The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-02-19
FIGHTING AGAINST LONG ODDS.
A Blind Newspaper Writer Who Ii Still q
Successful Worker.
Now York Sun.


Any afternoon of the week one may see
in the reading-room of the New York Press
Club piddle-sged man with a slightly
gray mustache sitting at table. smoking
cigar and listening with an air of close
attention to a boy who is reading a news
paper in an undertOne. Unless you are O
better Judge of such matters than the ordi-
nary human being yOu will not notice that
the man is blind. The longer you watch
him the less likely you Will be to see it.
But the man is blind. and has been bind
for nearly five years. so blind that
he can hardly disting uish light from
darkness. He ie Marvin II. Clark, who,
although blind, yet writes newspaper ar
tioles that are bought and printed. and
read. that command more attention than
the efforts of hundreds of men who hover
about theNew York press. For over thirty
years Marvin Clark was q newspaper man
with as good pair OF eyes as any of
them. Then his sight began to fail. 1t
wa, wa. 2 gradual dimming. first . blur,
ored form, into form without color,
into the faintest of lights and shadows,
into total darkness. Then. after o Ions
period Of rest. the nero perception Of night
and day and darkness and light came back
to him. like the first faint flicker Of strug-
Cling light seen far back into the depths Of
a cave. With this Improvement stopped,
and aside from the homo this little improve
ment gave. the darkness might as well have
been complete.
There WIS no occupation to which he
COuld turn his attention. He was not rich
and be was not the sort of man to sit con-
tent. useless burden upon others. So he
set to work to adapt himself to his changed
conditions. He resolved to continue his
newspaper work. except the handicap fate
had put upon him and continue in the race.
He bought typewriter and soon learned
the key board, SO that with little
ter he wished. Then he hired q boy
to read to him and was ready
to begin newspaper work. Each day this
boy reads the newspapers to him-the
headlines of all articles the full text of
some few paragraphs of many. Thus he
keeps himself perfectly informed of what
is happening in the world each day. Added
to this Is the gossip he hears from his
friends. the newspaper men. He is thus
able to comment upon the news or to store
use. In his thirty years of expert
ence in New York newspaper work he has
gathered q vast amount of information
abont men and things. Further he has a
still greater amount of knowledge of where
things are to be got. if he does
curately. Through these sources he is
ready to furnish special articles upon all
sorts of subjects He has learned the type
writer well that he makes it turn off
for him COPY that is clean and clear
and most legible. incomparably better
than the copy that formerly flowed from
the end of his pencil. At first the news
paper editors were q bit shy of his writ
ings. because it seemed incongruous for a
blind man to do newspaper work when the
newspaper is above all things. a record of
things seen. But latterly they are getting
used TO him. and now his articles appear
regularly in many New York and Brook
lyu pAperR.