Laura Bridgman : the story of an opened door / by Laura E. Richards; prefatory note by William H. Burnham.
- Laura E. Richards
- Date:
- 1928
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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![municate] with the people, but I was inarticulatible or incomprehensible.” (Elsewhere she makes the lat¬ ter word “incomprhensible,” practicing a kind of short-hand.) For her outdoor exercise and amusement, she turned to the only friend of her childhood, Asa Ten¬ ney, a singular old man, living neighbor to the Bridg¬ mans, considered by some an eccentric, by some almost a “natural.” Dr. Howe says that he was regarded as “a sort of philosopher with a crack in his skull.” He had no book learning, but was passion¬ ately fond of the outdoor world. He became de¬ votedly attached to Laura, and she to him. As soon as her little feet were strong enough to carry her, he used to lead her off into the woods and fields, and would keep her happy and interested for hours to¬ gether. He taught her the difference between land and water by leading her to the brookside, and put¬ ting her hand in the running stream. From him, too, she may have learned the varieties of texture in leaf and blade, in stick and stone. Her sense of touch, already fine, became, as we shall later see, almost pre- ternaturally acute. The hours with “Uncle Asa,” as he was called, were probably the happiest of her childhood. They had a silent language of their own, it seemed, and never tired of sitting hand in hand on some green bank, or by some woodland stream, in wordless, happy communion; it was a strange and lovely companionship. For the old man, it sufficed; he asked no more. For the child, it was but the first i](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29931551_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
