The San Francisco call., 1906-08-26
BY Agnes Foster Buchanan.

M ANY men and women afflicted
with blindness have had that
afhiction mitigated and soft
ened by the invention and
practical appliance OF mechanical de-
vices. For years, ever since the first
crude effort was made to enable these
helpless ones to read. busy minds have
been at work, giving their full powers
TO the service Of the less fortunate
part Of humanity around them This
scientific and persistent endeavor has
resped a rich harvest, the fulIness OF
which has not even yet been reached.
But the laborers in the field have al
ready had the satisfaction of seeing
other men and women. who. from acci-
dent or other misfortune. have been
shut out from the sunlight and other
beautiful things of life. reading and
writing, playing musical Instruments
and using tools. no longer a burden to
themselves or TO thOse connected with
shem.
Helen Keller has stood for some time
in the public eye as the highest type
OF development in an individual handi-
capped by unseeing eyes. In her case
so much has been written and so much
more has been said that people gener-
ally have come now to regard her
blindness as a mere external. hardly
10 be considered in the light OF an az
Fiction. Miss Keller. OF course, reads
and writes huently. The lntricacies of
the typewriter have long since been
mastered by her. She enjoys the d.
versions of several musical instruments
and is an accomplished linguist To
her and TO thousands OF other soul
darkness" is a thing of the past
The first departure made in the effort
10 raise the curtain Of eternal darkness
was to put the worlds literature at the
fingers tips OF those who dealt in dark
ness, for it was through the ends OF
the fingers that light, il light there
was 10 be, must come. Books and sets
OF volumes in embossed lettering are
now printed by the thousand, and the
blind man or woman who cannot read
today is regarded with but little more
tolerance than their equally illiterate
brothers or sisters who double their
negatives and insist upon coupling sin
guIsr verbs with plural substantiveS
From music of course the sightless eye
cannot divorce any one. The insight and
power that are required to bring great
harmonies from string and key do
not depend upon an optic nerve. Type
writing has opened an avenue of rapid
writing 10 the blind as well as TO those
10 whom the opening Of a flower means
something or the combination of colors
put together by masters hand speaks
a message.
Many and varied have been the de-
psrtures and lines followed by the
blind, where IL has been necessary for
the individual TO make a living But
did you ever hear or know of a man.
for twenty years shut up within him
self. organizing and ably conducting a
large grocery?
There IS such a man in Oakland. His
name is W. B. Thomas. The unpreten-
tious two-story building where he con-
ducts his business gives no indication
Of the work going on inside. The w.
B. Thomas Company sign above the
door may mean everything or it may
mean nothing. 1t may be merely the
name of the corporation or w B.
Thomas may be the presiding genius
himself. And so he turns out to be.
Mr.. Thomas is man who makes his
personality felt the moment he gives
YOU his hand. You know, because you
have been told. that the eyes behind
,he dark glasses are sightless. but you
have at the same time queer, not
altogether comfortable. feeling that
they are looking you through and
through. Any one who lives con-
stantIy in that atmosphere must willy
n,llv be conscientious and square.
II is that same force Of personality
that carried him through the nrsl