />never before met one who resembled her sister, while +in me she seemed to have found her counterpart.</p> + +<p>This became at once a bond between us, and throwing off all her usual +reserve, she insisted upon having us leave the hotel and spend the +remainder of the time of our stay with her. So pronounced was her +character and so peremptory her demand, there was no room for refusal, and +when in a succeeding conversation with her son I expressed some +compunction at our stay, I was at once silenced by the remark that his +mother was a woman of marked idiosyncracies, and when she so distinguished +an individual as to make them a guest the decision was final, and I must +not wound her by an expression of possible impropriety. It is needless to +say I left this family with deep regret, carrying letters from Doctor +Roseborough; and in my visits to the various places en route to Montreal I +found these credentials of great service.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Montreal we were handsomely domiciled at St. Lawrence Hall. +Our room was large and airy, and our bed stood <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86" />in one of those quaint old +alcoves so peculiar to the English bed-chamber; while the table d'hote, +with its savory roast beef, plumb pudding, etc., was equally +characteristic of British comfort.</p> + +<p>This was during the blustering month of March, and all who have visited +that city at the season in which it becomes necessary to cut away the ice +from the streets will remember the pitfalls and realize how difficult it +would be for the blind, even with the kindest and most careful attendance, +to avoid danger. I escaped without any greater mishap than a fall into one +of these excavations, attended by a wetting of my feet, as well as a +thorough soaking of five books and their consequent loss. I had, however, +four weeks of successful canvassing, and during that time the condition of +the streets had quite improved.</p> + +<p>As my payments were made in the current coin of Canada, and I had the +advantage of easy access to the States, I exchanged my silver at a premium +of thirty-five per cent, and my gold at forty per cent., thus greatly +enhancing my profits. In this connection I <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87" />must acknowledge the kindness +of the residents of Montreal, as well as their more than liberal +patronage, which I will ever gratefully remember.</p> + +<p>Returning to Toronto I rejoined my friends, and, after another short +season with them, I went to Ottawa, the delightful Capital of Ontario, +then Canada West, arriving there about two days after the news of the +assassination of D'Arcy McGee, his household being in mourning, and the +whole community convulsed and sobbing in responsive sorrow.</p> + +<p>This martyred man seemed to have had a singular premonition of death, +which came foreshadowed in a dream. He was visiting some intimate lady +friends, and after dinner threw himself upon a lounge for a short siesta, +when, suddenly springing up from a disturbed slumber, he exclaimed: "I +believe I am going to be murdered!" Whereupon he related his dream. He +said he thought himself in a little boat, floating upon a stream, and +accompanied by two men, who, in spite of his convulsive efforts to near +the shore, persistently allowed him to float down the <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88" />stream to the falls +below, over which his boat was madly hurled, when, by his imaginary fall, +he was awakened with a strange and premonitory dread in his heart. His +devoted wife survived him but a short time, and was found dead at her +bedside in the attitude of prayer, where, as her spirit was wafted away +upon the wings of devotion, her face was left placid and smiling in its +last sleep.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"So united were they in life,<br /></span> +<span>And in death were not divided."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" /><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89" />CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Howe'er it be, it seems to me<br /></span> +<span>'Tis only noble to be good,<br /></span> +<span>Since hearts are more than coronets,<br /></span> +<span>And simple faith than Norman blood."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The various localities in Ottawa being so familiar to so many readers and +tourists, I will not dwell upon them at length, but suffice it to say I +visited the various Government Departments, and could not fail to be +deeply impressed by the truly elegant manners and courtly bearing of the +officials.</p> + +<p>In one of these Departments I found an elderly gentleman, slightly +afflicted with deafness. According to the etiquette of their business +regulations I was received in standing attitude, and in the few moments' +interview were condensed the thoughts and feelings of years. He bought my +book, for which he paid two dollars and a half in gold, and, as he bade me +good-bye, he stooped and kissed <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90" />my forehead with the stately grace of a +cavalier of the Crusades, which act of emotional deference was heightened +by the hot tears which fell from his eyes and dropped upon my cheeks, and +the fervor of his repeated—"God bless you, my child."</p> + +<p>At Hamilton we called at the Mute and Blind Asylums, which were then +combined in one, where we were received with great kindness, every +possible attention being lavished upon us to heighten our interest and +render our visit enjoyable. Going to Buffalo we had a social, cozy visit +with an aunt of Hattie's, after which we proceeded to Niagara Falls.</p> + +<p>It is no wonder that, as a nation, we are proud of Niagara, which, in +grandeur and sublimity, rivals any waterfall of note in the world. Taking +a carriage we drove to the Canada side, where are so many localities of +historical interest, and where, at certain points, are found the finest +views of the falls. I remained in the carriage while Hattie went under the +dashing, roaring, maddening sheet of water, which feat, as well as the +usual one <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91" />of a trip in the Maid of the Mist, seems necessary, in its +apparent peril, to a full appreciation of the awful and stupendous +grandeur of this phenomenon of nature.</p> + +<p>I walked over Suspension Bridge in order to realize its construction +through the sense of feeling, and our driver seemed much amused at my +manner of seeing. Dismissing our carriage, we walked over Goat Island, in +order to better take in the diversified beauty. The old man at the bridge, +in consideration of my affliction, refused to accept the usual fee; so +hard-hearted as they seem, in their spirit of gain, they have still some +vulnerable point, some avenue left open to the heart, thus confirming the +humanitarian sentiment, that no nature is utterly depraved.</p> + +<p>Entering into conversation with the old bridge-tender, I was amused and +surprised at his fund of anecdote and wealth of wit. Among other playful +jests he declared he could define the exact condition of heart in each +individual who crossed over, as accurately as we note the mercury in the +barometer for atmospheric probabilities, even going <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92" />so far as to say that +he could guess the "Yes" or "No," and consequently the engagement or +non-engagement of each returning couple.</p> + +<p>We followed the meandering paths and shaded seclusions, where tree and +flower, rock and stream make up the fairy realm, and crowned all by +standing in the tower on Table Rock, our hearts awed and reverent and our +lips inaudibly whispering "Be still, and know that I am God."</p> + +<p>Leaving by the Great Western Railway we stopped at London, Canada, where +Hattie had friends, and where I found a letter from my husband, who had +returned from Woodbine, and being about to establish himself for a time in +Milwaukee, where he was to build a mill, he desired me to return at once +and accompany him. Without delay we sped on in the lightning train to +Chicago, my impatient heart keeping time with the winged flight of the +cars.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" /><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93" />CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"And the night shall be filled with music,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the thoughts that infest the day<br /></span> +<span>Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And as quietly steal away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Our hearts beating with high hopes and expectant joys, we once more +settled down to happiness in Milwaukee. A joyful trio were we, my husband, +Hattie and myself. Our location in the Lake House, then one of the most +popular little hotels in the city, augured well for a pleasant sojourn.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Towle, the proprietress, was one who had deeply drank of the cup of +sorrow, the first draught coming from the hand of one who had vowed her +his love and protection, and who, after twenty-five years of wedded life, +deserted her. When, with apparent penitence, he returned to her, he was +received to her forgiving heart, and then came the <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94" />draining of the bitter +dregs in a second desertion.</p> + +<p>With her two children as her only dower, she patiently took up the burden +of life, and bravely bore all, supporting and educating her two daughters, +and never losing dignity or caste.</p> + +<p>No more delightful summer resort could be found than Milwaukee, familiarly +known as the "Cream City," from the light straw or creamy tint of the +brick, which forms so large a part in the architecture of that city, and +gives an air of charming cleanliness to the buildings. This shade is said +by chemists to be the result of the want of the usual element of iron in +the clay of which it is made, and so curious is it to strangers that it +has become a familiar saying that few people leave Milwaukee without +carrying away "a brick in their hats," this being doubtless in part a +jesting allusion to the apparently all-pervading spirit of the gay +Gambrinus apparent there and the numberless manufactories of the foaming +lager. Yet methinks this is no longer a more striking characteristic there +<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95" />than elsewhere, in spite of the predominant German element.</p> + +<p>The word "Milwaukee" signifies rich land, and the truthful significance of +the appellation is amply testified by the rare flowers, green gardens, +fertile fields and towering forests in and around it, all of which are the +outgrowth of its soil of rich alluvial loam.</p> + +<p>Milwaukee is a city whose animus is in striking contrast to the daring, +dashing spirit of Chicago, but its substantial wealth, cash basis, and +slow, careful, steady progress, have led it on to sure success, so well +attested by the quiet and substantial elegance of its business buildings, +the palatial proportions and exquisite finish of its private dwellings, +with their appropriate appointments of cultivated conservatories, gorgeous +gardens and rare works of art. The well stored libraries evince an +advanced degree of cultivation, and the literary coteries a prevailing +element of the dilletante spirit, while the plain, rich habiliments, and +the elegant turnouts with liveried attendants, indicate a degree of +fashion and style unknown in many larger cities; and <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96" />their manufactories +and business houses suggest great mercantile advancement, their elevators +and shipping a high order of commercial greatness.</p> + +<p>Their harbor is one of the finest in the world, and by travelers is said +to resemble that of the beautiful Naples. Indeed, the extended view from +the drive upon Prospect Street is without a rival. Beautiful Boulevardes +were then in quite advanced process of construction, and in time must rank +among the most shaded, flowery walks and drives in the world.</p> + +<p>Swiftly sped the summer hours in fair Milwaukee, with its gay gladiolas +and blue skies, its crystal waters and grand old forests, until it ceased +to be a wonder why so many health and pleasure seekers made it a resort, +and that it became, during the warm season, a fashionable watering place.</p> + +<p>One of our most frequent rendezvous was upon the lake shore, where, in a +sweet secluded spot, far away from the throng which resorted there, a +rough log for a seat, we were wont to sit for hours, listening to the +music <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97" />of the bands upon the excursion boats as they came and went with +their scores of pleasure seekers, and the still more harmonious melody of +the waves as they rose and fell at our feet in low, soft, musical murmurs.</p> + +<p>Among the many attractions of Milwaukee is that of one of the several +noble institutions erected by our Government and known as National +Soldiers' Homes.</p> + +<p>It is located four miles west of the city, and is accessible both by +Elizabeth Street and Grand Avenue, two of the most delightful drives of +Milwaukee.</p> + +<p>Its eight hundred acres are beautifully enclosed and finely cultivated, +being laid out by one of its former chaplains, according to the most +artistic rules of landscape gardening; every coil and curve of avenue +being a line of beauty, and its fifteen miles of drive startling the eye +with its grouping of lake and garden, bridge and stream, fern-clad ravines +and sunny heights.</p> + +<p>Amid its dense groves are fairy pavilions, in which its maimed and scarred +veterans <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98" />discourse sweet music by a silver cornet band, without one +grating sound or discordant note.</p> + +<p>Without the rigid discipline of active array life, these veterans have +sufficient military discipline for comfort and order, and one cannot fail +to remark the systematic precision which characterizes the performance of +their daily duties.</p> + +<p>I cannot say all I should like to say in regard to these institutions, but +suffice it to say that I found many sympathizing and some old friends +among the blind, and was glad to learn that these soldiers, as a class, +ranked among the most cultivated inmates.</p> + +<p>I cannot close my chapter upon this subject without alluding to the +magnanimous generosity of the Milwaukeeans in their donation of one +hundred thousand dollars to the National Home Fund, the proceeds of a +Sanitary Fair, in which white hands and deft fingers, faithfully and +patriotically wrought, for the benefit of the disabled soldiers, and few +cities could boast of a nobler donation. I must also allude to the high +appreciation in <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99" />which the Homes are held by foreign dignitaries.</p> + +<p>Miss Emily Faithful, the fair amanuensis and confidential friend of Queen +Victoria, while visiting America in an official capacity, spent a day in +socially visiting and carefully inspecting the Soldiers' Home of +Milwaukee. Astonished and entertained she pronounced it the most +pleasurable day she had spent in this country.</p> + +<p>The Grand Duke Alexis left upon its register the only autograph written in +person in a public place, bestowing upon the institution the most +extravagant encomiums, both himself and his suite of traveled and titled +gentlemen pronouncing it a wonder and a marvel!</p> + +<p>The Reverend Doctor Smythe, of Dublin, Ireland, when in attendance upon +the Evangelical Alliance, visited the Soldiers' Home of Dayton, Ohio. +Examining its magnificent libraries, seventy thousand dollar chapel and +its hospital, the finest in the world, he was spell-bound. Going to its +music hall and listening to its band, inhaling the perfume of its +conservatories, visiting its grottoes, bowers <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100" />and springs, rowing on its +lakes, seeing its aviaries with birds of all varieties of plumage and +song, and driving in its parks inhabited by buffalo, elk, antelope and +over five hundred deer; he exclaimed with evident fervor, "In the <i>Old +Country</i>, libraries, conservatories, bands and parks are for the nobility; +in the new world they are for the soldiery." And what nobler compliment +could he have paid to our country and its institutions?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" /><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101" />CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Farewell! a word that must be, and hath been;<br /></span> +<span>A sound that makes us linger; yet farewell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The summer being ended, we visited the friends of Mr. Arms in Wisconsin, +after which he went to Grinnell, Iowa, in pursuit of his usual avocation. +My own delicate health made it necessary for me to be again winging my way +southward. Going to Atlanta, Ga., and making that my headquarters, I +visited with marked success all the towns of importance on the various +railroad routes diverging from this centre. I then made Macon another +headquarters, after which I canvassed the greater part of the State.</p> + +<p>The forests were filled with flowering shrubs and trailing vines, the +towering trees hung with the wild, weird drapery of the southern moss, and +the mocking birds sang their sweet songs from "early morn 'til dewy <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102" />eve." +These scenes "vibrate in memory" with quivering, throbbing power, and come +back like odors exhaled from fading flowers or "music when soft voices +die."</p> + +<p>Selma, Alabama, became my third headquarters, where I boarded with Mrs. +Cooke, a lovely woman of the purely southern type, who, before the great +conflict, was a millionaire, and was afterward forced for her own support +to convert a large mansion into a huge boarding house, which, with its +hundred guests, was a cheerful, happy home; permeated as it was by the +sunshine she diffused, and lighted by the fairy face of her lovely +daughter, who was named for her native State, Alabama.</p> + +<p>As in the aboriginal tongue this signifies "here we rest," and it became +to us a name deeply fraught with significance, for in this pure untainted +heart we found "rest! sweet rest!"</p> + +<p>"En route" to Rome I met with my usual good fortune in finding another +friend in a lady resident of the country, who fondly urged me to leave the +hotel and make my home with her, where she lavished upon me every luxury +<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103" />and kindness. Her husband was the only man in that region of country who +voted for Abraham Lincoln; and when General Sherman made his "March to the +Sea," she concealed none of her stores or treasures, but went to him and +asked protection for her property and home, when a guard was immediately +furnished her by the commander.</p> + +<p>She afterward married an officer of this guard, in consequence of which +she was disowned by her family and associates, but in the noble and +sterling qualities of her husband found ample compensation as well as a +subsequent reconciliation with friends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" /><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104" />CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'Tis a little thing<br /></span> +<span>To give a cup of water; yet its draught<br /></span> +<span>Of cool refreshment, drained by fervid lips,<br /></span> +<span>May give a shock of pleasure to the frame<br /></span> +<span>More exquisite than when nectarian juice<br /></span> +<span>Renews the life of joy in happiest hours."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In order to reach Montgomery I took passage in one of the high-pressure +steamers of the Alabama river, and during the two days and nights of the +trip I was surrounded by a throng of sympathizing, interested passengers, +whose tender tones and gentle touch was as a cool, refreshing draught to +parched lips, a sweet morsel to the tongue, for human hearts ever hunger +and thirst for affection. How utterly unendurable would be this life, with +its desert wastes and hot siroccos, but for the sweet, verdant spots +dotting the sandy sea, whence spring the "fountains of perpetual peace" +and issue the healing waters.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105" />These loving ones surrounded me as I sat busily occupied with my bead +work, and not only delighted and entertained with their curious questions +and familiar chat, but freely bought my books and fifty dollars worth of +baskets, while they would doubtless have doubled the amount had not this +exhausted my little store.</p> + +<p>As we steamed in sight of Montgomery a gentleman came into the cabin and +requested me to make for him eight of the handsomest bead baskets before +we landed; and, seeing an amused and incredulous smile upon my face, he +said: "You work so dexterously and so rapidly that I did not realize that +my demand was unreasonable." Explaining to him that it would require eight +hours of the closest application to accomplish that amount of work, he +apologized and left me. Nor did this specimen of the "genus homo" evince +any unusual ignorance of woman's work, whose endless routine and +diversified drudgery ofttimes require the patience of a Job and the wisdom +of a Solomon. In the labyrinth of domestic entanglement more is needed +<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106" />than the silken clue of Ariadne, and the vexed question of domestic +economy requires the unerring skill of the diplomatist, the subtle tact of +the politician, and the sure strength of the statesman. The "Poet of +Poets" has shown his appreciation of the character and life of woman in +the following lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive;<br /></span> +<span>They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;<br /></span> +<span>They are the books, the arts, the academies,<br /></span> +<span>That show, contain and nourish all the world.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After a pleasant and successful visit to Montgomery we went via the Mobile +Railroad to Evergreen, a little town fitly named from its deeply shaded +evergreen surroundings. We reached this little hamlet at two o'clock in +the morning, and those who are familiar with the cold and penetrating +dampness of a southern night, even in mid-summer, could realize our +condition and desire for rest and warmth, and know something of our +disappointment at finding the one poor little hotel of the town without a +vacant room. Seeking the office for a resting place, we found the case +equally hopeless, for congregated within <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107" />its narrow limits were men, +women and children, every one of whom was stretched in various attitudes +upon the floor, as peacefully enfolded in the arms of Morpheus, and, +perchance, as sweetly dreaming as if resting upon beds of down and +pillowed upon fine linen and gossamer lace.</p> + +<p>Sleep is indeed to such "tired nature's sweet restorer," and to those +whose healthy bodies and unambitious natures know no perturbation it is +balmy and refreshing.</p> + +<p>Turning from the unconscious, slumbering group for one friendly face, we +were greeted by Major Lanier, of the Confederate Army, whose manner and +tone not only betokened the gentleman, but whose acts of kindness evinced +the true and chivalrous heart so characteristic of the southern character. +After failing in repeated efforts to find us a room, he gave us his +blankets and great coat, and all through the dreary watches of the night +fed the fire with wood, which with one hand he chopped, while with the +other he fought off the rabid attacks of fierce and barking dogs, which +persistently assailed him. Had <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108" />we been distinguished ladies, or had there +been any probability of the gallant major being praised, complimented, or +in any way preferred for this act of gallantry, it might have been less +appreciated, but it was an act of purely chivalrous courtesy to two +strange ladies in humble position, and his only reward was our poor thanks +and the approval of his own generous heart. It must have had its comic +side, too, to see a major of the regular Confederate service, who had done +battle on the field where glory was to be won, groping in the dismal dark +of the night and running the risk of being severely hurt, possibly of +being killed, by dogs, practicing war with one hand, and dispensing a +noble if not an ostentatious charity with the other.</p> + +<p>We had been promised the room opening into the office as soon as it was +vacated, and at the first streak of coming dawn the Major stationed +himself near the door, listening for the slightest sound; and when from +the carefully guarded chamber the faintest rustle came he would jocularly +exclaim: "Ladies, prospects are brightening!" and so he helped <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109" />us to +while away the weary hours until we secured the promised room and bed, +where we rested until noon.</p> + +<p>When we arose from this refreshing rest we found that the session of court +had brought this throng, and we were soon surrounded with visitors, who +kept us constantly conversing and almost incessantly weaving baskets for +their amusement. These people not only bought large stores of my work, but +their talk sent crowds of people from far and near, all of whom made +purchases of some kind. Such was the interest of every member of the bar +and every attendant upon court that the four days I spent there completely +exhausted me, physically and mentally.</p> + +<p>Finding there were no other important towns beyond Evergreen, I returned +to Montgomery and repaired to Savannah, Georgia, where I was treated with +the most genial generosity, and should have been repaid for a trip to that +place in a visit to its cemetery, whose reputation has been spread +throughout the length and breadth of our land, and whose strange, sad +beauty is so infinitely be<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110" />yond the conceptions of imagination, but +which—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"To be remembered<br /></span> +<span>Needs but to be seen."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Its grounds are densely grown with trees of live oak, whose huge and +spreading branches, seeming to bear the size and strength of a century's +growth; with the dark, drooping moss, which, as it mingles its weird, +fantastic drapery with the bending, swaying, weeping willow, seems like a +pall for the graves hidden in its sombre shades; while the millions of +birds which dwell therein lull their warbling notes to the measure of a +low funeral song; and every sound of Nature's many-voiced music seems to +murmur a requiem for the dead. As I sat subdued and listening, the low, +rustling sound of the wind seemed as a sigh of sorrow escaping the breast +of the bereaved, and I could picture in the far away land of Palestine +that sacred spot which had so often been described to me, even the "Church +of the Holy Sepulchre."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111" />This most benevolent city of Georgia, without solicitation, presented me +passes to Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Fla. The former was at that time +quite an unimportant place, but has since become a popular resort.</p> + +<p>While in Tallahassee I met with great sympathy and kindness from Governor +Rood, who bought a book and handed me five dollars. When change was +tendered to him he quietly and respectfully declined, and said with his +usual delicacy that it was worth that much to him.</p> + +<p>The Sheriff of the county was also very generous. Wishing to present me +with ten dollars, and fearing to wound me by so doing, he ordered that +amount of bead-work.</p> + +<p>Tallahassee was certainly the most quiet Capital City I had ever visited, +resting in its placid loveliness apparently undisturbed by the usual +wrangle of legislation.</p> + +<p>We returned via Live Oaks, at which place we encountered one of those +severe thunderstorms known only to tropical lands, and in which the angry +"war of elements" strikes terror to the hearts of those unschooled to it.<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112" /> +All through its thundering and lightning, its wind and torrent, I was in +such a state of nervous excitement, that when the last lurid light faded, +the last crash was echoed by a low reverberating moan and died away, I +gave one deep sigh of intense relief and sank exhausted from the reaction.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" /><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113" />CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I lay upon the headland heights, and listened<br /></span> +<span>To the incessant moaning of the sea<br /></span> +<span>In caverns under me,<br /></span> +<span>And watched the waves that tossed,<br /></span> +<span>And fled, and glistened;<br /></span> +<span>Until the rolling meadows of amethyst<br /></span> +<span>Melted away in mist."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>My visit to Charleston combined little of eventful note, and this city is +to well known as a seaport to require a detailed description. There, as in +all places in close proximity to the ocean, I was spell-bound amid the +ceaseless ebb and flow, the endless melody of the waves glowing and +scintillating with myriad gem-like hues from the amethyst, the emerald and +the diamond, to the many-hued opal, its varied and changing beauty bearing +all the brilliant glory of the fabled dolphin, born in its depths.</p> + +<p>In this sea-girt city I found the home of<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114" /> Mrs. Glover, and above all her +hallowed presence there. She is an accomplished lady, and once wrote an +attractive novel, more for pastime than from any literary aspirations.</p> + +<p>Vernon, the hero of her story of Vernon Grove, was blind, and as this +depiction of character was so much more true to nature than the +pen-pictures of other gifted delineators, even that of the shrewd searcher +of the human heart, Wilkie Collins, that she had won the sympathy and +interest of all at the Baltimore Institution, at which, in former years, +she had been so cheerfully greeted.</p> + +<p>Vernon possessed none of the melancholy, inanimate, suspicious +characteristics supposed by many to belong of necessity to the blind, but +was a brilliant, cheerful, high-minded person, who filled every position +in life with dignity, accepted every sorrow and disappointment with +resignation, in every struggle was a lion-hearted hero, and in every +contest a conqueror.</p> + +<p>This gifted lady was a sister of Mrs. Bowen, of Baltimore, who, as well as +her husband, was a warm, true friend to the blind, and <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115" />ever joyously +hailed as a guest in the institution.</p> + +<p>After traveling through the Carolinas I went to Richmond, Virginia, the +Rome of America, and like that ancient city built upon seven hills, while +in its patrician pride and family loyalty it possessed much of the essence +of the old Roman spirit.</p> + +<p>My visit there was during the most fervid heat of the summer solstice, +when through the sultry days all living creatures are panting and +breathless, yet withal the stay of three weeks' duration passed away with +delightful rapidity, and time stole upon us and stole from us almost +imperceptibly.</p> + +<p>Leaving Richmond for White Sulphur Springs, I stopped at all important +intervening points. At Staunton I devoted an entire day to the inspection +of the Institution for the Blind, and in pleasant acceptance of +hospitalities dispensed both by inmates and officials.</p> + +<p>Arriving at White Sulphur after dark, we found the mountain air so cold +that we could almost imagine ourselves suddenly transported from the +Equator to the Pole, and were as <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116" />thoroughly chilled as one unacclimated +would be from so great and sudden a transition.</p> + +<p>The mammoth hotel of this watering place, comfortably seated in its +dining-hall twelve hundred guests, and all its appointments were in +equally grand proportion. We occupied, from choice, one of the cozy little +cottages, nestling like a dove-cot in some bowery shade, with its patch of +green-sward and flower-garden in front and purling brook behind, holding +the double charm of rural simplicity and home-like air. Hattie led me +through every path and grove, nook and glen of this sweet seclusion, this +valley embosomed in mountains, and my thoughts reverted to the days when +the belles and beaux of our American court sought these sylvan shades; +when Washington and the successive Chief Magistrates of the Great Republic +had gracefully glided through the stately minuet and invested this spot +with a now classic interest.</p> + +<p>Prominent among the visitors was the leonine General Lee, a Colossus in +person and in mind. In spirit brave as a true hero, but in manner gentle +as a woman. In the sweet <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117" />solace of sympathy his heart went out to the +blind girl, and assumed the tangible form of solid favors, for by his +personal efforts under the magic influence and royal mandate of his +imperial power many a little volume was appropriated that would have been +otherwise unnoticed.</p> + +<p>George Peabody was also a guest, but in this, his last visit to his native +country, he was too ill and prostrate to receive friends. I felt for him a +strong personal sympathy for his beneficence to my native city, to which +he ever acknowledged himself indebted for his first business success; and +in which the pure, white marble structure, with its magnificent library +and other appointments, so well known as "The Peabody Institute," stands +as a monument of his munificence.</p> + +<p>Returning to Richmond, we took the James River route to Baltimore, a trip +fraught with varied interest.</p> + +<p>At Yorktown, that city of eld, we landed to take in a cargo of freight, +not neglecting the usual store of oysters, of which we had at supper a +sumptuous feast and it was from no <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118" />fickle epicurean fancy that all +pronounced these delicious bivalves the finest in the world, for, +certainly, never before or since have we partaken of them with such rare +relish and absolute gusto.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII" /><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119" />CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Sweet is the hour that brings us home,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where all will spring to meet us;<br /></span> +<span>Where hands are striving as we come,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To be the first to greet us.<br /></span> +<span>When the world has spent its frowns and wrath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And care been sorely pressing;<br /></span> +<span>'Tis sweet to turn from our roving path,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And find a fireside blessing;<br /></span> +<span>Ah, joyfully dear is the homeward track,<br /></span> +<span>If we are but sure of a welcome back!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Home again in dear old Baltimore, where over my cradle was sung my +mother's first lullaby, and where so many localities were invested with +the charm of loved association. I of course visited the Institution for +the Blind, which would not, in its many changes, have seemed at all like +home but for the music of a familiar voice and the presence of dear Miss +Bond, who still with loving dignity presided as matron, throned in the +majesty of noble humanity, and crowned with purity and goodness.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120" />Dr. Fisher, Mr. Trust and Mr. Newcomer still faithfully held their +positions as Directors, and cordially welcomed me home. Mr. Morrison, the +new Superintendent, and his most estimable wife, although they had never +seen me, brought me near to them by the bond of sympathetic kindness, and +seemed not like strangers but friends.</p> + +<p>It seemed singular to those who had known little Mary Day to have her go +back to them a married woman, and indeed, for the moment, time seemed to +have gone backward in its flight; the dignity of the matron was forgotten, +and I was a child again, even little Mary Day. I felt glad of an assurance +from Miss Bond, that so fondly had my name been cherished, even by those +in the institution who had never met me, that it was regarded as a +"household word," and that enshrined in the most sacred niche of the +temple of love was the image of Mary L. Day. As a testimony of this +continued affection I was fondly urged to remain in the institution while +in the city, but, as I had so many resident relatives, I declined.</p> + +<p>My cousin, William Heald, who had by his <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121" />kindness infused light into some +of my darkest hours, had won a lovely woman for a wife, and certainly no +one more richly deserved such a consummation. Cousin Sammy Heald had also +married his fair fiance, of the West, who in her sweet purity of +character, beauty of person and a life fragrant and blossoming with good +deeds, could justly be called a "prairie flower." He had been ordained a +Methodist minister, and was winning true laurels in his little charge in +Iowa, to which conference he belonged. He had chosen his proper vocation, +for as a preacher he was "Native, and to the manor born," for when a wee +boy, he had written and declaimed many a sermon, and had his mimic +audience been a real one these efforts would have produced electrical +effect.</p> + +<p>Among the many changes in my Baltimore circle was the vacant chair at the +fireside, once filled by my uncle Jacob Day, whose memory and whose life +was pervaded by the odor of true sanctity. It could truly be said of him +at the sunset of a beautiful life, that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122" /> +<span>"Each silver hair, each wrinkle there,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Records some good deed done;<br /></span> +<span>Some flower cast along the way,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some spark from love's bright sun."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He had been a great leader in the Sabbath School movement, and a prominent +feature of the funeral cortege was a procession of his pupils in pure +white raiment, who, in token of their love and bereavement, strewed his +grave with flowers.</p> + +<p>I cannot close my home chapter without an expression of exultant pride for +my classmates who have done so nobly in their various vocations. Two had +entered the literary ranks as book-writers, and had met with marked +success in the acceptance and sale of their works; three stood high as +teachers; one earned a good living by tuning pianos; several were engaged +in various departments of the institution; and two ranked high as +musicians, which profession has seemed an especial field for the blind.</p> + +<p>To use the musical measure of poetic prose as rendered by Mr. Artman, one +of the most renowned blind authors—"There is a world to <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123" />which night +brings no gloom, no sadness, no impediments; fills no yawning chasm and +hides from the traveler no pitfall. It is the world of sound. Silence is +its night, the only darkness of which the blind have any knowledge. In it +every attribute of Nature has a voice; the beautiful, the grand, the +sublime, have each a language, and to me, whose heart is in tune, every +sound has a peculiar significance. Sounds fill the soul, while light fills +the eye only. 'In the varied strains of warbling melody,' as it winds in +its graceful meanderings to the deep recesses of his soul, or of the rich +and boundless harmony, as it swells and rolls its pompous tide around him, +he finds a solace and a compensation for the absent joys of sight."</p> + +<p>And so I close with a blessing upon the members of my class, and may the +God of light and love illumine their paths, and glorify their lives, is my +earnest, heartfelt prayer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV" /><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124" />CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The prayer of Ajax was for light;<br /></span> +<span>Through all that dark and desperate fight,<br /></span> +<span>The blackness of that noonday night,<br /></span> +<span>He asked but the return of sight,<br /></span> +<span>To see his foeman's face.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Let our unceasing, earnest prayer<br /></span> +<span>Be, too, for light—for strength to bear<br /></span> +<span>Our portion of the weight of care,<br /></span> +<span>That crushes into dumb despair<br /></span> +<span>One half the human race."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>From Baltimore I went to Westminster, Maryland, to visit my cousin, +Charles Henniman, and my stay there was characterized by all the joy of +sweet reunion and eager acceptance of hospitalities so lavishly bestowed. +It was with mingled emotions of pleasure and pain I greeted my old friend, +Carrie Fringer. In person she was of a peculiar type of beauty, a face +regular in features as a Madonna, beaming with the soft, love-light of +rare, sweet eyes, in whose depths <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125" />were imprisoned not only an intense +brightness, but the still deeper glow of a soul of love and truth. Curls +of soft brown hair fell upon her symmetrical shoulders and softened the +face they framed into an almost spiritual sweetness. From an affliction in +her childhood she had almost ever since been unable to walk, and indeed +none of the beautiful limbs were available for voluntary motion. Thus +deprived of more than half of life's joy, its sweet activity, many would +have lapsed into a morbid, nervous condition, over which we might justly +have thrown the mantle of charity, but this dear friend was so lovely and +chastened in her affliction, that she seemed almost a Deity in her +attributes of tender love and patient self-abnegation, united to a heroic +endurance of pain with which she was daily, hourly and momently tortured. +Surely</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The good are better made by ill,<br /></span> +<span>As odors crushed are sweeter still."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Going to Washington I accompanied an excursion down the Potomac to Mount +Vernon, that sacred spot whose mention sends a <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126" />thrill of patriotic pride +through every American heart, hallowed as it is by memories of George +Washington. So I became one of the zealous pilgrim throng who wended their +way to this our Mecca, dear to us as that sacred place in the old world to +the most devout worshiper of the Prophet Mahomet.</p> + +<p>Reaching our destination we first repaired to the tomb, and with bowed and +uncovered heads all reverently gazed upon the mausoleum of departed +greatness, and turned to the mansion, each department of which had its own +peculiar charm.</p> + +<p>Prominent among other relics were his war-equipments, the paraphernalia of +Revolutionary times; and as we ever associate him with his character as +general, these were especially significant from the sword so often wielded +with masterly power, to the little canteen, from which, after long and +weary marches, he refreshed his parched lips.</p> + +<p>In his bed-chamber, with its antique air and quaint garniture, there stood +a bedstead, the fac-simile of the one upon which he died. Here we lingered +long and lovingly, and <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127" />turned to another department, in one corner of +which stood a harpsichord, once belonging to his niece, Miss Lewis. In +fancy I could see her fairy fingers as they swept in "waves of grace" over +its strings, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" ministered to a circle +of distinguished listeners. I could not resist the impulse to pass my +hands over the long neglected strings, and recalled the sentiment of the +old song,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"As a sweet lute that lingers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In silence alone;<br /></span> +<span>Unswept by light fingers.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Scarce murmurs a tone;<br /></span> +<span>My own heart resembles,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This lute, light and free,<br /></span> +<span>'Til o'er its chord trembles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sweet memories of thee."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The garden still remained as arranged by his taste and dictation, and at +one corner of the house the magnolia tree, planted by his own hand, still +bloomed in fragrant beauty.</p> + +<p>In the yard was the old well, with "its moss-covered, iron-bound bucket," +and at the door the gray-haired negro, the inevitable servant of "Massa +Washington," who will <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128" />doubtless, like a wandering Jew, out live all time, +and for centuries to come remain an attaché of our country's father.</p> + +<p>Several gentlemen present evinced and expressed great surprise that a +blind woman should go to <i>see</i> Mount Vernon, yet I very much doubt if any +eyes really saw more than my own. When we reached the boat, each gentleman +carried in his hand a cane cut from the woods of Mount Vernon, and one and +all returned to Washington with the consciousness of having spent a +pleasant and profitable day.</p> + +<p>We soon left for Lynchburg, Virginia, after which we visited the towns en +route to Knoxville, Tennessee. At the latter place we had a very enjoyable +visit to the home of Parson Brownlow. He was absent in attendance upon the +Legislature, but his daughter gracefully and cordially dispensed the +hospitalities of their home, and did everything within the bounds of her +warm, sympathetic intelligence to heighten the pleasure and interest of +our visit.</p> + +<p>Back again to Chicago, we were welcomed <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129" />by Mr. Arms, whom we found +engaged in erecting machinery in the Gowan Marble Works, the largest of +the kind in the North-west. Resting in the sweet haven of home, we passed +the winter in this sanctum.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV" /><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130" />CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I love not man the less, but nature more,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From these our interviews, in which I steal<br /></span> +<span>From all I may be, or have been before,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To mingle with the universe, and feel<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Renewed and refreshed from our long winter rest, with the migration of the +birds we winged our way westward, alighting in many a lovely locality in +the flourishing State of Iowa, whose soft undulations of prairies were now +swelling in billows of gorgeous green, and touched with the varied tints +of flowery bloom.</p> + +<p>Our last resting place was in Council Bluffs, so celebrated for the +grandeur of its location at the foot of the beetling bluffs of the +Missouri River, and for its flourishing and progressive spirit, aside from +which it holds a place in our historic annals dating back to aboriginal +days. When this century was in <a name="Page_131" id="Page_131" />its early infancy, and the shadowy dawn of +our young nation was still wrapt in the mists which enshrouded its first +struggling efforts; when the little far-away fur station of Astoria, near +the whispering waves of the Pacific coast, held not the mellowing memories +of time or the living light with which the genius of an Irving has since +invested it; when the great explorers, Lewis and Clarke, were leaving +their foot-prints on the land bordering the Columbia River, they held a +council with the Red Man at Kanesville, Iowa, ever since known as "Council +Bluffs."</p> + +<p>Thence we went to Omaha, which is one of the most flourishing places in +Nebraska, and from the improvised post-office of early days, the "plug" +hat of Mr. Jones, its first post-master, has grown the large distributing +office of the department.</p> + +<p>It was also a military post and winter garrison for our troops in +transitu, its cheerful barracks, well-kept roads and clean parade ground +converting it into a favorite drive and walk, where resort many strangers +to witness the dress parade of "The Boys in Blue."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132" />The Platte River Valley is well known to most of my readers from its +romantic association with the struggles of the vast army of emigrants, who +not only braved the dangers of its uncertain fords and deceitful +quicksands, but the tomahawk and scalp knife, ofttimes leaving a nameless +grave beside its waters; and, were it not for a laughable incident in this +connection, I would pass it by unnoticed.</p> + +<p>There are so many heroes of the Don Quixote school, who are so brave in +fighting wind-mills, who, in time of peace, are "soldiers armed with +resolution," but in the real conflict what Shakspeare designates as +"soldiers and afeard." There was in our train a young prig, who "played +the braggart with his tongue," telling of his brave exploits, like a very +Othello recounting the "dangers he passed," ending with a defiant show of +how he should act in the event of an attack from marauding Indians, to +which the trains were at that time so subject, after which he fell into a +profound slumber, resting upon his imaginary laurels. While he slept the +train <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133" />had changed conductors, and it became necessary to see his ticket. +This new official passing by, and finding himself unable to arouse the +snoring sleeper by ordinary means, gave him a lusty shake, whereupon our +hero gave a hideous yell of "Indians! Indians!" his lips quivering and his +frame palsied with fear. The sound was so startling that the affrighted +passengers imagined themselves for the moment in the merciless grasp of a +band of Red Men.</p> + +<p>The conductor gave this quaking coward another energetic shake and an +imperious demand for "your ticket, sir!" and the quondam man of war +"smoothed his wrinkled front," and humbly subsided into a semblance of +sleep, while the conductor was no doubt astonished at the loud laughter +that followed a brief silence, during which the passengers recovered their +composure, and realized the full ludicrousness of the incident. In my +experience in life I have met a great many people who were ready to tell +what they would have done "had they been there;" but this priggish gascon +was the first I had ever seen <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134" />put to the test, and I believe him to be a +fair sample of that smart class who could, if you take their words for it, +have done better on any given occasion than those whom the occasion found +"there."</p> + +<p>Emerging from the Platte Valley, we realized the fact that we were fairly +on our way to the far West, ready to take in with insatiable avidity all +the immensity and grandeur of our territorial scenery.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Cheyenne, we were surprised to find a comfortable +hotel-omnibus in waiting, and most of the concomitants of a metropolis, +notwithstanding the oft-expressed surprise and fear of friends at the +daring venture of two unprotected women in going alone to this lawless and +God-forsaken country.</p> + +<p>Alas for the demoralizing influence of so-called civilization! While in +the elegant counting-rooms of polished millionaires in more eastern +localities we had occasionally met with insults and snubs; in this place +of reputed "roughs" we received not one rebuff, and were greeted not +merely with respect, but with unbounded generosity. While we found <a name="Page_135" id="Page_135" />rough +diamonds, they were diamonds nevertheless.</p> + +<p>Over this city has since swept the tidal wave of reform, and a great +temperance awakening evoked by one of the great workers in that movement, +Mr. Page, who, with gentle yet royal mandate, has said to the many +"troubled waters," with their sad wrecks of human souls—"peace! be +still!"</p> + +<p>We find it vain to depict by our feeble word-painting the many-hued, +many-voiced phases nature assumes in this almost boundless domain, and the +yet untold, undeveloped depths of our territorial resources. Mountains +looming up in imperial grandeur, their snow-crowned summits melting into +cloud and sky; weird cañons, in which the whispered words of worship from +a myriad devotees seem to echo and re-echo through their dark depths; +giant trees:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The murmuring pines and hemlock,<br /></span> +<span>Bearded with moss and in garments of green,<br /></span> +<span>Indistinct in the twilight,<br /></span> +<span>Stand like Druids of Eld,<br /></span> +<span>With voices sad and prophetic."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Among the many military posts Fort<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136" /> Bridger, named for the famous trapper +and guide of oft-written and oft-told fame, is also renowned as one of the +posts of our gallant frontier officer, Albert Sydney Johnston, who won his +first laurels amid the first Mormon troubles, and gallantly fell at Shiloh +early in the Civil War.</p> + +<p>Many of the most romantic places have been named for some fair maiden of +the pioneer families, as Maggie's Creek, Susan's Valley, etc., while one +of the most noted and poetic spots is known as "The Maiden's Grave," the +once rude resting place of a gentle girl, whose remains were left there by +her mourning friends on their way to their home on the Pacific Slope. It +was afterwards found by a party of graders on the railway, and these rough +but sympathetic men erected a fitting mausoleum of solid masonry, +surmounted by a pure white cross of stone, whose symmetrical proportions +are prominently visible to every traveler upon the Union Pacific Railroad.</p> + +<p>One of the most interesting objects to me was the "Thousand Mile Tree," +whose tow<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137" />ering height I could imagine and long to behold as described to +me by my companion and friend, its strange isolation sending a peculiar +thrill of loneliness through the heart of one who was fifteen hundred +miles from home. This old tree, through some strange freak of nature, +stood a solitary sentinel, a guide-post of nature to tell the traveler he +was a thousand miles from Omaha.</p> + +<p>As we neared Weber River our well known and popular conductor came into +the cars, and in a voice of deep, rich melody, sang the words of the then +favorite song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Yes, we will gather at the river.<br /></span> +<span>The beautiful, the beautiful river;<br /></span> +<span>Gather with the Saints at the river,<br /></span> +<span>That flows by the throne of God."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The passengers, as we neared the kingdom of the Saints, catching the +magnetism of his song, joined in the sweet refrain until it swelled into a +soaring, reverberating harmony.</p> + +<p>We reached Ogden City just as the sun was setting in royal hues, and +repaired at once to the White House, the only gentile hotel in the place.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI" /><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138" />CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Westward the star of Empire takes its way;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The four first acts already past,<br /></span> +<span>A fifth shall close the drama with the day;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Time's noblest offspring-is the last."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Our first emotion upon our introduction to Utah was one of fear and +foreboding, for our landlord seemed so assured that we should meet with no +success, selfishness being the established character of the Mormons, who +never allowed their hearts to go out in sympathy to any one outside of +their own church or community.</p> + +<p>Far away from home, "a stranger in a strange land," felt like those +old-time wanderers who sat them down by the "waters of Babylon," and +hanging their harps upon the willow, sang sad songs and wept bitter tears.</p> + +<p>I gathered sufficient courage to call upon the editor of the daily paper, +and his gentlemanly reception was very reassuring. He gave me <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139" />a lengthy +and commendatory notice, and this emanating from a man with five wives +gave me a more charitable sentiment than I had formerly maintained toward +Mormon institutions, and it likewise gave me courage and a better opinion +as to my prospects. We remained there two days, and met with such +unexpected success that we turned in a more hopeful mood toward Salt Lake +City.</p> + +<p>On the road to that city is a celebrated sulphur spring, whose presence is +indicated for miles before it is reached by somewhat infernal fumes. A +woman in the car, overcome by the unpleasant odor, exclaimed, in evident +disgust: "Is that the way the Mormons smell?" She seemed so impressed with +the nearness of his Satanic Majesty, whom she intimately associated with +Mormondom, that it recalled the somewhat vulgar story of the "Teuton," +who, in nearing the Virginia White Sulphur Springs, with the same fumes in +his nostrils, cried out: "Mein Gott! pe shure, hell is not more as a mile +off!"</p> + +<p>Arriving at Salt Lake City at the close of a beautiful day, the western +sky gleaming <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140" />with the royally gorgeous hues of a clear, bright sunset, +while the delightful surroundings and stimulating atmosphere lured us to +walk from the depot.</p> + +<p>Salt Lake being at that time a city of twenty thousand souls, and this +being prior to the opening of the mines, it was probably in the hey-day of +its beauty, and could boast of but one saloon, whereas they are now very +numerous. Its broad, regular avenues were shaded with trees of such +immense growth as are known only in our western lands, the coolness and +shade of whose leafy, spreading branches invitingly appeal to the +passer-by. Streams of limpid, crystal water, born in the pure mountain +snows, gurgle down each street, and, in their beautiful borders of +nature's green enamel, impart an almost marvelous beauty to the city.</p> + +<p>The twenty-third of July being the twenty-third anniversary of the +founding of the "City of the Saints," I had the pleasure of going to their +Temple and listening to the earnest oratory of their representative men, +and among them the "Prophet" himself.<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141" /> George Francis Train being also a +visitor in the city, gave a characteristic oration, in which he rehearsed +the pilgrimage of this people, their persecution, privations and pains +before reaching their haven, which seems, in its rare beauty, an almost +magical city, rising up in the wilderness as a lovely refuge, for, after +all, what magic is so potent as industry and perseverance, and how much of +both of these elements must have been brought to bear in the +accomplishment of so much in the short space of twenty-three years.</p> + +<p>The Honorable George Cocannon, the able editor of their daily paper, +representative in Congress, and one of their distinguished elders, gave me +a telling editorial, which, from its influential source, benefited me very +greatly, and could not fail to facilitate my sales.</p> + +<p>We called at the residence of Brigham Young, and he kindly gave us a half +hour of his valuable time, a favor much appreciated, and one which threw +great additional light upon their institutions.</p> + +<p>We visited their public schools, found the <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142" />system of graded departments, +high schools, etc., very similar to our own, and all in an equally +flourishing condition. My companion was peculiarly attracted by the +uncommon beauty of the pupils, never having seen in an equal number of +children so much personal fascination. I also visited the public market, +where a man in one of the stalls bought a book, remarking at the same time +that he supposed he ought to buy four, as he had that number of wives. A +bystander asked if this did not sound very strangely in the ears of one so +unaccustomed to a plurality of wives. I quickly responded that the men of +Utah must have large hearts to be capable of taking in four wives, or even +more, when our men had scarce courage to marry one. My reply evidently +touched some responsive chord, for all at once bought books. Their system +of co-operative trade ofttimes leaves them destitute of ready cash, but +all who had money gave me the most liberal patronage.</p> + +<p>There is a peculiar feature of Salt Lake society which is truly worthy of +note, and that is the fact that even in social gatherings they open and +close with prayer.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143" />Thus, with the highest respect and gratitude for its citizens, I left +Salt Lake and returned to Ogden, where I hoped for a new supply of books.</p> + +<p>Finding neither letters nor books, and board being four dollars per day, I +began to feel symptoms of the "blues." Going to the landlord and stating +the case, he bade me have no fear, for no more would be demanded of me +than I was able to pay; and cheered by this unexpected kindness, I +resolved to patiently wait the issue of events. The next day being +election, it was strange to witness the procession of women voters wending +their way to the polls; but here, as in Salt Lake, the utmost order and +quiet prevailed, nor was bolt or bar necessary for protection at night, +when we were permitted to rest in sweet security from harm.</p> + +<p>On going to the express office we were approached by a gentleman, who, +pointing to me, handed Hattie an envelope with the simple words, "If you +please;" few indeed, but fraught with mystery to us, our only solution +being that the envelope contained election tickets, and we were supposed +voters.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144" />With a sense of relief we found the books at the express office, and we +took that opportunity to open the mysterious package, in which we found +five dollars. Describing the gentleman to the express agent, he said he +was a clerk in an eating house near by, a bachelor, and very liberal. +Certainly this act spoke nobly for the fraternity of bachelors, who are +supposed to go about armed with a coat of mail, especially invulnerable in +the region of the heart, while this unsolicited kindness unquestionably +indicated a large degree of tenderness of nature.</p> + +<p>We sent him a note of acknowledgment, which we felt to be but a feeble +expression of our gratitude, and, as "all seemed to work together for our +good," we left Utah with a benediction in our hearts and a silent but no +less earnest prayer on our lips, and turned toward the setting sun.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII" /><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145" />CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The quality of mercy is not strained;<br /></span> +<span>It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven<br /></span> +<span>Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed,<br /></span> +<span>It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:<br /></span> +<span>'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes<br /></span> +<span>The throned monarch better than his crown."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Leaving Ogden we followed the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, making +no stops until we reached Elko, Nevada. It was the county seat of Elko +county, and, although at that time a place of comparatively small size and +population, it had an air of business activity known only to localities +alive with the excitement of railroad traffic. The mammoth depot and +freight-house gave it an air of importance; the pine trade, then so +active, and the busy stage-line to the neighboring, warm, mineral springs +and mines of purest silver, imparted to it an additional business +activity.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146" />We were delightfully entertained by Mr. Treet, the gentlemanly proprietor +of the Railroad House, and were presented by him with a letter of +introduction to Mrs. Van Every, of Sacramento. Thus did so many kind hands +smooth down the inequalities incident to a life of travel, and pleasantly +pave the way to so many warm friendships.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Sacramento on August 5th, a day of intense, almost stifling +heat, we went at once to Mrs. Van Every, who kept the most elegant +boarding house in the city, whose spacious apartments seemed filled with +the breath of Paradise, which added a grateful welcome to our travel-tired +bodies. Mrs. Van Every's mien of pure and native dignity, her voice of +silvery sweetness, gave the charm of a welcome and ease to her greeting; +and without delay we presented our letter, which was the "open sesame" to +her heart.</p> + +<p>We were at once assigned to a nice, clean and even luxurious apartment, +and after some real rest and quiet we sauntered out, as usual seeking the +most prominent editors, and found two, both of whom did us full justice in +the <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147" />way of editorial notices of our presence and mission.</p> + +<p>One day, almost at the close of a two weeks' canvassing tour, we entered +the office of the Honorable N. Green Curtis, who, at the first glance, +declined to give us his patronage, but after a short conversation, in +which he learned that I was a native of Baltimore,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"A moment o'er his face<br /></span> +<span>The tablet of unutterable thought was traced,<br /></span> +<span>And then, it faded as it came,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>he instantly arose, and, as if impelled by some new and life-giving +impulse, he took from my hand a book, and left in its stead a five dollar +bill, saying in hurried words, I never refused to assist a Southerner.</p> + +<p>Thus the memories of our native land are balmy with recollections of +childhood, and cling to us through a lifetime of sorrow and change. The +humblest Scottish shepherd boy can never forget that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"'Twas yonder on the Grampian hills<br /></span> +<span>His father fed his flock."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Judge Curtis afterward revealed the fact <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148" />that he was a native of South +Carolina, and the mere mention of the sunny land of his boyhood gave to +each latent sympathy new life and power. It was also probable that he was +not at first aware of my affliction, for he added the remark that he could +not refuse a favor to a blind person. When we were leaving his office he +arose and inquired if I needed aid in any other way; stated that he was a +widower and without other ties, hence had no claims upon his purse, and +hoped I would feel as free to ask as he was to give.</p> + +<p>I replied that I was doing too well in my legitimate business to require +direct pecuniary aid, and unless he could assist me in securing railroad +passes I had no requests to make.</p> + +<p>How kindly he did this was manifest from the fact that I afterward +received from Ex-Governor Stanford, who was President of the Central +Pacific Road, a yearly pass, and with this introduction the favor was +readily extended by all the railroads on the coast.</p> + +<p>A few evenings before I left Sacramento Mrs. Van Every, from her ever +overflowing <a name="Page_149" id="Page_149" />goodness, improvised an entertainment for my pleasure and +benefit. It became necessary to initiate Hattie into the secret, but I +remained in blissful ignorance until one evening I received a not unusual +summons to go down to the drawing rooms, when I found myself the centre of +a charmed circle of the elite of Sacramento, the easy flow of whose +conversation was laden with love and sympathy for me, and then was +revealed the fact that each invited guest had received a card, upon which +Mrs. Van Every had traced the words "for the benefit of the blind lady."</p> + +<p>"Music with its golden tongue was there," and the halls resounded with +melody, which, with love's sacred inspiration, is sweet as Apollo's lute.</p> + +<p>Among the gathered guests was Mr. Charles Cummings and lady, Mr. Cummings +being one of the officers of the Central Pacific Railroad, of whom I shall +speak hereafter. A most sumptuous supper was served, each choice viand +being the result of Mrs. Van Every's culinary lore, which the most +epicurean taste could not but relish.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150" />The light-winged hours brought all unconsciously the time for parting, +and the beauty and chivalry of Sacramento, left laden with books and +baskets which had been spirited from my own room and tastefully disposed +in the parlors; and each good night was blended with a kind wish and +gentle benediction.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Every, and her sister, Mrs. Fulger, who lived with her, were +ladies of the noblest representative type of the Society of Friends, of +which my life already held such blessed memories. In general society, with +deferential etiquette, they adopted the usual form of speech, but in the +privacy of the home circle they used the "plain language" of their own +organization, hence it became to me doubly musical in its sacred +character.