Life from a Wheeled Chair.
[Accessibility] Waterman, Mary B. Life from a Wheeled Chair. Utica, N.Y.: Press of L.C. Childs & Son, [ca. 1889].
16mo.; 28p.; printed beige wrappers; staple-bound; slight soiling to covers;
Mary B. Waterman’s autobiographical sketch about her life and the circumstances by which she became “disabled, crippled, helpless, [and] ordered to rear by that fearful disease, rheumatism” (7).
Waterman writes on her experiences, including lengthy musings on not taking the ease of life for granted: “I never realized how our whole life is made up of gratified wants, until I came to this experience. I want to turn over in bed; I can’t. I want to get up; I must wait till it is time. I never did when I was well; I rose out of season as well as in season if the desire possessed me (9).”
She continues on the plight of the invalid, ending in finding “a peace born of struggle, a victory secured by defeat. And I, sitting day by day in my wheeled chair, looking out upon the world, in which I shall never take an active part again, feel that there have come compensations which are real and satisfactory…” (15) She ends by articulating the markedly progressive role she has take, writing “Sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, my piano, household cares, -- these are things of the past. What can I do? Only one thing: I can write” (24).
OCLC does not locate any copies of this early edition, only the later 1909 printing.
(#13395)
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