Laura Bridgman : the story of an opened door / by Laura E. Richards; prefatory note by William H. Burnham.

  • Laura E. Richards
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Laura Bridgman : the story of an opened door / by Laura E. Richards; prefatory note by William H. Burnham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of her father’s, which was her sole plaything. In later years, she thus recalls this time: “I had a man’s large boot, which I called my little baby. I enjoyed myself in playing with the artifical [sic] Baby very much. ... I did not feel so solitary with a Baby as I should have felt if I had not [had] one.” 3 She was a slender, delicate-looking child, with a finely formed head, oval face, regular features; all fair and promising, except for the red hollows where the eyes should be. Dr. Howe thus pictures her at this time: “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 its 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 im¬ planted within her could not die, nor be maimed or mutilated; and though most of its avenues of com¬ munication 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 3 Laura Bridgman, History of My Life.