News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1900-01-24
SEE ONLY IN THE DARK.
A Missouri Boy Whose Eyes Exceed Those

A Missouri Boy Whose Eyes Exceed Those
of an Owl iH Their Peculiarly.
Physicians in Columbia are much IN
terested in the cnse of Stanley Shaefer:
8 years old, who lives with his parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. E. c. Shaefer, in this city.
The child Is afflicted with a most re-
markable optical deformity. He can
see as well in total darkness as n per-
son with natural sight can see in The
light Of day. He can walk into a dark
room and find In a moment a pin or
any other object Night is day for
him.. and day is night, for in the hours
of daylight he is blind. His disposition
and desires are largely influenced by
his optical deformity. At night he is
restless and full of life.
His parents have some difficulty in
restraining his desires to play and
romp about during the hours of dark
ness. 1t is difficult for them to find
safe amusement for him at midnight.
All his little playmates are in bed, and
the boy can derive but small pleasure
in his loneliness. But at times he
evades his parent and takes a lonely
midnight ramble. He has been heard
home in the middle of the darkest
nights with only dog for a compan-
ion.
Little Shelter is faithful STUDENT
and well advanced in his book. His
teacher, however, is obliged to resort
to unusual measures in instructing
him. Of course, a dark room is the
first essential in his reading lessons.
The teacher draws down all the cur
| tains in the room, closes the doors, and
endeavors to make the room as dark
as possible. Then Stanley reads.
During the daytime the child is Of
| ten seen in the vicinity of his home,
usually with a companion to guide
him. At such times the eyes Of the
child are usually half closed. He
gropes about like a bind person, and
stumbles over the rough places unless
guided by a faithful hand. When his
friends greet hmi he knows them only
by their voices.f
When he concludes to read while
in the day-time,- his proceedings are
| peculiar. After securing his book, the
boy goes to a closet and takes from
hook a most remarkable contrlVance.
1t is almost as large as the child him
self-long, black, and in the shape Of
funnel. Little Shaefer carries the
strange device to the place desired,
puts it down with the point upward,
crawls under it, and reads. The design
and purpose of the unique conJrivance
is, of course, to exclude the light
What on earth is that funny-look-
ipr ici+
to Mrs Shaefer the other Gay, points
ing to the device as it sat on the porch
Of the Shaefer residence.
eve have no particular name for
it." said Mrs. Shaefer, with a smile,
''but l will show you what is under it."
She walked across the porch and
quickly raised it from the floor There
sat little Shaefer learning his lessons.
The deformity of his sight is useful
| to him and to others in many way.
His ability to find things in the dark Is
very convenient for his family. His
father, who is a butcher, often finds
employment for the child in the cooling
room of the butcher shop. Little
Shaefer goes into the cooling room,
and after the door is closed to shut out
all light, counts the pieces of meat in
storage, and reports the result to his
father
The light of the sun is especially an
noying to the child, and he is rather
| inclined to be low-spirited and unhap-
Ply on bright, sunny days. On the con-
trary, cloudy weather seems to relieve
him and he is much more animated.
The light of the sun is painful to him.
He blinks and rubs his eyes. and gives
other evidence Of distress when in the
sunlight. But not so with electric
light His eyes seem far better adapted
to artificial illumination than to nat
ural light. At times he can see to
some extent under an electric light,
which fact greatly encourages Lis par
ents, who have never abandoned hope
of effecting a cure.
The child has been treated by many
physicians and skilled occuists, but to
no avail. Many kinds Of glasses and
spectacles have been tried, but always
with unfavorable results. The fact
that the eyes of the patient since birth
have been in their present condition
makes the case all the more difficult.
He was simply born with the sense
of sight so far as light and darkness
are concerned, completely reversed. II
a cure is effected and his sight brought
into normal condition, 1t will be one
of the most remarkable scientific
achievements of recent years.