Trimsharp's account of himself : a sketch of his life, together with a brief history of the education of the blind, and their achievements, to which is added a collection of poems composed by himself [electronic resource]

PREFACE

As I have, at the request of the author, read the following pages from the manuscript, for the purpose of preparing them for publication, it may be proper for me to state, briefly, the objects of the work.

Different authors hare different objects in bringing their works before the public. With some it is a desire to become famous; with others it is to make money by the sale of the books; and with still others it is to impart knowledge and inculcate principles. The author of this work, who is no other than Harvey A. Fuller, B. S., the Blind Lecturer, will probably not feel injured if I say that he has all of these objects in view.

The first of these has not influenced him to a very great extent; though no doubt he partakes somewhat, of the almost universal desire to be known and felt.

The second has had some weight; but all agree that to make money is a laudable object so long as people give "value received," and this the author has labored to do.

It is believed that those who read the book will realize that the third object, to impart useful knowledge and inculcate right principles, is attained.

There are but few men whose autobiographies people care to read; for the work of such a nature contains many details which, though interesting to the author himself, are very uninteresting to the public. But when one's career has been remarkable,

or when it has been such that others may be benefitted by a statement of it, then his personal history becomes acceptable. For perseverance under difficulties, and for success in spite of one of the greatest misfortunes—that of total blindness—Mr. Fuller, the author of this little book, is certainly a rare example, and it is with the hope that those who are desponding and about to relinquish their efforts in despair may take heart and labor for excellence, that he sends this little volume abroad. Those who have seen his eager thirst for knowledge, who have seen him struggling, in poverty and darkness, for an education, until he completed a college course and graduated with college honors, who have seen him as a lecturer, winning honor to himself and entertaining and instructing hundreds of audiences, have felt that he possesses the sterling elements of a man, and that he is worthy of imitation.

Besides the principal events in the author's life, the book gives an account of the education of the blind, and of the achievements of notable blind persons. It also contains a brief sketch of Laura Bridgman, the deaf, dumb and blind girl, already somewhat familiarly known to the public, and an account of the ingenious manner in which she was instructed, the information being furnished mostly by the Superintendent's report and Dickens' Notes on American Travel. At the close will be found a number of the author's poems.

May the book be of interest and profit to the reader, and may the author, from whom the beautiful scenes of this world are forever shut out, realize that good time of Scriptural promise when "The eyes of the blind shall be opened."

J. F. D.

ANN ARBOR, MICH., NOV. 20, 1872.