</p> + +<p>Before starting again upon our travels, we made Sacramento our home, to +which we could turn for rest in our wanderings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII" /><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151" />CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"And this our life—exempt from public haunt,<br /></span> +<span>Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,<br /></span> +<span>Sermons in stones, and good in everything."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We next visited San Jose, one of the most romantically, beautiful towns in +California, which would require the subtle gift of genius, a touch of +poetic fire, and, above all, the fullness and richness of descriptive +power, to enable me to give any adequate conception of its charms. It was +almost a fairy realm, with its fields of waving grain, then golden with +the glow of the harvest season; trees laden with fruitage, and vineyards +drooping with their ripe, purple clusters.</p> + +<p>One of the prominent attractions of the place was the residence of General +Negley, nestling in the centre of extended grounds, combining the richly, +blending beauties of nature and art. Groves and streams, rustic bridges +and flowing fountains, shrubby laby<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152" />rinths and flowery dells, were grouped +in happiest harmony. Received by the General with the genial hospitality +which should characterize the presiding spirit of such an Eden, dispensing +itself in so many pleasant ways, we were led from house to garden, and +from vineyard to wine press, where all were temptingly lured to taste the +freshly pressed grape juice.</p> + +<p>It was a novel sight to those accustomed only to white or negro labor, to +see the efficient corps of Chinese employees who had proven themselves +such valuable servants. It is with some degree of trepidation that I +follow a desire which impels me to describe a bunch of grapes I saw in +this vineyard. I must beg my readers to free me from any taint of the +spirit of the renowned Baron Munchausen, whose intensely magnifying vision +threw its impress upon all objects, but, without the faintest degree of +exaggeration, I can say, that while I am no Lilliputian in size, I stood, +holding with great difficulty, the weight of a single bunch of grapes in +my extended hand, while the other end of it rested <a name="Page_153" id="Page_153" />upon the ground, nor +would I dare to tell this grape story unless many of my readers were +familiar with the mammoth fruits of California.</p> + +<p>After this delightful visit we took the horse car to Santa Clara, and +certainly the world cannot boast of a public route so redolent with beauty +as this. Both sides of the road are shaded with trees of almost a +century's growth; for this "Alameda" was planted by the Jesuit Fathers in +1799. These left the vines and olives of their native Spain, and planted +upon the soil of their new home this grove, which was, doubtless, intended +as a sacred haunt, never dreaming that its sanctity would be invaded by +the sacrilegious sounds of modern civilization, and, above all, by the +rumble of the horse car.</p> + +<p>All along this beauteous line of shade, musical with the melody of birds, +are elegant villas, evidently the abodes of wealth and fashion.</p> + +<p>Back again to Sacramento, we met Mr. Charles Cummings, who gave us a +general pass over the various stage routes of that por<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154" />tion of the State, +and we at once went to Stockton by rail, where we took the stage for the +celebrated Calevaros trees. So stupendous appeared every tree upon the +route, that a score of times we fancied ourselves nearing the world famed +giants, but how did these monsters dwindle into comparative insignificance +when we found the real grove.</p> + +<p>After this tedious, tiresome stage ride, it was indeed a luxury to find +ourselves safely ensconced in the large, elegant hotel in the midst of the +Calevaros, the season being quite advanced, and in consequence the hotel +less crowded. This being one of the few places in the State in which we +found cool water, we luxuriated in draught after draught of this crystal, +ice-cold beverage, and no fabled fountain of rejuvenating power could have +been more exhilarating.</p> + +<p>Next morning, in eager anxiety, we took an early look at the great trees, +all of which are named for some person of distinction. We stood first +beside General Grant, and, as Hattie laid her hand upon the side of the +hero, she bade me start around him and see what a <a name="Page_155" id="Page_155" />distance it would be to +find her again. When I was upon the opposite side I felt quite isolated +and lonely, and when I regained her companionship it seemed to have been +after a long separation. We next took a reverent look at the "Mother of +the Forest," which is eighty-seven feet in circumference and four hundred +feet in height, and we must confess that these proportions made her look +quite like an Amazon. The "Father of the Forest" was quite prostrate, his +huge bulk, as he lay upon the ground, seeming that of a fallen hero. Thus +in the vegetable as in the animal world, the female has the greater power +of endurance. Man, in spite of his conceded superiority of physical +strength and supposed mental supremacy, bows before the tornado of life, +while woman ofttimes stands erect and fearless amid the storms and winds +of years.</p> + +<p>The heart of the Father had been bored out, and the hollow converted into +a drive, admitting a horse and rider for eighty-seven feet, and allowing +them room to turn and go back. I had the pleasure of taking this novel +ride, allowing my horse to be led.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156" />Many of my readers have seen, and most of them have heard of the novel +dancing-hall in the heart of one of these denizens of the forest, which +admits four quadrilles upon its floors, and can imagine the romance of +"tripping the light fantastic toe" amid such surroundings. Another tree +had been sawed into tablets, upon which each visitor left a name or +record. The day previous to our visit, a little boy of eight years old had +visited the grove. When his bright eyes rested for a time upon the tablet, +his little fingers grasped a piece of chalk, and he readily wrote: "And +God said, let there be a Big Tree, and there was a Big Tree."</p> + +<p>We looked admiringly upon the "Twin Trees" named for Ingomar and +Parthenia, and perhaps like these lovers of old, embodied "two hearts that +beat as one." During our three days visit we left no tree unexamined, each +one being fraught with individuality, and each in living language +addressing our hearts in its own characteristic sentiment.</p> + +<p>These veterans varied in age from twelve hundred to twenty-five thousand +years, and <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157" />for their accumulated cycles commanded veneration.</p> + +<p>After fully satisfying our love of sight seeing, and taking time to fully +contemplate the beauty and sublimity of the wonders, we returned by way of +Sonora and Columbia to our temporary home in Sacramento, not only +satisfied but highly gratified by our tour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX" /><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158" />CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Dared I but say a prophecy,<br /></span> +<span>As sang the holy men of old,<br /></span> +<span>Of rock-built cities yet to be<br /></span> +<span>Along these shining shores of gold,<br /></span> +<span>Crowding athirst into the sea;<br /></span> +<span>What wondrous marvels might be told!<br /></span> +<span>Enough to know that empire here<br /></span> +<span>Shall burn her loftiest, brightest star;<br /></span> +<span>Here art and eloquence shall reign<br /></span> +<span>As o'er the wolf-reared realm of old;<br /></span> +<span>Here learned and famous from afar,<br /></span> +<span>To pay their noble court, shall come,<br /></span> +<span>And shall not seek or see in vain,<br /></span> +<span>But look on all with wonder dumb."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Once more away from Sacramento we visited Marysville, which is a beautiful +brick town, laid out with great regularity and width of street, each house +nestling in flower-garden and shade, and is a place of extensive +manufactures and trade. We went from there to Colusa, where I reaped a +rich harvest of gain. Indeed I never found a people more lavish in the +expenditure of money, seeming to value it only for the good it dispensed.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159" />Leaving Colusa, elated with the success we had met, we journeyed to +Marysville in a very happy state of mind that was doomed to undergo a +severe reverse on our arrival. When we started there were three hundred +dollars in "hard money" in my trunk, and when we arrived in Marysville my +heart sank within me and I could feel the blood leave the surface and my +face grow deadly cold when I learned that my trunk, which we had seen +stowed in the "boot" of the stage on starting, was not there on our +arrival. After a few moments, in which I considered what should be done, I +went to the stage agent, who telegraphed back to Colusa, and, after an +hour of deep and painful suspense, the answer came back that the trunk was +safe. By some singular omission the straps of the boot had not all been +buckled and my trunk had fallen out. It was picked up by some honest +farmer, who, believing that it belonged to a passenger in the stage, had +sent it to the office. The next morning it came to me, and I was amply +compensated for the delay in the kindness of the agent, who not only +expressed great regret <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160" />for the mishap, but voluntarily defrayed all extra +expense incurred.</p> + +<p>We next visited Chico, at that time the terminus of the Central Pacific +Railway, where I hoped to meet Elder Hobart, the friend I had so loved in +my childhood. After some search I found his daughter, from whom I was +pained to learn that he had closed his earthly pilgrimage but a short time +before. My pain was not for him who rested from such faithful labors, but +for those bereft. The daughter, although married, forgot not the friend of +early days; and I accepted with alacrity her invitation to visit her +house, where we had a season fraught with pleasant reminiscence.</p> + +<p>We took the stage here for Red Bluff, the rain pouring in torrents and the +night dark as Erebus, it being the beginning of the regular rainy season +of this country. During the night we reached the Sacramento River, which +we could almost have imagined to be the Styx, with the sombre Charon for a +ferry-man, for we soon learned that we were obliged to cross upon a flat +boat. The wind was blowing in so fierce a gale that the boatmen <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161" />could not +near the shore, and called upon the passengers for assistance. All the +gentlemen responded but one passenger, who, although a man, was not +gentle, settled himself upon the back seat and declared he would not pay +his passage and work it too. All attempts of the ladies to shame him into +activity were useless. He could not be induced to leave his snuggery, and +even as we talked he was lustily snoring. So do some selfish natures +smoothly slip through the emergencies of life, leaving to others the +responsibilities and exertion; and this man I was afterwards told was a +professional humorist, actually a humorous writer for the press, and I +must accept this as one of his jokes.</p> + +<p>After three weary hours we drifted to the shore, and next day went to Red +Bluff, a wild, uncanny place, but abounding in wealth and replete with +generous hearts, of whose bounty I was a rich recipient.</p> + +<p>Thence we went to Shasta, where Mr. Hudson, a cousin of Hattie, had rooms +in readiness for us at the American Hotel. The meeting of the cousins, +after a separation of nineteen <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162" />years, was a joyous one, their animated +conversation keeping time with the quick, impetuous throbbing of their +hearts. The pleasure of our day there was also much enhanced by the +sprightly—even brilliant conversation of the hotel proprietress, Mrs. +Green, whose three-score years and ten were worn as gracefully as many a +maiden's sweet sixteen.</p> + +<p>As a protracted rain seemed inevitable, and all business possibilities +were precluded, we assented to Mr. Hudson's proposition to visit his +bachelor quarters in the country, which we found to be one of the most +romantic, sylvan shades imaginable, with its little three roomed-cot +embowered in vines and running roses, then in full bloom, and after the +storm, radiant in color, freighted with perfume and sparkling with liquid +gems. Alone he had occupied this secluded spot for nineteen years, and in +his isolation—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Had made him friends of mountains;<br /></span> +<span>With the stars and the quick spirits of the Universe,<br /></span> +<span>He held his dialogues,<br /></span> +<span>And they did teach to him<br /></span> +<span>The magic of their mysteries."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He was as familiar as a hunter, with every <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163" />trail in the vicinity, and he +took us through every romantic, winding path, one of which led us to an +elevation commanding a view of Mount Shasta, the highest peak of the Coast +Range.</p> + +<p>Reluctantly we left this "pleasure dome," which, although less stately +than that "in Xanadu of Kubla Kahn," held all the fairy charms of a bright +Eutopia; and with the vain regrets which all must feel who leave some +fancy realm for the cold regions of reality, we took the stage route for +Weaversville, forty miles farther up the mountain heights, whose crests +were now white with snow, and the road in many places running within six +inches of the ragged chasms, thousands of feet in depth.</p> + +<p>Our stage was drawn by four horses, and, at one time, the snow accumulated +around the foot of one of the leaders until it formed a huge ball, and +with this impediment he was partially precipitated over the edge of a +precipice. This noble animal exhibited more presence of mind than would +have characterized many human beings under similar cir<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164" />cumstances, and, +with great judgment, gradually extricated the foot from its snowy burden, +and resumed his journey, but not before the face of every passenger was +blanched with terror.</p> + +<p>After a few days at Weaversville, we returned to Sacramento, feeling that +we had enjoyed a pleasant and profitable trip.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX" /><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165" />CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays,<br /></span> +<span>And confident to-morrows."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We made a trip to San Francisco at a time when life seemed a continued +carnival season, for there winter is the most delightful portion of the +year. We rented apartments in a delightful New England family, named +Collins. This, at that time, was the most comfortable way of living, for +in no part of the United States did restaurants furnish such good and +liberal fare at such reasonable rates. The characteristic cheerfulness of +California became intensified in San Francisco, where every face looked +radiant and happy as if all who entered the Golden Gate found a City of +the Sun.</p> + +<p>We had so often asked the reason of this, and were as often told that "it +was all owing to the climate." We finally concluded that <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166" />the climate +carried an unusual weight of responsibility; indeed, according to Joaquin +Miller, among "the first families of the Sierras," every unusual +phenomenon of nature, whether it came in the form of a fascinating widow, +a spooney man, a premature birth, or a fish with gold in its stomach, was +all owing to "this glorious climate of Californy."</p> + +<p>Although San Francisco is pervaded by the business activity of a great +commercial metropolis, it is not possessed of the spirit of excessive +drudgery in the hot pursuit of the "almighty dollar" which prevails in +many other places. Every Saturday afternoon there is a lull in the labor +routine, business being entirely suspended, and the fashionable +promenades, Montgomery and Kearney Streets, are thronged with pleasure +seekers; husbands and wives, lovers and sweethearts, happy children, gay +colors and brilliant equipages.</p> + +<p>Among the beautiful resorts is that of the Woodward Gardens, with +zoological and floral departments, parks, lakes, dancing halls and skating +rink. A friend kindly accompanied us to the Cliff House, a delightful +resort upon <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167" />the beach, about six miles from the city, and too well known +to require description.</p> + +<p>We remained in San Francisco about three months and a half, became every +day more fascinated with its charms, and would fain have rested longer +under the spell, but duty called us to many places on the coast, among +them the floral Oakland, a perfect bijou garden and grove, and, like +Alemeda, a beautiful, suburban home for the merchant princes of San +Francisco.</p> + +<p>We visited San Rafael and Santa Cruz, the Newport of California. At the +former place there was an incident, which, although of a personal nature, +we mention as illustrative of the magnanimous character of the +Californian, prone to err, but ever ready to confess a wrong. We entered +the office of the County Clerk and offered him a book. Without removing +his feet from the counter, upon which they were elevated at an angle of +forty-five degrees, he threw down a dollar and bade us "go along."</p> + +<p>We "stood not upon the order of our going," but went, taking care to leave +the dollar. A bystander said to me: "Take it! he is rich!"<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168" /> I quietly +assured him that I never accepted money without rendering an honest +equivalent, and as I left I heard the ejaculation: "She's plucky, isn't +she." On entering a livery stable on the opposite side of the street, a +gentleman took the proffered book and opened to a page containing the name +of Aunt Nancy Lee. With an exclamation of surprise he said: "I have an +aunt of that name." This led to further conversation and a better +acquaintance, the person really proving to be his aunt. While we were +talking, the four gentlemen from the office of the County Clerk came in, +and I being introduced in a new light they each bought a book, and the +clerk made an ample apology for his abruptness, which I readily accepted +as an "amende honorable."</p> + +<p>We went to Santa Barbara by steamer and greatly enjoyed the sail. Finding +no pier upon our arrival, we had to descend an almost perpendicular ladder +to a small boat. In this apparently perilous process, the boatmen were +actively assisted by Captain Johnson, whose mellow toned voice softened +and cheered the transit. In the descent, a woman dropped <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169" />her baby into +the water, and, although it was quickly rescued by the seamen, her +continued screams even after its safe delivery quite intimidated me, but +with the usual sure-footedness of the blind, I went down with so much ease +that I was greatly complimented by the astonished captain. Our skiff-ride +to shore was a pleasant episode, and the romance was much heightened by +the floating sea plants around us, which could be easily touched with our +hands. There were no good hotels in Santa Barbara, but we were comfortably +accommodated in a private family. The climate is finer there than in any +locality in the State, the thermometer most of the time standing at +seventy degrees, hence it is so greatly sought by consumptives.</p> + +<p>It was to me a delightful pastime to spend an occasional hour with the +fishermen on the coast, who are so happy to impart any information +regarding their own calling, and from whom I learned many a valuable +lesson.</p> + +<p>From Santa Barbara we went down the coast to a little railroad landing and +took the train bound inland; after leaving the beach <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170" />the road passes +through dense, fragrant orange-groves and rich, fruitful vineyards. A ride +of twenty-five miles brought us to Los Angeles, a town with the same +beautiful surroundings. It was, at that time, a quaint, old, dilapidated +Spanish place, with an air of shabby gentility, but the subsequent tide of +immigration and trade has doubtless transformed it. We returned to the +coast and took the steamer to San Diego, which, with its arid, sandy +waste, has little to recommend it to the visitor, save its truly, palatial +hotel, which must have been built in anticipation of the many projected +railways diverging from this point.</p> + +<p>While there, our hearts were rejoiced by a meeting with Dr. Baird and his +wife, a pleasure known only to those who, exiled from home, see a "dear +familiar face."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI" /><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171" />CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"All that's bright must fade,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The brightest, still the fleetest;<br /></span> +<span>All that's sweet was made,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But to be lost, when sweetest."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We returned to Sacramento with minds refreshed and spirits brightened by +the delightful scenes through which we had passed during our coast trip. +My life seemed to have received new radiance, and all things wore the +bright "couleur de rose," when one day there seemed something in Hattie's +touching tone which, like the "shadow of coming" events, sent through my +heart a strange, premonitory thrill of sadness. She paused as if for +prayerful preparation, ere she said: "Mary, I have something <i>sad</i>, +something <i>terrible</i> to tell you, and I wish to prepare you to bear it +with patience, even as I for five months have borne the burden with silent +submission." She then carefully, calmly, quietly revealed to me the <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172" />fact +that there was feeding upon her dear life one of those horrible vampires +of human disease—a cancer, which was slowly but surely drawing her nearer +the close. Suddenly all brightness and beauty died out for me, while cloud +and gloom gathered around me, deep, dark and impenetrable; for so had +Hattie entwined herself about my heart, that to my darkened days there +seemed for me no light, no life without her. Surely—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Sorrows come not single spies,<br /></span> +<span>But in battalions,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And while I felt myself overwhelmed by this one deep grief in quick +succession came another. One morning while at our breakfast, and without +the slightest preparation, tidings was brought to me that Chicago was +destroyed by fire.</p> + +<p>My husband had just completed our new home, a comfortable resting place, +with lovely garden and pleasant surroundings, and thither I had hoped ere +long to go and rest from my labors. Daily, as the diagrams of the fire +reached us, we traced upon them the loved site of our home, as in the +burnt district.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173" />All telegraphic and mail communication being cut off, we could receive no +direct news, and in the intensity and terror of suspense pictured our home +desolated, and friends perished in the horrible holocaust.</p> + +<p>Feeling that a resumption of our life of labor was inevitable, we parted +with the dear Sacramento friends, who had so kindly clung to us for +fourteen months, with many a sigh and tear, and went to all the towns of +importance between that place and Reno, Nevada, at which point we took the +stage for Virginia City, and reached it after two weeks of inexpressible +agony, during which time food had scarce passed our lips or sleep visited +our eyes. On our arrival we were overjoyed to find awaiting us seven +letters from home. Oh the eternity that elapsed before the seals could be +tremulously broken! and the halcyon sweetness of relief of the happy +tidings of friends in safety and health. Although the fire-fiend had swept +his destructive wings over the property within a hundred yards of our +home, through a sudden shifting of the wind its course had been changed, +thus saving us <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174" />from what would have seemed to me ruin. Gratefully we +resumed our business and remained for seven weeks in Virginia City and +vicinity, where we had most abundant success, for in spite of rock and +ledge, sand and tornado, the country abounds in full purses and warm +hearts.</p> + +<p>At Carson City we found an United States Mint, where a gentleman +designated Saturday afternoon, when the machinery was stopped, as a proper +time to give us the benefit of a full examination, allowing me to touch +everything, and giving a satisfactory explanation of the "modus operandi" +of money making.</p> + +<p>We went to Battle Mountain, where we took the stage for Austin, ninety +miles distant. We had nine passengers and twelve hundred weight of bullion +in the bottom of the stage, together with innumerable satchels, umbrellas +and brown-paper parcels. In this cramped position we traveled from one +o'clock in the afternoon until nine o'clock the next morning, an +infliction that was only rendered endurable by having a relay of horses +every fifteen miles, <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175" />and being permitted to rest upon terra firma during +the changes.</p> + +<p>At Austin we unexpectedly met in the family of the hotel proprietor +friends of Hattie, from Illinois. The kind host proved to me a "Good +Samaritan," for finding myself unable to walk he carried me in his arms to +the hotel, and safely entrusted me to the ministering care of his kind +family.</p> + +<p>Desiring to cross over the country to Eureka, and the stage not venturing +to the eminence upon which stood our hotel, we were obliged to go to the +express office to take passage, where we were shocked at the sight of +three maudlin men in an advanced stage of inebriety, throwing showers of +silver money upon the ground, and ostentatiously allowing the crowd to +gather it up; while we were still more shocked to find that they were to +be inside passengers, and our only companions.</p> + +<p>With these three men and their "fade mecum," "the whiskey bottle," we +started on our journey that bleak, winter morning. Two of them soon became +so beastly drunk that their bottle fell out of the stage door and was +<a name="Page_176" id="Page_176" />lost beyond recovery. Their companion remained for a time sufficiently +sober to prevent them from falling upon us in their constant oscillations, +but, by the time they had reached the convalescent stage, he became so +nauseated that it was necessary to hold his head out of the window for +relief, and, finally yielding to the soporific influence of his drams, he +laid himself at full length upon our feet.</p> + +<p>Meantime a most gentlemanly person, of whose presence we were at first +ignorant, would occasionally descend from the stage top, look at us +compassionately, ask if anything was wanted, and take leave. At one of his +calls I asked him if we were not near our dining place, when, much to our +discomfort, he informed us of the impossibility of finding anything to eat +on the road. We had provided no lunch, and, having partaken of a meagre +and untimely breakfast, were fast becoming exhausted. He politely offered +to share with us his store of provisions, and at the next stopping place +escorted us to the rude log cabin with the air of a Knight Errant, took +off our rubbers, placed them be<a name="Page_177" id="Page_177" />fore the fire, and after other +indescribable and delicate attentions opened his basket and spread before +us a lunch of truly, royal viands, which, in spite of our rude +surroundings, was eaten with unrivalled relish.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Eureka, we stopped at the Parker House, in which Mr. Hinckley, +the proprietor, made every exertion to secure our comfort. It had rained +for a week, and the streets were in such a horrible condition that we were +filled with forebodings of failure. Quite unexpectedly we again +encountered our cavalier, who insisted upon lifting us over the deep mud +of the crossings, placing us entirely at ease by the assurance that it was +the custom of the country, after which he offered his assistance in the +sale of books, and, going into a faro bank, he sold twelve copies at a +dollar and a half apiece.</p> + +<p>We described this gallant gentleman to Mr. Hinckley, who informed us that +he was Pete Fryer, the most noted gambler of the Pacific coast, whose +unrivalled success and universal popularity were in a great degree owing +to his sobriety, his elegant presence and polished manner.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178" />Our next move was to Gold Point, where we spent a day. We met there a +Virginia physician with whom we had a long and interesting conversation. +We were boarders at the same hotel, and at the tea table he came over to +Hattie, and placing in her hand a ten dollar gold piece, said it was for +the blind lady, and he wished her to buy with it a keepsake. We went to +Palisades in a mud-wagon, the only means of transportation at our +disposal, and we found it highly appropriate, the mud being over the hubs +of the wheels.</p> + +<p>In this primitive style we reached our destination upon Christmas Eve, +weary and homesick; yet our Christmas dinner in this insignificant town +was choice and <i>recherche</i>, the quality and variety of the wines being +worthy of the cellar of a connoisseur. Our business success here was +greater than in many larger towns.</p> + +<p>We visited the places en route to Ogden, and on our arrival there found +snow almost two feet deep, and hundreds anxiously waiting for the arrival +of the Union Pacific train, which had not been in for two weeks. The +<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179" />hotels were so intensely crowded that we were forced to wade through snow +over our knees for half a day to find a comfortable place to stay, and +were very thankful for a third rate boarding house.</p> + +<p>The next day, when almost in despair, we heard in the distance the welcome +sound of a locomotive whistle. The gentlemen rushed to the depot and soon +bore us the pleasant tidings that the train would leave in two hours and a +half. We hurriedly gathered together our baggage and sufficient supplies +for a week, arriving at the train just in time to secure a section in the +sleeping-car. Hoping for no more delay, we started, but ere long found +ourselves landed in a snow bank, with five trains ahead of us, in the same +predicament. A three-days stand-still of this kind, with its trying +tedium, can be imagined only by those who have been similarly situated, +and its tedium is equaled by nothing but an Ohio River sand bar +imprisonment on a stern wheel steamer.</p> + +<p>My sensibilities had quite a reawakening jog from an incidental abrasure, +received by <a name="Page_180" id="Page_180" />coming in contact with one of the acute angles in the person +of Miss Susan B. Anthony, who honored us with her distinguished presence. +She was in company with the family of the Honorable Mr. Sargent, United +States Senator from California. This gentleman evinced great native +delicacy in his quiet, unobtrusive attentions. Miss Susan had been very +impatient at the long delay, and constantly berated the male sex and their +inadequacy to great emergencies, and was offered by the complimented +parties the privilege of engineering the train, an honor she respectfully +declined. One day I was saluted by a voice, not sweetly feminine in tone, +while an impetuous hand pitched, at me one of my own books. The voice +asked:</p> + +<p>"Were you ever in Michigan? Are you married? I knew a blind woman there +who had five children, and they were all deaf and dumb! <i>I think</i> Congress +ought to pass a law to prevent these people from marrying and bringing +such <i>creatures</i> into the world!"</p> + +<p>These burning words came with the fierce force of the tornado and the +horrible heat of the simoon. So abruptly had she taken her <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181" />leave, that +she was beyond hearing before I could sufficiently recover to reply. Words +I would have spoken burned upon my lips, and emotions welled up from the +depths of an affection as deep, true and unfathomable as ever struggled in +such a heart as that of Susan B. Anthony.</p> + +<p>Long did I dwell upon the cruel words, wondering if they could have +emanated from a woman who advocated the inviolable rights and bewailed the +deep wrongs of her own sex, or if Congress had the power to exclude the +blind from loving and following the holiest impulses of their natures, +like other human beings!</p> + +<p>After our extrication we sped on to Sherman, the highest of the mountain +towns, and the Railroad Company treated us to a dinner, which, although +poor, was much relished, after our protracted dieting. After leaving +Laramie we had another delay of two days' length, after which we went via +Cheyenne to Omaha, rejoicing, and after eleven days of weary travel felt +ourselves really homeward bound.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII" /><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182" />CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark,<br /></span> +<span>Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Near home;<br /></span> +<span>'Tis sweet to know there is an eye<br /></span> +<span>Will mark our coming, and look brighter<br /></span> +<span class="i6">When we come."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We reached home in mid-winter, and found a scene of indescribable +desolation, the fire having devastated so many familiar spots in the +city's approach; depots in ashes and entire streets a wide waste. Finding +no one to meet us, with the longed-for, loving welcome, we were tortured +with fear, and went at once to Mr. Arms' place of business, where we +learned that he was at home and sick. Thither we hurriedly wended our way, +and, although we found the invalid unable to leave his bed, we thought it +sweet to find ourselves in this our <i>first</i> home, which, having been +reared in my absence, seemed like a magic castle bridging over the sad +separation.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183" />My husband soon convalesced and we began to lay plans for furnishing our +new abode. I still suffered from a cold upon my lungs contracted from the +long exposure on the plains, and it fell to the lot of Hattie to assist +Mr. Arms in the selection of our household goods. She had become eyes and +hands for me, and I never so fully realized how the touch of sympathy +could blend <i>two</i> tastes in <i>one</i>, for every article met my entire +approval. I will not dwell upon the joys of our new home; but well has the +poet said—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Each man's chimney is his golden mile stone,<br /></span> +<span>Is the central point from which<br /></span> +<span>He measures every distance<br /></span> +<span>Through the gateway of the world<br /></span> +<span>Around him.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>"We may build more splendid habitations,<br /></span> +<span>Fill our rooms with paintings<br /></span> +<span>And with sculpture;<br /></span> +<span>But we cannot buy with gold<br /></span> +<span>The old association."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In every Paradise since the first Eden the inevitable trail of the serpent +has been over all, and too often it comes in its halcyon hours. +Insidiously and surely came the stealthy trail <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184" />of our serpent in the +declining health of my husband, and the impending danger to the dear life +of Hattie.</p> + +<p>I took her to every physician who made her disease a specialty, going far +and near to consult them, each one of whom would shake their heads in +despair, yet all seeming willing to undertake her case. But to me she was +too precious to be submitted to experimental treatment. Finally the fame +of Dr. Kingsley reached us. He was known as the Great American Cancer +Doctor, and we went at once to his cure, in Rome, New York.</p> + +<p>The same ominous shade came with his examination, and he too failed to +promise a cure. Passing through the wards of his hospitals, with their +agonizing and appalling scenes, the shrieks of pain ringing like +death-knells in our ears, decided us, neither of us being willing she +should submit to a fate so fraught with fearful contingencies.</p> + +<p>We were stopping with a family named Crawford, who were friends of Hattie, +and whose unremitting kindness will be a life-long memory.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185" />We returned to them in deep despair, when we heard of Mr. Golly, a +neighboring farmer, who was performing almost miraculous cures, and we at +once took the stage and went to him.</p> + +<p>A few moments conversation inspired us with confidence in the man, whose +frank face was an index to his character, and whose sympathetic soul +breathed through every intonation of his gentle voice.</p> + +<p>He advised her to remain for treatment, assuring her, that if she was +unable to pay, it would cost her nothing.</p> + +<p>We were willing to remunerate if certain of cure, and, knowing the dread +uncertainty of the case, this noble man revealed in his offer his true +magnanimity. I remained with her two months, when home demands became +imperative, and I longingly left one who, through nine years of <i>close</i> +and <i>dear</i> relationship had become a life link hard to sever.</p> + +<p>With undying gratitude to good Mr. Golly, I left her confided to his +fatherly care, knowing he could not prove recreant to the trust.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII" /><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186" />CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"There was a time when meadow,<br /></span> +<span>Grove and stream,<br /></span> +<span>The earth and every common sight<br /></span> +<span>To me did seem<br /></span> +<span>Appareled in celestial light,<br /></span> +<span>The glory and the freshness of a dream.<br /></span> +<span>It is not now as it has been of yore,<br /></span> +<span>Turn where soe'r I may,<br /></span> +<span>By night or day,<br /></span> +<span>The things that I have seen<br /></span> +<span>I now can see no more."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Upon our return to Chicago I found my husband so ill that he yielded to +the advice of his physician to go to the Mineral Springs of St. Louis, and +there being a heavy drain upon our finances, I felt it necessary to resume +my travels. Disagreeable as was the task, it was tolerable only for its +benefit to loved ones.</p> + +<p>Ida, the young daughter of my favorite brother, had just graduated, her +laurels still green and her heart full of girlish enthusiasm. With the +sanction of her parents she kindly consented to accompany me. Kindred ties +<a name="Page_187" id="Page_187" />are deep and strong, and her society was like a ray of sunshine in my +clouded pathway.</p> + +<p>Mr. Keep, the Manager of the North-western Railway, presented us with a +general pass, and we started for the Lake Superior country, first visiting +many of the beautiful towns of Wisconsin, among which was Peshtigo, then +but partially rebuilt from its recent ravages from fire. In canvassing we +called at the house of Mrs. Armstrong, who kept a book, and asked us to +call in the afternoon for the money.</p> + +<p>During the day her little daughter had become so interested in the "story +of the blind girl," that she insisted upon going out to buy her a dress, +which she presented in person. Little Nellie's gift of simple calico was +as precious to me as if of silken texture and Tyrion dye, and "waxed rich" +with the royalty of sympathy and love.</p> + +<p>We visited Escanaba, a beautiful summer resort upon Lake Michigan, +spending a delightful week in the elegant hotel, which rests in the shaded +seclusion of park and garden, and gaining renewed health and vigor.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188" />We had a short, sweet stay at Marquette, saw the "Isle of Yellow Sands" +with its luring light, the "Pictured Rocks" bearing the tracery of the +Divine Artist, and all the well-known beauties of Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>On our way to Ishpenming we were presented with tickets to the concert of +"Blind Tom," the musical prodigy and whilom slave boy, through whose +God-given talent the former master had amassed quite a fortune.</p> + +<p>We heard his improvised and memorized melodies, and were struck with awe +and wonder.</p> + +<p>After the concert we went to the Commercial Hotel, where I was suddenly +and violently attacked with a congestive chill, in which emergency Mrs. +Newett, the landlady, proved a ministering angel, her thorough knowledge +of the disease and prompt devoted attendance no doubt saving my life.</p> + +<p>We next visited L'Anse, the terminus of the Marquette Railroad, and found +a delightful hotel, bearing the euphonious name of Lake Linden House, +suggestive of the beautiful grounds gracefully sloping to the edge of the +<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189" />lake, whose "wide waste of waters" seemed a "sapphire sea" set with +emerald gems, from one of which verdant spots gleaming in the picturesque +distance rose the symmetrical spire of a cathedral, whose cross stood out +like a beautiful "bas relief" from the violet background; and the solemn +voice of the convent bell told the hour when orisons arose like holy +incense to the skies. A fitting resort for the student, and the recluse +was this secluded spot, where nature opened her fairest page, and beauty +planted her altars on earth, in air and sky, and where "devotion wafts the +mind above."</p> + +<p>We crossed in the steamer to Houghton, beautifully located upon a winding +stream, and we were pleasantly entertained at the Butterfield House.</p> + +<p>We remained some time, lingering among the towns in its vicinity, and +returned home improved in health and finances.</p> + +<p>Before settling down for the winter I resolved to visit a few towns in the +vicinity of Chicago, and among them Sycamore, where there was an +unexpected episode in my hitherto <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190" />eventful career, a touching incident +and "words fitly spoken," which the good book says are as "apples of gold +in pictures of silver."</p> + +<p>My husband having once been engaged in business at Sycamore, I was in +constant expectation of meeting some of his old associates; hence, was not +so much surprised when, upon entering a store, a gentleman stepped down +from his desk, and warmly grasping both of my hands, exclaimed: "I know +you." I quickly and inquiringly responded, you are perhaps a friend of my +husband? Oh no, he replied, I do not know your husband, but I have great +reason to remember you, for you were the cause of my salvation!</p> + +<p>Moved and wondering, I tried in vain to recall the time when I could have +been an humble agent in the hands of the Heavenly Father, even to the +salvation of a human soul.</p> + +<p>Shakspeare has said that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Ofttimes to win us to our harm<br /></span> +<span>The instruments of darkness tell us truths;<br /></span> +<span>Win us with honest trifles, to betray us<br /></span> +<span>In deepest consequence."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And why should not the same "honest trifles" win us to good.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191" />He then explained to me that eight years previous he was in Burlington, +Wisconsin, having wandered far from the fold in which a patient, loving, +Christian mother had faithfully tended her flock, teaching them the wisdom +of divine truth and loving lessons of duty to God and man.</p> + +<p>He had entered a saloon and sat down to a card-table with a congenial +companion, when suddenly lifting his eyes a lady stood beside him offering +him a little book, and something in the expression of that face riveted +his attention and penetrated the depths of his soul, inspiring resolves +<i>new</i> and <i>strange</i>. While years had passed since that time, he had never +forgotten the lineaments which had changed the whole tenor of his life. +Both his companion and himself bought books, threw down their cards, and +from his own assurance he has never since been tempted to indulge in a +game.</p> + +<p>The next winter he made his peace with God and became a consistent and +steadfast member of the Congregational Church.</p> + +<p>The following spring he was married to one <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192" />who was in every way fitted to +minister to his higher impulses and lead him to a holier life, and while +he has ever since been actively engaged in every good "word and work," he +is especially engrossed with Sabbath School duties, in which field he has +planted many a seed, from which has been reaped richest harvests and +fairest fruitage.</p> + +<p>Their cozy, little home, is a fair and faithful mirror, reflecting the +unostentatious, goodness, purity and love which characterizes every act of +their private lives, whose peaceful, even tenor is indicated in the +tasteful apartments, pervaded with purity and touched with the delicate +tracery of taste. Fair flowers grace almost every nook of this truly +Eden-home, and its bright blooming garden is a fitting type of their +lives, blossoming with goodness and fragrant with the incense of holiness.</p> + +<p>It is not strange that these dear people seemed to me like loved +relations; our meeting like a reunion with some pure spirits with whom my +heart had held communion in other days, their voices coming to me like +some sweet strain of unforgotten music.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193" />I left them, feeling grateful that my little book had been the humble +instrument of so much good, and was happy in the thought that it had been +so thoroughly read and discussed in the little Sabbath School, that I had +many warm friends in Sycamore.</p> + +<p>Before I left he pleadingly besought me never to pass by a saloon in my +canvassing tours, for I little knew the good my presence might bring +about. I have faithfully followed his advice, ever buoyed by the hope of +some equally happy result, and never having met with an indignity or +repulse, this class of people ranking among my most generous patrons.</p> + +<p>As from every event in life we gather some golden lesson of wisdom, from +this I learned to—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Think nought a trifle<br /></span> +<span>Though it small appear<br /></span> +<span>Small sands make up the mountain,<br /></span> +<span>Moments make the year,<br /></span> +<span>And trifles life!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV" /><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194" />CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"While, O, my heart! as white sails shiver,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And crowds are passing, and banks stretch wide;<br /></span> +<span>How hard to follow with lips that quiver,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That moving speck on the far-off side!<br /></span> +<span>Farther, farther—I see it—I know it—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My eyes brim over, it melts away,<br /></span> +<span>Only my heart, to my heart shall show it,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As I walk desolate day by day."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>At home for the winter, I was joined by my husband, who had entered into +business, and constant tidings of Hattie's convalescence cheered me. Ida +being obliged to visit home, I was left in entire charge of my house, +daily bewailing the fatal effects of inexperience, when, as ever, a friend +was furnished me in the hour of need. Mrs. Leavitt, my neighbor "over the +way," was a lady of great personal attraction, whose beautiful head was +crowned with the glory of prematurely white hair. She ministered to me in +so many ways. In reading or conversation her melodious <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195" />voice lent a charm +to the most ordinary theme. Nor did she deem it degrading to enter the +domestic realm, and there as everywhere she reigned a queen.</p> + +<p>The flutter of a handkerchief at the window blind was my "signal of +distress," and when my "Ship of State" seemed sinking amid the breakers of +domestic storms, her strong arm ever saved. When, the dread emergency of +dinner demanded more skill than my amateur art supplied, she came to the +rescue, and as she presided in the kitchen, teaching to compound some +savoury sauce or delicate dish, the process was interlarded with some sage +sentiment from Bacon and other profound philosophers; while, like Joe's +practical sermon over the "plum pudding" came her comments "My dear! +<i>knowledge</i> is <i>power</i>," thus deeply impressing me with the potency of her +presence even in the culinary department.</p> + +<p>Hence from this dear friend I received not only the "fullness of +knowledge," but the richness of affection also. She finally drifted away +from me to the sunny, flowery land of Florida, whence sweet memories are +wafted <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196" />to me through her love-laden letters, under whose sentiment there +flows the same deep under-current of thought.</p> + +<p>In the dreary month of January, Hattie came with the snow drifts, bringing +with her presence a bright sun-ray, for she was buoyant with the hope of +health, and I rejoicing that her life could be lengthened, perhaps saved, +hence the winter passed in mapping out plans for the future. But, with the +early spring, the dread disease reappeared with such intensity that I felt +her doom to be irrevocably sealed, while "hope fled and mercy sighed." +Prompted by a hope of enhancing her interest, I accompanied her to +Morrison, Illinois, where she was awaited by two loving sisters, who, +together with their noble husbands, so tenderly cared for her that it in +some degree appeased the sad reluctance of giving her into other hands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Arms' health had now become so seriously impaired that he had +determined to seek the benefit of the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and, after +he left, I secured the services of Miss Josie Tyson as traveling +companion, and <a name="Page_197" id="Page_197" />started for the lead mining regions of Wisconsin, making +Mineral Point my headquarters. This town is the shipping-place for the +ore, and I was surprised to find it with several thousand +inhabitants—abounding in wealth and greatly advanced in culture, while it +became afterward endeared to me by the extreme kindness of its people. My +little jaunts from this place by private conveyance made a pleasant +variety in the monotony of travel, after which we visited Mendota and +South Western Iowa, where we spent a delightful summer.</p> + +<p>We returned to Morrison the day before Thanksgiving, and I lingered two +weeks with Hattie. Surely "blessings brighten as they take their flight," +and with us the sadly, blissful moments flew all too fast, both silently +impressed that it might be our last communion. In my absence her delicate +and refined taste had designed a gold ring which she had made as a parting +gift. As she placed it upon my finger she leaned her head upon my shoulder +and wept bitterly, telling me in tenderest tones her sorrow at leaving one +<a name="Page_198" id="Page_198" />who so much needed her, pleading with me to have patience to bear the +separation. These tears from fountains deep and pure must have been as +potent at the throne of grace as the one so graphically described by +Sterne; even that of the Recording Angel, who, in the bright Empyrean, +dropped a tear upon the word left by the Accusing Spirit "and blotted it +out forever."</p> + +<p>Physicians agreeing that she might live at least a year, I yielded to her +persuasion to go South for the benefit of my own health, and—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"In silence we parted, for neither could speak;<br /></span> +<span>But the trembling lip and the fast fading cheek<br /></span> +<span>To both were betraying what neither could tell;<br /></span> +<span>How deep was the pang of that silent farewell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After a short season devoted to the arrangement of home matters, I started +South via the Chicago and Alton Railroad. At Dwight, Illinois, we stopped +at the McPherson House, where we had a delightful suite of rooms. The +proprietor had attained to the years allotted to man, yet was so +wonderfully preserved that he seemed a stalwart man of fifty. He spent an +evening in our parlor, feasting <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199" />us with the richness of his reminiscence. +He had served in both the regular army and navy, his travels leading him +to lands afar, and his naval service landing him at almost every port in +the world, yet he had never carried a more dangerous weapon than a +penknife, always having been unharmed and unmolested. His creed consisted +of six words, viz.: "Deal mercifully, walk humbly before God." These +"articles of faith," simple as the "new commandment" which Christ gave to +his disciples, I give unto you, and beautiful as the "Golden Rule" of +Confucius, were certainly in my own case carried out both "in the letter +and the spirit;" for he at first peremptorily refused any remuneration for +our elegant accommodations, but, finding me inexorable, very reluctantly +consented to accept half pay.</p> + +<p>The weather grew so cold, and the times so dull, we did not halt again +until we reached St. Louis, where we both had relatives and friends who +helped us to while away the holiday hours. While there we visited the +Institution for the Blind, our pleasure being much enhanced by the rare +music we heard and the <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200" />polite attention of Professor Workman, the +Superintendent.</p> + +<p>The Superintendent of the Iron Mountain Railway presented us with a pass, +jocularly remarking that it was equal to an eighty dollar New Year's gift.</p> + +<p>Mr. C.C. Anderson, of Adams' express, upon the strength of our old +Baltimore acquaintance, gave me letters of introduction, which afterward +proved of infinite value.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV" /><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201" />CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"With the fingers of the blind<br /></span> +<span>We are groping here to find<br /></span> +<span>What the hieroglyphics mean<br /></span> +<span>Of the <i>unseen</i> in the <i>seen</i>.<br /></span> +<span>What the thought which underlies<br /></span> +<span>Nature's masking and disguise,<br /></span> +<span>What it is that hides beneath<br /></span> +<span>Blight and bloom, and birth and death."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We left St. Louis with its noble depot and stupendous bridge, and reaching +Iron Mountain we seemed to have emerged from dense darkness into dazzling +light. Going to the clean, elegant hotel, our faces, covered with St. +Louis soot, were in such grim contrast with our sunny surroundings, that +we had to go through an elaborate course of ablution before we could feel +ourselves presentable. Iron Mountain is a <i>monster</i> mass of iron, one of +the largest and purest of the kind in the world. In 1836 it was bought +<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202" />for the insignificant sum of six hundred dollars, and now its worth is +incalculable.</p> + +<p>Being unwilling to brave mud and small towns, we made no stops until we +reached Little Rock, Arkansas, where, at the untimely hour of three +o'clock in the morning, we went to the Central House, the only hotel which +had survived their recent fires, and which we found so crowded that even +the doors were closed against us.</p> + +<p>Our party of five went out in quest of shelter, the night pervaded by "the +blackness of darkness," and the rain pouring in torrents. One of the +gentlemen was a member of the Legislature, and quite an invalid. Growing +faint from exhaustion, he fell into a mud hole, and was fairly immersed in +its slimy depths. After a long search we finally found a poor refuge and +an execrable bed, but in the morning were favored in securing comfortable +private accommodations.</p> + +<p>While at Little Rock we visited all the State institutions, and among them +that for the blind. After ten days of business success, we went to all the +towns on the Arkan<a name="Page_203" id="Page_203" />sas River, and were charmed with its scenery, for while +the classical meander, it winds in graceful beauty through forests which, +although too low and ragged to please the eye, clothe a country otherwise +picturesque in character. A strange peculiarity of the Arkansas River is +that of the emerald green color which deeply tinges its crystal clearness, +a fact which I found no one able to explain satisfactorily.</p> + +<p>Fort Smith is nominally at the head of river navigation, but is really +accessible by steamer only during a very small portion of the year, when +the water is at an unusually high stage. It is beautifully located, and +has a main street known as "The Avenue," which is between two and three +hundred feet in width. This avenue is a great business centre, and at +almost all times a scene of animated interest, while at its head stand +prominently a cathedral and a convent.</p> + +<p>The swift passing panorama of the avenue is ofttimes varied by a +picturesque group of Chocktaws or Cherokees, with grotesque costume, this +place being their principal ren<a name="Page_204" id="Page_204" />dezvous. Just at the edge of the town is a +National Cemetery of great natural beauty, with but little of the stiff +regularity which usually characterizes such places.</p> + +<p>We found a great lack of educational advantages throughout the entire +State of Arkansas, there being no public schools, and the private ones few +in number and poor in character; but it has never been my good fortune to +meet kinder hearts than were encountered among the masses.</p> + +<p>At Arkadelphia we had a regular Arkansas deluge, and the first class hotel +of this flourishing town of two thousand souls would indeed have been a +poor ark for Father Noah and his family. Its walls were lathed but not +plastered, and from our apartment we had an extended view of the entire +floor.</p> + +<p>Our furniture consisted of two wooden chairs, a box turned upside down for +a toilet-stand, a rickety bedstead, with unmusical creak, a tumble-down +lounge, and dismal, but genuine tallow dip. In these quarters we spent +four days, during which time the rain poured with unremitting constancy.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205" />In the parlor of the same edifice was an elegant piano, and magnificently +dressed ladies, and our constant amazement was, how, in this strange +country, extremes could so amicably meet.</p> + +<p>I found in Arkadelphia two blind gentlemen, who were prosperous merchants; +and to me, this spoke volumes for a community who would so generously +sustain the afflicted rather than allow them the condescension of beggary.</p> + +<p>We next visited Hope, a town of three thousand inhabitants, yet having +numbered but three years of existence; and while these people are +considered so slow in progression, this fact indicated a considerable +degree of Yankee go-a-head activity. This town is one of the important +cotton markets of the State, which branch of trade imparts an additional +business activity.</p> + +<p>We turned toward Hot Springs, the Baden of America, and when within twenty +miles of this wonderful place we encountered a throng of that class of +human pests known as "hotel runners," thick as bees, and more stingingly +<a name="Page_206" id="Page_206" />annoying, for they especially abounded in low jests and ribald stories +which grate so harshly upon sensitive ears. It would certainly be an act +of philanthropy, both to the hotels and their patrons, to take some +measure for the suppression of this nuisance.</p> + +<p>The approach to Hot Springs, and the first glimpse of the stream, smoking +as if its bed rested upon some subterranean fire, are in themselves +awe-inspiring. The valley is narrowed to the limits of three hundred feet, +and the road winds gracefully around the base of the mountain, upon whose +top the cold spring furnishes a better beverage than iced champagne; while +close by its side bubbles the boiling spring, in which eggs can be cooked +to perfection; and with a little seasoning of salt and pepper, the most +luscious soup can be improvized, while the boiling water <i>au naturale</i> can +be drunk in copious, life-giving draughts.</p> + +<p>The hotels are ranged upon either side of the road, and have all the +necessary bathing appointments. Among the many novelties to a stranger was +the process of dressing <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207" />chicken, which was their staple article of food. +The hot stream was the only necessary cauldron for the scalding process, +while the feathers were thrown into the swift current, and rapidly carried +away by the natural sewerage, a decidedly labor-saving process, and +somewhat characteristic of the locality and its native cooks.</p> + +<p>The various forms of treatment consist of hot, cold, vapor and mud baths, +and have been so often described that a repetition would be monotonous; +their efficacy being almost unfailing, except in cases of pulmonary +disease, in which they would soon prove fatal. One who has ever enjoyed +these baths will always long for the luxury years after leaving them +behind.</p> + +<p>We reluctantly left this valley, teeming with rich quarries of valuable +stone and various ores, luscious fruits, and the trifling drawbacks of +rattlesnakes, centipedes and tarantulas, and went to Texaskana, which is +located at the junction of the three States of Texas, Arkansas and +Louisiana, hence its name.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208" />It is a great railroad centre, and it is very curious to visit the depot +amid the rushing thousands who daily pass through this place on their way +to Texas. It is a wildly romantic place, built upon a clearing of forty +acres without any decided plan, streets running at random very much like +the old cowpaths of Manhattan, and houses grouped in picturesque +confusion. Finding the main hotel crowded, the proprietor manifested an +unheard-of disinterestedness in a two hours search to find us suitable +accommodations elsewhere, an act of magnanimity worthy of especial note +and remembrance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI" /><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209" />CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Oh, ever thus from childhood's hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I've seen my fondest hopes decay;<br /></span> +<span>I never loved a tree, or flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But it was first to fade away.<br /></span> +<span>I never nursed a dear gazelle,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To glad me with its soft black eye,<br /></span> +<span>But when it came to know me well<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And love me, it was sure to die."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We reached Jefferson, Texas, when the excitement was rife over the murder +of Bessie Moore, the terrible details of which sent a thrill of horror +over the entire United States. It rained during the several days of our +stay there; but thanks to the earnest endeavors of Mrs. Frazer, of the +Frazer House, I did very well in my business. Many of the fairest portions +of the town had been laid waste by the destructive ravages of incendiary +fires, and had never been rebuilt.</p> + +<p>Marshall is one of the most enterprising towns in the State, being a great +railroad <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210" />centre, and settled almost exclusively by Northern people.</p> + +<p>We had a most delightful visit to Shreveport, Louisiana: It lies at the +head of Red River navigation, and is the port of entry for New Orleans +steamers, being a place of great wealth and equal generosity. The editors +worked with great zest to aid me, and among the many people I met very few +failed to buy books. The genial skies and bright sunshine made it hard to +realize that it was the winter season; and I shall ever revert to its +warm-hearted people not only with pleasure but with gratitude.</p> + +<p>At Longview—in the dilapidated prison-like room of my hotel, I received +tidings of the death and burial of Hattie. My surroundings were in such +sad accord with my feelings, that I wondered if the sun would ever shine, +or the flowers bloom again, so much light went out with her dear life.</p> + +<p>At Longview we took a branch of the International Railroad to +Palestine—Mr. Smith, the Vice-President of the road, not only largely +patronizing me, but presenting me with a six <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211" />months' pass and the +assurance that if I ever again visited the State a letter addressed to him +would ensure a repetition of the favor.</p> + +<p>Thence we went to Galveston, where Mr. Arms had been for three months +trying the efficacy of sea-bathing. This city is beautifully located upon +a fertile island in Galveston Bay. The streets are lined upon either side +with oleander trees, which, arching over at the top, form a very bower of +bloom, while every breath of the clear bright air is balmy with the odor +of orange blossoms.</p> + +<p>The Mesquite trees, with attenuated leaves and gracefully drooping pods, +adorn all the parks of the city, the beans forming a delicious dish either +cooked or raw.</p> + +<p>No wonder Texas is called "The Happy Hunting Ground," for the five +delightful weeks we spent in Galveston seemed like a dream of Paradise. +Its many pleasures were varied by sailing and bathing, every morning +finding us upon the pure, white beach, where the waves whispered the +sweetest melodies.</p> + +<p>We went back to Houston in the month of bloom, and no "vale of Cashmere" +could have been more beautiful in its "feast of roses."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212" />The street car ran to the depot, and we found in it but one passenger, a +gentleman who carried a rose in his hand. Noticing at once that I was +blind, he arose and said to me, "Although you cannot see the beautiful +flowers you can inhale their sweetness," at the same time asking me to +accept the rose. His delicate kindness and urbane manner struck a deep +chord in my heart, and I never think of Houston without recalling the +gentle touch and tone.</p> + +<p>I must not omit to mention an act of generosity upon the part of the +railroad office at Galveston. Leaving there I had paid fare to Houston, +and the agent refunded five dollars, adding that I should never be allowed +to pay railroad fare.</p> + +<p>After remaining two weeks at Houston I took the Sunset Route to San +Antonia, and stopped at the Central House on the main plaza. This is the +oldest town in Texas, and is called "The Stone City," its antique +buildings and narrow winding streets giving it a quaint, time-worn air.</p> + +<p>San Antonia River rises from a low spring, <a name="Page_213" id="Page_213" />four miles distant from the +city, and gracefully winds through its streets, and is here and there +spanned by beautiful rustic bridges.</p> + +<p>The "City Gardens" are one block distant from the main plaza, and are +located upon an island of great natural beauty, romantically approached by +a floating bridge. The air is cool and refreshing from the river breeze, +fair flowers, bloom and sweet voiced birds rival the musical instruments +which lead the merry feet of the dancers.</p> + +<p>A mile from the city are the San Pedro Springs, a lovely park often acres +in area, where springs flow out into crystal purling streams, forming +islands, lakes, and ponds white and fragrant with their lily bloom, while +shining green lizards and other reptiles peep curiously out from the rocks +and glide away into the stream.</p> + +<p>Just across the main plaza stands the old Spanish cathedral, with its +musical chime of bells sending out on the perfumed air melodies sweet as +vesper songs.</p> + +<p>We went to the old Alamo, felt the antique cannon used by the Mexicans, +were shown <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214" />the room in which Bowie died and the spot where fell the brave +Colonel Crockett, who, with his handful of men, so gallantly held the +citadel, at which time he was taken alive, together with five other +prisoners, and ordered by Santa Anna to be killed.</p> + +<p>Just before the fatal sword-thrust, which ended a life so fraught with +daring and danger, he sprang like a tiger at the throat of Santa Anna, his +face wearing even in death this expression of fiendish, scowling hatred.