The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-04-23
rANCIES OF THE BLIND.
Having Once seen, the world IL More
Beautiful to the SiEhtlcss-
Touching Testimony.


''some day may write paper. to DO
called 'Compensations in Blindness"
said Washington lady. still under 30,
who has been totally blind for nearly
q decade. Ten years ago, when / was
told by several distinguished oculists
that l should inevitably become blind
within a very few months, the shock
was almost beyond my strength. Had
| not been OF great constitutional hardi-
ness, the brooding permitted myself
to indulge in at first over the special
lists pronunclamento would unques-
tionably have undermined my health.
Then | forced myself TO emerge from
the heavy shadow and braced myself
10 submit philosophically TO the final
extinction of light, for the oculists were
right, and every morning found that
i perceived objects more and more dim
ly. | gradually nerved myself up to
meet the heavy day when I should
awake in utter darkness. When the
day came IL was not so bitter as had
anticipated, for / had grown used to
the contemplation of the perpetual
shadow that was in store for me.
Now, as TO the compensation in
blindness. Can you understand that
the world seems very much more beau
tfful to me now than il did when / could
read newspaper by the light of the
full moon? We OF the sightless eyes
fall unconsciously into the habit, as
time passes, of idealizng everything
that presents itself to our notice. We
are thrust upon our imaginations SD
absolutely, you know, and | suppose IL
Is quite true that the imaginations of
blind people are extraordinarily ac-
tive. | have often fancied, since | be-
came blind, that Millions deprivation
of sight was In reality blessing To the
worlds literature, for / am firmly of
the belief that his blindness stimulated
his imagination and enabled him TO por-
tray his colossal pictures with infinitely
more beauty than he would have been
able to conceive had he been in posses
sion of his sight.
but, as / started TO say, we of the
useless eyes unconsciously develop into
idealizers. For example, am visited
by many dear women friends, whose
faces ! have never seen. | am told that
several of these friends are hopelessly
plain rs to features, but | have observed
that those who, as hear. are the least
attractive as TO their exterior beauty
have the sweetest voices, which in it
self is a compensation for them. 1t is
compensation for me, in that | am
the beneficiary OF that alone which is
the most attractive thing about them
their voices-and | am spared the
acute sympathy ] might feel for them
could | see their lack of personal beau
ty. Again, my people occasionally take
me TO the theater. venture to say that
now, after having been blind for nearly
ten years, / enjoy n good play very
much more than those whose eyes serve
them well. When / was quite a young
woman and possessed OF the best OF
sight | recall that there were many ac-
tors and actresses whose enunciation
and delivery of their lines were adj
mirable, but whose natural or assumed
mannerisms Jared upon me. Now I
hear the voices of the players alone,
and their fine or vicious speeches; so
that all stage heroes are Sir Launcelots
and all villains Sir Modreds TO me.
When | am told that n girl who comes
to read 10 me is considered lovely by
everybody, ! am sure, after she has been
described 10 me, that picture her very
much more beautiful than anybody
with sight does. Again, you know that
many fine musicians, vocal and instru-
mental, men and women, are despcr-
ately ill-favored and the performing
manners of some of them are distress
ing, rs ! myself remember. But / only
hear their music, you perceive, and the
musicians are all angels of light TO me.
When / am led through the parks and
inspired by the appealing fragrance of
Tho lines [ nnnnnt coo fhn nnAynrc lint