The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-11-19
Blind Woman Good Housekeeper,
Has Been "A Years at 1t

New York Sun: A blind woman In
this city is able to do the entire house
work for herself and three boarders.
This she has done for fourteen years.
Eyes, / do everything for the four OF
US" she said, to a visitor; cooking,
washing and ironing and all the clean
ing, Then between times make bas-
kets and read.
1T was a lucky thing for me that I
knew all about homework before l was
actually blind. ] lost my sight gradu-
ally, which / think made it easier. AS
soon as the doctors said there was no
help for me / began teaching myself
how to do things without looking at
them. BY feeling, tasting and smelling
/ gradually got so / was able to see
the daily improvement in my work
THE days when could see pretty
we'll would shut my eyes while did
things and then open them just long
enough to see how I'd succeeded. I
found this a great help, especially in
cooking and ironing, and think the
way I live now shows how well / sue
ceeded in teaching myself how to be
blind. / can cook anything we need in
a family like ours, and ! can iron nice
shirtwaists as well as anybody.
Always Liked Cooking.
81 always liked cooking SO that it
comes easy to me. / use gas stove
and when people ask IL don't burn
myself / feel like laughing at them
why should I burn myself, I'd like to
know? / think some of the simple
things, like eggs, for instance, are the
hardest for me to cook. And that an
omelet or q poached egg is harder to
cook to my liking than doast of beef
or an apple pie
This sightless housekeeper then
showed the materials for the dinner
she was about preparing. Her board
ers came. home from business about
6:15 and dinner was served at $50.
There were a roast of beef, potatoes
of uniform size to be roasted around
the beef, lima beans, all shelled and
now immersed In cold water before
boiling, and big bowl of the best
looking and most fragrant apple sauce
that any cook could make, no matter
how well she could see.
II always buy my bread and rolls,
the blind housekeeper said, for IL
seems foolish to take time with things
you can buy easily. could do q lot
of my baskets in the time it would
take me to make bread. We have hot
bread sometimes for change.
II don't think the sense of smell
helps me asi much In cooking as 1t does
most blind housekeepers. can't ex-
plain how it is that | know when a
thing is done. but / seldom make a
mistake. In roasting meat | so by the
time and size of the roast. have
a notched clock, so that can tell the
time by feeling the face know about
how long a roast of a certain size
takes to cook, and by basting it can
tell how it's getting along.
odoro No Guide.
"The raw smell and the done smell
they talk about don't mean so much to
me In cooking as to other blind Wo-
men, but the smell in ironing is great
help, and OF course all my senses are
much keener now than they were
when | was first blind.
Il don't like TO do my own market
ing. 1t takes me time In the morning
which / need for my houseworK and
it's hard to get child to act as a
guide, for they're all in school about
the time / want them. I've found 1t
was best to make list of what
want and give 1t to the butcher or
the grocer. I'm good pay and they
know this, and they treat me as well
as IL / went and picked out the things
myself with a pair OF good eyes.
aA1f fand tr On niub r9nu thai ~ \
had things to do over again I'd just
have rooHers and not boarders
There's more money in renting the
rooms, now that meat eggs and but
ter are so high.
~ began my little boarding house
with less than 800 in the bank and
with just enough sight to distinguish
light from dark. Now can't see even