The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-01-15
Il C0NQUERoR AGAINST HARD oDDA
Marvin Clark, the Blind Newspaper Writer
OF Now York City.

OF Now York City.
Any afternoon OF the week one may see In
tho reading room Of tho Press Club a middle.
aged man with a slight gray moustache sitting
at a table. smoking a cigar and listening with
an air Of close attention to a boy who Is read
ing a newspaper In an undertone. II q mem-
Der OF the club lounges up to the table and
says. Hello. Marvin. j" the listener will turn
his head with q smile and say: why. how
are you p adding the name Of the man. whether
Smith. Jones. or Robinson.
Unless you are a better Judge Of such matters
than the ordinary human being. you will not
notice that the man addressed as. Marvin is
blind. The longer you watch him tho less
likely you will be to see it. But the man is
blind. and has been blind for nearly five years,
so blind that he can only distinguish light
from darkness and cannot in the least make
out form or color. He is Marvin r.. Clark. who
although blind yet writes newspaper articles
that are bought and printed and read. that
command moro attention than tho efforts Of
hundreds OF mon who hover about the New
York press. F'' -.7 aHr
For over thirty years Marvin CLARK was Q
newspaper man with as good q pair OF eyes -
any OF them. He was reporter. copy reader.
managing editor. in the very heart OF the rush
that surges about that busiest OF places. the
modern newspaper Office. Then his sight
poSdu " Ihll. ~ WhU D RrAuuAl OlmmlnRs uf0G
q blur. that fades into q nero idea Of colored
form. into form without color. Into the faint
est Of lights and shadows. into total darkness.
Then after q long period Of rest the mere per.
ception OF night and day and darkness and
light came back to him.. like tho first faint
flicker ef struggling light seen far back In the
depths Of a cave. With this the Improvement
stopped. and. aside from the hope this little
improvement gave. the darkness might %
we'll have been complete.
OF all the misfortunes that can befall a human
being. that which came upon Clark is the
worst From being an actor In the most Va.
rled. least monotonous. most breathless life Q
man can lead. he became q man in the midst
OF the pitchy darkness Of a night that is UNI
could hear. with an acuteness painfully sharp
ened. the noise. the tumult Of the rush about
f h'm; han hand Sc must ~as n nsIy utier %us Spo sit tS %,ss
ABOUT him..
w a!s training HRsps n Sad ns al, 1ca bssn for 20 ns SS;ps ss
gould turn his attention. He was not rich and
he was not the sort Of man to sit content a pse-
adapt himselfto his changed conditions. He
resolyed to continue his newspaper work. ac-
continue in the race. He bought n typewriter
and in 2 few minutes learned the keyboard SO
letter he wished. not through having the Let.
ters raised, because raised letters would have
distances between each key and the edge OF
the the beard. Ths % he hired q boy to rend 10 him
i Each Gat day ayI this : 10y SsI reads dsT the pews MSIp: to
him-ths headlines OF all articles. the full
TX! fSaa 81 be s sesp: S E asS n p]erisst.g ini 81 %sn q
Whit is happ,ening in the world each day.
friends. the newspaper men. He Is thus able
to comment upon the news or to store up
what he has learned for future use; In Ills
Infqrmation about men and things. Further,
She nss sh S!il! ss ~rr to a Ss s@t, Of II fh" he Goss not 81
know the details or remember accurately.
nish special articles upon ali II sorts s. "a su Is aas
The nHwspaner special article Is a most I'm
p 81 ffs sn ,s"1HTs sa IF ahe RHs RI. eI%4s can ss Ns,fs ~ !,
tee se sfsirials npon things TINT were and
!hiSs S" "in s !';aas sut ,Hs' ar # there ere Is s9 4s. %anPIs t tS
be done, h,5 boy fn ne 40 PIT it for him. IL man e
no ne ' We're It NOT ti nas thy rSa ,saf sin m .S s6s
took too much time he could do the routine
newspaper news work. 49,.
he makes IT turn of for him copy that is clean
and clear and most legible. incomparably bet
lie end OF his pencil At first The nswspapsr
editors We're a bit shy Of his writings because
newspaper WORK. when the newspaper is
Above az things & record OF things seen, But
ihnisG arii sIsy a aIs ser'l rss" "sed to IN MIN MAI. and nov
i9rk and Brooklyn passrs
and ne b has sGras his lisa afiistion With q courag.
h'hh 10 tllal HIN
the resources Of his character. From the frat
he faced the situation as il no could see il,
and he has never staggered under the several
blows that have struck him-the beginning OF
s ann failure Of ms sight: the total darknsss. the
%Sa n1a Geyyer s again H. What is the pseo D
man can begin to understand what this darE.
ness means total lie pendenco upon others,
But l must work. i have to Keep my mind
occupied with my work and, that passes my
DAYS. Lattsrly have been troubled With
up and can sleep no more. What can / doff
cannot read. No one can come and talk to me
at that time: must lie there In the darknesS
helpless and, alone, waiting, for daylight and
the boy who Is eyes to me-. That IS my greatest
my philosophy is not equal to IT.
mr.: Gtark has also turned his attention TO
several and has had good success with them,
ana ne nopes, as lie gets accustomed to think
Ing In that line. to Improve his work uD to
g GsSt. =s II Lard He has the NECESSARY equip
snd he can evolve his plots out OF the store
no9ss ~ pis sxosllsnt memory. which q full