The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-12-11
eLIND BOYS AND GIRLS.

The Wonderful Things They Are Taught
at an Institution in South Boston.
L am sure not all the boys and girls
who read this article have ever stopped
to think how it would seem to be blind.
To never see the bright blue sky, or the
running brooks, not to know how the
PLANE little singing-bi bird looks, not
even to know the shape of the house he
lives in, to be constantly in total dark
ne>s-can YOU imagine it?
None OF US, perhaps, realize how
many poor children there are who can
not see, unless he has been, as | have,
to a gre INST tuition. like the Perkins
Institution for the Blind in South Bos-
ton, and seen there the great number of
boys and g rls who are being taught o
see through the ends of the + fingers
that is funny express on, sn't itP Yet
that is Just what they do. Most people
supp Ise that bl nd people are born with
a marvelously delicate sense of touch.
That is a M stake. Probably they, as
babies, have no more delicate touch
than you had. 1t is only as one faulty
is ed Gated far beyond others that it
excels them. Bandage up your eyes, my
boy, and keep them so for two weeks,
depend ng on your sense of touch to
gu de you ev rywhere. You would be
anu to see how many mistakes YOU
would make, and how much you would
improve in that one sense in that short
time. And yet you would have the adj
vantage over the boy who never saw, in
that you know the shape OF familiar OBJ
jectS.
"What" | exclaimed, on my visit to
the schoo for the blind, ''those boys are
not blmdr'
"Totallv So" replied the teacher.
What do you suppose they were do
ingP Throwing stones little ones that
they pcked up on the walk-at each
other!
won't they get hurt?" I exclaimed.
1t seemed impossibl that they could
pick up and throw stones at random,
with any safety.
''Oh. no" sa d the teacher. "They
run no more risk than ordinary children
playing the same way. They know
where each other child is, and how far
it w Ii do to throw"
But was more surprised when | went
indoors and SAW what they could do.
Perhaps some of you have seen books
or papers for the bind with their raised
letters, or heard them read, rapidly and
well, from their books. But have seen
a young girl sit down and thread
sewing-machine- girl into whose brain
the faintest ray of light can not cree
But her VIII te fingers moved rapidly
and del cately from one pont to another
until the compli cated machinery was
mastered and the machine threaded.
These oh ldren, some of them nearly
grown when they enter the school, have
to begin to learn by cultivating the
toueh This is done at the Perkins
institution by adopting the kindergar-
ten system. Reading by touch is far
easier after the fingers have been train
ed in trac ng embroidered patterns on
sewing-cards, weaving the delicate
paper and modelling in clay. You would
marvel TO see the tiny baskets, chairs
and houses woven in colored straws or
pap r-str ps. Every corner is fitted per-
ly, every color contrasted exactly
with its ne ghbor. The only difference
between the work of these blind children
and those who can see is-shall | say it,
children? that their work is far more
correct in details. There are 10 loose
ends or careless leavings in it,
Monday, in the Perk. Institution, is
''sewing-day," when they embroider
white cards with worsts |, in marked
patterns-or, rather, pricked patterns.
Their fingers follow the holes, and they
pat emily carry the needles which they
have threaded with br ght-colored
wor-ted, in and out of these hoes. At
terward, by trac ng the worsted lines,
they say they ''see just how it looks"
Tuesday IS their "cushion-day." In q
pleasant room, gay with plants and sun
shine, they gather round a horseshoe
tabe. On It are red and gray cushions,
with lot of doll hair-pins in one cor
ner. Sometimes they use sticks and
sonnet mes tablets of wood with these
cushions. With the sticks they make
tents, houses, ladders, chairs, I'd
houses, or any thing they please, fasten-
ing down the sticks with the hair-pins.
With the tablets they make patchwork
Of red and white squares. The tablets
havr little holes DIR lied in them, so they
may he fastened down with pins. and
little notches on the side dstingu sh the
red from the white.
Wednesdays work is the weaving of
colored papers. This very important
work, rs it is the foundation of their af-
ter work of cane-seating and basket
weaving, by which many of them earn
their living. But they are very enthus-
'iastc over it; and the choosing of a
new paper mat and the color of the
strands they will weave it in, is one of
just as much interest to them as to
seeing-chldren. On Thursday they
have cubes. Thu little boxes
contain'nE eight Hny cubes do
not look so very attractive. But just
wait and see what can be done with
them, and the fun they have. Some
times they form professions with them.
Then they make houses and chairs and
all sorts of things. One girl made a
school, with desks wide apart $50 the
scholars couldn't whisper" and another
illustrated the story of "The Three
Bears" making the house. the beds
and the chairs.
Friday is ''clay day" in all kinder
gartens. and is the delight of the week
at Perkins Institut on. And their touch
is so delicate and so accurate that you