Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-05

| ring. In Scotland and England 1t mas
taken a great leap forward.
| London has successful institute FOR
| massage for the blind. Three dstin-
| guished London doctors refuse to employ
| any but blind masseurs for their patients.
| recognizing the superirity In delicacy OF
! touch of the blind to the sighted. Eff
! forts for the employment Of the blind IN
| this field in America make slow progress.
but in Philadelphia. New York and else
where this movement is an onward one,
| requiring most for its success the educa-
| ton of the public as to Its undoubted
| feasibility and advantage.
"A useful invention of recent times for
the blind is shorthand machine. which
| puts the blind stenOgrapher on near
| footing with the sighted stenographer and
opens for him a new and perfectly prac-
| teal field of remunerative industry. There
are public stenographic stations in Eng
| land and the letter dictated TO the good
blind sterographer and transcribed by
| him on the typewriter is apt to be as
| quickly and as accurately done as that
by the sighted stenographer.
X
I'm England blind students are fire.
quently working for degrees in the uni
| versities This has been made largely
possible through Gardeners trust for the
blind. which puts at the disposal Of capa-
BILE blind students physically and mentally
suited for their work scholarships SUI
ficient to help them through their uni
versity course. A recent law In the state
of New York provides a sum to assist
blind students during their course at col
lege with a reader THE work at the
Normal College for the Blind in Norwood.
England, is monumental in its thorough
ness and the splendid records Of its grad
yates
Some blind people are fond of skat-
ing and are fearless riders. In Glasgow
and Birmingham the wage-earning ca
pacity of the adult blind has been greatly
Increased by the recent application of
electric power to machines used by them
"In Glasgow the blind women gained
a sealed competition for equipping the
Cunard Steamship Company with mat
tresses. The work was awarded to them,
not because 1t was blind work, as this
fact was not known to them, but because
It was the bset work offered All work
for the blind should hold its market
through intrinsic merit and not from pity
The Introduction of knitting and GRO
cheting machines in place Of the old-time
knitting needles and crocheting needles
has done much to increase the earning
power of blind women. Carpentry in
Glasgow is successfully done by the blind
men, who make admirable simple furni-
ture.
-
the formation of the College of Teachers
for the Blind. Certificates will not be be-
slowed upon the teachers by this college,
unless they have theoretical and practical
knowledge of the Braille raised print for
the blind
although there are splendid Libraries
for the blind throughout the world, much
money and much good temper has been
lost through the multiplicity of types for
the blind Helen Keller says: "A plague
upon them all. Let us have one system,
whether 1t be ideal or not
illinois, Overbrooke. Boston. in all
eighteen schools for the blind have
decided on the most recent form
of Braille as the simplest and
most practical modern type for
the blind. The original Braille music
is unQuestionably the best obtainable mu-
steal notation for the blind. Increased OPP
portunities for them will doubtless include
the disappearance Of the New York print.
This print was invented by that great
philanthropist and first educator of the
blind in this country, DR.. John Dennison
Russ, who was the first superintendent OF
the New York Institute for the Blind and
who educated at his own expense the first
blind children to be instructed In this
country Probably ultimately the simplest
form Of Braille for writing and the splen-
lid Braille music. invented by Louis
Braille. the great French blind mathe-
matician and musician, will be used
throughout the world.
1.-THE increased attention paid in Ken
lucky. Philadelphia, Batavia, Boston and
other places to athletics for the blind Is
among the most encouraging signs of the
times for their welfare. The sports espe-
cially-the fearless races, jumping and
running by the blind at Overbrooke-are
among the modern wonders In athletics.
The business classes started here were
also a happy thought of that great Amer
lean educator of the blind. Mr.. Edward
Allen. who Is now stimulating the blind Of
Boston to renewed efforts. The require
ment is an admirable one. that any
school which we are to consider as up
to date must keep q careful card cata-
logue showing what becomes of the grad
yates. and the suggestion that no blind
person be permitted to graduate from a
school without a certificate, showing his
ability to do something. no matter how
humble. sufficiently we'll to become a
wage Garner.
For good results schools should be in
the country, with fresh air all around.
They should have the best. not merely a
good-enough type, for reading and writing
and music. and they should fit their pupils
through the best obtainable instruction to
look after themselves in the sighted world.
See to 1t that the blind boys and girls
in your neighborhood are fitted to make
their way in life. Don't permit such tales
as the following to be possible: A pupil
in the New York Institute for the Blind
came to me with tears in her sightless
eyes concerning g. recent classmate of
hers. My friend has sixty-two honor
marks and has studied hard she said,
but she has never been taught how to
make a penny. They cannot keep her at