Evening star., 1949-10-09
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top examples of what America
does for the handicapped.
He was born right after World
War I near Naples. Two important
things happened in his youth.
IMussolini and his Black Shirts
marched on Rome and Perri was
stricken with polio. Some local
Black Shirts took over their vii
lage and ran his father out of his
little business of selling charcoal.
After a little while herding sheep,
the father decided to come to
America and get money to help
the boy who could not walk and
had to be carried.
Had to Patch Hut.
"All I remember of Italy is polio,
poverty and bitterness" he said.
Our home was a one-room hut
made of mud. When it rained hard
we had to patch it up with our
hands"
His father decided to go to
America. He sent back money reg
ularly, but it was tough going for
the woman who had to take care
and crippled son. and stayed with
child, little girl, died Of pneu-
monia at six months Of age not long
after the fathers departure.
1t was eight years before the
father made the decision not to
come back, but to send for them.
They went. to Naples, the mother
and crippled son, an dstayed with
family named Ferraiuolo in the
suburb of Castelmare di Stabia on
the slopes of Vesuvius. There was
pretty flve-year old girl in the fam
lily named Sylvia. She stayed with
Lee when the other children ran
off to play. She was sympathetic.
He never forgot her.
Mrs. Peril and her boy stayed
with Sylvia's family several weeks
because it was difficult to obtain,
visa for crippled child. The fam
lily noticed Sylvia's affection for
Lee. They said jokingly, some day
Lee will come back from America
rich man and marry you," but Lee
had already thought of that him.
self.
There were the days on Ellis
Island, where he experienced the
joy Of his first ice cream cone and
the terror that he might be sent
back as a liability to the new
country.
Three men helped him at Far
rell, Pa. in the Shenango Valley.
northwest of Pittsburgh, where
his father worked as a boiler
maker in the Sharon steel works.
They were William Maitland, the
Scotch-born city treasurer: Will
liam Anderson. the high school
principal, and William Bauer, the
high school art teacher.
Mr.. Maitland used to call for
the crippled boy in his automobile
and take him to the clinic. At
the clinic one day they said an
orthopedic surgeon from Phila-
delphia was in town and wanted
to examine him. The surgeon
operated, placing a steel brace in
the knee joint and the boy, who
still had to be carried up and
down stairs. learned to walk with
a cane. During his long stay at
the hospital a nurse named Miss
Lark discovered his talent for
He drew the medicine
bottles on the shelf beside his bed.
In 1882, at IL, he won a prize
with a drawing of the Houdon
bust of Washington in the ma
tional contest promoted by the
late Sol Bloom as part Of the
George Washington bicentennial
celebration. The art teacher and
the high school principal were
determined there was going to be
something better for this boy. who
obviously could not work at the
open hearth in the steel mill, than
a clerkship in the timekeeper's
Office. They brought his work to
the attention OF State authorities.
His memory of Sylvia did not
keep him from falling in love