Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-12

fractions, cannot go about so much and
have so many lonely hours.
Requests have also been made by pro-
fessional men who have lost their sight
and who wish to keep in touch with the
standard and recent scientific publica-
tons. Copies of these books may be
made if the number Of requests will war
rant the cost Of their manufacture.
The new library and it's branches will
also be headquarters for information as
to the real requirements of the blind
readers, and in this way philanthropists
can ascertain the things that will really
benefit this unfortunate class. This plan
will help both sides and will stop to some
extent indiscriminate giving that some
times does more harm than good. In
this way the sums that are donated by
charitable people will be vastly more
efficient
In accordance with an act of Congress
no charge is made by the government 1oi
the transportation of books for the Dino
and these volumes may be sent by mai
to and from institutions at no cost. rms
makes the new institution able to carry
out it's plans with very little money, as
no salary is paid to any of Its officers
and sthe only expense Is the maintenance
of the headquarters and branches.
X \
In addition to this expense the only
other is that Of the wages paid to the
blind copyists and the material that they
USE Five cents a page Is paid them,
and with a little practice they are able
to earn a dollar and half by WORKING
six hours. In order to accomplish TINS
they require the services Of reader, but
there are many young women "ho'
though unable to give money, are only
too glad to devote a little Of their time
helping in this manner.
The machines used for copying books
into the blind type are ike immature
typewriters and have only six Keys. WIN
these 1t is possible to transcrlbe an the
letters Of the alphabet into the Brdilie
system of raised dots for letters ana wore
signs The paper used is very heavy ana
is usually moistened before the 1ndenta-
tions are made After the sheets are
finished they are covered with shellac TO
insure their longer wear Tor even ths
constant rubbing of the dehcate anu anu
sensitive fingertips will at least wear the
little dots down until they are no longer
discernible and then the book is useless
These sheets of heavy paper covered
with little raised dots are about nine by
twelve inches in size and fifty or seventy
five of them bound together with paper
cover constitute volume. Owing to the
thickness of the paper it is necessary to
use it takes several Of these volumes to
constitute a complete book, and one copy
Just been finished is in four volumes.
This is the work of the most expert OF
the copyists in Washington. little
woman who is totally blind and has an
invalid husband and five children. The
money she makes by doing this work
goes a long way toward the support OF
her family. and it is cases of this kind
that the institution aims to aid. Most OF
the work she does at home on blind
typewriter which was purchased for hel
by her friends.
OF course, this method of copying the
books is rather primitive and is like pro-
ducing copies of book by making copies
of it on regular typewriter, but it fur,
nishes employment for these unfortunates
and one copy of book printed for the
blind is more appreciated by them thar
a thousand printed for those who cal
see They have one printing press, and
a set Of type which has just been pur'
chased abroad. This machine after the