</p> + +<p>San Antonia being the great market for the frontier, is a place of great +business activity. While there I was struck with amazement to see a dirty, +ragged man mounted upon a jaded, dilapidated horse, a very Sancho Panza +and Rezinante, smilingly asking alms of the passer-by.</p> + +<p>I had often heard of, but never before saw a veritable "beggar on +horseback."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII" /><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215" />CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Light, warmth, and sprouting greenness,<br /></span> +<span>And o'er all<br /></span> +<span>Blue, stainless, steel-bright ether<br /></span> +<span>Raining down<br /></span> +<span>Tranquility upon the deep hushed town<br /></span> +<span>The freshening meadow and the hillside brown."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>We went from San Antonio to Austin, the capital of Texas, where I had a +delightful interview with Governor Hubbard, who, although much engrossed +with the cares of State, seemed for the time to lay them all aside, and +gave me his undivided attention. Certainly if "all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players," this versatile gentleman appeared as +well in the role of courtier as in that of the statesman.</p> + +<p>The Government Buildings are of finished architectural art, and stand amid +cultivated grounds, upon a commanding eminence. At the State House door is +a monument to the <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216" />memory of Colonel David Crockett and the brave +companions who foil with him at St. Alamo.</p> + +<p>The public Institutions of Austin are a credit to "The Lone Star" State, +especially that for the Blind, at which I spent a day, and was charmingly +entertained by Dr. Raney and his accomplished wife. The matron also +dispensed hospitalities with so much true dignity and grace, and I never +visited an institution in which the inmates were so pre-eminently refined, +its sixty-five pupils numbering so many accomplishments.</p> + +<p>In response to a solicitation from Dr. Raney I addressed the school. This +was done through a social chat, in which the little group circled close +around me, and while I never so longed for "the poetry of speech" to +render the deep emotion of my heart, I really believe no elocutionist, +with all "the charm of delivery," could have had a more attentive +audience.</p> + +<p>Waco is known as the Athens of Texas, and among its many Institutions of +Learning is the Baptist University, open to both sexes. It is under the +charge of Doctor Burlison, who <a name="Page_217" id="Page_217" />extended to me an invitation to meet the +school at their chapel exercises.</p> + +<p>The "sweet hour of prayer" being over, he disposed of many of my books and +baskets among the pupils. This gentleman was deeply engrossed with the +educational interests of the State, and had traveled over its length and +breadth to enhance its prosperity, being more especially engaged in the +public school system. The next day twenty-five of the young lady pupils, +chaperoned by their teachers, called upon me at the McLennan House. They +were all characterized by discreet and lady-like deportment, and as there +was a fine toned piano in the parlor, there was no lack of artistic music. +We had also an equally kind reception from the Reverend Mr. Wright and +lady of the Methodist College.</p> + +<p>Waco is on the Brazos River, which is spanned by a graceful suspension +bridge, the pride of the town. During my visit they held their celebrated +fete known as "The Maifest," which lasted two days, and the gay and +fantastic procession in which all profes<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218" />sions and trades were represented +made it almost as gorgeous as a carnival.</p> + +<p>From Waco we went to Dallas, which is located upon Trinity River, and is +the Metropolis of Northern Texas. There was little to note in my stay +there, except the amusingly antagonistic reasons assigned by two men for +not giving me their patronage. Their business houses were upon the same +side of one street, and not very remote from each other. One refused +because my book was not sufficiently religious in its tone, and the other +because he saw the name of the Lord upon one of its pages. It was plainly +evident in both cases that the name of the "Almighty Dollar" as its price +was the most probable impediment.</p> + +<p>It was now the last of May, and the intense heat induced me to go +northward; indeed those who hope to enjoy a visit in that part of Texas +must go at some time between the months of September and May, for during +the remainder of the year the inhabitants do nothing but "try to keep +cool."</p> + +<p>We stopped over one train at the beautiful <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219" />town of Sherman, and then +hurried on to St. Louis, where I found my old friend Mrs. Anderson, who, +having visited Baltimore the previous summer, had learned all the +particulars of the death of the beloved Superintendant of our Institution +during my life there.</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles H. Keener was the son of Christian Keener, the founder of +Greenmount Cemetery of Baltimore, a sweet resting place which could fitly +receive the appellation given their cemeteries by the Turks—"A City of +the Living." He was the brother of Bishop J.C. Keener, of the Methodist +Episcopal Church South, who is quite celebrated as a Divine. His life was +characterized by a succession of shining acts of self-sacrifice and +affection, and his nature, so quiet and unobtrusive, shrunk so sensitively +from ostentation, that greatness must have been "thrust upon him" ere he +held a name emblazoned upon the roll of fame. His character in contrast +with publicly great men has been most graphically told by the German poet, +who sang—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"One on earth in silence wrought,<br /></span> +<span>And his grave in silence sought;<br /></span> +<span>But the younger, brighter form,<br /></span> +<span>Passed in battle, and in storm."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220" />As the Superintendent of our Institution, he held the hearts of every +inmate. His younger brother, in a letter of response to some queries, +said—"He was an Engineer in the United States Navy during the War of the +Rebellion, a devoted son, a true patriot, and an earnest Christian man." +He was afterward stationed on the "Island of Navassa," one of the West +India Group, within one hundred miles of Cuba, and was acting as +Superintendent of a Phosphate Company which owned, and worked the Island. +He had been there during eighteen months, when, in September, 1872, the +yellow fever broke out in the Island. After several weeks' resistance he, +too, succumbed to this terrible scourge, and, after a six days' illness, +died on the 9th of November, 1872.</p> + +<p>His brother also feelingly makes mention of his last letter, written upon +the day of his attack, as "a marvel of calm resignation." It runs thus: "I +am fast getting ready to be counted among the sick. When you know I am +really dead write to—(here follow the names of many friends) and tell +them to meet me in Heaven. One by one we are passing <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221" />over, why should we +hesitate? why should I with no one to care for? Surely I have seen trouble +enough in this life! May I feel as little dread of dying at the last +moment as I do now."</p> + +<p>His last words were addressed to his second officer, who had been addicted +to dissipation, but who had pledged himself to reform. As he was carried +out to look upon the sea which he loved so well, he said: "Mawson, +remember your pledge," when his head immediately dropped and he entered +into the life eternal.</p> + +<p>So did the life of this good man pass gently away while he was still in +the prime of manhood. He was carried to beautiful Greenmount for burial, +near the city in which his name will be coupled with loving memories for +long years to come.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" /><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222" />CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Alas for him who never sees<br /></span> +<span>The stars shine through his cypress trees!<br /></span> +<span>Who hopeless lays his dead away,<br /></span> +<span>Nor looks to see the breaking day<br /></span> +<span>Across the mournful marbles play!<br /></span> +<span>Who hath not learned in hours of faith<br /></span> +<span>The truth to flesh and sense unknown,<br /></span> +<span>That Life is ever Lord of Death,<br /></span> +<span>And love can never lose its own!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>A short time after our return home, Miss Tyson, having become weary of +traveling, I accompanied her to Morrison, and after spending a few days +there left her with friends and went alone to Pecatonica, when Ida again +accompanied me in my travels. On my return I stopped at Winnebago, +Illinois, to visit the hallowed spot in which Hattie lay buried. As I +approached the cemetery mingled memories of her beautiful life came +surging through my soul, and a deep silent awe stole over me. I sent my +friends away to another part of the <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223" />grounds that I might be entirely +alone with my dead, and as I knelt in the stillness of that sacred hour I +felt that the grave held only the precious clay, and that the sweet +spirit-presence was there trying to comfort me as it had always done in +earth-life, while, as the soft sound of the June wind stole through the +trembling evergreen near by, it seemed to whisper a sweet song, whose +burden sighed—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Love will dream and faith will trust,<br /></span> +<span>Since he who knows our needs is just;<br /></span> +<span>That somehow, somewhere, meet we must.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As I turned away I felt the strong ray of sunshine which fell upon her +grave, and rested there a halo and a promise!</p> + +<p>Our first stop going Westward was at Kansas City, and as it was the first +of August we found the colored people out in a well-filled procession, +celebrating this, one of their great Emancipation days. Ida having seen +very few colored people during her life was furnished an amusing +entertainment. We also visited Lawrence, which is so marked in Kansas +annals, and Topeka, the capital, but as <a name="Page_224" id="Page_224" />my experience in this State +differs so materially from that in any other (not making sufficient +through my sales to cover expenses), I will hurriedly pass it by.</p> + +<p>We took the sleeping car at Topeka, but, as a "washout" had destroyed the +track for some distance, I left the train with the other passengers, and +walked with precision over culverts and places of danger with ofttimes +only a narrow plank for my track. A gentleman who kindly led me smilingly +said this was indeed "walking by faith," and it was true blind eyes never +have aught but faith "as a lamp to their feet and a guide to their path."</p> + +<p>After leaving Salina there was nothing to be seen but a blank, desolate +plain, as monotonous as a silent, sailless sea, grimly varied by an +occasional station, with a few "dugouts" for houses. The mail on this +train was most unceremoniously delivered by being thrown from the cars, +and it was very amusing to witness the confusion and rush for its +contents, for the love-laden and business-burdened missives are as dear to +these people as to the most cultured members of society.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225" />The frequent recurrence of the little sand-hill communities, known as +prairie dog cities, was of novel interest to us, and the habits of these +creatures a curious study. They build their sand-hill habitations as +skillfully as the beaver erects his dam, and are so untiring in following +their instinct of self-preservation that they stand as constant sentinels +at the entrance of their homes, and in any case of danger play to such +perfection the role of "the artful dodger" that they are never caught.</p> + +<p>It is a singular fact that these animals are very rarely killed, and if by +chance some "unlucky dog" should lose his life he is hurried out of sight +by his devoted companions with so much celerity that his body is never +found.</p> + +<p>Fifty miles before reaching Denver the snow crowned tops of Gray's and +James' Peaks are clearly revealed, while from one point alone will Pike's +Peak allow the traveler a glimpse of his glorious grandeur. We were told +that the former mountains were more frequently visible at a distance of +one hun<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226" />dred miles. We neared Denver just as the sun was sinking, +enthroned in purple and amber and gold, with a faint, delicate rosy flush +tinging the edge of the more royal hues. Its truly Italian beauty was so +vividly pictured to me by Ida, that I could almost realize the regal +splendor of a Colorado sunset. Completely tired out and covered with +alkaline dust, we were grateful for the rest and comfort afforded by the +elegant Wentworth House.</p> + +<p>We spent a week in Denver, fraught with interest, for while it is a city +destitute of the charm of historical associations and musty memories, +which add so much interest to most foreign cities and many American +localities, it so abounds in youthful life with its warm and bounding +currents, its vim and vigor, that it teems with varying attractions. Its +broad avenues, softened by shade, its stately residences and mammoth +business blocks, render it as imposing as many old cities, and indicate +but little of its real primitive struggles for life, and the dangerous +aggressions of the "Red Man;" its truly western pluck having ranked these +among the things that were.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227" />The elliptical basin in which Denver is built, sloping north and east, +gives it a picturesque and extended view; the mountains losing themselves +in one direction in the now historic "Black Hills," and in the other +merging into the "Spanish Peaks" and "Sangre de Christo Range," so named +from a natural symbol of the Christian faith, a snowy cross grandly +gleaming in the distance.</p> + +<p>Taking the Colorado Central Railway we went through the Clear Creek Cañon, +with its rich and fertile fields to Golden, so beautifully sheltered in +the valley at the base of the mountain, and whose air was more life-giving +to me than that of any other portion of Colorado. In the vicinity of this +little Eden we climbed a rock seven hundred feet high, and while two +laborious hours were occupied in the ascent, we were amply recompensed +when we stood upon the smooth rock which crowned its summit, where the +merry picnicers pause amid their pastimes, absorbed in the sublimity of +their surroundings, for while they are basking in the soft sunlight the +sound of the distant thundering and lightning in the <a name="Page_228" id="Page_228" />mountain tops +recalls the story of Sinai, where the multitude below stood silent and +breathless, and from the roar of Heaven's artillery above issued the +written tables of stone.</p> + +<p>From this our lofty site the clear ether of the intervening fourteen miles +revealed the city of Denver looming up like a lonely vision.</p> + +<p>Turning toward the "Gold Centres," whose wealth, if the half were told, +would seem as fabulous as an "Arabian Nights Story," we visited "Central +City" and "Black Hawk,", which are so close together that it has been +facetiously said "It is impossible for a citizen to tell where he lives +without going out doors and looking at some landmark."</p> + +<p>These two places are really built upon foundations of gold, and many of +the houses constructed of gold-bearing quartz.</p> + +<p>The depot at Black Hawk might justly be denominated "Porter's Folly," for +this magnificent structure was built by a reckless miner for a +quartz-mill, at an expenditure of one hundred thousand dollars, and the +miner was General Fitz John Porter.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229" />At Central City we stopped at the Teller House, and received marked +kindness from Mr. Bush, the proprietor. Mr. Rhodes, editor of the daily +paper, aided me greatly in his well-written notices, and invited us to +dine at his house, where we were delightfully entertained by himself and +his accomplished wife.</p> + +<p>We crossed the country by stage to Idaho Springs, over a region not only +grand and diversified in scenery, but rich in mineral wealth, the road +winding through intricate mountain heights and wild cañons. The springs +are the chief resort of this portion of Colorado, and, aside from their +wildly beautiful surroundings, furnish great facilities for the +exhilarating hot soda baths and swimming bath-houses, in which elegantly +costumed bathers of both sexes hold high carnival.</p> + +<p>The hotel was quite romantically situated near a meandering creek, which +murmured by its side and made my pleasant room upon the ground floor +musical with its rippling flow. Days of dreamy beauty, and nights of +<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230" />cool, invigorating rest, render this a watering place of remarkable +attraction.</p> + +<p>Georgetown stands next in size to Denver, and is an outgrowth of the rich +mining wealth with which it is environed. Indeed, it seemed as if some +geni had touched all around it with a magic wand. Silver-ore was strewn in +rich profusion, piled like cord-wood in huge masses at every step; was +talked of in the street, the hotel, and the home, until it seemed as if we +thought, ate, and breathed silver.</p> + +<p>At the beautiful town of Boulder we stopped at the prominent and luxurious +hotel known as the American House, and after a short stay took the stage +for Caribon, then the most elevated town in the State, standing +considerably over nine thousand feet above the sea-level. A romantic and +ever-ascending ride of a day's length was required to reach this eyrie, +and at noon-day the driver allowed us to stop for our dinner, when our +wayside inn was improvized from the sheltering shade of grand old trees, +our table a rock, our chairs the same.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231" />No ambrosia could have been sweeter to the gods than was our sylvan +feast, with the appetite induced by mountain air and exercise; no nectar +finer than the crystal draught, dipped from the little stream; no +orchestra more musical than its varied tones. Although it was yet +September, there was a severe snow-storm, and, the next day, when it had +subsided, a party went out to pick raspberries, which were sweet and +delicious in flavor, while beside the deep snow-banks bloomed flowers as +beautiful as the rarest exotics.</p> + +<p>Ladies are so vigorous in that country that they think nothing of a walk +of many miles, but the intensely rarefied air of the mountains made my own +respiration very difficult.</p> + +<p>We returned to Denver, where our few days' visit was all too short, for it +was with painful reluctance we yielded to the demands of business +interest, and left a city which to us was fraught with so much pleasure, +and went to Colorado Springs, a place of five thousand inhabitants, and +one of the most stirring towns in the State. It is very level, being +symmetrically laid out in broad and shaded streets, <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232" />and derives its name +from the fact of being the station from which tourists take the stage for +the springs at Manitou, six miles distant. It is also the point from which +pleasure parties daily leave for Pike's Peak.</p> + +<p>One of the main features of interest in our visit to Colorado Springs, was +the presence of the great "Man of the Period," over whom the stupendous +heart of Barnum throbbed with exultant pride, and scientists waxed +wondering and eloquent. This august personage, who was no other than the +since sensational "Stone Man of Colorado," was lying in state, in all the +majesty of his marbleized grandeur, and was the magnet toward which +throngs of wonder-seekers were irresistibly drawn, all of whom, as if +entering the presence chamber of the King of Terrors, seemed awed by this +silent "representative of the dead past," and with hushed voices and bated +breath, lingered over the lineaments of one, which, if it had been known +at that time was not a real petrifaction, would perhaps have excited only +feelings of ridicule and words of derision. We were willing to be +humbugged with the <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233" />rest for the sacred emotions experienced under the +silent potency of this phenomenon of the nineteenth century; nor can we +even in the light of subsequent revelations deny the fact that he was +"fearfully and wonderfully made."</p> + +<p>We next visited Pueblo, where this giant was exhumed, but were not at all +pleased with the town or its surroundings, and suffered greatly from +thirst rather than drink the offensive water for which the residents are +so heavily taxed. It was so apparently poisonous in odor, that if it had +been in the malarious climate of Chicago, instead of the exhilarating +atmosphere of Colorado, all would have died from its effects.</p> + +<p>We have never visited a State which held such diversified interest as that +of Colorado, a fitting resort for the invalid, the pleasure seeker, +artist, scientist or poet. No place but some haunt of the Muses could +boast the ethereal beauty of a "Glen Eyrie," and no wonder the "Garden of +the Gods" is supposed to have once been the abode of "Great Jove himself," +and that there fair Venus bathed her beauteous form, and girdled with <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234" />the +fabled "Cestus," held her court amid the immortal beauties of the sacred +spot.</p> + +<p>We came through Kansas via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, +meeting with no better success than that which marked our former trip in +that region of country, and could only conclude, that while their crops +were at that time large and lucrative, the grasshopper raid had taught +them a lesson of economy which they were rigidly observing.</p> + +<p>Before returning home we visited the only surviving sister of my mother, +who lived in Salsbury, Missouri, and who not having heard from me since +the Chicago fire, concluded that I might have perished in its flames. She +and her husband were both over seventy years old, and strange to say, were +like so many of the old people I have met in my travels, that my readers +might suppose my heroes and heroines had found the "fabled fountain" and +secured immortal youth. Be this as it may, it could certainly be said of +her husband, as of the father of Evangeline:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Stalwart and stately of form<br /></span> +<span>Was the man of seventy summers;<br /></span> +<span>Hearty and hale was he<br /></span> +<span>As an oak that is covered with snow-flakes."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235" />I had a delightful visit of two days with this aged couple, during which +my aunt rehearsed to me many incidents in the early life of my mother, and +presented me with a lock of her hair, which, as a memento, is ever +magnetically associated with the "loved ones gone before."</p> + +<p>Returning to Chicago, I found my husband, whose health was far worse than +when I saw him in Galveston. This, together with a combination of +surrounding circumstances, suggested the project of writing up "The World +as I have found it," and I spent the greater part of the winter of 1877-8 +in this work.</p> + +<p>If it should appear to my friends and readers, that I found only the +"sunny side" of life, and they should wonder why I so seldom saw the +shadow, or received the thrust of unkindness, I can simply say that I was +almost universally so well received, that the few cases of unkind +treatment became the exception and not the rule, and these were generally +so bitterly repented, and so amply amended, that<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236" /> I felt it would be an +act of ingratitude to note them in my experiences.</p> + +<p>Hoping that these last missives to my kind and noble patrons will be as +well received as was the first humble effort of my girlhood—"Incidents in +the Life of a Blind Girl," I can only add in conclusion, that if any one +of the patient followers of my wanderings has found aught of sufficient +interest to while away the tedium of an otherwise weary hour, or gleaned +from the dross a single "golden grain," I will be amply recompensed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HELP_THE_BLIND_TO_HELP_THEMSELVES" id="HELP_THE_BLIND_TO_HELP_THEMSELVES" /><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237" />HELP THE BLIND TO HELP THEMSELVES.</h2> + + +<p>Throughout the entire length my unpretending offering my aim has been, as +far as was compatible with a personal history, to make my pages +interesting to the general public, but I cannot close without addressing +some especial words to those, who, like myself, must be content to live +with vision veiled from the world's transcendant beauties, and whose +life-paths from a variety of causes seem ofttimes utterly rayless.</p> + +<p>Blindness has been universally regarded as one of the most terrible +afflictions of an adverse fate, nor can it be denied that it is one which +requires a great amount of grace, and all the reason and judgment one can +command, to bear the burden with any degree of patience, much less with +perfect resignation.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238" />It is so often the result of impaired health, while the severe test of +maltreatment or even the most skillful treatment, tends to deplete the +system and depress the spirits.</p> + +<p>Again, the blind are in the majority of cases the children of poor +parents, and subject to all the neglect and exposure incident to poverty, +while, if they are born in affluence, they are so petted and pampered, in +consequence of their affliction, that they become utterly dependent and +useless, and contract habits that should be and which under other +circumstances would be broken.</p> + +<p>It is no more necessary for a blind child, with proper instruction and +careful training, to become awkward and ungainly, than for one in full +possession of all the senses, the drawback of blindness simply demanding a +little more patience and perseverance to attain the ease and grace, which +is as inevitable as in other children.</p> + +<p>In all the category of first instructions for the period of childhood, +from the muscular education by which a babe is taught to take its first +tottering step or the voluntary move<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239" />ment necessary to grasp and hold an +object, to the lisping language of love intoned in the first sweet +prattle, the all-pervading spirit, from the first to the last lesson, is +that of self-reliance. While blind children of wealth are waited upon +until they become utterly incapable of helping themselves, and through a +mistaken kindness are so constantly ministered to, they lapse into +passive, pantomimic puppets, void of the vitality and sparkle which, by +their natural endowments, is attainable.</p> + +<p>I have made it a guiding rule, throughout my life, never to consider there +was anything which, with the proper effort, I could not do, and my +experience proves a confirmation of the fact that there were very few +things I could not accomplish. I would fain impress this lesson upon my +blind friends, feeling as I do that it would prove of untold service to +them.</p> + +<p>It is not at all necessary that the blind should so lose their dignity or +individuality, as to allow themselves to be addressed in word or tone at +all different from that directed to other people, and, as an illustration +of this <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240" />point, I may be pardoned for relating an incident of my school +life.</p> + +<p>A gentleman once called at our Institution in Baltimore, and, immediately +after his introduction to a group of blind girls, of which I was one, he +said: "Ladies, how would you manage to select a husband?"</p> + +<p>Flaming with indignation, I impulsively replied: "Sir! We do not deal in +such merchandise?" and smarting with a sense of the indignity, I +immediately left his presence.</p> + +<p>I was afterward called to account by our worthy Superintendent to whom the +person in question preferred a complaint of rude treatment. Begging +permission to explain the situation, I respectfully enquired of our +official in case this same gentleman were thrown for the first time in the +presence of an equal number of society ladies, who could see if it would +be possible for him to address a similar remark to them, without being +charged with rudeness and presumption, or if it were not even questionable +whether he would dare to address them in such a way at all—and we, +although blind, felt that we had the right to <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241" />demand the same deference +and respect. It is almost needless to say that I was fully exonerated from +all blame, and honorably discharged from the presence of my interrogator.</p> + +<p>In the course of my travels I am ofttimes asked if I desire my meals sent +to my room, presupposing, as would be naturally inferred, the possibility +of great awkwardness in my manner of eating; hence I invariably decline +this offer of privacy, as there need be nothing in our manner of eating at +all <i>outre</i> or disagreeable.</p> + +<p>It is of course necessary to have a graceful attendant, and my first great +care is to instruct my guide in all the phases of table ministration, +which are more varied and important than is discernible to those who can +see.</p> + +<p>I also take great pains to instruct them in the art of walking with me +properly; never allowing them to <i>tell</i> me how to proceed, but to give me +a tacit understanding <i>of</i> their movements in order to direct my own, and +this system in my own experience has been reduced to a science.</p> + +<p>Many persons feel that it is far more sad <a name="Page_242" id="Page_242" />and terrible to have once +possessed sight, and afterward to become blind, than never to have seen at +all, but I cannot agree with them, and will never cease to be grateful +that until I was twelve years old, I could grasp, through sight, the +unfolding beauties of nature and art, which are now so often reproduced +that I can see all the manifold loveliness spread out before me, and for a +season forget that I am blind. Those who are born in blindness, are, to a +great extent, denied this pleasure, for it is almost impossible through +the imagination to form any adequate conception of "things seen."</p> + +<p>One of the most deplorable results of blindness is the fact that so many +of its victims condescend to the degradation of beggary, thus bringing +disgrace upon those who try to make an honorable living. I once had +occasion to go into a prominent Express Office of Chicago upon important +business of my own. The agent discovering that I was blind, and in evident +anticipation of a draught upon his pocket, resorted to it and drew out +fifty cents. After learning my business he manifested <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243" />considerable +embarrassment, and as slyly as possible deposited his money in its +original place, and no doubt hoped the movement was not observed. Thus it +so often becomes as apparent to us as to others, that the majority of +people jump at the conclusion, that if one is blind, they must of +necessity resort to begging, and I deeply regret that so many establish +this belief by their conduct.</p> + +<p>It has been to me a serious source of annoyance that so large a number of +persons endeavor to impress upon my mind the idea that it is an act of +charity to patronize me to the extent of the purchase of a single book, +while just after me a strong man, with faculties unimpaired, a man amply +able to do other work, may enter, and they buy from him anything he may +have to sell without ever dreaming that it is a charity to do so.</p> + +<p>But I am truly grateful to the majority of those with whom I come in +business contact for their appreciation of my energy and enterprise, as +they almost invariably consider mine a laudable way of making a living.</p> + +<p>A great many blind persons offer as an ex<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244" />cuse for inactivity that they +have no capital to do with, but even this obstacle may be removed, as is +so often the case with impediments in the paths of those who see.</p> + +<p>In Marysville, California, I became acquainted with a gentleman who lost +his sight in middle life, and exhausted all his means upon oculists and +other measures intended to restore his eyes. Finding the case hopeless, +and having a family dependent upon him for support, instead of sitting +down in despair or resorting to begging, he went to a friend and borrowed +two dollars and a half. With this he bought a basket, filled it with fruit +and went out to sell it. This basket became the nucleus of an extensive +business for some years after, and, at the time I met him, he was a highly +respected citizen, possessing a comfortable home and a considerable bank +account, though still holding a large fruit-stand as a permanent resource.</p> + +<p>Another instance could be cited in the case of a young man of the same +State who became suddenly blind, when some friend told him he had better +go to San Francisco and <a name="Page_245" id="Page_245" />hold out his hat, "for he would certainly do +well." Wounded to the quick at such advice, he replied that, in case he +accepted such a suggestion, he would solicit enough to buy a dose of +strychnine and close out his business. Soon after an artist made him a +proposition to travel for the sale of chromos in the interest of a +gallery. He accepted it, and by that means soon became successful and +independent.</p> + +<p>We do not feel it necessary to work for the sympathy of the public, for we +are already conscious of having that; but we do sincerely desire their +respect, and, if freely extended, their patronage, as do any other class +of people plying a legitimate vocation.</p> + +<p>Among the throng with whom. I have come in contact in the course of +canvassing, the vexed question, paramount in the minds of the majority, +and one frequently addressed to me in person. It is: why I do not avail +myself of an Institution for the Blind, or—as they almost universally dub +it—an Asylum in which I will be taken care of for life, almost +<a name="Page_246" id="Page_246" />invariably adding that they are taxed for this purpose.</p> + +<p>I desire here to correct an impression which, in the main, is utterly +false. These institutions are (together with others) supported by the +States in which they are located, and in so far as every property holder +has a larger or smaller amount of State tax, they help to sustain the +Institutions for the Blind among others. These State institutions are +intended only for the education of the blind, and not for their support. +For the purpose of education there are a certain number of years allotted +to each pupil, according to their age at the time of admission. At the +expiration of this term they have no alternative but to go back to the +poor homes of their respective counties, more unfitted to endure their +privations than before they were permitted a taste of a better mode of +life, and no matter how sad their sacrifices, or how bitter their trials, +they are never looked after by the Institutions in which they graduate.</p> + +<p>In their new life, however high may be their excellence in music or any +other accom<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247" />plishment, or how great their effort to make them available, +their surroundings are all against them, consequently they lapse into a +condition even worse than before their education, because their +enlightenment renders them more keenly sensitive to their affliction.</p> + +<p>But I am thankful there are so many who have courage to rise above all +these obstacles, and, with a heroism known only to those who have passed +through the crucible, to become noble men and women.</p> + +<p>Another question so often arising is, can the blind distinguish colors by +the sense of feeling? To this my invariable answer has been, "I believe it +to be an impossibility." Many insist upon the point that it is not only +possible, but that they can substantiate it as a fact—having seen it with +their own eyes.</p> + +<p>This I have, of course, no right to dispute, but in illustration of the +point in question, and in proof that one can be mistaken therein, I will +cite an incident that occurred in the Baltimore Institution.</p> + +<p>Three gentlemen visitors to that place having completed their inspection, +were about <a name="Page_248" id="Page_248" />taking leave, when they were attracted by "little Joe," a +bright, intelligent boy pupil, and immediately asked him if he could +distinguish colors in the above-mentioned way. The quick-witted little +fellow assumed the serene dignity of a sage and calmly answered, "Of +course I can," whereupon the gentlemen stood in a row and offered Joe the +tempting bait of one dollar if he would tell each one the color of his +pants. Two of them were dressed in broad cloth, and the other in a coarse, +grey suit. The boy naturally inferred that the smooth, textured fabric was +broad cloth, and would most probably be black, and being aware of the then +prevailing style of grey business-suits, he, with great ease, hit the +truth exactly.</p> + +<p>They freely gave the promised dollar, and left fully satisfied that he did +it by the sense of touch. As soon as the door was closed, the mischievous +urchin exclaimed, "Golly, boys, suppose I hadn't guessed right?"</p> + +<p>Upon this matter I can only say in conclusion, that I have met during my +life many blind persons, and have made this question <a name="Page_249" id="Page_249" />an especial study, +while not one instance has come under my observation in which the blind +could distinguish colors by touch. By a systematic method of arrangement, +association, etc, as well as through a remarkable recollection of certain +distinguishing characteristics in objects around us, we attain to that +which serves us much the same purpose as distinction of color. Indeed, in +this, as in all things, the blind must, of necessity, be very methodical +in everything they undertake to do.</p> + +<p>I sincerely hope that in my heterogeneous and apparently random remarks, I +may have uttered some word of comfort to the blind, some hint which may +truly aid them, some sentiment which may sustain, for my heart goes out to +them in the sympathy of a common affliction.</p> + + +<h3>"SIGHT OF THE BLIND."</h3> + +<p>Since closing my preceding article I have received from the author, who is +one of the most distinguished blind writers, an essay Which I take great +pleasure in introducing below, not only because of its eminent source, +<a name="Page_250" id="Page_250" />but from its confirmation of some of the points I have attempted to +illustrate, and which, together with many original and suggestive +thoughts, are given with the plenitude and the power of eloquent +rendition.</p> + + +<h3>"HOW DO THE BLIND SEE?"<br /> +BY L.V. HALL.</h3> + + +<p>This may be regarded by some as a paradoxical question; and yet it is not, +if we accept the word see, in its fullest and broadest sense. Webster +defines the verb see, as follows: "To perceive by mental vision; to form +an adequate conception of; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to +comprehend." True, we do not see through the same medium that you do, who +have perfect organs of sight, but we certainly perceive and comprehend the +relation and condition of things about us. The Creator has so wisely made, +and beautifully adjusted the external organs of sense, one to another, and +each to all, that when one is lacking the others are made able, by greater +exercise, to perform the functions of the missing one. For example, if +<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251" />one loses his hearing, sight is rendered keener, and the nerves acquire a +sensitiveness almost painful. Dr. Kitto, who was deaf from twelve years of +age, speaks of this peculiar sensitiveness as follows: "The drawing of +furniture, as tables or chairs, over the floor, above or below me, the +shutting of doors, and the feet of children at play, distress me far more +than the same cause would do if I were in actual possession of my hearing.</p> + +<p>"By being unattended by any circumstances or preliminaries, they startle +dreadfully; and by the vibration being diffused from the feet over the +whole body, they shake the whole nervous system in a way which even long +use has not enabled me to bear."</p> + +<p>In the same interesting article on percussion, he says: "A few days since, +when I was seated with the back of my chair facing a chiffonier, the door +of this receptacle was opened by some one, and swung back so as to touch +my hair. The touch could not but have been slight, but to me the +concussion was dreadful, and almost made me scream with the surprise and +pain; the sensation be<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252" />ing very similar to that which a heavy person feels +on touching the ground, when he has jumped from a higher place than he +ought. Even this concussion, to me so violent and distressing, had not +been noticed by any one in the room but myself."</p> + +<p>This physiological phenomenon is analagous to the sensation experienced by +the blind on approaching any tall or broad object. We feel their presence +when we are several yards from them. I have sometimes been startled by the +sudden impression produced by a lamp-post, or tree when in fact it was a +yard or more from me. The sensation is somewhat like receiving a smart +blow in the face. I am frequently aware of passing a building while riding +along a country road, and the proximity of trees, fences and other objects +is quite perceptible.</p> + +<p>This is not a latent sense, developed by circumstances, as some have +supposed, but a wonderful acuteness of the nerves of the face, and more +particularly of the nerves of the eye-lids. These phenomena may, I think, +be explained in this way. When one of the superior <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253" />senses is absent, the +perceptive force that has watched at the eye, or listened at the ear, is +now transferred to other nerves of sensation. In other words, a deaf +person is all eyes, and extremely alive to tangible percussions, as will +be seen in the case of Dr. Kitto and others. The blind are all ears and +fingers, and certain of the inferior animals are all ears and heels; I am +not sure but there is some neck in both cases. Since it has been shown +that new perceptions and conditions have been developed in the absence of +one or more of the superior senses, that the deaf are so keenly cognizant +of vibration or jar, which is the father of sound; that the blind can feel +the presence of objects at short distances, which is analogous to sight, +it should not be thought strange that we make such frequent use of the +word <i>see</i>, or that the deaf should make use of the word <i>hear</i>, and that +these words are not without significance or import. Besides this there is +a mental perception (doubtless through a magnetic medium,) of the presence +or nearness of other minds. This accords with the experience of many +persons. I have fre<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254" />quently entered rooms that I supposed to be +unoccupied, judging from the silence that reigned, but on taking an +inventory of my feelings I found a consciousness of some one's presence, +and this I have done when not the slightest sound aroused my suspicions.</p> + +<p>A little incident that occurred while I was a teacher in the New York +Institution for the Blind will, perhaps, better illustrate this point.</p> + +<p>I called one evening at the matron's room to ask her to read a letter +which had just been handed me. Supposing it to be a confidential one, and +wishing to make sure that no one else was in the room, I enquired of the +matron if she was alone. On receiving an affirmative answer, I handed her +the letter, requesting her to read it. But, feeling a consciousness that +some other mind was present—a strange mind, with which I had no +sympathy—I walked round to the other end of the table and placed my hand +on a lady's shoulder, remarking to the matron that I felt sure there was +some one in the room beside herself, and asked that the letter might be +returned to me unopened.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255" />From the long experience of this perception, or intuition, has grown the +old adage, "The devil is always near at hand when you are talking about +him." I am not sure that this magnetic condition is more largely developed +in us than in those who see, but I am led to think it is for this reason, +eyes are of paramount importance to those who have them, and we who have +them not search for other media of communication. Mental presence is +either inspiring and assuring, or depressing and embarrassing. I have +observed that when in the presence of some people I have felt comfortable +and assured, while in the presence of others I have felt diffident and +uneasy, I allude here to persons with whom I had no previous acquaintance. +Minds are felt in a ratio proportionate to their will-power. Shallow, +conceited minds are not magnetic. I have been told by blind preachers, +public lecturers and concert singers, that they always feel the difference +between an intelligent and appreciative audience and one made up of coarse +and uncultured people, and this consciousness they have felt before any +demonstra<a name="Page_256" id="Page_256" />tions of applause or disapprobation were made. I have had many +opportunities to experiment on my own feelings in relation to this +magnetic influence or mental recognition. I was a concert singer in my +younger days and could always tell whether I was singing to a large or +small house, and whether my audience was in sympathy with me or not.</p> + +<p>If it is argued that I gained this knowledge through the ear, and not +through the magnetic medium that I suppose to exist, I will add other +experiences that will be more convincing to the reader.</p> + +<p>In pursuing my business as itinerant book-seller for many years, I have +frequently called at offices when their occupants were out, and on +entering have often said to my guide, "Oh, there is no one here, let us +go, and call again." On the other hand I have often been conscious when +entering a room that there was not only one mind but several minds +present. If I should be asked to describe this consciousness, or mental +recognition, I should not know what language to employ. These are some of +the compensations which the blind <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257" />receive for the great loss they have +sustained. The sense of smell is ranked as the least important of all the +senses, yet it is of great value to the blind. Through this avenue to the +mind come many pleasurable sensations. By it we are aided in the selection +of our food, in choosing ripe and healthful fruits, in detecting +decomposition, dirt and filth, and in ascertaining much that eyes discover +to those who have them. Without it flowers would have no attraction for +us, and life would lack many of its pleasures. At the risk of being +classed among dogs and vultures. I acknowledge that I am often guided by +my olfactories in doing things that seem so very unaccountable to my +friends.</p> + +<p>In passing along the business streets my attention is continually +attracted by the odors that issue from stores, shops, saloons, etc., and +these peculiar smells often direct me to the very place I wish to find. +From groceries come the odors of spices, fish, soaps, etc. From clothing +and dry goods stores the smell of dye-stuffs. From drugs and medicines, +the combined odor of many thousand volatile <a name="Page_258" id="Page_258" />substances, such as perfumes, +paints, and oils, asafaoetida, etc. From shoe stores comes the smell of +leather; and from books and stationery the smell of printer's ink. Hotels, +saloons and liquor stores, emit that unmistakable odor of alcohol, the +prince of poisons. To me the smell of alcohol, wines, etc., has always, +since my earliest recollection, been grateful and fascinating; and had I +cultivated an appetite for strong drink, it would be as difficult for me +to pass a liquor saloon as for a man whose eyes are tempted by a +magnificent display of mirrors and bottles. I have often been made aware +of open cellar doors by a damp, musty smell that commonly proceeds from +underground rooms, and have, I think, been saved from falling by this odd +warning. I should have fallen, however, only a few days ago, into one of +these yawning horrors had it not been for my ever watchful wife who was +providentially near and called to me in time to save me from injury. Some +workmen were laying a patch of side-walk on Main street, in the town in +which I reside, and had opened a cellar-way <a name="Page_259" id="Page_259" />near which some of them were +at work, but did not warn me, doubtless because they did not see me, for +workmen are always very kind to me.</p> + +<p>I am guided and governed more by the ear, however, than by either of the +other organs of sense. If I wish to cross the street it tells me when +teams are coming, how far they are away, at what rate of speed they are +traveling, and when it will be safe to cross. If I find a group of men +conversing, it tells me who they are. If I wish to enter a store, or any +place, it tells me where the door is, if open, by the sounds that issue +therefrom, but in this I have sometimes been misled by going to an open +window, which always makes me feel awkward. Sound to me is as important as +light is to the seeing, and brings to the mind a great many facts that are +gathered through the eyes when sight is made the prime sense.</p> + +<p>Much of my information, however, is received through the fingers. They are +properly the organs of touch. Although this sense is distributed over the +whole body, <a name="Page_260" id="Page_260" />even to the mucous membrane that lines the mouth and covers +the tongue. When the finger's ends have been hardened by labor, or from +any cause, the lips and tongue are the most sensitive, and are often used +in threading needles, stringing beads, etc, very innocent uses surely to +put the tongue to. This sense of touch is of <i>necessity</i> cultivated by the +blind until it often reaches a state of perfection seldom, if ever, found +in the seeing. Of course its development is gradual, as is the growth of +all the faculties. When I was quite a little child, and my fingers were +soft, I could readily distinguish all the variety of flowers that grew in +my sister's flower garden, and could call them by name. From touch I knew +all the common fruits, from the peach with its velvet skin, to the +strawberry in the meadow, for which I used to search diligently with my +fingers, and sometimes find, as I remember, thistles, which were never +quite to my taste. One thing among my childish sports and amusements, for +they were limited, always gave great pleasure; and does even now. I loved +to play along the <a name="Page_261" id="Page_261" />brook or lake shore, to feel for smooth and odd shaped +stones, for pretty shells, etc. Their beauty to me existed only in the +great variety of shapes they presented, and in their smooth, pearly +surfaces, as they never suggested to my mind any idea of color. Winter +afforded me few opportunities for cultivating my love for the beautiful. +Summer was my heaven, with its singing birds, its tinkling brooks and its +fresh and delicious fruits.</p> + +<p>I took great pleasure in examining, with my fingers, flowers, leaves and +grasses, because their great variety of shape and texture fed an innate +longing after something that I could not then comprehend.</p> + +<p>When but an infant, I am told nothing amused me so well as a branch of +green leaves.</p> + +<p>My early boyhood was spent in rambling through the woods, hunting nuts, +squirrels, chipmunks, etc., with other boys of my own age, in climbing +trees, digging for wood-chucks, skating, coasting, and in performing all +the feats common to boyhood, such as standing on my head, hopping, +jumping, <a name="Page_262" id="Page_262" />whistling, shouting, &c. I shall regret to have this page come +under the eyes of my boys, for in noisy mischief they already exceed my +most sanguine expectations, and need not a record of their father's +boisterous childhood to encourage them.</p> + +<p>This kind of life, however, has fitted me to enter upon a systematic +course of study, which I did at the age of sixteen. I was received as a +pupil of the New York Institution for the Blind in 1844. I entered in a +good, healthy condition of body and mind. Found there boys and girls like +myself, without sight, yet earnestly engaged in pursuing the various +branches of English education. Many of them were like myself, full of +life, fond of fun and mischief. Many laughable incidents and anecdotes +characteristic of such an institution are fresh in my memory, which, I +should be pleased to relate, did they illustrate the subject in hand. Here +I found sight, which I had always supposed so necessary, somewhat at a +discount. I discovered that books, slates, maps, globes, diagrams, &c., +could be seen through the fingers, and that children could <a name="Page_263" id="Page_263" />learn quite as +rapidly in this way as with sight. I was not long, either, in discovering +that the older pupils and graduates were intelligent, accomplished and +refined; that they were treated more as equals by the officers, and that +they were trotted out to show off the merits of the institution, while we +young blockheads were kept in the background. This, I think, did much +toward inspiring me with ambition. My progress at first was slow, having +to learn how to use the appliances. My fingers must be trained, my memory +disciplined and my habits of inattention corrected.</p> + +<p>No effort was made, however, to take the mirthfulness out of me, and I +doubt if anything could have succeeded in this. My first introduction to +tangible literature was in placing my hand on a page of the Old Testament +in embossed print. At first I could feel nothing like letters or any +regular characters, only a roughness as though the paper had been badly +wrinkled. A card was then placed in my hand on which the alphabet was +printed in very large type, and my attention called to <a name="Page_264" id="Page_264" />each letter. My +fingers, then soft and supple, were not long in tracing the outlines of +each character, and, my memory being naturally retentive, I was soon able +to distinguish each letter, and give its name as my finger was placed on +it. Another card was then given me in smaller type, which I mastered in +the same way, and so on till I could read our smallest print.</p> + +<p>I have been thus minute in describing the rudimentary process of finger +training, that my readers may understand how it is possible for the +fingers to be made useful to the blind. To show how quick is the +perception through this avenue to the mind, it should be known that we +cannot feel a whole word at once, but a single letter. And yet some of us +are able to read more than a hundred words per minute, and to trace on +raised maps boundary lines, rivers, mountain chains, lakes, straits, +gulfs, bays, to find the location of towns, islands, &c.</p> + +<p>It would seem that the fingers are capable of grasping almost everything +that the eye embraces, though of course more slowly, and <a name="Page_265" id="Page_265" />from the +wonderful acuteness of which they are susceptible has grown the popular +impression that the blind can feel colors. I have been asked this question +many thousand times, and have invariably replied that we can no more feel +colors than the deaf can see sounds or the dumb sing psalms. I am aware +that it is stated by some eminent writers that the sense of touch in some +persons has reached this perfection, but I have many reasons to doubt it. +I have no personal object in contradicting this statement, other than to +correct a popular error. Should be glad if it were true. It has been +accounted for by scientific men upon this hypothesis: that colors differ +in temperature, that red is warmer than yellow, and yellow warmer than +green, and so on through the spectrum. That violet is a cold color as its +rays are less refracted, that these differences are appreciable to +delicate fingers. I have tried many experiments both with my own fingers +and with persons at our several institutions, who, like myself, were born +without sight, and, have never yet found one who could form the faintest +idea of colors from <a name="Page_266" id="Page_266" />impressions received through the fingers. Indeed +there is nothing in tangible qualities that suggests color, except +differences in texture. We may feel that a piece of broad-cloth has a +harsh texture, and call it black, or a soft texture, and call it drab or +brown. In this we may guess right, for it is only a guess after all. Wool +buyers and dealers in cloth judge frequently of their quality by touch; +and it is true that we who are without sight come to be very expert in +judging of the quality of cloths, furs, &c. But, to one who has never seen +light, there is no suggestion of color through finger perception.</p> + +<p>Between sound and color there is a much closer analogy traceable, as both +are the result of vibration. The same language is used to express the +qualities of each.</p> + +<p>We talk of harmony in sounds and harmony in colors, of lights and shades, +of chromatics, blending, softness, sweetness, harshness, high, low, +bright, dull, &c.</p> + +<p>May not a grand anthem or chorus be to the mind of one who has never seen +the light, what a fine picture is to one who has never <a name="Page_267" id="Page_267" />heard sounds. I +should not be surprised to hear that some blind Yankee or Frenchman has +invented a telephone through which we can hear in the rippling brooks and +bubbling fountains the color of their waters, in the song of birds the +gorgeous tints of their plumage, and in the distant roar of Niagara, the +mighty grandeur of its scenery. To an imaginative mind a well tuned, well +voiced organ may be made to represent all the colors of the rainbow, from +the faintest violet of the piccolo to the darkest crimson of the sub-bass. +Some blind person on being asked what he supposed red to be like, answered +"Like the sound of a trumpet." He might have said "Like a flame of fire." +I once asked a blind boy, who had never seen light, if he could imagine a +house on fire and how he supposed it would look. He answered, "If it was a +big fire it would look like a thousand trumpets all blowing in a different +key." I then asked him what a picture is like. "Like anything in <i>shape</i> +you may wish to paint," he said, "but in color (if it is a fine picture) +like one of Mozart's grand symphonies." I have many times asked <a name="Page_268" id="Page_268" />my blind +lady friends how they knew in what way to arrange their colors so as to +make their fancy work look tasty and attractive. How they knew what colors +blended and what were discordant, and I have often received this answer: +"By associating the names of the seven primary colors with the seven +sounds of the diatonic scale, placing red as No. 1 or key note, orange +next, yellow next, then green, and so on to violet. Thus red will not +blend with orange, being the first and second of the scale, but red and +yellow harmonize better, being third in the scale, red and green still +better, and so on to red and deep violet, which are sevenths in the scale +and do not harmonize. Thus we get the tetrachord red, yellow, blue and +violet, which may be represented by the flat seventh of the chord C." But +I leave this theory for some one to elaborate or refute, who has seen +color, and return to my institution life.</p> + +<p>The ear and voice are also trained at these schools for the blind, and +music is made one of the chief arts. Piano tuning is also taught in a +practical way. If this business is not <a name="Page_269" id="Page_269" />taught in all the institutions, it +ought to be, for it comes fairly within the scope of our capabilities. And +I will here say for the benefit of my brothers in the dark that I have +been very successful as a piano tuner, and the business is a practical one +for the blind. Any one with a good ear may learn to tune well, but no one +should undertake to repair so delicate a piece of machinery as a piano +action without long experience, mechanical ingenuity, great caution and +good judgment, having had no opportunity to acquire the requisite skill.</p> + +<p>It was not my intention at the outset to write a sketch of my own life, +but to demonstrate by my own experience that the inferior senses may be +made to perform many of the offices of sight. The eyes have some +functions, however, which the ears and fingers cannot perform.</p> + +<p>For example, if a piece of silk or woolen goods be handed me for +examination the nerves of my fingers will tell me whether it is fine or +coarse, whether it has a harsh or soft texture, whether it is highly +finished or rough <a name="Page_270" id="Page_270" />and uneven, but they bring me no intelligence of color.</p> + +<p>I may pronounce the goods beautiful, because I find in it certain +qualities that address themselves to my taste, but it is not beauty +addressed to the eye. Light and color, to one who has never seen, is as +inconceivable as music to the deaf. We may get some faint idea of what +light is as a medium of communication, or why color pleases the eye as +qualities of texture please the touch, but the conception is vague and +unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>I have often had the remark made to me, "Well, if you have never seen, it +is not so bad after all, you have less desire to see." This, I think, is a +mistake and a poor consolation. Has the man who has never visited the +great Niagara cataract, but has many times heard and read of its wonders, +less desire to see it than one who has witnessed those grand displays of +God's power in the flood? Has the boy who loves to read of travels and +strange adventures less desire to see the glaciers of the Alps, the skies +of Italy or the jungles of Southern Africa, than the traveler <a name="Page_271" id="Page_271" />who +described them? However well we may see with our mental vision, however +well suited to our taste may be our surroundings, however pleasant may be +our family relations, and however kind may be our companions, we cannot +help that irrepressible desire to know what there is about light and +color, about the indescribable beauty of a sunset, the splendor of an +evening sky, the glory of a cloudless day, and the awful grandeur of a +storm. There is yet one thing we greatly desire to know, which the fingers +cannot grasp.</p> + +<p>We are told in poetry and romance that the human face divine is the index +of the spirit. That its ever changing lines express every mood of the mind +and every emotion of the soul, from a smile of ineffable beauty to a +midnight frown, from the sunshine of hope, and joy, and gladness, to +clouds of wrath and hatred. That the spirit looks out through the eye and +melts you with a beam of tenderness, or pierces your heart with a flash of +electric love, or charms you by revealing in its crystal depths the pearl +of purity, or transfixes you with a glance of displeasure.<a name="Page_272" id="Page_272" /> Is all this +talk about sunlit faces and starlit eyes, fine sentiment only, or does the +face really express feeling as unmistakably as we hear it in voices? To +show that the deaf have as great a desire to hear the music of the human +voice as we to see the language of the face, I quote from Dr. Kitto the +following touching passages of personal history:</p> + +<p>"Is there anything on earth so engaging to a parent as to catch the first +lispings of his infant's tongue, or so interesting as to listen to its +dear prattle, and trace its gradual mastery of speech? If there be any one +thing arising out of my condition, which, more than another, fills my +heart with grief, it is <i>this</i>: it is to <i>see</i> their blessed lips in +motion and to <i>hear</i> them not, and to witness others moved to smiles and +kisses by the sweet peculiarities of infantile speech which are +incommunicable to me, and which pass by me like the idle wind."</p> + +<p>Although there are but few experiments in common between the deaf and the +blind, I am able to sympathize fully with this eminent deaf author in the +intense desire he feels to <a name="Page_273" id="Page_273" />hear the sweet voices of his children. There +is no other object this side of heaven I so ardently wish to see as the +faces of my family. A feeling sometimes comes over me akin, I fancy, to +the impotent rage of a caged lion, who vainly tries to break his prison +bars and gain his liberty. The moral certainty that I must finally leave +this world of beauty without having enjoyed many of its highest blessings +and purest delights often oppresses—so oppresses me, that I can only find +relief in prayer for grace to say—"Thy will be done, O God." I hear the +merry voices of my children, know their step, figure, contour of their +heads and faces, and in my day dreams I see them around me, full of life +and health, fun and frolic, and I know their little hearts are full of +love for me; I know, too, God has given them to me as some compensation +for other blessings he has withheld. Let me trust, then, in His great +mercy, that in the far future I may see the faces of my dear ones in the +light of eternity; of her who gave me birth, but whose fond look of +affection and yearning tenderness I was never able to re<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274" />turn; and the +face of her who is now to me even more than a mother, who helps me to bear +my many burdens with Christian patience and fidelity. Then, if I am +permitted to behold the glorified face of Him who hath redeemed us, I +shall rejoice that I have lived and suffered, and wept and wept, and +prayed that I might dwell with Him forever.</p> + + +<h3>INVOCATION TO LIGHT.<br /> +BY MRS. HELEN ALDRICH DE KROYFT.</h3> + +<p>Oh, holy light! thou art old as the look of God and eternal as God. The +archangels were rocked in thy lap, and their infant smiles were brightened +by thee! Creation is in thy memory. By thy touch the throne of Jehovah was +set, and thy hand burnished the myriad stars that glitter in His crown. +Worlds, new from His omnipotent hand, were sprinkled with beams from thy +baptismal font. At thy golden urn pale Luna comes to fill her silver horn, +and rounding thereat Saturn bathes his sky girt rings, Jupiter lights his +waning moons, and Venus dips her queenly robes anew. Thy fountains are +shoreless as <a name="Page_275" id="Page_275" />the ocean of heavenly love; thy centre is everywhere, and +thy boundary no power has marked. Thy beams gild the illimitable fields of +space, and gladden the farthest verge of the universe. The glories of the +Seventh Heaven are open to thy gaze, and thy glare is felt in the woes of +the lowest Erebus. The sealed books of heaven by thee are read, and thine +eyes like the Infinite can pierce the dark veil of the future, and glance +backward through the mystic cycle of the past.</p> + +<p>Thy touch gives the lily its whiteness, the rose its tint, and thy +kindling ray makes the diamond's light. Thy beams are mighty as the power +that binds the spheres. Thou canst change the sleety winds to soothing +zephyrs, and thou canst melt the icy mountains of the poles to gentle +rains and dewy vapors. The granite rocks of the hills are upturned by +thee, volcanoes burst, islands sink and rise, rivers roll and oceans swell +at thy look of command. And oh! thou monarch of the skies, bend now thy +bow of millioned arrows, and pierce, if thou canst, this darkness that +thrice twelve moons has bound me.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276" />Burst now thy emerald gates, O Morn, and let thy dawnings come! Mine eyes +roll in vain to find thee, and my soul is weary of this interminable +gloom. The past comes back robed in a pall which makes all things dark. +The present blotted out, and the future but a rayless, hopeless, loveless +night of years, my heart is but the tomb of blighted hopes, and all the +misery of feelings unemployed has settled on me. I am misfortune's child +and sorrow long since marked me for her own.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IS_IT_MORE_TO_LOSE_THE_EYES_THAN_THE_EARS" id="IS_IT_MORE_TO_LOSE_THE_EYES_THAN_THE_EARS" /><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277" />IS IT MORE TO LOSE THE EYES THAN THE EARS?</h2> + +<p>(From Mrs. De Kroyft's forthcoming work, entitled "My Soul and I.")</p> + + +<p>Ah no! dark and empty and lonely as the world may be to us, no intelligent +blind person could be found who would exchange hearing, and its attendant +gift of speech, for a pair of the brightest eyes in the world; while, for +myself, I have sometimes even wondered if, after all, it be, in the +strictest sense of the word, a misfortune <i>not to see</i>.</p> + +<p>All of our other senses are certainly not only immeasurably quickened, but +is not our whole nature improved, and our immortal being greatly elevated +through this darkest of human privations?