Latest / Ernest Hemingway Works Collection / Five Lectures on Blindness-Kate M. Foley

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Five Lectures on Blindness-Kate M. Foley · Ernest Hemingway Works Collection

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  Speaker 1: Five Lectures on Blindness. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Aspostachio five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M. Foley Forward.
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  Speaker 1: The following lectures were written primarily to be delivered at
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  Speaker 1: the summer sessions of the University of California at Berkeley
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  Speaker 1: and at Los Angeles in the summer of nineteen eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: We are printing them, however, so that the information in
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  Speaker 1: them can be more widely distributed, since they are the
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  Speaker 1: outgrowth of almost a quarter of a century spent in
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  Speaker 1: work for the blind and were written from the standpoint
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  Speaker 1: of a blind person seeking to better the condition of
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  Speaker 1: the blind. They were addressed not to the blind, but
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  Speaker 1: to the seeing public, for the benefit that will accrue
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  Speaker 1: to the blind from a better understanding of their problems.
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  Speaker 1: The successful work of Miss Foley as a student in
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  Speaker 1: the California School for the Blind, as a volunteer teacher,
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  Speaker 1: and in recent years as a home teacher for the
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  Speaker 1: California State Library makes these lectures particularly important and authoritative.
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  Speaker 1: Milton J. Ferguson State Librarian and of Forward lecture one
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  Speaker 1: of five lectures on blindness. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M. Foley,
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  Speaker 1: Lecture one, The Psychology of Blindness. In view of the
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  Speaker 1: widespread interest now manifested in the blind and their problems,
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  Speaker 1: an interest deepened by reports from the warring countries, I
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  Speaker 1: feel that a knowledge of the psychology of blindness should
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  Speaker 1: prove of great help to those wishing to take part
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  Speaker 1: in the re education of the war blinded soldiers. As
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  Speaker 1: early as seventeen seventy three, Diderot wrote an essay on
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  Speaker 1: the psychology of blindness. And as this essay was written
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  Speaker 1: at the very beginning of blind education, it is interesting
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  Speaker 1: to note that his ideas coincide with the most advanced
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  Speaker 1: deductions on the subject today. However, as these deductions are
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  Speaker 1: not very numerous, and as the available literature is very scant,
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  Speaker 1: I shall be obliged to draw largely from my own
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  Speaker 1: experiences and that of other blind persons in presenting the
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  Speaker 1: subject to you. First, let us consider the subject from
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  Speaker 1: the point of view of one who has been blind
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  Speaker 1: from early infancy, whose fingers are his eyes and whose
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  Speaker 1: mental vision enables him to see many things not revealed
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  Speaker 1: by physical sight. A blind man once said, when asked
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  Speaker 1: if he would not be glad to have his eyesight
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  Speaker 1: to improve the organs I have, would be as good
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  Speaker 1: as to give me that which is wanting in me.
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  Speaker 1: This sentence sums up the whole aim of blind education.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Eicholtz, a noted educator of the blind, says, education
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  Speaker 1: of the blind absolutely fails in its object in so
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  Speaker 1: far as it fails to develop the remaining faculties to
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  Speaker 1: compensate for the want of sight. Touch and sight must
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  Speaker 1: be developed by means which practically in all respects are dissimilar.
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  Speaker 1: A blind man discerns the sensation from the real presence
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  Speaker 1: of an object at his finger's end only by the
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  Speaker 1: force or weakness of that very sensation. So then let
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  Speaker 1: us consider that to the blind, fingers are eyes, and
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  Speaker 1: remember that they have ten instead of two. As I
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  Speaker 1: have been blind since early infancy, my own case offers
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  Speaker 1: an illustration in point. So I hope you will not
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  Speaker 1: misunderstand the predominance of the personal. Note in these observations,
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  Speaker 1: blindness does not lead to any refinement of the sense
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  Speaker 1: of touch, hearing, or smell, but to a greater keenness
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  Speaker 1: in the interpretation of the information furnished by these senses.
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  Speaker 1: D Deiou says, the help which our senses reciprocally afford
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  Speaker 1: to each other hinders their improvement, and so the person
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  Speaker 1: in possession of all the senses regards the blind man
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  Speaker 1: as a marvel of intelligence and skill, just because, on
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  Speaker 1: losing his eyesight, his remaining senses come to the rescue,
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  Speaker 1: and he continues to live and move and have his
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  Speaker 1: being without the most precious of all physical senses. In
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  Speaker 1: the world of the blind child, eyesight plays no part,
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  Speaker 1: and so the other senses are made to do double duty,
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  Speaker 1: and the extent to which these may be cultivated is
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  Speaker 1: limited only by the mentality of the child, its early
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  Speaker 1: training and environment. I think hearing is the first sense
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  Speaker 1: to be cultivated, both in the infant and the adults
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  Speaker 1: suddenly deprived of sight. Through its ears, the child recognizes voices,
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  Speaker 1: detects different footfalls, is enabled to measure distance with a
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  Speaker 1: fair degree of accuracy, and can form a very clear
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  Speaker 1: idea as to the shape and dimensions of a room.
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  Speaker 1: All this information is conveyed to the normal child through
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  Speaker 1: the eyes. Doctor Illingworth, a noted educator of the blind
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  Speaker 1: in England, says, of course, there is no doubt that
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  Speaker 1: blindness tends to a higher and more perfect development of
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  Speaker 1: the sense of hearing, even in the uneducated, on the
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  Speaker 1: same principle that nature almost always comes to the aid
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  Speaker 1: of her children in providing protective agencies of one kind
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  Speaker 1: or another, even in the very lowest organisms, and naturally
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  Speaker 1: for those who are blind, the sense of hearing is
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  Speaker 1: the first first to fall back upon for this purpose.
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  Speaker 1: Thus it becomes more highly developed because there is more
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  Speaker 1: frequent call upon and exercise of that sense. Another writer
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  Speaker 1: has said, but a distinction should be made between sensitiveness
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  Speaker 1: and an ability to use the sense, between native sensory
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  Speaker 1: capacity of the sense organ and the acquired ability to
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  Speaker 1: use that capacity. The second sense to be developed in
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  Speaker 1: the blind child is that of touch, and this development
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  Speaker 1: begins at a very early date, supplementing the sense of hearing.
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  Speaker 1: Long before the child is old enough to read, its
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  Speaker 1: fingers have become its eyes, and each of the ten
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  Speaker 1: fingers carries its quota of information to the active brain,
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  Speaker 1: the amount and quality of this information increasing with the
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  Speaker 1: mental development. In addition to the fingers, the nerves of
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  Speaker 1: the face and those of the feet contribute their share
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  Speaker 1: of information. The child learns to detect differences in climatic
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  Speaker 1: condition by the feel of the air on its face.
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  Speaker 1: I have often heard very young blind children exclaim it
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  Speaker 1: feels like rain. It feels like a nice day. The
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  Speaker 1: air feels heavy, the wind feels soft, the wind is
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  Speaker 1: rough to day. The nerves of the feet contribute their
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  Speaker 1: share of helpful knowledge, calling attention to differences in the ground,
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  Speaker 1: often unnoticed by the eye, telling whether the path is
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  Speaker 1: smooth or rough, grass grown or rock strewn. The auditory
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  Speaker 1: and petal nerves are mutually helpful, the ear recording and
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  Speaker 1: classifying the sounds made by the feet, often guiding them
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  Speaker 1: aright by recalling certain peculiarities of sound, whether the ground
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  Speaker 1: is hollow, whether the sidewalk is of board or cement,
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  Speaker 1: and whether there is a depression here or a raised
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  Speaker 1: place there. I often wonder how deaf blind people walk
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  Speaker 1: as well as they do when they cannot hear their footfalls.
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  Speaker 1: I find walking much more difficult when on a crowded thoroughfare,
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  Speaker 1: or when passing a planing mill or boiler factory. The
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  Speaker 1: last trio of senses whose development compensates in large measure,
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  Speaker 1: for the want of eyesight is that of smell. Through
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  Speaker 1: this sense, the child comes very close to the heart
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  Speaker 1: of nature. Of course, the ear is charmed by the
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  Speaker 1: songs of birds, the hum of insects, the murmur of
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  Speaker 1: wind in the trees, or the sound of mighty waters.
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  Speaker 1: Through the finger tips, he learns the shape and size
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  Speaker 1: of each flower and shrub, and tree traces, the delicate
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  Speaker 1: pattern of ferns, notes wonderful rock formations, and finds the
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  Speaker 1: first blade of tender grass coaxed to the surface by
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  Speaker 1: the warmth of the spring sunshine. But all this does
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  Speaker 1: not bring him the keen pleasure he experiences when he
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  Speaker 1: inhales the fragrance of the rose, the perfume of flowers
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  Speaker 1: with the dew still upon them, the smell of the
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  Speaker 1: freshly turned earth, the new cut grass, or the blossom
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  Speaker 1: laden trees. In the case of Helen Keller, the olfactory
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  Speaker 1: nerves have been cultivated to a very high degree, and
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  Speaker 1: through this sense she is often able to recognize her friends.
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  Speaker 1: A little blind boy told me once that each member
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  Speaker 1: of his family had a distinct odor by which he
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  Speaker 1: could tell things worn by them, or books they had handled.
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  Speaker 1: Laura Bridgman is said to have selected the laundry of
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  Speaker 1: the pupils in her school by this unusual process. I
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  Speaker 1: have frequently astonished my friends by telling them when I
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  Speaker 1: pass a drug store or hospital, a grocery, a confectioner's
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  Speaker 1: or dry goods store, a paint shop, a florist's stand,
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  Speaker 1: or a livery stable. I do not think the blind
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  Speaker 1: have a keener sense of taste than any other class
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  Speaker 1: of people, although this claim is often made even by
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  Speaker 1: the blind themselves. We have, then, the senses of hearing, touch,
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  Speaker 1: and smell, each playing its part in the development of
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  Speaker 1: the blind child, and each playing it so well that
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  Speaker 1: the lack of eyesight is not keenly felt in early childhood.
