Evening star., 1925-03-25
AID FOR WAR BLIND
WILL Be OUTLINED
Daeschner and Mrs. W. H.
Mather to Tell of French
Lighthouse Today.

Mr.. and Mrs. John Hays Hammond
will open their home at 5 o'clock this
afternoon for a meeting at when
Ambassador Daeschner of France and
Mrs. Winifred Holt Mather, inter-
nationally known as the Lady of the
Lighthouse" will tell of the work now
being carried on for war blind SOL
diers at the French lighthouse. found
ed by Mrs. Mather in 1915. Judge
John Barton Payne, national chair
man of the American Red Cross, will
introduce the speakers.
Mrs. Mather stands beside Helen
Keller for her lifelong devotion in
helping the blind, and is the founder
of the American, French, Italian and
Polish lighthouses. The pioneer
lighthouse is the New York Asso-
citation for the Blind, founded in 1905
by Mrs. Mather and her sister, Mrs.
Joseph Colt Bloodgood, from which
much of the progress in the work
for the blind at home and abroad
has taken its impetus. In the same
year Mrs. Mather founded Lighthouses
No. 2 In Buffalo, In 1915, learning of
the condition of war blind for whom
insufficient provision then could not
be made, she went to France, and
backed by the French government,
founded Lighthouse No. 8, supported
chiefly by American funds and direct
ed by permanent international COM
mittee. Here began that work of re-
education and training which has re-
suited in placing hundreds of French
soldiers, as we'll as many of other
nationalities. back in positions of use
fulness and independence.
Training Schools Conducted.
The present equipment of the Light
house includes training schools, en-
ployment and information bureaus,
library, gymnasium, restaurant, lodg-
ings for homeless men, looms and
knitting machines, and an electric
Braille press. the first in France. Its
definite aim is to restore to some sort
of useful work men who were sud-
denly plunged into total darkness,
and most of whom were otherwise
seriously wounded.
Last year. when the continued exist
ence of the Lighthouse was at stake,
Mrs. Mather. with the help of the
American Committee for Men Blinded
in Battle, raised the necessary sum
for the purchase of the property at
No. IA Rue Daru, an old and spacious
residence belonging to the Vatican,
surrounded by large grounds and
particularly appropriate for the di-
versifed work carried on by the
Lighthouse. 1t had been rented dur
ing the war through the generosity
of the Duchess de Talleyrand
AS a result of this purchase. the
Lighthouse was dedicated October
last by Marshal Foch, in the presence
OF Mrs Aather and members OF her
committee. The Inscription on the
tablet unveiled 1t that time reads:
LIE Phare de FL nee, Lighthouse No.
3, founded in 1915 by the Committee
for Men Blinded in Battle, New York,
U. s. A. Dedicated October %, 1924,
by. the commander in chief of the
allies to the sacred memory of the
men of the allies who died under
arms and to the service of the blind"
The ceremony also included the
presentation of a silver cup to Mrs.
Mather as the founder.
Praised by Eliot.
DR. Charles w. Eliot, president
emeritus of Harvard and a member of
the New England Committee for Men.
Blinded in Battle, said recently in
support of the work being done in
Paris: The French Lighthouse has
been carrying on its beneficent work
regardless of race or creed for over
nine years. 1t is not only an absorb
ing institution for the Immediate sue
cor of the war blind, but it Is a liv-
ing, working memorial to our own
war dead. 1t stands as a symbol of
the change of heart necessary to all
the nations of the world il we are to
escape from the present chaos and
distress. Let us see that this lamp
of memory be kept burning forever"
The Washington Committee for Men
Blinded in Battle is one of several
such committees throughout this coun-
try, all of which are under the pat
ronase of President Coolidge and of
the French and Belgian Ambassadors
Elihu Root is honorary president and
John H. Finley is acting president
Included in the Washington commit
tee are: Right Rev. James Z. Free
man, Gen. Merritte w. Ireland, Mrs
Gibson Fahnestock, John Barton
Payne, Justice Walter /. Mccoy, DIR.
William Fl. Wilmer. Miss Mabel
Boardman, Charles J. Bell Charles H.
Butler, Mrs. James Carroll Frazer
Mrs. Stephen b. Elkins, Mrs. George
w. Bean, Mrs. George Ehle Mrs. C. w.
Ffoulke, Oliver Hoyem, Col. Watson
Miller, Mrs. James Warwick, Mrs.
Walter Tuckerman and Eugene E.
Thompson.