Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-17
OUTLINES NEED OF
BLINDED SOLDIERS
Mrs. John Allen Dougherty
Tells of Urgent Necessity
of Contributions.
TRAGEDY TO LIFE AWFUL

Urgent need of large additional con-
tributions to the American British
French-Belgian Permanent Blind Relief
War Fund is emphasized by Mrs. John
Allen Dougherty in a statement outlin-
ing some of the phases of the funds
work.
when we talk of soldier blinded in
the fighting" said Mrs. Dougherty. al
though our pity may be stirred pro-
foundly to the point of loosening our
purse strings. we have not, nor can we
have. any real conception of the trag-
edy that has bIighted life, until it af-
fects us Immediately and intimately.
Just as the War Itself.
ut is just as the war itself. We feel
q patriotic thrill when we picture the
long-locked ranks as they surge over,
the top and go roaring down to death.
but the horror of it all is borne in upon
our understanding only when in our
grief we seek to visualize the agony of
the husband who was dearest and best
or of the so-loyed son or brother gasp
ing in the throes of dissolution. from a
bayonet thrust or the fumes of poison
gas.
ut is only those actually engaged,
under the inspiration of personal devo-
can gauge this inferno of suffering.
"A German shell burst on French
field gun, that was covering flank po-
sition during an enemy attack, ana
piled the mangled bodies of the gun
crew. When they extricated them they
found Antoine Feuillet under the pile.
He was still living, but his eyes. eye
lids, nose, lips, ears land hearlng) were
gone. His fingers were burned to Gin
ders and pieces of his uniform were
still smoIdering on his blackened body.
This limp heap of quivering flesh
this thing that had borne the Semblance
of its Maker-was lifted tenderly into
the ambulance and passed on through
the emergency dressing station to that
port of broken men, the base hospital.
For some inscrutable reason of Provi
. dence the vital spark persisted. and
after long months of agony, mental no
his home.
One of Many Victims.
He is one of many such victims
adopted by great-hearted Americans.
who support the work of the American
BritiSh-French-Bel p e m n e
Blind Relief War Fund-that is to say
his inadequate pension of S24o a year
will be doubled by his benefactor until
death mercifully drops the curtain on
the tragedy.
This case is cited merely as an
illustration of one phase of the fund
work, that of procuring double pen
sions for the men who in addition to
losing their sight suffer also the loss
OF limbs. Experience has shown that
this is the best way to help them It
represents the difference between
PERJURY and relative comfort and thus
lifts this additional cross from them
1T is in it's ensemble a great work,
this OF our fund-great not alone in the
sense of the vastneSs and diversity of
its activities. but also in that of noble
ness. This is why our necessarily per-
sistent appeals to the public and the
press meet with such patient, gener-
Gus response; everybody realizes that
lit cannot subsist upon its quality of
grandeur, any more than the hunger
or man can be gratified by the mem
DRY of his last Christmas dinner We
need money, much money, and we need
it quickly