The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-07-07
ONE EYE OR NONE.
How People in That predieamsnt Get Along.
From the Philadelphia Press.

From the Philadelphia Press
Few misfortunes are taken less philoso-
phlcally than the loss of an eye Putting
aside the inconvenience, it is one of the
worst disfgurements; almost as bad as the
loss of ones nose. The absence of an arm
or leg has often an honorable explanation
which carries the respectful and admiring
sympathy of the able bodied, and even if
the story be untrue it seldom fails to obtain
ready credence, especially in a country
where a big war has ragged within a decade
Any unsightliness of the wound is hidden
by clothing, and soldiers are proud of the
empty sleeve or wooden leg, and often
scorn to hide the deficiency with an artifi
cial limb. With an eye, howeve, it is diff
ferent. Not many wounds received in bat
tie would destroy the eyesight without do
ing farther injury. A bullet piercing the
socket would probably perforate the brain
and kill outright. and sabre -cut-oyer the
temple would leave a CHASTITY scar to tell its
tale; and so dead eye may, as a rule, be
put down to disease. or to some petty acct
dent, and in not a few instances to mis-
fortune of birth. Smallpox and scarlet
fever in many cases destroy an eye; Sc
we're blow with the fist, the point of stick
or umbrella or pieces of coal jumping out
of the fire are frequent causes. Girls
working at sewing machines in factories
often lose an eye by the sudden breaking
of needle, and several young girls have
disfgured themselves in that way, relates
prominent optician of this city, by habit
they have of ''unbuttoning their boots
with fork" Few people remain happy
under so hideous blemish, and, as science
can disguise the defect so thoroughly that
even a glass-eyed man has difficulty in
recognizing fellow victim, it is not sur
prising that the general public has little
idea of the number of single orbed indi-
viduals daily passed in the streets
WHERE THE CLASSY oRBs ARE MADE.
Artificial eyes are manufactured princi
pally abroad, although there are one or
two makers in New York. England,
France and Germany monopolize the trade
in this market, and by most opticians in
the United States Thuringian (German)
eyes are preferred to any other
At a well-knOwn establishment on Chest.
nut street "a Press reporter was shown
variety of artificial eyes of every size,
shade and color. They are made of porce-
lain, hand painted, every vein being per
fectly marked, the imitation being com
plete. 1t costs $40 to purchase one of
these, and it requires renewing nearly
every year, as the enamel wears off and
the color fades They are made to
fit with the neatest precision,
and there is little chance of similar incon-
veniences happening to the wearer as with
Dickens old lady, whose glass eye would
twist round on the wrong side. About one
hundred and fifty artificial eyes are sold
annually by this firm, and they also had
the government contract for the districts of
Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburg and
Philadelphia to provide veterans with imi-
tation optics in place of the real ones they
had lost through the vicissitudes of the
war of the Rebellion. Over a thousand
men applied for this privilege. They came
in squads Of twenty at a time.
Women are little ashamed when they
enter the store. They desire to be taken
as far in the rear as possible, and leave as
hurriedly as they can as soon as the false
eye has been fixed or renewed, an opera
ton of few minutes. When the muscles
of the socket are not destroyed the eye can
be put in so cleverly that natural move
ment can be given to it which almost de
fies detection, but in cases where there IS
little to cling to, the eye remains station
airy. Brown eyes are most easily matched;
blue are more difficult, especially certain
shades as the play of the light upon them
gives a variation of color and sparkle al
most impossible to initiate artifcially.
Many interesting anecdotes are told of
peoples reticence in disclosing the fact of
their misfortune.
A OSE-EYED FAMILY.