Bridgman's formal education ended when Wight left the school in 1850.[45] She returned to New Hampshire and, for a time, she enjoyed being reunited with her family; however, she was homesick for the school and her anorexia eventually returned.[46] When Howe learned that Bridgman's health was rapidly deteriorating, he sent a teacher, Mary Paddock, to the Bridgman home to take his former student back to the school.[47] Bridgman's health gradually improved, and though she received occasional visitors, she was now largely forgotten by the public.[48] She occupied herself by writing letters to her mother and a few friends — Bridgman kept in touch with both Mary Swift and Sarah Wight — sewing, reading the Bible in braille, and keeping her room fastidiously clean. She earned a little spending money, about $100 a year, from selling her crocheted doilies, purses, and embroidered handkerchiefs,[49] but she was primarily dependent upon the school to supply her with room and board.