Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-19
A BLIND TRAVELLER,
DR.. Cnmpben's Chat About His Londo
College Climbing the Alps.

DR.. Cnmpbell's Chat About His London
Collcgc-Climbing the Alps.
One of the most remarkable blind
men in the world has just paid a
flying visit to Washington. He is Dr..
Francis j. Campbell, LII, D., principal
of the Royal Normal College and Acad.
envy of Music for the Blind in London.
A native of Tennessee, for many years
a resident of Boston, he wentto Europe.
especially to Germany, in 1869, to
study, and he was mainly instrumental
in 1872 in founding the great ~institu.
ton of which he has ever since been,
and still is, the principal. He comes to
this country at the present time nomi-
nally as a royal commissioner to inves-
tigate and collect information about the
best methods of educating the blind
that obtain here, but principally to
show to the people of America some of
the results produced by the Royal
Normal College. He is an American
citizen and owner of property in this
country, and is working for the estab.
lishmcnt of a National college in
America for the higher education of
the blind. In the Royal Normal Col
lege in London, over which DR.. Camp
bell presides, music is n of the main
objects, but the education given is gen.
eral. The college embraces a prepare
tory school, a grammar and high school,
a technical school and an academy of
music. A great deal of attention is
paid to physical training. The doctor
is a little man, approaching sixty years
of age, wears dark glasses to cover his
empty eye-cases, and a dark gray beard.
In conversation he is as frisky as a
a Frenchman, his features are enliv-
ened with d wonderful animation, he
talks quickly, and there is a peculiar
childlike cheeriulness in his tone that
is only found in blind men, and only in
a few of them.
"Physical exercise is most essential
in the education of the blind" said the
doctor. Il have generally found in the
college that it has taken as much effort
to overcome their habits of idleness
and Incidence as to give them the
training for their special avocations.
As a rule" said he, 'thc vitality of the
blind is below the average vitality of
seeing persons. The lack of physical
power leads to Incidence, timidity and
Encouragement. The blind must be
reused from their willingness to de
pend upon others, and made to believe
in the possibility of independence and
success. We give our pupils courage
and vitality by gymnastic exercises.
We have a very we'll appointed gymna-
SUM connected with the college. We
teach the boys to swim, too, and skate.
They don't have any more falls in
learning to skate than seeing people
do, and the falls they necessarily re-
ceive give them u hardihood that is
worth everything to them"
Eyes" said the doctors son, 1--WE
have some boys who can play around
on the ice and describe fancy figures as
neatly rs yon or | or perhaps the most
expert skater you can find in Washing
ton"
'Does every one get the ice all to
himself in turn or do they all skate at
once and together?" asked the reporter.
eff many skated at a time would there
not be frequent collisionsp'
''The ice-pond is circular in shape"
was the reply, ::with a small islet in
the center, profusely set with trees and
Sill llDDClS LilIU ONC1 ltIS. II
islet in the center gives all echo by
which the boy knows how far he is
from the bank. A dozen of them will
often skate for half an hour around
that pond without a single stumble.
The echo prevents them from running
into the bank. When they have skated
| perhaps half an hour in the one direc-
tion a bell is rung, and then they turn
and skate perhaps for the same length
of time the other way. They 60 round
on the ice with just as free and easy a
swing as the contestants in a skating
match at Madison Square Garden, in
New York"
Doctor, you climbed the Alps once
yourself?"f
20, yes. In 1880, 1 think it was, 1
assembled to the top of Mont Blanc.
My son. who was then only nineteen
years old, accompanied me, and was
the first of his age who ever rose to
that height. But Mont Blanc is not
by any means the most difficult mount
ain to climb. Inever will forget being
showed up for twenty-three hours on
the Matterhorn. That was in 1882. I
thought was never going to get down.
i. iathef oulleo my appette Tor mount
ain air, but | am very fond of traveland
exercise. You see I have so much
thinking to do that a great deal of
physical exercise is necessary for me.
Two years ago my son and I took a
tandem tricycle. across the channel,
and crossed the continent on it from
Sweden to Russia. We brought the
machine with us to New York, where
we arrived from England last Monday,
and we intend to do a good deal OF
riding on it. But this country is too
big and distances are TOO great to cover
on a tricycle. Washington Post.