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IN THE

LIFE OF A BLIND GIRL,

MARY L. DAY,

A Graduate of the Maryland Institution for the Blind.

BALTIMORE:

PUBLISHED BY JAMES YOUNG,

114 WEST BALTIMORE STREET.

920.7 A731

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, oy

MARY L. DAY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Maryland.

77-8302

PREFACE.

IN offering this little volume to the public, and soliciting for it countenance and patronage, it may be fitting to state, the incidents narrated are facts simply given, with no over-wrought coloring of fancy. The design, in its issue, is one highly commendable to its author-a laudable desire to obtain a livelihood independent of those kind friends who fain would render personal effort, in this respect, quite

unnecessary.

The beneficent can but favor such an effort, and tender the most practical approval. Unto those whom God has scen fit to afflict, is it not our duty to lend a helping hand? They are travelling earth's beaten paths, as are we; if obscured the sun, shall we not drive away the mists by kindly word or cheering smile?

Of the numerous dispensations it is our lot to bear, that of blindness seems, indeed, the most severe-the helplessness and dependence it induces should appeal to every heart. It is true, orbs of vision closed on light of sun or moon, the more may celestial light shine inward; yet, to tread Earth's garden-paths, forever veiled the beauty of

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sky or flower, is a heavy cross to bear. There are avenues of happiness which afford intense enjoyment, forever closed to the unfortunate who can not see the greatness of God in tinting the violet's velvet lining, or in the delicate roseleaf's mystic loveliness—who may not gaze on his goodness in arching the heavens with the beautiful covenant bow, or in spreading the earth with a soil yielding, in unbounded luxuriance, herb, tree, fruit, and flower.

Wishing the little book God-speed, we commend it to the consideration of the generous and sympathetic.

& S. R.

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