New-York tribune., 1906-08-29
4 TRAGIC SPECTACLE.
Watching Dependent Blind Receiue
Annual Bounty from Citg.

There. honey. there you are-two twenties.
ore ten and one one-sJ1 In all. And don't lose
Il before you get home with it,
The behind Cash No s window in the
City Paymasters Office smiled brightly upon the
faded pinched features Of the blind woman as
he dropped the shining gold and silver with a
csressing little pressure at each coin into her
outstretehed palm. She could not zee the smile
but she could feel II. ana what was more TO the
purpose, perhaps, for one blind and old and
poor. she could feel the money in her hand
This way, mother" said her daughter, heI self
a niiddle-aged and faded woman who had left
her machins in clanking workroon1 70 accom-
pany her mother On her annual trip TO the pay
masters office. And Have a good time with II.
grandma. put in the CHEEKY voice of Officer
Jacob J. Brush.
Then slowly down the long Office, more slowly
end gropingly stiIl down 5he steps. out into the
hustle OF Reade street and so home-for another
year
Monday ard Tuesday OF this week have been
fun OF pathos at Tire payJnaster's office To-day,
the third day Of the annual giving Of the city's
bounty IN tho poor adult blind of the munich
PATTY, viii be another. Beginning at o'clock,
when the office opens its doors, scores Of blind
people, each led by sighted person. enter the
place. wait patiently or nervously, according to
their several tempera nfellts. receive their dole
and depart. some dull and stoid as If suffering
had dried the springs OF joyful emotion in their
breasts, but most OF them with delight and
gratitude written on their faces. Old and young
hopeful ana deS.5ondert. happy. sour calm,
Hdgety. healthy, sick. with beautiful lustrous
eyes ana oull. Opaque. unseeing organs, some
SlancIng about eagerly il they could see;
elhsTs olsflgured by vast blue spectacles-they
make sad company. Sometimes there are so
many they I'll the Office from street TO street.
To-day there viii he about 325 to be paid
I got blind making cherry pies." whispered
an elderly woman in widows weeds. as she sat
crouched over in one OF the few chairs await
aT raf fHD- IL -s~-a.-
ten postcard and envelope OF Identification from
the Department OF Charities
TT was Saturday night. the ID OF July
twenty year back she went on furnbIfng with
the corner Of her black bordered handkerchief
It was very hot, SO / thought I would Ike
cherry pie and got up and went looking for
cherries. When / came in with my cherries I
was terribly hot and lay down between two win
dows What with the draft NV ewes vyer.
something terrible the next dav. but nass NV
PIES just the same. The next day was the
Fourth, % all the hospitals were shut up, and
became tGfn6
I've lad lots o trouble" she went on her
T9or chin trembling. the tears rolling down her
TstheIed Cheeks and on TO her knotted hands.
siy husband and my son-Ive lost them both
within the year Now live with my daughter
Pears II she'd just landed from the olc
country, she's that absentminded when she gets
out on the street"
There's my rent and coal sor this winter" .
cean sh2ven old man with rugged Roman
a
ted his money in his trousers pocket '.AIophy
OF the optic nerVe-toO much tobacco and rheu-
1lstiZ-that's what done me up. I wa. a car
cTivcr when IL come upon me. and I was count.
ing on buying Il little place for my father a.d
mother down Long Island the next year. That's
Nenty years ago. ] didn't want TO kill a horse
or q man. so I gave mp. and I've sat idle ever
since. But my little niece here'-ae E.1osiored
10 bright faced child OF eleven or tygclyye-'as
very good She reads to when she ssrr "a
school
In came plump. collarIess Negro leading
fenoeTIy = grizZleG old colored man, very swell
as 70 his apparel and beaded with the perspira-
ton OF anxiety and unwouted effort They
gently placed him at Cash No window and
told him 10 put out his hand.
He amt got no ticket, boss" explained the
friend
Eugene Conkllng financial clerk OF the Office.
sao plays the pleasant role Of fairy godfather or
oeus eX nacfina. whatever YOU like to call it
tlanoeG down the long typewriter lists. The
mans name was there, all right. When they
too tie old man TO call at the Charities De-
gattinent IL his ticket hadn't come by this morn
Aag be turned away quite dOwneast
Dey won't nobody else get Blah money, will
seyE ne ignpIOred 1remulogsIy, choking down a
eoo OF disappointment. The other put his arm
tg1nd the old mans shoulder sootaingly, and
usy went out together
There are many OF these blind who have re-
eelged the c:Ly's bounty for twenty-five twenty
eieht and thirty three years. Charles BaIlerman,
. So ty-IouF-yeaF- man living at no. 352
eSt ASsth street, has received & FOR forty-seyen
3esfs' or VIII have WREN he gets his money this
seaI- Although all fhe other BIS had claimed
tIelfs, 8alleFman had not turned pp yesterday,
sad they think he may be too infrrn 70 come
home ''---- - -''@