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  Speaker 1: Not until it is old enough to understand the thoughtless
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  Speaker 1: remarks of well meaning people, to catch the pitying tone,
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  Speaker 1: to feel a compassionate touch, does it realize that this
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  Speaker 1: lack of eyesight is to prove an almost insurmountable barrier
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  Speaker 1: to its future success. I was in my sixth year
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  Speaker 1: before I understood the meaning of the word blind. Up
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  Speaker 1: to that time I had romped and played with other children,
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  Speaker 1: climbed trees, jump ditches, accepting bumps and bruises as a
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  Speaker 1: part of the game, and having no sense of fear
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  Speaker 1: since some child always held my hand. In fact, in
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  Speaker 1: those days, all the children held each other's hands, and
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  Speaker 1: it was easier going. So is it not a pity
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  Speaker 1: that in later life we feel so self reliant we
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  Speaker 1: are unwilling to admit that they could often be made
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  Speaker 1: easier if we resorted to the childish game of holding
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  Speaker 1: hands and moving forward together as we faced the more
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  Speaker 1: serious struggles of life. My first realization of the meaning
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  Speaker 1: of the blindness came when one day, after hearing some
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  Speaker 1: people call me poor child and expressing their sympathy to
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  Speaker 1: my mother, I asked if we were very poor, poorer
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  Speaker 1: than my playmates, and why I could not go to school.
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  Speaker 1: Mother explained that we were no poorer than the others,
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  Speaker 1: that the ladies did not mean it in that way,
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  Speaker 1: but were sorry that I could not see and did
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  Speaker 1: not think I could ever go to school. But my
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  Speaker 1: mother assured me that I was going to school and
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  Speaker 1: that there I would learn to see with my fingers
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  Speaker 1: better than the ladies did with their eyes. My childish
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  Speaker 1: mind was aroused then, and I asked everyone what it
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  Speaker 1: meant to see, and soon realized that I did not
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  Speaker 1: know what seeing really was, at least not in the
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  Speaker 1: sense the other children used the word. I was filled
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  Speaker 1: with wonder since my world had hitherto seemed so complete.
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  Speaker 1: I heard things, or felt things, or smelt things, and
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  Speaker 1: was satisfied. And yet there was another medium of knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: entirely unknown to me, and until then unnecessary. How eagerly
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  Speaker 1: I looked forward to the time when I should learn
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  Speaker 1: to see, and my heart was filled with childish rapture.
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  Speaker 1: On the day when I entered the School for the
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  Speaker 1: Blind at Berkeley, my first question on meeting the superintendent
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  Speaker 1: was are you going to teach me to see? How
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  Speaker 1: well he performed this task, how wisely he guided my
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  Speaker 1: childish feet, how carefully he developed my eager mind, stimulated
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  Speaker 1: my ambition, and renewed my faltering courage. I did not
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  Speaker 1: realize until I was called upon to face life with
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  Speaker 1: its trials and opportunities. And here, where his work is
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  Speaker 1: so well known, I wished to pay my tribute of
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  Speaker 1: love and gratitude to doctor Warring Wilkinson. He was my
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  Speaker 1: great hearted, great souled teacher, father and friend. When I
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  Speaker 1: found myself in a place with children, some of whom
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  Speaker 1: were like myself, blind from infancy, and others whose eyesight
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  Speaker 1: had been lost through various accidents, and yet others who
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  Speaker 1: could see to go about to tell the color of
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  Speaker 1: our ribbons and advise us of the approach of a
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  Speaker 1: matron or teacher. My wonder grew apace. This process of
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  Speaker 1: learning to see was varied and absorbing, but I soon
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  Speaker 1: found that it had its limitations, and that, after all,
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  Speaker 1: eyes were very useful possessions, and without them I could
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  Speaker 1: know nothing of color, could not picture the sky or
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  Speaker 1: any of the heavenly bodies, nor could I distinguish different
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  Speaker 1: people unless I heard their voices or steps, though no
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  Speaker 1: two had faces alike. I found, too that some children
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  Speaker 1: who could see colors could not recognize faces, and I
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  Speaker 1: came to realize that vision, however, slight, was greatly to
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  Speaker 1: be desired. I could distinguish light from darkness, and this
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  Speaker 1: enabled me to locate doors and windows. But color, with
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  Speaker 1: its varying shades, was then and is now a mystery profound.
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  Speaker 1: But in my desire to see, to be just like
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  Speaker 1: other children, I resolved to learn all I could about color,
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  Speaker 1: and so I memorized the list of colors, which ones harmonized,
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  Speaker 1: which were most pleasing to the eye, which were bright,
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  Speaker 1: which produced a somber impression. Thus, I soon learned to
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  Speaker 1: speak of color with a degree of intelligence, and to
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  Speaker 1: select my gowns with a view to pleasing the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of my friends. I soon learned to associate certain phrases
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  Speaker 1: with certain colors, for instance, blue as the sky, green
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  Speaker 1: as grass, yellow as gold, black as night, red as fire,
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  Speaker 1: and brown as a berry. I also learned that a
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  Speaker 1: color had a variety of shades, and that at times
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  Speaker 1: colors were changeable, it being difficult to distinguish blue from
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  Speaker 1: green at night. The sky, with its starred phenomena, was
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  Speaker 1: even harder to conceive, and I could not understand how
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  Speaker 1: clouds obscured the sun, or how old soul could put
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  Speaker 1: the blackest clouds to rout. My ears and fingers continued
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  Speaker 1: to flood my mind with knowledge, and the want of
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  Speaker 1: eyesight did not distress me. When I touched an object
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  Speaker 1: or listened to a lesson, my mind storted away for
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  Speaker 1: future reference. And often now, when recalling some facts in
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  Speaker 1: history or geography, I can hear the voice of the
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  Speaker 1: teacher who read the particular passage. I was eight years
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  Speaker 1: old when I first examined a horse. Although I was
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  Speaker 1: familiar with the sound of its feet on the pavement
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  Speaker 1: and knew whether it walked or trotted or galloped, the
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  Speaker 1: horse I examined had been driven a long distance, and
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  Speaker 1: so was very warm when my hand was placed upon
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  Speaker 1: its mane. The hair was damp and clung to the back,
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  Speaker 1: and there was an odor of steaming flesh. A fly
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  Speaker 1: was tormenting the animal, and as it tossed its head impatiently,
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  Speaker 1: I could hear the rattle of harness and the sound
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  Speaker 1: of its restive foot upon the ground. These impressions have
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  Speaker 1: always remained with me. My knowledge of the horse was
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  Speaker 1: acquired through the senses of hearing, touch, and smell, and
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  Speaker 1: so with the cow, I can hear its low moo moo,
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  Speaker 1: hear the milk dropping into the pail, feel the hard
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  Speaker 1: outer shell of the horns, and catch the odor that
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  Speaker 1: is ever present in the cow's domain. The cat and
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  Speaker 1: dog have their peculiarities, too, the mewing of the cat
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  Speaker 1: and the sounds heard when it purrs while washing its face.
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  Speaker 1: The dog's quick bark and the sound it makes when
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  Speaker 1: panting for bread, as it rests after a long chase.
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  Speaker 1: I know the animals have different colors peculiar to them,
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  Speaker 1: but this knowledge has no place in my mental conception
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  Speaker 1: of them. In judging people, the voice is my infallible guide.
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  Speaker 1: I am instantly attracted or repelled by a voice, and
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  Speaker 1: my estimate of character is rarely incorrect by the voice.
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  Speaker 1: I am able to form a very accurate idea as
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  Speaker 1: to height, weight, and age. So here again, I do
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  Speaker 1: not feel the lack of eyesight. The voice is an
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  Speaker 1: unfailing index to character, and the trained ear is quick
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  Speaker 1: to catch the slightest variation in tone, and can detect
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  Speaker 1: traits and moods hidden from the eye because not registered
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  Speaker 1: upon the face. There is a strong voice, a brave voice,
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  Speaker 1: a voice full of hope and cheer, a tired voice,
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  Speaker 1: a crafty voice, a voice full of dull despair, and
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  Speaker 1: so here again, I do not feel the lack of eyesight.
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  Speaker 1: In noting differences in my fellow men, I know that
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  Speaker 1: there are distinguishing marks, that heads are shaped differently, and
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  Speaker 1: that hair and eyes have different colors, corresponding to the
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  Speaker 1: various types as blondes or brunettes. All this I know
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  Speaker 1: abstractly but it is just one of the bits of
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  Speaker 1: information tucked away in memory's storehouse. I do not suppose
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  Speaker 1: many of you have ever heard a smile. I have.
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  Speaker 1: I hear a smile almost before the lips can register it,
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  Speaker 1: and to me the sound is as musical as the
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  Speaker 1: laughter of a very young child. I think hearing a
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  Speaker 1: smile must be like seeing the light in the eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and so lack of eyesight is no deprivation in this connection.
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  Speaker 1: All during my days at school, I went on acquiring knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: learning to see many things, scarcely realizing the handicap of blindness,
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  Speaker 1: because every help was given me and I was surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by those whose condition was like my own. But when
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  Speaker 1: I went out into the world, I found that many
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  Speaker 1: seeing people so called, had very little vision, although their
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  Speaker 1: eyesight was perfect. I found too, that although I knew
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  Speaker 1: many things and was well equipped to earn my own living,
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  Speaker 1: my lack of eyesight was responsible for a corresponding lack
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  Speaker 1: of confidence upon the part of the public. This was
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  Speaker 1: a great disappointment, for I knew I could succeed if
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  Speaker 1: only some one would give me the opportunity. After waiting
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  Speaker 1: twenty years, the State Library gave me the opportunity. This
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  Speaker 1: lack of confidence upon the part of the public is
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  Speaker 1: one of the most depressing features of adult blindness. Thus far,
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  Speaker 1: I have considered the subject from the point of view
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  Speaker 1: of one who has been blind from early infancy. But
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  Speaker 1: now I shall view it from the standpoint of one
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  Speaker 1: deprived of eyesight in adult life, who is taking his
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  Speaker 1: first step in the dark. M. D. Deroue says, the
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  Speaker 1: hell which the senses reciprocally afford to each other hinders
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  Speaker 1: their improvement, and so the adult, whose movements are no
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  Speaker 1: longer directed by his eyes, feels utterly helpless and bewildered,
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  Speaker 1: as one who finds himself on a strange road, very
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  Speaker 1: late at night, with no ray of light to guide him.
