CHAPTER III. 



YEARS OF BLINDNESS. 

 1838-1844. Age, 17-23, 



In 1838 Edward's long-cherished ambition to be- 

 come an educated man was in a fair way to be real- 

 ized. His talents, his parents felt sure, were such as 

 to fit him for a professional career, and law was 

 thought of as the profession which he might in due 

 season adopt. The way to the bar seemed clear 

 enough. Other young men in the vicinity no better 

 off than he were taking college courses of study, and 

 helping to meet the expense by school-teaching in 

 winter. But one obstacle to his ambition existed, 

 which unfortunately was not recognized in its full 

 seriousness. His eyes were still weak, and their con- 

 dition should have forbidden the protracted studies 

 which he undertook. He entered the academy at 

 Galway, Saratoga County, New York, in May, 1838. 

 The term until the summer vacation was to be four- 

 teen weeks, and twice during that time he had to go 

 home with inflamed eyes for rest. 



His appearance at this time is described in the fol- 

 lowing letter from one of his fellow-students : 



Ann Arbor, December ij, 1SS7. 

 Miss Eliza A. Youmans: In complying with your kind 

 request to give my recollections of your late brother, I can 



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