The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10

drives over the smooth white roads or sails
over the water with it's beautiful choro-
| matte tints. / could feel those moonlight
nights, and knew without any one telling
me that the moon hung low over the
| flowers and trees. Yes, If blind man
! had the money necessary for extended
| travel, he could get a great deal OF pleas
ure out of 1t. Henry Ward Beecher used
| to say that he knew a man who could do
more with jackknife than some men
could with a whole chest of tools. Since
| | became blind I've often thought maybe
| his jackknife man was blind, too, because
| when we have little money we learn to
get a great deal of enjoyment out of IT,
| When we can't own horses and travel We
| 90 on Shanks mare, and with an occasion
| al lift on the cars, manage to get on first
| rate.
Next to his work the intelligent blind
man gets most of his enjoyment out Of
| reading. II he cannot employ a secretary.
| there is always some one who Is willing to
| spare him an hour or two a day and TO be
| his eyes for him. Blindness increases
ones interest in what is going on in The
world, and all blind people who have had
| educational advantages, and many who
have not, are great newspapers readers.
| The newspaper is our mainstay in acquir-
| ing knowledge 1 personally have read
| the Sun all my life, and since I cannot see
stem to stern the first thing every morn
| ing.
80 1t is with the average blind man;
| he has his favorite daily paper. Then ]
! read the magazines and instructive works
along many lines, and do a great deal of
| studying in connection with my own writ
| ing. l learned the keyboard of a type
writer in exactly fifteen minutes. and turn
our most of my own manuscript myself.
| Many blind people learn to use a typewri-
| ter and keep up a large correspondence,
| which helps them to pass the time.
when tired out with work find great
pleasure I'm my music. Long ago l learn
| ed 70 play the meodeon, and after lost
my sight took up the autoharp and now
I can sit for hours at a time and play
/ on that little instrument. ] never heard
any one else play 1t, so / do not know how
well IL can be played, but I've mastered it
| sufficiently not 10 be a nuisance to other
people"
an what direction do a blind mans
! thoughts tend?" asked the visitor.
"A man who is born blind" replied Mr..
| Clark, lives much more happily than one
who has lost his sight, for ne has not lost
| anything. Any blind man, however, is apt
| to be cheerful minded. Most people think
! that the blind are inclined TO draw them
selves into their shells. to s;row morose
and cynical. am member of the Press
Club, and used to go there great deal
once. When Col. Cockerill was president,
/ he often said to me:
| Marvin, you are the happiest man I
| know and he wondered at It, One day
| he said TO me, How do your thoughts
| tend? Were you never down-hearted?
" Yes, colonel l answered. No human
| being was ever so down-hearted as / was
| during the five years l felt my sight going
from me. IL was like passing through the
dark valley Of the shadow of death. When
1 looked at things / would say, This may
| be my last look / went about the city
| looking at certain houses and places. /
looked at objects about my room look
ed at the people loved, realizing that my
| sight was fast fading day by day. and
tried to burn certain pictures on my brain.
was most miserable On Thanksgiving
morning, 1883, the last vestige of sight
| faded, and when my mother came into
my room / said, Mother, IL has all gone.
Then my happiness returned to me. The
| agony was over"