The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-05

never burn clothing while ironing they
know through their hands just the
amount Of contact the iron should have
with the article being pressed. When
sewing with a machine their fingers
serve them as eyes, and they make
stitches as straight as the most exact
ing could demand. AS Mattresses they
gather the orders in the kitchen by
feel and properly arrange the dishes
around the diners plate by the same
swift and accurate method And in
making the finest and most intricate
laces their only guide is touch.
In truth, tie blind person in BUSH
ness has, as one of them said recently.
ten eyes, which are at our fingers
ends" while seeing persons have only
two.
Wages Are small.
Despite the fact that the blind who
work are exceedingly industrious and
often as exDert in the various trades
as sighted men they DO not make much
money. Human sympathy is deep IN
til the pOcketbook is touched. The
blind man gets sympathy when he IS
not trying to sell a mattress or a
broom. Let him try to sell something.
Because he is blind the customer will
expect a price lower than he obtains
elsewhere and haggle until he gets it.
This statement is universally made by
the blind shopkeepers.
For this reason he IS a lucky blind
shopkeeper who. when the week is end
ed, finds that he has cleared 81 or IS
over and above expenses.
The most highly paid among the
blind are the piano tuners and the mu-
sicians. These men. who call their
highly sensitive ears to the aid of their
skillful fingers, make all the way from
$40 to $3.50 month. The larger figure
represents money largely earned by
means of piano and violin classes. The
piano tuners almost invariably con-
duct several classes.
The broom and brush maker receives
the lowest returns for his labor Ere
quently he makes not more than SO a
week. His average is IS. Time was
when the small broom maker could
earn $40 week. Now the big fac
tories have up-to-date machinery
which the blind man, working alone,
car not afford, and so he is slowly be-
ing driven out of the business. Grad
ually he is drifting into paper selling
or mattress making.
The Blind Pensioners.
New York is the only city in this
country that encourages it's blind to be
self-supporting. To every sightless
man and woman who earns living
the city each year makes a gift of $50
in gold. This money is used general
ly to clear off any indebtedness that
blind person may have incurred, and
this gives him q clear start on a new
fiscal year.
This custom has held in the metropo-
lis for over fifty years. The man who
decides on the blind who are entitled
to secure annuities is S. Jerome Bett-
man. He is known by every blind per-
son on the Island of Manhattan. For
eighteen years he has been Investigate
ing their cases and invariably win
ming their esteem. 1t is he who every
year distributes the annuities.
But New York, despite this pension
system and care of the blind when
they fall i'll, has found that no induce
ment can get the men and women,
stricken blind IN their majority, in
terested in industrial pursuits. This
is the experience elsewhere.
while these persons realize their de-
pendent position and know that, unless
. they have relatives who will support
them, their inevitable end is the aims
houses, they seem to be unable to Gull
tivate the senses of touch and sound
TO the point where they can be put to
commercial profit. Many try, but aft
er few months give up in despair and
request to be taken to the almshouse
1t takes years of training in an in
stitution for the blind to fit the inmates
for bread winners in the trades that
require expert use of the senses of
touch and hearing. Nowadays no at
tempt is made to teach the bows and
girls any other callings, for long ex-
perience has shown that time thus
spent was thrown away. The blind
themselves recognize that they are of
no monetary value in an occupation
where sight is absolutely necessary.
but in the other trades we can hold
up our end with the best of sighted
men" they say. And they can. A
good blind mattress maker turns out
as many mattresses in a day as an ex-
pert mattress maker in full possession
of all his senses. Walter Morris.