Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-02-02

NNS war pnlldnLufOplcS VI
5A one kind and another for
$3.50 the relief of those strick-
en- by the disasters of
this disastrous age. No signs are big
ger, none have larger letters than
those surmOunted by the crossed
flags of France and the United States
which announce that a Franco-Ameri-
can committee is at work there.
And yet one of the most interesting,
unique and valuable of these fine
American philanthrOpies has no big
sign, no large letters and is SO little
known in America that 1 am sure
description of it's work will be news
to most Americans, and very good
= news at that. This is the Phare de
France (the French Lighthouse for
the Blind). 1t is supported by the
FrancO-American Committee for Men
direction of Miss Winifred Holt, whose
years of work at the American Light
house for the Blind in New York has
so marvelously transformed life for
the blind of that city.
She has been in France for a little
into work for men blinded in battle
with the same tremendous energy and
indOmitable perseverance which has
accomplished so much for the blind
in America. The French Lighthouse
is the result of that years activity.
I.L~
Imagine that you are now about to
visit that institution under the guild
ance of one of the volunteer workers,
perhaps that charming young grand
daughter of our President Grant, to
whom is often assigned the task of
showing visitors about. You ring at
No. IA on the Rue Daru, the quiet old
street of the Russian church, with it's
gOld-tipped domes.
The heavy door swings open, you
step into large, peaceful, stone-paved
COURTYARD, with handsome old palace
facing you, at the top of a flight of
broad steps. A soldier or an officer
in a natty uniform is probably either
going nimbly up or coming confidently
down those steps, swinging a light
bamboo cane. His alert, upright bear
ing give you no hint of his blindness.
If you follow him as he turns to his
left, you find yourself in a we'll
equipped gymnasium for the blind,
which is, so your guide tells you, the
only thing of the sort in France. Your
blind soldier (who is enjoying a rest
between lessons) stoops, puts on a
pair of roller skates, and is off in a
dashing swoOp about the polished gym
nasium floor.
His face is soon tingling and glow
ing with the exercise, the strong
rhythmic swing of his body is exhil- |
arating to witness. Your guide MUIR
murs that four months ago that man
was in hospital, alone, sick, utterly
discouraged, life a black abyss of |
despair before him. Here is one of |
the achievements of the French Light |
house.
'But is he really blind?" you ask in
credulouSly. "How can he have won
back that fine physical poise, that |
splendid confidence in his body which
means so much for seeing people and
which we never associate with the |
blind?"
Americas Great Gift.
"Ah, that is the special secret of |
this American institution the especial
gift of America to the French blind. |
Our blind soldier, his interval of rec
reation gone by, has slipped off his
roller skates and stepped quickly into
a nearby room. His blindness only
revealed by flourish of his light cane
to make sure of the position of the
door.
He has gone to take a lesson in
massage, which is one of the most
profitable means of livelihood open to
men without eyes. Like all his fell
lows in the Phare, he takes very short
lessons; with frequent intervals of
recreation and change of occupation,
because war blindness means nearly
always head wounds and head wounds
mean a brain that must not be over
taxed.
We leave him to his study of the |
skeleton, the big plaster casts of mus
cular arms and legs, and TO his expert |
teacher; while we turn to other things. |
Our guide takes us back through the |