The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-11-04
New York Herald.)

- light could find its way, you might
,at out your hand and grasp the hand
- one nearest and dearest to you, and
,he or he probably would fail t o per-
.ojve your identity.
sentiment may interpose a demur-
r.r 10 this statement, but q thorough |
.ralvsis Of what an individual may
mean to you beyond sound or sight
and how sharply you d~ifferentiate one |
person from the other by the mere
,rasp Of the hand will perhaps bring 1
md Endorsement OF it. |
in the office Of the Matilda Zieglar
Magazine for h Blind, at No. $50
West Fifty-fourth street, there is a
Young woman who needs only to clasp
your hand to be able to recognize you
for all time. She is Katherine A. NC
Girr. absolutely blind, absolutely deaf,
but gifted with so extraordinary a
have examined her believe her to be
in some ways more remarkable than
Helen Keller.
Katherine McGir does not need to
hear her friends nor to see them in
order TO ~reconize them. She stretches
cut her hand and clasps the hand Of
Il new acquaintance in a peculiar fash
ion. that seems to make her at once
mistress of the entire conformation Of
the hand and wrist. Then there goes
down in her memory q record as dis
~tinctiye and infallible as any thumb
print. If the new acquaintance takes
the pains to form his name in long
hand letters in the palm of her hand
when next the blind girl clasps his
hand she will give his name without
d moments hesitation, but in the con-
fused and muffled accents that bear
pitiful testimony to her lack of hear
inG.
In all New York there are probably
few more valiant figures thar this
young woman, who, handicapped at
every turn, unable to hear or see,
hardly able to speak intelligibly, is
making a place for herself in the
world of work, a place Of which she is
Sin The greatest need, for her home, al
b4S West Fiftieth street, is not a pros
porous one and the blind girl labors
not alone for the JOY Of working, but
also because the money which she
may earn is a necessary part Of thu
family income
Learns Proof Reading.
So keen is Katherine McGirr's intel
hsence, and SO sturdy her determine
ton, that she is forcing the n sens
she possesses-that Of az
the work Of three senses Already
after a few months apprenticeship
she has shown decided skill in proof
reading the magazine for the blind
If her work improves as rapidly dur
ing the next six months as it has i
the months that are past the youn
woman will be regarded as n Of tn
ablest proof readers on the magazine
When she sits at her desk PATIENT
drawing her slender fingers over tn
lines of raised characters Of the proc
which she is correcting or noting tn
errors which she finds upon her type
writer it seems to the onlOOker increo
ible hat she should have gathered tn
information which enables her pla
so intelligent q part in life throdg
the slender channel of one sense.
When the page proof Of the mags
zine is given to Miss McGir for col
reCtion and she comes upon an errt
with her sensitive fingers she not
on her typewriter the number OF II
page and the number of the line fro
The top. Then n notes the error
II stands and gives the correctio
When the page has been thorough
zone over it is given to the pr1nte
WIN the page correction.
SO far the only obstacle in the pa
Of the deaf and blind proof reader n
been her unfamiliarity with mar
words. 1t is believed that 81
mas read every book published IN Il
language of the blind, and lon
Tor more literary worlds to conqut
out as she may not listen to the spo
en- word, nor hear he friends rel
aloud there are many words WI
which she is not acquainted.
Dictionary a Grea Joy.
\ great joy has come into her II
recently. Mr.. Walter G.. Holmes, w
y the manager of the magazine
me blind, has given her a dictiona
printed in the characters she know
10 this precious volume h devo
All Of her waking hours which are 4
EVEN to work. Those who refer Tax
hously to the dictionary as mice Hg
reading" or in the same vein call
an interesting story" should eaten
glimpse of Katherine McGirr as 4
taSer fingers gather in its cold a
,rudite message. Never was roman
Iction more feverishly perused, neH
dld lofty verse or brilliant essay mt
with more delighted appreciate