The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-06

quantities, where labor-saving devices
might be employed. where many blind
men, working together, might compete
with the men who have sight.
$50 In a small way we started the
factory that you see here. 1t has pros
pered. 1t has grown. The men work
here ten hours a day and they can earn
from IS a week up to $40 and even $12.
They are self-supporting; about two
thirds of them are married. With
minds occupied. with the self-respect
that independence gives, with muscles
tired every night, they are happy; they
sleep well, they eat we'll. 1t is pity
that the factory isn't bigger; it is a
pity that more blind men can't work in
it. There are always at least 100 men
clamoring for work. We have always.
like a fashionable club, a waiting list
of over 100 applicants"
In the factory the first floor Is given
over to carpet weaving and to chair
Gaming. A blind man sat at his loom
the other day The shuttles shot
swiftly back and forth. the loom clat-
tered and at the rate of nearly two
yards an hour the carpet grew. In ex-
PLANTATION of his work the blind man.
said
They Are DextrOus.
THE warp, composed of hundreds of
the front of the loom. The warp
threads are those that run lengthwise
through the carpet, and each of them,
before I began to weave, must be
passed through certain little guiding
eyelets and compartments that are
called heddles and redes. To pass each
thread through it's respective reed and
heddle correctly is the hardest part of
my work.
oh tot 81
threads that run crosswise through the
carpet. 1 am using three shuttles one
of white, one of red and one Of green.
Each shuttle must go back and forth
a certain number of times, then come
out and give place to another shuttle.
The white runs six times, the red four
and the green five. 1 keep my shut
ties in that box behind me. How do
1 tell their colors? Oh, by their loca-
ton in the box. The white is in the
boX's right compartment, the green in
the middle and the red in the left.
Every little while you'll notice that
I run my hand across all the threads
of the warp and wool. I do that in or
der to detect broken threads. When 1
find a fracture / must gather up the
two ends and knot them together
neatly. This is difficult thing for a
blind man to do.
ITO learn to weave requires three
months. To learn to be a fast weaver
requires a year. A weaver of aver
age speed turns out a yard and half
of carpet an hour. His rate of pay is
10 cents an hour Thus he earns $3.50
a day, or SO a week."
In room farther on were the chair
Gamers. Their chairs were screwed
tight upon stands and leaning over
these stands they plated the straw in
neat patterns across the seats with
great speed. The work was simple;
they said it could be learned in day.
Speed the Desideratum.
But to get speed, that is the thing"
blind man added. ut takes a long
time to get speed enough to cane two
chairs day. The pay is so cents a
chair. I average 81 a week"
The main business of the factory is
broommaking. Guided only little by
one or two men with sight. the blind
employees sort out broom corn, accord
ing to it's length and quality; they dye
1t green, they cut it upon machines,
they fasten and clamp and sew it on
wooden handles. they trim and PACK
in bundles the completed brooms. To
see them at their work is a marvel,
they are so quick and sure of hand,
and in the great room where they stand
in long rows, each at his machine, they
have so singular an air of happiness,
the big, clean place, full of the whole
some odor of California broomcorn, re-
sounding always with laughter. with
gay voices and with singing that is
very true and musical.
Six of the men at the factory are
like Helen Keller, deaf. dumb and
blind. Nevertheless. they work well,
thodght they are a little slow The
overseer to talk to one of them gives
him his hand, and while the man holds
the hand delicately in both his own,
the overseer spells in the deaf-mute
alphabet the words that he wishes to
say.
A number of the men are good must
clans. They have comets, violins,
mandolins. The janitor of the factory,
John Boone, tells of one of them an
almost incredible anecdote.
II will take a new piece of music"
says the janitor, land I'll read it to
this blind man from beginning to end.
C, A, D, B-sharp. E-sharp, F, G, c.
and so on. When 1 am through he will
put his fiddle to his chin and play the
piece without a mistake"