A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Bridgman, Laura
BRIDGMAN, LAURA,
A pupil in the Boston Institution for the Blind, has attained a wide-spread celebrity through her misfortunes, and through the efforts made by her benevolent instructor, Principal of that Institution, to redeem her from the appalling mental darkness, in which the loss in early childhood of the faculties of sight, speech, and hearing, had involved her. As yet, her history is only known through the "reports" made from time to time to the trustees of that Institution, by Dr. Howe. From these we derive the following information, which we read with some regret, that in the modesty which always accompanies exalted worth, he has said so little of his own noble exertions in throwing light upon that darkened spirit.
Laura Bridgman was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on the 21st. of December, 1829. She is described as having been a very sprightly and pretty infant, with bright blue eyes. She was, however, so puny and feeble, until she was a year and a half old, that her parents hardly hoped to rear her. She was subject to fits, which seemed to rack her frame almost beyond its power of endurance, and life was held by the frailest tenure; but when a year and a half old, she seemed to rally; the dangerous symptoms subsided; and at twenty months old, she was perfectly well. Then her mental powers, hitherto stinted in their growth, rapidly developed themselves; and during the four months of health which she enjoyed, she appears (making due allowance for a fond mother's account) to have displayed a considerable degree of intelligence.
But suddenly she sickened again; her disease raged with great violence during five weeks, when her eyes and ears were inflamed, suppurated, and their contents were discharged. But though sight and hearing were gone for ever, the poor child's sufferings were not ended. The fever raged during seven weeks; "for five months she was kept in bed in a darkened room; it was a year before she could walk unsupported, and two years before she could sit up all day." It was now observed that her sense of smell was almost entirely destroyed; and consequently, that her taste was much blunted.
It was not until four years of age, that the poor child's bodily health seemed restored, and she was able to enter upon her apprenticeship of life and the world.
But what a situation was hers! The darkness and the silence of the tomb were around her; no mother's smile called forth her answering smile,—no father's voice taught her to imitate his sounds: to her, brothers and sisters were but forms of matter which resisted her touch, but which differed not from the furniture of the house, save in warmth and in the power of locomotion; and not even In these respects from the dog and the cat.
But the immortal spirit which had been implanted within her could not die, nor be maimed nor mutilated; and though most of its avenues of communication with the world were cut off, it began to manifest itself through the others. As soon as she could walk, she began to explore the room, and then the house. She became familiar with the form, density, weight, and heat, of every article she could lay her hands upon. She followed her mother, and felt her hands and arms, as she was occupied about the house; and her disposition to imitate led her to repeat everything herself. She even learned to sew a little, and to knit.
Her affections, too, began to expand, and seemed to be lavished upon the members of her family with peculiar force.
But the means of communication with her were very limited; she could only be told to go to a place by being pushed; or to come to one by a sign of drawing her. Patting her gently on the head signified approbation; on the back, disapprobation.
She shewed every disposition to learn, and manifestly began to use a natural language of her own. She had a sign to express her knowledge . of each member of the family; as drawing her fingers down each side of her face, to allude to the whiskers of one; twirling her hand around in imitation of the motion of a spinning-wheel, for another; and so on. But although she received all the aid that a kind mother could bestow, she soon began to give proof of the importance of language to the development of human character. Caressing and chiding will do for infants and dogs, but not for children; and by the time Laura was seven years old, the moral effects of her privation began to appear. There was nothing to control her will but the absolute power of another, and humanity revolts at this: she had already begun to disregard all but the sterner nature of her father; and it was evident, that as the propensities should increase with her physical growth, so would the difficulties of restraining them increase.
At this time. Dr. Howe fortunately heard of the child, and immediately hastened to Hanover, to see her. He found her with a well-formed figure; a strongly-marked, nervous-sanguine temperament; a large and beautifully-shaped head, and the whole system in healthy action.
Here seemed a rare opportunity of benefiting an individual, and of trying a plan for the education of a deaf and blind person, which he had formed on seeing Julia Brace, at Hartford.
The parents were easily induced to consent to her going to Boston; and on the 4th. of October, 1837, they took her to the Institution, where she has remained ever since. She has been taught to read and write, and sew; and her intellectual progress has been rapid and satisfactory. In 1841, we hear it said of her, that "It is pleasing to observe an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and a quick perception of the relations of things. In her moral character, it is beautiful to behold her continual gladness—her keen enjoyment of existence—her expansive love—her unhesitating confidence—her sympathy with suffering—her conscientiousness, truthfulness, and hopefulness.
She is remarkably correct in her deportment; and few children of her age evince so much sense of propriety in regard to appearance. Never, by any possibility, is she seen out of her room with her dress disordered; and if by chance any spot of dirt is pointed out to her on her person, or any little rent in her dress, she discovers a sense of shame, and hastens to remove, or repair it.
She is never discovered in an attitude or an action at which the most fastidious would revolt; but is remarkable for neatness, order, and propriety.
There is one fact which is hard to explain in any way, namely, the difference of her deportment to persons of different sex. This was observable when she was only seven years old. She is very affectionate; and when with her friends of her own sex, she is constantly clinging to them, and often kissing and caressing them; and when she meets with strange ladies, she very soon becomes familiar, examines very freely their dress, and readily allows them to caress her. But with those of the other sex it is entirely different, and she repels every approach to familiarity."
In 1846, we are told that "Laura often amused herself during the past year, by little exercises in composition." And again, in 1850, that "Her progress has been a curious and an interesting spectacle. She has come into human society with a sort of triumphal march; her course has been a perpetual ovation. Thousands have been watching her with eager eyes, and applauding each successful step, while she, all unconscious of their gaze, holding on to the slender thread, and feeling her way along, has advanced with faith and courage towards those who awaited her with trembling hope. Nothing shows more than her case the importance which, despite their useless waste of human life and human capacity, men really attach to a human soul. They owe to her something for furnishing an opportunity of showing how much goodness there is in them; for surely the way in which she has been regarded is creditable to humanity."