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  Speaker 1: As the blinded soldier is uppermost in our thoughts today,
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  Speaker 1: I am considering the mental condition of an adult suddenly
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  Speaker 1: deprived of eyesight, not that of the man whose blindness
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  Speaker 1: has come on gradually. The first sensation, when thus plunged
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  Speaker 1: into total darkness is that of unreality, And just as
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  Speaker 1: the light of day dispels the gloom of night, so
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  Speaker 1: the sufferer clings to the hope that at any minute
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  Speaker 1: he may open his eyes and find things as they
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  Speaker 1: were before the darkness settled down with all its weird
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  Speaker 1: shadows to fill his soul with dread. The continued darkness
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  Speaker 1: causes a feeling of depression, and repression very hard to combat,
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  Speaker 1: and so the sufferer is in need of first aid,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: in need of a friendly hand and a cheery voice
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to help him through these trying days of this period. Mbryu,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: doctor of re education of the blianded soldiers in Paris, says,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the blind are for the time being put back into
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the helpless condition of children. They have to be sustained
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: and given a new education for life. They have to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: begin many things all over again. Spiritually, they have lost
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: their bearings and are adrift about in restless anguish. Physically,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: their whole organism has been shaken by the wound they
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: have received, and must have time after such a violent
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: shock to recover its equilibrium. Their power of judgment has
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: often been temporarily destroyed. They are weak in body and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: uncertain in mind. This double weakness lays on those who
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: surround them a double duty. Much will have been done
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: when their material welfare has been assured, but the responsibility
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: will not have been discharged unless they have also attained
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: to the tranquility of soul and a sense of their
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: own dignity. One must have confidence in order to give
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: them confidence. Most of us have no idea what powers
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to meet new demands are inherent in our organs. We
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: have within us capacities unknown even to ourselves, inactive so
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: long as they are not necessary, awake and efficient as
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: soon as there is need of them. They are reserves
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: which most of the time we never call on. They
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: are a wharde which we do not touch. Our resources
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and our power of life are greater than we imagine.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: The sudden loss of sight gives after a time something
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: like the lash of the whip to the whole organism.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: All the other senses are roused to greater sharpness. When
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the blind soldier fully realizes this, he will perhaps arrive
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: at a state in which I have seen some men
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: blind from birth, the state of being proud of being blind.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Why should they not be proud when they feel that
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: they are as capable of accomplishing certain things, of practicing
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: certain trades as other men. If, with their lessened powers,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: lacking the power that we consider of supreme importance, can
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: they do things as well as we are? They not, therefore,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: cleverer than we. Instead of talking to them of resignation,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: incite them to revolt at the limitations of their condition,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: inspire them to conquer circumstances, insist that they can picture
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: life to them, its beauty and its power, and tell
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: them that it is good. In administering to the needs
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of this readjustment period. The volunteers should be an optimist
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and should exercise common sense in guiding the adult over
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the first lap of the unfamiliar road. I have advised
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: volunteers who are now in France and those preparing to
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: go there, to take riding boards, games, bright, pithy stories,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and a lot of nonsense. Verse. I have told these
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Red Cross workers that they themselves must know how to laugh,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: must be able to rise above the horrors about them,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: for they are there to serve heroes, not cowards, Heroes
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: who will laugh with a sob in their throats, Heroes who,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: after a short respite, will reach for a new sword
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: with which to resume the battle of life. God grant
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: that we may have new swords ready for them, swords
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of hope, swords of confidence, swords from which all the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: old prejudice and misconception have been removed swords of occupation
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and independence of this readjustment period. Clarence Hawkes, the well
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: known blind naturalist who lost his eyesight at the age
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: of fifteen, says, the loss of eyesight seems for a
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: time to upset the perfect working of the nervous system.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: The nerves have to adjust themselves to new conditions and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: rearrange the channels of communication. On first losing one's eyesight,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: one is impressed with the fact that all noises sound
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: much too loud, and it takes several months for sounds
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: to get toned down to their normal volume, and one
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: never quite overcomes the tendency to jump at sudden, sharp noises.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: As to the blind child, the senses of touch, hearing,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and smell prove efficient carriers of knowledge. So these senses
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: come to the rescue of the blind adult and compensate
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: in large measure for the loss of eyesight. Training does
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: not increase the sensitiveness of a sense organ, it merely
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: puts this capacity to better use. So the blind adult
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: does not suddenly come into possession of wonderful powers, but
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: in time his acquired sense perception enables him to do
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: many things hitherto considered imp possible of accomplishment, but to
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the casual observer, anything done without eyesight is considered little
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: short of marvelous. The adult soon learns to recognize voices
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and footsteps, to measure distance with a fair degree of accuracy,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and in many cases, to go about alone with only
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the friendly cane for company. Many of the blind have
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: what is defined as a sense of obstacles, and it
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: is sometimes called a sixth sense. Doctor Illingworth defines this
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: sense as an exceedingly subtle kind of instinct that enables
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: a blind individual to detect the presence or proximity of
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a person or object under circumstances of absolute silence, and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: very often to know the nature of the object. Doctor
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Illingworth believes that this remarkable power is of electric origin
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: and latent in everybody. This power seems to have its
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: seat in the nerves of the face, and is possessed
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: by the blind adult as well as the blind child.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: This sense of obstacles, this touch at a distance, enables
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a person to tell when he is passing tall buildings, fences, trees,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and many other obstructions. Mister Hawk says the sixth sense,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: if such it be, probably depends upon three conditions. Sound,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the compression of the air, and whether the face be
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: free to use its sensitive feelers. The subject is still
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: in its infancy, and time may reveal many interesting facts
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: concerning it. But for our purpose it is enough that
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the blind have a sense of obstacles, and let us
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: regard it as another proof that we are wonderfully made
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and divinely led. In a surprisingly short time, the blind
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: adult becomes accustomed to the new conditions, the various organs
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: perform their new functions, and he finds life in sightless
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: land to be, in many respects very likely. Life in
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the world of light and color, now only a memory,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: but a very living memory, enabling him to recall the
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: faces of his friends, the glow of sunset, or the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: rosy light of dawn in the eye of the mind
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: whose vision is keener, clearer than mere physical sight. This
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: ability to call up mental pictures is yet another of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: the compensations, and these pictures never fade, but come when
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: familiar scenes or objects are suggested. The adult is deeply
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: interested in form and color, and likes to have them
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: minutely described. This fact is not well understood by sighted friends,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: and so the blind are often deprived of details which
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: would give them keenest pleasure, because friends fear to recall
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: painful memories. In this connection, and by way of conclusion,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I shall give a poem written by one of our pupils,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: who lost his eyes when a drummer boy in the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Civil War. This man learned to read raised type after
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: being blind fifty three years. His poem follows a blind
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: man's soliloquy, what then is blindness? This and nothing more?
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: The window blinds are closed, the outer door closed shut
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: and bolted, and the curtains drawn. No more comes light
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: of stars, nor morning's dawn, nor one lone ray from
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: day's meridian light. And men pass by and say within
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: is night. Not so, for memory's lamp, with steady blaze,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: shines on the hallowed scenes of other days, while fancies
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: torch prophetic flashing through the vistas of the future brings
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: to view scenes passing strange, but scenes that yet shall be,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: which I can see, but which he cannot see. Whose
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: dazzled orbes find nothing hid away beyond the brilliant margin
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: of today. To me, the radiant world forever gleams with
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the rich halo of my boyish dreams. The faces I
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: have loved no wrinkles. Know my dear one's eyes ne'er
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: lose their cherished glow. The hair of gold ne'er turns
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: to silver hair. The young are young. The fair are
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: always fair, With reason strengthened, feelings more intense. The senses
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: multiples of former sense by carrious servants for dead sight become.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: I see the city in the city's hum, I catch
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: its subtle undertones of trade. I hear of fortunes lost
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and fortunes made in sounds. To him a mystery profound,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: who seeing knows not visions muffled sound distinct to him,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: must sound become to whom life walk in darkness, call
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: it not in gloom, tis only in exchange of good
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: for good, a new plant growing where the old one stood,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Old blessings taken, and new blessings given sweet compensation. Thou
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: wert born in heaven. There is not silence unto him
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: whose soul, in darkness sits and listens like a scroll
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: on which the secrets of the world are traced. Blindness
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: is but a sea shall kindly placed beside the ear
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: and in its varying tone. Who will may make life's
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: secret all his own? And thus misfortune's bless for blindness
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: brings a power to pierce the depths of hidden things,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: to walk where reason and fair fancy lead, to read
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: the riddle of men's thoughts, to read the souls are
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: coana in each subtler tone, and make men's joys and
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: sorrows all my own. Nor can I sit repining at
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: my lot as bitter or unjust, or curse the shot
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: which tore away my sight. The world is kind and
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: gentle to her sons. Though I am blind, Smooth paths
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: of enterprise have always stood open for me, and doing
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: what I could with hand or brain, with simple earnestness,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: have gathered what was due me of success. O, you
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: who sit in darkness moaning oor your dead and vanished vision,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: mourn no more. Keep in the current. Be you brave
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: and strong. The busy world is singing. Join the song,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: and you shall find If you no duty shirk, who
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: will may prosper if he do but work? And as
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a last thought, permit me to quote the concluding words
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of Clarence Hawk's wonderful book, Hitting the Dark Trail. If
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: night has overtaken me at noonday, yet have I found
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: beauty in night? The sun at noontide showed me the
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: world in all its wonder. But the night has shown
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: me the universe, the countless stars and illimitable spaces, the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: vastness and the wonder of all life. The perfect day
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: only showed me Man's world, but the night showed me
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: God's universe. End of Lecture one, Lecture two of five
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: lectures on blindness. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M. Foley, Lecture two,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: The Blind Child and Its Development. As a forward to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: this le I shall quote from a paper entitled Blind
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Children and How to Care for Them, written by doctor F.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Park Lewis, an eminent oculist of New York City and
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: a man who has devoted much time and thought to
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the blind and their needs. Doctor Lewis says, it is
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the mind and the spirit which control, and when these
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: are great, they dominate and rise superior to mere physical deficiencies.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: The inspiration of great ideals must be held out to
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: the blind even more than to the seeing. From the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: very beginning. It is not enough that the blind man
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: or woman shall have physical strength, but his training must
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: be so well balanced as to give him poise as
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: well as vigor. It does not suffice that the blind
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: man shall be as well educated as his fellow, who
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: sees handicapped by the loss of the most important of
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: his special senses. He must supplement this deficiency by a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: better training of his mind and body. It is not
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: enough that he should have the good character of the
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: average man. His word and his reputation should be beyond question.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: He should be independent and proudly unwilling, except when absolutely necessary,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: to accept that for which he cannot in some way
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: return an equivalent. He must be taught to reason with
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: clearness and logical precision. For he must succeed by the
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: aid of his mentality and character, rather than by his
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: manual exertions. These facts are emphasized here because if such
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: qualities are to be secured, the training which produces them
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: should begin in the cradle. If I could bring it about,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: a copy of the foregoing lines should be framed and
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: placed on the desk of every teacher of blind children,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: and such teachers requested to read these words at least
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: once each day. In considering the development of the blind child,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: we must recognize the fact that in mental attainment, at
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: least he is the peace of the child who sees.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: But in order to bring this about, the early years
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: of the child must be carefully supervised and his training