</p> + +<p>Just imagine for a moment a touch like Cynthia Bullock's, so exquisite as +to feel with ease the notes, lines and spaces of ordinary <a name="Page_278" id="Page_278" />printed music; +then add to that a hearing that almost notes the budding of the flowers, +and you will see how little one must possibly lack, even in the scale of +pleasurable existence, while perception in us becomes verily <i>a new +sense</i>. Indeed, what shade of thought or feeling ever escapes us? Almost +quicker than a thing has been uttered we have felt or perceived it. What +marvelous power, too, memory comes to possess, and how tenaciously she +clings to everything, often astonishing even to ourselves; while +imagination, that loftiest and most winged attribute of the soul, not only +becomes more fleet, but literally turns creator, reproducing before our +spirit eyes not only all that we have lost, clothed in the beautiful +ideal, but unbars the gates to every new field of intellectual research, +often enabling us to compete even more than successfully with those who +see.</p> + +<p>Alas! if there could be only a seat of learning for the blind, with all +its lessons oral or in the form of lectures, as at most of the German +Universities, what could we not achieve?</p> + +<p><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279" />But, as it is, enough renowned have arisen from our ranks to prove that, +while blindness fetters the hands and the feet, it verily adds wings to +<i>thought</i>. Indeed, the world has but one Homer, who sits forever shrouded +in darkness, <i>the veiled god</i> and father of song; and but one Milton, who +gave to the world its "Paradise Lost" and its "Paradise Regained," while +he bequeathed to the blind of all ages the glory and the beacon light of +his name.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EDUCATION_OF_THE_BLIND" id="EDUCATION_OF_THE_BLIND" /><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280" />EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.</h2> + +<p>A brief description of the methods employed in their literary, artistic +and industrial education.</p> + + +<p>I should not consider this work finished without a chapter on the mode of +educating those who have been so unfortunate as to be deprived of the +readiest medium through which education is imparted—the sight. The +systems, although some of them are in use in nearly every State in the +Union, are very little understood, and are always inquired into with every +evidence of interest by visitors to the institutions, where they often +express quite as much surprise as gratification at what they see. I have +therefore, in the following, endeavored to give as full a description as +possible of the various methods and appliances employed to convey through +the sense of feeling, information to which our eyes are closed.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281" />On entering the schools the children are generally wholly uneducated, and +have first to be taught the form and value of letters. To effect this the +letters are raised, and the pupil learns their form by passing the fingers +over them till their forms, names and their use are fully understood. With +some this is a long and tedious task, but others master it in a short +time. I mastered the alphabet in one day, but I was not a child and had a +mind sharpened by experience. By constant exercise the sense of feeling +becomes so acute that very slight differences of form are readily +detected, and reading by the touch becomes an easily mastered art. Having +thus the key of knowledge the subsequent progress of the student is in his +own hands, and, to the credit of the afflicted, it must be said it is +generally very rapid, one reason for which is that loss of sight shuts off +one fruitful source of distraction, and the mind is more easily +concentrated. Another reason is that the necessity for education is +generally appreciated, and the student is eager to acquire it.</p> + +<p>The form and use of figures is taught in <a name="Page_282" id="Page_282" />a similar manner, but the +teaching of arithmetic is largely mental, on account of the difficulty of +producing raised figures with sufficient rapidity, and the study of higher +mathematics is pursued even more strictly from oral teaching.</p> + +<p>The art of writing, which, to those not acquainted with the educating of +the blind, is considered the most difficult task, becomes comparatively +easy. It is a two-fold art, including the art of writing for blind readers +and the ordinary Roman script. Of the "blind writing" there are several +systems, but in this I shall be content to describe but two—the pin type +and the "New York Point System." The first consists of movable types, the +letters on which are formed of pin points, and with which the writer +impresses the paper one letter at a time, producing the letter raised on +the opposite side of the paper, which, on being reversed, may be read with +eye or fingers. The point system is the arrangement and combination of six +dots on two lines. Those on the upper line are numbered 1, 3 and 5, and +those on the lower 2, 4 <a name="Page_283" id="Page_283" />and 6. These are made within spaces about +three-sixteenths of an inch square each, by a styles which resembles a +small, dull awl or centre punch. To prevent the dots being confused the +writer uses a writing board, to which the paper is clamped by a metallic +guide-rule perforated with two or more rows of these squares. The pupils +make these punctured letters with great precision and rapidity, and +frequently conduct their correspondence with their friends by that means, +giving them the alphabet and key by which to learn to read them.</p> + +<p>The writing of ordinary script is performed with more difficulty. A +grooved pasteboard is used for the purpose, the grooves being of the width +of the smaller letters. The letters extending above or below the line are +gauged by the ridge. The right hand is followed close by the left, which +guards the written lines from a second tracing of the pencil, and marks +the spaces. By these methods correspondence is maintained between the +blind and their distant friends, and it is even possible <a name="Page_284" id="Page_284" />for a blind +merchant to keep his own books if necessary.</p> + +<p>In writing the common script the pencil is always used, the pen never. +Care has to be taken to keep the pencil pointed, or much care and labor +may be lost. An incident which Mr. Loughery, founder of the Maryland +Institution, used to relate of himself, shows how necessary it is to +observe great care in this matter. When a student he wrote a long, gossipy +letter to a friend, and in a short time was surprised, and for the time +greatly annoyed, at receiving a reply asking him if he had gone mad. It +enclosed his own letter, and on examination of it the two words "Dear Ed." +were found to be its sole contents. In his absorbed condition of mind he +had not noticed the breaking of his pencil, and had proceeded with his +writing, as the scratched paper, on which the traces of the wood of the +pencil were visible, but not legible, indicated.</p> + +<p>The most interesting things seen in an Institution for the Blind are the +apparatus for teaching geography, philosophy and physi<a name="Page_285" id="Page_285" />ology. For +geography miniature continents, states, hemispheres, etc., are used, in +which, the political divisions, the physical conformation and +characteristics, the rivers, lakes, seas, etc., etc., are reproduced as +nearly as possible. The boundaries are described by rows of raised dots, +the capital cities by studs of peculiar shape, the larger cities by studs +different in size or shape, the rivers by grooves in the surface, deserts +by spaces being sanded on the surface, the lakes, seas, etc., by +depressions, and the islands by spots elevated above the seas' surface. +Mountain ranges are shown by raised models or miniature mountains, and +that volcanoes may be fully understood, separate models of these and of +other remarkable formations are used, that the student, by a thorough +manual examination, may get a correct knowledge of them. In nearly every +school I have visited there were maps, the sub-divisions of which +consisted of movable blocks. Supported like a table, these maps would be +studied by the pupils taking out the blocks and returning them to their +places as they learned their names, etc. It is no un<a name="Page_286" id="Page_286" />common thing to see a +pupil throw these blocks into a confused heap, mix them all up, and, then +picking them up one by one, put each in its place with as much accuracy as +the most accomplished pianist will strike each key in a simple march or +polka.</p> + +<p>The philosophical apparatus consists of miniature machinery: the spring, +the simple and compound lever, the wheel, the cog, the cam, etc., even to +the miniature engine are brought into use, and the pupils examine them by +themselves, and in their various applications and relations to each other. +In teaching those who never could see great difficulty is experienced in +conveying the nature and properties of gases, vapors, etc., but with those +who have any recollection of what they have seen the task is comparatively +easy.</p> + +<p>Where the apparatus is possessed the teaching of physiology and natural +history are comparatively easy, the pupil handling and examining +skeletons, skulls and models of the various parts of the human system, +learning their various offices, etc., but many schools do not possess +them, while others have <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287" />fine collections including busts of eminent or +notorious personages, zoological collections, plaster models, etc., by +which the loss of sight is largely compensated for.</p> + +<p>Music is taught by raised notes until the rudiments are mastered. It forms +a great part of the course in all the institutions, and is cultivated with +great assiduity. When the rudiments have been mastered and the pupil is +familiar with the instrument, the music is read to them, the notes +indicated by names and value, and they memorize the music. So thoroughly +do many of the blind master the art that several are now, within my +knowledge, successful teachers of the art to large numbers of seeing +pupils. On the other hand much valuable time is wasted in the effort to +teach music to those who have no talent for it, and whose time might be +more profitably employed in the pursuit of other studies.</p> + +<p>In the education of the blind the greatest care is given to the +cultivation and strengthening of the memory and the success that is met +with is truly marvelous, for the amount and <a name="Page_288" id="Page_288" />variety of knowledge with +which some minds have been stored is to many almost incredible.</p> + +<p>The industrial education of the blind is perhaps the most important of +all, and all the institutions are provided with workshops, in which the +inmates learn some useful mechanical or domestic art. The female pupils +are taught to make all kinds of ornamental bead-work, to crochet and knit +woolen and worsted goods, to sew by hand and with machines, and some of +them acquire surprising skill, though my own experience does not give me a +high opinion of the efficacy of attempting to teach sewing, so very few +ever practice it after leaving school, though I have found it convenient +to sew on a button or repair a rent on occasion. Sewing by the blind, +though it may surprise the beholder for the skill acquired under +difficulties, will seldom claim their admiration for its own merit.</p> + +<p>I have more faith in the efficiency of the industrial education of the +boys and men, because, in the course of my travels, I have found numbers +of them prospering in the pursuit of the trades learned in the +institu<a name="Page_289" id="Page_289" />tions, and some of them carrying on quite extensive operations. +Boys are taught to make brooms, brushes, cane seats for chairs, +mattresses, door mats, to weave carpets and do many other forms of useful +work. It looks strange to be shown a brush in which black and colored +bristles are formed into lines of beauty—initials, flowers, etc., and to +be told that a blind man made it. It looks like a miracle, but when you +learn that the forms were traced on the block by cutting grooves in its +surface to form the figures, and that the black bristles were kept in a +round box, and white ones in a square box, near the maker's hand, the +mystery disappears.</p> + +<p>Connected with the Philadelphia Institution are extensive manufactories, +in which large numbers of workmen are employed. They are the largest in +the United States that are operated almost exclusively by the blind. These +shops enable numbers of men to support themselves and their families in +decency and comfort.</p> + +<p>The great interest manifested in the education and training of the blind, +by thousands <a name="Page_290" id="Page_290" />of noble people and earnest workers throughout the country, +deserves the gratitude of not only those who suffer the great deprivation, +but of the whole people; for the benefits they have conferred on us by +educating and rendering us useful and independent, rank in the scale of +beneficence next to giving us sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="POEMS_BY_THE_BLIND" id="POEMS_BY_THE_BLIND" /><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291" />POEMS BY THE BLIND.</h2> + + +<p>I take the liberty of introducing a few poems by blind authors, feeling +that they will be appreciated by the public. Poetry seems to possess +peculiar charms for blind people, who, deprived of material sight, seem to +love to revel in the beautiful visions presented by the imagination. Among +blind poets and rhymesters there are, of course, as many different grades +of merit as among the more favored writers, but the proportion of doggerel +writers is fortunately much smaller among the blind, and they cannot so +readily inflict their scribbling in such volume on a patient public. The +poems here presented are selected from among a number of the best +productions of the best writers.</p> + + +<p><b>LUCY A. LITTLE.</b></p> + +<p>I take great pleasure in introducing into these leaves the following +simple poem from <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292" />the pen of Miss Lucy A. Little, a young blind girl, +toward whom I have been drawn by deep sympathy and affection. She was +educated in the Wisconsin Institution for the Blind, where she graduated +with high honor.</p> + +<p>She possesses great personal attractions and much intrinsic merit, being +the household pet in the home of her grand-parents; and, as the blind have +missions, it seems to have been especially hers to minister to those who +regard her with doting fondness, and to whom she is a bright prismatic +ray, making the shortening path of the old people radiant with, its light.</p> +<div><br /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>A JUNE MORNING.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Early one morn in leafy June,<br /></span> +<span>When brooks and birds were all in tune,<br /></span> +<span>A maiden left her quiet home<br /></span> +<span>In meadows and in fields to roam.<br /></span> +<span>She wandered on, in cheerful mood,<br /></span> +<span>Through verdant fields and leafy wood.<br /></span> +<span>At length she paused to rest awhile<br /></span> +<span>Upon a little rustic stile.<br /></span> +<span>She made a pretty picture there,<br /></span> +<span>With her bright, curling, golden hair,<br /></span> +<span>And dress of white, and eyes of blue,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293" />And ribbons of the self-same hue.<br /></span> +<span>And while she sat absorbed in thought,<br /></span> +<span>A form approached. She heeded not<br /></span> +<span>Until a hand was gently laid<br /></span> +<span>Upon the shoulders of the maid.<br /></span> +<span>Then, looking up in sweet surprise,<br /></span> +<span>She saw a pair of jet-black eyes,<br /></span> +<span>A perfect form of manly grace,<br /></span> +<span>A handsome, open, honest face.<br /></span> +<span>Then said the maid, in voice so clear:<br /></span> +<span>"How did you know that I was here?"<br /></span> +<span>Said he: "I sought you at your home,<br /></span> +<span>They told me you had hither come,<br /></span> +<span>And so, I came, this bright June day,<br /></span> +<span>To say what I've so longed to say.<br /></span> +<span>When first we met in by-gone days,<br /></span> +<span>You charmed me with your winning ways.<br /></span> +<span>Since then the time has quickly flown,<br /></span> +<span>Each day to me you've dearer grown,<br /></span> +<span>And you can brighten all my life<br /></span> +<span>If you will but become my wife."<br /></span> +<span>She raised her eyes unto his own,<br /></span> +<span>And in their depths a new light shone,<br /></span> +<span>While in a voice so soft and low<br /></span> +<span>She said: "I <i>will</i>; it shall be so."<br /></span> +<span>And then they homeward took their way,<br /></span> +<span>While birds were singing sweet and gay,<br /></span> +<span>Now oft they bless that day in June<br /></span> +<span>When brooks and birds were all atune.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294" /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>GOLD WORSHIPPERS.</b><br /></span> +<span><b>BY L.V. HALL.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Within a faded volume, dim and old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I find this musty maxim tersely given:<br /></span> +<span>"The magic key to human hearts is gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But love unlocks the crystal gates of heaven."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Our homes are not so happy as of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our hearts are not so merry as of yore,<br /></span> +<span>We find that nought can purchase love but gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That virtue begs a pittance at the door.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>There was a time when Beauty bore the sway;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There was a time when Wit the world controlled;<br /></span> +<span>There was a time when Valor won the day;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But now the noble knight that wins, is Gold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The ancient Ghebers worshipped light and fire;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Brahmins bowed to gods of wood and stone;<br /></span> +<span>But now, 'neath marble dome and gilded spire,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The deity adored is gold alone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>It overlays the altar and the cross;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It dignifies the monarch and the clown;<br /></span> +<span>The wealth of moral worth is counted dross;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The million miser wears the golden crown.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>'Tis time this mad idolatry should cease;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Tis time her prophets and her priests were slain;<br /></span> +<span>Let earth do homage to the Prince of Peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the reign of gold shall be the golden reign.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295" />The Christ came not with pomp and princely show;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His followers were lowly and despised;<br /></span> +<span>He courted not the high, nor shunned the low;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A very God in human flesh disguised.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>He brought a marvelous message from above:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A gift of grace and pardon from the King.<br /></span> +<span>He claimed no tithe or tribute but of love—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A penitent and contrite heart to bring.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>He banished brokers from the house of prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He raised the dead and made the dumb to speak;<br /></span> +<span>Unsealed the blinded eye, unstopped the ear;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He fed the poor and lifted up the weak.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The way to life, He said, is plain and straight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It leads to joy, and peace, and heavenly light<br /></span> +<span>The way to death is through a golden gate<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And broad the way that leads to endless night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Shall we accept the sacrifice he made<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And enter in the Shepherd's sheltering fold?<br /></span> +<span>Or, like the Judas who his Lord betrayed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sell soul and hope of Heaven for miser's gold?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Say, which is best, true piety or gold?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This metal worship or the living God?<br /></span> +<span>Ye cannot have them both, so we are told,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">See to it then which pathway shall be trod.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Array your idol in his robes of state!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Set up his image on his golden throne!<br /></span> +<span>Throw open wide the temple's gilded gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thus proclaim that gold is God alone!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296" /> +<span>Or else array yourselves in plain attire;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Set up the love of Christ in every heart<br /></span> +<span>Let each affection feel its fervent fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And in this money-worship bear no part.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Now make your choice between your gold and heaven;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Buy all the sinful pleasures wealth can bring;<br /></span> +<span>Increase them through the years to mortals given<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And die, at last—a beggar—not a king.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Yes, make your choice between your gold and heaven;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Find peace and pardon in a Saviour's blood;<br /></span> +<span>Freely bestow what, free to you, is given,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And meet, at last, the welcoming smile of God.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297" /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>THE DOUBLE NIGHT.</b><br /></span> +<span><b>BY MORRISON HEADY,</b><br /></span> +<span>Of the Kentucky Institution for the Blind.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span><i>To the shades of Milton and Beethoven</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Silence and Darkness, solemn sisters, twins<br /></span> +<span>From ancient Night, who nursed the tender thought<br /></span> +<span>To reason, and on reason build resolve—<br /></span> +<span>That column—of true majesty in man—<br /></span> +<span>Assist me—I will thank you in the grave."—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><i>Night Thoughts</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>DARKNESS.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Go, bring the harp that once with dirges thrilled,<br /></span> +<span>But now hangs hushed in leaden slumbers,<br /></span> +<span>Save when the faltering hand untimely chilled<br /></span> +<span>Steals o'er its chords in broken numbers.<br /></span> +<span>It hangs in halls where shades of sorrow dwell,<br /></span> +<span>Where echoless Silence tolls the passing bell,<br /></span> +<span>Where shadowless Darkness weaves the shrouding spell<br /></span> +<span>Of parting joys and parting years.<br /></span> +<span>Go, bring it me, sweet friend, and ere we part,<br /></span> +<span>A lay I'll frame, so sad 'twill wring thy heart<br /></span> +<span>Of all its pity, all its tears<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>As fitful shadows round me gather fast,<br /></span> +<span>And solemn watch my thoughts are holding,<br /></span> +<span>Comes Memory, Panoramist of the Past.<br /></span> +<span>The rising morn of life unfolding,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298" />Now fade from view all living toil and strife;<br /></span> +<span>Time past is now my present; death, my life;<br /></span> +<span>All that exists is obsolete;<br /></span> +<span>While o'er my soul there steals the pensive glow<br /></span> +<span>Of sainted joys that young years only know,<br /></span> +<span>And past scenes, looming dimly, rise and throw<br /></span> +<span>Their lengthening shadows at my feet.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>I see a morn domed in by pictured skies;<br /></span> +<span>The dew is on its budding pleasures,<br /></span> +<span>The gladsome, early, sunlight on it lies,<br /></span> +<span>And to it from this dark my pent soul flies,<br /></span> +<span>As misers nightly to their treasures.<br /></span> +<span>And, as I look, I see a glittering train,<br /></span> +<span>In airy throng, across the dreamlit plain,<br /></span> +<span>Come dancing, dancing from the tomb;<br /></span> +<span>Flitting in phantom silence on my sight;<br /></span> +<span>In silence, yet all beautiful and bright,<br /></span> +<span>The ghosts of joy, and hope, and bloom.<br /></span> +<span>But passed me by; their lines of fading light<br /></span> +<span>Tell of decay, of youth's and beauty's blight;<br /></span> +<span>Then, like spent meteors shimmering through the night,<br /></span> +<span>The vision melts in closing gloom.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Another day in sable vesture clad,<br /></span> +<span>All drear with new blown pleasures blighted,<br /></span> +<span>Comes blindly groping through the twilight sad,<br /></span> +<span>As one in moonless mists benighted.<br /></span> +<span>O! Day unhappy! could oblivion roll<br /></span> +<span>Its slumberous billows o'er my shrinking soul,<br /></span> +<span>Thee scarce I could, e'en then, forget:<br /></span> +<span>A life, bereft of light, no memory need<br /></span> +<span>To tell of night that ne'er to morning leads,<br /></span> +<span>Of day that is forever set.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299" /> +<span>From yonder sky the noonward sun was torn,<br /></span> +<span>Ere day dawn's rosy hues had banished;<br /></span> +<span>A starless midnight blotted out the morn,<br /></span> +<span>Ere childhood's dewy joys had vanished.<br /></span> +<span>No slow paced twilight ushered in the night;<br /></span> +<span>A spangled web, the Heavens were swept from sight;<br /></span> +<span>The full moon fled and never waned;<br /></span> +<span>And all of Earth that's beautiful and fair.<br /></span> +<span>Became as shadows in the empty air—<br /></span> +<span>A boundless, blackened blank remained!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>I heard the gates of night, with sullen jar,<br /></span> +<span>Close on the cheerful day forever;<br /></span> +<span>Hope from my sky sank like the evening star,<br /></span> +<span>Which finds in darkness, zenith never,<br /></span> +<span>For scarce she knew, blithe offspring of the day,<br /></span> +<span>How there to shine, where night held boundless sway;<br /></span> +<span>And shapes of beauty, grace and bloom,<br /></span> +<span>And fair-formed joys that once around me danced,<br /></span> +<span>Bewildered grew, where sunbeams never glanced,<br /></span> +<span>And lost their way in that wide gloom.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Pensylla, o'er me many sunless years<br /></span> +<span>Have flown, since last the beams of heaven,<br /></span> +<span>The soft ascent of morn through smiles and tears,<br /></span> +<span>The sweet descent of dreamy even—<br /></span> +<span>Or sight of wood and fields in green arrayed,<br /></span> +<span>Vernal resplendence or Autumnal shade,<br /></span> +<span>Or Winter's gloom or Summer's blaze;<br /></span> +<span>Bird, beast or works that trophy man's abode,<br /></span> +<span>Or he divine, the image of his God,<br /></span> +<span>Met my rapt gaze.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300" /> +<span>Look, gentle guide! Thou see'st the imperial sun<br /></span> +<span>Forth sending far his ambient glory,<br /></span> +<span>O'er laughing fields and frowning highlands dun,<br /></span> +<span>O'er glancing streams and woodlands hoary.<br /></span> +<span>In orient clouds he steeps his amber hair,<br /></span> +<span>With beams far slanting through the flaming air,<br /></span> +<span>Bids Earth, with all her hymning sound, declare<br /></span> +<span>The praise of everlasting light.<br /></span> +<span>On my bared head I felt his pitying ray,<br /></span> +<span>He loves to shine on my benighted way;<br /></span> +<span>But ah, Pensylla! he brings to me no day—<br /></span> +<span>Nor yet his setting, deeper night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Prime gift of God, that veil'st His sovereign throne,<br /></span> +<span>And dost of Him in sense remind me—<br /></span> +<span>Blest light of Heaven, why hast thou from me flown?<br /></span> +<span>To these sad shades, why hast resigned me?<br /></span> +<span>On pinions of surpassing beauty borne,<br /></span> +<span>When Nature hails the glad advance of morn,<br /></span> +<span>In thine unsullied loveliness.<br /></span> +<span>Thou com'st; but to my darkened eyes in vain—<br /></span> +<span>My night, e'en in the noon of thy domain,<br /></span> +<span>Yields not to thee, since joy of thine again<br /></span> +<span>Can ne'er my dayless being bless.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span><b>SILENCE.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Next, Silence, fit companion of the Night,<br /></span> +<span>In drearier depths my being steeping,<br /></span> +<span>Like the felt presence of an unseen sprite,<br /></span> +<span>With muffled tread comes creeping, creeping.<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301" />Before me close her smothering curtain swings,<br /></span> +<span>And o'er my life a shadeless shadow flings;<br /></span> +<span>Sinking with pitiless weight, and slow<br /></span> +<span>To shroud the last sweet glimpse of Earth and Man,<br /></span> +<span>And set my limits to the narrow span<br /></span> +<span>Of but an arm's length here below.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>O, whither shall I fly, this stroke to shun?<br /></span> +<span>Where turn me, this side death and heaven?<br /></span> +<span>Almost I would my course on earth were run,<br /></span> +<span>And all to Night and Silence given!<br /></span> +<span>I turn to man: can he but with me mourn?<br /></span> +<span>Alike we're helpless, and, as bubbles borne,<br /></span> +<span>We to a common haven float.<br /></span> +<span>To Him, th' All-seeing and All-hearing One,<br /></span> +<span>Behold, I turn! More hid than he there's none,<br /></span> +<span>More silent none, none more remote!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Alas, Pensylla, stay that pious tear!<br /></span> +<span>Now nearer come, I fain thy voice would hear,<br /></span> +<span>Like music when the soul is dreaming;<br /></span> +<span>Like music dropping from a far off sphere,<br /></span> +<span>Heard by the good, when life's end draweth near.<br /></span> +<span>It faintly comes, a spirit seeming,<br /></span> +<span>The sounds at once entrance me, ear and soul:<br /></span> +<span>The voice of winds and waves, the thunder's roll.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The steed's proud neigh, and lamb's meek plaint,<br /></span> +<span>The hum of bees, and vesper hymn of birds,<br /></span> +<span>The rural harmony of flocks and herds,<br /></span> +<span>The song of joy, or praise, and man's sweet words—<br /></span> +<span>Come to me fainter—yet more faint<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302" />Was my poor soul to God's great works so dull.<br /></span> +<span>That they from her must hide forever?<br /></span> +<span>Earth too replete with joy, too beautiful,<br /></span> +<span>For me, ingrate, that we must sever?<br /></span> +<span>For by sweet scented airs that round me blow,<br /></span> +<span>By transient showers, the sun's impassioned glow,<br /></span> +<span>And smell of woods and fields, alone I know<br /></span> +<span>Of Spring's approach, and Summer's bloom;<br /></span> +<span>And by the pure air, void of odors sweet,<br /></span> +<span>By noontide beams, low slanting, without heat,<br /></span> +<span>By rude winds, cumbering snows, and hazardous sleet,<br /></span> +<span>Of Autumn's blight and Winter's gloom<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>As at the entrance of an untrod cave,<br /></span> +<span>I shrink—so hushed the shades and sombre.<br /></span> +<span>This death of sense makes life a breathing grave,<br /></span> +<span>A vital death, a waking slumber!<br /></span> +<span>'Tis as the light itself of God were fled—<br /></span> +<span>So dark is all around, so still, so dead;<br /></span> +<span>Nor hope of change, one ray I find!<br /></span> +<span>Yet must submit. Though fled fore'er the light,<br /></span> +<span>Though utter silence bring me double night,<br /></span> +<span>Though to my insulated mind,<br /></span> +<span>Knowledge her richest pages ne'er unfold,<br /></span> +<span>And "human face divine" I ne'er behold—<br /></span> +<span>Yet must submit, must be resigned!<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>TO THE SHADES.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>To thee, blind Milton, solemn son of night,<br /></span> +<span>Great exile once from day's dominion bright,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303" />Whose genius, steeped in truth and glory,<br /></span> +<span>Like some wide orb of new created light,<br /></span> +<span>Rose, in the world, bewildering mortals' sight—<br /></span> +<span>I'll sing till earth's young hills grow hoary!<br /></span> +<span>For what of joy I've found in life's dark way,<br /></span> +<span>And what of excellence have reached I may,<br /></span> +<span>Much, much is due thy wondrous rhyme,<br /></span> +<span>Which sang the triumphs of Eternal Truth,<br /></span> +<span>Revealed blest glimpses of immortal youth,<br /></span> +<span>Of Heaven, e'er angels sang of time:<br /></span> +<span>Of light, that o'er the embryon tumult broke,<br /></span> +<span>Of earth, when all the stars symphonious woke,<br /></span> +<span>Till man, as if from Heaven a seraph spoke,<br /></span> +<span>Entranced, hung on thy strains sublime.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Day closes on the earth his one bright eye,<br /></span> +<span>That Night, her starry lids unsealing,<br /></span> +<span>May ope her thousand in a loftier sky,<br /></span> +<span>God's higher mysteries revealing.<br /></span> +<span>So when thy day from thee its light withdrew,<br /></span> +<span>And o'er the night its rueful shadows threw,<br /></span> +<span>And "from the cheerful ways of men"<br /></span> +<span>Thy steps cut off, thy mind, thick set with eyes,<br /></span> +<span>As night with stars, piercing thy shrouded skies,<br /></span> +<span>And proving most illumined then,<br /></span> +<span>When darkest seeming, soared on cherub wings—<br /></span> +<span>Those star-eyed wings—higher than ever springs<br /></span> +<span>The beam of day, to see, and tell of things<br /></span> +<span>Invisible to mortal ken.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>O'er earth thy numbers shall not cease to roll<br /></span> +<span>Till man to live, who to them hearkened;<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304" />Thy fame, no less immortal than thy soul,<br /></span> +<span>Shall shine when yon proud sun is darkened.<br /></span> +<span>Thee, now, methinks, I see, O bard divine!<br /></span> +<span>Where ripen no fair joys that are not thine,<br /></span> +<span>And God's full love is pleased on thee to shine,<br /></span> +<span>Still by the heavenly Muses fired,<br /></span> +<span>And starred among the angelic minstrel band,<br /></span> +<span>The sacred lyre thou sway'st with sovereign hand,<br /></span> +<span>While seraphs, in awed rapture, round thee stand,<br /></span> +<span>As one by God himself inspired.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Sublime Beethoven, wizard king of sound,<br /></span> +<span>Once exiled from thy realm, yet not discrowned—<br /></span> +<span>Assist me; since my spirit, thrilling<br /></span> +<span>With thy surpassing strains, is mute, spell bound;<br /></span> +<span>For through the hush of years they still resound,<br /></span> +<span>With music weird my spent ear filling.<br /></span> +<span>When Silence clasped thee in her dismal spell,<br /></span> +<span>And Earth born Music sang her sad farewell;<br /></span> +<span>Thy mighty Genius, as in scorn,<br /></span> +<span>Arose in silent majesty to dwell,<br /></span> +<span>Where from symphonic spheres thou heard'st to swell,<br /></span> +<span>As on celestial breezes borne,<br /></span> +<span>Sounds, scarce by angels heard, e'en in their dreams;<br /></span> +<span>Which, at thy bidding, wrought a thousand themes,<br /></span> +<span>And pouring down in rich pellucid streams,<br /></span> +<span>Filled organ grand and resonant horn;<br /></span> +<span>With rarest sweetness touched each dulcet string,<br /></span> +<span>Made martial bugle and bold clarion ring,<br /></span> +<span>Soft flute provoked like the lone bird of spring,<br /></span> +<span>To warble lays of love forlorn;<br /></span> +<span>Woke shrilly reed to many a pastoral note<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305" />Thrilled witching lyre and lips melodious smote,<br /></span> +<span>Till earth, in tuneful ether, seemed to float—<br /></span> +<span>As when first sang the stars of morn!<br /></span> +<span>Till wondering angels were entranced to chime,<br /></span> +<span>With harp and choral tongue, thy strains sublime<br /></span> +<span>And bear thy soul beyond the reach of time,<br /></span> +<span>Heaven's halls harmonious to adorn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Ah, me! could I with ken angelic, scan<br /></span> +<span>Celestial glories hid from mortal man,<br /></span> +<span>I'd deem this night a day supernal!<br /></span> +<span>Could music, borne from some far singing sphere,<br /></span> +<span>Float sweetly down and thrill my stricken ear,<br /></span> +<span>I'd pray this hush might be eternal!<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>RESIGNATION.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Pensylla, look! With tremulous points of fire,<br /></span> +<span>The sun, red-sinking lights yon distant spire<br /></span> +<span>O'er leafy hill and blossoming meadows,<br /></span> +<span>Spreads wide and level his departing beams,<br /></span> +<span>Then sinks to rest, as one sure of sweet dreams,<br /></span> +<span>'Mid pillowing clouds and curtaining shadows.<br /></span> +<span>Night draws her lucid shade o'er sky and earth;<br /></span> +<span>Solemn and bright, Heaven's starry eyes look forth;<br /></span> +<span>The evening hymn of praise and song of mirth<br /></span> +<span>Rise gratefully from man's abode.<br /></span> +<span>O, Night! I love her sombre majesty!<br /></span> +<span>'Tis sweet, her double solitude, to me!<br /></span> +<span>Pensylla, leave me now! Alone I'd be<br /></span> +<span>With Darkness, Silence and my God.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306" /> +<span>O Thou, whose shadow is but light's excess,<br /></span> +<span>The echo of whose voice but silentness,<br /></span> +<span>Whose light and music, half expended,<br /></span> +<span>Would flood, dissolve the sphery frame; 'twixt whom<br /></span> +<span>And man no endless night can throw its gloom<br /></span> +<span>Till long Eternity is ended—<br /></span> +<span>Which ne'er shall end—to thee, my trust, I turn!<br /></span> +<span>To one, for whom in vain thy lamps now burn,<br /></span> +<span>A hearing deign; nor from thy footstool spurn<br /></span> +<span>The prayer of an imprisoned mind.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Father, thy sun is set; night veils the world,<br /></span> +<span>That orbs more beauteous be to man unfurled,<br /></span> +<span>Then in my Night, let me but find<br /></span> +<span>New realms, where thought and fancy may rejoice;<br /></span> +<span>Let its long silence ne'er displace Thy voice<br /></span> +<span>From whispering hope and peace, 'twere my choice<br /></span> +<span>To be thus smitten deaf and blind!<br /></span> +<span>Fill me with light and music from above,<br /></span> +<span>And so inspire with truth, faith, courage, love,<br /></span> +<span>That Thou and man my work can well approve—<br /></span> +<span>Father, to all I'm then resigned!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Harp of the mournful voice, now fare thee well!<br /></span> +<span>My sad song ended, ended is thy spell.<br /></span> +<span>Perchance thine echoes, memory haunting,<br /></span> +<span>May oft awaken, shadowing forth the swell<br /></span> +<span>Of long sung monody and long tolled knell,<br /></span> +<span>And o'er the dead past, dirges chanting;<br /></span> +<span>But for me, ever hang in Sorrow's hall!<br /></span> +<span>Bid Night and Silence spread oblivion's pall<br /></span> +<span>O'er earthly blooming joys, that seared must fall<br /></span> +<span><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307" />And leave the stricken soul to weep:—<br /></span> +<span>Ever, till this devoted head be hoar,<br /></span> +<span>And the swart angel whispering at the door;<br /></span> +<span>When I thy slumbers may disturb once more.<br /></span> +<span>Ere double night bring double sleep,<br /></span> +<span>Till then, I sing in happier, bolder strain:<br /></span> +<span>What's lost to me is God's; what's left, for pain<br /></span> +<span>Or joy still His: and endless day, His reign:<br /></span> +<span>And reckoning of my Night He'll keep!<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308" /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>AUTUMN.</b><br /></span> +<span><b>BY ELLENOR J. JONES,</b><br /></span> +<span>Of the Indiana Institution.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Oh Autumn, sweet sad Autumn queen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With robe of golden brown,<br /></span> +<span>Our hearts are bowed with grief and pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As each leaf flutters down.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>In every drooping flow'ret,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In every leafless tree,<br /></span> +<span>By warbling birds deserted,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We find some trace of thee.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Thou'rt lovely, oh, so lovely,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And yet how brief thy stay,<br /></span> +<span>Why is it all things beautiful<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Must droop and fade away?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>All, all thy gorgeous painted leaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With colors bright and gay,<br /></span> +<span>Were touched by nature's magic brush,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then rudely cast away.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>And thus our dearest hopes are crushed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By fate's relentless will,<br /></span> +<span>Like withered leaves they pass away—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But peace, sad heart, be still.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Thou too must breast the adverse wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Be wildly tempest-tossed,<br /></span> +<span>Perhaps when thou art hushed in death,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou'lt meet the loved and lost.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309" /> +<span>But for this sweetly, solemn thought<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That thrills us with delight,<br /></span> +<span>This life, so marred by grief and pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Could never seem so bright.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Then welcome, sweet, sad Autumn days,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Though brief the hallowed reign,<br /></span> +<span>For every smile must have its tear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And every joy its pain.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310" /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>A TIME FOR ALL THINGS.</b><br /></span> +<span><b>BY ELLEN COYN,</b><br /></span> +<span>Of the Arkansas Institution.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>I sat down at the window, where<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I oft had calmed my ruffled feeling,<br /></span> +<span>For summer evening's balmy air<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Has for the wounded spirit healing.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>That morning I had been quite glad,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For hope had prospects bright in keeping,<br /></span> +<span>But fortune changed, and I was sad,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And there I sat in silence weeping.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>'Tis vain I said to hope for good,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or cherish bliss for one short hour,<br /></span> +<span>If morn puts forth a fragrant bud,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere night 'tis but a withered flower.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>My Bible lay upon the stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In which I'd ofttimes found a blessing,<br /></span> +<span>I quickly took the book in hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In hope to learn a useful lesson.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>I read upon its open page,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"There is a time and purpose given,<br /></span> +<span>It has been so from age to age,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For everything that's under Heaven."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311" /> +<span>'Tis vain and wrong to wish, I thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That life with me be always sunny,<br /></span> +<span>My cup with bitter never fraught,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But always overflown with honey<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>When fortune frowns I'll not despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I'll only weep away my sorrow,<br /></span> +<span>'Twill ease my heart and brow of care,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I'll laugh when joy returns to-morrow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312" /></p> +<div><br /></div> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i-4"><b>DRIFTING</b>.<br /></span> +<span><b>BY ELLENOR J. JONES.</b><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>We are drifting on the sea of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like ships we're tempest-tossed,<br /></span> +<span>And 'mid this world of care and strife<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How many are wrecked and lost!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Our vessels are sometimes set afloat,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Neath a bright and cloudless sky,<br /></span> +<span>But far in the distance hid from view,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The breakers are sure to lie.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Others are launched on an angry sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When the waves are dashing high,<br /></span> +<span>And the wild winds give a ghostly tone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the curlew's troubled cry.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>But the good ship Faith is gaily launched,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For the pilot, Hope, is there,<br /></span> +<span>And Love, with his flaming lamp of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Maketh all things wondrous fair.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>Soon Faith is wrecked by a careless word,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And beautiful Hope is dead,<br /></span> +<span>And Love, with the holy light of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In an angry moment fled.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>And thus on the wide wild sea of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We are drifting day by day,<br /></span> +<span>Without one thought of the solemn truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That we all shall pass away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + +***** This file should be named 14963-h.htm or 14963-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/9/6/14963/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14963-h/images/ill-1.jpg b/14963-h/images/ill-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30ddd59 --- /dev/null +++ b/14963-h/images/ill-1.jpg diff --git a/14963.txt b/14963.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa77d86 --- /dev/null +++ b/14963.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6264 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World As I Have Found It + Sequel to Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl + +Author: Mary L. Day Arms + +Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation have been +retained as in the original.] + +[Illustration: MARY L. DAY ARMS] + + + +THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT. + +SEQUEL TO +Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl. + +BY MARY L. DAY ARMS. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION + +By Rev. Charles F. Deems, LL.D. + +BALTIMORE: +PUBLISHED BY JAMES YOUNG, +112 West Baltimore Street. + + + + + +ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by +MARY L. DAY ARMS, +In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Mrs. Arms has asked me to write an introduction to her book. It hardly +seems to need it. The title-page shows that it was written by one who is +blind. It is a sequel to another volume. That volume has been widely sold, +and all who read it will, I am sure, have some desire to see how the +stream of the life of its writer has been flowing since her first book was +written. Her patient perseverance under privations has won her a large +circle of personal friends, who will take pleasure in procuring and +preserving this fresh memento of the Blind Girl. + +Such a book as this has a value which, probably, has not occurred to its +author. She has put on record the phenomena of her life as she has +recollected them, with great simplicity, merely for the entertainment of +her readers, without attaching any importance to the value which every +such memoir has in the department of science. But it is just from the +study of such phenomena as these that the students in mental and moral +philosophy learn the laws of mind and the operations of a human soul under +a divine, moral government. As a matter of taste we might omit the +writer's description of her husband, whom she never yet has seen, p. 45, +and her account of her love affairs, p. 49; and if we had discretionary +editorship, and the volume had been written by one having always had her +sight, we should unhesitatingly exclude such passages. But, as the records +of the impressions, consciousnesses and general mental phenomena of a +blind girl _in love_, they stand to be, perhaps, quoted hereafter in some +abstruse scientific treatise, or bloom out in some perennial poem. + +There is an immediate practical usefulness in such a book as this. It has +its wholesome lesson for the young. It shows what strength of character +and vigor of purpose will accomplish under even extraordinary +embarrassments. The young lady had a hard early life. She had neither +friends nor money nor sight, but she unwhiningly took up the task of +taking care of herself, and discharged it so nobly as to make for herself +a wide circle of friends, and keep for herself that sense of self-reliance +as toward man, and of faith as toward God, which are worth more than all +the dirty dollars that wickedness can give to weakness. + +Let our young women who are in straitened circumstances, in circumstances +that seem absolutely exclusive of all hope of retaining virtue and keeping +life, read this book and its predecessor, and pluck up faith and hope. Let +all our young ladies, daughters of loving parents, daughters who have no +care for the morrow, daughters of delicious ease and happy opportunity, +read this book, and then let their consciences ask them how they are to +carry their idleness to be examined at the judgment sent of Christ, in +contrast with this blind girl's industry, fidelity and perseverance. + +CHARLES F. DEEMS. +CHURCH OF THE STRANGERS, +New York, 4th July, 1878. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Warriors and statesmen have their meed of praise, + And what they do, or suffer, men record; + While the long sacrifice of woman's days + Passes without a thought, without a word: + And many a holy struggle for the sake + Of duty, _sternly_, _faithfully_ fulfil'd; + For which the anxious soul must watch and wait, + Goes by unheeded as the summer wind, + And leaves no _memory_, and no trace behind! + Yet, it may be, more lofty courage dwells + In one meek heart that braves an adverse fate, + Than his whose ardent soul indignant swells, + Warmed by the fight, or cheered through high debate. + The soldier dies surrounded; could he _live + Alone_ to suffer, and alone to strive?" + +So was rendered the sad soul-music of one of the legion, + + "Who learned in sorrow + What they taught in song." + +and the weird words have been echoed by the voice of many a woman all +along, whose weary wanderings have burned the sacrificial fires; amid the +ashes of whose dead hopes the embers have flickered and faded only to +rekindle the lurid, lustrous light of added, and still added offerings. +There, waiting and watching the deep tracery "upon the sands beside the +sounding sea," find wave after wave wash away the mystic hand-writing. + +The ebbing tide carries afar the ships freighted with aching, anguished +hearts; when borne upon the swell of the flowing sea, come the swift sails +of Argosies richly laden with hope, full with fruition. + +Within the heart of all there lies deeply imbedded the "Black Drop" of +which the Mahometan legend tells, and which the angel revealed to the +Prophet of Allah. 'Tis in aching anguish this drop must be probed and +purified, to be healed only through the endless eloquence of duty done. + +The sightless eyes have vivid visions. Theirs is the light in darkness +which stirred the soul of a Milton with a "gift divine;" inspired a Homer +with the "fire and frenzy" which crowned an Iliad and an Odyssey, the +master pieces of Epic verse; gave to the antique and traditional +literature of the Celtic race its meteoric brilliancy, and produced the +weird, wondrous sublimity of an Ossian. + +All who have read the Invocation to Light by the blind authoress, Mrs. De +Kroyft, must have realized the luminous light of a soul sublimated by +sorrow and swelling and soaring in eloquent strains. + +'Tis but a simple song I must sing, a bird-note amid cathedral tones; but +may not its minstrelsy meet the heart and search the soul of many a +sorrowing one, or rise like the song of the nightingale to the throne of +Him who sees the lives enthralled? + +If this little lesson of life can find a single searcher for the truth it +tells, or bear on the breath of the breeze "one soft AEolian strain," may I +not hope that it may help to swell the harp-notes of the heavenly +harmonies? + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "I remember, I remember + How my childhood fleeted by-- + The mirth of its December, + And the warmth of its July." + + +In a former volume I have recounted the varied scenes of an eventful +childhood, whose auroral dawn was tinted with the rose-hue and perfumed +with the breath of light-winged moments; even as the Goddess of the +Morning ushers in the new-born day with her flower-laden chariot, and the +bright Morning Star lends its light ere it sinks under the horizon. + +Having my birth on the rich soil of a Southern land, and cradled under its +tropical skies and sunny smiles, I was early transplanted to colder climes +and ruder blasts, yet through the nurture of a mother's gentle hand, and +the ministrations of a loving band of sisters and brothers, whose +talismanic touch toned every note, softened every sorrow and heightened +every hope, I could but bloom like an Alpine flower in its bed of snow. + +But in the golden chain there came to be, in time, a "missing link;" the +mother's life went out, and from the darkened fireside vanished the little +flock, scattered through various ways to various destinies. + +My own was a slippery path to tread, and ofttimes led my weary feet into +the shadow, and gloom, and darkness. Through sickness, neglect and +maltreatment came all too soon "sorrow's crown of sorrow;" when over the +young life fell a dark pall, and eyes so used to light no longer held the +prisoned sunbeams, and passed forever under the relentless bond and cruel +curse of blindness. Then indeed my soul grew dark! And could my restless +eyes wait in thraldom for the dawn of an eternal day, and must my +wandering feet pass through the "valley of the shadow," ere I could see +the light "around the Great White Throne?" + +Through a singular complication of circumstances I was led to the home of +a sister in Chicago, from whom I had long been separated; and by equally +singular ways I was also there reunited to three of my brothers (Charles, +William and Howard). Then my veiled vision could not shut out the loved +lineaments living in the pictured halls of memory--the vision of a +love-hallowed home, and a mother's face crowning all. Scenes and faces +gone, passed like a panorama before my mind's eye, and + + "So the blessed train passed by me, + But the vision was sealed upon my soul." + +Through the agency of family friends I returned to my birth-place, and +with strange and mingled emotions was welcomed back to Baltimore, with +kind greetings from relatives and friends. Some had passed beyond the +portal of earthly existence, and others unexpectedly reappeared, among +whom was my father, whose face I could not see, but whose emotion +betokened great anguish at the sight of his blind daughter. Oh how many +memories must have passed through his mind, as he clasped to his heart his +chastened, motherless child, and, while other loves and other ties were +his, "the shades of friends departed" as told by Longfellow must have +entered a weird train, and amid other angel footsteps must have come-- + + "That being beauteous + Who unto his youth was given; + More than all things else to love him, + And is now a saint in Heaven." + +Notwithstanding so many former attempts at the restoration of my sight, +another effort was made, involving a trip to New York, where a most +painful operation was undergone. But, alas! although a brief period was +accorded me, in which I saw with rapture objects around me, it was only to +be shut out into utter and hopeless sightlessness. As the wounded hare +seeks some cover remote from the human ken, so did my sinking soul seek +the solace of solitude, where for twenty-four hours I searched my nature +to its depths, and made resolves for my future course, known only to God +and pitying angels. They alone comforted me then, and they have sustained +and soothed through every succeeding trial! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "The saddest day hath gleams of light, + The darkest wave hath bright foam near it. + And, twinkles o'er the cloudiest night, + Some solitary star to cheer it." + + +In the year 1855, my heart still heavy with its burden of blindness, I +entered the Baltimore Institution for the Blind. With kind friends to aid +and cheer me, high hopes, rich resolutions and ambitious aims to inspire, +I commenced the course of study which was to fit me for my new avocations. +Ofttimes was I found in the deep valley of humiliation, where I sat me +down and sighed; and in many a "Garden of Gethsemane" were seen the +trickling "tears of blood." The cross and the crucifixion came, but +afterwards came the resurrection of dead hopes and angels bearing the +crown. + +I must say with undying gratitude to all connected with the Institution, +that it is to them I am indebted for the might and the mastery; for while +many a daisy was crushed in my path, many a rose bloomed upon a thorny +stem, and these kind ones led me at last to the sun-crowned mountain-tops +and clear blue skies. + +After being in school for three years, without consulting with any friend, +I wrote, with much difficulty, a letter with pin-type, to Governor Hicks, +asking a three years extension of time. I preserved secrecy in this matter +in the fear of disappointment, and determined if it came to bear it alone. +One day a professor called me to him and said: "You have written to the +Governor, and his reply has come." With anxious, nervous silence, I +"waited for the verdict," and when it came in an affirmative, how happy +and joyous I felt! How determined to push on to the bright goal before me! + +Meantime I had written a history of my life, and through assistance from +ever kind friends had succeeded in securing its publication. A copy of it +was sent to the Governor, as a tiny token of my appreciation of his +kindness. I afterward accompanied a delegation from our school to +Annapolis, where we gave an entertainment. The Governor, coming up to our +little group, said, in cheerful tones, "I am going to see if I can +recognize the one who wrote the book." And in pursuance of this +announcement, easily selected me, and with kindly tones and hearty grasp +of the hand, spoke many words of comfort, which are still carefully held +in my casket of gems as + + "Treasures guarded with jealous care + And kept as sacred tokens." + +Continuing my course of studies, I graduated in 1860 with, I hope, a fair +degree of honor to myself and my instructors. Just previous to this time +there came among our many visitors a good friend from Loudon county, +Virginia, named Richard Henry Taylor, who promised if I would visit his +home he would furnish me every facility for the sale of my book; and of +him I shall have more to say hereafter. + +Now commenced the real struggle of life. Alone I must brave the world, and +with patience bear its frowns or enjoy its smiles, as the case might be. +Alone I must earn my bread. + +Meagre were many times the means and scanty was the allowance, yet they +came in the hour of need as manna in the wilderness, ofttimes wet with the +dews of heavenly love; and ever, in my laborious pilgrimage, I have been +allowed to stand upon Mount Gerizim, to bless the people and the "rulers +of the land." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Let us then be up and doing + With a heart for any fate; + Still achieving, still pursuing, + Learn to labor and to wait." + + +Deeming it proper to inaugurate my work in our nation's capital, I left my +"Alma Mater" with all the trepidation of a child going out from the +home-roof, and rushed into the exciting and excited vortex, where +centralize our national interests, and where, as it were, throbs the great +national heart, the city of Washington. I was kindly received at the house +of my cousin, Mrs. Reese, in which sanctum my heart took fresh hope and +courage. This was during the administration of Mr. Buchanan, and I first +repaired to the bachelor President, who received me in his private +audience-room with all of his characteristic and chivalrous courtesy. +Taking both my hands in his, he said, with deep emotion--"I am so sorry +for your deep affliction, but so glad that you have had the energy to +write a book and the courage to make it a resource for support. I pray +that God may bless and prosper you, and I know he will." + +After this expression of his faith he showed his works by buying a book, +for which he paid me two dollars and a half, more than double its price. +So spoke, so did, the noble man, in whose heart was enshrined the memory +of one cherished love, the idolized object of which precluded the +possibility of a second affection, while the grand heart of the statesman +went out in kindness and sympathy to all. + +My second call was at one of the government offices, where my nervous +excitement rendered me so nearly speechless that I could only silently and +tremblingly tender a book to a young man who was one of the clerks. Seeing +the movement, he asked: + +"Do you wish, to sell the book?" to which I nodded an affirmative. + +He turned jocularly toward me, and asked: "Were you ever in love?" + +Speech suddenly followed in the wake of offended dignity, and I promptly +replied: "Sir, I try to love every one." + +"But," said he, in soaring strain, "suppose a young man should say to +you--'You are the cherished idol of my worship, the one sweet flower +blooming in my pathway, etc., etc.' what would you think?" + +I quickly responded: "Sir, I should think he had more poetry than good +sense in his composition." + +Pleased, and apparently thoughtful, he turned from me, and going among the +other employees, returned with the money for a dozen copies of my book in +his hand, and on his lips a penitent and evidently heartfelt assurance +that he meant no harm or insult by his words, humbly craved my pardon for +the offense, and closed by wishing me many God speeds. + +My next effort was in the Treasury Department, where the first person I +approached exclaimed: + +"Mary Day! where did you come from?" This exclamation was followed by many +other expressions of joy and surprise. Suddenly the loving arm of a young +girl encircled me. Kisses fell upon my forehead, cheek and lips, and words +of endearment came in copious pearly showers. At the first lull in the +sweet confusion I asked: "Who are you all?" + +The first proved to be a brother of Mrs. Cook, of Michigan, who had been +so kind to me in the past, and the second was her daughter, who rapidly +recounted by-gone scenes, and lovingly lingered upon the many cherished +memories my presence had evoked. They took me to their home in the city, +and lavished upon me all the kindness and attention love could suggest. +Among the many reminiscences came the one sad story of the father's death. +In one of the darkest, sternest hours of my childhood he had held out to +me the kind, paternal hand, and welcomed me to the protection of his own +roof, and the story of his death deeply interested me. It was in substance +this: + +The family had returned from some festive scene on Christmas eve, and the +father, leaving them to stable his horses, was so long absent as to +arouse anxiety. They sought him everywhere, but found him not. After a +night of untold suspense the morning revealed to them the shocking sight +of his dead body lying in the corner of an adjoining lot, his face smiling +and peaceful in death, his arms folded and limbs outstretched. He had been +cruelly gored by a creature he had fed and fostered, cherishing it as a +pet among his domestic animals, and it had turned upon him as many +so-called human creatures repay those who have protected and loved them! + +They knew not whether his wounds or the intense cold had been the final +cause of death, but such was the sad dawning of their Christmas day, and +so, amid the joy of my reunion with those dear friends, came the sad +thought that-- + + Ever amid life's roses + Will the sombre cypress be twined, + And wherever a joy reposes, + A dream of sorrow we find. + +I feel it due to the various government officials at Washington to give +them an expression of gratitude for the great facilities afforded me in +the way of permits to canvass in the many public departments, knowing +their strict rules and rigid restrictions in this regard. + +I was volunteered an entree everywhere, from the humblest government +office to the Capitol and White House, and in each and all was courteously +received. In subsequent years I had also great reason for gratitude to Mr. +Colfax, who not only gave his own patronage, but presented me to Congress, +the members of which vied with each other in liberality. