The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-27
FANCIES OF THE BLIND.
Those Upon IL Are More Beautiful
to the SightIess.
From the Washington star.

~
From the Washington star.
Some day 1 may write a paper to be
called Compensation in Blindness said
q Washington lady. still under thirty, who
has been totally blind for nearly a de-
cade. Ten years ago, when 1 was told
by several distinguished oculists that
should inevitably become completely blind
within a very few months, the shock was
almost beyond my strength. Had I not
been of great constitutional hardness, the
brooding l permitted myself to indulge In
at first over the specialists pronuncia-
mento would unQuesuonably have under
mined my health. Then l forced myself to
emerge from theAheavy shadow, and brac-
ed myself to submit philosophically to the
final extinction of light, for the oculists
were right, and every morning / found
that l perceived objects more and more
dimly. l gradually nerved myself up to
meet the heavy day when / should awake
In utter darkness. When the day came It
was not so bitter as / had anticipated for
/ mad grown used to the contemplation
of the perpetual shadow that was In store
for me-
NOW, as to the compensation in blind
ness. Can you understand that the world
seems very much more beautiful TO me
now than Ii did when / could read a news
paper by the light of the full moon? We
| of the sightless eyes fall unconsciously
/ into the habit as time passes, of ideal
izing everytbfng that presents itself to our
notice. we are thrust upon our imagin-
atoms so absolutely, you know, and | sup
| pose 1t is quite true that the magma
! tons of blind people are extraordinarily
active. / have often fancied since became
blind that Millions deprivation of sight
was In reality a blessing to the world s
/ literature; for ] am firmly of the belief
| that his blindness stimulated his imaglna-
tion and enabled him to portray his CO.
lossal pictures with infinitely more beauty
| than he would have been able to conceive
had he been in possession 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 as
| to features, but l have observed that
those who, as / hear, are the least attrac-
tive as to their exterior beauty have the
| sweetest voices which in itself is a COM
| pensation for them. 1t is compensa ton
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 I might feel
for them could l see their lack of personal
beauty. Again, my people occasionally
take me to the theater. / venture to say
that now, after having been blind for
nearly ten years. l enjoy a good play very
much more than those whose eyes serve
them well. When l was quite a young
woman, and possessed of the best of sight,
l recall that there were many actors and
actresses whose enunciat ton and delivery
of their lines were admirable, but whose
natural or assumed mannerisms Jared
upon me. Now / hear the voices of the
players alone, and their fine or vicious
speeches; so that all stage heroes are Sir
Launcelots and all Williams Sir Modreds
to me. When / am told that a girl who
comes to read TO me is considered lovely
by everybody, / am sure, after she has
been described to 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 desperately
ill-favored and the performing manners
of some of them are distressing, as l my
self remember. But only hear their mu-
sic, you perceive, and the musicians are
all angels of light to me. When / am led
through the parks and inspired by the ap-
peallng fragrance Of the Iilacs, / cannot
see the flowers that are whitening"