The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-01-24
BLIND AND DEAF NUN.
Characteristics of Miss Madeline
Wallace, Who Recently Entered
Newark Convent.

To tell her of Thy promise,
In blessings most divine,
To those who love and honor
That sacred heart of Thine.
What bliss to find this treasure.
To clasp it to my breast,
When troubled. sore and lonely,
In Thy sacred heart 1 rest.
oh, loving heart of Jesus,
Thy blessings 1 implore,
And grace to serve Thee better,
And love Thee more and more.
Thou knowest 1 would labor
With simple heart and hand,
To spread thus Thy devotion
Among Thy sightless band.
1t is my prayerful longing
That they may always find
a source of love and mercy
In Thy sacred heart so kind.
thank Thee, dearest Jesus,
For sending unto me
These poor, afflicted persons,
Who are so dear to Thee.
I'll do what l am able
10 ledCn ln6ll lnV nedrI,
That they may know Thee, Jesus,
And from Thee never part.
Oh, bless, dear Lord, my striving,
And Thine own love instil;
Oh, give me strength and courage
To do Thy holy will.
Leaving the world behind her, taking
the veil to become a sister in a convent
Madeline Wallace sang her swan song
to the world and the iron gates of the
! cloister closed upon her forever The
swan song of a blind and deaf grill A
girl who has never heard a word spok-
EN- And yet the song is in verse and
the metrical accent does not reveal
the fact that the one who first put it
upon paper was destined never to hear
it sounded
How she ever grasped the idea that
words have an accent which at once
makes verse writing impossible and
possible, how she was able to write in
meter, many who have studied the GU
rious situation are unable to explain
But the words and sentiment are
from the heart of one who has deter
mined to devote her life to the church,
and there is a mournfully true ring
about them which makes her swan
d
In it's sweet simplicity lies its great
strength, and the sad story of the of
flicted girl lends a forceful meaning to
her lines which excuses and explains
many things to the eye of the literary
critic.
Madeline Wallace was not born deaf
and dumb and blind; she became af-
f1icted after she was years old. From
her birth, it may be added, she has
lived in a world without color or sound,
and that is why her verse writing is
considered almost as remarkable as if
she were to paint a canvas in oils.
1t is true that the deaf and blind
can learn much from the sense Of touch
All schools for the blind have meth
DDS of teaching by means of raised let
ters or letters formed by holes in pa
per. But even though the meaning
of the words formed by these raised
letters may be clear to the sightless,
the sound of the words and therefore
their proper accents must remain a
closed book forever to the deaf and
dumb.
The afflicted girl was the daughter of
John F. Wallace. She was born twen-
ty-one years ago, while her father was
the proprietor Of the Wallace hotel on
Fifth avenue, near Nineteenth street.
She was not strong child, and was
always carefully guarded against
draughts and sickness. In spite of the
care of her parents, she was taken i'll
with a fever when she was years old
For months she hovered upon the
brink. Even her physicians shook
their heads and feared for the out
come. But it seemed that there was
work for her to do in this world, and
she recovered and was able to sit up
in a little chair. Then like bolt from
a clear sky it came.
why do you always keep the shut
ters closed, mamma? The room is so
dark she said.
The windows are wide open, dearie,'
replied her mother, "and the room is
fun of light"
Then the startled woman, fearing the |
worst, passed her hand, before her
daughters face, but no retreating
movement followed. Sightless eyes
looked straight in front, and truth |
burst with crushing force upon the |
mother
Madeline, you are blind!" cried the
Mortified mother
Yes, mamma" said the little one.
In the course of the next month, the |
child's hearing also left her, and, hav- |
ing lost the sense of sound, after the |
manner of most deaf persons, she left |
off speaking, although there appears to |
be nothing the matter with her vocal |
cords. Even if she could speak now.
it is probable that she would talk with |
the same baby lisp she knew when all |
knowledge of sound left her.
AS a child she had shown remarkable |
ability as a scholar She was most |
precocious, and it is said. that she |
never forgot anything she had been
told. Desiring that her girl should not
remain in ignoraIce all her life, on ac-
count of her aff1iction, Mrs Wallace
sent her to the New York asylum for
the blind. where she was given private
lessons by the superintendent, Mr..
Wait.
She learned rapidly and soon became
an adept reader of history by means of
her slender finger tips. While Madeline 1
was attending this school her mother
did not despair of securing some relief
for her daughter. She applied to va
rious eye and ear specialists. and they |
treated her carefully, but attained no
satisfying results. She continued her
education at the asylum, and soon be-
came a teacher in the institution.
Madeline Wallace also became an ex-
mart opay.a for Of fha