The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-20
HELEN KELLER SPEAKS
 TO NEW Y0RK'S BLIND

handkerchiefs to their eyes while many
 men coughed uneasily. A moment la
 ter Miss Keller said:
 Tt is a blessing to the strong to give help to the weak, otherwise there
 would be no excuse for having the poor
 always with us," with a peculiar down.
 ward infection which held an ininity
 of pathos, people smiled or laughed
 hysterically. nervohsly, as they dried
 their eyes.
 A practical plea for the blind was
 developed by Miss Keller The State
 could teach the blind to work, but their
 fellow citizens should furnish the mar
 ket and give encouragement. Many
 had bought foolish things because tke
 blind made them, but under an lneelli- gent system of education the blind had
 been taught to make articles which were desirable for their own intrinsic
 merit.
 "Educatlon does not develop in the
 blind remarkable talent" said Miss
 Keller. Like the seeing, the blind
 man may be philosopher, a math sma-
 tician, a linguist. seer, a poet, a prophet. But, believe me, if the light | of genius burns within hins 1t will | burn despite his infrmity. and not be- cause of it. The lack of one sense or two never helped human being. We should be glad of the sixth or 1 the sixteenth sense with which our | friends, more generous than mature, | endow us. To paraphrase Mir. Kip | ling, we are not heroes and we are not | towards, either. We are ordinary folk. | limited by an extraordinary incapacity. l If we do not always succeed in our un-
 dertakings, even with assistance from | friends. we console ourselves with the | thought that in the vast company of | the worlds failures is many a sound l pair of eyes"
 A voice speaking from the rear of l the ball room called out to Dr. Bell: l Louder! We cannot hear back here.' | While Dr. Bell was replying to this request, his hand, which on Miss Kel-
 ler's wrist had spoken to her directions | from time to time. was now for mo-
 ment raised. This disconcerted Miss Keller tc such an extent that for timo she was unable to continue. Finally complete harmony was restored be- tween the two, and Miss Keller con- | tinued.
 q appeal to you to give the blind | man the assistance that shall secure | for him complete or partial indopend- 1 ence. He Is blind and falters. There 1 fore, go a little more than half way to
 meet him. Remember, however, braTe 1 and self-reliant as he is, he will always 1 need a guiding hand in his.
 She ended, and While aPpIduSe "'ts l sounding that sine could not hear, and l handkerchiefs were waved that she
 could not sec she laid her head for a i moment on Dr. Bells shoulder, tired | out with this slow delivery of nearly 1 i5OO words-unheard by her. Once
 early in the speech Miss Keller lost the | thread and passed by a section of seV- ! eral hundred words. This. however. I she inserted later (before her conclu- | sion) fitting 1t in an appropriate place As Miss Keller took her seat again l she seemed Tn high spirits. Not know | ing that Bishop Greer was asking that | the association's endowment of S25,000 | be raised to s150.O00, she began speak ] ing aloud to her tnacher who with fin gers flying between those of her pupil | checked her.
 Miss Kensr was then taken intol the Astor Gallery. where there was an eX- | hibit of blind workers. She had with l her a rose-deckcd basket which was to
 receive checks for the assoeiatton's l fund
 q dc not wish to be q beggar," she said to the throng of curious, some of whom were staring at her through lor-