The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-15
WATCHFUL CARE FOR THE DEAF AND BLIND Remarkable Work of Children
 At TaIIadega BLIND PLAY HANDY OVER" Show Greatest Aptitude for Music While Deaf Seem To Take Nat
 urally to All Lines of Me-
 chanica Endeavor.
BLIND PLAY HANDY OVER"
BY WALTER HARPER.

BY WALTER HARPER.
 Talladega, September 14-(Special l. When little Lucille Mahan played some of the sweetest airs on the piano for my special benefit today with blind fingers, yet guided true to the proper chords by the unerring impulse or intuition of soul melody, I could hardly restrain the tears of profound gratitude to the omnpotent Creator who bestows so many rich bless ings on the poor and helpless.
 Little Lucille was born totally blind, blind to the physical beauties of the world, but she has something that maybe compensates for this loss-an exalted appreciation of the beauties of melody Not only this, but she is endowed with the power to interpret them with her voice and fingers. The deftness of those blind fingers on the keyboard Is simply wonderful
 Lucille is one of about 100 blind children who are being trained and educated by the state In the Alabama School for the BlinC. This institution Is a part of and under the same management as the Ala 1oAACOl three departments, all located at Tal- ladega. the school for the deaf. the school for the blind and the school for the negro deaf and blind There are more than 300 children in the combined institution.
 Term Opens.
 The term for the fall and spring is opening up this week, and the children are gathering from all sections of the state the deaf, the dumb and the blind. This is one of the greatest institutions of the state, and one that Is not properly ap- predicted. It is a commendable charity of the public, and every citizen should feel proud of the great good that is being done to unfortunate humanity here by the state through the direction of J. H. Johnson and his well selected and able corps of assistants.
 In this article it would be impossible to go into detail of methods and work in the institution, but suffice it to say that it is the most thorough of any institution in the state. The peculiar methods of teaching the blind deaf and dumb are necessarily complicated, and in class to themselves. The general public has but little idea of the work and the won derful results that are attained.
 As rule this class of unfortunates are bright, thoughtful and eager for knowl- edge. The tendency of the deaf mute seems to be to technical training. The blind as rule turn to music. They seem to be born with strong appreciation of melody.
 Technical Training.
 Therefore, the training after the general literary course is directed as much as possible along special technical lines. h. deed, from the very beginning the pupils are given instruction in manual train ing for a certain number of hours every day.
 new and well equipped woodworking ing and machine shop has just been built on the large campus. This is under the direction of James Mcdonald. This de- partment is showing some very fine re- sults as well as the shoemaking and printing departments. A. J. Hilton is in structor in shoemaking and H. McF Hof- steater is Instructor in printing. Miss Hollie Owens is instructor In sewing in the girls department, and good results are being obtained herc
 It would require many columns in The Age-Herald to give all the interesting features of life and work in these schools. Perhaps one of the most beautiful feat ures of the school life Is the motherly care of the little tots by Miss Mattie Rob- inson, Miss M F.. Toney and Miss Mamie Goodloe, as well as Walker Fowler, who has personal charge of the larger boys.
 The Little Mother.
 Miss Robinson is little mother to more than 40 little tots, and her personal care of each deaf and dumb child is beautiful beyond description. Day and night she watches over them with the fondest ma ternal care, and no mother who has a child in the institution has reason to worry over the safety of her boy or girl They get every possible attention and often get better attention than they could possibly be given in the average home.
 At the School for the Blind was spe- cially impressed with the motherly care of Mrs. F. H. Manning, the matron. She knows every one of her more than 90 children by name and the personal af- lection that exists between them is most beautiful.
 Children at Play.
 The afternoon was balmy and pleasant and the large campus was alive with
 
 Though these tots. boys and girls, could see nothing, they seemed to be perfectly happy, and they were playing games that you and l with all our senses could not possibly do were we stricken suddenly blind. For instance, a group of girls were playing "handy over" You remember the game. A ball Is tossed over a build ing by one team, and it Is caught by the opposing team. The wonder of it is these children were catching the ball. What un- seen power guided the blind fingers to find the ball, whizzing through the air could not understand. While I watched the deftness of the playing could but feel some pity for some members of the Birmingham baseball team These latter have eyes. but sometimes cannot sec
 The visitors at this institution is im- pressed with the apparent happiness and contentment of these blind children. They have hours for work and play and enjoy both supremely.
 Surely the Creator gives great comfort