St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-05-13
A NOBLE CHARITY.

In the Easy Chair in recent num-
Der of Harper's Monthly, George
William Curtis writes of one of the
noblest of charities thus:
If a man were compelled to choose
which sense he would lose, he would
not relinquish his sight. That, in
deed, is the last sense with which he
would part. How precious it is is
shown in the pathetic tenderness of
feeling with which we regard the blind,
and the feeling is deepened by the
sweetness of disposition and manner
which is characteristic of them, as if
nature would atone for that depriva-
ton. They have also a fondness and
often a striking talent for music. The
story of the blind Milton at his organ
always recalls to those who knew the
blind Organist OlivierO that devoted
and diligent musician, whose hand
every Sunday seemed to the young
fancy to evoke the voices of cherubim
and seraphim as he pressed the keys
of the great organ and filled the church
with heavenly harmony. Those young
pietists in the pews used to shut their
eyes to have a more vivid sense of the
actual darkness in which Oliviere liv-
ed, and nothing touched the young
hearts with softer pity than to see him
passing in the street, led by child in
whom he confded so fully that he
walked without shrinking.
But to add to blindness extreme pow
erty is to produce as sad a situation as
can befall a human being. There is no
figure which appeals more strongly to
sympathy than that of the blind child
in the squalOr of the tenement-hOuse,
or in any eden" of utter restitution.
With eyes, a child may somehow
emerge and fight his way. In any
event, he will not seem to the parent a
hopeless, helpless, lifelong burden
and it is the tragedy of such destitu
ton that the parental heart is often
hardened, and the helplessness that
naturally sOftens merely exasperates.
The fact that follows is terrible. In
that unbroken night, without Occupa-
ton, without education, without the
kindly society of fond comrades, alone
in an unspeakable sense of solitude,
the young soul shrinks and wastes; the
human child sinks toward the brute.
1t is a horrible enchantment, one of
the sOrest trials of human faith, as
we'll as fearful form of human suffer-
ing.
When the late DR.. Howe-one of the
noble and heroic Samaritans who in
every age and ia every sphere of suf-
fering and sorrow vindicate human ma
ture and restore the faith that waivers
first opened the school for the blind
at South Boston, he was accustomed to
receive the youngest blind children
bn re
renew their lives with the sweet magic
i'm this country, whatever his ambition
or his career, pursued his purpose with
a loftier enthusiasm and success than
DR.. Howe, and the institution which
owes so much to him still feels his an
imating impulse under the conduct of
his daughter and son-in-law, who, with
the same earnest and distinguished
devotion, seek like him to lead be-
nighted childhood with that kindly
light which shines on when the clear
est eye is dimmed.
Some time ago, the Easy Chalr-as-
sured of the patience and sympathy of
its parish, Or more truly, it's diocese
mentioned the hope of Mr.. Anagnos to
establish a kindergarten, or primary
school, for the blind. This would be
ga complete and sunny nursery" into
which the poor waits who are resist
lessly drifting toward mental barba-
rism could be gathered from their
and degrading circumstances,
and under friendly intelligence and
and care acquire the com
mand of powers which would make
them self-helpful, contented, and hap
ply, but which otherwise, like limbs
dormant, would shrivel and |
waste into imbecility. The expert
ment of the Kindergarten for the blind,
as far as it has been tried, is most sue
cessful The result is inspiring. By
the gentle and unconscious tutelage of
plays and exercises and occupations, |
the young children learn to observe at
to perceive correctly, to lis
ten intelligently, to apprehend readily, |
to think spontaneously, to express |
clearly, to gain bodily ac-
tivity and manual dexterity, to acquire |
a taste as we'll as capacity for labor,
an appreciation of beauty, and love |
of truth and goodness.
So says the director of this good |
work. The spell-bound soul is awak-
ened to its powers as the helpless hand |
is taught first to feel, then to move,
then to grasp, and on and on until the |
flying fingers hover over the keys of
an instrument and draw out its melo-
DIV, or busy in some other form of
pleasant industry, enable the blind
child literally to work his way with