nd. One of the first workwomen was Martha Trant,
subsequently employed for more than twenty years.

A copy of verses by "W. Heaton and Martha" probably belong to this early
period. They were laid by with several similar testimonials, all yellow
with age and worn by use, but carefully preserved as the "jewels" of the
blind lady.

William Heaton had been trained as a teacher for the blind, and, poor
fellow! his gratitude was far in excess of his poetical power:--

Yes, I for one have felt the good,
And hope to feel it still;
For I a teacher soon shall be,
Then do my best I will.

I thank you for the favour that
You have conferred on me,
For thus admitting me to learn
A teacher for to be.

Martha's verses are upon the same level as William's:--

Oh that we had the power to speak
The gratitude we feel,
But words are vain, and oh how weak,
The feelings to reveal.

Dear lady, we most humbly hope,
You kindly will accept
This token of our gratitude,
Our love and deep respect.

And so on through several not very interesting pages. But to Bessie the
value of these effusions was very great. They showed not only the
gratitude but the happiness of her workpeople. They indicated a renewed
life of the intellect and affections, and were received with encouraging
sympathy. The composition of verses had given pleasure to herself from
early childhood, and no doubt the form of expression chosen by the
workpeople was influenced by her own example.

The time had now come when she was to learn more of the effects of
blindness upon the character than had hitherto been revealed to her. She
had inaugurated work on behalf of a special class, a course always beset
by difficulties, and she was open to the influence of the fanatics of
that class, of those who had been embittered by suffering and had
allowed themselves to drift to the conclusion that they were set in the
midst of cruel enemies.

There are some blind people who, when the full knowledge of all that
their calamity entails is borne in upon them, have the courage, faith,
and hope of a Christian to support them. They go forward in the
certainty that as this cross has been appointed, strength will be given
to bear it.

There are others who resolve to live their life, to carry out their
aims, to press forward along the lines laid down for them, and not allow
a mere phys