The Washington herald., 1912-08-08
BIZ JULIA CHANDLER MANx.


entered the room carrying the June re-
ports of her young charges (which would
tell them whether or not they would
pass on to higher grade or remain
through another term In the Sixth be-
cause their work had not been salts
factory an expression of dread came
into David's eyes. and his lips trembled
in anticipation of the shame Of which
he felt sure.
Miss Mayo passed the reports around.
and when she came to David she gave
his hand surreptitious squeeze. The
boy looked up quickly with eager hope.
"oh." he whispered eagerly. 1T can't
be that I passed?"
Miss Mayo heard the words and heard
the eager tone Of the boys voice and
her heart swelled with sympathy for
him. as she shook her head.
David was fifteen. the oldest boy IN
her room. For three consecutive terms
she had helped him struggle through
the grade. always to met the same bit
ter disappointment.
| Said She Was Mistaken.
The first year David came to her Miss
Mayo watched him strain his poor eyes
over his books in utter hopelessness. She
at once wrote his mother that the boy
saw imperfectly and asked her to give
the matter immediate attention. Her
note was unanswered. Again she wrote.
this time to David's father. that the boy
was at a tremendous disadvantage be-
cause there was some defect Of sight
which hampered his progress. The faith
er answered her curtly. He said that
she was mistaken. that David saw well
enough, but that he didn't like to study.
A licking was what he needed, In his
opinion. and IL there were any more
f~N- Ill =
see to 1t personally that he got the
thrashing. and a good one It should be
at that.
Miss Mayo read the letter in utter
CONSERVATION. She was a young, mex
perienced teacher, and she didn't know
that there are men and women in the
world whose ignorance and obstinacy
blind them to all truth. She didn't know
that little children are born into homes
where parents attribute pure cussedness
as the cause Of their every failure in
life; parents who ignore either mental
or physical defects and refuse to correct
them.
After that Miss Mayo helped the boy
all she could. but with a room filled to
its capacity with bright and eager chill
dren she had little time in which to
give him individual attenrion. Shame
and dread grew so strong in the boys
heart that he could not concentrate his
thoughts upon a subject even when she
explained II to him. The eyes grew
worse. gaining all the time in an unnat-
ural brightness which deceived his par
ents.
Him with eyes that bright" exclaim-
ed his mother Indignantly when Miss
Mayo went home with him that after
noon last June when he got the report
of his third failure in her grade. to ex-
plain the matter to his parents.
home" she threatened the boy who
shrank with dread. remembering former
punishments he had received when he
had failed to pass his grade
The Appallins Pity of II.
For a moment his teacher was dumb
with the appalling pity Of the thing.
then she found her voice and the words
tumbled over each other. so fast did
they come from her sympathetic heart.
You are David's mother. and are re-
sponsible to God for him. II you don't
have his eyes attended to he will go
blind and grope his way through life. |
an ignorant. miserable man; a burden |
to himself and to you. He can't see
enough now to learn his lessons and
what he has suffered through the blame |
heaped upon him at home, and the |
shame of continuous failures at school. |
is something you may never be able to |
understand. I have come home with him |
to tell you that it is not his fault that |
he has not passed and to implore you
to have his eyes attended to-"
You don't know David the mother ]
of the boy answered her. He can see \
when he has a mind to. but I'll tell his !
father when he comes home and see what 1
he says
Miss Mayo could not wait until David's |
father came home, which was well for
her, for her heart would have been |
wrung with pity for the lad who was
soundly for a failure for which
his parents alone were to blame.
The Inevitable Result.
All this happened when school closed
last June. The other day I met Miss
Mayo on the street and stopped to ask
her what had become Of the boy David
Her eyes filed with tears which climbed
into her voice, choking her words as
they came.
His mother came to see me two weeks
ago. The child is blind. They would
not believe until 1t was too late. When
she was shown in she sank down in front
Of me and clasped her arms around my
knees sobbing out the boys tragic story.
"'And you told us. Miss Mayo. You
told US long ago, but somehow II didn't
seem so. David's eyes was so bright,
about the seeing, but We know now and
his father is most broke up about it,
she said.
He's in the hospital now, but 1t is
hopeless his teacher went on to tell
me- The doctor says It would have been
easy to have remedied the trouble a few
years ago. Think of II! boy to go
through all the years OF, his life in
total darkness because the man and
woman who are responsible for his ex-
Istence were too ignorant to realize the
Of his defect. and too obstinate
10 listen when they were told by those
who did know what II would mean to
The lad were his eyes neglected. There
should be a national law to prohibit ig-
norant people from bringing little child
rem into the world to suffer criminal neg
ect." she ended Indignantly. |,
suggested that the case of David ,
Was an extreme one, to which she an ,
swer ed:
MOT so extreme as you might think.
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