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: calculated to fit him for the tremendous task awaiting him,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: a task requiring the courage of a spartan, the wisdom
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: of Solomon, and the patience of job. Unfortunately, the parents
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: of blind children rarely understand the importance of this early training.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: They are too often too absorbed in their own sorrow
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: at having a child so afflicted, too sure that loss
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: of eyesight means loss of mental vigor to realize that
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: their own attitude, their own self pity, may prove a
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: greater handicap to the child's than blindness itself. If a
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: child lives in a house where he is waited upon
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and made to feel that mere existence and the ability
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: to eat and sleep are all that may reasonably be
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: expected of him, and that he must depend upon his
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: family for everything, he will grow up helpless, selfish, and awkward,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: and no amount of later training will entirely counteract the
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: pernicious effect produced in these early formative years. When placed
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: in school with other children, he will be very sensitive
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: to correction and may become morbid and unhappy, thus giving
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: a wrong impression of the blind in general. If, on
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the other hand, the child is taught to be self helpful,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: permitted to join in the work and play of other children,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: made to feel that with greater effort he may do
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: just what they do, he will soon become cheerfully alert,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: and hopefully alive to all the possibilities of his peculiar position.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: It is true that natural disposition has much to do
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: with one's outlook on life, but cheerfulness and a certain
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: form of stoicism may be cultivated, and to the blind child,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: these qualities are absolutely essential if he is to attain
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: any measure of success in later life. It would be
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: foolish for me to ignore the difficulties limitations in the
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: path of every one deprived of sight, either in infancy
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: or adult life. But I know that these very limitations
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: and difficulties may aid in forming a character whose quiet
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: strength and unfaltering courage cannot fail to win the admiration
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: and co operation of all who witness its tireless efforts
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: for success. But in order to achieve success, let me
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: repeat that such training must begin at the earliest possible date.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: You may never have thought of it. But the blind
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: child has no model, no pattern. It must acquire everything.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: It learns nothing by imitation. The normal child copies the
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: gestures and mannerisms of its parents, and so learns many
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: things unconsciously and with little or no instruction. But the
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: blind child must be taught to smile, to shake hands,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: to hold up its head, to walk properly, to present
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and receive objects, and the thousand and one details of
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: daily living so naturally acquired under ordinary conditions long before
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: it has reached school age. The blind child should be
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: permitted to romp with other children, to take bumps and
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: bruises as a part of the game, and should be
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: encouraged to run, jump rope and join in all harmless sports,
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: thus acquiring that freedom of movement, muscular coordination, and fearless
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: bearing so necessary if he is to cope successfully with
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the difficulties awaiting him. His toys should be chosen to
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: instruct as well as a muse, and in this way
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: he should be made familiar with the different forms the square,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the circle, the oblong, the triangle and the pyramid. The
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: Goddard form, board and Montessori insets are invaluable at this period.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: He should be trained to recognize the difference between smooth
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: and rough, soft and hard, light and heavy, thick and thin.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: He should be given plasticcene or clay with which to model,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: and be urged to reproduce his toys, thus assisting in
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the muscular development and intelligent use of his fingers another
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: essential equipment. As soon as possible, the process of dressing
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: should be taught. The child may learn this more readily
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: if a doll is used as a model and he
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: is required to put on its clothes each morning and
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: remove them just before his own bedtime. This important process
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: should be made as interesting as possible, and each successful
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: effort greeted enthusiastically, each failure carefully pointed out, its cause discovered,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: and its repetition prevented when possible. In this way, he
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: acquires systems, learns to put his clothes away in a
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: certain place and to locate them again without assistance. His
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: little fingers should be kept constantly employed stringing beads, putting
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: pegs in a wooden board, cutting paper with kindergarten scissors,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and modeling with plasticine. If thus occupied, he will escape
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: the mannerisms peculiar to the blind child whose only amusement
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: has been to put his fingers in his eyes, shake
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: his hand before his face to see the shadow, rock
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: his body back and forth, and whirl around in dizzy circles.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: I found just such a child, a girl of eight years,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: who had never done anything for herself, and whose parents
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: refused to send her to school. It took me some
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: time to win the child's confidence, but when I did,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: I had no trouble to correct many of her habits,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: and I soon taught her to dress herself and learn
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: to read. When I asked her what she did all
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: day before, I brought her the beads and the little scissors,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: and she answered, oh, I just sat in my rocker
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: and rocked back and forth, shaking my hands. And when
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: I asked why she did not play and act like
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: other children, she began to cry and said, nobody ever
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: told me nothing else to do till you came. When
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: six years old, a blind child should be sent to
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: the nearest state school for the blind, or to a
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: special class if there is such a department in the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: public schools of the city in which it lives, the
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: necessity of sending the child to school. Thus early cannot
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: be true strongly emphasized, and education of blind children should
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: be made compulsory, just as in the case of ordinary children.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: This is a measure which should be considered by all
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: those interested in child welfare. The unwillingness of parents to
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: send their children away to boarding school at so early
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: an age is one of the strongest arguments in favor
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: of the special classes in public schools. But it is
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: not possible to have such classes in the small cities
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: and towns, and very often the home conditions are often
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: unsuitable for the proper development of a blind child, and
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: so in every state a residential school is an absolute necessity.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: Such a school should consist of a kindergarten, primary, intermediate
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: and high school department, and the life of the children
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: should conform as closely as possible to that of a
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: large family in a well ordered home. Those in charge
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: of the children should be impressed with the responsibility of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: the task they have undertaken, and should do their utmost
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: to assist in the work of fitting the little ones
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: for the preliminary skirmish in the battle of life. All
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: children should have constant supervision during the formative period, but
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: more especially does the blind child need watchful guidance in
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: his work and at his play. Little habits must be broken,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: awkward movements discouraged, self confidence fostered, and every effort made
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: to develop the child along sane and normal lines, so
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: that in later life he may have the poise and
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: bearing so often lacking in those who are blind from
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: early childhood. It is sometimes claimed that it is not
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: essential that a teacher of the blind be possessed of
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: more than an ordinary education, and this tis is why
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: so many schools for the blind fail to turn out capable, cultured,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: self reliant boys and girls. Doctor Illingworth, the noted English educator,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: gives the following qualifications for a teacher of the blind.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: A sound education, self control in a high degree, a
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: boundless enthusiasm, a determination to succeed. Should be kind and
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: sympathetic and at the same time firm, and should be
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: true to his word. These are qualifications which should be
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: possessed alike by the blind teacher and cited teacher, and
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: only teachers so qualified should be entrusted with a divine
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: privilege of bringing light to the minds of these helpless
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: little ones. I wish to add a few more qualifications
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: to Doctor Illingworth's list, and they are these A broad,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: comprehending sympathy, a sense of humor, and a heart brimming
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: with love for all children, a heart capable of sharing
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: the joy and grief of every child heart. And I
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: wish to emphasize in a special manner one of the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: doctor's qualifications, namely a boundless enthusiasm, and to add yet another,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: a living, breathing faith that teaching is a divine calling
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: and that the opportunities for good or ill are limitless.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: To be successful, a teacher should be able to bring
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: himself to the level of his pupil. I once heard
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: a man say of a great teacher, he had the
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: heart of a boy and understood our every thought and feeling.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: In many schools for the blind, the inspirational value of
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: a blind teacher is overlooked or ignored. In this connection,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: doctor Illingworth says, it is almost as impossible for a
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: seeing teacher to realize what it is to be blind
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: and know all the difficulties of his blind pupil as
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: for a congenitally blind person to enter into and share
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: with one who can see the beauty of a glorious
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: picture or landscape. Doctor Illingworth continues, it takes a seeing
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: teacher to become what might be called a naturalized blind person,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: that is, one able to see things from the blind
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: point of view, though he is never in the favorable
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: position of a blind teacher who can say to a child,
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: do it so I can do it. I am blind
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: like you. In the residential schools, doctor Illingworth recommends that
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the ratio of blind teachers to seeing should be one
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: to two. He says their very presence is a continual
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: inspiration and incentive to the pupils, and he adds the
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: education of blind children in those subjects in which the
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: methods of instruction are necessarily and essentially totally different from
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: those of the seeing is best in the hands of
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: a properly qualified blind teacher. The wisdom of this recommendation
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: is recognized in the largest schools of England and France,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: and so some of them have blind superintendents as well.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: America is slower to recognize the ability of the blind,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: but this period of reconstruction and readjustment through which we
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: are passing may quicken their sense of the importance of
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: employing blind teachers and superintendents. Whenever possible, superintendents are no
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: longer required to perform clerical work. All these details are
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: left to stenographers and bookkeepers. Neither is the superintendent expected
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: to teach. But he should be a scholar, a man
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: of culture, with broad vision and high ideals, and with
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: a sympathetic knowledge of the difficulties to be met and
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: overcome by the students in his care. It should be
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: the aim of the residential school to train its pupils
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: along lines best suited to their individual needs, and, when possible,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: to fit them to become partially self supporting, if not
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: wholly so. The child in a residential school knows very
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: little of life life outside the buildings, knows little of
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: the trials and struggles going on in its own home.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Perhaps its days are well ordered. It is clothed and fed,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: and is not expected to practice self denial or to
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: exercise any of the qualities of courage or fortitude which
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the exigencies of later life demand. Clarence Hawk says, courage
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: a blind person should have above everything else. He must
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: be literally steeped in it. It will not do to
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: have just the ordinary temporary supply allotted to the average
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: seeing man. He will run out in a single day.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: But he must have courage that is perennial, a ceaseless
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: fount of it. Courage for the morning, courage for the noonday,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: and courage for the evening. Life is a battle and
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: a struggle which never ends. He must fight for hope
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: and cheer, laughter and happiness every inch of the way,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: a long life's path. Another writer has said, courage is
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: the standing army of a keeping it from conquest, pillage,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and slavery. But the child in the residential school knows
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: little of all this, has little occasion to know. Doctor
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: park Lewis says the added importance of having blind children
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: educated with those who see is that they may realize
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: more keenly the difficulties of life which are to be
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: met and which have to be overcome. They will not
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: always find kindness and courtesy, and they must be prepared
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: to adjust themselves to the harder conditions when they arise.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: When the child finishes the required curriculum of the residential
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: school and goes forth to his place in the world,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: he is often unprepared for the struggle, unable to adjust
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: himself to the altered conditions, lacking in patience, perseverance, and pluck.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: The three peas of which Clarence Hawks so often speaks,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: and without which he claims no blind person can successfully
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: overcome his handicap. The need for this preparation is better
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: known to a blind teacher or superintendent, and for that reason,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: if for no other, his presence in the school is desirable.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: He knows the value of higher education to the blind,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: and he will urge the pupils to fit themselves for college,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: reminding them that blindness is a physical, not a mental handicap.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: And who is better qualified to fire the youthful mind,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: to strengthen the wavering ambition and arouse the latent enthusiasm
