The Washington times., 1914-03-09

says: with the larse-hearted gen.
eerosity that characterizes the Amer,
Schools Tor blind chiIcren. and
almshouses for blind paupers, but
with singular indirection, we have
failed to supplement our endeavors
to instruct the blind youth by the
cooperation necessary to make them
self-supporting when we have given
them a trade or profession"
For Life Occupation.
That charge was penned twenty
years ago. Since that time a great
awakening has taken place. There
Is much yet to be done for the blind.
but the beginnings of an industrial
education that will fit them for
numerous kinds of life work have
been made in many States.
In Baltimore, blind telephone girls
at private exchanges have been pro-
nounced a euccess. Blind stenog-
raphers now are employed In most
institutions for the blind, and are
breaking their way into the business
and professional world. Music opens
up a wide field for the blind, and in
Washington there are half dozen
blind music teachers of genuine mu-
steal attainments. Blind men with
musical ear and a mechanical bent
are being trained to be piano tuners
of the principal cities in the United
States in which she inspected the
five principal channels through
which work for the bind is being
done. namely, private schools for the
blind. Industrial homes, workshops,
libraries, and public schools
The Washington Home.
An excellent exemplification Of
the new sort of training being given
the blind, Mrs. Rider stated, is found
in Washington new Home for the
Blind, at 1850 r street There the
t,iIna make brooms, hammocks, mat
tresses. and do loom work and ~eaV-
ing, and the products are IN great
demand Such work when done pE
the blind, owing to their more acute
sense of touch, is said to be better
done than by sighted persons. Az
this home the newest processes and
the latest inventions are INTRODUCED:
Washington also has IT'S Columbia
Polytechnic Institute, where the
blind are given the same sort or
higher technical courses that regu-
lar colleges offer. \ novel. Michael
Rartmore." was written by X. w.
Syann, head of this institution. ana
was printed and published entirely
within the school Many colored
postcards visitors buy here also are
printed at this institute. located at
1905 II street northwest.
Washington has 10 academic school
for the blind, but about a dozen
WASHINGTON pupils attend the Mary
land School for the Blind. at Over
lea. There the usual academic stud
les, combined with work adapted TO
fit the blind for some definite work,
are given
Given Wide Circulation
There are about one hundred adult
blind persons in Washington. The
majority of these are regular pa
irons of the reading room for the
blind, though many of them seldom
visit the room. The Library has
provided two electric automobiles
for the use Of patrons of this room.
and the large volumes in New York
Point in the two "Braillies' or IN
the Moon type, are sent to their
homes and collected again.
But that is only a small part OF
the work Of the room. Uncle Sam
recently has allowed ali books for
the blind to be sent through the
mails free. So the Congressional
7 'hrarv's hooks for the blind now
circulate All ONtT
Ana in the two years of Mrs. Riders
tenure n book has not yet been lost!
That is p wonderful tribute to the
honesty Of the blind. for no special
investigation Is made Of the requests
that nour In from all sections OF the
country. The obje"t of the Library
is To circulate its books as widely
as possible ON the shelves they
merely Eather dust
Recently a blind professor IN a
California college said n" had been
una bic to procure Il F'isk"'s History
of the United States in American
Brai!le type. Mrs. Rider bought the
volumes and sent them 10 him.
Mrs. Riders Enthusiasm.
No one could talk with Mrs. Rider
long and not catch some o. the en-
thusiasm with which sh" goes about
the work Of letting sunshine into the
lives of thos.. to whom the VISUAL
life is shut out.
There has been much sympathy
for the bird" said Mrs. Rider,
but too itic practical effort IT,
help them. Greater progress would
be made Il one thing were more
widely understood, that nearly all