The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-12
READING FOR THE BLIND.
A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE NEW
OONSREsSIONAL LIBRARY.
Pleasure TnEcn by the BIina In the Rosn SEE
Apart for Theua-RIelds OF Literature open
90 Them-A Daily System or ReadlnEs ~
A,,bor, npd others Also Inntituteo.

Authors nud others Ahe hhH'i1"eoe-
WASHINGTON, juno ll.-Al good Americans
should hope to visit tho now Congress Library
before they die. It is ono of the worlds won
ders, we'll worth a trip across a continent 70
view. 1t is so filled with beauty in every form
that days and weeks may be spent within ia
portals. Like everything In WashingtN~ -
planned on a scale covering an immense an,o"sS
OF ground. One walks and walks through the
arches and rooms on each floor and ospooially
down In tho beautiful marble passages below
the first floor, grows almost ewildered with ita
immensely and Froots with pleasure tho guiding
sign boards along tho way.
Ono Of these boards points . directing hama
to tho reading room for tho blind, and following
It you enter the s~trangest room in the library
and, indeed. the s~trangest reading room In the
world, for this Is the only library known to con-
tain special provision for the blind. The idea
of having a reading room for the blind was suG~
Rested to Mr.. Young, tho librarian, by q wos
man whose heart had been touched by the
plant Of a blind girl friend that there was 80
little opportunity for the most helpless class Of
persons In the world to have access to tho liter
allure for which they longod. Almost every
large public library. 1t 10 true, contains books for
the blind. but naturally their system OF finger
reading attracts the attention Of the general
readers and often they arc embarrassed by the
thoughtless curiosity OF seeing people. The
woman to whom the blind girl had spoken waa
Mrs. Alice Underwood Hunt, widow OF Gov.
Hunt Of Colorado, and when she went to Mr..
Young about the matter she found him ready to
carry out the wishes of the blind. Tho success
Of his ~effort.in this direction is apparent to ell
who enter the reading room for tho blind.
The room dedicated to this purpose is Of good
proportions, shady, cool, with great windows
filled with growing plants, the touch and scent
of which are . constant delight to the readsrs.
among its pieces an unusually fine carved desE
Of historic Value and q table to match: Tho
are proud Of It, often feeling Of tho carving and
speaking OF Its beauties. Around the walls OF
the room 70 a., are n ranged dn The ,S cases SsooG containing n a n,5sd l t. e:
centre by a largo screen, behind which the read.
es can retire and SO escape the observation Of
titul vase, a gift from a Washington woman,
and it is daily filled with cut flowers. which
come as offerings from seeing people to their
The special attendant in charge of this room
has q largo responsibility resting upon her.
She is Miss Eta Josselyn Gifin; Tho privilege
Of reading In q room by themselves meant two
10 read books that had hitherto been uDattain-
able, and it was an. acknowledgment of :them
dear. because their complete dependence on the
good will of their seeing friends has made
public recognition Of them as a class p5o,ssessinE
the intelligent needs Of seeing people is sooth-
Tho collection OF literature at their service EN-.
braces all the standard works, the Bible, enoy-
clopHdias, Dickens, Thackeray, Eliot, Emerson.
Copied in several different systems i the m "
which was invented a number Of years ago by
Prot. Wait, superintendent of the New York In.
five out OF the thirty-seven schools for the blind
IN this country, and naturally finds more users
ature, music, and correspondence. The Amee
lean Braille system, WHICH is an adaptation Of
nent, Is taught in ten schools, notably il
Philadelphia and Boston, and the different
methods I have = their firm Sdherents and adj
type, which is an old English method and 4
said to be especially adapted for teaching adqlt1
Moon of London, daughter of Prof, Moon. th9
inventor Of this type. has this year been in thi&
John Russell Young in i, but the Now YorN
The cost of printing for the blind Is so greaa
tion Of an Individual library; hence the beneda
of a reading room to them: The Bible, for in.
edition for ordinary: READERS and bought for
cents or even less; when published in finger priJt
writing slate for SIPS: This slate conSists Of
"a wlt tSD Which ui the bind zinc s @yito is 1 marT 1eH rnpid AZ
they read, they frequently pause to jot down on
the slate some %Ssis om nn1fins o. on The the book s.ok, they hey, are
left, though they read from left to right. The
correspondence among themselves Is q. great
fort, and where several arc gathered in the
reading room, after the reading is finished, .
smart interchange OF states goes. on, each road
ing with his fingers the thoughts jotted down by
The printing for the blind Of the country is done
in Louisville, Boston, and Philadelphia, In the
last city most Of the magazines for the BLING
a blind man, started the magazine publica-
ton which is now carried on by Mrs; Josephine
York Point Standard. which is an up.to.dato
mag1zine in every particula5' and has = large
ments current in other magazines. even fash.
ions receiving s;shsre OF attention; All publica:
1 Msfsht for h H. blind .Rslr are ih IN sSs Gon Sgtsy, snS
Library reading room are made especially,to hold
this nteraturs, and tables are placed about to
Among tho blind freQuenters of tho room are
many excellent musicians. They are INSTRUCT
do not use the musical charaoterss. fbS but write tel
exactly as II is read to them. Much copying in
lions owned by the library.
After the, reading room for the blind was
everything possible should be done which would
tend toward Its successful and permanent opera.
constant and increasing pleasure came from
David Hutcheson, superintendent Of tho gen.
SON that II each day S'G good reader 40 Mf co 5nEin Be-
secured to read aloud, to the blind visitors for
an hour; they could become acquainted with
duced in the publications for the blind. With
the cooperation Of Miss Giffen, this plan was
worked out. Mr.. Hutchinson was a little tim
orous at first of It's continued success, fearing ID
would be difficult to secure readers for each day,
but, on the contrary, more readers have offered
their services than dates can be found for, and
very celebrated readers at that. The first
person TO. read aloud was Mrs. John Russell
Young; wife OF the Librarian. Thomas Nelson
Page; Kate Douglas ,Wiggin, Grace Greenwood,
Frank stockton. and many ether authors have
contributed their quota to the daily reading
matinee: On several occasions celebrities have
given little talks rather than readings, and
these are especially appreciated, particularly
when they relate to travel. These readings have
proved a most interesting feature OF the read
ing room, and greatly extended the scope and
opportunity of the rooms frequenters. Many
blind persons desired to avail themselves OF the
privileges OF the reading room, and were unable
10 do so because they had no one to bring them
to the library, so Miss Citizen interested a mum
Der of women who were willing to act as escorts
to the afflicted ones. and these escorts day by
day bring their charges TO the readings.
II is Interesting to note that there Is no dis.
t~inction Of color or nationality. The first reader
was q colorcd man, and tho second a youn0
/ hII ia Na1,-. nAlal - 49,