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "Thus, with delight, we linger to survey + The promised joys of life's unmeasured way; + Thus, from afar, each dim discovered scene + More pleasing seems than all the rest hath been; + And every form that fancy can repair + From dark oblivion, glows divinely there." + + +My nature, in its first struggle with the world, shrank, like Mimosa, from +every human touch; but the kind words of love and gentle acts of kindness +already received transformed and ripened within me a more trusting and +hopeful character, and I almost unconsciously accepted as immutable and +inevitable the great law of compensation. + +It is well that it was in the season of youth that my career began, that +season which Jean Paul so poetically designates as "The Festival Day of +Life," in which period friendship dwells as yet in a serenely open Grecian +Temple, not, as in later years, in a narrow Gothic Chapel. + +My heart accepting as genuine these pure expressions of friendship, I +turned from Washington toward Virginia, and after a visit at Leesburg, in +which I had good success, I wrote to Mr. Taylor, the friend I have before +mentioned, asking him to meet me at Hamilton, which point was reached by +the old-time stage-route. Some doubt may have entered my mind as to his +remembrance of the promise to meet me, all of which must have been +dispelled when, upon the arrival of the stage, a cheery, gentle voice, in +a tone which would have filled the darkest moment of doubt with the +sun-ray of trust, exclaimed: "How does thee do, Mary?" Miss Rachel Weaver, +my companion, was a bright-eyed, sunny-hearted, English girl, whose +presence irradiated the atmosphere around her. She was presented to him, +and received the same quiet yet cordial greeting. His carriage was in +waiting for us, and a refreshing drive of three miles brought us to his +cozy home. The reception given us by his excellent wife was characterized +by all the depth and warmth of her expanded and exalted nature, and we +were at once domiciled as truly "at home." + +The next day was the beginning of their Quarterly Meeting, and the +impressions of a life-time can never efface the varied pictures stamped +upon memory by each phase of that religious gathering. Not in a gorgeous +chapel of Gothic architecture, frescoed nave and highly wrought transept; +no stained glass windows of rainbow hue; no gorgeously draped altar or +elaborate organ; but in a simple wooden meeting-house, upon a gently +sloping grassy seclusion, came the feet of those "who went up to the +worship of God." No robed priest with consecrated head was there, but +_all_ were privileged to express with the lips the heart's devotion. + +Mr. Taylor carried to this meeting a number of my little books, and I am +safe in saying that each member of that community bought one of them. + +At noon we partook of a collation upon the lovely green sward, where sweet +words solaced and kind hands tendered me hospitality. Prominent among the +guests was Mrs. Hoag, a lady of lovely character and cultured mind, who +insisted upon having us accompany her to her home, a mansion rich and +elegant in its appointments, and, above all, its halls resounding with the +music of innocent mirth, and hung with the "golden tapestry" of love. + +We remained in this community four weeks, a sweet "season of refreshment," +which so gently glided away that we awoke, like those aroused from +peaceful sleep and dear dreams of pleasure, renewed and buoyant. + +Our farewell was not unmingled with sad regret at parting, but upon my +return to Baltimore my friends failed not to note the favorable change in +my physical and mental condition. So talismanic is the touch of love, so +inspiring and life giving! and 'tis to this dear community of Louden +county, Virginia, I shall ever trace the first impetus which has given +momentum to all the subsequent movements of my life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "The muffled drum's sad roll has beat + The soldier's last tattoo: + No more on life's parade shall meet + That brave and fallen few; + On fame's eternal camping ground + Their silent tents are spread, + And glory guards, with solemn round, + The bivouac of the dead." + + +After a short period of reunion with friends in Baltimore, I resolved, +notwithstanding the agitated condition of the country, to wend my way +southward, for I restlessly yearned for an active continuation of duty. + +Miss Weaver having other engagements, it became necessary for me to seek +another traveling companion. Trusting to the good fortune which had +hitherto favored me in that regard, I engaged the services of Miss Mary +Chase, who proved a valuable attendant, combining in her character so many +graces and endowments, possessing, among her numerous attractions, a +voice of rare, rich and mellow flexibility. + +My uncle, Mr. Heald, having an interest in the Bay Line of steamers, his +son, my cousin, Howard Heald, attended me to the steamer Belvidere, +introduced me to the captain, and took every precautionary measure to +enhance the pleasure of my trip. Subsequent events proved how salutary +were these efforts. The captain did all that polite attention and study of +my comfort could suggest, attended us to the table, pointed out the +workings of the engine, the complications of the machinery and propelling +power of the steamer, which so airily and so gracefully "walked the +waters," directed attention to every object of note on the route and their +charm of historic interest, thus making the trip one replete with +instruction. Miss Chase, with the melody of a song-bird, drew around us a +circle of charmed listeners, and her voice became a source of constant and +soothing solace to me. + +Arriving at the city of Richmond at the untimely hour of four o'clock in +the morning, at the solicitation of the captain we remained on board until +a later and more convenient time, when we found the streets of the city +alive with soldiers and filled with sad sounds of sword and musketry, the +first low reverberation of the din of war, the opening of the battle-song, +whose weird refrain has been echoed by so many sorrowing ones, its mad +music adapted to the thousands of crushed and broken hearts! + +The little war-cloud, at first "no larger than a man's hand," was growing +deeper and darker, and the stern rumble of the conflict becoming +irrepressible. Every avenue in the way of business was closed, and being +told that if I desired remaining north of Mason and Dixon's line I must go +at once, I retraced my steps, and returned by the James river, since so +memorable in the history of our civil conflict, and sought shelter in +Baltimore, where I remained for the winter; and while so many relatives +and friends would have welcomed me to their homes, I felt impelled to +accept an invitation to the institution in which I had been educated, and +could enjoy the association of those who had first directed my tottering +steps, and my schoolmates, who were friends and co-workers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "But if chains are woven shining, + Firm as gold and fine as hair, + Twisting round the heart, and twining. + Binding all that centres there + In a knot that, like the olden, + May be cut, but ne'er unfolden; + Would not something sharp remain + In the breaking of the chain?" + + +Spring came with its "ethereal mildness" and budding beauty, and the ties +which bound me to the Monumental City must, although with convulsive +effort, be broken. + +Miss Chase was but "a treasure lent," her sweet, loving nature having won +the heart of one who made her his life companion; hence it became +necessary for me to find another to fill her place. She came in the person +of Miss Kate Fowler, a lovely young girl of seventeen years, who possessed +great charms of person, mind and soul, as the sequel will show. + +We traveled together throughout Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, +meeting with greater success than we could have hoped for while the din of +war was raging, always making sufficient for our support. + +At Hollidaysburgh, Penn., I learned of the presence of General Anderson, +and resolved that I would offer a tangible evidence of my appreciation of +the "Hero of Fort Sumter." Entwining one of my little books with red, +white and blue ribbons, I sent it to him with a little note, asking its +acceptance from the authoress, a Baltimore lady, in behalf of her native +city, then under a cloud, the Massachusetts troops having been stoned by a +mob collected from various points, and for which she bore the undeserved +odium. These I sent in their tri-colored dress, expecting only a silent +reception. But, as I sat at dinner in my hotel, there came a singular and +unexpected response in the person of the General himself. He was +introduced by the landlord, and was accompanied by his little daughter, +holding in her hand my token, as she smilingly approached me in her +fairy-like beauty. A delightful chat ensued, and an urgent request upon +his part that I should visit Cresson Springs, to which he had resorted +with his family in order to recuperate his health, shattered by the +protracted and gallant defense of one of our national citadels. + +With a kind "good bye" he left, and as I passed out of the dining-room +door I received an evidence of his great delicacy in a token he would not +publicly tender. The landlord handed me a box from him containing a +handsome plain gold ring, ever since cherished as a memento; and, although +worn by time, there is still legible the name engraved within this shining +circlet, even that of General Anderson. + +After canvassing Altoona I went to Cresson Springs and was no sooner +registered than I received a card from the General. Meeting me in the +parlor, he gave me a cordial welcome, after which he said: "Now I am going +to assist you in your sales." He drew together three of the parlor tables, +and, taking one hundred of my books, he placed them thereon, together with +specimens of my bead work, which he artistically arranged in the national +colors. It needed but a wave of the magician's wand, for such he seemed, +to evoke the spirits of generosity and love, and through these all of my +volumes vanished, as well as much of the bead work. At General Anderson's +request I took my work to the parlor, and amid a group of wondering ones, +many of whom were members of his own family, I showed them how the blind +could deftly weave these little trinkets, the fashioning of the "bijou" +baskets needing no sight to arrange the colors, with celerity and skill. I +was also, at his request, seated at his family table, and time will never +erase the memory of words which fell from the lips of the warrior, as +gently, as lovingly, as if a woman's voice were breathing words of comfort +and affection. In after time, when tidings of his death were borne from a +foreign land, when the perfumed breath of sunny France received the last +sigh of our hero, I dropped many a tear, which truly welled up from the +depths of a sorrowing heart. + +In the winter I made Philadelphia my head-quarters, stopping at the home +of Mr. and Mrs. Mack, both of whom were blind when married, and who both +possess great musical talent, which they utilized by teaching piano music, +thus earning a handsome support and purchasing the home they then +occupied, a tasteful, comfortable domicile. It was well for me I selected +this spot, for it afterward proved "a City of Refuge." I was soon +prostrated with a severe typhoid fever, and was so kindly cared for by +this dear family, who, by tender ministration, nursed the little spark of +hope, and brought me from death unto life. Their two sweet children and +their musical prattle will ever be recalled as illuminated pictures upon +the red-lettered page of life's history. + +Of the tender care of Miss Fowler too much cannot be said. It was to her +assiduous attention I was also, in a great degree, indebted for my +recovery. + +During this illness I could also number two other ministering spirits, Dr. +Seiss, a Lutheran minister, who constantly visited me, and gave me many a +word of comforting support, and Professor Brooks, who was called to my +bedside as medical attendant. + +He had been for many years an eminent allopathic physician, and was then a +professor in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia. + +He also faithfully and unremittingly ministered to me during the many +weeks of fever and prostration. + +When I was almost well I one day said to him: "Doctor, what do I owe you?" +The sweet serenity of his face merged into a benevolent beam, and in the +vernacular of the Society of Friends, of which he was a member, he said: +"Mary, Rachel and I have been talking it over, and we have concluded that +thee will be too delicate to travel this winter, and will need all thy +money; so thee does not owe me anything." + +Choking with grateful emotion, as soon as I could command control I said: +"Doctor, I could not expect you to give me such kind attention without +remuneration, but since you have so willed it, I can only say I thank you +for having saved my life." Whereupon there came the same luminous look, +and the gentle voice said: "Mary, it was not I that saved thy life; it +was thy Heavenly Father." + +As soon as I was well enough to ride he made arrangements for me to visit +his house. I took the street car, but by pre-arranged plan, he met me at +his door, lifted me from the car, and carried me in his arms into a +luxurious bed-chamber, where I was met by the sweet-voiced Rachel, who +gave me a reviving draught of rare old wine, and in every way studied my +wants during the day's visit, after which the Doctor drove me home in his +carriage. + +How do our hearts go out in gratitude to such true and loving natures, and +how fondly do we recall in after years the sweet sounds of sympathy, whose +melody pervades life's measured music. + +Once again I found myself in Baltimore, where I received a letter from my +brother William, urging me to spend the winter at his home in Pecatonica, +Ill. This, together with a meeting with my cousin Sammy Heald, determined +me to go West. My cousin was about to visit Iowa City, Iowa, where dwelt +his betrothed, and he offered to pay all my traveling expenses if I would +accompany him. The temptation of seeing one from whom there had been an +eight years separation made my cousin's entreaties irresistible, and I +yielded, receiving from him all the devoted attendance his kind nature +could dictate. So, after the lapse of so many eventful years, I turned my +face westward. I spent the winter at the home of my brother, and shall +never forget his kindness and that of his family, as well as other +residents of Pecatonica, who did so much to lighten the leaden-winged +hours, which, in a little hamlet, drag so slowly in comparison with the +din and bustle of city life, and the excitement of business and travel. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "So where'er I turn my eyes, + Back upon the days gone by, + Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me; + Friends who closed their course before me, + Yet what links us friend to friend, + But that soul with soul can blend. + Love-like were those hours of yore, + Let us walk in soul once more." + + +The dreary winter had passed away, one in sad contrast with the mild +southern season, and known only to those who have realized its storms and +wind and snow. + +The birds of spring were caroling their first songs of the season, and the +white mantle of snow disappearing under the sun-rays. These tokens told me +I must be "up and doing." Selecting a companion among the kind group of +Pecatonica friends, Miss Sarah Rogers, a lady of sterling virtue and +pronounced character, I went to Chicago. The war conflict being still at +its height, I could do little in the way of book selling, but managed to +dispose of sufficient bead work to be entirely self-sustaining. In my +business route in Chicago I entered a millinery establishment, and was +surprised by a greeting from the familiar voice of my sister Jennie, and +they alone who are members of a scattered household can realize what must +be such a meeting. In the lapse of years since our separation, our paths +had so diverged that we had lost trace of each other. I sat down and +eagerly listened to a recital of an experience fraught with varied +incident. They had moved from Chicago to Monroe city, Missouri, a place +which (as most will remember) received the baptism of fire, being utterly +destroyed by the Northern troops. My sister not only lost her home, but +was separated from her family for several days. As soon as they were +gathered together, and had gained sufficient strength to travel, they +returned without a resource to Chicago, there to begin life anew, my +sister lending a helping hand by opening this business. Her daughter Cora, +whom I had left a little girl, was then a graceful young lady, has since +married and is living in the city. + +My brothers, Charles and Howard, both entered the ranks of the army, +returned with health impaired from service, and afterward yielded up their +lives. + +My father had settled with his new family at Farmington, Ill., and thither +my brother Howard repaired when utterly broken down in health. No mother +could have more tenderly and steadfastly ministered to him, than did my +father's wife; she, her two bachelor brothers and a maiden sister +attending him, in the lingering, languishing hours of suffering, and +gently smoothing his "pathway to the grave." + +I must not fail to mention among Chicago friends the name of Mrs. Dean, +which has been written in letters of light upon a hallowed life page, +standing out in bold relief upon the background of years. Her house was my +home, and she was ever a fond mother to me. + +Her lovely little daughter, Ada, has since matured to womanhood, assumed +the relations and duties of a wife, and is now presiding over an elegant +home in one of the flourishing towns of Iowa. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "And when the stream + Which overflowed the soul was passed away, + A consciousness remained that it had left. + Deposited upon the silent shore + Of memory, images and previous thoughts, + That shall not die and cannot be destroyed." + + +For three years longer lowered the lurking war-cloud, and I, among so many +others, felt its baneful shadow. During this time I made Chicago my +headquarters, taking occasional trips upon the various railroad routes +converging there. + +Finally I ventured upon a trip to Louisville, Ky., and, while it was my +first introduction to that place, so cordially was I received by its +citizens, so much was done to place me at ease, that I could but feel that +I was revisiting a familiar spot and receiving the greetings of old-time +friends; and, in spite of the heavy war pressure, it was financially the +most successful visit I ever made, having sold five hundred volumes in +the short space of two weeks, a fact in itself sufficient to exemplify the +pervading spirit of its society, not one of whose members gave grudgingly, +but with unhesitating and cheerful alacrity. + +Thence I repaired to the "Blue Grass Country," the garden spot of +Kentucky, and to the city of Lexington, the reputation of whose beautiful +women has reached from sea to sea and from pole to pole, and the name of +whose hero, Henry Clay, has made the heart of our nation throb with +exultant pride. I was also a stranger there, yet I resolutely repaired to +the Broadway, its principal hotel, trusting to the hospitality of its +citizens. Nor did I "count without a host," for Mr. Lindsey, the +proprietor, received me with courtly cordiality, installing us in an +elegant suite of rooms upon the parlor floor, assigning us a servant in +constant attendance, and urging us to feel at home. At breakfast the +succeeding morning he greeted us with the pleasant tidings that he had +already sold sixteen volumes of my book, after which he came to our +apartment with a huge market basket, which he insisted upon filling with +books, adding that _I_ was too delicate to go out with them myself. This +was a second time filled and emptied, and before dinner there was placed +in my hands the proceeds of the sale of one hundred books. + +My companion, amazed at his success, begged of him to let her know the +secret, whereupon he said, laughingly: "Well, you see, I am a Democrat and +a Free Mason. I talked politics to one, gave the society sign to another, +and mixed a little religion with all. So I could not fail to succeed." + +I could but feel, however, in spite of his jest, that his innate goodness +was the Midas like touch, and that he bore in his own heart the +"philosopher's stone," transforming all into gold. + +It did not become necessary for me to appear in the streets of Lexington, +yet I reaped a rich harvest of gain, and, above all, found a mine of +wealth in the warm, true, loving, chivalric souls. Nor did the kindness +cease at the fountain-head, for the little ones of Mr. Lindsey's family, +laden with bead work, walked the streets of the city, trafficking for my +benefit, returning with little hands empty of trinkets, but filled with +money. + +To crown all this kindness I was only allowed, upon leaving, to pay half +the usual price for board, receiving letters of introduction to the +Capital House, of Frankfort, whose proprietor extended the same liberality +of terms, and whose citizens kindly and freely patronized me. + +Going to Paris, I received so many favors that I never think of Kentucky +and its noble sons and daughters without a thrill of loving gratitude. + +Mr. Lindsey requested me to write to him upon my return, and, after the +lapse of a long time, I did so, receiving a reply bearing the painful +tidings that, by security debts, he had been bereft of all his earthly +possessions, but was hopeful of regaining all. Surely such noble souls +should not be left in the cloud while so many sordid, selfish natures sail +upon a sea of success. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Hope like the glimmering taper's light, + Adorns and cheers the way; + And still as darker grows the night, + Emits a cheerful ray." + + +Upon our return from Kentucky we were received by motherly Mrs Dean, with +her ever warm welcome; but after the usual greeting a mischievous smile +was seen lurking on her face, and she archly told us that she had a very +attractive addition to her family, in the persons of two bachelor +boarders. This served but as a pastime of the moment, and I gave it little +further thought, until I was presented to Mr. Arms, a gentleman of medium +height, head of noble mould and fine poise, dark hair and luxuriant beard, +large brown eyes expressive and scintillating, quiet, unobtrusive manner +and somewhat low voice. + +Methinks that I can trace a meaning smile upon the faces of some of my +readers at the detailed description of one they deem too blind to see. Not +so, there is a strange mysterious masonry in human souls, and while + + "Few are the hearts, whence one same touch, + Bids the sweet fountain flow," + +an indescribable consciousness of mutual interest came with this meeting; +and while I little dreamed that this stranger would in after time stand by +my side in the _nearest_ and _dearest_ relation of life, even that of a +husband; his face, his form, his voice, his soul were all to me an open +volume, which by that inner sight, I read in every minute detail, and then +and there were all these photographed upon my heart. + +Before I had taken my next leave of Chicago I had passed through all the +phases of doubt, in which I deeply questioned my own heart, seeking there +the solution of why I had inspired an interest in this stranger. Ever +since my sickness in Philadelphia I had been a comparative invalid, +devoting much of my time to the restoration of health, and above all the +recovery of that sight which was still so dear to me, and so hard to +relinquish without a struggle. So with my depleted strength, moderate +means and somewhat darkened hopes, I seemed to myself a very unattractive +object. Be this as it may, while no formal engagement bound us, we parted +as acknowledged lovers. + +Miss Rogers entered into business for herself, and I went unattended to +Ypsilanti, Michigan, to be under the charge of a physician, who was to +test the effect of electrical treatment as a means of restoration to +sight. While he was deeply imbued with interest in my case, and gave me +every care and attention while I remained under his roof, he was +unfortunately wedded to one whose cold, unsympathetic suspicious nature +made a pandemonium for all within the circle of her baleful influence. Of +such unions Watts has truly said: + + Logs of green wood that quench the coals, + Are married just like sordid souls; + With osiers for a bend. + +To her I am indebted for many a dark and tearful hour, when not only my +heart, but my eyes, needed perfect repose. + +But beside this thorn-tree in the home garden bloomed for me, and for all, +a beautiful flower, in the person of her niece, Josie McMath, who, with +her loving, gentle touch, toned down the inequalities and smiled away the +frowns. + +She and I became fast friends, and afterward freely exchanged confidences, +telling to each other a mutual tale of girlish hope and trustful +affection. + +During my stay in Ypsilanti I received a letter from Rachel Weaver, who +had been bereft of her mother and had lost every means of support. She +earnestly desired to return to me; and as the letter brought with it the +magnetism of a former attachment, I wrote to her to come to me. + +Finding the prospect of recovery through my present treatment hopeless, I +went to Ionia, Michigan, repairing to the house of Dr. Baird, where I +awaited tidings of Rachel Weaver, and whom I met at Detroit, when we +returned to Chicago, where I was met by Mr. Arms, and who, soon as an +opportunity offered, rehearsed to me the workings of his own mind during +my absence. + +He told me he had been seriously thinking over the matter, and after +carefully reviewing his own feelings he could arrive at but one +conclusion, viz, that I had become necessary to his happiness, and that he +hoped for a mutual plan for speedy union. + +He owned a farm in Iowa, which he proposed to sell, and invest the +proceeds in a home in Chicago. + +He also begged a promise that I would never make another attempt to +recover my sight, which gave me an assurance that my blindness was no +barrier to his love. + +With a strange flutter of emotion my heart responded to his sweet +assurances, and, as a weary child confidingly rests upon its mother's +breast, so did my tired soul trustingly repose in the safe haven of his +manly love, and cast its anchor there! safe amid the lowering clouds of +life, serene amid its surging seas and wildest waves; for arching all was +the Iris of bright-hued hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Visions come and go; + Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng; + From angels' lips I seem to hear the flow + Of soft and holy song." + + "'Tis nothing now-- + When heaven is opening on my sightless eyes, + When airs from paradise refresh my brow, + That earth in darkness lies." + + +Leaving Chicago I traveled via Michigan Southern Railroad to the little +town of Jonesville, Michigan, the home of my childhood and the scene of so +many fond and sad recollections. + +Stopping at the village hotel for some preparation, I wended my way to the +little cemetery. There was a picture in memory of a green hill-side slope, +which, whenever the dark funeral day was recalled, formed a vivid and +prominent feature of the scene; and so, upon that day, I found within the +little "city of the silent" the identical hill-side, but, with the most +scrutinizing search, failed to find the sacred mound holding the most +hallowed form of the home group, and over which were shed the bitter tears +of childhood's grief, more poignant and more lasting than we usually +attribute to that period of life. + +In the hope of eliciting some information I entered a cottage near by, +which I found inhabited by aged people; but as they had been residents +only seven years, and twenty-four years had elapsed since my mother was +laid to rest, they could give me no light or aid, save the simple +suggestion that there were a number of graves covered by the undergrowth +of shrubbery, and perchance hers might be one of them. Accepting the +possibility I found the one I sought, which could not fail to be +recognized, for strange to say, time had dealt so gently that the slender +picket fence was undecayed by his "effacing; lingers," and the name +painted upon the little wooden head-board was distinctly visible. Grouped +in quadrangular growth were four little trees, gracefully arching in a +bowery drapery over the grave, as if nature in strange sympathy with the +mourners left behind had offered this tribute to the noble mother. How +vividly came back again the long lost childhood home, and as the wind +sighed through the leafy boughs, seemed to sob a sad requiem for the dead. +There was a little song I had learned in the Institution, and had so often +sang, when unknown to those around me every chord in my sad heart seemed + + "As harp-strings broken asunder, + By music they throbbed to express." + +Then the sweet, sad words come back in memory, + + "I hear the soft winds sighing, + Through every bush and tree; + Where my dear mother's lying, + Away from love and me. + + Tears from mine eyes are weeping, + And sorrow shades my brow; + Long time has she been sleeping-- + I have no mother now." + +After a long, lingering look, I turned sadly away, going to the little +marble yard in the vicinity, and seeking the proper person, I +communicated to him the desire for a head and foot-stone for the grave, +together with marble corner stones to support an iron chain for an +enclosure, asking him for an estimate of the cost. + +Looking at me with almost tearful emotion, he said, when the blind girl, +after the lapse of twenty-four years, comes back to offer a tribute to the +memory of her mother, the result of her own unaided earnings, I can but be +generous, and offered to do all for half the usual price. Knowing +instinctively that I could trust him, I left all in his hands, and have +never had occasion to feel that I had misplaced my confidence. + +Before leaving the village I visited a clothing store which had formerly +been the tin shop in which my father worked; and again I was a child, my +little form perched upon the wooden work-bench, and my ears soothed by the +melody of my father's song, for ever as he sat at his daily labor he lent +it the charm of his sweet voice. + +Strange to say, there was no one there who knew the "blind girl." All my +mother's friends had vanished, and "they were all gone, the dear familiar +faces." I fondly bade adieu to Jonesville with the consciousness of having +performed a sad duty, and proceeded with my avocation, with my wonted +success, until we reached Toledo, Ohio, where Miss Weaver was attacked +with a serious illness which kept me in constant attendance upon her for +several weeks. + +Her physician assuring me that she would be unable to resume her duties +for some time longer, we decided it best for all to send her East. +Procuring her a ticket, and placing her under kind protection, I sent her +to her friends in New York. + +I supplied her place with a lady I found in my boarding house, and who I +regret to record was in strange contrast with my former companions. Going +to Pittsburg we stopped at the Merchants' Hotel, near the depot, where, +after a singularly short time, she was visited by a gentleman whom she +represented to be a cousin, and while their whispered conversation in my +room (a place where I deemed it expedient for them to meet) aroused some +suspicion in my mind, I hushed all thought of wrong and hoped for the +best. + +She further stated that she had an uncle in Alleghany city, and thither +she went to spend the Sunday, leaving me in the hotel unattended; and from +subsequent revelations I must fain believe the time was devoted to the +so-called cousin. + +Upon her return on Monday she suddenly declared her intention of leaving +me, adding that she cared not what became of me. I calmly awaited a lull +in the excitement of this announcement, and told her kindly that if she +would remain with, me another week I would take her to her mother in Ohio, +and leave her in her hands, but she haughtily and peremptorily declined, +and so left me alone, and, as she supposed, uncared for. + +But I was so confident of protection that I felt not even a rankling pang +at the cruel injustice she had done me, but quietly waited until assured +she was gone, when I left my room, groped my way through the unfamiliar +hall and knocked at the first door I found, which fortunately proved to be +that of a lady named Harris. In as few words as possible I told her the +story of my desertion, and had sympathy and congratulation from all in the +house at my escape from one who had seemed to them so coarse and +unsympathetic. + +The clerk of the hotel, being a brother of Mr. Loughery, my old time +teacher, it was thought best to appeal to him. He met me with an +unmistakable expression of sorrow on his face, and as soon as he could +command language to do so, communicated the tidings of the sudden demise +of his brother in Greensburg, Pa., he having fallen dead in the street. As +he was about leaving, assistance from that source became impossible; yet, +overwhelmed as he was with this crushing sorrow, he urged me to accompany +him to the funeral, an invitation I could not accept, for a renewal of the +sad memories of my instructor and friend would have been _more_ than I +could bear, so I bade him adieu, and committed myself to the tender mercy +of Mrs. Harris, who kindly accompanied me to the post office and depot, +and started me safely toward Chicago, a letter being received which I knew +to be from Mr. Arms, from whom I had been awaiting tidings for three, +anxious, weary weeks. + +With a consciousness of some impending cloud, yet unable to read the dear +pen tracery, I never before so deeply felt the blight of blindness, for +the contents were too sacred for the desecration of stranger's sight. + +So all through that weary journey, softened as it was by the unremitting +kindness of all the railroad officials and attendants, I carried a +crushing weight of anxiety and suspense, until I reached Chicago, and dear +Mrs. Dean, who at once revealed to my waiting heart the contents of the +letter. + +Mr. Arms was in Indiana, and very ill at the time of writing (three weeks +previous) and earnestly desired my presence. The weary hours of night +dragged their slow lengths away, and the morning found me speeding on as +fast as steam could carry me, toward Indiana, yet all _too slow_ for my +fears and forebodings. + +I found him scarcely able to be carried to the post of duty, where, at the +mill being built under his superintendence, he watched the progress of +the work. + +'Tis needless to say how joyous was my welcome and how soon the invalid +gave signs of convalescence, under the influence of my long hoped for +presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "We strive to read, as we may best, + This city, like an ancient palimpsest, + To bring to light upon the blotted page + The mournful record of an earlier age, + That, pale and half-effaced, lies hidden away + Beneath the fresher writings of to-day." + + +After spending a fortnight with the invalid, in which "the golden hours on +angel's wings" sped on and away, bringing a returning glow of health to +his cheeks, strength to his steps and hope to his heart, so with renewed +resolution I started upon my mission, first going to Pecatonica to visit +my brother William and family, and to complete my plans for travel. + +Soon after my arrival I was introduced by my sister-in-law to Miss Hattie +Hudson, and by that inward sympathy which unites all kindred natures into +one, and the strange recognition of soul with soul, we were at once +friends. + +She was indeed + + "A perfect woman, nobly planned, + To warn, to comfort, and command." + +One who, aside from her physical attractions, possessed all the charms of +inner grace and beauty, idealizing and spiritualizing her nature. + +We at once also agreed that she should remain with me, and with such rare +companionship I started East. Stopped at the beautiful city of Cleveland, +so rural and yet so metropolitan in its characteristics, where, following +fast upon the din of business and the rush of trade, steals the sweet +murmur of waters, the "wave of woods" and flow of fountains, the shaded +park and perfumed pasture. + +Here, aside from the cheer of business success, my heart was gladdened by +a meeting with my old friend, Mrs. Bigelow, and little Willie, the whilom +blind boy I had met in New York city, and toward whom I had been drawn by +that "touch of nature" which "makes the whole world kin." + +He was now an elegant, educated gentleman, who, among his many +accomplishments, numbered that of music, a science he had so thoroughly +mastered, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" he helped us all to while +away many an otherwise weary hour. + +I visited the various places of note upon the New York Central Railway, +thoroughly and successfully canvassing all, and reaching New York city, +was received by my uncle Henry Deems with such a welcome as only a noble, +soulful man can extend. After a short, sweet respite from care, we turned +toward New England, the truly classic ground of America, every foot of +whose "sacred soil" has been trod by pilgrim feet and hallowed by their +hearts' devotion. + +Went to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and spent almost an entire day at Pilgrim +Hall in researches and study of its musty and time-worn relics. + +It was against the rules to open the cases containing these treasures of +the past to spectators, all of whom were forced to look at them through +doors of glass, even as the bereft ones are ofttimes allowed to look at +loved lineaments only through the lid of a closed casket; but the +gentleman in charge made mine an exceptional case, and, to use his own +language, as my sight lay in the sense of feeling, I should certainly +touch these relics. + +All the interest of varied historical association was imparted to me, and +my fingers allowed to rest upon everything. I closed this day, so rich in +research, with gratitude to him for his thoughtful kindness. + +There was in process of erection a monument upon Plymouth Hock, and I +stood upon that granite shrine, where first knelt the Pilgrim Fathers, and +pictured in my mind's eye the landing of the Mayflower and the grouping of +her freight of human souls, majestically towering above them all the +stalwart form of Miles Standish, with his "muscles and sinews of iron," +and close by the lithe, clinging, delicate form of + + "That beautiful rose of love + That bloomed for him by the wayside, + And was the first to die + Of all who came in the Mayflower." + +These and all their attendants passed through my fancy as they knelt upon +Plymouth Rock, and with the surging sea for a symphony, sent up their +first song of praise and deliverance, and in that hour of reverie there +was to me, indeed, + + "A rapture by the lonely shore; + A society where none intrudes. + By the deep sea--and music in its roar." + +Then again I moved away in almost rapt entrancement, and soon stood in the +old cemetery beside the moss-grown memorial stones which had stood amid +the flight of over two centuries, and emotions deep and strange struggled +in my breast, sealed by that _golden, sacred_ silence which sanctifies the +unutterable. + +Prominent among other objects there, was the resting-place of the Judsons, +to whose memory a suitable tomb had been erected. + +Going to Boston I spent three delightful weeks at the home of Mr. and Mrs. +Little, a dear old couple who had been married long enough to have +celebrated their "Golden Wedding." The old gentleman was wont to say, that +these fifty years were all links in the "honey-moon," but that he had not +as yet reached the end of the first "honey-moon." So these two old lovers, +like "John Anderson my Joe," and his devoted companion, had climbed the +hill and were standing "thegither at its foot" in happy contentment, +looking toward the golden sunset and catching the gleam of the light +beyond. + +I of course visited "Boston Common," "Bunker Hill Monument," "Old South +Church," the museums and galleries of painting, rare collections of +statuary, and even heard the "Great Organ." These localities are all +fraught with interest, but too familiar to tourists to require description +or comment; but I cannot leave the readers of this chapter without a +tribute of praise to the high attainments of this "Athens of America," and +a word of gratitude for their kindness. I found not the cold, phlegmatic +nature which had been depicted as that of the Yankee, nor did I see the +tight purse-grip so often attributed to them, for I have nowhere met +warmer hearts and more generous patronage than there, and indeed all New +England was pervaded by an equal spirit of liberality and kindness. +Lowell and the other manufacturing towns I visited were to me objects of +wonderful interest, the music of whose looms and shuttles, belts and +wheels, engines and flame, will ever come in vivid variety amid the many +voiced memories of life and its mystic music. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "There is an old belief that in the embers + Of all things, their primordial form exists; + And cunning Alchemists could recreate + The rose, with all its members, + From its own ashes--but without the bloom, + Without the least perfume. + Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science + Can from the ashes of our hearts + Once more the rose of youth restore? + What craft of alchemy can bid defiance + To time, and change; and for a single hour, + Renew this phantom flower?" + + +Taking New Hampshire in my route, I was pained to find the season too far +advanced to admit a trip to White Mountains, and among the great objects +of interest I must of necessity omit this "Noblest Roman of them all," and +pass silently by the grandeur of this rugged mountain scenery. + +I went to Waterbury, Vermont, the birth-place of Mr. Arms, and, after a +short rest at the hotel, walked through the meadow, and crossed the clear +trout-stream he had so often pictured to me as most prominent among the +reminiscences of his boyhood. Going to the homestead now hallowed to me as +his birth-place, I was kindly received by the widow of his brother, who +needed only the knowledge of my acquaintance with her friends in the West +to place me upon a familiar footing, and I became an earnest, attentive +listener to her well rendered rehearsal of the pranks of his urchin-hood. +So was this day marked as memorable in the calendar of life. From +Waterbury I went to Burlington, and thence to Montpelier, and finding the +Legislature in session the sale of my books was greatly enhanced by the +liberal patronage of its members; and here as elsewhere I had reason to to +thank our national convocations. + +The rigor of the approaching New England winter warned me of the necessity +for going South. While on the Hudson River Railroad I was accosted by a +gentleman who asked me if I could read the raised letters, and learning +that I could, he begged me to accept a copy of the Bible in that style of +lettering; I of course did so, and have this volume still in my +possession. + +Going to Chicago I found Mr. Arms established in business, which gave me +an additional hope for future happiness, and 'tis needless to say, + + "I built myself a castle + So _stately_, _grand_ and fair; + I built myself a castle, + A castle in the air." + +Delicate lungs and irritating cough, sent me still further South, and I +reluctantly left Chicago and all I held so dear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "There is a special Providence + In the fall of a sparrow." + + "There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them as we will." + + +I have never had occasion so especially to note the over-ruling majesty of +a supreme power as in my next journey, the circumstances of which I am +about to relate. + +I went via Indianapolis, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., to Memphis, Tenn. The +latter place rivals its sister cities in generous patronage, for, although +the whole southern country was so thoroughly devastated, I met with +success throughout its length and breadth. + +I was luxuriously entertained at the Southern Hotel of Memphis and, as I +had been over most of the railroad routes, I felt anxious to go to New +Orleans by water, and for that purpose sought the general agent of the +river line of steamers, anticipating the same liberality which had +characterized the railroads in granting passes. + +I was most haughtily received by this official, rudely addressed, and +decidedly and irrevocably denied a pass. + +Nothing daunted, I walked to the levee, where lay the steamer Platte +Valley, almost ready to leave, and besought Hattie, who was ever my +counselor, to pay our passage, and, in spite of repulse, enjoy the river +scenery. In her judgment it seemed better not to do so, but to use our +railroad passes, as usual. I cheerfully accepted her decision. The Platte +Valley started on her trip with brilliant prospects for a safe and +successful passage, but seven miles below Memphis she sank in the deep +waters of the Mississippi. Many of her passengers, especially the female +portion, were taking supper in the lower cabin, and, having no means of +escape, perished. Hence I had reason to be thankful to Hattie's decision, +to the agent's rude rebuff, and to that over ruling power which ofttimes, +in our blindness, we fail to discern. + +At Chattanooga I, of course, visited the National Cemetery, where lie the +ashes of so many fallen heroes. Ascended Lookout Mountain to the scene of +the "Battle in the Clouds," and I could almost evoke the presence of +General Joe Hooker, with his once grand proportions and noble mien, so +deservedly famed as The Hero of Lookout Mountain. I afterward ascended +another hill, which, although a pigmy in comparison with the Leviathan +Lookout, would, in the monotony of our prairie country, be ranked as a +mountain. It was upon its top were constructed the government water works, +and upon which my brother William was employed for two years, occupying as +a residence during that time a little cabin on the height, which was +plainly perceptible from the window of my hotel quarters, but which I +desired to visit in person, a source of real pleasure, perhaps enhanced by +the obstacles I had to surmount in the ascent. + +At Vicksburg, Miss., I was followed by the same tidal wave of success, in +spite of the sad stringency of the times and the cruel effects of war. + +While there a gentleman took us in his carriage to the earthworks +constructed by the soldiers as a fortification, taking great pains to +explain all to me, and allowed me to use the usual sense of feeling, which +so often served in lieu of sight. + +At Jackson, Miss., I was a guest of the same hotel in which lived General +Beauregard, who was Superintendent of the Jackson and New Orleans Railway, +and who, aside from other acts of kindness and civility, freely tendered +me a pass over his road. + +My stay at the "Crescent City" was not only marked by great business +success, but the three weeks of sight-seeing was a "continued feast." + +Although it was now the middle of January, flowery spring "seemed +lingering in the lap of winter." The perfume of the violet, the scent of +the rose, the gladness of the sun-beam and the brightness of the skies +will ever linger in memory, while the geniality and goodness of its people +will, in the "dimness of distance," glimmer like a soft love-light in the +life of the blind girl. + +I visited the French market, and drank a cup of the famed and fragrant +Mocha; went to its cemeteries, which, in their flowery beauty, robbed +death of its terrors; took a drive upon the shell road to Lake +Pontchartrain; walked in Jackson Square; and, indeed, visited all +localities of note in and around the city. + +Should my curious readers wish to know how I could enjoy and describe all +these, the answer will be found in my companion and friend, Hattie, who, +with her wonderful adaptation and ingenuity, added to her remarkable +descriptive powers, vividly pictured all to me, and, through an unwritten, +indescribable language known only to ourselves, it became a system of +mental telegraphy and soul language. + +There is in Europe a blind man, whose name I cannot recall, who is led +from Court to Court and from palace to palace by a frail young girl, and +between these there exists the same mystic yet unerring language. What +this little fairy is to him such was Hattie Hudson to me, or, to use the +language of another: + + "She was my sight; + The ocean to the river of my thoughts, + Which terminated all." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Devotion wafts the mind above, + But Heaven itself descends in love; + A feeling from the Godhead caught. + To wean from earth each sordid thought; + A ray of him who formed the whole, + A glory circling round the soul." + + +Leaving New Orleans with the fervid fire which the warm hearts of its +people had kindled still burning in my breast, and the many memories of +its fragrance and sunlight, and beauty, forever embalmed and enshrined in +my heart, I crossed in one of the great gulf steamers to Mobile, the home +of the celebrated Madame Le Verte; but, as her continued travels call her +so often away from the city in which she so gracefully and so heartfully +dispensed the hospitalities of home-life, and opened wide her doors to the +stranger, I was not privileged to meet her; nor can I note many of the +manifold celebrities of the city. I can only say I found it as beautiful +as a dream; its skies of sweet Italian softness; its waters clear and +pure as "Pyerian Springs;" its winds gentle as the whisper of an Angel; +its flowers gorgeous in tint and redolent with fragrance; the spirits of +its people attuned to harmony with their beautiful surroundings, and +overflowing with generous sentiment. + +Without the slightest intimation upon my own part, I was presented with +passes over the Mobile and Ohio Railway, by which I went to Cairo, and +thence by the magnet, which so often drew my spirit toward the pole to +Chicago. + +After a brief respite and rest I went to Minnesota, in whose life-giving +climate I spent the summer. Passing over the oft-told tale of financial +success, I must address myself to those who-- + + "Love the haunts of nature, + Love the sunshine of the meadow, + Love the shadow of the forest, + Love the wind among the branches + And the rushing of great rivers + Through their palisades and pine trees; + And the thunder of the mountains, + Whose innumerable echoes + Flap like eagles in their eyries." + +To these I must revert to the many beauteous haunts and hidden retreats +of nature, whose varied phases of quiet sweetness and sublime grandeur are +heightened and intensified by the charm of legend and of song. + +I visited the falls of "Minne-ha-ha," and could almost fancy the silvery +song and light laughter of the Indian girl in the happy purling music of +the waterfall, and, as it glided off into the gentler murmur of the +stream, below, I could imagine the still sadder song of the spirit +speeding to rest in + + "The Islands of the Blessed, + To the Land of the Hereafter." + +Minneapolis and St. Paul were visited, but they are all too celebrated to +need note. + +Back again to the "Garden City," and to the one who had so patiently +waited for the sunshine of success and the consummation of our plans for +the future; but, as "the best made plans of mice and men aft gang aglee," +we found ourselves no nearer the goal. One day he said to me: "Mary, we +have waited to be richer, but have still grown poorer; so is it not best +that, in defiance of our apparently adverse fate, we unite our interests +and our lives?" So hand in hand we resolved to share the joys and sorrows +of life, each catching the burden of the old refrain-- + + "Thy smile could make a summer + Where darkness else would be." + +We repaired to the house of Dr. O.H. Tiffany, and, in the presence of a +few friends, were quietly married, after which we made an unostentatious +wedding trip to Wisconsin to visit some of his family friends. + +With them all the "wonder grew" why it was that, among the many smiles +hitherto lavished upon him from beautiful eyes, he should have chosen the +blind girl. His reiterated assertion of faith in the purity and +unselfishness of the life, and the inner light of the soul, found in them +a ready acceptance of his choice, and they warmly extended to her all the +confidence and affection of kindred hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + "To know, to esteem, to love, and then to _part_, + Makes up life's tale to many a feeling heart." + + +A short time after our marriage Mr. Arms was offered a contract to +superintend the construction of a mill at Woodbine, Iowa, which it seemed +best for him to accept; and finding there were no comfortable +accommodations for a lady in that place, he left me in a boarding house in +Chicago, with Hattie for a companion. It was indeed hard for us to part so +soon, and the pang was rendered more bitter by the fact of his impaired +health, for he had never entirely recovered from the effects of the +malarial fever contracted in a miasmatic district in Indiana. + +After his departure time hung so heavily upon my hands, my present +aimless, carefree life being in such striking contrast to the activity and +excitement of travel, that I secretly resolved, as separation was +inevitable, to resume my old life, and thus be of assistance to my +husband. Unknown to him I wrote to my publishers for a fresh supply of +books, and started for Michigan, the State which held within its +boundaries the first scenes of sorrow my young life had known, when, amid +helpless and hopeless hours of persecution, my girlhood seemed rayless and +forsaken, but when kind friends had come in the hour of need, and helpful +hands had lifted me from the dark depths. From there I wrote to Mr. Arms, +communicating to him my intention to travel. He sent me a touching reply, +saying he had never intended me to battle with the outside world again, +but, if I deemed it best, it was perhaps well. + +I had cherished a desire to visit the place in which I lived with the +family of Ruthven, for then I could look above and beyond the clouds of +early days, and discern the many golden gleams and rosy rays, the many +halcyon hours of happiness and hope. So, after the spirit has passed +through the purifying fires of persecution, it can calmly look back with +a triumphant soul song. But these old scenes were in places so remote and +inaccessible that I was forced to forego the pleasure of visiting them; +but in many other places I found the old familiar landmarks gone, and the +transformations of time had placed in their stead forms and faces new and +strange. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + "A generous friendship no cold medium knows, + Burns with one love, with one resentment glows." + + +After remaining in Michigan until late in the winter, we crossed over to +Canada via the Grand Trunk Railway. Our first stopping place was at Saint +Mary's, where at the depot we found a nice sleigh awaiting us with, all +the necessary appurtenances for comfort, in the way of robes and blankets. +Deposited at the hotel in safety, we handed the driver seventy-five cents +and were astonished at having fifty cents returned. Supposing there was +some mistake, we demurred, when he said, "My charge is two York shillings +or twenty-five cents United States money." Surely we thought the spirit of +Yankee greed has not yet penetrated the Provinces, when two women, three +trunks, satchels, &c., can be comfortably transported for so small a sum. +At the hotel we were at once ushered into a warm and comfortable suite of +rooms, a pleasant contrast to the usual season of weary waiting for a +room. Indeed during our entire stay in the town there was not one omission +of attention to our comfort. + +At Port Hope we were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Mackey, of the Mackey House, +and received from them such kindness as we could scarce expect from old +friends. Just here let me say that I had heard so many sneering allusions +to the character of the "Canucks," that I was quite unprepared for the +universal polish, elegance, cordiality and kindness of the Canadians. + +We went from Port Hope to Toronto, the home of the celebrated Canadian +Oculist, Doctor Roseborough, whose fame had been heralded in every portion +of the Provinces I had visited. My past experience had so disgusted me +with eye surgeons that for one week I had daily passed his house, +instinctively avoiding an entrance. One day, however, I quite as +instinctively sought an interview with the Doctor, impelled by some +strange impulse I could not well define. I was familiarly but courteously +greeted with these words, "You have been in the city an entire week, and +yet have not called to see me." In reply I frankly confessed that I +avoided upon principle the members of his branch of the surgical +profession. + +His subtle magnetism would soon have dispelled all feeling of repulsion; +and before I was conscious of the degree of confidence he inspired, I +found myself almost persuaded to accept his cordial invitation to tea. The +only barrier I could interpose was want of acquaintance with his wife, and +that obstacle was soon removed. We found her a most intelligent and +charming person, and her mother, Mrs. Reeves, who was present, a +dignified, stately English lady of "the old regime." + +In a few moments after our meeting all her reserve vanished, and she +impulsively and almost tearfully drew near. She told in trembling tones of +a blind sister who had passed away some time before, and while she had +come in contact with so many who had resorted to her son-in-law for +treatment, she had never before met one who resembled her sister, while +in me she seemed to have found her counterpart. + +This became at once a bond between us, and throwing off all her usual +reserve, she insisted upon having us leave the hotel and spend the +remainder of the time of our stay with her. So pronounced was her +character and so peremptory her demand, there was no room for refusal, and +when in a succeeding conversation with her son I expressed some +compunction at our stay, I was at once silenced by the remark that his +mother was a woman of marked idiosyncracies, and when she so distinguished +an individual as to make them a guest the decision was final, and I must +not wound her by an expression of possible impropriety. It is needless to +say I left this family with deep regret, carrying letters from Doctor +Roseborough; and in my visits to the various places en route to Montreal I +found these credentials of great service. + +On arriving at Montreal we were handsomely domiciled at St. Lawrence Hall. +Our room was large and airy, and our bed stood in one of those quaint old +alcoves so peculiar to the English bed-chamber; while the table d'hote, +with its savory roast beef, plumb pudding, etc., was equally +characteristic of British comfort. + +This was during the blustering month of March, and all who have visited +that city at the season in which it becomes necessary to cut away the ice +from the streets will remember the pitfalls and realize how difficult it +would be for the blind, even with the kindest and most careful attendance, +to avoid danger. I escaped without any greater mishap than a fall into one +of these excavations, attended by a wetting of my feet, as well as a +thorough soaking of five books and their consequent loss. I had, however, +four weeks of successful canvassing, and during that time the condition of +the streets had quite improved. + +As my payments were made in the current coin of Canada, and I had the +advantage of easy access to the States, I exchanged my silver at a premium +of thirty-five per cent, and my gold at forty per cent., thus greatly +enhancing my profits. In this connection I must acknowledge the kindness +of the residents of Montreal, as well as their more than liberal +patronage, which I will ever gratefully remember. + +Returning to Toronto I rejoined my friends, and, after another short +season with them, I went to Ottawa, the delightful Capital of Ontario, +then Canada West, arriving there about two days after the news of the +assassination of D'Arcy McGee, his household being in mourning, and the +whole community convulsed and sobbing in responsive sorrow. + +This martyred man seemed to have had a singular premonition of death, +which came foreshadowed in a dream. He was visiting some intimate lady +friends, and after dinner threw himself upon a lounge for a short siesta, +when, suddenly springing up from a disturbed slumber, he exclaimed: "I +believe I am going to be murdered!" Whereupon he related his dream. He +said he thought himself in a little boat, floating upon a stream, and +accompanied by two men, who, in spite of his convulsive efforts to near +the shore, persistently allowed him to float down the stream to the falls +below, over which his boat was madly hurled, when, by his imaginary fall, +he was awakened with a strange and premonitory dread in his heart. His +devoted wife survived him but a short time, and was found dead at her +bedside in the attitude of prayer, where, as her spirit was wafted away +upon the wings of devotion, her face was left placid and smiling in its +last sleep. + + "So united were they in life, + And in death were not divided." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + "Howe'er it be, it seems to me + 'Tis only noble to be good, + Since hearts are more than coronets, + And simple faith than Norman blood." + + +The various localities in Ottawa being so familiar to so many readers and +tourists, I will not dwell upon them at length, but suffice it to say I +visited the various Government Departments, and could not fail to be +deeply impressed by the truly elegant manners and courtly bearing of the +officials. + +In one of these Departments I found an elderly gentleman, slightly +afflicted with deafness. According to the etiquette of their business +regulations I was received in standing attitude, and in the few moments' +interview were condensed the thoughts and feelings of years. He bought my +book, for which he paid two dollars and a half in gold, and, as he bade me +good-bye, he stooped and kissed my forehead with the stately grace of a +cavalier of the Crusades, which act of emotional deference was heightened +by the hot tears which fell from his eyes and dropped upon my cheeks, and +the fervor of his repeated--"God bless you, my child." + +At Hamilton we called at the Mute and Blind Asylums, which were then +combined in one, where we were received with great kindness, every +possible attention being lavished upon us to heighten our interest and +render our visit enjoyable. Going to Buffalo we had a social, cozy visit +with an aunt of Hattie's, after which we proceeded to Niagara Falls. + +It is no wonder that, as a nation, we are proud of Niagara, which, in +grandeur and sublimity, rivals any waterfall of note in the world. Taking +a carriage we drove to the Canada side, where are so many localities of +historical interest, and where, at certain points, are found the finest +views of the falls. I remained in the carriage while Hattie went under the +dashing, roaring, maddening sheet of water, which feat, as well as the +usual one of a trip in the Maid of the Mist, seems necessary, in its +apparent peril, to a full appreciation of the awful and stupendous +grandeur of this phenomenon of nature. + +I walked over Suspension Bridge in order to realize its construction +through the sense of feeling, and our driver seemed much amused at my +manner of seeing. Dismissing our carriage, we walked over Goat Island, in +order to better take in the diversified beauty. The old man at the bridge, +in consideration of my affliction, refused to accept the usual fee; so +hard-hearted as they seem, in their spirit of gain, they have still some +vulnerable point, some avenue left open to the heart, thus confirming the +humanitarian sentiment, that no nature is utterly depraved. + +Entering into conversation with the old bridge-tender, I was amused and +surprised at his fund of anecdote and wealth of wit. Among other playful +jests he declared he could define the exact condition of heart in each +individual who crossed over, as accurately as we note the mercury in the +barometer for atmospheric probabilities, even going so far as to say that +he could guess the "Yes" or "No," and consequently the engagement or +non-engagement of each returning couple. + +We followed the meandering paths and shaded seclusions, where tree and +flower, rock and stream make up the fairy realm, and crowned all by +standing in the tower on Table Rock, our hearts awed and reverent and our +lips inaudibly whispering "Be still, and know that I am God." + +Leaving by the Great Western Railway we stopped at London, Canada, where +Hattie had friends, and where I found a letter from my husband, who had +returned from Woodbine, and being about to establish himself for a time in +Milwaukee, where he was to build a mill, he desired me to return at once +and accompany him. Without delay we sped on in the lightning train to +Chicago, my impatient heart keeping time with the winged flight of the +cars. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + "And the night shall be filled with music, + And the thoughts that infest the day + Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, + And as quietly steal away." + + +Our hearts beating with high hopes and expectant joys, we once more +settled down to happiness in Milwaukee. A joyful trio were we, my husband, +Hattie and myself. Our location in the Lake House, then one of the most +popular little hotels in the city, augured well for a pleasant sojourn. + +Mrs. Towle, the proprietress, was one who had deeply drank of the cup of +sorrow, the first draught coming from the hand of one who had vowed her +his love and protection, and who, after twenty-five years of wedded life, +deserted her. When, with apparent penitence, he returned to her, he was +received to her forgiving heart, and then came the draining of the bitter +dregs in a second desertion. + +With her two children as her only dower, she patiently took up the burden +of life, and bravely bore all, supporting and educating her two daughters, +and never losing dignity or caste. + +No more delightful summer resort could be found than Milwaukee, familiarly +known as the "Cream City," from the light straw or creamy tint of the +brick, which forms so large a part in the architecture of that city, and +gives an air of charming cleanliness to the buildings. This shade is said +by chemists to be the result of the want of the usual element of iron in +the clay of which it is made, and so curious is it to strangers that it +has become a familiar saying that few people leave Milwaukee without +carrying away "a brick in their hats," this being doubtless in part a +jesting allusion to the apparently all-pervading spirit of the gay +Gambrinus apparent there and the numberless manufactories of the foaming +lager. Yet methinks this is no longer a more striking characteristic there +than elsewhere, in spite of the predominant German element. + +The word "Milwaukee" signifies rich land, and the truthful significance of +the appellation is amply testified by the rare flowers, green gardens, +fertile fields and towering forests in and around it, all of which are the +outgrowth of its soil of rich alluvial loam. + +Milwaukee is a city whose animus is in striking contrast to the daring, +dashing spirit of Chicago, but its substantial wealth, cash basis, and +slow, careful, steady progress, have led it on to sure success, so well +attested by the quiet and substantial elegance of its business buildings, +the palatial proportions and exquisite finish of its private dwellings, +with their appropriate appointments of cultivated conservatories, gorgeous +gardens and rare works of art. The well stored libraries evince an +advanced degree of cultivation, and the literary coteries a prevailing +element of the dilletante spirit, while the plain, rich habiliments, and +the elegant turnouts with liveried attendants, indicate a degree of +fashion and style unknown in many larger cities; and their manufactories +and business houses suggest great mercantile advancement, their elevators +and shipping a high order of commercial greatness. + +Their harbor is one of the finest in the world, and by travelers is said +to resemble that of the beautiful Naples. Indeed, the extended view from +the drive upon Prospect Street is without a rival. Beautiful Boulevardes +were then in quite advanced process of construction, and in time must rank +among the most shaded, flowery walks and drives in the world. + +Swiftly sped the summer hours in fair Milwaukee, with its gay gladiolas +and blue skies, its crystal waters and grand old forests, until it ceased +to be a wonder why so many health and pleasure seekers made it a resort, +and that it became, during the warm season, a fashionable watering place. + +One of our most frequent rendezvous was upon the lake shore, where, in a +sweet secluded spot, far away from the throng which resorted there, a +rough log for a seat, we were wont to sit for hours, listening to the +music of the bands upon the excursion boats as they came and went with +their scores of pleasure seekers, and the still more harmonious melody of +the waves as they rose and fell at our feet in low, soft, musical murmurs. + +Among the many attractions of Milwaukee is that of one of the several +noble institutions erected by our Government and known as National +Soldiers' Homes. + +It is located four miles west of the city, and is accessible both by +Elizabeth Street and Grand Avenue, two of the most delightful drives of +Milwaukee. + +Its eight hundred acres are beautifully enclosed and finely cultivated, +being laid out by one of its former chaplains, according to the most +artistic rules of landscape gardening; every coil and curve of avenue +being a line of beauty, and its fifteen miles of drive startling the eye +with its grouping of lake and garden, bridge and stream, fern-clad ravines +and sunny heights. + +Amid its dense groves are fairy pavilions, in which its maimed and scarred +veterans discourse sweet music by a silver cornet band, without one +grating sound or discordant note. + +Without the rigid discipline of active array life, these veterans have +sufficient military discipline for comfort and order, and one cannot fail +to remark the systematic precision which characterizes the performance of +their daily duties. + +I cannot say all I should like to say in regard to these institutions, but +suffice it to say that I found many sympathizing and some old friends +among the blind, and was glad to learn that these soldiers, as a class, +ranked among the most cultivated inmates. + +I cannot close my chapter upon this subject without alluding to the +magnanimous generosity of the Milwaukeeans in their donation of one +hundred thousand dollars to the National Home Fund, the proceeds of a +Sanitary Fair, in which white hands and deft fingers, faithfully and +patriotically wrought, for the benefit of the disabled soldiers, and few +cities could boast of a nobler donation. I must also allude to the high +appreciation in which the Homes are held by foreign dignitaries. + +Miss Emily Faithful, the fair amanuensis and confidential friend of Queen +Victoria, while visiting America in an official capacity, spent a day in +socially visiting and carefully inspecting the Soldiers' Home of +Milwaukee. Astonished and entertained she pronounced it the most +pleasurable day she had spent in this country. + +The Grand Duke Alexis left upon its register the only autograph written in +person in a public place, bestowing upon the institution the most +extravagant encomiums, both himself and his suite of traveled and titled +gentlemen pronouncing it a wonder and a marvel! + +The Reverend Doctor Smythe, of Dublin, Ireland, when in attendance upon +the Evangelical Alliance, visited the Soldiers' Home of Dayton, Ohio. +Examining its magnificent libraries, seventy thousand dollar chapel and +its hospital, the finest in the world, he was spell-bound. Going to its +music hall and listening to its band, inhaling the perfume of its +conservatories, visiting its grottoes, bowers and springs, rowing on its +lakes, seeing its aviaries with birds of all varieties of plumage and +song, and driving in its parks inhabited by buffalo, elk, antelope and +over five hundred deer; he exclaimed with evident fervor, "In the _Old +Country_, libraries, conservatories, bands and parks are for the nobility; +in the new world they are for the soldiery." And what nobler compliment +could he have paid to our country and its institutions? