Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-05-08
Tool By
RevGeo1rgeR
Van .DeWater:
Rector OF
HAMEeWy-
MWhNk
n Love a Picket Fence, Love
a Mud Puddle, | Love Every.
thing Around Me-NoW ] Can
See Them All Again. ] Can
See, See, See!"

avEW YORK. - man just past
middle age, gray-haired and
IL ruddy-faced. sat thumbing
Bible. He was the Rev. George
R. Van De Water, D. D., rector OF the
big New York Church Of st. Andrew,
and the place was the study IN mis-
home. No. West One Hundred ana
Twenty-second street.
As he read through his thick
trimmed. big-lensed spectacles he smii'
ed. And then he laughed-the laugh
of a man in Joy.
What a great thing it is to see!
he exclaimed. Il have come out OF
the great darkness-I can see again.
I can see, see, see!"
He showed the front page OF the
Book.
This Is what have written" he
added, earnestly. There 1t was In his
own handwriting, the handwriting OF
the man who had started into the dark
four years ago and now had come out
into the light:
This Bible. most comprehensive
and in the best type and on the thin
nest paper. was given me by my broth
er John during the year of my blind
ness for my use after the operation
"'Open Thou mine eyes. that ! may
see the wondrous things Of thy law
Psalm CIVIL"
And then this:
1T was the first book read after
the operation. when l had received
my glasses"
whereas I was blind, now ! see!"
he uttered solemnly. gazing through
his big glass lenses. These the ocu-
list gives to take the place OF the lens
of>the eye removed by the operation
for cataract. 1t was few days be-
fore that his church had held cele-
bration of thanksgiving in remem-
brance of his return to sight Both
cataracts have been removed from Dr.
Van De Waters eyes. and again he
can see. His brother John passed In
to eternal darkness only the week be-
fore sight came back to the eyes OF
DR.. Van De Water.
Few can realize" said DR.. Van De
Water, what 1t means to go blind and
then have the Joy Of sight returned.
How II happened can't tell: 1t might
have been my experiences at Santiago
IN the Spanish war"-Dr. Van De Wa
ter was chaplain of the Seventy-nrst
New York therefor 1t might have
been inheritance or accident"
First olImmer Of Fearful Truth.
'T heard the real truth in 1908.
had never been to an oculist IN my
life%I wore glasses merely to help
me see more clearly. But in that year
I noticed that things were getting
dimmer-there wasn't enough light.
began complaining that our church
wasn't light enough for me to see
plainly; at home l began to believe
that the gas was dim.
DR. Van De Water looked up through
his big lenses and smiled reminis
cently. And he told of how he had
zone to his regular optician to have
his glasses changed.
"Look here the man said to me
7 know you're q man who wants t.
know the truth. I'm not going to lie
TO you-you've got cataracts on botf
eyes. See q specialist right away.
Cataracts!
Who can realize what they mear
unless they. too. have had them.
means that the sun goes out. that 1t II
midnight at midday! Things grow
strangely dim in broad daylight. i
gets grayer and grayer and then a
last you grope your way in an awful
never ending night You are blind
where once you could see!
Such we're the experiences Of Dr.
Van De Water. As the days passes
they became darker and darker, Blu
he mentioned 1t to Mrs. Van De Waite
alone, ever hoping for the light. Tn
affiiction COMES slowly. sometime
blindness does not arrive for tw'
years
Foresaw Day Of the Dark.
In 1910 he went abroad in the hop
Of staving OF the awful day when tn
world would go out. He and Mrs. Va
De Water visited Oberammergau I
see the Play Of the Passion. He ha
to take field glasses with him to Sc
the actors perform. and he knew tina
the day couldn't be long postponed
the day Of the dark.
"One eye went before the other
The clergyman said. but still I coul
make out things. We went to tn
villa Serbellon. above Belagio.