DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 42

42, UNFOLDING YEARS

all the books there were in embossed type and they were few. Emma was taking the Chatauqua Literary and Scientific course  and we read the books together. It never occurred to us to have me fill out the required papers as she did and receive a certificate. 
This was all very well and good, but there was the need for earning money. Besides, was not that the real test of what most people called success ? The opportunity came to give music lessons. Four little girls came to me, and while I knew I was no musician, I taught them conscientiously and they made creditable progress. But I had no heart for this work. 
Through Blanche I was finally able to secure a World Typewriter, a small machine designed only for writing with capital letters. This was a great joy to me for at last I could put my thoughts down on paper. We had built an addition to our house consisting of a parlor and large airy room above it. Emma had furnished the latter for her and me and here I spent all my spare time writing. My first manuscript-- a story-- was promptly returned when I submitted it to a publisher. A poem which I wrote and sent to Blanche for criticism, and which she forwarded to a friend connected with the "Boston Leader" appeared in that paper and was rather widely copied. Later the same paper accepted a short story and paid me a small amount for it. 
A blind piano tuner, a graduate of the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, came to teach in the Iowa School. From him I learned of an ink print magazine called "The Mentor," which had just been started by one Joel W. Smith, a blind teacher at the Boston School. The problems of the blind had weighed heavily on my mind even before i left school. However, I felt that I should solve my own problems before attempting to give advise to others. Nevertheless, I subscribed to "The Mentor" and later sent in notes regarding some of our graduates. These were published and the editor, Mr. Smith wrote me such a cordial and encouraging letter that I became a regular contributor. Boston seemed such a long way off and to me it was the mecca of the literary world.

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42, UNFOLDING YEARS all the books there were in embossed type and they were few. Emma was taking the Chatauqua Literary and Scientific course and we read the books together. It never occurred to us to have me fill out the required papers as she did and receive a certificate. This was all very well and good, but there was the need for earning money. Besides, was not that the real test of what most people called success ? The opportunity came to give music lessons. Four little girls came to me, and while I knew I was no musician, I taught them conscientiously and they made creditable progress. But I had no heart for this work. Through Blanche I was finally able to secure a World Typewriter, a small machine designed only for writing with capital letters. This was a great joy to me for at last I could put my thoughts down on paper. We had built an addition to our house consisting of a parlor and large airy room above it. Emma had furnished the latter for her and me and here I spent all my spare time writing. My first manuscript-- a story-- was promptly returned when I submitted it to a publisher. A poem which I wrote and sent to Blanche for criticism, and which she forwarded to a friend connected with the "Boston Leader" appeared in that paper and was rather widely copied. Later the same paper accepted a short story and paid me a small amount for it. A blind piano tuner, a graduate of the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, came to teach in the Iowa School. From him I learned of an ink print magazine called "The Mentor," which had just been started by one Joel W. Smith, a blind teacher at the Boston School. The problems of the blind had weighed heavily on my mind even before i left school. However, I felt that I should solve my own problems before attempting to give advise to others. Nevertheless, I subscribed to "The Mentor" and later sent in notes regarding some of our graduates. These were published and the editor, Mr. Smith wrote me such a cordial and encouraging letter that I became a regular contributor. Boston seemed such a long way off and to me it was the mecca of the literary world.