Mary L. Day (born 1836, died after 1883) was an American writer, best known for her 1859 memoir ''Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl'' and its 1878 sequel, ''The World as I Have Found It''.

Early life

Day was born in 1836, in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, and moved to Michigan with her parents as a small child. They lived in a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

until her mother died and her widowed father moved away, leaving the five Day children to the care of other families. When she was twelve, Day lost her sight in a sudden attack of inflammation. Various interventions were attempted, including surgeries, but she remained blind. A foster family, the Cooks, read to her and taught her to knit. She moved to Chicago at 17, to live with a sister there, and then to Baltimore in search of more help. She enrolled at the Maryland Institution for the Blind in 1855.

Career

Day was one of a handful of blind authors familiar to American readers in mid-nineteenth-century. She wrote two memoirs, ''Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl'' (1859) and ''The World as I Have Found It'' (1878). She sold copies of ''Incidents'' to support herself, traveling the United States with a companion, and making personal appearances. She also sold her knitting, her beading, and her handwoven baskets. She visited with President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

, who bought a book from her. She visited with Susan B. Anthony, but the encounter was "cruel", in Day's account, as Anthony scolded her and advocated restrictions on blind marriage and parenthood. ''The World as I Have Found It'' carried an introduction by

Charles Deems Charles (Alexander) Force Deems (December 4, 1820 – November 18, 1893) was an American Methodist minister. He was the pastor of the non-denominational Church of the Strangers in New York City from 1868 to 1893. Early life Deems was born in Bal ...

, a noted Methodist preacher. Among the stories in the sequel were her impressions of the

Solid Muldoon The Solid Muldoon was a supposedly prehistoric "petrified human body" unearthed in 1877, at a spot now known as Muldoon Hill, near Beulah, Colorado. The figure enjoyed a brief tour of the United States before it was revealed to be a hoax. It was s ...

, a "petrified man" hoax in Colorado. She also traveled to various American cities selling the second book.

Personal life and legacy

Before 1878, Mary L. Day married a businessman known as "Mr. Arms". She was living in Shasta County, California, in 1883. Day's writings continue to be studied as the works of a blind woman in nineteenth-century America.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Mary L. 1836 births Year of death uncertain American blind people Blind writers Writers from Baltimore 19th-century American memoirists American women memoirists 19th-century American women writers American writers with disabilities Memoirists from Maryland