In 1791 in the state of New York was born Martha Ann Rogers, severely deformed.\u00a0 In the place of arms she had \u201ctwo diminutive stumps projecting but a few inches from the shoulders.\u201d\u00a0 She had “but one leg, which was also diminutive and ill formed, and on that leg was a stump similar to those which were substituted for arms.”\u00a0 What was to become of Martha Ann when she came of age?<\/p>\n
We get the answer from the diary of Thomas P. Cope, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant who met Martha Ann on March 29, 1807, when she was sixteen years old . Martha Ann could not stand, but she sat erect \u201cwith perfect grace & ease.\u201d \u00a0\u201cHer features are regular & even handsome,\u201d Cope reported.\u00a0 \u201cHer complexion fair & blooming.\u00a0 Her countenance animated & captivating.\u00a0 Her limbs excepted, she is well formed & of the usual size of persons at her age.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Martha Ann \u201cconversed very freely & cheerfully\u201d with the visiting merchant, she worked away at her craft \u201cwithout any apparent labour or perplexity.\u201d\u00a0 Cope asked her to make a watch paper, an ornamental packing placed in a watch case.\u00a0 Martha \u201ccut me a very neat watch paper in a few minutes, holding the paper between two of her toes, moving the scissors with her lips and steadying the motion with what should have been an arm.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to cutting watch papers, Martha was an accomplished, and self-taught, seamstress.\u00a0 Cope purchased \u201da piece of her work, which for the rich variety & beauty of the flowers & the elegancy of the design is not frequently surpassed by young girls who possess all their limbs & have had much pains bestowed in their instruction.\u201d\u00a0 How could a young woman without hands and feet manage to sew?\u00a0 \u201cShe embroiders with her toes & lips, the former officiating below & the latter above the frame.\u00a0 She threads her own needle, knots her thread & designs her own pieces.\u00a0 She writes tolerably well by holding the pen in her mouth.\u00a0 Marking & common needlework she executes correctly.\u201d\u00a0 Cope reckoned that Martha Ann would be able to support herself by her trade.<\/p>\n
Meditating on the meaning of Martha Ann, the merchant concluded that she should \u201cstimulate us to persevere in habits of industry under the conviction that labour & ingenuity will be rewarded.\u201d\u00a0 Sadly, that is exactly opposite to the ideology of the modern welfare state, which seeks constantly to aggrandize power by branding ever more citizens as hapless victims who need to be coddled and controlled by the government.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0 Eliza Cope Harrison, ed.,\u00a0Philadelphia Merchant: The Diary of Thomas P. Cope, 1800\u00a0– 1851<\/strong> (South Bend \u00a0Indiana, 1978).<\/p>\n Copyright Thomas Doerflinger 2014.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1791 in the state of New York was born Martha Ann Rogers, severely deformed.\u00a0 In the place of arms she had \u201ctwo diminutive stumps projecting but a few inches from the shoulders.\u201d\u00a0 She had “but one leg, which was … Continue reading