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: than one who has made the effort, has fought the fight,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: and one gloriously. Although doctor Warring Wilkinson, who was the
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: superintendent of the California School for the Blind for over
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: forty years, and his brother Charles, who taught for the
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: same period, although neither of these men was blind, they
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: were true teachers and college men, and understood the value
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: of scholastic attainment to the blind. As far back as
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: I can remember, they urged us all to prepare for college,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: and to stimulate this desire, they kept in close touch
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: with the work of the university and often brought essays
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: written by the advanced students to encourage us in our
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: literary efforts, assuring us, with a little practice, we could
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: write as well. Often too, they would take classes to
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: hear a lecture on some subject under discussion, thus forging
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: the first link between the school and the university in
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: whose shadow our young lives were spent in preparing us
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: for a competition with seeing students. Mister Charles Wilkinson used
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: to say, never ask for quarter because of your blindness.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: Do your work so well that people will say, not
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: how wonderful this is, considering your affliction, but how perfect
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: in spite of it. This thought has remained constantly with me,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: struggling and encouraging me, enabling me to overcome difficulties that
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: would otherwise have been impossible to surmount. It is of
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: vital importance that the blind should have pleasant, well modulated voices,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: and for this reason elocution should be included in this
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: course of study. In recent years, a number of blind
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: students in Eastern schools have been trained as readers and
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: public entertainers, a line of work in which eyesight is
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: not an essential factor. Reading aloud should be encouraged among
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: the pupils and frequent speed tests given, thus stimulating in
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: them a desire for reading. The school at Berkeley has
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: included business methods in its course of study, and this
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: is an excellent thing, because the day is not far
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: distant when the ability of the blind to fill positions
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: as typewriters, stenographers, telephone and dictaphone operators, and salesmen will
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: be recognized. And when this time comes, let us hope
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: that our young people may be ready and eager to
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: prove their worth in these lines of endeavour. If the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: students are made to feel that they are a blazing
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: a trail and making it less difficult for others to follow,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: their ultimate success is assured. Having outlined the aim and
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: purpose of the residential school and shown it to be
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: a necessary factor in the education of the blind in
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: every state, I wished to call attention to some of
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the advantages to be derived from co education of blind
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: and seeing children. As early as nineteen hundred, Chicago started
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: a special class for blind children as a part of
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: its public schools system, thus inaugurating the movement in this country,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: if not in the world. Since that time, many large cities,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: including Boston, New York, Jersey City, Rochester, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati,
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: and Los Angeles have started similar classes, carrying the children
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: from the kindergarten through elementary and high school and preparing
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: them for college. The class in Chicago was started through
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: the efforts of John B. Curtis, a blind teacher and
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: the superintendent of public school classes of Cleveland, Toledo, and Cincinnati.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: Mister R. B Irwin is a blind man, and so
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: it is not strange that a blind teacher of Los
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Angeles should be the first to recognize the need of
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: such a class in this state. The State Library was
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: glad to further this forward movement in the education of
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: blind children and permitted me to devote a great deal
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: of time to organizing the class, and it provided the
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: books and some of the apparatus for carrying on the
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: work of the first year. It still supplies many of
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: the books, though the Board of Education provides its own apparatus.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: Doctor Albert Shields, superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools,
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: was glad to have a class for the blind in
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the city since he has seen how successful the work
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: was carried on in New York, when more than two
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: hundred children attended special classes, and this in spite of
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: the fact that New York has two state schools for
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: the blind. When the home conditions are favorable, special classes available,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: it is wiser to permit the blind child to remain
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: with its parents, to attend school each morning with its
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. In this way, there is no break
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: in the family relation, and the child does not grow
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: indifferent to home ties, as so often happens when he
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: is sent to a residential school. Mister Irwin says the
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: special class is the twentieth century emphasis on the integrity
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: of the home. On January second, nineteen seventeen, the Los
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: Angeles class started with eight pupils enrolled, and on June
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: thirtieth of this year, the number had increased to seventeen,
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: with a prospect of more at the opening of the
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: fall term. Teachers for very special classes are generally chosen
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: from the regular school department, their work being usually directed
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: by a blind supervisor. In pursuance of my work as
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: home teacher, I found a number of children for whom
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: there was no room in the state school at Berkeley,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: and before the Space Special class was organized, I taught
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: these children in their homes or at the library. Miss
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: Francis Blend, a grade teacher, asked to study with me
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: since she wished to teach the blind here or in
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the east. I sent her to teach the children, and
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: in this way she acquired the necessary experience, learned to
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: read and write Braille rapidly, and gained an insight into
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: the psychology of the blind child. So when the Board
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: of Education needed a teacher for the special class, she
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: was ready and eager for the task. Since then, Miss
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: Blend's sister has qualified and is now the second teacher
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: in the blind department, eight to ten children being considered
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: all that one teacher can properly care for. Among the
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: poor of every large city, there are children whose parents
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: conceal them for fear that they may be sent away
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: to school. These are known as hidden children. And I
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: found one such child tucked away under the bed, and
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: was told she always hid there when she heard strange voices.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: She was a little Mexican girl and spoke no English.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: She is now one of the brightest children in the class,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: and her parents are delighted that they need not part
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: with her. In the special class, the children are trained
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: to speak intelligently of things which they do not see
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: with the physical sight, so that they may be able
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: to converse naturally upon ordinary topics and need not have
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: to plead ignorance on the ground of never having seen
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: this or that object. Their minds are filled with a
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: love for all beautiful things, especially flowers and pictures, and
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: they are frequently taken to parks and museums. They are
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: told about the stars, the blue sky, sunsets, the majesty
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: of the ocean, and all the other wonders that enchant
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: the eye. And they are taught to speak of seeing
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: these things because they really do see them with the
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: mental vision, keener in many instances than mere physical sight.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: The boys of the Technic High School made a wonderful
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: doll house for the children, a house of four rooms,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: fully furnished throughout. The children made their own rugs and baskets,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: tables and chairs, and one boy modeled a bathtub of plasticcene,
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: perfect in design. The house has a sloping roof, and
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: it is thatched, and I must confess that my first
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: real knowledge of roofs was gained from examining that one
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: in the doll house. It has a chimney too, and
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: a stovepipe, and so the children learn a great deal
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: from this miniature home for their dolls. In their special
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: class room, the children are taught braille, reading and writing,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: and a great deal of time is given to these branches.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: They are taught all sorts of hand work, basketry, weaving, knitting, modeling,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: and chair caning, and when old enough, they are sent
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: with the other children to sewing, cooking, sloyd and music classes.
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: As soon as possible, they recite with irregular classes, their
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: lessons being previously read or explained by the special teacher.
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: This gives them the contact with normal children so necessary
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: to the development of the blind child. Those not in
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: favor of special classes claim that this competition is too
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: severe a strain, and that it is unkind and unwise
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: to place blind children with those whose physical advantages and
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: opportunities for study are greater. But we have found that
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the plan works admirably. The special teacher trains her pupils
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: to be self reliant and helpful, insists that they join
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: in the games of others, assuring them that with greater effort,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: they too may play, And it is delightful to watch
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: them at recess or at noon each blind child affectionately
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: led by a seeing child, the latter calling the teacher's
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: attention to the successful performance of some fate on the
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: part of his blind playmate. In the class room, too,
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: the spirit is the same, the blind child remembering things
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: for the one who sees, and the seeing child use
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: his eyes for the one who is blind. The special
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: teacher trains the memory of her pupils to the highest
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: possible degree, impressing upon them that their minds are vast
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: storehouses in which to keep all sorts of knowledge tucked
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: away for future use, and that it is disastrous to
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: blind children to forget. In mental arithmetic, they usually lead
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: the class. Their presence in the school is of the
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: greatest help to the others with whom they work in class.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: Their success in overcoming difficulties is a stimulus to the
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: pride and an incentive to the ambition of the seeing child.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: The presence of the blind children is a constant reminder
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: to them of their superior physical advantages, and they are
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: ashamed to have them outstrip them, as they so often
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: do in intellectual work. And so the presence of the
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: blind child is sure to result in untold good not
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: only to the child so handicapped, but to the entire school,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: removing as it must. The belief now alas so general
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: that when eyesight is lost, all is lost. Trained side
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: by side with its sighted companions doing the same work
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: as well, if not better, the later success of the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: young blind seeker after knowledge is practically assured, For, as
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: I have said in mental attainment, at least the blind
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: child is the peer of the child with eyesight. Here
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: beyond cavil, the chances are equal. To my mind, the
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: co education of the blind and seeing is a step
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: in the right direction, a very forward step, since it
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: will ultimately bridge the gulf of misconception and skepticism now
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: separating these two classes, a gulf which must be bridged
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: if we hope to arrive at a sane and satisfactory
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: solution of the problem of finding employment, not only for
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: the returned blind soldiers, but for the thousands of intelligent
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: blind men and women who are waiting eagerly, hungrily for
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: a chance to prove their abilit a chance to earn
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: their daily bread. When blind and seeing children are trained
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: side by side from the kindergarten, through the grades into
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: high school and on to college, perhaps the barriers dissolve.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: The blind boy and the seeing boy are comrades. They
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: have played together, work together, and together they have planned
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: their future. The seeing boy knows the blind boy will
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: succeed because he has seen him victorious in many a
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: mental skirmish. Just to dismay right here in the University
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: at Berkeley, a blind student graduated forth in a class
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: of more than one thousand seeing students. It may be
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: interesting to note in passing that there are seven blind
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: students now attending the university, and that the state provides
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: three hundred dollars a year to defray the expense of
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: a reader for each student. New York was the first
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: state to provide readers for blind college students, and this
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: was brought about through the efforts of doctor Nie Newell Perry,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: a blind graduate of the University of California, now a
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: teacher of mathematics in the California School for the Blind.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: Doctor Newell Perry was largely instrumental in the passage of
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: a similar bill in this state. And so once again
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: the blind are indebted to a blind teacher for advancement.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: But all the children in the special classes will not
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: care to go to college and for those who do
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: not other work will be provided, manual training given, and
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: all sorts of trades encouraged. Here too, they will have
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: the added stimulus of studying side by side with their
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: sighted companions. It is my earnest hope that some day
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: this state will establish a technical school for the blind.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: In such a school, a deft fingered, intelligent blind boy
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: could learn electric wiring, pipe fitting, screw fitting, bolt nutting,
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: assembling of chandeliers and telephone parts, trained as a plumber's helper,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: and taught to read gas and electric meters by passing
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: the fingers over the dial. In short, a variety of
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: trades and occupations could be pursued with profit to the
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: school and to the students. But while waiting for the
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: establishment of such a school, there is much to be
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: done by way of preparation. We must prove the truth
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: of Clarence Hawk's assertion that blindness is, after all, but
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: a twenty five percent handicap in the race of life.
