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

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Page 43

UNFOLDING YEARS, 43

Even this little contact was an inspiration. To Mr. Smith I owe an everlasting debt of gratitude -- for his letters and encouragement came to me at a time when I most needed just such a stimulant/ Through him and his magazine I learned much of the work for the blind, not only in this country but abroad, and deeper grew my interest
The I.C.B. Alumni had formed a state organization in which I took an active part. One of our first undertakings was the establishment of an Industrial Home for the Blind. I was made a member of a committee along with miss Lorana Mattice and another blind lady, and in the spring of 1890 we were sent to Des Moines to present our cause to the legislature. There I spent two or three weeks, staying with my sister Mary, who with her husband and little girl had some years before moved to Des Moines. Most of the days were spent at the Capitol. This was a great experience for me -- and my first real glimpse of a city and the workings of a legislative body. Our efforts were crowned with success. The Home was established and Miss Mattice was appointed one of the trustees. 
The following year when it became necessary for her to be absent on business for the Home, Miss Mattice asked me to take her place in the class room. I had three weeks of teaching which I greatly enjoyed, although it took a heavy toll on my physical strength for I slept and ate but little during all those weeks. Gladly then would I have accepted a position as teacher in the school, but none was forthcoming even though my work was praised by teachers and pupils. This was another disappointment, but one of those things which perhaps is foreordained to fit the general pattern of our lives. 
Meantime, my parents had visited my sister in Des Moines and Emma and I had gone there n the occasion of the State Fair. Gradually we all felt the pull of the city. Matters finally came to a head when Emma secured a much better position as Principal of the High School in Missouri Valley, a small town in the western part of the state. Now there was nothing to keep us in Vinton and we decided to move to

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UNFOLDING YEARS, 43 Even this little contact was an inspiration. To Mr. Smith I owe an everlasting debt of gratitude -- for his letters and encouragement came to me at a time when I most needed just such a stimulant/ Through him and his magazine I learned much of the work for the blind, not only in this country but abroad, and deeper grew my interest The I.C.B. Alumni had formed a state organization in which I took an active part. One of our first undertakings was the establishment of an Industrial Home for the Blind. I was made a member of a committee along with miss Lorana Mattice and another blind lady, and in the spring of 1890 we were sent to Des Moines to present our cause to the legislature. There I spent two or three weeks, staying with my sister Mary, who with her husband and little girl had some years before moved to Des Moines. Most of the days were spent at the Capitol. This was a great experience for me -- and my first real glimpse of a city and the workings of a legislative body. Our efforts were crowned with success. The Home was established and Miss Mattice was appointed one of the trustees. The following year when it became necessary for her to be absent on business for the Home, Miss Mattice asked me to take her place in the class room. I had three weeks of teaching which I greatly enjoyed, although it took a heavy toll on my physical strength for I slept and ate but little during all those weeks. Gladly then would I have accepted a position as teacher in the school, but none was forthcoming even though my work was praised by teachers and pupils. This was another disappointment, but one of those things which perhaps is foreordained to fit the general pattern of our lives. Meantime, my parents had visited my sister in Des Moines and Emma and I had gone there n the occasion of the State Fair. Gradually we all felt the pull of the city. Matters finally came to a head when Emma secured a much better position as Principal of the High School in Missouri Valley, a small town in the western part of the state. Now there was nothing to keep us in Vinton and we decided to move to