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

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Page 69

UNFOLDING YEARS, 69

In the summer of 1913 the more advanced blind people in Washington had organized the District of Columbia Association of Workers for the Blind. After we became acquainted with this group, my sister and I were elected to membership. In September 1916. I was made President and held that office for three years. The Association grew and accomplished some real objectives. IT established a Beneficiary Fund and raised money in various ways, Its social meetings were held at the homes of the members and ours was a frequent meeting place. My sister took real pleasure in these occasions, and spared no pains in decorating the house and entertaining our guests. She also served the Association as its Treasurer for sixteen years. 
We were hardly settled in our new home when the first World War broke. How remote it seemed at first. Even after the United States entered the war in 1917 it still seemed something far away. We had no one near to us in the Service. We had no radios to bring far away happenings close. The daily papers kept us informed: and the rise in prices and scarcity of many things soon made us realize that this war was going to affect all our lives. Among the young women who had been transferred from Des Moines to Washington along with my sister was Nettie Herrick. When the war came the family with whom she lived was unable to keep her any longer and she could find no place to go, so we took her in. We gave her our back room and at once she became part of our family. A boarder naturally added to my burdens as housekeeper and cook, but I rather enjoyed having Nettie with us. 
Real estate was having a boom and rents sky rocketed, but out landlord did not raise on his price and we felt quite secure. Then suddenly one morning as I was ironing some curtains, two ladies appeared and asked to be shown over the house. One of them informed me that she had bought the place. In a sort of daze I showed them around -- and when they had gone i called my sister. She went at once to the agent only to find it was all too true. Our landlord

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UNFOLDING YEARS, 69 In the summer of 1913 the more advanced blind people in Washington had organized the District of Columbia Association of Workers for the Blind. After we became acquainted with this group, my sister and I were elected to membership. In September 1916. I was made President and held that office for three years. The Association grew and accomplished some real objectives. IT established a Beneficiary Fund and raised money in various ways, Its social meetings were held at the homes of the members and ours was a frequent meeting place. My sister took real pleasure in these occasions, and spared no pains in decorating the house and entertaining our guests. She also served the Association as its Treasurer for sixteen years. We were hardly settled in our new home when the first World War broke. How remote it seemed at first. Even after the United States entered the war in 1917 it still seemed something far away. We had no one near to us in the Service. We had no radios to bring far away happenings close. The daily papers kept us informed: and the rise in prices and scarcity of many things soon made us realize that this war was going to affect all our lives. Among the young women who had been transferred from Des Moines to Washington along with my sister was Nettie Herrick. When the war came the family with whom she lived was unable to keep her any longer and she could find no place to go, so we took her in. We gave her our back room and at once she became part of our family. A boarder naturally added to my burdens as housekeeper and cook, but I rather enjoyed having Nettie with us. Real estate was having a boom and rents sky rocketed, but out landlord did not raise on his price and we felt quite secure. Then suddenly one morning as I was ironing some curtains, two ladies appeared and asked to be shown over the house. One of them informed me that she had bought the place. In a sort of daze I showed them around -- and when they had gone i called my sister. She went at once to the agent only to find it was all too true. Our landlord