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: But it is a handicap no matter what profession is adopted.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: I analyze the handicap thus, twenty four percent of it
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: is the prejudice and unbelief of the public, and the
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: other one percent is the lack of eyesight. I believe
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: this is not too strong. In speaking of the handicap,
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: Clarence Hawks continues, a blind person, in order to succeed
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: equally with the seeing, must put in one hundred twenty
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: five percent of energy before he can stand abreast of
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: his seeing competitor. But in order to prove blindness to
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: be but a twenty five percent handicap, we must train
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: our blind children from their earliest infancy. We must not
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: sidetrack them. We must plant their feet firmly on the
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: high road of life. Encourage their first faltering steps. Teach
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: them to go forward fearlessly with head erect and shoulders squared.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: Warn them of pitfalls and hidden thorns. Show them the
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: wisdom of making haste slowly when the path is steep
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: or uneven. Impress upon their minds the importance to others
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: of their success, and above all, train them to have
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: confidence in themselves. Teach them to realize that, because of
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: their struggles and limitations, they have a mental equipment and
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: reserve force possessed by very few of their more fortunate
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: fellow beings. Thus trained and fortified, our young blind people
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: will work like trojans to prove their ability to those
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: who doubt it, and succeed in removing one obstacle after another,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: until they stand ready to take equal chances with any
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: who may be pitted against them. The hand of the
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: sightless worker is steadier and his courage greater, because of
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: the years of struggle and constant effort of which his
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: sighted competitors can form no conception. And those in charge
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: of the education of the blind, whether in residential schools
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: or public school classes, have a herculean task before them.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: But if their hearts are in the work, if they
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: are alive to their wonderful opportunity for service, and if
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: they have faith in the ability of their pupils, the
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: future successes of these handicapped young people is practically assured.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: As with the nation to day, so with those interested
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: in the welfare of the blind. We look to the
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: children for the fulfillment of our highest ideals, and hope
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: in their advancement to see our dearest dreams come true.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: I am often called visionary, and I am proud to
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: confess that I have a vision, a wonderful vision of
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: the future of the blind. It may not be realized
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: during my lifetime. But if some of the children I
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: have inspired will take up the torch and carry on unfalteringly,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: I shall be satisfied. Meantime, I walk by the light
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: of my vision along rough roads, across strange streams, up
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: hills that are steep and rock strewn. And though my
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: courage sometimes fails, and my strength seems unequal to the task,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: the light shines clear and steady, and I go forward
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: in the glad, assurance that one day my vision will
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: be realized. My cherished dream for the emancipation of my people,
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: the emancipation of the blind, must come true. End of
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: lecture two, Lecture three of five lectures on blindness. This
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Five Lectures on
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: Blindness by Kate M. Foley, Lecture three The re Education
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: of the Blind Adult, with special reference to the blinded Soldier.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: A voice came in the darkness and lifted the curtain
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: of mind. I saw that fingers could be also eyes
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: to the blind I touched, I thought, I saw, and
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: the dark shades rolled aside. And to you my heart
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: pays tribute, dear teacher, friend, and guide. These lines were
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: sent to me by one of my blind pupils. After
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: he had learned to read and write the Braille characters.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: They expressed the purpose of re education and indicate the
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: means by which it may be attained. Rehabilitate, reconstruct, re educate.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: These are familiar terms in this hour of stress and
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: world conflict. To the minds of many, these words may
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: present problems that are entirely new. But to the social
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: worker and those whose lives have been spent in the
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: service of the handicapped men and women of our civil communities,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: the problem presented is no new one, the only difference
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: being that, whereas hitherto only a few recognized the problem, today,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: stirred by the knowledge of war and its frightful consequences,
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: everyone is eager to share in the rehabilitation movement now
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: sweeping over the land. The re education of the blinded
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: soldier is, after all, only the re education of the
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: blind adult, and he has been with us lo these
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: many years. Adult blindness has increased alarmingly in the past
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: half century, and the problem of providing for this unfortunate
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: class has assumed proportions. The prospect of having to care
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: for thousands of blinded soldiers has led to a consideration
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: of the blind and their possible rehabilitation, and much good
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: should result from the united effort. We extend a cordial
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: invitation to all to come over to Macedonia and help.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: The California State Library has been engaged in the re
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: education of the blind adult since it opened its Books
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: for the Blind department in December nineteen o four. At first,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: it supplied books to those who already knew how to read,
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: but soon it became evident that this field of usefulness
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: could extend to the adult suddenly deprived of eyesight and
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: not eligible to a school for the blind, and thus
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: the need for home teaching became apparent long before the
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: State Library could employ such a teacher. I realized this
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: need even before leaving school, and it was my privilege
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: to teach as a volunteer for twenty years prior to
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: my appointment as home teacher for the State Library. During
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: that period, I taught the blind of this and neighboring states,
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: and before books were made available by the State Library,
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: I copied stories and poems suited to the tastes of
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: my individual pupils. In this way I came in close
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: touch with the blind and their problems. And my every
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: waking moment was devoted to their service. And although there
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: were heavy burdens in the load and too few helpers
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: on the road, I clung to the belief that some
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: day help would come and I should be permitted to
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: enlarge my scope of usefulness and reach all who needed
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: re education. And this hope was realized in July nineteen fourteen,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: when the State Library asked me to accept the position
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: of home teacher of the Blind of the state. As
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: early as eighteen ninety, Pennsylvania started home teaching in this country,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: but its work was privately maintained. Since then, other states
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: have established such departments Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Illinois, but
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: these have special appropriations for carrying on the work. Our
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: State Library is doing it out of its general appropriation
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: and as a phase of its extension. It is the
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: only state library maintaining such a department in connection with
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: regular library work. Some of the large cities have reading
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: rooms in their public libraries, where books are loaned on
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: application and where reading is taught to those who can
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: go there for lessons. The duties of the State Library
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: home teachers are manifold. This department has steadily grown in
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: importance until now it is recognized as the very bone
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: and sinew of work for the blind in this state.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: Some of the teacher's duties are first to teach raised
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: type to all who cannot see to read ordinary print.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: A person need not be totally blind in order to
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: read in this way, as many learn who can see
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: to go about alone. Second to search for, and, when possible,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: place either in the school at Berkeley or the special
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: class in Los Angeles, all blind children who have reached
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: the age of six years. Third, to conduct a campaign
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: for the prevention of blindness and conservation of vision in
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: adults and children. And lastly, to set forth the needs
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: of the blind, convince the public that its attitude toward
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: them is often an added affliction, and correct a few
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: of the many mistakes and ideas concerning those deprived of
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: eyesight who are necessarily somewhat handicapped in the race of life.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: The importance of this last duty cannot be overestimated, and
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: so my next lecture will present this subject in its
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: many phases, with the hope of creating a better understanding
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: between the blind and the seeing, an understanding which will
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: not only help the blind adult now in our midst
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: but aid materially in the re education of the blinded soldier.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: My task is not an easy one, but I love
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: my work and my pupils, and I have come to
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: know that the public needs not so much to be
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: instructed as to be reminded. Our first borrower was a
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: lady of ninety years, and so we realized at once
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: that there was practically no age limit in this work,
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: thus proving the truth of the well known saying we
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: are never too old to learn. A man of ninety,
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: with hands toil worn and crippled from rhubatism, was able,
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: after a few weeks of study to read with pleasure,
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: his only regret being that he had not learned twenty
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: years before when blindness first came upon him. When it
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: is considered that during all those years the man had
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: not read a single word, his progress is truly remarkable,
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: and the fact that he is reading has stimulated others, who,
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: on account of their advanced age, hesitated to study the
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: raised types. The requirements for study are simple, a love
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: for reading, persistent application, and a determination to succeed. If
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: a person did not care to read with his eyes,
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: he will certainly not be be willing to learn with
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: his fingers. This is a fact not well understood, and
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: it is very generally supposed that all blind people want
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: to learn to read. Among our elderly borrowers, our doctors, judges, ministers,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: teachers and authors, and to them the reading has given
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: a new lease for life. There are invalids among our
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: elderly people, men and women in wheelchairs, with crippled limbs,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: sometimes deprived of the use of one hand, but they
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: are reading and their pleasure is beautiful to see. One
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: woman of eighty seven, who has not walked for four
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: years and blind one year, learned to read last January,
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: and since that time she has read twenty books, besides
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: knitting squares for the Red Cross. The type read by
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: the elderly borrowers and those with toil hardened hands or
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: suffering from some nervous affection, was formulated by a blind man,
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: doctor William Moon, of London, about eighteen four five, and
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: is called Moon type. The characters are large and distinct,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: many of them being shaped like the ordinary printed letters.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: They are easily learned, and this type is invaluable not
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: only for old blind people, but in cases where in
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: order to restore lost confidence, a quick return is imperative.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: Doctor Moon lost his eyesight in early manhood and spent
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: the remaining years of his life perfecting his system, printing
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: books and pamphlets, and going about teaching the poor of London,
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: thus inaugurating home teaching for the blind. Moon Type books
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: have been printed in many languages, and thousands of men
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: and women have been blessed and brightened by the unique
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: philanthropy of this blind man. His son, Robert Moon, brought
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: the type to Pennsylvania, and that state and ours lead
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: in the number of Moon Books in circulation. Often, when
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: a borrower has read Moon for six months or a year,
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: he is able to learn Braille, his fingers being trained
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: by the Moon to remain in a prescribed space, and
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: his confidence in their ability fully established. This is a
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: potent factor in mastering a dotted system, as the progress
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: is generally slow and laborious, especially for elderly people. The
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: fact that an adult can learn to read with the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: fingers seems very wonderful to the uninitiated, and indeed it
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: is a long step forward. But the ability to substitute
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: fingers for eyes is only one of the Marvel's rought.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: Helen Keller has truly said that idleness is the greatest
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: burden of the blind, and this is why our work
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: with them is so acceptable, though the reading is after all,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: only the means to an end. While training the fingers
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: to perform their new functions, I strive to renew hope
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: and courage in the hearts of the pupils, assuring them
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: that they may still do many things that were possible
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: before their blindness. Self relyneence and helpfulness minus self pity.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: This is the formula I use when urging the pupils
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: to make the most of life. For when a man
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: is sorry for himself, he is on the road to despair,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: and his condition is well nigh hopeless. When the pupils
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: are able to read and write once more, after having
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: given up all hope of ever doing so, their confidence
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: is restored and a way is open to new and
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: hitherto undreamed of possibilities. Old aims and pursuits relinquished when
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: the eyesight failed, are once more remembered and discussed, and
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: in many instances resumed, thus bringing back the light not
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: to the eyes but to the mind. Through work. John
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: Newton says, you cannot shove the darkness out of a room,
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: but you can shine it out. I see this miracle
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: performed every day, yet to me it is ever new,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: ever wonderful, stimulating me to greater efforts for my people,
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: because the blind are my people, and their joys and sorrows,
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: triumphs and defeats find an echo in my heart. When
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: the raised alphabet is mastered, books are sent from the
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: State Library to the homes through the mail free of cost,
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: and thus there is no expense incurred, and as this
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: service is tax supported, there is no element of charity
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: connected with it. At present, the State Library employs two
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: home teachers, and the number will be increased as the
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: need arises. One of these, Missus, Catherine J. Morrison, is
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: stationed at Los Angeles, having been appointed to take my
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: place there when I was transferred to San Francisco last October.
