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

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Page 124

24, UNFOLDING YEARS

last birthday, my friends from outside planned a surprise party for me here in the Home to which all the guests were invited and refreshments served. 
It will soon be two years since I entered the Home for the Blind -- and I have no regrets. Each day that passes I am more and more thankful for its peace and security, and the freedom from all care and responsibility. Up here in my room, surrounded by my personal belongings, I can be alone, rest, read or write, or listen to the radio. I can have plenty of company when I desire. Letters bring absent friends near. 
In December I shall be eighty-five. My mind seems to function about as well as ever; my hearing is perfect; but my strength is gradually failing and I find it increasingly difficult to get about. Still I am able to wait on myself and occasionally do a bit for others. Above all I have constantly with me the memories of a long. full and busy life -- and withal a happy one 
How much has happened during those eighty five years ! In the world of the blind there has been great advancement; not only have the needs of our people become better known but practical means have been found to meet and solve many of their problems. There has been steady progress in the prevention of blindness, in education and industry, and in the production and distribution of more and better literature. Many of those who were leaders in the pioneer work of my days have passed on; their places have been taken by capable young workers and the onward march continues -- for there is still much to be done. 
In the general life about me wonderful things have happened ! I have seen developed and come into everyday use the radio and telephone, the motion pictures and television, the automobile, the aeroplane and many other inventions. Two great World Wars have come and gone and now we hear the rumblings of another conflict. Even now is heard the sound of marching feet, the reports of casualties, the talk of atomic and hydrogen bombs. I pray that I may be allowed to depart in peace before the world is plunged.

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24, UNFOLDING YEARS last birthday, my friends from outside planned a surprise party for me here in the Home to which all the guests were invited and refreshments served. It will soon be two years since I entered the Home for the Blind -- and I have no regrets. Each day that passes I am more and more thankful for its peace and security, and the freedom from all care and responsibility. Up here in my room, surrounded by my personal belongings, I can be alone, rest, read or write, or listen to the radio. I can have plenty of company when I desire. Letters bring absent friends near. In December I shall be eighty-five. My mind seems to function about as well as ever; my hearing is perfect; but my strength is gradually failing and I find it increasingly difficult to get about. Still I am able to wait on myself and occasionally do a bit for others. Above all I have constantly with me the memories of a long. full and busy life -- and withal a happy one How much has happened during those eighty five years ! In the world of the blind there has been great advancement; not only have the needs of our people become better known but practical means have been found to meet and solve many of their problems. There has been steady progress in the prevention of blindness, in education and industry, and in the production and distribution of more and better literature. Many of those who were leaders in the pioneer work of my days have passed on; their places have been taken by capable young workers and the onward march continues -- for there is still much to be done. In the general life about me wonderful things have happened ! I have seen developed and come into everyday use the radio and telephone, the motion pictures and television, the automobile, the aeroplane and many other inventions. Two great World Wars have come and gone and now we hear the rumblings of another conflict. Even now is heard the sound of marching feet, the reports of casualties, the talk of atomic and hydrogen bombs. I pray that I may be allowed to depart in peace before the world is plunged.