The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-12-11
SOME BLIND CHILDREN.
The Wonderful Things They Are Taught
at an Institution i'm South Boston.

at an Institution i'm South Boston.
1 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
plaine,t little singing-bird looks, not
even to know the shape of the house he
lives in, to be constantly in total dark
ness-can you imagine FTP
None of us, perhaps, realize how
many poor children there are who can
not see, unless he has been, as l have,
to great INST tuition. like the Perkins
Institution for the Blind in South Bos-
ton, and seen there the great number of
boys and girls who are being taught 10
see through the ends of their fingers
that is a funny expression, ISN'T it? Yet
that is Just what they do. Most people
suppose that blind people are born with
marvelously delicate sense of touch
That is a mistake Probably they, as
babies, have no more delicate touch
than you had. 1t is only as one faculty
is educated far beyond others that it
excels them. Bandage up your eyes, my
boy, and keep them so for two weeks,
depending on your sense Of touch to
guide YOU everywhere. You would be
amused 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 ad-
vantage over the boy who never saw, in
that you know the shape of familiar OBJ
jects.
WHAT | exclaimed, on my visit to
the school for the blind, 'those boys are
not blindn'
Totally So" replied the teacher.
What do you suppose they were do
ngP Throwing stones little ones that
they picked up on the walk-at each
other!
"Won't they get hurt?" l exclaimed.
1t seemed impossible that they could
! pick up and throw stones at random,
with any safety.
( "Oh, no." said the teacher. "Thcy
run no more risk than ordinary children
PLAYING the same way. They know
, where each other child is, and how far
it will 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 blind, with their raised
letters, or heard them read, rapidly and
well, from their books. But Ihave seen
, a young girl sit down and thread a
/ sewing-machine- girl into whose brain
the faintest ray of light can not pierce.
+ But her white fingers moved rapidly
e and delicately from one pOintto another
until the complicated machinery was
n mastered and the machine threaded.
These children, some of them nearly
, grown when they enter the school, have
n to begin to learn by cultivatng the
touch. This is done at the Perkins
G Institution by adopting the kindergar-
ten system. Reading by touch is far
/ easier after the fingers have been train
t ed in tracing embroidered patterns on
b 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 OF
paper-strips. Every corner is fitted per.
q fectly, every color cOntrasted exactly
5 with its neighbor. The only difference
0 between the work of these blind children
n and those who can see is-shall | say j.
t chldren?-that their work is far M u
t correct in details. There are no lJos
, ends or careless leavings in it.
= Monday in the Perkins lnstitu ion,
f ''sewing-day, when they en- lbroide
n white cards with worsted, ir. marke
/ patterns-or, rather, pricked patterns
| Their fingers follow the hole 5. and the
c patiently carry the needle, which the
have threaded with 'oright-colore
l. worsted, in and out of t'Aese holes. A
y terward, by tracing t &c worsted lines
r they say they "see jr.st how it looks
Tuesday is their cushion-day." In
pleasant room, ga q with plants and SUI
shine, they gatf .er round q horSeshC
=. table. On it re red and gray cushion
with lot of doll hair-pns in one co
ner. Some dimes they use sticks an
G sonnet me tablets Of wood with the,
l. cushions. With the sticks they maxi
L tents, houses, ladders, chairs, Dir,
r house IS, or any thing theyplease, faster
ing down the sticks with the hair-pn
l, W fth the tablets they make patchwol
Al Of red and white squares. The table
have little holes drilled in them, SO the
> may be fastened down with pins, al
little notches on the side distinguish Il
en- red from the white.
he Wednesdays work is the weaving
at colorcd papers. This isvery importal
work. as it is the foundation of their q
ter work of cane-seating and baskC
o weaving, by which many of them eal
III their living. But they are very enthu
nj iastic over it; and the choosing of
49, new paper mat and the color of t
NJ strands they viii weave it in, is one
III Just As much interest to them as
= seeing-children. On Thursday tn
vi have cubes. The little box
III containing eight tiny cubes
not look Sc very attractive. But il