The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-19
When People See
With Their Fingers

people read? They have great big
books with letters that are denied
in the paper. Sometimes code
is used because it is easier to read
than all the letters of the alphabet.
There is now great big demand
for these books, as there are so
many soldiers that have returned
from the war that are well and
strong only they do not have any
eye sight. With the aid of books
and training in some sort of work,
they can easily become self sup
porting to a great degree. This
art of reading for the blind did
not come as vision to people, but
it came as an idea and then was
slowly developed and made better
through several centuries.
The earliest known reading for
the blind was engraved on block
of wood, invented by Spaniard in
the sixteenth century.
Blind Boy Could Read
Valentin IIauy is the name of
the man who first used embossed
paper as a means of reading for
the blind, and he came across the
idea by chance.
One of Hauy's pupils was a blind
Il E,.nv I h,,,,
he found one day, begging. One
day, as Leseur was sorting out pa
pers on his teachers desk, he
found card which was greatly in
denied by the letters of the print
ing press. The boy read many of
the letters. HNuy at once traced
some more with the handle of his
pen. The boy eagerly read them.
Printing with indented letters was
the result-a great discovery.
Printing slowly developed after
that time, and, in 1884, a Scotch
man published the Gospel of Saint
John in embossed print. The rest
followed and the entire Bible was
printed by 1910.
BraiIle Brings Code Idea
In 1884, Louis Braille, French
man, perfected system which is
today known as the Braille system
and which is used in many parts of
the world as the best and easiest
method of reading for blind people.
His idea was to use embossed print
just the same, only to use number
of dots (siX dots are used) in code
manner instead of the letters of the
alphabet, which take much long
er time to write and to read. The
system is very exact and very
simple. Different countries use the
Braille system with few changes,
but for the most part it is just
as Braille planned it. Braille him
self was a blind man, but accom-
plished great deal in his life. He
was a great lover of music and
played the organ very well.
1t takes long time to print
"Baille" books. but the number of
publications for the blind is in
creasing daily, as the demand is
greater right now than it has been
at any time.
David copperfieId in % Volumes
In New York there is published
magazine for the blind, and these
magazines are in use all the time,
the blinded soldiers are so anxious
to read of the latest events. One
of these magazines is also publish
ed in Paris.
There is Baille typewriter now,
and blind people can become al
most expert in it's use. There is
also the Baille slate, on which the
blind can learn to write easily and
quickly. In France today, there
are many blind men who are reg
ularly employed as typists.
OF course such work goes slowly
and is expensive. We can realize
this more when we know that
David Copperfield, which we who
can see, can buy at book store in
one small volume and at a price
a little less than a dollar and a
half, when printed in Braille, runs n
into a set of twenty-three volumes
and costs twenty-five dollars.
Steel, a compound of iron and