The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-29
THE GREAT UPLFT .
Yl.-New World for the Blind
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By Frederic !. Haskin.

helping him through. There are sev-
 eral blind girls assembling the printed
 sheets ready for the binders and these have not yet made a mistake in their
 worK. one Is not only blind. but oeaf
 and dumb. She is the daughter of
 widow who Is janitress in an. apart
 ment house. The girl had never been
 known to smile until she began work
 in the magazine ofiee and found her.
 self a useful factor in the world. For
 as Helen Keller has truthfully said,
 the burden of the blind is not their
 blindness, but their idleness.
 The magazine Is stimulating the
 blind to literary work. Some months
 ago prizes were! offered for the best
 5000 word story sent in by the blind.
 More than a hundred stories were re-
 ceived, and some were of such merit
 that the editor was able to sell them
 to other magazines, One of the prize
 winners, Maryland girl, was so en-
 couraged by her success that she has
 gone to work with a will at short
 story writing and already has had thres
 stories accepted by magazines for the
 seeing.
 Romance. material of general inte-
 rest and the discussion of current
 events make up the subject matter os
 the magazine. The last number had for it's cover page a raised may of the Balkans, with. explanatory mar, ginal notes. A coming number will have a large map of the United States that can be cut in sections and furnish instructive and diyerting occupation for the readers for many hours. very old lady wrote to Mrs. zeigler not long ago: If I had only had your maga- zine when I lost my sight I would never have been out of the world all these twenty-nine years that l have been" One department is devoted to the printing of the letters from the successful blind They tell what they | have dena, and from their work others
 gaSn insplratton.
 Of the 10000 blind in the United | States only about one-flfth can read | yet modern philanthropy is institutlng system of home teaching that may | lift up the remaining 56.0oO into the l sylvania, with It's world-famous iu- | stItutlon for the instruction of the | blind, sends teachers to the blind in | their homes throughout the sate. New | York pays 43sO q year for the educa. | tion of each blind child placed in the schools. Massachusetts spends $5,00e
 a year teaching the adult blind ir | their hemes throughout the state. New | S2.500 and Delaware $1s200 for the pur- I pose. The NeW IOER <ASSoClakAOH hoi l the Blind and the Chicago Woman'i | Club maintain home teachers for thC
 blind in their respective cities.
 Only twenty-three States maintain
 school for the blind. many placing their
 blind in the school of nearby States. For the past forty years New York City has allowed an annual pension of from $35 to $50 to its adult blind. For
 merly these unfortunates were placed
 with the idiots. but later were placed | in private institutions. Illinois- has a pension fund for blind men over 2I
 and for women over IS, and maintains
 an industrial home for them at an ex- penditure of $55000l year. Pennsyi- vania for the past thirty years has spent about s20.O00 year on it's adult
 blind. California uses s50.oO0 a year