Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-06-12
MIR. GRAY's ADDRESS.

With great respect III. JOUL1 IL uilA1.
MIR. GRAY's ADDRESS.
Ladies and Gentlemen There was once time,
melancholy time, when the condition of the Blind
in every nation of the habtable globe was calculated
to touch the hearts Of all who had hearts 10 feel.
time when blindness like deep unGa,homable gulf
rolled its waters between them and the aowery fields
of learning; when neglected and forgotten, they were
left to creep upon its lonely and desolate shores.
come not TO tell you an idle tale ofhuman woe;
nor with minstrel hand 10 sweep the sympathetic
harp of Virginia hearts but TO recount 10 you
mournul reality of life to describe to you the con-
dton, the character the feelings, the sentiments Of
those ill-lated ones who live and move among you
Disguise it as you will, blindness is terrible
lamty-the seeing know itnot. To you the face of all
nature is radiant with smiles to them the human
face divine yelled forever. Y our manly bosoms
glow and thrill with high aspirations: in theirs the
fires of ambition struggle in vain to burn-to them
the bright castle of fame lies far over the dark noun
tans, Ye are as free as breeze from your own
native hills they are prisoners in the gded dungeon
ofths world Ye look alo(t at the heavens in their
oIory and adore the hand of Him who fashioned in
their beauty those rolling worlds Of light Ye gaze
with transport upon the broad and beautiful earth
with its sunlit hills and shady grove its lofty noun
tans and fertile valleys, lis bold lmpetuous rivers
and its deep and boundless oceans.
But the Blind look to heaven and there no stars
there They gaze upon the wide earth and there are
nohowers there-"a dark amidst the blaze otnoon"
-"aIl feless mid the bloom Of Mayo But christian
ity, human philanthropy, and enlightened public o.
ninior ;udicous and liberal legislation have all COM
bined, and contributed to change and TO elevated the
condition Of the Blind. He who burthen
to his kindred, charge to society, is the cour-
,cous gentleman, the dgnited Instructors the energct-
lc man, aud the influential citizen. She who was
once the blighted aud pable offspring of an lmpov-
erished widowed mother at the idol other heart
and the cancer her breast; has become chief the
household, and the mother the recipient of her boun-
ty and her care. The little boy who once whied away
not the blythe but the wearSome hours Of childhood
with his iews-harp or his wise; is now the accom-
plished musician, charming the ear with the skill Of
his execution and the rich melody OF his voice Com
pretending both the practice and the theory of mt
sic and devoting himself TO that beautiful science not
only as sourse Of high enjoyment but as means
of honorable support. He who once sat hopeless
and helpless by his fathers hearth listening 10 the
fire side tales of gentle and loving mother, whilst
the JOYOUS shouts Of his comrades rang through the
woodlands, echoing far and wide over hull and dale
their very Joy but adding 10 the poguancy Of his
allction-is now the intellectual man, capable of
appreciang the highest order of humap compositions
OF rising with the Poet in his heaven-ward flights
plungng, not with timid spirit but with reckless dar
ing into the profound of metaphysics, of compre-
hendng the rationale of philosophy, or winding
successfully through the the intricate abyrinths Of
mathematics.
Thus the possibility of educating the Blind, that
vexed problem which in the past century so engaged
and absorbed the minds of distinguished phianlhro-
psis, has been solved by the benevolence and egis
lation Of latter days.
II is no longer chmera, no longer the wild hal
ucinaton of Utopan minds, but 1t is one Of those
great achievements which have stamped their impress
upon the age. The Blind now read and write and
cipher become accurate geographes, acquire the va
rious languages, solve mentally agebraic equations
of the first, second and third degree sumup progress
sions, develop bynomal expressions into series; con-
struct logarithmc tables, study geometry by means
fembossed figures calculate anal yticaly its various
curves, and apply the abstruse principles of ne
chauics and spharcs tho Ivsoris of ,he heavenly
bodies.
They cannot view the opening spring time with
its blossoms, nor summer with its golden harvest,
nor the rich ns ofautumn nor winter with its snow
cap mountains but philosophy teaches them hatthe
but the consequence OF the earths onward
course in her noiseess, ,ceaseless rounds They can
not view 'the rainbow based on ocean, span the sky
but they know it to be phenomenon Of perfect beau
ty caused by the lights strange reraction They can
not gaze upon the silver moon nor feel her magic
influence; but they see her with mental eye, that
great beacon light of the heavens which guides the
mariner over the pathless deep They cannot view
the mighty king of day, as morning breaks refugent
in the east nor see him at eventide when in gorgeous
glory he folds around him the dark curtains Of nght
but they are cognisant of the philosophical facts, that
the is great globe, the centre OF vast system;
the of light and heat and life, without which
creation would be blank
1t is common opinion believed by the most in
tellgent, that blldess, by abstracpg the mind from
external objects increases its power characterization,
and hence they infer that the blind ought 10 learn
with apidity, and reason with precision and cogen-
cy. This may be 50 to a certain extent, and would
it were altogether true, but my own experience is,
some wayward ignis atuus thought is but apt to
allure of the attention and lead II far awry marsh
and moor and flood till in bewilderment it is lost a
mid the wilds and wastes ofby-gone memories.
1t Is difficult to say what is the primary and egit-
innate effect of blindness upon the human character.
DAD conviction constrans me to admit that believe
1t to be pernicous fraught,wh great evil. For
1t seems natural that deprivation which stiles am
bl'ion, which renders its victim unable to Join the
honorable race with his fellow man for the toga or
the iaura iea should excite in his breast the feeling
ol envy or indifference to this worlds fame. Nor
would 1t be stranger it the inability TO view Alright
the action of those around 80 ro.I " a. 80,