The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIS. Director.
Washington, d. @.
MORE LIGHTHOUSES.

lighthouses for the 5000 blind peo-
pie in this country and for the war
blind of allied nations are to be built
| in the near future. Two million dol
lars is now being raised by the COM
nittee for Men Blinded in Battle and
the money is to be used to build light
houses here and abroad like the three
now in existence in New York, Paris
| and Bordeaux.
| France came out of the war with
5000 blinded soldiers-an exception
| ally large number, due partly to the
fact that in the beginning the French
soldiers wore red caps which made
their heads brilliant targets. The 1tal-
ians have 1000 war blind. Compared
with these the sixty-six blind Ameri-
can soldiers seems small number,
and these sixty-six are being rehabih-
tated by the military organization.
But as these men go out from the
hospitals and schools to be civilian
workers they will become part OF
! the $4,000 blind population and then
| they will stand in need of some place
where they can learn new ways of
amusing themselves, where they can
get books and magazines in Braille
TYPE. and get assistance If work proves
hard to find. This is the work OF the
| lighthouse.
Different states and communities
have their special schools or homes
where sightless children are taught or
the aged blind can find shelter but on
the whole, very little is done to bring
light and cheer into the lives or the
rs, 900 men who cannot see
All sorts of ways to make the blind
feel in touch with the world have
been tried out in the New York light
| houses, and in the French lighthouses
| for blinded soldiers. Something to do
| is what the blind want most of all.
This does not mean that they are sat-
isfied to cut squares of paper on dot
ted lines unless the paper has some
serviceable purpose. They do not
want to work merely for works sake
nor to occupy time. What they do
want is what any other normal hu-
man being wants-to be of some use
| in the world and not have to sit idle
and alone all day.
Blind Work.
Fortunately there are a number of
occupations in which sight is not in
dispensable. Telephone switchboard
operating, piano tuning, stenography,
tipping, selling real estate are a few
of the lines of work in which blind
men and women are making good.
Some are also successfully engaged
as lawyers, writers, teachers and mu<
sicians. and others learn some craft
or trade.
These are all useful occupations,
but as matters stand now, they are
not always gainful for the blind. Peo-
pie still regard the sightless man with
mawkish pity when he really needs
sensible cooperation. That Is one
thing that the lighthouses are trying
to make right. A lighthouse is in the
main a school. But it also may serve
as club, library, clinic, employ
ment agency, and a store where ar
ticles made by the blind are sold. 1t
is not, however, a home.
The lighthouse in New York teaches
the blind of the city any occupations
for which they are suited and then it
| tries to show the public that here are
In New York popular interest has
been very successfully aroused, espe-
cially among some of the wealthy peo-
pie who make point of employing
lighthouse workers when possible.
The need for more sensible attitude
toward the blind artisan or profession
al worker may be readily seen from
the estimate, based on census figures,
that two-thirds or the blind men who
work make less than $500 a year.
Most of them are worth far more.
The lighthouse recognizes that be-
sides a chance to work the blind need
amusement. Being read to and taken
to walk used to constitute the pleas
ures of the sightless. As a result OF
lack of activity blind people were
often frail and seemed to lack anima-
ton. Now, blind boys go swimming
and become Boy Scouts at the New
York lighthouse Special playing
cards and checkerboards enable the
blind to play games with as much
speed and pep as those that see.
kept in physical trim by regular gym
| nasium work and enjoy themselves at
dances as much as they ever did.
| The Appeal of Music.
One of the greatest pleasu which
| the New York lighthouse can give
i I'LL
tickets. The lighthouse spread the
word to the effect that if you ever
have concert tickets that for some rea-
son you will not be able to use you
can give happiness to a blind person
by mailing the tickets to the light
house and the New York lighthouse
board reports that New York has
steadily kept this in mind.
| A realization of the pleasures which
music brings to the blind was back of
the first lighthouse project. When
| Winifred Holt, author and sculptor.
was in Italy some years ago, she noted
that the government reserved certain
seats at concerts for the blind. When
| she returned to this country she tried
to get special concessions made to the
of the blind became apparent to her
and so the first lighthouse" as she
called it, was established.
When the war increased blindness
| and aroused greater interest In re-
facilitating the sightless, Miss Holt
went to England and studied British
methods of working with the blind
| soldiers. Later, in France, she opened
two lighthouses similar to the New
York institution.
! The success of the three lighthouses
| has encouraged associations interested
in the welfare of the blind to extend
| the idea to other cities, and therefore
the campaign for funds is now under
way.
| Preventing blindness is one Of the
Main features of the lighthouse work
tTwo-thirds of blindness is preventable.
doctors now say. That is. that much
blindness is due to carelessness, ignor-
ance. and willful neglect. Workers in
some kinds of factories are constantly
developing eye troubles because OF
fumes or slivers of flying metal which
could be safely shut out by goggles.
i Babies, sore eyes is another of the