Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-02-17
HARD ODDS.
tiARviN CLARK, A BLIND NEWSPAPER
WRITER, OF NEW YORK.

How "A Journalist Stricken with Incurabie
Blindness Manages to Follow His Profess
sion and Keep Up with the Current
News of the Day.
Any afternoon of the week one may see in
tn. reading room of the Press club a middle
/ aged man with slight gray mustache sit
| ting at table, smoking a cigar and listen
| ing with an air of close attention to boy
who is reading newspaper in an under
tone. If member of the club lounges up
to the table and says, "Hello, Marvinr' the
listener will turn his head with smile and
say, why, how are you?" adding the name
| OF the man, whether Smith, Jones or Rob
| inson.
Unless you are better Judge of such
| matters than tie ordinary human being
| you will not notice that the man addressed
as Marvin is blind. The longer you watch
| him the 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 Marvin f. Clark, who, although blind,
| yet writes newspaper articles that are
bought and printed and read. that com
mand more attention than the efforts of
| hundreds of men who hover about the New
York press.
For over thirty years Marvin Clark vas
! newspaper man with as good pair o.
eyes as any of them. he was reporter,
copy reader, managing editor, i'll the very
heart OF the rush that surges about that
| busiest of places-the modern newspaper
| Office. Then mis- sight began to fail. 1t was
gradual dimming-first blur that
| faded into mere idea of colored form: into
form without color; into the faintest of
lights and shadows; into total darkness
Then after a long period of rest the mere
perception Of night ard Gay.G-a darkness
| and light came back to him like the first
faint flicker of 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 as well have been complete.
OF all the misfortunes that can befaIl a
! human being, that which came upon Clark
is the worst. From being an actor in the
most varied, least monotonous, most
breathless life man can lead. he became a
man in the midst Of the pitchy darkness of
night that is unpierced by light, that has
no dawning. He could hear with an acute
ness painfully sharpened the noise, the tu-
| mutt OF the rush about him. But he was
helpless; must sit with folded hands; must
rely utterly upon those about him.
His training had all been for newspaper
| work. There was no occupation to which
he could turn his attention He was not
rich, and he was not the sort of man to sit
| content useless burden upon others. So
he set to work to adapt himself to his
| changed conditions. He resolved to con-
| tinue his newspaper work, accept the hand
leap fate had put upon hun and continue in
tIs-- IL ID. L
| few minutes learned the keyboard so that
with little care he could strike whatever
| letter he wished, not through having the
letters raised, because raised letters would,
have cut the ends of his fingers but by
learning the distances between each kew
| and the edge of the board. Then he hired
a boy to read to him and he 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, a 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 up what he has learned for fu-
| ture use. In his thirty years OF experience
in New York newspaper work he has gath.
! men and things. Further, be has a still
greater amount of knowledge of where
| things are to be got if he does not know
| the details or remember accurately.
Through these sources he is ready to fur
! nish special articles upon all sorts of sub
| Jects. The newspaper special article is a
| most important feature of the newspaper
! especially of the Sunday edition. Mr.
| Clark can write interesting specials upon
| things that were and also upon things that
| are. He has only to think of good sub
| ject. If there is reading to be done. his bow
can do it for him. Ii a man is to be inter
viewed, his boy can lead him TO the man.
| Were it not that this roundabout method
| took too much time he could do the routine
newspaper news work.
He has learned the typewriter so well
that he makes 1t turn OF for him copy that
| is clean and clear and most leEiblc, incom-
| parably better than the copy that formerly
| flowed from the end of his pencil At first
| the newspaper editors were n bit shy of his
writings because it seemed homogeneous
! for 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 ar
| ticles appear regularly in many New York
| and Brooklyn papers.
He has borne his affection with cour-
! age and cheerfulness that is amazing, that
| shows the resources of his character. From
| the first he faced the situation as if he could
| see it, and he has never staggered under the
several blows that have struck him-the
beginning of the failure of his sight, the
| total darkness the announcement of a
great specialist that he would never see
| again. What is the use of complaining?'
-o,1 10 h,r4
| begin to understand what this darkness
means-this total dependence upon others
But must work. ] have to keep my mind
| occupied with my work, and that passes
| my days. Latterly l have been troubled
with insomnia. Each morning at o'clock
wake up and can sleep no more. What
can do? / cannot read. No one can come
| and talk to me at that time. l must lie
there in the darkness, helpless and alone,