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: The arrangement for this transfer was one of the last
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: official acts of the late State Librarian. My well loved chief,
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: mister Gillis, was devoted to the blind and extended the
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: service to this section at the earliest possible moment. The
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: State Library selected me as a home teacher, not only
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: because of my years of experience with the blind, but
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: because blind from early infancy. I was familiar with the
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: handicaps and discouragements that overwhelm the adult but recently deprived
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: of eyesight. The pupils have confidence in a blind teacher
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: because they know that every step in their difficult path
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: is familiar to her feet. The qualifications for a home
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: teacher are briefly these personality, adaptability, tact, a sense of humor,
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: a broad comprehending sympathy, a strongly hoping heart, unlimited patience,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: and a determination to do what is best for her pupils,
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: no matter what the opposition or how hard the task
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: may be. He who can plant courage in the human
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: soul is the best physician, and this is one of
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: the chief duties of the home teacher. Some knowledge of
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: nervous diseases is also essential, and is often necessary to
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: exercise the greatest care and patience in giving the first
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: few lessons, as an unwise word or a failure to
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: understand conditions may lead to untold misery. This is especially
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: true in cases of sudden blindness, as the pupil is
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: often afraid to move about his own room, confused by
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: the altered conditions, and bewildered by a multitude of sounds
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: hitherto unnoticed. It is absolutely necessary to have the co
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: operation of the family, and I am often obliged to
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: insist that changes be made in the household arrangements in
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: order to help a pupil through the trying period of readjustment.
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: This is sometimes fraught with difficulties for both pupil and teacher,
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: but the latter should never lose sight of the comfort
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: and benefits of her charge, and should care nothing for
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: unreasonable objections or selfish protests. The blind adult is in
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: need of someone who, while recognizing the undeniable calamity and loss,
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: is yet ready to lend a steadying hand, encourage the
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: uncertain feet to their old free movements, lead the troubled
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: thoughts into other channels, and find new methods of doing
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: old things. Thus encouraged, the blind adult will soon resume
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: his normal attitude, realize that much good work may yet
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: be done, and that others have blazed a trail which
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: he may follow if he will. But if his family
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: and friends feel that because eyesight is lost, all is
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: lost and tell him that because of his affliction he
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: can do nothing, he will do nothing. But if they
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: tell him he has a handicap, and that they will
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: help him to work it off. All his fighting blood
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: will come to the rescue, and he will say with Emerson,
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: the King is the man who can. I give this
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: sentence to all my pupils, and their spirit leaps to
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: the call, and holding to my hand for the first
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: few uncertain steps, trusting in my assurance that very soon
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: they will find their way along this new path. The
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: bent shoulders straightened, the bowed head is lifted, the darkness
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: is dispelled by the light of purpose, soul sight replaces
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: physical sight, and the pupil is ready to face life again,
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: undaunted and unafraid. What a wonderful privilege, What a rare
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: opportunity for service to the teacher alive to the possibilities
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: of her unique position. When the song goes out of
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: your life, you cannot start another while it is ringing
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: in your ears. But let a bit of a silence fall,
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: and then maybe a psalm will come by and by.
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: To live by a song is all very beautiful and wonderful,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: But to live by a psalm is braver and worthier.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: And in the case of the blind adult, the readjustment
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: period may be called the interim between the song and
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: the psalm. During these trying months. The blind adult should
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: not be left alone to fight his way out of
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: darkness through blood into light. He should have immediate and
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: competent care at the hands of one who is familiar
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: with his needs and familiar to with the possibilities of
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: his altered condition. An occupation, however, light is an absolute necessity.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: Enforced idleness is an added affliction, and one not easily born.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: The government realizes this fact, and its program for the
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: blinded soldier includes many forms of handcraft to be taught
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: in the hospitals. Netting is taught and the soldiers are
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: encouraged to whittle. I was glad to see this latter
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: occupation included in the first Aid program, as I have
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: recommended it for many years. When a man whittles, he whistles,
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: maybe not just at first, but some day, almost before
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: he realizes it, he finds himself whistling, and he is
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: then well on the road toward a sane acceptance of
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: the new conditions. I have found whittling to be as
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: soothing it to master sculin nerves as knitting or crocheng
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: to feminine ones. The ability to use the hands in
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: some light work removes the feeling of helplessness and enables
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: the adult to keep his mind on his fingers, and
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: this effort at concentration is often the means of preserving
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: reason and reviving in the soul the desire to take
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: up the struggle of life again. At this stage, the
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: adult should be induced to learn to read, raised type,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: and to write letters to his friends. There are several
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: writing devices by means of which a blind person can
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: once more use pencil or pen and the ability to
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: do this marks another milestone in his progress. When the
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: adult is able to read and write once more, perhaps
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: to use the typewriter, he feels encouraged and begins to
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: ask what other blind men are doing, and to wonder
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: if avenues of usefulness still remain open to him. Whenever practicable,
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: I induce the men to resume their former ociey patients,
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: or suggests other lines of work suited to their altered condition.
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: One young man, who was an electrical engineer before his blindness,
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: now wires houses in Los Angeles, his work always passing
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: the inspector despite the opposition of the sighted competitors. He
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: has his own shop and there he assembles chandeliers, repairs motors,
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: and changes storage batteries. It takes him longer to do
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: the work than formerly, but his character is the same,
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: and his heart sings with the joy of the task.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: And he is working off his handicap in the hope
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: that others may follow where he leads. In May, he
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: cleared one hundred and fifty dollars above all expenses. Another
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: young man supports two small children, raising poultry, designing his
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: own roosts, coops, and troughs. Another man is making goods,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: selling janitor and sanitary supplies to hotels and apartment houses.
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: Two of the men are doing well in a house
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: to house canvas for brushes of various kinds. Several men
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: are in the real estate business, and one has bought
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: a home and is supporting his aged father. Another does
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: expert work with the typewriter and dictaphone. I encourage the
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: women to knit, crochet, sew, and cook by proving to
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: them that this is possible without eyesight. And I feel
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: certain that through such efforts many a domestic tragedy has
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: been averted. I induce the older men, or those who
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: cannot take up any line of business, to work in
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: the garden chop, wood cut lawns, go to the nearby
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: stores and make themselves a necessary factor in the household.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: The possibilities of our work and the real good accomplished
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: cannot be told in words, but its effects may be
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: seen in many homes, where men and women, strengthened and encouraged,
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: are once more assuming their rightful places in the household,
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: sharing the work and the responsibility, just as in the
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: days before blafeindness came upon them. In order to bring
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: the work within reach of those to whom it is
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: not possible to give oral instruction, we have a correspondence
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: course for pupils in this and neighboring states. In this
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: way we are reaching people from Humboldt to San Diego
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: County in this state, and the list includes persons from Arizona, Washington, Nevada,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: and Oregon. This course is well known to every county
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: librarian in the state, and even custodians of very small
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: branches send us the names of blind persons in their vicinity.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: Among the correspondence pupils is a man who was superintendent
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: of a power plant before losing his eyesight, and he
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: still holds the position despite his handicap. He tests meters
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: in three powerhouses daily, walking a distance of three miles
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: in order to reach them all. I taught him to
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: read and write two systems, to use a writing board,
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: and he has now mastered the typewriter. He is a
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: brave man, silently fighting his way along the dark trail,
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: and I am privileged in being permitted to guide his
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: unaccustomed feet over the rocks and crevices I have long
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: since learned to avoid. Another of the pupils is in
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: the insurance business and is also one of the four
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: minute men in his country's service. I could give you
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: many more instances of the splendid courage of these men
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: and women, who, though deprived of the most important of
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: the special senses in adult life, are cheerfully doing their best,
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: wasting no time in straining after the fruit just over
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: Fate's barbed wire fence. Our work carries us into hospitals
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: and almshouses, and through the cooperation of charitable organizations, we
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: find the poor, and in addition to teaching them to read,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: we endeavor to better their condition, and the charities are
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: always glad to second our efforts. The teacher in Los
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: Angeles goes regularly to the County Hospital and County Farm.
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: And up here I teach in the Sanford Cisco Hospital
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: Relief Home and in the San Leandro Infirmary, and it
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: is a great joy to minister to these lonely, friendless souls.
