The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-06-06
A World Famous Woman Dead.

Boston, May 26.-Laura BridgmaD,
| born deaf, dumb and blind and made
| widely famous by Charles Dickens in his
"American Notes." published more than
quarter ofa century ago; also by many
| public references to her wonderful intelli
gence, printed in newspapers and else.
Where's e=;nce then died yesterday at the
South Boston Asitas Asyibssr where she had
long dwelt
SKETCH OF HER LIFE. ~
Laura Bridgman was born in Hanover,
N. r., Dec. 81, 1929. Up to the age of
| two years she was in possession Of all
her faculties, but severe illness at that
time occasioned the loss of her sight and
hearing, and consequently of speech,
| while the sense of smell was also des.
stroyed and that of taste greatly impair
ed. She recovered her health gradually,
but none of her lost senses were restored.
| At the age of eight she became an in.
mate of the Perkins Institution for the
Blind in Boston, under the care of DR..
S. G. Howe. and soon acquired such 8
Familiarity with the building and its vari-
Gus apartments that she could wander at
will through it alone.
DR.. HOWE 1NsTRUcTs HER.
DR.. Howe resolved to undertake the
task of instructing her, work which
until that time had never been under.
| taken with success. The first step was
to teach her the names of objects. For
this purpose an object with which she
was familiar, such as fork or spoon,
was put into her hand, with its name in
raised letters. This was repeated many
times and with different objects, until
she had learned that the word bore some
relation to the object. AS yet, however,
her idea of this relation was very vague.
The next step was to present her the
separate letters in relief, st6rst 30 arrang.
ed as to form the name of an object which
| she knew. Finding that she recognized
the word, her teacher disarranged the
letters, and taking her had in his own,
proceeded to construct tbs word, causing
her to observe each letter which compos.
es it; having done this several times, she
constructed the word herself without as
sistance. This same process was repeated
with other words, and before the close of
her lesson the idea had evidently dawDed
upon her mind that this was means by
which he could communicate her own
thoughts to others.
SUCCESS OF DR.. HowE's EFFORTS.
This process was continued until she
| had become familiar with number of
| words. She vas then furnished with
type having the letters in relief, and a
board which had been pierced with holes
for the reception of the type. Objects
known to her we're then presented, and
she would compose the names with the
type. She was next taught the manual
alphabet, which she acquired very readi.
ly. This having been attained, she was
presented with objects with which she
was not familiar and left for .ime to
acquaint herself as to their form and use.
The teacher then spelled the name with
the manual alphabet, the child following
each letter until she had comprehended
that it was the name of the object, when
she herself spelled it in the same way,
then composed it with her types and then
placed the word thus composed by the
side of the object.
MISS BR1DGMAN's DEP0RTMENT.
In department she was extremely
modest and retiring, possessing q love of
neatness and system, never leaving her
room in disorder, and always exhibiting
great solicitude at to propriety and taste
in arrangement other dress. She exhibi.
ted a marked regard for the rights OF
others, and was, at the same time, zeal
ously mindful of her own. She was in
her Goth year at the time other death.