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Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman
December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889
(Public Domain)
Scarlett Fever; Hanover, New Hampshire; early 1830's - a small and fragile two-year old. This is the beginning of the life of Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman. The illness killed her two older sisters yet for Laura the illness that ravaged her body would leave her deaf and blind. She also lost her sense of smell and had a limited sense of taste. As she regained her health, her mother's love and devotion was all she had as she suffered a separation of affection from her family. Her communication skills were lacking and by age seven she was displaying violent temper tantrums that only her father was able to forcefully restrain her.
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe
(1801–1876)
(Public Domain)
Dr. Howe was a Boston physician and a believer and advocate for the blind and in their educational needs. In July of 1832, he had already began teaching a few blind students at the home of his father in Boston. As funds became available, he expanded his facility, and soon he was presented with a gift of a mansion and grounds from Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a Boston trader in slaves, furs and opium for use as a school building.
In October of 1837, just eight weeks shy her eighth birthday, Laura entered the Perkins School. She would be Dr. Howe's challenge of being the 1st blind and deaf student he would teach, for no one had accomplished this.
He decided he would teach her in English, so he raised the actually words of objects on a piece of paper and then attached the paper on familiar objects, such as forks and keys until she was able to match the attached papers to the correct object. In this exercise he discovered that "the only intellectual exercise was that of imitation and memory". {2}
Next Dr. Howe cut the paper so each letter was a separate entity. Laura must now rearrange the individual papers so they would spell the correct word to identify the object. Dr. Howe was beginning to see the Laura was understanding the concept of language and communication. (This kind of type called Boston line letter was used until the 1900s when Braille became more common.)
Laura was an eager student and soon wanted to learn and understand the names of every object she encountered. As she began to learn this new "language" she was able to attend the classes that every student at Perkins were taught; reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, history, grammar, algebra, geometry, physiology, philosophy and history. {2}
By this time the Perkins School had outgrown it's original building and in 1839 another facility was sought. The school moved to the former Mount Washington House Hotel in South Boston and became officially known as "The Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum (and since 1877) School for the Blind."
Laura Changes Her Life - Laura Changes The World
As Laura was growing into a young woman she had her ups and downs. She became attached to one of her teachers and when she left to get married the new teacher was not quite the same nor was the relationship. When she was fourteen she faced the hardest crisis in her life. Dr. Howe, whom she considered almost like her father, married Julia Ward and they left for a 15 month honeymoon. Laura feared she would be "neglected" when he returned, and to some degree she was. At age sixteen she developed what today we know as anorexia her weight falling from 113 pounds to 79 pounds.
When she was twenty in 1850 Laura leaves the Perkins School and returns home to Hanover, however the change was too much for Laura. Laura having been with a constant companion for many years was unable to adapt to living a life without a companion. Her family was busy working their farm and had little time to devote to her and her health began to deteriorate. Dr. Howe immediately saw that she would need to stay at the institute where she could be helped and be a help to others.
Dr. Howe along with Dorothea Dix (who had become a close and dear friend to Laura) helped raise money that allowed Laura to live at what she would call her "Sunny Home" for the rest of her life. She would see her family during a few weeks in the summer, but her life was at Perkins.
Although she developed a close relationship with a younger brother who took the time to learn how to communicate with his sister through sign language, Dr. Addison Bridgman a graduate of Dartmouth College. Even that relationship changed in her later life when his career moved him south - where he would fall in love with the people, the land, and their beliefs. When the Civil War began he served in the Confederate Army.
She was a hard worker while she lived at the school, although she never became a full-time teacher. She managed to do her share of housework, sell needlework projects and donate the money to the poor, and she loved to read.
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As is written about Laura in "Laura Bridgman Scrapbook"
"Her needlework was so extraordinary that she was able to make a fair sum by that means. Her perfectly natural love of pleasure is shown in the following paragraph:
'On an evening she was ready for a frolic;, she never lost her love of fun. The Sunday tea table was graced by her own porcelain and silver, which she carefully laid out, washed and put away, never allowing anyone else to have the care of it. The most cherished of these precious articles were the silver fork and spoon given her years before by Charles Sumner. As there were not enough spoons to go around, they were placed in turn at the plates of the different teachers. Though such an early riser, Laura, in her later years, did not like to go to bed at times. One evening she locked her friends into the parlor as a playful hint that they might sit up and keep her company a little longer'." {4}
Laura stayed at the Perkins Institute for the rest of her life. The death of Dr. Howe in 1876 was a tremendous loss for her but before he died he financially secured Laura's future at the school. In 1887 she celebrated fifty years at the Perkins Institute. Two years later she died and is buried in Hanover near her family farm.
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Charles Dickens was visiting America in 1842 and visited with Dr. Howe at the Institution. He was impressed with the twenty-two year-old young lady that could not see nor hear. Charles Dickens wrote about Laura and Dr. Howe's story in his "American Notes for General Circulation" a travelogue detailing his trip of North America in 1842 during the months from January to June. He wrote:
'Her social feelings, and her affections, are very strong; and when she is sitting at work, or by the side of one of her little friends, she will break off from her task every few moments, to hug and kiss them with an earnestness and warmth that is touching to behold. When left alone, she occupies and apparently amuses herself, and seems quite content; and so strong seems to be the natural tendency of thought to put on the garb of language, that she often soliloquizes in the finger language, slow and tedious as it is. But it is only when alone, that she is quiet; for if she becomes sensible of the presence of any one near her, she is restless until she can sit close beside them, hold their hand, and converse with them by sign." {4}
This article brought not only acclaim to Dr. Howe acclaim, but also to the young lady that accomplished so much though she be deaf and blind.
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In another "twist of fate" a new student came to the Perkins Institute when Laura was thirty-seven. On October 7, 1880, a young fourteen year old entered the school. When this young lady was five years old she contracted trachoma, a painful life-long eye disease which eventually caused scaring on her cornea and significant vision loss. She came from a poor family and was sometimes teased by some of the more "elite" students from the school - but not Laura. She befriended her and their friendship would change the world for the blind as the young lady was Anne Sullivan.
Anne Sullivan (the teacher) - - Helen Keller (the student)
Cape Cod - 1888
(Public Domain)
Kate Keller had read about the remarkable Laura in Charles Dicken's travelogue and she was inspired to seek advice for the education of her daughter, Helen and eventually brought Anne Sullivan into her life. The doll clothes on the doll Helen holds were sewn by no other than Laura.
Helen Keller said: "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman could not see but her life was dedicated to achieving perfect vision.
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Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman could not see but her life was dedicated to achieving perfect vision.
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Sources
1. https://www.perkins.org/history/people/laura-bridgman
2. https://www.museumofthebible.org/book/minutes/689
3. https://www.perkins.org/history/people/anne-sullivan
4. https://archive.org/stream/laurabridgmanscr04perk/laurabridgmanscr04perk_djvu.txt
5. American Notes. Cambridge: CSP Classic Texts, 2008, by Charles Dickens p. 32.
6.. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/helen-keller-quotes
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