Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-27

Tempted by Death.
The men who have been blinded in bat
tie have lost moxe than sight. They have
been robbed f'their independence. They
feel they are a burden. 1t is not only
the physical loss they suffer, but the
thought that no longer are they of use
that they are a care, that in the scheme
of things, even in their own little circle
of family and friends, there is for them nc
place. 1t is not unfair to the polu to
| say that the officer who is blinded suf-
fers more than the private. AS a rule, he
is more highly strung, more widely edu-
of the world is broader. he has more to
lose. Before the war he may have been
a lawyer, doctor, man of many affairs.
For him it is harder than for the peasant
spent in plating straw or weaving rag
carpets. Under such conditions life no
longer tempts him. Instead death tempts
him, and the pistol seems very near at
hand.
1t was to save men of the officer class
from despair. and from suicid, to make
them know that for them there still was
a life of usefulness. work and accom-
France the committee for men blinded in
battle. The idea was to bring back to
officers who had lost their sight courage.
hope and sense of independence, to give
them work not merely mechanical. but
more in keeping with their education and
intelligence. The President of France is
patron of the society and on its commit
tees in Paris and New York are many dis
ment has promised house near Paris.
where the blind soldiers may be educated.
When I saw them they were in temporary
quarters in the Hotel de Crillon. loaned
gathered from hospitals in different parts
of France by Miss Winifred Holt, who for
years has been working for the blind in
her lighthouse in New York. She is as
Cooper Hewitt. The officers were brought
to the Crillon by French ladies. whose
duty it was to guild them through the
streets Some Of them also were their in
structors. and in order to teach them to
read and write with their fingers had
themselves learned the Braille alphabet
This requires weeks of very close and pa
tient study. And no nurses uniform goes
with it. But the reward was great
1t was evident in the alert and eager
interest of the men who perhaps only a
week before wished to curse God, and
die" But since then, hope had return
ed to each of them, and he had found
door open, and a new life.
Hears Only the Voice.
And he was facing it with the same
or with even a greater courage than
that with which he had led his men
into the battle that blinded him. Some
of the officers were modelling in clay,
others were learning typewriting. one
with a drawing board was studying to
be an architect, others were pressing
their finger tips over the raised letters
of the Braille alphabet. Opposite each
officer, on the other side of the able,
sat a woman he could not see. She
of them were. She might be white
haired and a great lady bearing an
ancient title. from the faubourg
across the bridges, but he heard only
progress. or corrected his mistakes,
and a hand, detached and descending
from nowhere, guided his hand, gently,
s one guides the fingers of child.
The officer was again child in life for
the second time he was beginning with
A, 3 c. The officer was tall. handsome
and deeply sunburned. In his uniform
of a Chasseur d'Afrique he was
splendid figure. On his chest were the
medals of the campaigns in Morocco
and Algiers. and the crimson ribbon
of the Legion of Honor. The officer
places his forefnger on card cover
ed with raised hieroGiyDhics:
~ he announced.
mo" the voice answered him.
M" His tone did not carry convic-
ton.
You are guessing accused the
voice. The officer was greatly con-
fused.
NO, no, madamoiselle" he protested.
Truly. l thought it. was an NJ ,
you. You saw all that he could never
see: inside the room the great ladies
and latest American countesses. eager