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + "Farewell! a word that must be, and hath been; + A sound that makes us linger; yet farewell." + + +The summer being ended, we visited the friends of Mr. Arms in Wisconsin, +after which he went to Grinnell, Iowa, in pursuit of his usual avocation. +My own delicate health made it necessary for me to be again winging my way +southward. Going to Atlanta, Ga., and making that my headquarters, I +visited with marked success all the towns of importance on the various +railroad routes diverging from this centre. I then made Macon another +headquarters, after which I canvassed the greater part of the State. + +The forests were filled with flowering shrubs and trailing vines, the +towering trees hung with the wild, weird drapery of the southern moss, and +the mocking birds sang their sweet songs from "early morn 'til dewy eve." +These scenes "vibrate in memory" with quivering, throbbing power, and come +back like odors exhaled from fading flowers or "music when soft voices +die." + +Selma, Alabama, became my third headquarters, where I boarded with Mrs. +Cooke, a lovely woman of the purely southern type, who, before the great +conflict, was a millionaire, and was afterward forced for her own support +to convert a large mansion into a huge boarding house, which, with its +hundred guests, was a cheerful, happy home; permeated as it was by the +sunshine she diffused, and lighted by the fairy face of her lovely +daughter, who was named for her native State, Alabama. + +As in the aboriginal tongue this signifies "here we rest," and it became +to us a name deeply fraught with significance, for in this pure untainted +heart we found "rest! sweet rest!" + +"En route" to Rome I met with my usual good fortune in finding another +friend in a lady resident of the country, who fondly urged me to leave the +hotel and make my home with her, where she lavished upon me every luxury +and kindness. Her husband was the only man in that region of country who +voted for Abraham Lincoln; and when General Sherman made his "March to the +Sea," she concealed none of her stores or treasures, but went to him and +asked protection for her property and home, when a guard was immediately +furnished her by the commander. + +She afterward married an officer of this guard, in consequence of which +she was disowned by her family and associates, but in the noble and +sterling qualities of her husband found ample compensation as well as a +subsequent reconciliation with friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + "'Tis a little thing + To give a cup of water; yet its draught + Of cool refreshment, drained by fervid lips, + May give a shock of pleasure to the frame + More exquisite than when nectarian juice + Renews the life of joy in happiest hours." + + +In order to reach Montgomery I took passage in one of the high-pressure +steamers of the Alabama river, and during the two days and nights of the +trip I was surrounded by a throng of sympathizing, interested passengers, +whose tender tones and gentle touch was as a cool, refreshing draught to +parched lips, a sweet morsel to the tongue, for human hearts ever hunger +and thirst for affection. How utterly unendurable would be this life, with +its desert wastes and hot siroccos, but for the sweet, verdant spots +dotting the sandy sea, whence spring the "fountains of perpetual peace" +and issue the healing waters. + +These loving ones surrounded me as I sat busily occupied with my bead +work, and not only delighted and entertained with their curious questions +and familiar chat, but freely bought my books and fifty dollars worth of +baskets, while they would doubtless have doubled the amount had not this +exhausted my little store. + +As we steamed in sight of Montgomery a gentleman came into the cabin and +requested me to make for him eight of the handsomest bead baskets before +we landed; and, seeing an amused and incredulous smile upon my face, he +said: "You work so dexterously and so rapidly that I did not realize that +my demand was unreasonable." Explaining to him that it would require eight +hours of the closest application to accomplish that amount of work, he +apologized and left me. Nor did this specimen of the "genus homo" evince +any unusual ignorance of woman's work, whose endless routine and +diversified drudgery ofttimes require the patience of a Job and the wisdom +of a Solomon. In the labyrinth of domestic entanglement more is needed +than the silken clue of Ariadne, and the vexed question of domestic +economy requires the unerring skill of the diplomatist, the subtle tact of +the politician, and the sure strength of the statesman. The "Poet of +Poets" has shown his appreciation of the character and life of woman in +the following lines: + + From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive; + They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; + They are the books, the arts, the academies, + That show, contain and nourish all the world. + +After a pleasant and successful visit to Montgomery we went via the Mobile +Railroad to Evergreen, a little town fitly named from its deeply shaded +evergreen surroundings. We reached this little hamlet at two o'clock in +the morning, and those who are familiar with the cold and penetrating +dampness of a southern night, even in mid-summer, could realize our +condition and desire for rest and warmth, and know something of our +disappointment at finding the one poor little hotel of the town without a +vacant room. Seeking the office for a resting place, we found the case +equally hopeless, for congregated within its narrow limits were men, +women and children, every one of whom was stretched in various attitudes +upon the floor, as peacefully enfolded in the arms of Morpheus, and, +perchance, as sweetly dreaming as if resting upon beds of down and +pillowed upon fine linen and gossamer lace. + +Sleep is indeed to such "tired nature's sweet restorer," and to those +whose healthy bodies and unambitious natures know no perturbation it is +balmy and refreshing. + +Turning from the unconscious, slumbering group for one friendly face, we +were greeted by Major Lanier, of the Confederate Army, whose manner and +tone not only betokened the gentleman, but whose acts of kindness evinced +the true and chivalrous heart so characteristic of the southern character. +After failing in repeated efforts to find us a room, he gave us his +blankets and great coat, and all through the dreary watches of the night +fed the fire with wood, which with one hand he chopped, while with the +other he fought off the rabid attacks of fierce and barking dogs, which +persistently assailed him. Had we been distinguished ladies, or had there +been any probability of the gallant major being praised, complimented, or +in any way preferred for this act of gallantry, it might have been less +appreciated, but it was an act of purely chivalrous courtesy to two +strange ladies in humble position, and his only reward was our poor thanks +and the approval of his own generous heart. It must have had its comic +side, too, to see a major of the regular Confederate service, who had done +battle on the field where glory was to be won, groping in the dismal dark +of the night and running the risk of being severely hurt, possibly of +being killed, by dogs, practicing war with one hand, and dispensing a +noble if not an ostentatious charity with the other. + +We had been promised the room opening into the office as soon as it was +vacated, and at the first streak of coming dawn the Major stationed +himself near the door, listening for the slightest sound; and when from +the carefully guarded chamber the faintest rustle came he would jocularly +exclaim: "Ladies, prospects are brightening!" and so he helped us to +while away the weary hours until we secured the promised room and bed, +where we rested until noon. + +When we arose from this refreshing rest we found that the session of court +had brought this throng, and we were soon surrounded with visitors, who +kept us constantly conversing and almost incessantly weaving baskets for +their amusement. These people not only bought large stores of my work, but +their talk sent crowds of people from far and near, all of whom made +purchases of some kind. Such was the interest of every member of the bar +and every attendant upon court that the four days I spent there completely +exhausted me, physically and mentally. + +Finding there were no other important towns beyond Evergreen, I returned +to Montgomery and repaired to Savannah, Georgia, where I was treated with +the most genial generosity, and should have been repaid for a trip to that +place in a visit to its cemetery, whose reputation has been spread +throughout the length and breadth of our land, and whose strange, sad +beauty is so infinitely beyond the conceptions of imagination, but +which-- + + "To be remembered + Needs but to be seen." + +Its grounds are densely grown with trees of live oak, whose huge and +spreading branches, seeming to bear the size and strength of a century's +growth; with the dark, drooping moss, which, as it mingles its weird, +fantastic drapery with the bending, swaying, weeping willow, seems like a +pall for the graves hidden in its sombre shades; while the millions of +birds which dwell therein lull their warbling notes to the measure of a +low funeral song; and every sound of Nature's many-voiced music seems to +murmur a requiem for the dead. As I sat subdued and listening, the low, +rustling sound of the wind seemed as a sigh of sorrow escaping the breast +of the bereaved, and I could picture in the far away land of Palestine +that sacred spot which had so often been described to me, even the "Church +of the Holy Sepulchre." + +This most benevolent city of Georgia, without solicitation, presented me +passes to Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Fla. The former was at that time +quite an unimportant place, but has since become a popular resort. + +While in Tallahassee I met with great sympathy and kindness from Governor +Rood, who bought a book and handed me five dollars. When change was +tendered to him he quietly and respectfully declined, and said with his +usual delicacy that it was worth that much to him. + +The Sheriff of the county was also very generous. Wishing to present me +with ten dollars, and fearing to wound me by so doing, he ordered that +amount of bead-work. + +Tallahassee was certainly the most quiet Capital City I had ever visited, +resting in its placid loveliness apparently undisturbed by the usual +wrangle of legislation. + +We returned via Live Oaks, at which place we encountered one of those +severe thunderstorms known only to tropical lands, and in which the angry +"war of elements" strikes terror to the hearts of those unschooled to it. +All through its thundering and lightning, its wind and torrent, I was in +such a state of nervous excitement, that when the last lurid light faded, +the last crash was echoed by a low reverberating moan and died away, I +gave one deep sigh of intense relief and sank exhausted from the reaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + "I lay upon the headland heights, and listened + To the incessant moaning of the sea + In caverns under me, + And watched the waves that tossed, + And fled, and glistened; + Until the rolling meadows of amethyst + Melted away in mist." + + +My visit to Charleston combined little of eventful note, and this city is +to well known as a seaport to require a detailed description. There, as in +all places in close proximity to the ocean, I was spell-bound amid the +ceaseless ebb and flow, the endless melody of the waves glowing and +scintillating with myriad gem-like hues from the amethyst, the emerald and +the diamond, to the many-hued opal, its varied and changing beauty bearing +all the brilliant glory of the fabled dolphin, born in its depths. + +In this sea-girt city I found the home of Mrs. Glover, and above all her +hallowed presence there. She is an accomplished lady, and once wrote an +attractive novel, more for pastime than from any literary aspirations. + +Vernon, the hero of her story of Vernon Grove, was blind, and as this +depiction of character was so much more true to nature than the +pen-pictures of other gifted delineators, even that of the shrewd searcher +of the human heart, Wilkie Collins, that she had won the sympathy and +interest of all at the Baltimore Institution, at which, in former years, +she had been so cheerfully greeted. + +Vernon possessed none of the melancholy, inanimate, suspicious +characteristics supposed by many to belong of necessity to the blind, but +was a brilliant, cheerful, high-minded person, who filled every position +in life with dignity, accepted every sorrow and disappointment with +resignation, in every struggle was a lion-hearted hero, and in every +contest a conqueror. + +This gifted lady was a sister of Mrs. Bowen, of Baltimore, who, as well as +her husband, was a warm, true friend to the blind, and ever joyously +hailed as a guest in the institution. + +After traveling through the Carolinas I went to Richmond, Virginia, the +Rome of America, and like that ancient city built upon seven hills, while +in its patrician pride and family loyalty it possessed much of the essence +of the old Roman spirit. + +My visit there was during the most fervid heat of the summer solstice, +when through the sultry days all living creatures are panting and +breathless, yet withal the stay of three weeks' duration passed away with +delightful rapidity, and time stole upon us and stole from us almost +imperceptibly. + +Leaving Richmond for White Sulphur Springs, I stopped at all important +intervening points. At Staunton I devoted an entire day to the inspection +of the Institution for the Blind, and in pleasant acceptance of +hospitalities dispensed both by inmates and officials. + +Arriving at White Sulphur after dark, we found the mountain air so cold +that we could almost imagine ourselves suddenly transported from the +Equator to the Pole, and were as thoroughly chilled as one unacclimated +would be from so great and sudden a transition. + +The mammoth hotel of this watering place, comfortably seated in its +dining-hall twelve hundred guests, and all its appointments were in +equally grand proportion. We occupied, from choice, one of the cozy little +cottages, nestling like a dove-cot in some bowery shade, with its patch of +green-sward and flower-garden in front and purling brook behind, holding +the double charm of rural simplicity and home-like air. Hattie led me +through every path and grove, nook and glen of this sweet seclusion, this +valley embosomed in mountains, and my thoughts reverted to the days when +the belles and beaux of our American court sought these sylvan shades; +when Washington and the successive Chief Magistrates of the Great Republic +had gracefully glided through the stately minuet and invested this spot +with a now classic interest. + +Prominent among the visitors was the leonine General Lee, a Colossus in +person and in mind. In spirit brave as a true hero, but in manner gentle +as a woman. In the sweet solace of sympathy his heart went out to the +blind girl, and assumed the tangible form of solid favors, for by his +personal efforts under the magic influence and royal mandate of his +imperial power many a little volume was appropriated that would have been +otherwise unnoticed. + +George Peabody was also a guest, but in this, his last visit to his native +country, he was too ill and prostrate to receive friends. I felt for him a +strong personal sympathy for his beneficence to my native city, to which +he ever acknowledged himself indebted for his first business success; and +in which the pure, white marble structure, with its magnificent library +and other appointments, so well known as "The Peabody Institute," stands +as a monument of his munificence. + +Returning to Richmond, we took the James River route to Baltimore, a trip +fraught with varied interest. + +At Yorktown, that city of eld, we landed to take in a cargo of freight, +not neglecting the usual store of oysters, of which we had at supper a +sumptuous feast and it was from no fickle epicurean fancy that all +pronounced these delicious bivalves the finest in the world, for, +certainly, never before or since have we partaken of them with such rare +relish and absolute gusto. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + "Sweet is the hour that brings us home, + Where all will spring to meet us; + Where hands are striving as we come, + To be the first to greet us. + When the world has spent its frowns and wrath, + And care been sorely pressing; + 'Tis sweet to turn from our roving path, + And find a fireside blessing; + Ah, joyfully dear is the homeward track, + If we are but sure of a welcome back!" + + +Home again in dear old Baltimore, where over my cradle was sung my +mother's first lullaby, and where so many localities were invested with +the charm of loved association. I of course visited the Institution for +the Blind, which would not, in its many changes, have seemed at all like +home but for the music of a familiar voice and the presence of dear Miss +Bond, who still with loving dignity presided as matron, throned in the +majesty of noble humanity, and crowned with purity and goodness. + +Dr. Fisher, Mr. Trust and Mr. Newcomer still faithfully held their +positions as Directors, and cordially welcomed me home. Mr. Morrison, the +new Superintendent, and his most estimable wife, although they had never +seen me, brought me near to them by the bond of sympathetic kindness, and +seemed not like strangers but friends. + +It seemed singular to those who had known little Mary Day to have her go +back to them a married woman, and indeed, for the moment, time seemed to +have gone backward in its flight; the dignity of the matron was forgotten, +and I was a child again, even little Mary Day. I felt glad of an assurance +from Miss Bond, that so fondly had my name been cherished, even by those +in the institution who had never met me, that it was regarded as a +"household word," and that enshrined in the most sacred niche of the +temple of love was the image of Mary L. Day. As a testimony of this +continued affection I was fondly urged to remain in the institution while +in the city, but, as I had so many resident relatives, I declined. + +My cousin, William Heald, who had by his kindness infused light into some +of my darkest hours, had won a lovely woman for a wife, and certainly no +one more richly deserved such a consummation. Cousin Sammy Heald had also +married his fair fiance, of the West, who in her sweet purity of +character, beauty of person and a life fragrant and blossoming with good +deeds, could justly be called a "prairie flower." He had been ordained a +Methodist minister, and was winning true laurels in his little charge in +Iowa, to which conference he belonged. He had chosen his proper vocation, +for as a preacher he was "Native, and to the manor born," for when a wee +boy, he had written and declaimed many a sermon, and had his mimic +audience been a real one these efforts would have produced electrical +effect. + +Among the many changes in my Baltimore circle was the vacant chair at the +fireside, once filled by my uncle Jacob Day, whose memory and whose life +was pervaded by the odor of true sanctity. It could truly be said of him +at the sunset of a beautiful life, that + + "Each silver hair, each wrinkle there, + Records some good deed done; + Some flower cast along the way, + Some spark from love's bright sun." + +He had been a great leader in the Sabbath School movement, and a prominent +feature of the funeral cortege was a procession of his pupils in pure +white raiment, who, in token of their love and bereavement, strewed his +grave with flowers. + +I cannot close my home chapter without an expression of exultant pride for +my classmates who have done so nobly in their various vocations. Two had +entered the literary ranks as book-writers, and had met with marked +success in the acceptance and sale of their works; three stood high as +teachers; one earned a good living by tuning pianos; several were engaged +in various departments of the institution; and two ranked high as +musicians, which profession has seemed an especial field for the blind. + +To use the musical measure of poetic prose as rendered by Mr. Artman, one +of the most renowned blind authors--"There is a world to which night +brings no gloom, no sadness, no impediments; fills no yawning chasm and +hides from the traveler no pitfall. It is the world of sound. Silence is +its night, the only darkness of which the blind have any knowledge. In it +every attribute of Nature has a voice; the beautiful, the grand, the +sublime, have each a language, and to me, whose heart is in tune, every +sound has a peculiar significance. Sounds fill the soul, while light fills +the eye only. 'In the varied strains of warbling melody,' as it winds in +its graceful meanderings to the deep recesses of his soul, or of the rich +and boundless harmony, as it swells and rolls its pompous tide around him, +he finds a solace and a compensation for the absent joys of sight." + +And so I close with a blessing upon the members of my class, and may the +God of light and love illumine their paths, and glorify their lives, is my +earnest, heartfelt prayer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + "The prayer of Ajax was for light; + Through all that dark and desperate fight, + The blackness of that noonday night, + He asked but the return of sight, + To see his foeman's face. + + "Let our unceasing, earnest prayer + Be, too, for light--for strength to bear + Our portion of the weight of care, + That crushes into dumb despair + One half the human race." + + +From Baltimore I went to Westminster, Maryland, to visit my cousin, +Charles Henniman, and my stay there was characterized by all the joy of +sweet reunion and eager acceptance of hospitalities so lavishly bestowed. +It was with mingled emotions of pleasure and pain I greeted my old friend, +Carrie Fringer. In person she was of a peculiar type of beauty, a face +regular in features as a Madonna, beaming with the soft, love-light of +rare, sweet eyes, in whose depths were imprisoned not only an intense +brightness, but the still deeper glow of a soul of love and truth. Curls +of soft brown hair fell upon her symmetrical shoulders and softened the +face they framed into an almost spiritual sweetness. From an affliction in +her childhood she had almost ever since been unable to walk, and indeed +none of the beautiful limbs were available for voluntary motion. Thus +deprived of more than half of life's joy, its sweet activity, many would +have lapsed into a morbid, nervous condition, over which we might justly +have thrown the mantle of charity, but this dear friend was so lovely and +chastened in her affliction, that she seemed almost a Deity in her +attributes of tender love and patient self-abnegation, united to a heroic +endurance of pain with which she was daily, hourly and momently tortured. +Surely + + "The good are better made by ill, + As odors crushed are sweeter still." + +Going to Washington I accompanied an excursion down the Potomac to Mount +Vernon, that sacred spot whose mention sends a thrill of patriotic pride +through every American heart, hallowed as it is by memories of George +Washington. So I became one of the zealous pilgrim throng who wended their +way to this our Mecca, dear to us as that sacred place in the old world to +the most devout worshiper of the Prophet Mahomet. + +Reaching our destination we first repaired to the tomb, and with bowed and +uncovered heads all reverently gazed upon the mausoleum of departed +greatness, and turned to the mansion, each department of which had its own +peculiar charm. + +Prominent among other relics were his war-equipments, the paraphernalia of +Revolutionary times; and as we ever associate him with his character as +general, these were especially significant from the sword so often wielded +with masterly power, to the little canteen, from which, after long and +weary marches, he refreshed his parched lips. + +In his bed-chamber, with its antique air and quaint garniture, there stood +a bedstead, the fac-simile of the one upon which he died. Here we lingered +long and lovingly, and turned to another department, in one corner of +which stood a harpsichord, once belonging to his niece, Miss Lewis. In +fancy I could see her fairy fingers as they swept in "waves of grace" over +its strings, and with the "concord of sweet sounds" ministered to a circle +of distinguished listeners. I could not resist the impulse to pass my +hands over the long neglected strings, and recalled the sentiment of the +old song, + + "As a sweet lute that lingers + In silence alone; + Unswept by light fingers. + Scarce murmurs a tone; + My own heart resembles, + This lute, light and free, + 'Til o'er its chord trembles + Sweet memories of thee." + +The garden still remained as arranged by his taste and dictation, and at +one corner of the house the magnolia tree, planted by his own hand, still +bloomed in fragrant beauty. + +In the yard was the old well, with "its moss-covered, iron-bound bucket," +and at the door the gray-haired negro, the inevitable servant of "Massa +Washington," who will doubtless, like a wandering Jew, out live all time, +and for centuries to come remain an attache of our country's father. + +Several gentlemen present evinced and expressed great surprise that a +blind woman should go to _see_ Mount Vernon, yet I very much doubt if any +eyes really saw more than my own. When we reached the boat, each gentleman +carried in his hand a cane cut from the woods of Mount Vernon, and one and +all returned to Washington with the consciousness of having spent a +pleasant and profitable day. + +We soon left for Lynchburg, Virginia, after which we visited the towns en +route to Knoxville, Tennessee. At the latter place we had a very enjoyable +visit to the home of Parson Brownlow. He was absent in attendance upon the +Legislature, but his daughter gracefully and cordially dispensed the +hospitalities of their home, and did everything within the bounds of her +warm, sympathetic intelligence to heighten the pleasure and interest of +our visit. + +Back again to Chicago, we were welcomed by Mr. Arms, whom we found +engaged in erecting machinery in the Gowan Marble Works, the largest of +the kind in the North-west. Resting in the sweet haven of home, we passed +the winter in this sanctum. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + "I love not man the less, but nature more, + From these our interviews, in which I steal + From all I may be, or have been before, + To mingle with the universe, and feel + What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal." + + +Renewed and refreshed from our long winter rest, with the migration of the +birds we winged our way westward, alighting in many a lovely locality in +the flourishing State of Iowa, whose soft undulations of prairies were now +swelling in billows of gorgeous green, and touched with the varied tints +of flowery bloom. + +Our last resting place was in Council Bluffs, so celebrated for the +grandeur of its location at the foot of the beetling bluffs of the +Missouri River, and for its flourishing and progressive spirit, aside from +which it holds a place in our historic annals dating back to aboriginal +days. When this century was in its early infancy, and the shadowy dawn of +our young nation was still wrapt in the mists which enshrouded its first +struggling efforts; when the little far-away fur station of Astoria, near +the whispering waves of the Pacific coast, held not the mellowing memories +of time or the living light with which the genius of an Irving has since +invested it; when the great explorers, Lewis and Clarke, were leaving +their foot-prints on the land bordering the Columbia River, they held a +council with the Red Man at Kanesville, Iowa, ever since known as "Council +Bluffs." + +Thence we went to Omaha, which is one of the most flourishing places in +Nebraska, and from the improvised post-office of early days, the "plug" +hat of Mr. Jones, its first post-master, has grown the large distributing +office of the department. + +It was also a military post and winter garrison for our troops in +transitu, its cheerful barracks, well-kept roads and clean parade ground +converting it into a favorite drive and walk, where resort many strangers +to witness the dress parade of "The Boys in Blue." + +The Platte River Valley is well known to most of my readers from its +romantic association with the struggles of the vast army of emigrants, who +not only braved the dangers of its uncertain fords and deceitful +quicksands, but the tomahawk and scalp knife, ofttimes leaving a nameless +grave beside its waters; and, were it not for a laughable incident in this +connection, I would pass it by unnoticed. + +There are so many heroes of the Don Quixote school, who are so brave in +fighting wind-mills, who, in time of peace, are "soldiers armed with +resolution," but in the real conflict what Shakspeare designates as +"soldiers and afeard." There was in our train a young prig, who "played +the braggart with his tongue," telling of his brave exploits, like a very +Othello recounting the "dangers he passed," ending with a defiant show of +how he should act in the event of an attack from marauding Indians, to +which the trains were at that time so subject, after which he fell into a +profound slumber, resting upon his imaginary laurels. While he slept the +train had changed conductors, and it became necessary to see his ticket. +This new official passing by, and finding himself unable to arouse the +snoring sleeper by ordinary means, gave him a lusty shake, whereupon our +hero gave a hideous yell of "Indians! Indians!" his lips quivering and his +frame palsied with fear. The sound was so startling that the affrighted +passengers imagined themselves for the moment in the merciless grasp of a +band of Red Men. + +The conductor gave this quaking coward another energetic shake and an +imperious demand for "your ticket, sir!" and the quondam man of war +"smoothed his wrinkled front," and humbly subsided into a semblance of +sleep, while the conductor was no doubt astonished at the loud laughter +that followed a brief silence, during which the passengers recovered their +composure, and realized the full ludicrousness of the incident. In my +experience in life I have met a great many people who were ready to tell +what they would have done "had they been there;" but this priggish gascon +was the first I had ever seen put to the test, and I believe him to be a +fair sample of that smart class who could, if you take their words for it, +have done better on any given occasion than those whom the occasion found +"there." + +Emerging from the Platte Valley, we realized the fact that we were fairly +on our way to the far West, ready to take in with insatiable avidity all +the immensity and grandeur of our territorial scenery. + +Arriving at Cheyenne, we were surprised to find a comfortable +hotel-omnibus in waiting, and most of the concomitants of a metropolis, +notwithstanding the oft-expressed surprise and fear of friends at the +daring venture of two unprotected women in going alone to this lawless and +God-forsaken country. + +Alas for the demoralizing influence of so-called civilization! While in +the elegant counting-rooms of polished millionaires in more eastern +localities we had occasionally met with insults and snubs; in this place +of reputed "roughs" we received not one rebuff, and were greeted not +merely with respect, but with unbounded generosity. While we found rough +diamonds, they were diamonds nevertheless. + +Over this city has since swept the tidal wave of reform, and a great +temperance awakening evoked by one of the great workers in that movement, +Mr. Page, who, with gentle yet royal mandate, has said to the many +"troubled waters," with their sad wrecks of human souls--"peace! be +still!" + +We find it vain to depict by our feeble word-painting the many-hued, +many-voiced phases nature assumes in this almost boundless domain, and the +yet untold, undeveloped depths of our territorial resources. Mountains +looming up in imperial grandeur, their snow-crowned summits melting into +cloud and sky; weird canyons, in which the whispered words of worship from +a myriad devotees seem to echo and re-echo through their dark depths; +giant trees: + + "The murmuring pines and hemlock, + Bearded with moss and in garments of green, + Indistinct in the twilight, + Stand like Druids of Eld, + With voices sad and prophetic." + +Among the many military posts Fort Bridger, named for the famous trapper +and guide of oft-written and oft-told fame, is also renowned as one of the +posts of our gallant frontier officer, Albert Sydney Johnston, who won his +first laurels amid the first Mormon troubles, and gallantly fell at Shiloh +early in the Civil War. + +Many of the most romantic places have been named for some fair maiden of +the pioneer families, as Maggie's Creek, Susan's Valley, etc., while one +of the most noted and poetic spots is known as "The Maiden's Grave," the +once rude resting place of a gentle girl, whose remains were left there by +her mourning friends on their way to their home on the Pacific Slope. It +was afterwards found by a party of graders on the railway, and these rough +but sympathetic men erected a fitting mausoleum of solid masonry, +surmounted by a pure white cross of stone, whose symmetrical proportions +are prominently visible to every traveler upon the Union Pacific Railroad. + +One of the most interesting objects to me was the "Thousand Mile Tree," +whose towering height I could imagine and long to behold as described to +me by my companion and friend, its strange isolation sending a peculiar +thrill of loneliness through the heart of one who was fifteen hundred +miles from home. This old tree, through some strange freak of nature, +stood a solitary sentinel, a guide-post of nature to tell the traveler he +was a thousand miles from Omaha. + +As we neared Weber River our well known and popular conductor came into +the cars, and in a voice of deep, rich melody, sang the words of the then +favorite song: + + "Yes, we will gather at the river. + The beautiful, the beautiful river; + Gather with the Saints at the river, + That flows by the throne of God." + +The passengers, as we neared the kingdom of the Saints, catching the +magnetism of his song, joined in the sweet refrain until it swelled into a +soaring, reverberating harmony. + +We reached Ogden City just as the sun was setting in royal hues, and +repaired at once to the White House, the only gentile hotel in the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + "Westward the star of Empire takes its way; + The four first acts already past, + A fifth shall close the drama with the day; + Time's noblest offspring-is the last." + + +Our first emotion upon our introduction to Utah was one of fear and +foreboding, for our landlord seemed so assured that we should meet with no +success, selfishness being the established character of the Mormons, who +never allowed their hearts to go out in sympathy to any one outside of +their own church or community. + +Far away from home, "a stranger in a strange land," felt like those +old-time wanderers who sat them down by the "waters of Babylon," and +hanging their harps upon the willow, sang sad songs and wept bitter tears. + +I gathered sufficient courage to call upon the editor of the daily paper, +and his gentlemanly reception was very reassuring. He gave me a lengthy +and commendatory notice, and this emanating from a man with five wives +gave me a more charitable sentiment than I had formerly maintained toward +Mormon institutions, and it likewise gave me courage and a better opinion +as to my prospects. We remained there two days, and met with such +unexpected success that we turned in a more hopeful mood toward Salt Lake +City. + +On the road to that city is a celebrated sulphur spring, whose presence is +indicated for miles before it is reached by somewhat infernal fumes. A +woman in the car, overcome by the unpleasant odor, exclaimed, in evident +disgust: "Is that the way the Mormons smell?" She seemed so impressed with +the nearness of his Satanic Majesty, whom she intimately associated with +Mormondom, that it recalled the somewhat vulgar story of the "Teuton," +who, in nearing the Virginia White Sulphur Springs, with the same fumes in +his nostrils, cried out: "Mein Gott! pe shure, hell is not more as a mile +off!" + +Arriving at Salt Lake City at the close of a beautiful day, the western +sky gleaming with the royally gorgeous hues of a clear, bright sunset, +while the delightful surroundings and stimulating atmosphere lured us to +walk from the depot. + +Salt Lake being at that time a city of twenty thousand souls, and this +being prior to the opening of the mines, it was probably in the hey-day of +its beauty, and could boast of but one saloon, whereas they are now very +numerous. Its broad, regular avenues were shaded with trees of such +immense growth as are known only in our western lands, the coolness and +shade of whose leafy, spreading branches invitingly appeal to the +passer-by. Streams of limpid, crystal water, born in the pure mountain +snows, gurgle down each street, and, in their beautiful borders of +nature's green enamel, impart an almost marvelous beauty to the city. + +The twenty-third of July being the twenty-third anniversary of the +founding of the "City of the Saints," I had the pleasure of going to their +Temple and listening to the earnest oratory of their representative men, +and among them the "Prophet" himself. George Francis Train being also a +visitor in the city, gave a characteristic oration, in which he rehearsed +the pilgrimage of this people, their persecution, privations and pains +before reaching their haven, which seems, in its rare beauty, an almost +magical city, rising up in the wilderness as a lovely refuge, for, after +all, what magic is so potent as industry and perseverance, and how much of +both of these elements must have been brought to bear in the +accomplishment of so much in the short space of twenty-three years. + +The Honorable George Cocannon, the able editor of their daily paper, +representative in Congress, and one of their distinguished elders, gave me +a telling editorial, which, from its influential source, benefited me very +greatly, and could not fail to facilitate my sales. + +We called at the residence of Brigham Young, and he kindly gave us a half +hour of his valuable time, a favor much appreciated, and one which threw +great additional light upon their institutions. + +We visited their public schools, found the system of graded departments, +high schools, etc., very similar to our own, and all in an equally +flourishing condition. My companion was peculiarly attracted by the +uncommon beauty of the pupils, never having seen in an equal number of +children so much personal fascination. I also visited the public market, +where a man in one of the stalls bought a book, remarking at the same time +that he supposed he ought to buy four, as he had that number of wives. A +bystander asked if this did not sound very strangely in the ears of one so +unaccustomed to a plurality of wives. I quickly responded that the men of +Utah must have large hearts to be capable of taking in four wives, or even +more, when our men had scarce courage to marry one. My reply evidently +touched some responsive chord, for all at once bought books. Their system +of co-operative trade ofttimes leaves them destitute of ready cash, but +all who had money gave me the most liberal patronage. + +There is a peculiar feature of Salt Lake society which is truly worthy of +note, and that is the fact that even in social gatherings they open and +close with prayer. + +Thus, with the highest respect and gratitude for its citizens, I left +Salt Lake and returned to Ogden, where I hoped for a new supply of books. + +Finding neither letters nor books, and board being four dollars per day, I +began to feel symptoms of the "blues." Going to the landlord and stating +the case, he bade me have no fear, for no more would be demanded of me +than I was able to pay; and cheered by this unexpected kindness, I +resolved to patiently wait the issue of events. The next day being +election, it was strange to witness the procession of women voters wending +their way to the polls; but here, as in Salt Lake, the utmost order and +quiet prevailed, nor was bolt or bar necessary for protection at night, +when we were permitted to rest in sweet security from harm. + +On going to the express office we were approached by a gentleman, who, +pointing to me, handed Hattie an envelope with the simple words, "If you +please;" few indeed, but fraught with mystery to us, our only solution +being that the envelope contained election tickets, and we were supposed +voters. + +With a sense of relief we found the books at the express office, and we +took that opportunity to open the mysterious package, in which we found +five dollars. Describing the gentleman to the express agent, he said he +was a clerk in an eating house near by, a bachelor, and very liberal. +Certainly this act spoke nobly for the fraternity of bachelors, who are +supposed to go about armed with a coat of mail, especially invulnerable in +the region of the heart, while this unsolicited kindness unquestionably +indicated a large degree of tenderness of nature. + +We sent him a note of acknowledgment, which we felt to be but a feeble +expression of our gratitude, and, as "all seemed to work together for our +good," we left Utah with a benediction in our hearts and a silent but no +less earnest prayer on our lips, and turned toward the setting sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + "The quality of mercy is not strained; + It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven + Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed, + It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: + 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes + The throned monarch better than his crown." + + +Leaving Ogden we followed the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, making +no stops until we reached Elko, Nevada. It was the county seat of Elko +county, and, although at that time a place of comparatively small size and +population, it had an air of business activity known only to localities +alive with the excitement of railroad traffic. The mammoth depot and +freight-house gave it an air of importance; the pine trade, then so +active, and the busy stage-line to the neighboring, warm, mineral springs +and mines of purest silver, imparted to it an additional business +activity. + +We were delightfully entertained by Mr. Treet, the gentlemanly proprietor +of the Railroad House, and were presented by him with a letter of +introduction to Mrs. Van Every, of Sacramento. Thus did so many kind hands +smooth down the inequalities incident to a life of travel, and pleasantly +pave the way to so many warm friendships. + +On arriving at Sacramento on August 5th, a day of intense, almost stifling +heat, we went at once to Mrs. Van Every, who kept the most elegant +boarding house in the city, whose spacious apartments seemed filled with +the breath of Paradise, which added a grateful welcome to our travel-tired +bodies. Mrs. Van Every's mien of pure and native dignity, her voice of +silvery sweetness, gave the charm of a welcome and ease to her greeting; +and without delay we presented our letter, which was the "open sesame" to +her heart. + +We were at once assigned to a nice, clean and even luxurious apartment, +and after some real rest and quiet we sauntered out, as usual seeking the +most prominent editors, and found two, both of whom did us full justice in +the way of editorial notices of our presence and mission. + +One day, almost at the close of a two weeks' canvassing tour, we entered +the office of the Honorable N. Green Curtis, who, at the first glance, +declined to give us his patronage, but after a short conversation, in +which he learned that I was a native of Baltimore, + + "A moment o'er his face + The tablet of unutterable thought was traced, + And then, it faded as it came," + +he instantly arose, and, as if impelled by some new and life-giving +impulse, he took from my hand a book, and left in its stead a five dollar +bill, saying in hurried words, I never refused to assist a Southerner. + +Thus the memories of our native land are balmy with recollections of +childhood, and cling to us through a lifetime of sorrow and change. The +humblest Scottish shepherd boy can never forget that + + "'Twas yonder on the Grampian hills + His father fed his flock." + +Judge Curtis afterward revealed the fact that he was a native of South +Carolina, and the mere mention of the sunny land of his boyhood gave to +each latent sympathy new life and power. It was also probable that he was +not at first aware of my affliction, for he added the remark that he could +not refuse a favor to a blind person. When we were leaving his office he +arose and inquired if I needed aid in any other way; stated that he was a +widower and without other ties, hence had no claims upon his purse, and +hoped I would feel as free to ask as he was to give. + +I replied that I was doing too well in my legitimate business to require +direct pecuniary aid, and unless he could assist me in securing railroad +passes I had no requests to make. + +How kindly he did this was manifest from the fact that I afterward +received from Ex-Governor Stanford, who was President of the Central +Pacific Road, a yearly pass, and with this introduction the favor was +readily extended by all the railroads on the coast. + +A few evenings before I left Sacramento Mrs. Van Every, from her ever +overflowing goodness, improvised an entertainment for my pleasure and +benefit. It became necessary to initiate Hattie into the secret, but I +remained in blissful ignorance until one evening I received a not unusual +summons to go down to the drawing rooms, when I found myself the centre of +a charmed circle of the elite of Sacramento, the easy flow of whose +conversation was laden with love and sympathy for me, and then was +revealed the fact that each invited guest had received a card, upon which +Mrs. Van Every had traced the words "for the benefit of the blind lady." + +"Music with its golden tongue was there," and the halls resounded with +melody, which, with love's sacred inspiration, is sweet as Apollo's lute. + +Among the gathered guests was Mr. Charles Cummings and lady, Mr. Cummings +being one of the officers of the Central Pacific Railroad, of whom I shall +speak hereafter. A most sumptuous supper was served, each choice viand +being the result of Mrs. Van Every's culinary lore, which the most +epicurean taste could not but relish. + +The light-winged hours brought all unconsciously the time for parting, +and the beauty and chivalry of Sacramento, left laden with books and +baskets which had been spirited from my own room and tastefully disposed +in the parlors; and each good night was blended with a kind wish and +gentle benediction. + +Mrs. Van Every, and her sister, Mrs. Fulger, who lived with her, were +ladies of the noblest representative type of the Society of Friends, of +which my life already held such blessed memories. In general society, with +deferential etiquette, they adopted the usual form of speech, but in the +privacy of the home circle they used the "plain language" of their own +organization, hence it became to me doubly musical in its sacred +character. + +Before starting again upon our travels, we made Sacramento our home, to +which we could turn for rest in our wanderings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + "And this our life--exempt from public haunt, + Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in everything." + + +We next visited San Jose, one of the most romantically, beautiful towns in +California, which would require the subtle gift of genius, a touch of +poetic fire, and, above all, the fullness and richness of descriptive +power, to enable me to give any adequate conception of its charms. It was +almost a fairy realm, with its fields of waving grain, then golden with +the glow of the harvest season; trees laden with fruitage, and vineyards +drooping with their ripe, purple clusters. + +One of the prominent attractions of the place was the residence of General +Negley, nestling in the centre of extended grounds, combining the richly, +blending beauties of nature and art. Groves and streams, rustic bridges +and flowing fountains, shrubby labyrinths and flowery dells, were grouped +in happiest harmony. Received by the General with the genial hospitality +which should characterize the presiding spirit of such an Eden, dispensing +itself in so many pleasant ways, we were led from house to garden, and +from vineyard to wine press, where all were temptingly lured to taste the +freshly pressed grape juice. + +It was a novel sight to those accustomed only to white or negro labor, to +see the efficient corps of Chinese employees who had proven themselves +such valuable servants. It is with some degree of trepidation that I +follow a desire which impels me to describe a bunch of grapes I saw in +this vineyard. I must beg my readers to free me from any taint of the +spirit of the renowned Baron Munchausen, whose intensely magnifying vision +threw its impress upon all objects, but, without the faintest degree of +exaggeration, I can say, that while I am no Lilliputian in size, I stood, +holding with great difficulty, the weight of a single bunch of grapes in +my extended hand, while the other end of it rested upon the ground, nor +would I dare to tell this grape story unless many of my readers were +familiar with the mammoth fruits of California. + +After this delightful visit we took the horse car to Santa Clara, and +certainly the world cannot boast of a public route so redolent with beauty +as this. Both sides of the road are shaded with trees of almost a +century's growth; for this "Alameda" was planted by the Jesuit Fathers in +1799. These left the vines and olives of their native Spain, and planted +upon the soil of their new home this grove, which was, doubtless, intended +as a sacred haunt, never dreaming that its sanctity would be invaded by +the sacrilegious sounds of modern civilization, and, above all, by the +rumble of the horse car. + +All along this beauteous line of shade, musical with the melody of birds, +are elegant villas, evidently the abodes of wealth and fashion. + +Back again to Sacramento, we met Mr. Charles Cummings, who gave us a +general pass over the various stage routes of that portion of the State, +and we at once went to Stockton by rail, where we took the stage for the +celebrated Calevaros trees. So stupendous appeared every tree upon the +route, that a score of times we fancied ourselves nearing the world famed +giants, but how did these monsters dwindle into comparative insignificance +when we found the real grove. + +After this tedious, tiresome stage ride, it was indeed a luxury to find +ourselves safely ensconced in the large, elegant hotel in the midst of the +Calevaros, the season being quite advanced, and in consequence the hotel +less crowded. This being one of the few places in the State in which we +found cool water, we luxuriated in draught after draught of this crystal, +ice-cold beverage, and no fabled fountain of rejuvenating power could have +been more exhilarating. + +Next morning, in eager anxiety, we took an early look at the great trees, +all of which are named for some person of distinction. We stood first +beside General Grant, and, as Hattie laid her hand upon the side of the +hero, she bade me start around him and see what a distance it would be to +find her again. When I was upon the opposite side I felt quite isolated +and lonely, and when I regained her companionship it seemed to have been +after a long separation. We next took a reverent look at the "Mother of +the Forest," which is eighty-seven feet in circumference and four hundred +feet in height, and we must confess that these proportions made her look +quite like an Amazon. The "Father of the Forest" was quite prostrate, his +huge bulk, as he lay upon the ground, seeming that of a fallen hero. Thus +in the vegetable as in the animal world, the female has the greater power +of endurance. Man, in spite of his conceded superiority of physical +strength and supposed mental supremacy, bows before the tornado of life, +while woman ofttimes stands erect and fearless amid the storms and winds +of years. + +The heart of the Father had been bored out, and the hollow converted into +a drive, admitting a horse and rider for eighty-seven feet, and allowing +them room to turn and go back. I had the pleasure of taking this novel +ride, allowing my horse to be led. + +Many of my readers have seen, and most of them have heard of the novel +dancing-hall in the heart of one of these denizens of the forest, which +admits four quadrilles upon its floors, and can imagine the romance of +"tripping the light fantastic toe" amid such surroundings. Another tree +had been sawed into tablets, upon which each visitor left a name or +record. The day previous to our visit, a little boy of eight years old had +visited the grove. When his bright eyes rested for a time upon the tablet, +his little fingers grasped a piece of chalk, and he readily wrote: "And +God said, let there be a Big Tree, and there was a Big Tree." + +We looked admiringly upon the "Twin Trees" named for Ingomar and +Parthenia, and perhaps like these lovers of old, embodied "two hearts that +beat as one." During our three days visit we left no tree unexamined, each +one being fraught with individuality, and each in living language +addressing our hearts in its own characteristic sentiment. + +These veterans varied in age from twelve hundred to twenty-five thousand +years, and for their accumulated cycles commanded veneration. + +After fully satisfying our love of sight seeing, and taking time to fully +contemplate the beauty and sublimity of the wonders, we returned by way of +Sonora and Columbia to our temporary home in Sacramento, not only +satisfied but highly gratified by our tour. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + "Dared I but say a prophecy, + As sang the holy men of old, + Of rock-built cities yet to be + Along these shining shores of gold, + Crowding athirst into the sea; + What wondrous marvels might be told! + Enough to know that empire here + Shall burn her loftiest, brightest star; + Here art and eloquence shall reign + As o'er the wolf-reared realm of old; + Here learned and famous from afar, + To pay their noble court, shall come, + And shall not seek or see in vain, + But look on all with wonder dumb." + + +Once more away from Sacramento we visited Marysville, which is a beautiful +brick town, laid out with great regularity and width of street, each house +nestling in flower-garden and shade, and is a place of extensive +manufactures and trade. We went from there to Colusa, where I reaped a +rich harvest of gain. Indeed I never found a people more lavish in the +expenditure of money, seeming to value it only for the good it dispensed. + +Leaving Colusa, elated with the success we had met, we journeyed to +Marysville in a very happy state of mind that was doomed to undergo a +severe reverse on our arrival. When we started there were three hundred +dollars in "hard money" in my trunk, and when we arrived in Marysville my +heart sank within me and I could feel the blood leave the surface and my +face grow deadly cold when I learned that my trunk, which we had seen +stowed in the "boot" of the stage on starting, was not there on our +arrival. After a few moments, in which I considered what should be done, I +went to the stage agent, who telegraphed back to Colusa, and, after an +hour of deep and painful suspense, the answer came back that the trunk was +safe. By some singular omission the straps of the boot had not all been +buckled and my trunk had fallen out. It was picked up by some honest +farmer, who, believing that it belonged to a passenger in the stage, had +sent it to the office. The next morning it came to me, and I was amply +compensated for the delay in the kindness of the agent, who not only +expressed great regret for the mishap, but voluntarily defrayed all extra +expense incurred. + +We next visited Chico, at that time the terminus of the Central Pacific +Railway, where I hoped to meet Elder Hobart, the friend I had so loved in +my childhood. After some search I found his daughter, from whom I was +pained to learn that he had closed his earthly pilgrimage but a short time +before. My pain was not for him who rested from such faithful labors, but +for those bereft. The daughter, although married, forgot not the friend of +early days; and I accepted with alacrity her invitation to visit her +house, where we had a season fraught with pleasant reminiscence. + +We took the stage here for Red Bluff, the rain pouring in torrents and the +night dark as Erebus, it being the beginning of the regular rainy season +of this country. During the night we reached the Sacramento River, which +we could almost have imagined to be the Styx, with the sombre Charon for a +ferry-man, for we soon learned that we were obliged to cross upon a flat +boat. The wind was blowing in so fierce a gale that the boatmen could not +near the shore, and called upon the passengers for assistance. All the +gentlemen responded but one passenger, who, although a man, was not +gentle, settled himself upon the back seat and declared he would not pay +his passage and work it too. All attempts of the ladies to shame him into +activity were useless. He could not be induced to leave his snuggery, and +even as we talked he was lustily snoring. So do some selfish natures +smoothly slip through the emergencies of life, leaving to others the +responsibilities and exertion; and this man I was afterwards told was a +professional humorist, actually a humorous writer for the press, and I +must accept this as one of his jokes. + +After three weary hours we drifted to the shore, and next day went to Red +Bluff, a wild, uncanny place, but abounding in wealth and replete with +generous hearts, of whose bounty I was a rich recipient. + +Thence we went to Shasta, where Mr. Hudson, a cousin of Hattie, had rooms +in readiness for us at the American Hotel. The meeting of the cousins, +after a separation of nineteen years, was a joyous one, their animated +conversation keeping time with the quick, impetuous throbbing of their +hearts. The pleasure of our day there was also much enhanced by the +sprightly--even brilliant conversation of the hotel proprietress, Mrs. +Green, whose three-score years and ten were worn as gracefully as many a +maiden's sweet sixteen. + +As a protracted rain seemed inevitable, and all business possibilities +were precluded, we assented to Mr. Hudson's proposition to visit his +bachelor quarters in the country, which we found to be one of the most +romantic, sylvan shades imaginable, with its little three roomed-cot +embowered in vines and running roses, then in full bloom, and after the +storm, radiant in color, freighted with perfume and sparkling with liquid +gems. Alone he had occupied this secluded spot for nineteen years, and in +his isolation-- + + "Had made him friends of mountains; + With the stars and the quick spirits of the Universe, + He held his dialogues, + And they did teach to him + The magic of their mysteries." + +He was as familiar as a hunter, with every trail in the vicinity, and he +took us through every romantic, winding path, one of which led us to an +elevation commanding a view of Mount Shasta, the highest peak of the Coast +Range. + +Reluctantly we left this "pleasure dome," which, although less stately +than that "in Xanadu of Kubla Kahn," held all the fairy charms of a bright +Eutopia; and with the vain regrets which all must feel who leave some +fancy realm for the cold regions of reality, we took the stage route for +Weaversville, forty miles farther up the mountain heights, whose crests +were now white with snow, and the road in many places running within six +inches of the ragged chasms, thousands of feet in depth. + +Our stage was drawn by four horses, and, at one time, the snow accumulated +around the foot of one of the leaders until it formed a huge ball, and +with this impediment he was partially precipitated over the edge of a +precipice. This noble animal exhibited more presence of mind than would +have characterized many human beings under similar circumstances, and, +with great judgment, gradually extricated the foot from its snowy burden, +and resumed his journey, but not before the face of every passenger was +blanched with terror. + +After a few days at Weaversville, we returned to Sacramento, feeling that +we had enjoyed a pleasant and profitable trip. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + "A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays, + And confident to-morrows." + + +We made a trip to San Francisco at a time when life seemed a continued +carnival season, for there winter is the most delightful portion of the +year. We rented apartments in a delightful New England family, named +Collins. This, at that time, was the most comfortable way of living, for +in no part of the United States did restaurants furnish such good and +liberal fare at such reasonable rates. The characteristic cheerfulness of +California became intensified in San Francisco, where every face looked +radiant and happy as if all who entered the Golden Gate found a City of +the Sun. + +We had so often asked the reason of this, and were as often told that "it +was all owing to the climate." We finally concluded that the climate +carried an unusual weight of responsibility; indeed, according to Joaquin +Miller, among "the first families of the Sierras," every unusual +phenomenon of nature, whether it came in the form of a fascinating widow, +a spooney man, a premature birth, or a fish with gold in its stomach, was +all owing to "this glorious climate of Californy." + +Although San Francisco is pervaded by the business activity of a great +commercial metropolis, it is not possessed of the spirit of excessive +drudgery in the hot pursuit of the "almighty dollar" which prevails in +many other places. Every Saturday afternoon there is a lull in the labor +routine, business being entirely suspended, and the fashionable +promenades, Montgomery and Kearney Streets, are thronged with pleasure +seekers; husbands and wives, lovers and sweethearts, happy children, gay +colors and brilliant equipages. + +Among the beautiful resorts is that of the Woodward Gardens, with +zoological and floral departments, parks, lakes, dancing halls and skating +rink. A friend kindly accompanied us to the Cliff House, a delightful +resort upon the beach, about six miles from the city, and too well known +to require description. + +We remained in San Francisco about three months and a half, became every +day more fascinated with its charms, and would fain have rested longer +under the spell, but duty called us to many places on the coast, among +them the floral Oakland, a perfect bijou garden and grove, and, like +Alemeda, a beautiful, suburban home for the merchant princes of San +Francisco. + +We visited San Rafael and Santa Cruz, the Newport of California. At the +former place there was an incident, which, although of a personal nature, +we mention as illustrative of the magnanimous character of the +Californian, prone to err, but ever ready to confess a wrong. We entered +the office of the County Clerk and offered him a book. Without removing +his feet from the counter, upon which they were elevated at an angle of +forty-five degrees, he threw down a dollar and bade us "go along." + +We "stood not upon the order of our going," but went, taking care to leave +the dollar. A bystander said to me: "Take it! he is rich!" I quietly +assured him that I never accepted money without rendering an honest +equivalent, and as I left I heard the ejaculation: "She's plucky, isn't +she." On entering a livery stable on the opposite side of the street, a +gentleman took the proffered book and opened to a page containing the name +of Aunt Nancy Lee. With an exclamation of surprise he said: "I have an +aunt of that name." This led to further conversation and a better +acquaintance, the person really proving to be his aunt. While we were +talking, the four gentlemen from the office of the County Clerk came in, +and I being introduced in a new light they each bought a book, and the +clerk made an ample apology for his abruptness, which I readily accepted +as an "amende honorable." + +We went to Santa Barbara by steamer and greatly enjoyed the sail. Finding +no pier upon our arrival, we had to descend an almost perpendicular ladder +to a small boat. In this apparently perilous process, the boatmen were +actively assisted by Captain Johnson, whose mellow toned voice softened +and cheered the transit. In the descent, a woman dropped her baby into +the water, and, although it was quickly rescued by the seamen, her +continued screams even after its safe delivery quite intimidated me, but +with the usual sure-footedness of the blind, I went down with so much ease +that I was greatly complimented by the astonished captain. Our skiff-ride +to shore was a pleasant episode, and the romance was much heightened by +the floating sea plants around us, which could be easily touched with our +hands. There were no good hotels in Santa Barbara, but we were comfortably +accommodated in a private family. The climate is finer there than in any +locality in the State, the thermometer most of the time standing at +seventy degrees, hence it is so greatly sought by consumptives. + +It was to me a delightful pastime to spend an occasional hour with the +fishermen on the coast, who are so happy to impart any information +regarding their own calling, and from whom I learned many a valuable +lesson. + +From Santa Barbara we went down the coast to a little railroad landing and +took the train bound inland; after leaving the beach the road passes +through dense, fragrant orange-groves and rich, fruitful vineyards. A ride +of twenty-five miles brought us to Los Angeles, a town with the same +beautiful surroundings. It was, at that time, a quaint, old, dilapidated +Spanish place, with an air of shabby gentility, but the subsequent tide of +immigration and trade has doubtless transformed it. We returned to the +coast and took the steamer to San Diego, which, with its arid, sandy +waste, has little to recommend it to the visitor, save its truly, palatial +hotel, which must have been built in anticipation of the many projected +railways diverging from this point. + +While there, our hearts were rejoiced by a meeting with Dr. Baird and his +wife, a pleasure known only to those who, exiled from home, see a "dear +familiar face." