Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-08
BLIND MADE TO SEE
Modern Miracle That Makes the
Sightless Self-Supporting.
TIE STORY OF ELIZABETH GILBERT
Pioneer in a Great Work Now
Being Followed in This City.
REAL NTH ROPY

REAL PHlLANTH ROPY
When the mind contemplates the remark
able achievements comprised by civiliza-
| ton in its onward march to progress, it is
| almost assured that the days of miracles
are not buried In the past, but are full of
| the hopeful sunshine of the present, and
| its flowers and beauties well. Even the
blind are being made to see again. so far
as the ability to accomplish undertakings
usually requiring vision is concerned, and
| an association for the purpose Of promoting
the education of such unfortunates and
giving them employment that will make
them self-supporting has been formed in
| this city.
| The name of the organization is the
American Association of the Blind to Pro-
| mote the Education and Employment of the
Blind. and its headquarters are at No. 90
| E street northwest. The Aid Association
| for the Blind is also located in the same
building but is entirely distinct, as the
| latter is made up of ladies who are inter-
ested in providing a home for the aged
| infirm and INDECENT blind of the District.
A Wonderful Woman.
Mr.. F. E. Cleveland, the president of the
| former organization, was led to his applaud
able interest in behalf of its purposes by
/ his study of Elizabeth Gilbert, whose life
| and labors were devoted to the upbuilding
| of the cause of the dependent blind. This
| remarkable woman, who lost her sight
when but three years old, was the daugh-
| ter of Rev. Ashurst Turner Gilbert, prin-
| cipal of Brasenose College, Oxford, and
| afterward Bishop of Chichester. When she
was five years old, in 1881, Mr.. Gale of
| Edinburgh was enthusiastically advocating
the scheme of teaching the blind to read
by means of raised characters. This idea
was scientifically received by those having
| charge of blind asylums and such institu-
| tons, but private individuals approved it.
| and among these were Bessie GiIbert's par
| ents. Accordingly they procured for the
unfortunate e child, then seven years old. an
outfit from Edinburgh, consisting of Calls
First Book: Three Other Books and the
| Gospel of St. john Hays Alphabet and
Lessons; !Mr; Lang's Friend with Outline
! Sketch OF Map THE String Alphabet
| with printed statement of its invention
and use;' seven brass types, constructed
| on principles of the alphabet, and several
| packets of metallic pieces representing the
notes of music.
Charity Her First Aim.
AS result of her studious application to
these devices, Bessie, before she was twelve
years old, set to music Mary Howitt's Sea
GULL which was sold for f20 and the
| amount given to the Irish famine fund, her
| first substantial work being thus devoted
| to charity.
In the autumn of 1853 Bessie, who had
heard much of the blind poor in London
wrote to Mr.. w. Hanks Levey, who was an
assistant teacher in a school for the blind
| In Avenue road, and had married the
matron of the girls department. Levey was
| of humble origin and had been blind from
| early youth, and, while his education, such
| as it was, had been got at Avenue road. he
was essentially self-taught But he was in
| telligent and ardent. During the interview
he told Bessie of the various institutions in
| Great Britain and their work, especially
| those IN London, and at her request ade
a further investigation and obtained reli-
| able facts and figures. Bessie found from
| these statistics that institutions for the
pnno PROVIDED LOT instruction OF the young
| only, but that they also showed that by
| far the greater number of blind persons
| lose their sight as adults from such causes
| as fever, smallpox and accidental injury.
| They lose sight when others are dependent
| upon them and when blindness means
either the life of a beggar or the poor
| house; and again learned that the existing
institutions dismissed young men and wo-
men who have been fairly well educated
| and taught trade, on the assumption that
as adults they could practice their trade
and earn living, conjecture that told
cruelty upon the blind.
Patient investigation.
For some months, at her request, Levey
went into the streets and accosted every
blind beggar whom he met, asking him or
her to tell the story of life to a blind
| man. (which would you rather, work or
beg?" he would ask when the speaker had
finished, and in almost every case the an
| swer was: Work? Why, I would rather
work; but how can get work. or. if I can
get it, how can do 1t, and where can sell
! it If do it at home without orders?"
These were the difficulties that expert
brought light
| months of close and patient Investigation
Bessie at length saw way open for her.
She saw that some one must come for
ward to befriend the blind poor, some
| one who could supply material, give en-
ployment or dispose of the articles manu-
featured, and wondered why she should not
do it. Her parents warmly approved of the
course she proposed to take and brothers.
sisters and friends encouraged her. They
saw that 1t would bring occupation and in
terest, which she sorely needed. They
| could not foresee how the little rill was to
widen into a broad stream and what far
reaching results it would have.
Bessie's Scheme Started.
In May, 1854, Bessie's scheme was start
ed. Seven blind men were employed at
their own homes. Material was purchased
for and supplied to them at cost price:
the articles to be manufactured were to be
disposed Of on their account, and they
were to receive the full selling price minus
the cost of material.
A cellar was rented In New Turnstile,
Holborn, at the cost Of eighteen pence
week, and Levey was engaged as man
ager with a salary Of half a crown a week
and a percentage upon the sales. The eel
lar was to be store room for materials
and goods, and as the basket makers could
not bleach their baskets at home. a. bin
was fixed so that this part of the work
could be done in the cellar. Levey recon-
mended young man named Farrow to
Dtlt the bleaching hin FarroU bod
his sight when eleven in consequence OF
gun accident. He had been educated In the
ST. Johns Wood School. was a very good
carpenter and cabinet maker, a man who
could readily turn his hand to anything.
But like many others who had left the
school. he was without work or prospect
of work.
He fixed the bleaching bin and arranged
the cellar as a storeroom, without any as