The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-14

not go, but the National Institute for the Blind, of which he is now president, is one tangible result of his efforts When the war broke out, Pearson devoted him. self to relief work. The Prince of Wales fund, which has collected something like S3O,D0000, was his creation. When men began coming home blinded from the front, Pearson saw for himself new field of usefulness. These brave fellows, who believed that life was ended for them, must be shown that they could still be useful citizens: that they could even be fairly happy With the aid of the British Red Cross society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Pearson started tenn porary home for them, but he wanted one that would be ideal. So he went to his friend, Otto Kahn of the famous firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.,, and coolly asked for the loan of St. Dunstans, his beautiful London home, for this purpose, and Gall honor to the AmericanD got it.
 This famous mansion which has passed through many hands since the Marquis of Hertford built it, nearly 100 years ago, and which Otto Kahn has owned for up- ward of 13 years, is undeniably one Of the choicest residence in or about Lon don. It is surrounded by an estate of E acres which adjoins (and formerly was part ofD Regents park one of the love- Hest and widest of London's renowned open spaces and which includes beauti- full lake Looking from the picturesque
 terrace" in the rear of the mansion one might easily imagine oneself in the heart of the country, for not one single trace of London can be seen. nothing but undulating lawn trees and water
 Truly an almost ideal temporary home for sightless victims of war. And what unbelievable things they learn here, to be sure! To be divers for one thing can you credit it? IS well as to me masseurs (hence the anatomy class), telephone op- era tors, shorthand writers and typists poultry experts, bootmalSers, carpenters, basket-makers and a dozen other things. This too, almost entirely from blind teachers, for. as Pearson himself pith- fly put it, "If you, as a man with sight tell one of these chaps to buck up, be- cause he can learn carpentry, say, quite easily, he is apt to think, Go to the devils What do you know about it?' But if a blind man who is an expert carpenter tells him the same thing, he is the more likely to believe it, and to pitch in with courage and enthusiasm"
 Meanwhile in their leisure moments these blind "Tommies'' and Jacks learn to row on the lake in the grounds and become expert oarsmen, as the exploits of the "St. Dunstan's'' crack -four proves. In races on the Thames at Put ney, during the past summer, they best ed several blind crews from other insti- tutions, and so recently as on Thursday lost. over the same course, they met 3 sighted crew from Emmanuel college and beat them decisively!
 By four lengths" declared one of the pretty volunteer helpers at ''St. Dun- stan's," who described the races to the writer. ''We say by six lengths, but they dispute that. Still, it was fine win for our fellows and mighty proud they were*"
 Of course, the "cox' in such cases has to be a sighted" person. Rowing. il seems, in the form of recreation which these blind soldiers like best because it is the only one in which they can feel that they are conducting other people, in- stead of being conducted by them.
 Perhaps the best way of "visualizing "St Dunstan's" for you will be to de- scribe how it was shown me by the genius of 1t all, c. Arthur Pearson him. self. He is there. among his boys" as he calls them, practically all the time, and spends the rest in visiting the hospitals interviewing blinded men there, and put ting hope into them by telling them what can be done for them at the house thai was built by the famous and naughty nobleman who was one of the original creators of the celebrated "Wallace Col. lection," and whom Thackeray immortal ized.
 Arrived at "St Dunstan's,'' ant awaiting one's turn to be resolved by it. energetic head, one sees doors open ant men emerge who obviously are blind, ana yet who go straight ahead on their way to one part of the building or another a. if in full possession of their sight. And then one notices that, on the floor be tween the doorways are paths of greer baize and has it explained that these arc tharn GO a fn do ha Ia; 1;,,S men. So long as they are on the baize path the latter know exactly where they are going, if they step off they realize that they have missed their way, an6 the immediate thing to do is to step or again.
 But here Is c. Arthur Pearson com ing to greet his caller and one rises to return his greeting with curiosity
 mingled with sympathy. had not seer him for 10 years. Then he was mos active. He has changed little. save foi his dark eyes, which are obviously sightless. Tall and well built and quite evidently, as full of ginger" as ever, the only other sign of his af fliction is the fact that when he ex it out not straight, but far to one side, and too high up, making it nee essary for you to do ditto.
 "Now let me take you round" he says, and with quick strides leads the way (along baize path), into the for mer ballroom. where some 20 or 3( sightless eXwarriors are studying Braille and reading it, working type. writers. and tapping at the other queeI little machines that have been men toned. These prove to be shorthand machines. which write the signs, 1T Braille. on thin paper tape. This the operator reads, between his fingers and then transcribes the contents or a special Braille typewriter. Those machines are necessary" said Pearson "because no blind person can write accurately by hand. My own writing has now become next to indecipher- able. Soon it will have become quite so. But, With the aid of these ma chimes there is nothing to prevent any of these chaps from becoming expert stenographers and typewriters."
 Now let's go out into the grounds he continued. and led the way through a doorway and out upon the terrace al the front Of which was flight of some four or five stone stairs. I noticed that we were now on slate path which, out of doors. takes the place of the baize ones within. Pearson was