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + "All that's bright must fade, + The brightest, still the fleetest; + All that's sweet was made, + But to be lost, when sweetest." + + +We returned to Sacramento with minds refreshed and spirits brightened by +the delightful scenes through which we had passed during our coast trip. +My life seemed to have received new radiance, and all things wore the +bright "couleur de rose," when one day there seemed something in Hattie's +touching tone which, like the "shadow of coming" events, sent through my +heart a strange, premonitory thrill of sadness. She paused as if for +prayerful preparation, ere she said: "Mary, I have something _sad_, +something _terrible_ to tell you, and I wish to prepare you to bear it +with patience, even as I for five months have borne the burden with silent +submission." She then carefully, calmly, quietly revealed to me the fact +that there was feeding upon her dear life one of those horrible vampires +of human disease--a cancer, which was slowly but surely drawing her nearer +the close. Suddenly all brightness and beauty died out for me, while cloud +and gloom gathered around me, deep, dark and impenetrable; for so had +Hattie entwined herself about my heart, that to my darkened days there +seemed for me no light, no life without her. Surely-- + + "Sorrows come not single spies, + But in battalions," + +And while I felt myself overwhelmed by this one deep grief in quick +succession came another. One morning while at our breakfast, and without +the slightest preparation, tidings was brought to me that Chicago was +destroyed by fire. + +My husband had just completed our new home, a comfortable resting place, +with lovely garden and pleasant surroundings, and thither I had hoped ere +long to go and rest from my labors. Daily, as the diagrams of the fire +reached us, we traced upon them the loved site of our home, as in the +burnt district. + +All telegraphic and mail communication being cut off, we could receive no +direct news, and in the intensity and terror of suspense pictured our home +desolated, and friends perished in the horrible holocaust. + +Feeling that a resumption of our life of labor was inevitable, we parted +with the dear Sacramento friends, who had so kindly clung to us for +fourteen months, with many a sigh and tear, and went to all the towns of +importance between that place and Reno, Nevada, at which point we took the +stage for Virginia City, and reached it after two weeks of inexpressible +agony, during which time food had scarce passed our lips or sleep visited +our eyes. On our arrival we were overjoyed to find awaiting us seven +letters from home. Oh the eternity that elapsed before the seals could be +tremulously broken! and the halcyon sweetness of relief of the happy +tidings of friends in safety and health. Although the fire-fiend had swept +his destructive wings over the property within a hundred yards of our +home, through a sudden shifting of the wind its course had been changed, +thus saving us from what would have seemed to me ruin. Gratefully we +resumed our business and remained for seven weeks in Virginia City and +vicinity, where we had most abundant success, for in spite of rock and +ledge, sand and tornado, the country abounds in full purses and warm +hearts. + +At Carson City we found an United States Mint, where a gentleman +designated Saturday afternoon, when the machinery was stopped, as a proper +time to give us the benefit of a full examination, allowing me to touch +everything, and giving a satisfactory explanation of the "modus operandi" +of money making. + +We went to Battle Mountain, where we took the stage for Austin, ninety +miles distant. We had nine passengers and twelve hundred weight of bullion +in the bottom of the stage, together with innumerable satchels, umbrellas +and brown-paper parcels. In this cramped position we traveled from one +o'clock in the afternoon until nine o'clock the next morning, an +infliction that was only rendered endurable by having a relay of horses +every fifteen miles, and being permitted to rest upon terra firma during +the changes. + +At Austin we unexpectedly met in the family of the hotel proprietor +friends of Hattie, from Illinois. The kind host proved to me a "Good +Samaritan," for finding myself unable to walk he carried me in his arms to +the hotel, and safely entrusted me to the ministering care of his kind +family. + +Desiring to cross over the country to Eureka, and the stage not venturing +to the eminence upon which stood our hotel, we were obliged to go to the +express office to take passage, where we were shocked at the sight of +three maudlin men in an advanced stage of inebriety, throwing showers of +silver money upon the ground, and ostentatiously allowing the crowd to +gather it up; while we were still more shocked to find that they were to +be inside passengers, and our only companions. + +With these three men and their "fade mecum," "the whiskey bottle," we +started on our journey that bleak, winter morning. Two of them soon became +so beastly drunk that their bottle fell out of the stage door and was +lost beyond recovery. Their companion remained for a time sufficiently +sober to prevent them from falling upon us in their constant oscillations, +but, by the time they had reached the convalescent stage, he became so +nauseated that it was necessary to hold his head out of the window for +relief, and, finally yielding to the soporific influence of his drams, he +laid himself at full length upon our feet. + +Meantime a most gentlemanly person, of whose presence we were at first +ignorant, would occasionally descend from the stage top, look at us +compassionately, ask if anything was wanted, and take leave. At one of his +calls I asked him if we were not near our dining place, when, much to our +discomfort, he informed us of the impossibility of finding anything to eat +on the road. We had provided no lunch, and, having partaken of a meagre +and untimely breakfast, were fast becoming exhausted. He politely offered +to share with us his store of provisions, and at the next stopping place +escorted us to the rude log cabin with the air of a Knight Errant, took +off our rubbers, placed them before the fire, and after other +indescribable and delicate attentions opened his basket and spread before +us a lunch of truly, royal viands, which, in spite of our rude +surroundings, was eaten with unrivalled relish. + +Arriving at Eureka, we stopped at the Parker House, in which Mr. Hinckley, +the proprietor, made every exertion to secure our comfort. It had rained +for a week, and the streets were in such a horrible condition that we were +filled with forebodings of failure. Quite unexpectedly we again +encountered our cavalier, who insisted upon lifting us over the deep mud +of the crossings, placing us entirely at ease by the assurance that it was +the custom of the country, after which he offered his assistance in the +sale of books, and, going into a faro bank, he sold twelve copies at a +dollar and a half apiece. + +We described this gallant gentleman to Mr. Hinckley, who informed us that +he was Pete Fryer, the most noted gambler of the Pacific coast, whose +unrivalled success and universal popularity were in a great degree owing +to his sobriety, his elegant presence and polished manner. + +Our next move was to Gold Point, where we spent a day. We met there a +Virginia physician with whom we had a long and interesting conversation. +We were boarders at the same hotel, and at the tea table he came over to +Hattie, and placing in her hand a ten dollar gold piece, said it was for +the blind lady, and he wished her to buy with it a keepsake. We went to +Palisades in a mud-wagon, the only means of transportation at our +disposal, and we found it highly appropriate, the mud being over the hubs +of the wheels. + +In this primitive style we reached our destination upon Christmas Eve, +weary and homesick; yet our Christmas dinner in this insignificant town +was choice and _recherche_, the quality and variety of the wines being +worthy of the cellar of a connoisseur. Our business success here was +greater than in many larger towns. + +We visited the places en route to Ogden, and on our arrival there found +snow almost two feet deep, and hundreds anxiously waiting for the arrival +of the Union Pacific train, which had not been in for two weeks. The +hotels were so intensely crowded that we were forced to wade through snow +over our knees for half a day to find a comfortable place to stay, and +were very thankful for a third rate boarding house. + +The next day, when almost in despair, we heard in the distance the welcome +sound of a locomotive whistle. The gentlemen rushed to the depot and soon +bore us the pleasant tidings that the train would leave in two hours and a +half. We hurriedly gathered together our baggage and sufficient supplies +for a week, arriving at the train just in time to secure a section in the +sleeping-car. Hoping for no more delay, we started, but ere long found +ourselves landed in a snow bank, with five trains ahead of us, in the same +predicament. A three-days stand-still of this kind, with its trying +tedium, can be imagined only by those who have been similarly situated, +and its tedium is equaled by nothing but an Ohio River sand bar +imprisonment on a stern wheel steamer. + +My sensibilities had quite a reawakening jog from an incidental abrasure, +received by coming in contact with one of the acute angles in the person +of Miss Susan B. Anthony, who honored us with her distinguished presence. +She was in company with the family of the Honorable Mr. Sargent, United +States Senator from California. This gentleman evinced great native +delicacy in his quiet, unobtrusive attentions. Miss Susan had been very +impatient at the long delay, and constantly berated the male sex and their +inadequacy to great emergencies, and was offered by the complimented +parties the privilege of engineering the train, an honor she respectfully +declined. One day I was saluted by a voice, not sweetly feminine in tone, +while an impetuous hand pitched, at me one of my own books. The voice +asked: + +"Were you ever in Michigan? Are you married? I knew a blind woman there +who had five children, and they were all deaf and dumb! _I think_ Congress +ought to pass a law to prevent these people from marrying and bringing +such _creatures_ into the world!" + +These burning words came with the fierce force of the tornado and the +horrible heat of the simoon. So abruptly had she taken her leave, that +she was beyond hearing before I could sufficiently recover to reply. Words +I would have spoken burned upon my lips, and emotions welled up from the +depths of an affection as deep, true and unfathomable as ever struggled in +such a heart as that of Susan B. Anthony. + +Long did I dwell upon the cruel words, wondering if they could have +emanated from a woman who advocated the inviolable rights and bewailed the +deep wrongs of her own sex, or if Congress had the power to exclude the +blind from loving and following the holiest impulses of their natures, +like other human beings! + +After our extrication we sped on to Sherman, the highest of the mountain +towns, and the Railroad Company treated us to a dinner, which, although +poor, was much relished, after our protracted dieting. After leaving +Laramie we had another delay of two days' length, after which we went via +Cheyenne to Omaha, rejoicing, and after eleven days of weary travel felt +ourselves really homeward bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + "'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark, + Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw + Near home; + 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye + Will mark our coming, and look brighter + When we come." + + +We reached home in mid-winter, and found a scene of indescribable +desolation, the fire having devastated so many familiar spots in the +city's approach; depots in ashes and entire streets a wide waste. Finding +no one to meet us, with the longed-for, loving welcome, we were tortured +with fear, and went at once to Mr. Arms' place of business, where we +learned that he was at home and sick. Thither we hurriedly wended our way, +and, although we found the invalid unable to leave his bed, we thought it +sweet to find ourselves in this our _first_ home, which, having been +reared in my absence, seemed like a magic castle bridging over the sad +separation. + +My husband soon convalesced and we began to lay plans for furnishing our +new abode. I still suffered from a cold upon my lungs contracted from the +long exposure on the plains, and it fell to the lot of Hattie to assist +Mr. Arms in the selection of our household goods. She had become eyes and +hands for me, and I never so fully realized how the touch of sympathy +could blend _two_ tastes in _one_, for every article met my entire +approval. I will not dwell upon the joys of our new home; but well has the +poet said-- + + "Each man's chimney is his golden mile stone, + Is the central point from which + He measures every distance + Through the gateway of the world + Around him. + + "We may build more splendid habitations, + Fill our rooms with paintings + And with sculpture; + But we cannot buy with gold + The old association." + +In every Paradise since the first Eden the inevitable trail of the serpent +has been over all, and too often it comes in its halcyon hours. +Insidiously and surely came the stealthy trail of our serpent in the +declining health of my husband, and the impending danger to the dear life +of Hattie. + +I took her to every physician who made her disease a specialty, going far +and near to consult them, each one of whom would shake their heads in +despair, yet all seeming willing to undertake her case. But to me she was +too precious to be submitted to experimental treatment. Finally the fame +of Dr. Kingsley reached us. He was known as the Great American Cancer +Doctor, and we went at once to his cure, in Rome, New York. + +The same ominous shade came with his examination, and he too failed to +promise a cure. Passing through the wards of his hospitals, with their +agonizing and appalling scenes, the shrieks of pain ringing like +death-knells in our ears, decided us, neither of us being willing she +should submit to a fate so fraught with fearful contingencies. + +We were stopping with a family named Crawford, who were friends of Hattie, +and whose unremitting kindness will be a life-long memory. + +We returned to them in deep despair, when we heard of Mr. Golly, a +neighboring farmer, who was performing almost miraculous cures, and we at +once took the stage and went to him. + +A few moments conversation inspired us with confidence in the man, whose +frank face was an index to his character, and whose sympathetic soul +breathed through every intonation of his gentle voice. + +He advised her to remain for treatment, assuring her, that if she was +unable to pay, it would cost her nothing. + +We were willing to remunerate if certain of cure, and, knowing the dread +uncertainty of the case, this noble man revealed in his offer his true +magnanimity. I remained with her two months, when home demands became +imperative, and I longingly left one who, through nine years of _close_ +and _dear_ relationship had become a life link hard to sever. + +With undying gratitude to good Mr. Golly, I left her confided to his +fatherly care, knowing he could not prove recreant to the trust. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + "There was a time when meadow, + Grove and stream, + The earth and every common sight + To me did seem + Appareled in celestial light, + The glory and the freshness of a dream. + It is not now as it has been of yore, + Turn where soe'r I may, + By night or day, + The things that I have seen + I now can see no more." + + +Upon our return to Chicago I found my husband so ill that he yielded to +the advice of his physician to go to the Mineral Springs of St. Louis, and +there being a heavy drain upon our finances, I felt it necessary to resume +my travels. Disagreeable as was the task, it was tolerable only for its +benefit to loved ones. + +Ida, the young daughter of my favorite brother, had just graduated, her +laurels still green and her heart full of girlish enthusiasm. With the +sanction of her parents she kindly consented to accompany me. Kindred ties +are deep and strong, and her society was like a ray of sunshine in my +clouded pathway. + +Mr. Keep, the Manager of the North-western Railway, presented us with a +general pass, and we started for the Lake Superior country, first visiting +many of the beautiful towns of Wisconsin, among which was Peshtigo, then +but partially rebuilt from its recent ravages from fire. In canvassing we +called at the house of Mrs. Armstrong, who kept a book, and asked us to +call in the afternoon for the money. + +During the day her little daughter had become so interested in the "story +of the blind girl," that she insisted upon going out to buy her a dress, +which she presented in person. Little Nellie's gift of simple calico was +as precious to me as if of silken texture and Tyrion dye, and "waxed rich" +with the royalty of sympathy and love. + +We visited Escanaba, a beautiful summer resort upon Lake Michigan, +spending a delightful week in the elegant hotel, which rests in the shaded +seclusion of park and garden, and gaining renewed health and vigor. + +We had a short, sweet stay at Marquette, saw the "Isle of Yellow Sands" +with its luring light, the "Pictured Rocks" bearing the tracery of the +Divine Artist, and all the well-known beauties of Lake Superior. + +On our way to Ishpenming we were presented with tickets to the concert of +"Blind Tom," the musical prodigy and whilom slave boy, through whose +God-given talent the former master had amassed quite a fortune. + +We heard his improvised and memorized melodies, and were struck with awe +and wonder. + +After the concert we went to the Commercial Hotel, where I was suddenly +and violently attacked with a congestive chill, in which emergency Mrs. +Newett, the landlady, proved a ministering angel, her thorough knowledge +of the disease and prompt devoted attendance no doubt saving my life. + +We next visited L'Anse, the terminus of the Marquette Railroad, and found +a delightful hotel, bearing the euphonious name of Lake Linden House, +suggestive of the beautiful grounds gracefully sloping to the edge of the +lake, whose "wide waste of waters" seemed a "sapphire sea" set with +emerald gems, from one of which verdant spots gleaming in the picturesque +distance rose the symmetrical spire of a cathedral, whose cross stood out +like a beautiful "bas relief" from the violet background; and the solemn +voice of the convent bell told the hour when orisons arose like holy +incense to the skies. A fitting resort for the student, and the recluse +was this secluded spot, where nature opened her fairest page, and beauty +planted her altars on earth, in air and sky, and where "devotion wafts the +mind above." + +We crossed in the steamer to Houghton, beautifully located upon a winding +stream, and we were pleasantly entertained at the Butterfield House. + +We remained some time, lingering among the towns in its vicinity, and +returned home improved in health and finances. + +Before settling down for the winter I resolved to visit a few towns in the +vicinity of Chicago, and among them Sycamore, where there was an +unexpected episode in my hitherto eventful career, a touching incident +and "words fitly spoken," which the good book says are as "apples of gold +in pictures of silver." + +My husband having once been engaged in business at Sycamore, I was in +constant expectation of meeting some of his old associates; hence, was not +so much surprised when, upon entering a store, a gentleman stepped down +from his desk, and warmly grasping both of my hands, exclaimed: "I know +you." I quickly and inquiringly responded, you are perhaps a friend of my +husband? Oh no, he replied, I do not know your husband, but I have great +reason to remember you, for you were the cause of my salvation! + +Moved and wondering, I tried in vain to recall the time when I could have +been an humble agent in the hands of the Heavenly Father, even to the +salvation of a human soul. + +Shakspeare has said that-- + + "Ofttimes to win us to our harm + The instruments of darkness tell us truths; + Win us with honest trifles, to betray us + In deepest consequence." + +And why should not the same "honest trifles" win us to good. + +He then explained to me that eight years previous he was in Burlington, +Wisconsin, having wandered far from the fold in which a patient, loving, +Christian mother had faithfully tended her flock, teaching them the wisdom +of divine truth and loving lessons of duty to God and man. + +He had entered a saloon and sat down to a card-table with a congenial +companion, when suddenly lifting his eyes a lady stood beside him offering +him a little book, and something in the expression of that face riveted +his attention and penetrated the depths of his soul, inspiring resolves +_new_ and _strange_. While years had passed since that time, he had never +forgotten the lineaments which had changed the whole tenor of his life. +Both his companion and himself bought books, threw down their cards, and +from his own assurance he has never since been tempted to indulge in a +game. + +The next winter he made his peace with God and became a consistent and +steadfast member of the Congregational Church. + +The following spring he was married to one who was in every way fitted to +minister to his higher impulses and lead him to a holier life, and while +he has ever since been actively engaged in every good "word and work," he +is especially engrossed with Sabbath School duties, in which field he has +planted many a seed, from which has been reaped richest harvests and +fairest fruitage. + +Their cozy, little home, is a fair and faithful mirror, reflecting the +unostentatious, goodness, purity and love which characterizes every act of +their private lives, whose peaceful, even tenor is indicated in the +tasteful apartments, pervaded with purity and touched with the delicate +tracery of taste. Fair flowers grace almost every nook of this truly +Eden-home, and its bright blooming garden is a fitting type of their +lives, blossoming with goodness and fragrant with the incense of holiness. + +It is not strange that these dear people seemed to me like loved +relations; our meeting like a reunion with some pure spirits with whom my +heart had held communion in other days, their voices coming to me like +some sweet strain of unforgotten music. + +I left them, feeling grateful that my little book had been the humble +instrument of so much good, and was happy in the thought that it had been +so thoroughly read and discussed in the little Sabbath School, that I had +many warm friends in Sycamore. + +Before I left he pleadingly besought me never to pass by a saloon in my +canvassing tours, for I little knew the good my presence might bring +about. I have faithfully followed his advice, ever buoyed by the hope of +some equally happy result, and never having met with an indignity or +repulse, this class of people ranking among my most generous patrons. + +As from every event in life we gather some golden lesson of wisdom, from +this I learned to-- + + "Think nought a trifle + Though it small appear + Small sands make up the mountain, + Moments make the year, + And trifles life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + "While, O, my heart! as white sails shiver, + And crowds are passing, and banks stretch wide; + How hard to follow with lips that quiver, + That moving speck on the far-off side! + Farther, farther--I see it--I know it-- + My eyes brim over, it melts away, + Only my heart, to my heart shall show it, + As I walk desolate day by day." + + +At home for the winter, I was joined by my husband, who had entered into +business, and constant tidings of Hattie's convalescence cheered me. Ida +being obliged to visit home, I was left in entire charge of my house, +daily bewailing the fatal effects of inexperience, when, as ever, a friend +was furnished me in the hour of need. Mrs. Leavitt, my neighbor "over the +way," was a lady of great personal attraction, whose beautiful head was +crowned with the glory of prematurely white hair. She ministered to me in +so many ways. In reading or conversation her melodious voice lent a charm +to the most ordinary theme. Nor did she deem it degrading to enter the +domestic realm, and there as everywhere she reigned a queen. + +The flutter of a handkerchief at the window blind was my "signal of +distress," and when my "Ship of State" seemed sinking amid the breakers of +domestic storms, her strong arm ever saved. When, the dread emergency of +dinner demanded more skill than my amateur art supplied, she came to the +rescue, and as she presided in the kitchen, teaching to compound some +savoury sauce or delicate dish, the process was interlarded with some sage +sentiment from Bacon and other profound philosophers; while, like Joe's +practical sermon over the "plum pudding" came her comments "My dear! +_knowledge_ is _power_," thus deeply impressing me with the potency of her +presence even in the culinary department. + +Hence from this dear friend I received not only the "fullness of +knowledge," but the richness of affection also. She finally drifted away +from me to the sunny, flowery land of Florida, whence sweet memories are +wafted to me through her love-laden letters, under whose sentiment there +flows the same deep under-current of thought. + +In the dreary month of January, Hattie came with the snow drifts, bringing +with her presence a bright sun-ray, for she was buoyant with the hope of +health, and I rejoicing that her life could be lengthened, perhaps saved, +hence the winter passed in mapping out plans for the future. But, with the +early spring, the dread disease reappeared with such intensity that I felt +her doom to be irrevocably sealed, while "hope fled and mercy sighed." +Prompted by a hope of enhancing her interest, I accompanied her to +Morrison, Illinois, where she was awaited by two loving sisters, who, +together with their noble husbands, so tenderly cared for her that it in +some degree appeased the sad reluctance of giving her into other hands. + +Mr. Arms' health had now become so seriously impaired that he had +determined to seek the benefit of the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and, after +he left, I secured the services of Miss Josie Tyson as traveling +companion, and started for the lead mining regions of Wisconsin, making +Mineral Point my headquarters. This town is the shipping-place for the +ore, and I was surprised to find it with several thousand +inhabitants--abounding in wealth and greatly advanced in culture, while it +became afterward endeared to me by the extreme kindness of its people. My +little jaunts from this place by private conveyance made a pleasant +variety in the monotony of travel, after which we visited Mendota and +South Western Iowa, where we spent a delightful summer. + +We returned to Morrison the day before Thanksgiving, and I lingered two +weeks with Hattie. Surely "blessings brighten as they take their flight," +and with us the sadly, blissful moments flew all too fast, both silently +impressed that it might be our last communion. In my absence her delicate +and refined taste had designed a gold ring which she had made as a parting +gift. As she placed it upon my finger she leaned her head upon my shoulder +and wept bitterly, telling me in tenderest tones her sorrow at leaving one +who so much needed her, pleading with me to have patience to bear the +separation. These tears from fountains deep and pure must have been as +potent at the throne of grace as the one so graphically described by +Sterne; even that of the Recording Angel, who, in the bright Empyrean, +dropped a tear upon the word left by the Accusing Spirit "and blotted it +out forever." + +Physicians agreeing that she might live at least a year, I yielded to her +persuasion to go South for the benefit of my own health, and-- + + "In silence we parted, for neither could speak; + But the trembling lip and the fast fading cheek + To both were betraying what neither could tell; + How deep was the pang of that silent farewell." + +After a short season devoted to the arrangement of home matters, I started +South via the Chicago and Alton Railroad. At Dwight, Illinois, we stopped +at the McPherson House, where we had a delightful suite of rooms. The +proprietor had attained to the years allotted to man, yet was so +wonderfully preserved that he seemed a stalwart man of fifty. He spent an +evening in our parlor, feasting us with the richness of his reminiscence. +He had served in both the regular army and navy, his travels leading him +to lands afar, and his naval service landing him at almost every port in +the world, yet he had never carried a more dangerous weapon than a +penknife, always having been unharmed and unmolested. His creed consisted +of six words, viz.: "Deal mercifully, walk humbly before God." These +"articles of faith," simple as the "new commandment" which Christ gave to +his disciples, I give unto you, and beautiful as the "Golden Rule" of +Confucius, were certainly in my own case carried out both "in the letter +and the spirit;" for he at first peremptorily refused any remuneration for +our elegant accommodations, but, finding me inexorable, very reluctantly +consented to accept half pay. + +The weather grew so cold, and the times so dull, we did not halt again +until we reached St. Louis, where we both had relatives and friends who +helped us to while away the holiday hours. While there we visited the +Institution for the Blind, our pleasure being much enhanced by the rare +music we heard and the polite attention of Professor Workman, the +Superintendent. + +The Superintendent of the Iron Mountain Railway presented us with a pass, +jocularly remarking that it was equal to an eighty dollar New Year's gift. + +Mr. C.C. Anderson, of Adams' express, upon the strength of our old +Baltimore acquaintance, gave me letters of introduction, which afterward +proved of infinite value. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + "With the fingers of the blind + We are groping here to find + What the hieroglyphics mean + Of the _unseen_ in the _seen_. + What the thought which underlies + Nature's masking and disguise, + What it is that hides beneath + Blight and bloom, and birth and death." + + +We left St. Louis with its noble depot and stupendous bridge, and reaching +Iron Mountain we seemed to have emerged from dense darkness into dazzling +light. Going to the clean, elegant hotel, our faces, covered with St. +Louis soot, were in such grim contrast with our sunny surroundings, that +we had to go through an elaborate course of ablution before we could feel +ourselves presentable. Iron Mountain is a _monster_ mass of iron, one of +the largest and purest of the kind in the world. In 1836 it was bought +for the insignificant sum of six hundred dollars, and now its worth is +incalculable. + +Being unwilling to brave mud and small towns, we made no stops until we +reached Little Rock, Arkansas, where, at the untimely hour of three +o'clock in the morning, we went to the Central House, the only hotel which +had survived their recent fires, and which we found so crowded that even +the doors were closed against us. + +Our party of five went out in quest of shelter, the night pervaded by "the +blackness of darkness," and the rain pouring in torrents. One of the +gentlemen was a member of the Legislature, and quite an invalid. Growing +faint from exhaustion, he fell into a mud hole, and was fairly immersed in +its slimy depths. After a long search we finally found a poor refuge and +an execrable bed, but in the morning were favored in securing comfortable +private accommodations. + +While at Little Rock we visited all the State institutions, and among them +that for the blind. After ten days of business success, we went to all the +towns on the Arkansas River, and were charmed with its scenery, for while +the classical meander, it winds in graceful beauty through forests which, +although too low and ragged to please the eye, clothe a country otherwise +picturesque in character. A strange peculiarity of the Arkansas River is +that of the emerald green color which deeply tinges its crystal clearness, +a fact which I found no one able to explain satisfactorily. + +Fort Smith is nominally at the head of river navigation, but is really +accessible by steamer only during a very small portion of the year, when +the water is at an unusually high stage. It is beautifully located, and +has a main street known as "The Avenue," which is between two and three +hundred feet in width. This avenue is a great business centre, and at +almost all times a scene of animated interest, while at its head stand +prominently a cathedral and a convent. + +The swift passing panorama of the avenue is ofttimes varied by a +picturesque group of Chocktaws or Cherokees, with grotesque costume, this +place being their principal rendezvous. Just at the edge of the town is a +National Cemetery of great natural beauty, with but little of the stiff +regularity which usually characterizes such places. + +We found a great lack of educational advantages throughout the entire +State of Arkansas, there being no public schools, and the private ones few +in number and poor in character; but it has never been my good fortune to +meet kinder hearts than were encountered among the masses. + +At Arkadelphia we had a regular Arkansas deluge, and the first class hotel +of this flourishing town of two thousand souls would indeed have been a +poor ark for Father Noah and his family. Its walls were lathed but not +plastered, and from our apartment we had an extended view of the entire +floor. + +Our furniture consisted of two wooden chairs, a box turned upside down for +a toilet-stand, a rickety bedstead, with unmusical creak, a tumble-down +lounge, and dismal, but genuine tallow dip. In these quarters we spent +four days, during which time the rain poured with unremitting constancy. + +In the parlor of the same edifice was an elegant piano, and magnificently +dressed ladies, and our constant amazement was, how, in this strange +country, extremes could so amicably meet. + +I found in Arkadelphia two blind gentlemen, who were prosperous merchants; +and to me, this spoke volumes for a community who would so generously +sustain the afflicted rather than allow them the condescension of beggary. + +We next visited Hope, a town of three thousand inhabitants, yet having +numbered but three years of existence; and while these people are +considered so slow in progression, this fact indicated a considerable +degree of Yankee go-a-head activity. This town is one of the important +cotton markets of the State, which branch of trade imparts an additional +business activity. + +We turned toward Hot Springs, the Baden of America, and when within twenty +miles of this wonderful place we encountered a throng of that class of +human pests known as "hotel runners," thick as bees, and more stingingly +annoying, for they especially abounded in low jests and ribald stories +which grate so harshly upon sensitive ears. It would certainly be an act +of philanthropy, both to the hotels and their patrons, to take some +measure for the suppression of this nuisance. + +The approach to Hot Springs, and the first glimpse of the stream, smoking +as if its bed rested upon some subterranean fire, are in themselves +awe-inspiring. The valley is narrowed to the limits of three hundred feet, +and the road winds gracefully around the base of the mountain, upon whose +top the cold spring furnishes a better beverage than iced champagne; while +close by its side bubbles the boiling spring, in which eggs can be cooked +to perfection; and with a little seasoning of salt and pepper, the most +luscious soup can be improvized, while the boiling water _au naturale_ can +be drunk in copious, life-giving draughts. + +The hotels are ranged upon either side of the road, and have all the +necessary bathing appointments. Among the many novelties to a stranger was +the process of dressing chicken, which was their staple article of food. +The hot stream was the only necessary cauldron for the scalding process, +while the feathers were thrown into the swift current, and rapidly carried +away by the natural sewerage, a decidedly labor-saving process, and +somewhat characteristic of the locality and its native cooks. + +The various forms of treatment consist of hot, cold, vapor and mud baths, +and have been so often described that a repetition would be monotonous; +their efficacy being almost unfailing, except in cases of pulmonary +disease, in which they would soon prove fatal. One who has ever enjoyed +these baths will always long for the luxury years after leaving them +behind. + +We reluctantly left this valley, teeming with rich quarries of valuable +stone and various ores, luscious fruits, and the trifling drawbacks of +rattlesnakes, centipedes and tarantulas, and went to Texaskana, which is +located at the junction of the three States of Texas, Arkansas and +Louisiana, hence its name. + +It is a great railroad centre, and it is very curious to visit the depot +amid the rushing thousands who daily pass through this place on their way +to Texas. It is a wildly romantic place, built upon a clearing of forty +acres without any decided plan, streets running at random very much like +the old cowpaths of Manhattan, and houses grouped in picturesque +confusion. Finding the main hotel crowded, the proprietor manifested an +unheard-of disinterestedness in a two hours search to find us suitable +accommodations elsewhere, an act of magnanimity worthy of especial note +and remembrance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + "Oh, ever thus from childhood's hour, + I've seen my fondest hopes decay; + I never loved a tree, or flower, + But it was first to fade away. + I never nursed a dear gazelle, + To glad me with its soft black eye, + But when it came to know me well + And love me, it was sure to die." + + +We reached Jefferson, Texas, when the excitement was rife over the murder +of Bessie Moore, the terrible details of which sent a thrill of horror +over the entire United States. It rained during the several days of our +stay there; but thanks to the earnest endeavors of Mrs. Frazer, of the +Frazer House, I did very well in my business. Many of the fairest portions +of the town had been laid waste by the destructive ravages of incendiary +fires, and had never been rebuilt. + +Marshall is one of the most enterprising towns in the State, being a great +railroad centre, and settled almost exclusively by Northern people. + +We had a most delightful visit to Shreveport, Louisiana: It lies at the +head of Red River navigation, and is the port of entry for New Orleans +steamers, being a place of great wealth and equal generosity. The editors +worked with great zest to aid me, and among the many people I met very few +failed to buy books. The genial skies and bright sunshine made it hard to +realize that it was the winter season; and I shall ever revert to its +warm-hearted people not only with pleasure but with gratitude. + +At Longview--in the dilapidated prison-like room of my hotel, I received +tidings of the death and burial of Hattie. My surroundings were in such +sad accord with my feelings, that I wondered if the sun would ever shine, +or the flowers bloom again, so much light went out with her dear life. + +At Longview we took a branch of the International Railroad to +Palestine--Mr. Smith, the Vice-President of the road, not only largely +patronizing me, but presenting me with a six months' pass and the +assurance that if I ever again visited the State a letter addressed to him +would ensure a repetition of the favor. + +Thence we went to Galveston, where Mr. Arms had been for three months +trying the efficacy of sea-bathing. This city is beautifully located upon +a fertile island in Galveston Bay. The streets are lined upon either side +with oleander trees, which, arching over at the top, form a very bower of +bloom, while every breath of the clear bright air is balmy with the odor +of orange blossoms. + +The Mesquite trees, with attenuated leaves and gracefully drooping pods, +adorn all the parks of the city, the beans forming a delicious dish either +cooked or raw. + +No wonder Texas is called "The Happy Hunting Ground," for the five +delightful weeks we spent in Galveston seemed like a dream of Paradise. +Its many pleasures were varied by sailing and bathing, every morning +finding us upon the pure, white beach, where the waves whispered the +sweetest melodies. + +We went back to Houston in the month of bloom, and no "vale of Cashmere" +could have been more beautiful in its "feast of roses." + +The street car ran to the depot, and we found in it but one passenger, a +gentleman who carried a rose in his hand. Noticing at once that I was +blind, he arose and said to me, "Although you cannot see the beautiful +flowers you can inhale their sweetness," at the same time asking me to +accept the rose. His delicate kindness and urbane manner struck a deep +chord in my heart, and I never think of Houston without recalling the +gentle touch and tone. + +I must not omit to mention an act of generosity upon the part of the +railroad office at Galveston. Leaving there I had paid fare to Houston, +and the agent refunded five dollars, adding that I should never be allowed +to pay railroad fare. + +After remaining two weeks at Houston I took the Sunset Route to San +Antonia, and stopped at the Central House on the main plaza. This is the +oldest town in Texas, and is called "The Stone City," its antique +buildings and narrow winding streets giving it a quaint, time-worn air. + +San Antonia River rises from a low spring, four miles distant from the +city, and gracefully winds through its streets, and is here and there +spanned by beautiful rustic bridges. + +The "City Gardens" are one block distant from the main plaza, and are +located upon an island of great natural beauty, romantically approached by +a floating bridge. The air is cool and refreshing from the river breeze, +fair flowers, bloom and sweet voiced birds rival the musical instruments +which lead the merry feet of the dancers. + +A mile from the city are the San Pedro Springs, a lovely park often acres +in area, where springs flow out into crystal purling streams, forming +islands, lakes, and ponds white and fragrant with their lily bloom, while +shining green lizards and other reptiles peep curiously out from the rocks +and glide away into the stream. + +Just across the main plaza stands the old Spanish cathedral, with its +musical chime of bells sending out on the perfumed air melodies sweet as +vesper songs. + +We went to the old Alamo, felt the antique cannon used by the Mexicans, +were shown the room in which Bowie died and the spot where fell the brave +Colonel Crockett, who, with his handful of men, so gallantly held the +citadel, at which time he was taken alive, together with five other +prisoners, and ordered by Santa Anna to be killed. + +Just before the fatal sword-thrust, which ended a life so fraught with +daring and danger, he sprang like a tiger at the throat of Santa Anna, his +face wearing even in death this expression of fiendish, scowling hatred. + +San Antonia being the great market for the frontier, is a place of great +business activity. While there I was struck with amazement to see a dirty, +ragged man mounted upon a jaded, dilapidated horse, a very Sancho Panza +and Rezinante, smilingly asking alms of the passer-by. + +I had often heard of, but never before saw a veritable "beggar on +horseback." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + "Light, warmth, and sprouting greenness, + And o'er all + Blue, stainless, steel-bright ether + Raining down + Tranquility upon the deep hushed town + The freshening meadow and the hillside brown." + + +We went from San Antonio to Austin, the capital of Texas, where I had a +delightful interview with Governor Hubbard, who, although much engrossed +with the cares of State, seemed for the time to lay them all aside, and +gave me his undivided attention. Certainly if "all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players," this versatile gentleman appeared as +well in the role of courtier as in that of the statesman. + +The Government Buildings are of finished architectural art, and stand amid +cultivated grounds, upon a commanding eminence. At the State House door is +a monument to the memory of Colonel David Crockett and the brave +companions who foil with him at St. Alamo. + +The public Institutions of Austin are a credit to "The Lone Star" State, +especially that for the Blind, at which I spent a day, and was charmingly +entertained by Dr. Raney and his accomplished wife. The matron also +dispensed hospitalities with so much true dignity and grace, and I never +visited an institution in which the inmates were so pre-eminently refined, +its sixty-five pupils numbering so many accomplishments. + +In response to a solicitation from Dr. Raney I addressed the school. This +was done through a social chat, in which the little group circled close +around me, and while I never so longed for "the poetry of speech" to +render the deep emotion of my heart, I really believe no elocutionist, +with all "the charm of delivery," could have had a more attentive +audience. + +Waco is known as the Athens of Texas, and among its many Institutions of +Learning is the Baptist University, open to both sexes. It is under the +charge of Doctor Burlison, who extended to me an invitation to meet the +school at their chapel exercises. + +The "sweet hour of prayer" being over, he disposed of many of my books and +baskets among the pupils. This gentleman was deeply engrossed with the +educational interests of the State, and had traveled over its length and +breadth to enhance its prosperity, being more especially engaged in the +public school system. The next day twenty-five of the young lady pupils, +chaperoned by their teachers, called upon me at the McLennan House. They +were all characterized by discreet and lady-like deportment, and as there +was a fine toned piano in the parlor, there was no lack of artistic music. +We had also an equally kind reception from the Reverend Mr. Wright and +lady of the Methodist College. + +Waco is on the Brazos River, which is spanned by a graceful suspension +bridge, the pride of the town. During my visit they held their celebrated +fete known as "The Maifest," which lasted two days, and the gay and +fantastic procession in which all professions and trades were represented +made it almost as gorgeous as a carnival. + +From Waco we went to Dallas, which is located upon Trinity River, and is +the Metropolis of Northern Texas. There was little to note in my stay +there, except the amusingly antagonistic reasons assigned by two men for +not giving me their patronage. Their business houses were upon the same +side of one street, and not very remote from each other. One refused +because my book was not sufficiently religious in its tone, and the other +because he saw the name of the Lord upon one of its pages. It was plainly +evident in both cases that the name of the "Almighty Dollar" as its price +was the most probable impediment. + +It was now the last of May, and the intense heat induced me to go +northward; indeed those who hope to enjoy a visit in that part of Texas +must go at some time between the months of September and May, for during +the remainder of the year the inhabitants do nothing but "try to keep +cool." + +We stopped over one train at the beautiful town of Sherman, and then +hurried on to St. Louis, where I found my old friend Mrs. Anderson, who, +having visited Baltimore the previous summer, had learned all the +particulars of the death of the beloved Superintendant of our Institution +during my life there. + +Mr. Charles H. Keener was the son of Christian Keener, the founder of +Greenmount Cemetery of Baltimore, a sweet resting place which could fitly +receive the appellation given their cemeteries by the Turks--"A City of +the Living." He was the brother of Bishop J.C. Keener, of the Methodist +Episcopal Church South, who is quite celebrated as a Divine. His life was +characterized by a succession of shining acts of self-sacrifice and +affection, and his nature, so quiet and unobtrusive, shrunk so sensitively +from ostentation, that greatness must have been "thrust upon him" ere he +held a name emblazoned upon the roll of fame. His character in contrast +with publicly great men has been most graphically told by the German poet, +who sang-- + + "One on earth in silence wrought, + And his grave in silence sought; + But the younger, brighter form, + Passed in battle, and in storm." + +As the Superintendent of our Institution, he held the hearts of every +inmate. His younger brother, in a letter of response to some queries, +said--"He was an Engineer in the United States Navy during the War of the +Rebellion, a devoted son, a true patriot, and an earnest Christian man." +He was afterward stationed on the "Island of Navassa," one of the West +India Group, within one hundred miles of Cuba, and was acting as +Superintendent of a Phosphate Company which owned, and worked the Island. +He had been there during eighteen months, when, in September, 1872, the +yellow fever broke out in the Island. After several weeks' resistance he, +too, succumbed to this terrible scourge, and, after a six days' illness, +died on the 9th of November, 1872. + +His brother also feelingly makes mention of his last letter, written upon +the day of his attack, as "a marvel of calm resignation." It runs thus: "I +am fast getting ready to be counted among the sick. When you know I am +really dead write to--(here follow the names of many friends) and tell +them to meet me in Heaven. One by one we are passing over, why should we +hesitate? why should I with no one to care for? Surely I have seen trouble +enough in this life! May I feel as little dread of dying at the last +moment as I do now." + +His last words were addressed to his second officer, who had been addicted +to dissipation, but who had pledged himself to reform. As he was carried +out to look upon the sea which he loved so well, he said: "Mawson, +remember your pledge," when his head immediately dropped and he entered +into the life eternal. + +So did the life of this good man pass gently away while he was still in +the prime of manhood. He was carried to beautiful Greenmount for burial, +near the city in which his name will be coupled with loving memories for +long years to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + "Alas for him who never sees + The stars shine through his cypress trees! + Who hopeless lays his dead away, + Nor looks to see the breaking day + Across the mournful marbles play! + Who hath not learned in hours of faith + The truth to flesh and sense unknown, + That Life is ever Lord of Death, + And love can never lose its own!" + + +A short time after our return home, Miss Tyson, having become weary of +traveling, I accompanied her to Morrison, and after spending a few days +there left her with friends and went alone to Pecatonica, when Ida again +accompanied me in my travels. On my return I stopped at Winnebago, +Illinois, to visit the hallowed spot in which Hattie lay buried. As I +approached the cemetery mingled memories of her beautiful life came +surging through my soul, and a deep silent awe stole over me. I sent my +friends away to another part of the grounds that I might be entirely +alone with my dead, and as I knelt in the stillness of that sacred hour I +felt that the grave held only the precious clay, and that the sweet +spirit-presence was there trying to comfort me as it had always done in +earth-life, while, as the soft sound of the June wind stole through the +trembling evergreen near by, it seemed to whisper a sweet song, whose +burden sighed-- + + Love will dream and faith will trust, + Since he who knows our needs is just; + That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. + +As I turned away I felt the strong ray of sunshine which fell upon her +grave, and rested there a halo and a promise! + +Our first stop going Westward was at Kansas City, and as it was the first +of August we found the colored people out in a well-filled procession, +celebrating this, one of their great Emancipation days. Ida having seen +very few colored people during her life was furnished an amusing +entertainment. We also visited Lawrence, which is so marked in Kansas +annals, and Topeka, the capital, but as my experience in this State +differs so materially from that in any other (not making sufficient +through my sales to cover expenses), I will hurriedly pass it by. + +We took the sleeping car at Topeka, but, as a "washout" had destroyed the +track for some distance, I left the train with the other passengers, and +walked with precision over culverts and places of danger with ofttimes +only a narrow plank for my track. A gentleman who kindly led me smilingly +said this was indeed "walking by faith," and it was true blind eyes never +have aught but faith "as a lamp to their feet and a guide to their path." + +After leaving Salina there was nothing to be seen but a blank, desolate +plain, as monotonous as a silent, sailless sea, grimly varied by an +occasional station, with a few "dugouts" for houses. The mail on this +train was most unceremoniously delivered by being thrown from the cars, +and it was very amusing to witness the confusion and rush for its +contents, for the love-laden and business-burdened missives are as dear to +these people as to the most cultured members of society. + +The frequent recurrence of the little sand-hill communities, known as +prairie dog cities, was of novel interest to us, and the habits of these +creatures a curious study. They build their sand-hill habitations as +skillfully as the beaver erects his dam, and are so untiring in following +their instinct of self-preservation that they stand as constant sentinels +at the entrance of their homes, and in any case of danger play to such +perfection the role of "the artful dodger" that they are never caught. + +It is a singular fact that these animals are very rarely killed, and if by +chance some "unlucky dog" should lose his life he is hurried out of sight +by his devoted companions with so much celerity that his body is never +found. + +Fifty miles before reaching Denver the snow crowned tops of Gray's and +James' Peaks are clearly revealed, while from one point alone will Pike's +Peak allow the traveler a glimpse of his glorious grandeur. We were told +that the former mountains were more frequently visible at a distance of +one hundred miles. We neared Denver just as the sun was sinking, +enthroned in purple and amber and gold, with a faint, delicate rosy flush +tinging the edge of the more royal hues. Its truly Italian beauty was so +vividly pictured to me by Ida, that I could almost realize the regal +splendor of a Colorado sunset. Completely tired out and covered with +alkaline dust, we were grateful for the rest and comfort afforded by the +elegant Wentworth House. + +We spent a week in Denver, fraught with interest, for while it is a city +destitute of the charm of historical associations and musty memories, +which add so much interest to most foreign cities and many American +localities, it so abounds in youthful life with its warm and bounding +currents, its vim and vigor, that it teems with varying attractions. Its +broad avenues, softened by shade, its stately residences and mammoth +business blocks, render it as imposing as many old cities, and indicate +but little of its real primitive struggles for life, and the dangerous +aggressions of the "Red Man;" its truly western pluck having ranked these +among the things that were. + +The elliptical basin in which Denver is built, sloping north and east, +gives it a picturesque and extended view; the mountains losing themselves +in one direction in the now historic "Black Hills," and in the other +merging into the "Spanish Peaks" and "Sangre de Christo Range," so named +from a natural symbol of the Christian faith, a snowy cross grandly +gleaming in the distance. + +Taking the Colorado Central Railway we went through the Clear Creek Canyon, +with its rich and fertile fields to Golden, so beautifully sheltered in +the valley at the base of the mountain, and whose air was more life-giving +to me than that of any other portion of Colorado. In the vicinity of this +little Eden we climbed a rock seven hundred feet high, and while two +laborious hours were occupied in the ascent, we were amply recompensed +when we stood upon the smooth rock which crowned its summit, where the +merry picnicers pause amid their pastimes, absorbed in the sublimity of +their surroundings, for while they are basking in the soft sunlight the +sound of the distant thundering and lightning in the mountain tops +recalls the story of Sinai, where the multitude below stood silent and +breathless, and from the roar of Heaven's artillery above issued the +written tables of stone. + +From this our lofty site the clear ether of the intervening fourteen miles +revealed the city of Denver looming up like a lonely vision. + +Turning toward the "Gold Centres," whose wealth, if the half were told, +would seem as fabulous as an "Arabian Nights Story," we visited "Central +City" and "Black Hawk,", which are so close together that it has been +facetiously said "It is impossible for a citizen to tell where he lives +without going out doors and looking at some landmark." + +These two places are really built upon foundations of gold, and many of +the houses constructed of gold-bearing quartz. + +The depot at Black Hawk might justly be denominated "Porter's Folly," for +this magnificent structure was built by a reckless miner for a +quartz-mill, at an expenditure of one hundred thousand dollars, and the +miner was General Fitz John Porter. + +At Central City we stopped at the Teller House, and received marked +kindness from Mr. Bush, the proprietor. Mr. Rhodes, editor of the daily +paper, aided me greatly in his well-written notices, and invited us to +dine at his house, where we were delightfully entertained by himself and +his accomplished wife. + +We crossed the country by stage to Idaho Springs, over a region not only +grand and diversified in scenery, but rich in mineral wealth, the road +winding through intricate mountain heights and wild canyons. The springs +are the chief resort of this portion of Colorado, and, aside from their +wildly beautiful surroundings, furnish great facilities for the +exhilarating hot soda baths and swimming bath-houses, in which elegantly +costumed bathers of both sexes hold high carnival. + +The hotel was quite romantically situated near a meandering creek, which +murmured by its side and made my pleasant room upon the ground floor +musical with its rippling flow. Days of dreamy beauty, and nights of +cool, invigorating rest, render this a watering place of remarkable +attraction. + +Georgetown stands next in size to Denver, and is an outgrowth of the rich +mining wealth with which it is environed. Indeed, it seemed as if some +geni had touched all around it with a magic wand. Silver-ore was strewn in +rich profusion, piled like cord-wood in huge masses at every step; was +talked of in the street, the hotel, and the home, until it seemed as if we +thought, ate, and breathed silver. + +At the beautiful town of Boulder we stopped at the prominent and luxurious +hotel known as the American House, and after a short stay took the stage +for Caribon, then the most elevated town in the State, standing +considerably over nine thousand feet above the sea-level. A romantic and +ever-ascending ride of a day's length was required to reach this eyrie, +and at noon-day the driver allowed us to stop for our dinner, when our +wayside inn was improvized from the sheltering shade of grand old trees, +our table a rock, our chairs the same. + +No ambrosia could have been sweeter to the gods than was our sylvan +feast, with the appetite induced by mountain air and exercise; no nectar +finer than the crystal draught, dipped from the little stream; no +orchestra more musical than its varied tones. Although it was yet +September, there was a severe snow-storm, and, the next day, when it had +subsided, a party went out to pick raspberries, which were sweet and +delicious in flavor, while beside the deep snow-banks bloomed flowers as +beautiful as the rarest exotics. + +Ladies are so vigorous in that country that they think nothing of a walk +of many miles, but the intensely rarefied air of the mountains made my own +respiration very difficult. + +We returned to Denver, where our few days' visit was all too short, for it +was with painful reluctance we yielded to the demands of business +interest, and left a city which to us was fraught with so much pleasure, +and went to Colorado Springs, a place of five thousand inhabitants, and +one of the most stirring towns in the State. It is very level, being +symmetrically laid out in broad and shaded streets, and derives its name +from the fact of being the station from which tourists take the stage for +the springs at Manitou, six miles distant. It is also the point from which +pleasure parties daily leave for Pike's Peak. + +One of the main features of interest in our visit to Colorado Springs, was +the presence of the great "Man of the Period," over whom the stupendous +heart of Barnum throbbed with exultant pride, and scientists waxed +wondering and eloquent. This august personage, who was no other than the +since sensational "Stone Man of Colorado," was lying in state, in all the +majesty of his marbleized grandeur, and was the magnet toward which +throngs of wonder-seekers were irresistibly drawn, all of whom, as if +entering the presence chamber of the King of Terrors, seemed awed by this +silent "representative of the dead past," and with hushed voices and bated +breath, lingered over the lineaments of one, which, if it had been known +at that time was not a real petrifaction, would perhaps have excited only +feelings of ridicule and words of derision. We were willing to be +humbugged with the rest for the sacred emotions experienced under the +silent potency of this phenomenon of the nineteenth century; nor can we +even in the light of subsequent revelations deny the fact that he was +"fearfully and wonderfully made." + +We next visited Pueblo, where this giant was exhumed, but were not at all +pleased with the town or its surroundings, and suffered greatly from +thirst rather than drink the offensive water for which the residents are +so heavily taxed. It was so apparently poisonous in odor, that if it had +been in the malarious climate of Chicago, instead of the exhilarating +atmosphere of Colorado, all would have died from its effects. + +We have never visited a State which held such diversified interest as that +of Colorado, a fitting resort for the invalid, the pleasure seeker, +artist, scientist or poet. No place but some haunt of the Muses could +boast the ethereal beauty of a "Glen Eyrie," and no wonder the "Garden of +the Gods" is supposed to have once been the abode of "Great Jove himself," +and that there fair Venus bathed her beauteous form, and girdled with the +fabled "Cestus," held her court amid the immortal beauties of the sacred +spot. + +We came through Kansas via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, +meeting with no better success than that which marked our former trip in +that region of country, and could only conclude, that while their crops +were at that time large and lucrative, the grasshopper raid had taught +them a lesson of economy which they were rigidly observing. + +Before returning home we visited the only surviving sister of my mother, +who lived in Salsbury, Missouri, and who not having heard from me since +the Chicago fire, concluded that I might have perished in its flames. She +and her husband were both over seventy years old, and strange to say, were +like so many of the old people I have met in my travels, that my readers +might suppose my heroes and heroines had found the "fabled fountain" and +secured immortal youth. Be this as it may, it could certainly be said of +her husband, as of the father of Evangeline: + + "Stalwart and stately of form + Was the man of seventy summers; + Hearty and hale was he + As an oak that is covered with snow-flakes." + +I had a delightful visit of two days with this aged couple, during which +my aunt rehearsed to me many incidents in the early life of my mother, and +presented me with a lock of her hair, which, as a memento, is ever +magnetically associated with the "loved ones gone before." + +Returning to Chicago, I found my husband, whose health was far worse than +when I saw him in Galveston. This, together with a combination of +surrounding circumstances, suggested the project of writing up "The World +as I have found it," and I spent the greater part of the winter of 1877-8 +in this work. + +If it should appear to my friends and readers, that I found only the +"sunny side" of life, and they should wonder why I so seldom saw the +shadow, or received the thrust of unkindness, I can simply say that I was +almost universally so well received, that the few cases of unkind +treatment became the exception and not the rule, and these were generally +so bitterly repented, and so amply amended, that I felt it would be an +act of ingratitude to note them in my experiences. + +Hoping that these last missives to my kind and noble patrons will be as +well received as was the first humble effort of my girlhood--"Incidents in +the Life of a Blind Girl," I can only add in conclusion, that if any one +of the patient followers of my wanderings has found aught of sufficient +interest to while away the tedium of an otherwise weary hour, or gleaned +from the dross a single "golden grain," I will be amply recompensed. + + + + +HELP THE BLIND TO HELP THEMSELVES. + + +Throughout the entire length my unpretending offering my aim has been, as +far as was compatible with a personal history, to make my pages +interesting to the general public, but I cannot close without addressing +some especial words to those, who, like myself, must be content to live +with vision veiled from the world's transcendant beauties, and whose +life-paths from a variety of causes seem ofttimes utterly rayless. + +Blindness has been universally regarded as one of the most terrible +afflictions of an adverse fate, nor can it be denied that it is one which +requires a great amount of grace, and all the reason and judgment one can +command, to bear the burden with any degree of patience, much less with +perfect resignation. + +It is so often the result of impaired health, while the severe test of +maltreatment or even the most skillful treatment, tends to deplete the +system and depress the spirits. + +Again, the blind are in the majority of cases the children of poor +parents, and subject to all the neglect and exposure incident to poverty, +while, if they are born in affluence, they are so petted and pampered, in +consequence of their affliction, that they become utterly dependent and +useless, and contract habits that should be and which under other +circumstances would be broken. + +It is no more necessary for a blind child, with proper instruction and +careful training, to become awkward and ungainly, than for one in full +possession of all the senses, the drawback of blindness simply demanding a +little more patience and perseverance to attain the ease and grace, which +is as inevitable as in other children. + +In all the category of first instructions for the period of childhood, +from the muscular education by which a babe is taught to take its first +tottering step or the voluntary movement necessary to grasp and hold an +object, to the lisping language of love intoned in the first sweet +prattle, the all-pervading spirit, from the first to the last lesson, is +that of self-reliance. While blind children of wealth are waited upon +until they become utterly incapable of helping themselves, and through a +mistaken kindness are so constantly ministered to, they lapse into +passive, pantomimic puppets, void of the vitality and sparkle which, by +their natural endowments, is attainable. + +I have made it a guiding rule, throughout my life, never to consider there +was anything which, with the proper effort, I could not do, and my +experience proves a confirmation of the fact that there were very few +things I could not accomplish. I would fain impress this lesson upon my +blind friends, feeling as I do that it would prove of untold service to +them. + +It is not at all necessary that the blind should so lose their dignity or +individuality, as to allow themselves to be addressed in word or tone at +all different from that directed to other people, and, as an illustration +of this point, I may be pardoned for relating an incident of my school +life. + +A gentleman once called at our Institution in Baltimore, and, immediately +after his introduction to a group of blind girls, of which I was one, he +said: "Ladies, how would you manage to select a husband?" + +Flaming with indignation, I impulsively replied: "Sir! We do not deal in +such merchandise?" and smarting with a sense of the indignity, I +immediately left his presence. + +I was afterward called to account by our worthy Superintendent to whom the +person in question preferred a complaint of rude treatment. Begging +permission to explain the situation, I respectfully enquired of our +official in case this same gentleman were thrown for the first time in the +presence of an equal number of society ladies, who could see if it would +be possible for him to address a similar remark to them, without being +charged with rudeness and presumption, or if it were not even questionable +whether he would dare to address them in such a way at all--and we, +although blind, felt that we had the right to demand the same deference +and respect. It is almost needless to say that I was fully exonerated from +all blame, and honorably discharged from the presence of my interrogator. + +In the course of my travels I am ofttimes asked if I desire my meals sent +to my room, presupposing, as would be naturally inferred, the possibility +of great awkwardness in my manner of eating; hence I invariably decline +this offer of privacy, as there need be nothing in our manner of eating at +all _outre_ or disagreeable. + +It is of course necessary to have a graceful attendant, and my first great +care is to instruct my guide in all the phases of table ministration, +which are more varied and important than is discernible to those who can +see. + +I also take great pains to instruct them in the art of walking with me +properly; never allowing them to _tell_ me how to proceed, but to give me +a tacit understanding _of_ their movements in order to direct my own, and +this system in my own experience has been reduced to a science. + +Many persons feel that it is far more sad and terrible to have once +possessed sight, and afterward to become blind, than never to have seen at +all, but I cannot agree with them, and will never cease to be grateful +that until I was twelve years old, I could grasp, through sight, the +unfolding beauties of nature and art, which are now so often reproduced +that I can see all the manifold loveliness spread out before me, and for a +season forget that I am blind. Those who are born in blindness, are, to a +great extent, denied this pleasure, for it is almost impossible through +the imagination to form any adequate conception of "things seen." + +One of the most deplorable results of blindness is the fact that so many +of its victims condescend to the degradation of beggary, thus bringing +disgrace upon those who try to make an honorable living. I once had +occasion to go into a prominent Express Office of Chicago upon important +business of my own. The agent discovering that I was blind, and in evident +anticipation of a draught upon his pocket, resorted to it and drew out +fifty cents. After learning my business he manifested considerable +embarrassment, and as slyly as possible deposited his money in its +original place, and no doubt hoped the movement was not observed. Thus it +so often becomes as apparent to us as to others, that the majority of +people jump at the conclusion, that if one is blind, they must of +necessity resort to begging, and I deeply regret that so many establish +this belief by their conduct. + +It has been to me a serious source of annoyance that so large a number of +persons endeavor to impress upon my mind the idea that it is an act of +charity to patronize me to the extent of the purchase of a single book, +while just after me a strong man, with faculties unimpaired, a man amply +able to do other work, may enter, and they buy from him anything he may +have to sell without ever dreaming that it is a charity to do so. + +But I am truly grateful to the majority of those with whom I come in +business contact for their appreciation of my energy and enterprise, as +they almost invariably consider mine a laudable way of making a living. + +A great many blind persons offer as an excuse for inactivity that they +have no capital to do with, but even this obstacle