The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-05-16
Chr Aerala and 0ewS
CARE OF EYESIGHr DURING SCHOOL
LIFE.
Concluded from lst page.

to offer, because the subject is so
broad in its scope and intensely i'm
portant that it be understood and
brought to the attention of all pub
lie schools. As | said in the outset,
very few schools North or South have
given the care of the eyesight any
consideration. We are advocating
compulsory education and building
colleges all over our land and the
proper care of our children's health
and especially that of the eyes is not
taught or even limited at by many
authorities. The work that the eye
is adapted for in nature is distant
vision. When the Lord made man
he placed him in the Garden of Eden
where his eyes beheld the beauties
of creation and were allowed to gaze
upon whatever pleased them and
rest upon the coloring that gave them
the most relief. Anormsl eye under
proper surroundings should give its
possessor no pain or consideration.
We should feel at sill times as if we
had no eyes.
But civilization with all it's sd-
vsncement and Improvements has not
been wanting in it's evils. One of
the greatest of these is the deterio-
ration of the eyesigbt.
One has never seen defective vision
in the American Indian, yet the Ger,
man government cannot maintain her
standing army without allowing many
of the soldiers wear glasses.
The growing tendency of defective
vision is so rapid that it behooves us
to bestir ourselves and check its pro-
gress. Where shall this be done!
In the school room, the place where
all our knowledge is begun. The
teachers should know how 10 advise
their pupils in the proper care OF the
eyes as we'll as in other things. 1t
is we'll in reading to relieve the eyes
at intervals from the close appllcs-
tion and steady gaze of the book and
look into the distance and reflect
over what has been read. This pen
siveness.of thought is a great relief
to tired eve.
One of the disadvantages of city
life is the constant application of the
eyes to near objects.
Great injustice is often done children
by accusing them of obstlnancy or IN
attention, or even dullness, when the
whole trouble is due to defective
vision.
This mistake will be most readily
made in the case of long sight.
Here the pupil has good distant
vision, and strong accommodstive
power and the teacher overlooks his
visual weakness. Children with
astigmatism often appear stupid and
are always slow readers. The horl-
zontal and perpendicular lines of the
letters have a different focus, and
some time is consumed in the mental
effort to combine them. The most
fruitful source of defective vision for
near objects is printed letters. The
size, shape, strokes, relation OF height
and width, and distance from each
other have much to do with the pre-
serving of perfect vision.
Norman capitals, letters with the
characteristic strokes excessively
heavy, and the others exceedingly
hight are best adapted for residing
purposes. The quality of the type,
as we'll as it's size is to be considered.
The quality of the paper and the ink
also is to be we'll chosen. Bright,
white paper, with a glazed surface
is very trying on the eye. Pale ink
with the letters ILL formed is an evil
which hardly needs discussion. Cheap
books and poor print are dear econ
omy. Yet how many cheap publics-
tions are flooding our land! The
evils of their moral influence are