SIGHTLESS SONGSTER
Part II
The story thus far:
Little Frances Jane Crosby is blind! Thanks to the fact that she was treated
by a man who pretended to be a doctor. Her family hope to take her to New
York, the big city, where they hope she can be treated. They have no money,
but very carefully save every extra cent they can get their hands on. Then
her father died, and every penny must now go into earning their living.
The Crosby family had come to America from England in the early days. Their English Puritan roots had firmly bedded into New England’s austere soil and they were Americans. When the Revolutionary war came there was no mistaking what side had their loyalties. They were supporters of the American revolt. John’s grandfather, Charles, was a soldier in the war. Another ancestor, Enoch Crosby, disguised as a Tory shoemaker, successfully spied on the British. The unit of British soldiers, he consorted with, was captured and imprisoned. So good was the counterfeit that Enoch Crosby was put in stockades together with the Tories. Few knew anything about Enoch’s activities.
Aware of his espionage operations and other valuable services to the revolution,
General George Washington, secretly ordered that Enoch be allowed to escape.
After his escape, Enoch went back to his farm. Finally realizing that Enoch
had spied against them, the British tried to have him killed but were unsuccessful.
Even before the Revolutionary war, other Crosby family members, active in
public life, made a lasting influence on American history. Some of Fanny Crosby’s
ancestors, were founders of Harvard University. But the family’s stellar
past did nothing to keep their pantry supplied with bread, Mercy’s day
began early in the morning and ended late in the evening.
Eunice Crosby, on the other hand, spent the day lavishing the little girl
with love. Determining that she would succeed, her huge heart fondly caressed
and cherished the blind child. Eunice became the eyes that Fanny did not have.
Many hours were spent in their favorite rocking chair, Eunice holding Fanny
close to her heart while she described the intricate details of the marigold,
daffodil, or dandelion she held in her hand. Using animated language to create
vivid word pictures, the child’s grandmother, sometimes, portrayed the
grandeur of a sunlit day, the marvel of a stormy sky, the wonders of falling
snow.
These dynamic descriptions developed within Frances the gift of creativity,
nurtured her language skills and developed within her the passion for language
that was later to mark the more than 9000 poems that she wrote. Eunice spent
a lot of time reading to the blind girl from the Bible. She also read to her
from classical literature. Together grandmother and granddaughter tramped
open fields and caught butterflies, rode horseback or basked in the sunlight
near one of upstate New York’s many lakes. All the while, whether meandering
by a brook, tramping open fields, or rocking little Frances in the old rocking
chair, Eunice took every opportunity to describe to Frances the things that
she saw in painstaking detail.
When Frances Jane was just eight years old she wrote this poem:
Oh what a happy child I am, although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world, contented I will be!
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't!
So weep or sigh because I'm blind I cannot--nor I won't!
To be continued