may be removed, as is +so often the case with impediments in the paths of those who see. + +In Marysville, California, I became acquainted with a gentleman who lost +his sight in middle life, and exhausted all his means upon oculists and +other measures intended to restore his eyes. Finding the case hopeless, +and having a family dependent upon him for support, instead of sitting +down in despair or resorting to begging, he went to a friend and borrowed +two dollars and a half. With this he bought a basket, filled it with fruit +and went out to sell it. This basket became the nucleus of an extensive +business for some years after, and, at the time I met him, he was a highly +respected citizen, possessing a comfortable home and a considerable bank +account, though still holding a large fruit-stand as a permanent resource. + +Another instance could be cited in the case of a young man of the same +State who became suddenly blind, when some friend told him he had better +go to San Francisco and hold out his hat, "for he would certainly do +well." Wounded to the quick at such advice, he replied that, in case he +accepted such a suggestion, he would solicit enough to buy a dose of +strychnine and close out his business. Soon after an artist made him a +proposition to travel for the sale of chromos in the interest of a +gallery. He accepted it, and by that means soon became successful and +independent. + +We do not feel it necessary to work for the sympathy of the public, for we +are already conscious of having that; but we do sincerely desire their +respect, and, if freely extended, their patronage, as do any other class +of people plying a legitimate vocation. + +Among the throng with whom. I have come in contact in the course of +canvassing, the vexed question, paramount in the minds of the majority, +and one frequently addressed to me in person. It is: why I do not avail +myself of an Institution for the Blind, or--as they almost universally dub +it--an Asylum in which I will be taken care of for life, almost +invariably adding that they are taxed for this purpose. + +I desire here to correct an impression which, in the main, is utterly +false. These institutions are (together with others) supported by the +States in which they are located, and in so far as every property holder +has a larger or smaller amount of State tax, they help to sustain the +Institutions for the Blind among others. These State institutions are +intended only for the education of the blind, and not for their support. +For the purpose of education there are a certain number of years allotted +to each pupil, according to their age at the time of admission. At the +expiration of this term they have no alternative but to go back to the +poor homes of their respective counties, more unfitted to endure their +privations than before they were permitted a taste of a better mode of +life, and no matter how sad their sacrifices, or how bitter their trials, +they are never looked after by the Institutions in which they graduate. + +In their new life, however high may be their excellence in music or any +other accomplishment, or how great their effort to make them available, +their surroundings are all against them, consequently they lapse into a +condition even worse than before their education, because their +enlightenment renders them more keenly sensitive to their affliction. + +But I am thankful there are so many who have courage to rise above all +these obstacles, and, with a heroism known only to those who have passed +through the crucible, to become noble men and women. + +Another question so often arising is, can the blind distinguish colors by +the sense of feeling? To this my invariable answer has been, "I believe it +to be an impossibility." Many insist upon the point that it is not only +possible, but that they can substantiate it as a fact--having seen it with +their own eyes. + +This I have, of course, no right to dispute, but in illustration of the +point in question, and in proof that one can be mistaken therein, I will +cite an incident that occurred in the Baltimore Institution. + +Three gentlemen visitors to that place having completed their inspection, +were about taking leave, when they were attracted by "little Joe," a +bright, intelligent boy pupil, and immediately asked him if he could +distinguish colors in the above-mentioned way. The quick-witted little +fellow assumed the serene dignity of a sage and calmly answered, "Of +course I can," whereupon the gentlemen stood in a row and offered Joe the +tempting bait of one dollar if he would tell each one the color of his +pants. Two of them were dressed in broad cloth, and the other in a coarse, +grey suit. The boy naturally inferred that the smooth, textured fabric was +broad cloth, and would most probably be black, and being aware of the then +prevailing style of grey business-suits, he, with great ease, hit the +truth exactly. + +They freely gave the promised dollar, and left fully satisfied that he did +it by the sense of touch. As soon as the door was closed, the mischievous +urchin exclaimed, "Golly, boys, suppose I hadn't guessed right?" + +Upon this matter I can only say in conclusion, that I have met during my +life many blind persons, and have made this question an especial study, +while not one instance has come under my observation in which the blind +could distinguish colors by touch. By a systematic method of arrangement, +association, etc, as well as through a remarkable recollection of certain +distinguishing characteristics in objects around us, we attain to that +which serves us much the same purpose as distinction of color. Indeed, in +this, as in all things, the blind must, of necessity, be very methodical +in everything they undertake to do. + +I sincerely hope that in my heterogeneous and apparently random remarks, I +may have uttered some word of comfort to the blind, some hint which may +truly aid them, some sentiment which may sustain, for my heart goes out to +them in the sympathy of a common affliction. + + +"SIGHT OF THE BLIND." + +Since closing my preceding article I have received from the author, who is +one of the most distinguished blind writers, an essay Which I take great +pleasure in introducing below, not only because of its eminent source, +but from its confirmation of some of the points I have attempted to +illustrate, and which, together with many original and suggestive +thoughts, are given with the plenitude and the power of eloquent +rendition. + + +"HOW DO THE BLIND SEE?" + +BY L.V. HALL. + + +This may be regarded by some as a paradoxical question; and yet it is not, +if we accept the word see, in its fullest and broadest sense. Webster +defines the verb see, as follows: "To perceive by mental vision; to form +an adequate conception of; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to +comprehend." True, we do not see through the same medium that you do, who +have perfect organs of sight, but we certainly perceive and comprehend the +relation and condition of things about us. The Creator has so wisely made, +and beautifully adjusted the external organs of sense, one to another, and +each to all, that when one is lacking the others are made able, by greater +exercise, to perform the functions of the missing one. For example, if +one loses his hearing, sight is rendered keener, and the nerves acquire a +sensitiveness almost painful. Dr. Kitto, who was deaf from twelve years of +age, speaks of this peculiar sensitiveness as follows: "The drawing of +furniture, as tables or chairs, over the floor, above or below me, the +shutting of doors, and the feet of children at play, distress me far more +than the same cause would do if I were in actual possession of my hearing. + +"By being unattended by any circumstances or preliminaries, they startle +dreadfully; and by the vibration being diffused from the feet over the +whole body, they shake the whole nervous system in a way which even long +use has not enabled me to bear." + +In the same interesting article on percussion, he says: "A few days since, +when I was seated with the back of my chair facing a chiffonier, the door +of this receptacle was opened by some one, and swung back so as to touch +my hair. The touch could not but have been slight, but to me the +concussion was dreadful, and almost made me scream with the surprise and +pain; the sensation being very similar to that which a heavy person feels +on touching the ground, when he has jumped from a higher place than he +ought. Even this concussion, to me so violent and distressing, had not +been noticed by any one in the room but myself." + +This physiological phenomenon is analagous to the sensation experienced by +the blind on approaching any tall or broad object. We feel their presence +when we are several yards from them. I have sometimes been startled by the +sudden impression produced by a lamp-post, or tree when in fact it was a +yard or more from me. The sensation is somewhat like receiving a smart +blow in the face. I am frequently aware of passing a building while riding +along a country road, and the proximity of trees, fences and other objects +is quite perceptible. + +This is not a latent sense, developed by circumstances, as some have +supposed, but a wonderful acuteness of the nerves of the face, and more +particularly of the nerves of the eye-lids. These phenomena may, I think, +be explained in this way. When one of the superior senses is absent, the +perceptive force that has watched at the eye, or listened at the ear, is +now transferred to other nerves of sensation. In other words, a deaf +person is all eyes, and extremely alive to tangible percussions, as will +be seen in the case of Dr. Kitto and others. The blind are all ears and +fingers, and certain of the inferior animals are all ears and heels; I am +not sure but there is some neck in both cases. Since it has been shown +that new perceptions and conditions have been developed in the absence of +one or more of the superior senses, that the deaf are so keenly cognizant +of vibration or jar, which is the father of sound; that the blind can feel +the presence of objects at short distances, which is analogous to sight, +it should not be thought strange that we make such frequent use of the +word _see_, or that the deaf should make use of the word _hear_, and that +these words are not without significance or import. Besides this there is +a mental perception (doubtless through a magnetic medium,) of the presence +or nearness of other minds. This accords with the experience of many +persons. I have frequently entered rooms that I supposed to be +unoccupied, judging from the silence that reigned, but on taking an +inventory of my feelings I found a consciousness of some one's presence, +and this I have done when not the slightest sound aroused my suspicions. + +A little incident that occurred while I was a teacher in the New York +Institution for the Blind will, perhaps, better illustrate this point. + +I called one evening at the matron's room to ask her to read a letter +which had just been handed me. Supposing it to be a confidential one, and +wishing to make sure that no one else was in the room, I enquired of the +matron if she was alone. On receiving an affirmative answer, I handed her +the letter, requesting her to read it. But, feeling a consciousness that +some other mind was present--a strange mind, with which I had no +sympathy--I walked round to the other end of the table and placed my hand +on a lady's shoulder, remarking to the matron that I felt sure there was +some one in the room beside herself, and asked that the letter might be +returned to me unopened. + +From the long experience of this perception, or intuition, has grown the +old adage, "The devil is always near at hand when you are talking about +him." I am not sure that this magnetic condition is more largely developed +in us than in those who see, but I am led to think it is for this reason, +eyes are of paramount importance to those who have them, and we who have +them not search for other media of communication. Mental presence is +either inspiring and assuring, or depressing and embarrassing. I have +observed that when in the presence of some people I have felt comfortable +and assured, while in the presence of others I have felt diffident and +uneasy, I allude here to persons with whom I had no previous acquaintance. +Minds are felt in a ratio proportionate to their will-power. Shallow, +conceited minds are not magnetic. I have been told by blind preachers, +public lecturers and concert singers, that they always feel the difference +between an intelligent and appreciative audience and one made up of coarse +and uncultured people, and this consciousness they have felt before any +demonstrations of applause or disapprobation were made. I have had many +opportunities to experiment on my own feelings in relation to this +magnetic influence or mental recognition. I was a concert singer in my +younger days and could always tell whether I was singing to a large or +small house, and whether my audience was in sympathy with me or not. + +If it is argued that I gained this knowledge through the ear, and not +through the magnetic medium that I suppose to exist, I will add other +experiences that will be more convincing to the reader. + +In pursuing my business as itinerant book-seller for many years, I have +frequently called at offices when their occupants were out, and on +entering have often said to my guide, "Oh, there is no one here, let us +go, and call again." On the other hand I have often been conscious when +entering a room that there was not only one mind but several minds +present. If I should be asked to describe this consciousness, or mental +recognition, I should not know what language to employ. These are some of +the compensations which the blind receive for the great loss they have +sustained. The sense of smell is ranked as the least important of all the +senses, yet it is of great value to the blind. Through this avenue to the +mind come many pleasurable sensations. By it we are aided in the selection +of our food, in choosing ripe and healthful fruits, in detecting +decomposition, dirt and filth, and in ascertaining much that eyes discover +to those who have them. Without it flowers would have no attraction for +us, and life would lack many of its pleasures. At the risk of being +classed among dogs and vultures. I acknowledge that I am often guided by +my olfactories in doing things that seem so very unaccountable to my +friends. + +In passing along the business streets my attention is continually +attracted by the odors that issue from stores, shops, saloons, etc., and +these peculiar smells often direct me to the very place I wish to find. +From groceries come the odors of spices, fish, soaps, etc. From clothing +and dry goods stores the smell of dye-stuffs. From drugs and medicines, +the combined odor of many thousand volatile substances, such as perfumes, +paints, and oils, asafaoetida, etc. From shoe stores comes the smell of +leather; and from books and stationery the smell of printer's ink. Hotels, +saloons and liquor stores, emit that unmistakable odor of alcohol, the +prince of poisons. To me the smell of alcohol, wines, etc., has always, +since my earliest recollection, been grateful and fascinating; and had I +cultivated an appetite for strong drink, it would be as difficult for me +to pass a liquor saloon as for a man whose eyes are tempted by a +magnificent display of mirrors and bottles. I have often been made aware +of open cellar doors by a damp, musty smell that commonly proceeds from +underground rooms, and have, I think, been saved from falling by this odd +warning. I should have fallen, however, only a few days ago, into one of +these yawning horrors had it not been for my ever watchful wife who was +providentially near and called to me in time to save me from injury. Some +workmen were laying a patch of side-walk on Main street, in the town in +which I reside, and had opened a cellar-way near which some of them were +at work, but did not warn me, doubtless because they did not see me, for +workmen are always very kind to me. + +I am guided and governed more by the ear, however, than by either of the +other organs of sense. If I wish to cross the street it tells me when +teams are coming, how far they are away, at what rate of speed they are +traveling, and when it will be safe to cross. If I find a group of men +conversing, it tells me who they are. If I wish to enter a store, or any +place, it tells me where the door is, if open, by the sounds that issue +therefrom, but in this I have sometimes been misled by going to an open +window, which always makes me feel awkward. Sound to me is as important as +light is to the seeing, and brings to the mind a great many facts that are +gathered through the eyes when sight is made the prime sense. + +Much of my information, however, is received through the fingers. They are +properly the organs of touch. Although this sense is distributed over the +whole body, even to the mucous membrane that lines the mouth and covers +the tongue. When the finger's ends have been hardened by labor, or from +any cause, the lips and tongue are the most sensitive, and are often used +in threading needles, stringing beads, etc, very innocent uses surely to +put the tongue to. This sense of touch is of _necessity_ cultivated by the +blind until it often reaches a state of perfection seldom, if ever, found +in the seeing. Of course its development is gradual, as is the growth of +all the faculties. When I was quite a little child, and my fingers were +soft, I could readily distinguish all the variety of flowers that grew in +my sister's flower garden, and could call them by name. From touch I knew +all the common fruits, from the peach with its velvet skin, to the +strawberry in the meadow, for which I used to search diligently with my +fingers, and sometimes find, as I remember, thistles, which were never +quite to my taste. One thing among my childish sports and amusements, for +they were limited, always gave great pleasure; and does even now. I loved +to play along the brook or lake shore, to feel for smooth and odd shaped +stones, for pretty shells, etc. Their beauty to me existed only in the +great variety of shapes they presented, and in their smooth, pearly +surfaces, as they never suggested to my mind any idea of color. Winter +afforded me few opportunities for cultivating my love for the beautiful. +Summer was my heaven, with its singing birds, its tinkling brooks and its +fresh and delicious fruits. + +I took great pleasure in examining, with my fingers, flowers, leaves and +grasses, because their great variety of shape and texture fed an innate +longing after something that I could not then comprehend. + +When but an infant, I am told nothing amused me so well as a branch of +green leaves. + +My early boyhood was spent in rambling through the woods, hunting nuts, +squirrels, chipmunks, etc., with other boys of my own age, in climbing +trees, digging for wood-chucks, skating, coasting, and in performing all +the feats common to boyhood, such as standing on my head, hopping, +jumping, whistling, shouting, &c. I shall regret to have this page come +under the eyes of my boys, for in noisy mischief they already exceed my +most sanguine expectations, and need not a record of their father's +boisterous childhood to encourage them. + +This kind of life, however, has fitted me to enter upon a systematic +course of study, which I did at the age of sixteen. I was received as a +pupil of the New York Institution for the Blind in 1844. I entered in a +good, healthy condition of body and mind. Found there boys and girls like +myself, without sight, yet earnestly engaged in pursuing the various +branches of English education. Many of them were like myself, full of +life, fond of fun and mischief. Many laughable incidents and anecdotes +characteristic of such an institution are fresh in my memory, which, I +should be pleased to relate, did they illustrate the subject in hand. Here +I found sight, which I had always supposed so necessary, somewhat at a +discount. I discovered that books, slates, maps, globes, diagrams, &c., +could be seen through the fingers, and that children could learn quite as +rapidly in this way as with sight. I was not long, either, in discovering +that the older pupils and graduates were intelligent, accomplished and +refined; that they were treated more as equals by the officers, and that +they were trotted out to show off the merits of the institution, while we +young blockheads were kept in the background. This, I think, did much +toward inspiring me with ambition. My progress at first was slow, having +to learn how to use the appliances. My fingers must be trained, my memory +disciplined and my habits of inattention corrected. + +No effort was made, however, to take the mirthfulness out of me, and I +doubt if anything could have succeeded in this. My first introduction to +tangible literature was in placing my hand on a page of the Old Testament +in embossed print. At first I could feel nothing like letters or any +regular characters, only a roughness as though the paper had been badly +wrinkled. A card was then placed in my hand on which the alphabet was +printed in very large type, and my attention called to each letter. My +fingers, then soft and supple, were not long in tracing the outlines of +each character, and, my memory being naturally retentive, I was soon able +to distinguish each letter, and give its name as my finger was placed on +it. Another card was then given me in smaller type, which I mastered in +the same way, and so on till I could read our smallest print. + +I have been thus minute in describing the rudimentary process of finger +training, that my readers may understand how it is possible for the +fingers to be made useful to the blind. To show how quick is the +perception through this avenue to the mind, it should be known that we +cannot feel a whole word at once, but a single letter. And yet some of us +are able to read more than a hundred words per minute, and to trace on +raised maps boundary lines, rivers, mountain chains, lakes, straits, +gulfs, bays, to find the location of towns, islands, &c. + +It would seem that the fingers are capable of grasping almost everything +that the eye embraces, though of course more slowly, and from the +wonderful acuteness of which they are susceptible has grown the popular +impression that the blind can feel colors. I have been asked this question +many thousand times, and have invariably replied that we can no more feel +colors than the deaf can see sounds or the dumb sing psalms. I am aware +that it is stated by some eminent writers that the sense of touch in some +persons has reached this perfection, but I have many reasons to doubt it. +I have no personal object in contradicting this statement, other than to +correct a popular error. Should be glad if it were true. It has been +accounted for by scientific men upon this hypothesis: that colors differ +in temperature, that red is warmer than yellow, and yellow warmer than +green, and so on through the spectrum. That violet is a cold color as its +rays are less refracted, that these differences are appreciable to +delicate fingers. I have tried many experiments both with my own fingers +and with persons at our several institutions, who, like myself, were born +without sight, and, have never yet found one who could form the faintest +idea of colors from impressions received through the fingers. Indeed +there is nothing in tangible qualities that suggests color, except +differences in texture. We may feel that a piece of broad-cloth has a +harsh texture, and call it black, or a soft texture, and call it drab or +brown. In this we may guess right, for it is only a guess after all. Wool +buyers and dealers in cloth judge frequently of their quality by touch; +and it is true that we who are without sight come to be very expert in +judging of the quality of cloths, furs, &c. But, to one who has never seen +light, there is no suggestion of color through finger perception. + +Between sound and color there is a much closer analogy traceable, as both +are the result of vibration. The same language is used to express the +qualities of each. + +We talk of harmony in sounds and harmony in colors, of lights and shades, +of chromatics, blending, softness, sweetness, harshness, high, low, +bright, dull, &c. + +May not a grand anthem or chorus be to the mind of one who has never seen +the light, what a fine picture is to one who has never heard sounds. I +should not be surprised to hear that some blind Yankee or Frenchman has +invented a telephone through which we can hear in the rippling brooks and +bubbling fountains the color of their waters, in the song of birds the +gorgeous tints of their plumage, and in the distant roar of Niagara, the +mighty grandeur of its scenery. To an imaginative mind a well tuned, well +voiced organ may be made to represent all the colors of the rainbow, from +the faintest violet of the piccolo to the darkest crimson of the sub-bass. +Some blind person on being asked what he supposed red to be like, answered +"Like the sound of a trumpet." He might have said "Like a flame of fire." +I once asked a blind boy, who had never seen light, if he could imagine a +house on fire and how he supposed it would look. He answered, "If it was a +big fire it would look like a thousand trumpets all blowing in a different +key." I then asked him what a picture is like. "Like anything in _shape_ +you may wish to paint," he said, "but in color (if it is a fine picture) +like one of Mozart's grand symphonies." I have many times asked my blind +lady friends how they knew in what way to arrange their colors so as to +make their fancy work look tasty and attractive. How they knew what colors +blended and what were discordant, and I have often received this answer: +"By associating the names of the seven primary colors with the seven +sounds of the diatonic scale, placing red as No. 1 or key note, orange +next, yellow next, then green, and so on to violet. Thus red will not +blend with orange, being the first and second of the scale, but red and +yellow harmonize better, being third in the scale, red and green still +better, and so on to red and deep violet, which are sevenths in the scale +and do not harmonize. Thus we get the tetrachord red, yellow, blue and +violet, which may be represented by the flat seventh of the chord C." But +I leave this theory for some one to elaborate or refute, who has seen +color, and return to my institution life. + +The ear and voice are also trained at these schools for the blind, and +music is made one of the chief arts. Piano tuning is also taught in a +practical way. If this business is not taught in all the institutions, it +ought to be, for it comes fairly within the scope of our capabilities. And +I will here say for the benefit of my brothers in the dark that I have +been very successful as a piano tuner, and the business is a practical one +for the blind. Any one with a good ear may learn to tune well, but no one +should undertake to repair so delicate a piece of machinery as a piano +action without long experience, mechanical ingenuity, great caution and +good judgment, having had no opportunity to acquire the requisite skill. + +It was not my intention at the outset to write a sketch of my own life, +but to demonstrate by my own experience that the inferior senses may be +made to perform many of the offices of sight. The eyes have some +functions, however, which the ears and fingers cannot perform. + +For example, if a piece of silk or woolen goods be handed me for +examination the nerves of my fingers will tell me whether it is fine or +coarse, whether it has a harsh or soft texture, whether it is highly +finished or rough and uneven, but they bring me no intelligence of color. + +I may pronounce the goods beautiful, because I find in it certain +qualities that address themselves to my taste, but it is not beauty +addressed to the eye. Light and color, to one who has never seen, is as +inconceivable as music to the deaf. We may get some faint idea of what +light is as a medium of communication, or why color pleases the eye as +qualities of texture please the touch, but the conception is vague and +unsatisfactory. + +I have often had the remark made to me, "Well, if you have never seen, it +is not so bad after all, you have less desire to see." This, I think, is a +mistake and a poor consolation. Has the man who has never visited the +great Niagara cataract, but has many times heard and read of its wonders, +less desire to see it than one who has witnessed those grand displays of +God's power in the flood? Has the boy who loves to read of travels and +strange adventures less desire to see the glaciers of the Alps, the skies +of Italy or the jungles of Southern Africa, than the traveler who +described them? However well we may see with our mental vision, however +well suited to our taste may be our surroundings, however pleasant may be +our family relations, and however kind may be our companions, we cannot +help that irrepressible desire to know what there is about light and +color, about the indescribable beauty of a sunset, the splendor of an +evening sky, the glory of a cloudless day, and the awful grandeur of a +storm. There is yet one thing we greatly desire to know, which the fingers +cannot grasp. + +We are told in poetry and romance that the human face divine is the index +of the spirit. That its ever changing lines express every mood of the mind +and every emotion of the soul, from a smile of ineffable beauty to a +midnight frown, from the sunshine of hope, and joy, and gladness, to +clouds of wrath and hatred. That the spirit looks out through the eye and +melts you with a beam of tenderness, or pierces your heart with a flash of +electric love, or charms you by revealing in its crystal depths the pearl +of purity, or transfixes you with a glance of displeasure. Is all this +talk about sunlit faces and starlit eyes, fine sentiment only, or does the +face really express feeling as unmistakably as we hear it in voices? To +show that the deaf have as great a desire to hear the music of the human +voice as we to see the language of the face, I quote from Dr. Kitto the +following touching passages of personal history: + +"Is there anything on earth so engaging to a parent as to catch the first +lispings of his infant's tongue, or so interesting as to listen to its +dear prattle, and trace its gradual mastery of speech? If there be any one +thing arising out of my condition, which, more than another, fills my +heart with grief, it is _this_: it is to _see_ their blessed lips in +motion and to _hear_ them not, and to witness others moved to smiles and +kisses by the sweet peculiarities of infantile speech which are +incommunicable to me, and which pass by me like the idle wind." + +Although there are but few experiments in common between the deaf and the +blind, I am able to sympathize fully with this eminent deaf author in the +intense desire he feels to hear the sweet voices of his children. There +is no other object this side of heaven I so ardently wish to see as the +faces of my family. A feeling sometimes comes over me akin, I fancy, to +the impotent rage of a caged lion, who vainly tries to break his prison +bars and gain his liberty. The moral certainty that I must finally leave +this world of beauty without having enjoyed many of its highest blessings +and purest delights often oppresses--so oppresses me, that I can only find +relief in prayer for grace to say--"Thy will be done, O God." I hear the +merry voices of my children, know their step, figure, contour of their +heads and faces, and in my day dreams I see them around me, full of life +and health, fun and frolic, and I know their little hearts are full of +love for me; I know, too, God has given them to me as some compensation +for other blessings he has withheld. Let me trust, then, in His great +mercy, that in the far future I may see the faces of my dear ones in the +light of eternity; of her who gave me birth, but whose fond look of +affection and yearning tenderness I was never able to return; and the +face of her who is now to me even more than a mother, who helps me to bear +my many burdens with Christian patience and fidelity. Then, if I am +permitted to behold the glorified face of Him who hath redeemed us, I +shall rejoice that I have lived and suffered, and wept and wept, and +prayed that I might dwell with Him forever. + + +INVOCATION TO LIGHT. + +BY MRS. HELEN ALDRICH DE KROYFT. + +Oh, holy light! thou art old as the look of God and eternal as God. The +archangels were rocked in thy lap, and their infant smiles were brightened +by thee! Creation is in thy memory. By thy touch the throne of Jehovah was +set, and thy hand burnished the myriad stars that glitter in His crown. +Worlds, new from His omnipotent hand, were sprinkled with beams from thy +baptismal font. At thy golden urn pale Luna comes to fill her silver horn, +and rounding thereat Saturn bathes his sky girt rings, Jupiter lights his +waning moons, and Venus dips her queenly robes anew. Thy fountains are +shoreless as the ocean of heavenly love; thy centre is everywhere, and +thy boundary no power has marked. Thy beams gild the illimitable fields of +space, and gladden the farthest verge of the universe. The glories of the +Seventh Heaven are open to thy gaze, and thy glare is felt in the woes of +the lowest Erebus. The sealed books of heaven by thee are read, and thine +eyes like the Infinite can pierce the dark veil of the future, and glance +backward through the mystic cycle of the past. + +Thy touch gives the lily its whiteness, the rose its tint, and thy +kindling ray makes the diamond's light. Thy beams are mighty as the power +that binds the spheres. Thou canst change the sleety winds to soothing +zephyrs, and thou canst melt the icy mountains of the poles to gentle +rains and dewy vapors. The granite rocks of the hills are upturned by +thee, volcanoes burst, islands sink and rise, rivers roll and oceans swell +at thy look of command. And oh! thou monarch of the skies, bend now thy +bow of millioned arrows, and pierce, if thou canst, this darkness that +thrice twelve moons has bound me. + +Burst now thy emerald gates, O Morn, and let thy dawnings come! Mine eyes +roll in vain to find thee, and my soul is weary of this interminable +gloom. The past comes back robed in a pall which makes all things dark. +The present blotted out, and the future but a rayless, hopeless, loveless +night of years, my heart is but the tomb of blighted hopes, and all the +misery of feelings unemployed has settled on me. I am misfortune's child +and sorrow long since marked me for her own. + + + + +IS IT MORE TO LOSE THE EYES THAN THE EARS? + +(From Mrs. De Kroyft's forthcoming work, entitled "My Soul and I.") + + +Ah no! dark and empty and lonely as the world may be to us, no intelligent +blind person could be found who would exchange hearing, and its attendant +gift of speech, for a pair of the brightest eyes in the world; while, for +myself, I have sometimes even wondered if, after all, it be, in the +strictest sense of the word, a misfortune _not to see_. + +All of our other senses are certainly not only immeasurably quickened, but +is not our whole nature improved, and our immortal being greatly elevated +through this darkest of human privations? + +Just imagine for a moment a touch like Cynthia Bullock's, so exquisite as +to feel with ease the notes, lines and spaces of ordinary printed music; +then add to that a hearing that almost notes the budding of the flowers, +and you will see how little one must possibly lack, even in the scale of +pleasurable existence, while perception in us becomes verily _a new +sense_. Indeed, what shade of thought or feeling ever escapes us? Almost +quicker than a thing has been uttered we have felt or perceived it. What +marvelous power, too, memory comes to possess, and how tenaciously she +clings to everything, often astonishing even to ourselves; while +imagination, that loftiest and most winged attribute of the soul, not only +becomes more fleet, but literally turns creator, reproducing before our +spirit eyes not only all that we have lost, clothed in the beautiful +ideal, but unbars the gates to every new field of intellectual research, +often enabling us to compete even more than successfully with those who +see. + +Alas! if there could be only a seat of learning for the blind, with all +its lessons oral or in the form of lectures, as at most of the German +Universities, what could we not achieve? + +But, as it is, enough renowned have arisen from our ranks to prove that, +while blindness fetters the hands and the feet, it verily adds wings to +_thought_. Indeed, the world has but one Homer, who sits forever shrouded +in darkness, _the veiled god_ and father of song; and but one Milton, who +gave to the world its "Paradise Lost" and its "Paradise Regained," while +he bequeathed to the blind of all ages the glory and the beacon light of +his name. + + + + +EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. + +A brief description of the methods employed in their literary, artistic +and industrial education. + + +I should not consider this work finished without a chapter on the mode of +educating those who have been so unfortunate as to be deprived of the +readiest medium through which education is imparted--the sight. The +systems, although some of them are in use in nearly every State in the +Union, are very little understood, and are always inquired into with every +evidence of interest by visitors to the institutions, where they often +express quite as much surprise as gratification at what they see. I have +therefore, in the following, endeavored to give as full a description as +possible of the various methods and appliances employed to convey through +the sense of feeling, information to which our eyes are closed. + +On entering the schools the children are generally wholly uneducated, and +have first to be taught the form and value of letters. To effect this the +letters are raised, and the pupil learns their form by passing the fingers +over them till their forms, names and their use are fully understood. With +some this is a long and tedious task, but others master it in a short +time. I mastered the alphabet in one day, but I was not a child and had a +mind sharpened by experience. By constant exercise the sense of feeling +becomes so acute that very slight differences of form are readily +detected, and reading by the touch becomes an easily mastered art. Having +thus the key of knowledge the subsequent progress of the student is in his +own hands, and, to the credit of the afflicted, it must be said it is +generally very rapid, one reason for which is that loss of sight shuts off +one fruitful source of distraction, and the mind is more easily +concentrated. Another reason is that the necessity for education is +generally appreciated, and the student is eager to acquire it. + +The form and use of figures is taught in a similar manner, but the +teaching of arithmetic is largely mental, on account of the difficulty of +producing raised figures with sufficient rapidity, and the study of higher +mathematics is pursued even more strictly from oral teaching. + +The art of writing, which, to those not acquainted with the educating of +the blind, is considered the most difficult task, becomes comparatively +easy. It is a two-fold art, including the art of writing for blind readers +and the ordinary Roman script. Of the "blind writing" there are several +systems, but in this I shall be content to describe but two--the pin type +and the "New York Point System." The first consists of movable types, the +letters on which are formed of pin points, and with which the writer +impresses the paper one letter at a time, producing the letter raised on +the opposite side of the paper, which, on being reversed, may be read with +eye or fingers. The point system is the arrangement and combination of six +dots on two lines. Those on the upper line are numbered 1, 3 and 5, and +those on the lower 2, 4 and 6. These are made within spaces about +three-sixteenths of an inch square each, by a styles which resembles a +small, dull awl or centre punch. To prevent the dots being confused the +writer uses a writing board, to which the paper is clamped by a metallic +guide-rule perforated with two or more rows of these squares. The pupils +make these punctured letters with great precision and rapidity, and +frequently conduct their correspondence with their friends by that means, +giving them the alphabet and key by which to learn to read them. + +The writing of ordinary script is performed with more difficulty. A +grooved pasteboard is used for the purpose, the grooves being of the width +of the smaller letters. The letters extending above or below the line are +gauged by the ridge. The right hand is followed close by the left, which +guards the written lines from a second tracing of the pencil, and marks +the spaces. By these methods correspondence is maintained between the +blind and their distant friends, and it is even possible for a blind +merchant to keep his own books if necessary. + +In writing the common script the pencil is always used, the pen never. +Care has to be taken to keep the pencil pointed, or much care and labor +may be lost. An incident which Mr. Loughery, founder of the Maryland +Institution, used to relate of himself, shows how necessary it is to +observe great care in this matter. When a student he wrote a long, gossipy +letter to a friend, and in a short time was surprised, and for the time +greatly annoyed, at receiving a reply asking him if he had gone mad. It +enclosed his own letter, and on examination of it the two words "Dear Ed." +were found to be its sole contents. In his absorbed condition of mind he +had not noticed the breaking of his pencil, and had proceeded with his +writing, as the scratched paper, on which the traces of the wood of the +pencil were visible, but not legible, indicated. + +The most interesting things seen in an Institution for the Blind are the +apparatus for teaching geography, philosophy and physiology. For +geography miniature continents, states, hemispheres, etc., are used, in +which, the political divisions, the physical conformation and +characteristics, the rivers, lakes, seas, etc., etc., are reproduced as +nearly as possible. The boundaries are described by rows of raised dots, +the capital cities by studs of peculiar shape, the larger cities by studs +different in size or shape, the rivers by grooves in the surface, deserts +by spaces being sanded on the surface, the lakes, seas, etc., by +depressions, and the islands by spots elevated above the seas' surface. +Mountain ranges are shown by raised models or miniature mountains, and +that volcanoes may be fully understood, separate models of these and of +other remarkable formations are used, that the student, by a thorough +manual examination, may get a correct knowledge of them. In nearly every +school I have visited there were maps, the sub-divisions of which +consisted of movable blocks. Supported like a table, these maps would be +studied by the pupils taking out the blocks and returning them to their +places as they learned their names, etc. It is no uncommon thing to see a +pupil throw these blocks into a confused heap, mix them all up, and, then +picking them up one by one, put each in its place with as much accuracy as +the most accomplished pianist will strike each key in a simple march or +polka. + +The philosophical apparatus consists of miniature machinery: the spring, +the simple and compound lever, the wheel, the cog, the cam, etc., even to +the miniature engine are brought into use, and the pupils examine them by +themselves, and in their various applications and relations to each other. +In teaching those who never could see great difficulty is experienced in +conveying the nature and properties of gases, vapors, etc., but with those +who have any recollection of what they have seen the task is comparatively +easy. + +Where the apparatus is possessed the teaching of physiology and natural +history are comparatively easy, the pupil handling and examining +skeletons, skulls and models of the various parts of the human system, +learning their various offices, etc., but many schools do not possess +them, while others have fine collections including busts of eminent or +notorious personages, zoological collections, plaster models, etc., by +which the loss of sight is largely compensated for. + +Music is taught by raised notes until the rudiments are mastered. It forms +a great part of the course in all the institutions, and is cultivated with +great assiduity. When the rudiments have been mastered and the pupil is +familiar with the instrument, the music is read to them, the notes +indicated by names and value, and they memorize the music. So thoroughly +do many of the blind master the art that several are now, within my +knowledge, successful teachers of the art to large numbers of seeing +pupils. On the other hand much valuable time is wasted in the effort to +teach music to those who have no talent for it, and whose time might be +more profitably employed in the pursuit of other studies. + +In the education of the blind the greatest care is given to the +cultivation and strengthening of the memory and the success that is met +with is truly marvelous, for the amount and variety of knowledge with +which some minds have been stored is to many almost incredible. + +The industrial education of the blind is perhaps the most important of +all, and all the institutions are provided with workshops, in which the +inmates learn some useful mechanical or domestic art. The female pupils +are taught to make all kinds of ornamental bead-work, to crochet and knit +woolen and worsted goods, to sew by hand and with machines, and some of +them acquire surprising skill, though my own experience does not give me a +high opinion of the efficacy of attempting to teach sewing, so very few +ever practice it after leaving school, though I have found it convenient +to sew on a button or repair a rent on occasion. Sewing by the blind, +though it may surprise the beholder for the skill acquired under +difficulties, will seldom claim their admiration for its own merit. + +I have more faith in the efficiency of the industrial education of the +boys and men, because, in the course of my travels, I have found numbers +of them prospering in the pursuit of the trades learned in the +institutions, and some of them carrying on quite extensive operations. +Boys are taught to make brooms, brushes, cane seats for chairs, +mattresses, door mats, to weave carpets and do many other forms of useful +work. It looks strange to be shown a brush in which black and colored +bristles are formed into lines of beauty--initials, flowers, etc., and to +be told that a blind man made it. It looks like a miracle, but when you +learn that the forms were traced on the block by cutting grooves in its +surface to form the figures, and that the black bristles were kept in a +round box, and white ones in a square box, near the maker's hand, the +mystery disappears. + +Connected with the Philadelphia Institution are extensive manufactories, +in which large numbers of workmen are employed. They are the largest in +the United States that are operated almost exclusively by the blind. These +shops enable numbers of men to support themselves and their families in +decency and comfort. + +The great interest manifested in the education and training of the blind, +by thousands of noble people and earnest workers throughout the country, +deserves the gratitude of not only those who suffer the great deprivation, +but of the whole people; for the benefits they have conferred on us by +educating and rendering us useful and independent, rank in the scale of +beneficence next to giving us sight. + + + + +POEMS BY THE BLIND. + + +I take the liberty of introducing a few poems by blind authors, feeling +that they will be appreciated by the public. Poetry seems to possess +peculiar charms for blind people, who, deprived of material sight, seem to +love to revel in the beautiful visions presented by the imagination. Among +blind poets and rhymesters there are, of course, as many different grades +of merit as among the more favored writers, but the proportion of doggerel +writers is fortunately much smaller among the blind, and they cannot so +readily inflict their scribbling in such volume on a patient public. The +poems here presented are selected from among a number of the best +productions of the best writers. + + +LUCY A. LITTLE. + +I take great pleasure in introducing into these leaves the following +simple poem from the pen of Miss Lucy A. Little, a young blind girl, +toward whom I have been drawn by deep sympathy and affection. She was +educated in the Wisconsin Institution for the Blind, where she graduated +with high honor. + +She possesses great personal attractions and much intrinsic merit, being +the household pet in the home of her grand-parents; and, as the blind have +missions, it seems to have been especially hers to minister to those who +regard her with doting fondness, and to whom she is a bright prismatic +ray, making the shortening path of the old people radiant with, its light. + + +A JUNE MORNING. + + Early one morn in leafy June, + When brooks and birds were all in tune, + A maiden left her quiet home + In meadows and in fields to roam. + She wandered on, in cheerful mood, + Through verdant fields and leafy wood. + At length she paused to rest awhile + Upon a little rustic stile. + She made a pretty picture there, + With her bright, curling, golden hair, + And dress of white, and eyes of blue, + And ribbons of the self-same hue. + And while she sat absorbed in thought, + A form approached. She heeded not + Until a hand was gently laid + Upon the shoulders of the maid. + Then, looking up in sweet surprise, + She saw a pair of jet-black eyes, + A perfect form of manly grace, + A handsome, open, honest face. + Then said the maid, in voice so clear: + "How did you know that I was here?" + Said he: "I sought you at your home, + They told me you had hither come, + And so, I came, this bright June day, + To say what I've so longed to say. + When first we met in by-gone days, + You charmed me with your winning ways. + Since then the time has quickly flown, + Each day to me you've dearer grown, + And you can brighten all my life + If you will but become my wife." + She raised her eyes unto his own, + And in their depths a new light shone, + While in a voice so soft and low + She said: "I _will_; it shall be so." + And then they homeward took their way, + While birds were singing sweet and gay, + Now oft they bless that day in June + When brooks and birds were all atune. + + +GOLD WORSHIPPERS. + +BY L.V. HALL. + + Within a faded volume, dim and old, + I find this musty maxim tersely given: + "The magic key to human hearts is gold, + But love unlocks the crystal gates of heaven." + + Our homes are not so happy as of old, + Our hearts are not so merry as of yore, + We find that nought can purchase love but gold, + That virtue begs a pittance at the door. + + There was a time when Beauty bore the sway; + There was a time when Wit the world controlled; + There was a time when Valor won the day; + But now the noble knight that wins, is Gold. + + The ancient Ghebers worshipped light and fire; + The Brahmins bowed to gods of wood and stone; + But now, 'neath marble dome and gilded spire, + The deity adored is gold alone. + + It overlays the altar and the cross; + It dignifies the monarch and the clown; + The wealth of moral worth is counted dross; + The million miser wears the golden crown. + + 'Tis time this mad idolatry should cease; + 'Tis time her prophets and her priests were slain; + Let earth do homage to the Prince of Peace, + And the reign of gold shall be the golden reign. + + The Christ came not with pomp and princely show; + His followers were lowly and despised; + He courted not the high, nor shunned the low; + A very God in human flesh disguised. + + He brought a marvelous message from above: + A gift of grace and pardon from the King. + He claimed no tithe or tribute but of love-- + A penitent and contrite heart to bring. + + He banished brokers from the house of prayer; + He raised the dead and made the dumb to speak; + Unsealed the blinded eye, unstopped the ear; + He fed the poor and lifted up the weak. + + The way to life, He said, is plain and straight, + It leads to joy, and peace, and heavenly light + The way to death is through a golden gate + And broad the way that leads to endless night. + + Shall we accept the sacrifice he made + And enter in the Shepherd's sheltering fold? + Or, like the Judas who his Lord betrayed, + Sell soul and hope of Heaven for miser's gold? + + Say, which is best, true piety or gold? + This metal worship or the living God? + Ye cannot have them both, so we are told, + See to it then which pathway shall be trod. + + Array your idol in his robes of state! + Set up his image on his golden throne! + Throw open wide the temple's gilded gate, + And thus proclaim that gold is God alone! + + Or else array yourselves in plain attire; + Set up the love of Christ in every heart + Let each affection feel its fervent fire, + And in this money-worship bear no part. + + Now make your choice between your gold and heaven; + Buy all the sinful pleasures wealth can bring; + Increase them through the years to mortals given + And die, at last--a beggar--not a king. + + Yes, make your choice between your gold and heaven; + Find peace and pardon in a Saviour's blood; + Freely bestow what, free to you, is given, + And meet, at last, the welcoming smile of God. + + +THE DOUBLE NIGHT. + +BY MORRISON HEADY, + +Of the Kentucky Institution for the Blind. + +_To the shades of Milton and Beethoven_. + + "Silence and Darkness, solemn sisters, twins + From ancient Night, who nursed the tender thought + To reason, and on reason build resolve-- + That column--of true majesty in man-- + Assist me--I will thank you in the grave."-- + +_Night Thoughts_. + + +DARKNESS. + + Go, bring the harp that once with dirges thrilled, + But now hangs hushed in leaden slumbers, + Save when the faltering hand untimely chilled + Steals o'er its chords in broken numbers. + It hangs in halls where shades of sorrow dwell, + Where echoless Silence tolls the passing bell, + Where shadowless Darkness weaves the shrouding spell + Of parting joys and parting years. + Go, bring it me, sweet friend, and ere we part, + A lay I'll frame, so sad 'twill wring thy heart + Of all its pity, all its tears + + As fitful shadows round me gather fast, + And solemn watch my thoughts are holding, + Comes Memory, Panoramist of the Past. + The rising morn of life unfolding, + Now fade from view all living toil and strife; + Time past is now my present; death, my life; + All that exists is obsolete; + While o'er my soul there steals the pensive glow + Of sainted joys that young years only know, + And past scenes, looming dimly, rise and throw + Their lengthening shadows at my feet. + + I see a morn domed in by pictured skies; + The dew is on its budding pleasures, + The gladsome, early, sunlight on it lies, + And to it from this dark my pent soul flies, + As misers nightly to their treasures. + And, as I look, I see a glittering train, + In airy throng, across the dreamlit plain, + Come dancing, dancing from the tomb; + Flitting in phantom silence on my sight; + In silence, yet all beautiful and bright, + The ghosts of joy, and hope, and bloom. + But passed me by; their lines of fading light + Tell of decay, of youth's and beauty's blight; + Then, like spent meteors shimmering through the night, + The vision melts in closing gloom. + + Another day in sable vesture clad, + All drear with new blown pleasures blighted, + Comes blindly groping through the twilight sad, + As one in moonless mists benighted. + O! Day unhappy! could oblivion roll + Its slumberous billows o'er my shrinking soul, + Thee scarce I could, e'en then, forget: + A life, bereft of light, no memory need + To tell of night that ne'er to morning leads, + Of day that is forever set. + + From yonder sky the noonward sun was torn, + Ere day dawn's rosy hues had banished; + A starless midnight blotted out the morn, + Ere childhood's dewy joys had vanished. + No slow paced twilight ushered in the night; + A spangled web, the Heavens were swept from sight; + The full moon fled and never waned; + And all of Earth that's beautiful and fair. + Became as shadows in the empty air-- + A boundless, blackened blank remained! + + I heard the gates of night, with sullen jar, + Close on the cheerful day forever; + Hope from my sky sank like the evening star, + Which finds in darkness, zenith never, + For scarce she knew, blithe offspring of the day, + How there to shine, where night held boundless sway; + And shapes of beauty, grace and bloom, + And fair-formed joys that once around me danced, + Bewildered grew, where sunbeams never glanced, + And lost their way in that wide gloom. + + Pensylla, o'er me many sunless years + Have flown, since last the beams of heaven, + The soft ascent of morn through smiles and tears, + The sweet descent of dreamy even-- + Or sight of wood and fields in green arrayed, + Vernal resplendence or Autumnal shade, + Or Winter's gloom or Summer's blaze; + Bird, beast or works that trophy man's abode, + Or he divine, the image of his God, + Met my rapt gaze. + + Look, gentle guide! Thou see'st the imperial sun + Forth sending far his ambient glory, + O'er laughing fields and frowning highlands dun, + O'er glancing streams and woodlands hoary. + In orient clouds he steeps his amber hair, + With beams far slanting through the flaming air, + Bids Earth, with all her hymning sound, declare + The praise of everlasting light. + On my bared head I felt his pitying ray, + He loves to shine on my benighted way; + But ah, Pensylla! he brings to me no day-- + Nor yet his setting, deeper night. + + Prime gift of God, that veil'st His sovereign throne, + And dost of Him in sense remind me-- + Blest light of Heaven, why hast thou from me flown? + To these sad shades, why hast resigned me? + On pinions of surpassing beauty borne, + When Nature hails the glad advance of morn, + In thine unsullied loveliness. + Thou com'st; but to my darkened eyes in vain-- + My night, e'en in the noon of thy domain, + Yields not to thee, since joy of thine again + Can ne'er my dayless being bless. + + + SILENCE. + + Next, Silence, fit companion of the Night, + In drearier depths my being steeping, + Like the felt presence of an unseen sprite, + With muffled tread comes creeping, creeping. + Before me close her smothering curtain swings, + And o'er my life a shadeless shadow flings; + Sinking with pitiless weight, and slow + To shroud the last sweet glimpse of Earth and Man, + And set my limits to the narrow span + Of but an arm's length here below. + + O, whither shall I fly, this stroke to shun? + Where turn me, this side death and heaven? + Almost I would my course on earth were run, + And all to Night and Silence given! + I turn to man: can he but with me mourn? + Alike we're helpless, and, as bubbles borne, + We to a common haven float. + To Him, th' All-seeing and All-hearing One, + Behold, I turn! More hid than he there's none, + More silent none, none more remote! + + Alas, Pensylla, stay that pious tear! + Now nearer come, I fain thy voice would hear, + Like music when the soul is dreaming; + Like music dropping from a far off sphere, + Heard by the good, when life's end draweth near. + It faintly comes, a spirit seeming, + The sounds at once entrance me, ear and soul: + The voice of winds and waves, the thunder's roll. + + The steed's proud neigh, and lamb's meek plaint, + The hum of bees, and vesper hymn of birds, + The rural harmony of flocks and herds, + The song of joy, or praise, and man's sweet words-- + Come to me fainter--yet more faint + Was my poor soul to God's great works so dull. + That they from her must hide forever? + Earth too replete with joy, too beautiful, + For me, ingrate, that we must sever? + For by sweet scented airs that round me blow, + By transient showers, the sun's impassioned glow, + And smell of woods and fields, alone I know + Of Spring's approach, and Summer's bloom; + And by the pure air, void of odors sweet, + By noontide beams, low slanting, without heat, + By rude winds, cumbering snows, and hazardous sleet, + Of Autumn's blight and Winter's gloom + + As at the entrance of an untrod cave, + I shrink--so hushed the shades and sombre. + This death of sense makes life a breathing grave, + A vital death, a waking slumber! + 'Tis as the light itself of God were fled-- + So dark is all around, so still, so dead; + Nor hope of change, one ray I find! + Yet must submit. Though fled fore'er the light, + Though utter silence bring me double night, + Though to my insulated mind, + Knowledge her richest pages ne'er unfold, + And "human face divine" I ne'er behold-- + Yet must submit, must be resigned! + + +TO THE SHADES. + + To thee, blind Milton, solemn son of night, + Great exile once from day's dominion bright, + Whose genius, steeped in truth and glory, + Like some wide orb of new created light, + Rose, in the world, bewildering mortals' sight-- + I'll sing till earth's young hills grow hoary! + For what of joy I've found in life's dark way, + And what of excellence have reached I may, + Much, much is due thy wondrous rhyme, + Which sang the triumphs of Eternal Truth, + Revealed blest glimpses of immortal youth, + Of Heaven, e'er angels sang of time: + Of light, that o'er the embryon tumult broke, + Of earth, when all the stars symphonious woke, + Till man, as if from Heaven a seraph spoke, + Entranced, hung on thy strains sublime. + + Day closes on the earth his one bright eye, + That Night, her starry lids unsealing, + May ope her thousand in a loftier sky, + God's higher mysteries revealing. + So when thy day from thee its light withdrew, + And o'er the night its rueful shadows threw, + And "from the cheerful ways of men" + Thy steps cut off, thy mind, thick set with eyes, + As night with stars, piercing thy shrouded skies, + And proving most illumined then, + When darkest seeming, soared on cherub wings-- + Those star-eyed wings--higher than ever springs + The beam of day, to see, and tell of things + Invisible to mortal ken. + + O'er earth thy numbers shall not cease to roll + Till man to live, who to them hearkened; + Thy fame, no less immortal than thy soul, + Shall shine when yon proud sun is darkened. + Thee, now, methinks, I see, O bard divine! + Where ripen no fair joys that are not thine, + And God's full love is pleased on thee to shine, + Still by the heavenly Muses fired, + And starred among the angelic minstrel band, + The sacred lyre thou sway'st with sovereign hand, + While seraphs, in awed rapture, round thee stand, + As one by God himself inspired. + + Sublime Beethoven, wizard king of sound, + Once exiled from thy realm, yet not discrowned-- + Assist me; since my spirit, thrilling + With thy surpassing strains, is mute, spell bound; + For through the hush of years they still resound, + With music weird my spent ear filling. + When Silence clasped thee in her dismal spell, + And Earth born Music sang her sad farewell; + Thy mighty Genius, as in scorn, + Arose in silent majesty to dwell, + Where from symphonic spheres thou heard'st to swell, + As on celestial breezes borne, + Sounds, scarce by angels heard, e'en in their dreams; + Which, at thy bidding, wrought a thousand themes, + And pouring down in rich pellucid streams, + Filled organ grand and resonant horn; + With rarest sweetness touched each dulcet string, + Made martial bugle and bold clarion ring, + Soft flute provoked like the lone bird of spring, + To warble lays of love forlorn; + Woke shrilly reed to many a pastoral note + Thrilled witching lyre and lips melodious smote, + Till earth, in tuneful ether, seemed to float-- + As when first sang the stars of morn! + Till wondering angels were entranced to chime, + With harp and choral tongue, thy strains sublime + And bear thy soul beyond the reach of time, + Heaven's halls harmonious to adorn. + + Ah, me! could I with ken angelic, scan + Celestial glories hid from mortal man, + I'd deem this night a day supernal! + Could music, borne from some far singing sphere, + Float sweetly down and thrill my stricken ear, + I'd pray this hush might be eternal! + + +RESIGNATION. + + Pensylla, look! With tremulous points of fire, + The sun, red-sinking lights yon distant spire + O'er leafy hill and blossoming meadows, + Spreads wide and level his departing beams, + Then sinks to rest, as one sure of sweet dreams, + 'Mid pillowing clouds and curtaining shadows. + Night draws her lucid shade o'er sky and earth; + Solemn and bright, Heaven's starry eyes look forth; + The evening hymn of praise and song of mirth + Rise gratefully from man's abode. + O, Night! I love her sombre majesty! + 'Tis sweet, her double solitude, to me! + Pensylla, leave me now! Alone I'd be + With Darkness, Silence and my God. + + O Thou, whose shadow is but light's excess, + The echo of whose voice but silentness, + Whose light and music, half expended, + Would flood, dissolve the sphery frame; 'twixt whom + And man no endless night can throw its gloom + Till long Eternity is ended-- + Which ne'er shall end--to thee, my trust, I turn! + To one, for whom in vain thy lamps now burn, + A hearing deign; nor from thy footstool spurn + The prayer of an imprisoned mind. + + Father, thy sun is set; night veils the world, + That orbs more beauteous be to man unfurled, + Then in my Night, let me but find + New realms, where thought and fancy may rejoice; + Let its long silence ne'er displace Thy voice + From whispering hope and peace, 'twere my choice + To be thus smitten deaf and blind! + Fill me with light and music from above, + And so inspire with truth, faith, courage, love, + That Thou and man my work can well approve-- + Father, to all I'm then resigned! + + Harp of the mournful voice, now fare thee well! + My sad song ended, ended is thy spell. + Perchance thine echoes, memory haunting, + May oft awaken, shadowing forth the swell + Of long sung monody and long tolled knell, + And o'er the dead past, dirges chanting; + But for me, ever hang in Sorrow's hall! + Bid Night and Silence spread oblivion's pall + O'er earthly blooming joys, that seared must fall + And leave the stricken soul to weep:-- + Ever, till this devoted head be hoar, + And the swart angel whispering at the door; + When I thy slumbers may disturb once more. + Ere double night bring double sleep, + Till then, I sing in happier, bolder strain: + What's lost to me is God's; what's left, for pain + Or joy still His: and endless day, His reign: + And reckoning of my Night He'll keep! + + +AUTUMN. + +BY ELLENOR J. JONES, + +Of the Indiana Institution. + + Oh Autumn, sweet sad Autumn queen, + With robe of golden brown, + Our hearts are bowed with grief and pain, + As each leaf flutters down. + + In every drooping flow'ret, + In every leafless tree, + By warbling birds deserted, + We find some trace of thee. + + Thou'rt lovely, oh, so lovely, + And yet how brief thy stay, + Why is it all things beautiful + Must droop and fade away? + + All, all thy gorgeous painted leaves, + With colors bright and gay, + Were touched by nature's magic brush, + Then rudely cast away. + + And thus our dearest hopes are crushed, + By fate's relentless will, + Like withered leaves they pass away-- + But peace, sad heart, be still. + + Thou too must breast the adverse wind, + Be wildly tempest-tossed, + Perhaps when thou art hushed in death, + Thou'lt meet the loved and lost. + + But for this sweetly, solemn thought + That thrills us with delight, + This life, so marred by grief and pain, + Could never seem so bright. + + Then welcome, sweet, sad Autumn days, + Though brief the hallowed reign, + For every smile must have its tear, + And every joy its pain. + + +A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. + +BY ELLEN COYN, + +Of the Arkansas Institution. + + I sat down at the window, where + I oft had calmed my ruffled feeling, + For summer evening's balmy air + Has for the wounded spirit healing. + + That morning I had been quite glad, + For hope had prospects bright in keeping, + But fortune changed, and I was sad, + And there I sat in silence weeping. + + 'Tis vain I said to hope for good, + Or cherish bliss for one short hour, + If morn puts forth a fragrant bud, + Ere night 'tis but a withered flower. + + My Bible lay upon the stand, + In which I'd ofttimes found a blessing, + I quickly took the book in hand, + In hope to learn a useful lesson. + + I read upon its open page, + "There is a time and purpose given, + It has been so from age to age, + For everything that's under Heaven." + + 'Tis vain and wrong to wish, I thought, + That life with me be always sunny, + My cup with bitter never fraught, + But always overflown with honey + + When fortune frowns I'll not despair, + I'll only weep away my sorrow, + 'Twill ease my heart and brow of care, + I'll laugh when joy returns to-morrow. + + +DRIFTING. + +BY ELLENOR J. JONES. + + We are drifting on the sea of life, + Like ships we're tempest-tossed, + And 'mid this world of care and strife + How many are wrecked and lost! + + Our vessels are sometimes set afloat, + 'Neath a bright and cloudless sky, + But far in the distance hid from view, + The breakers are sure to lie. + + Others are launched on an angry sea, + When the waves are dashing high, + And the wild winds give a ghostly tone, + To the curlew's troubled cry. + + But the good ship Faith is gaily launched, + For the pilot, Hope, is there, + And Love, with his flaming lamp of light, + Maketh all things wondrous fair. + + Soon Faith is wrecked by a careless word, + And beautiful Hope is dead, + And Love, with the holy light of life, + In an angry moment fled. + + And thus on the wide wild sea of life, + We are drifting day by day, + Without one thought of the solemn truth, + That we all shall pass away. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The World As I Have Found It, by Mary L. Day Arms + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD AS I HAVE FOUND IT *** + +***** This file should be named 14963.txt or 14963.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/9/6/14963/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/14963.zip b/14963.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d33e1d --- /dev/null +++ b/14963.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fb7a80 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14963 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14963) |
