The Washington herald., 1908-02-02

, London, Feb. Livery night at Collins
Music Hall Islington. and the Empress
Theater. Brixton, the twinklng feet Of
Walker and May, colored comedians and
! dancers, win thunders of applause.
The woman comes forward to bow and
Z smile. The mans bold, intelligent eyes
roam over the house as though he appre-
cisted the flicker Of every clapping hand
But he can see nothing. for be is blind.
The dancing of Walker and May would.
in any case, be amazing. 1t is almost uu-
J accountable when one knows that the
man dances in utter darkness.
Behind this dancing I'm darkness there
is hidden a story Of amazing pluck and
stoicism. Walker always danced. Even
In the days when he was a pickaninny
there was laughter In his feet He danced
as one who loved dancing. He had
Agenius for dancing He made "a reputa-
Axon for dancing in two hemispheres.
Then suddenly. when ne was in Austria
liza. in the heyday Of his prosperity, all
the light and, as il seemed to him, all the
dancing, Of his life were suddenly shut
out Atrophy Of the optic nerve blinded
him almost instantly. 1t was as though
all the brilliant lights of the thoater had
been suddenly turned down and he was
dancing in darkness behind an impene-
trable fireproOf curtain.
For a few hours he suffered uuspeak-
able agony. Il seemed TO him that his
profession was gone, and that starvation
could be his only end All his life he had
amused people. No one had been able 20
resist the light-hearted ease of his dane
ing.
Il had been in his heart TO 80 ON dane
g and causing delight so long as he
ould dance
Splendid Courage.
But IN the darkness that encompassed
Fnim so suddenly he wrestled with himself.
and in spite of his blindness ne had the
courage the audacity TO determine to go
on being funny"
He had engagements at several music
halls I'm London. but thinking that no
manager would engage him If he knew
the secret OF his blindness. he made up
his mind not 10 give it away: and he did
not, in fact, tell his wife until crossing
the gangWay from the ship on which he
sailed for England. While ON the voyage
. he found his way by keeping close TO her
End touching her elbow with his, and
when he biundered into people he made "a
! Joke Of H.
There was nothing to show that ne was
blind. His eyes had the look of ordinary
eyes, and his smile was as ready as ever.
Soon after his arrival in England he
went 10 the Brixton Music Hall. and
without any practice gave his usual turn
lie walked quite naturally 10 the stage by
the side Of his wife and danced elaborate
coon dances and cakewalks without a
mistake. The second part Of the turn
was with his wife and here again he ac-
complished the feat of dancing and sing
ing and talking humorous dialogue with
out any one in the audience knowing he
! was blind.
\ His wife helped him by saying occa-
sionally under her breath. "One step this
way" or Not 80 far back. and also by
lightly touching him 10 show him where
she was Any one who shuts his eyes
and tries 20 sing and dance and carry on
an animated humorous dialogue with
some one else in d confined space viii
realize the difficulty of this
Help from the Orchestra.
For eighteen months ne earned a living
IN this way. and no one up TO then knew
that he was blind He was able 10 DO it
by knowing the position OF every musical
q instrument IN the orchestra. While the
orchestra was playing he felt safe. as he
knew from the sounds of the musical in
NtFAEltDfN eHdftlk WNtFe he was " NtN
the orchestra was silent he moved about
as little as possible.
AS he got on the stage ne tapped the
drop curtain with his hand. and then
boldly walked forward into darkness
smiling. And for nearly a quarter of an
hour he danced about the stage. and
walked backward and forward, and laugh
ed and sang-in darkness.
1t was only at the end Of eighteen
honths that he told the manager Of
Z music hall that he was blind. In his sim
plicity he had never thought that as Il
blind comedian he was worth more
money
The result is that Walker now appears
frankly as blind. But no one in the audi
euce can detect IL. And any day in Lon
don be can be seen stumbling along the
streets led by an attendant-a pathetic.
serious figure.