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: In the relief home, I have a splendid class, and
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: I go there once a week and read to all
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: men in the ward blind and seeing. Before giving the lessons,
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: two of the men are knitting. One is making squares
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: for the Belgian baby blankets, and the other a muffler
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: for the Navy League. When I asked for volunteer knitters,
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: one old colored man said, Madam, my hands are not
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: steady enough to knit, but I can hold the yarn
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: for some man to wind. I am also teaching in
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: the State Industrial Home for adult blind in Oakland, and
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: I look upon the afternoon spent there as the red
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: letter day of the week. I go from there each
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: Tuesday with a fresh supply of courage and inspiration. The
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: men collect funny stories to tell me, and the women
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: show their appreciation in countless little ways. The State Library
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: is proud of its borrowers in this institution, and not
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: long ago had some pictures taken showing the men reading
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: and the women knitting. It is an inspiring sight to
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: see the men waiting for their lessons. They come in
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: from the shop where they have been sorting broomcorn, sewing,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: or tying brooms. Young men and old, all eager to
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: avail themselves of the services of the teacher, anxious to
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: learn everything possible that will help to broaden their outlook
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: on life. Fine brave fellows all of them. Many have
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: become blind within recent years, victims of industrial accidents in factories,
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: quarries or mines. The thought of the blinded soldier has
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: roused these men to renewed effort in the hope that
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: their success as broom makers may encourage other blind men
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: who must learn a trade after the war, and their
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: broom shop is a wonderful place to visit, with seventy
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: blind men and a blind foreman to inspire and encourage
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: the workers. The business of the institution is principally wholesale,
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: although some of the blind men have worked up a
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: good retail trade in Oakland. The sales of the institution
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: average sixty five hundred per month, and with increased capital,
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: more material, and a larger plant, it could handle three
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: times its present business. The Board of Directors will ask
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: the legislature to increase the appropriation to enlarge the plant
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: and to provide an industrial teacher to go into the
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: homes of the blind, teaching them weaving, basketry, charcaning, and knitting.
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: The home to market the products, deducting the cost of
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: material from the amount paid to the workers. This industrial
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: teacher is greatly needed, and it is hoped the legislature
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: will make it possible for the home to enlarge its
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: sphere of usefulness and provide employment for many who are
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: not inmates, but who need to contribute to their own support.
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: The men of the Home are not alone in their
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: desire to help in the hour of their countryesed. More
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: than a dozen women are knitting for the men in
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: the trenches. They are an auxiliary of the Navy League,
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: and their work is the finest of any turned in
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: by the thousands of knitters in the Bay region. They
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: knit socks and sweaters, helmets and mufflers. One of the
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: women made five pairs of socks in one week, with
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: never a dropped stitch anywhere. This same woman made three
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: sweaters in ten days, all perfect garments. The wife of
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: the superintendent is the teacher, and two of the blind
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: women help the others by picking up dropped stitches, straightening puckers,
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: and suggesting easier methods to the inexperienced workers. Those who
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: cannot knit snip rags for the ambulance pillows, hem Red
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: Cross handkerchiefs, and so on hospital quilts. In addition to this,
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: a blind invalid in San Francisco rips up work poorly
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: done by seeing knitters, and the members of our wonderful
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: auxiliary make perfect garments from the used wool. Emulates them
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: to do their very best, for they know they are
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: proving to the public that the fingers of the blind
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: worker are deft and sure, and that given the opportunity,
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: they can knit as well and often better than their
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: more fortunate sisters. They feel, too, that they are doing
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: their best to promote the comfort of the soldiers, doing
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: it evenings after working in the shop all day where
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: they cane chairs and make toy and whisk brooms. I
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: am sure we need not go to the hospitals of
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: France in search of blind heroes. We have them right
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: here in our midst and are proud of them. The
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: State Library permits me to devote all the time necessary
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: to keep the women supplied with wool and return the
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: garments to the Navy League. The library regards this as
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: part of its campaign of enlightenment, and it is confident
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: untold good will result both to the public and to
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: the blind. In addition to their work, both men and
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: women read a great deal, and of books are mailed
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: to and from the home each day, and so the
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: State Library is doing its share towards the re education
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: of the blind adult has been doing it for the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: past thirteen years. It provides the best books available in
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: the various types. It has over eight thousand books in circulation,
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: and its list of borrowers numbers more than one thousand.
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: The keynote of this department is service, and each borrower
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: is made to feel that his success is of vital
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: importance to the library. And when a new reader is
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: added to the list, a note is usually sent welcoming
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: him to the family circle. For we are all like
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: one large family circle, with common aims, common interests, and
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: a common goal, namely to spread far and wide the
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: gospel of home teaching. To do our best in order
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: to help others similarly placed and to prove ourselves worthy
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: of the help so generously given by the State Library.
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: Then other potent factor in the work of re education
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: is the Matilda Zeigler Magazine, a periodical in raised type
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: published since nineteen o seven through the generosity of Missus
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: Matilda Zeigler, head of the Royal Baking Powder Company of
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: New York. This magazine is printed in New York City
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: and sent to the homes of more than twelve thousand
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: persons in the United States and Canada. It is like
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: any other magazine, with current events, timely articles, short stories, poetry,
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: a woman's page, and a page of humour. In addition
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: to this, every month there is an article telling of
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: the success of some blind person. The account written by
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: the man or woman in the form of a letter
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: to the editor and the manager. Mister Walter G. Holmes
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: is a man with a heart of gold. He has
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: his finger on the pulse of the blind of the country,
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: and he believes in them, loves them, and brings out
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: the best that is in them. Every number contains a
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: map of some of the warring countries, and so the
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: readers are kept in touch with all the vital issues
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: of the day. Many a man is induced to learn
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: to read raised type just to read this magazine, and
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: so Missus Zeigler's philanthropy cannot be too highly commended, and
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: her name and that of mister Holmes are enshrined in
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: the hearts of the blind. Her service to them is incalculable.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: The Government is making extensive preparation for the re education
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: of our blinded soldiers, both in the hospitals of France
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: and the Hospital School at Baltimore. The grounds and some
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: of the buildings in this school were given to the
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: Government by Missus T. Harrison Garrett of Baltimore, and no
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: expenses being spared in providing every care and facility for
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: the training and comfort of the blinded soldiers who are
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: to be rehabilitated and returned not to the battle fields
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: of France, but to the battle ground of life. The
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: Government plans to begin the re education in the hospitals,
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: to continue it at the ports of embarkation, and complete
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: it in the Hospital School at Baltimore. The training in
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: this school is to be patterned after that of Saint
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: Dunstan's in London, where the work of re education, under
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: the direction of Sir Arthur Pearson himself a blind man
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: is meeting with the greatest success. The Red Cross Institute
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: for the Blind is on the same grounds as the
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: Hospital School and is supplementing the work of the government
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: in a most able manner. Typewriting, dictaphone, switchboard, operating, telegraphy, osteopathy,
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: massage and salesmanship are to be taught to those who
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: are fitted for these branches and trades and occupations, including
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: piano tuning, winding coils for armatures used in electric motors, joinery,
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: matt and mattress making, broom and basket making, rug weaving
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: and shoe cobbling are to be taught to those who
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: are not fitted for the professions. The government will send
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: over to France at least one blind teacher for each
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: base hospital for his inspirational value to the men during
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: the first trying months of the readjustment period. Blind teachers
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: will be employed in this country too, and the government
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: is already looking about for those best qualified for such positions.
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: All blind soldiers will be given an opportunity to learn
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: to read and write the raised system, and provision is
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: being made for an enlarged circulation of books and for
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: newer publications to be embossed in the universal Braille system.
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: In this work, the volunteers who learn to write Braille
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: can materially assist by copying short stories, timely articles, and
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: nonsense verse to be distributed among the blind of their
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: communities and for the pleasure of the returned soldiers. When
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: the men have been a sufficient time in the hospital school,
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: they are to be returned to their own cities and towns,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: and the government, through its agent empowered to find out
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: employment for handicapped soldiers, will endeavor to secure work for
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: them in existing industrial institutions and plants in the various states.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: It is also planned to have place capable blind men
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: in shops with the seeing whenever possible. I say whenever possible,
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: for it will take time and much effort to persuade
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: employers to include blind men among their employees, but the
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: day is not far distant when the public will see
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: the wisdom of providing work for its handicapped men and women,
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: and condemn those who fail to cooperate with the government
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: in securing positions for all those qualified to fill them.
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: The government is generous in its appropriation of funds to
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: carry on this re education, but it does not include
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: the civilian blind. In this program, the blind adult in
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: civil life must be employed or cared for by the
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: civilian population. And this brings me to the discussion of
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: the attitude of the public towards the blind, since three
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: of the blind of America could be gainfully employed right
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: now if the public would only believe in them, would
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: only give them an opportunity to prove their ability. With
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: his remaining faculties. Keenly alert, with the courage and fortitude
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: born of many trials, the blind adult is prepared to
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: face life squarely, undaunted and unafraid, asking only to take
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: his place on the firing line, to march shoulder to
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: shoulder with his seeing brother, and to do a man's
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: work in the world. End of Lecture three.
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 2: Lecture four The Attitude of the Public toward the Blind
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 2: of five Lectures on Blindness. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 2: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 2: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 2: by Matthew Reyes five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M. Foley.
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 2: Lecture four The Attitude of the Public toward the Blind.
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 2: In discussing the subject, I realize I have a most
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 2: difficult and delicate task before me, a task which only
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 2: a blind person can adequately perform. I approach it with
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 2: no misgiving, with no unkind feeling. For as I have
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 2: previously stated, I believe the public needs not so much
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 2: to be instructed as to be reminded, and I believe
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 2: it will be glad to have some of its mistaken
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 2: ideas corrected and thus bring about a better understanding between
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 2: the two classes. In the first place, I wish to
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 2: mention some popular fallacies concerning the blind. Chief among these
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 2: is the idea that all blind people are so much
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 2: happier than cited people. This belief seems very general and comes,
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 2: I suppose as a result of the feeling of the
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 2: average human being that if deprived of eyesight, he could
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 2: never be induced to laugh again. The blind adult soon
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 2: realizes that humor is a shock absorber and that mirth
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 2: is the soul's best medicine. When my pupils fail to
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 2: recognize the efficacy of humor, I establish a rule that
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 2: they must laugh at least once during each lesson, and
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 2: very soon they agree with Charles Lamb that a laugh
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 2: is worth a hundred groans in any market. One of
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 2: my foreign pupils said to me when I spoke of
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 2: his cheerful attitude, Madam, I laugh that I may not weep.
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 2: And this is the key to much of the cheerfulness
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 2: of the blind, whose philosophy is not often understood by
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 2: their sighted friends. There is nothing really remarkable about making
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 2: the best of a trying situation, unless it is the
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 2: small percentage of persons who do so. People feel so
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 2: sorry for the blind that they are often unable to
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 2: address them at all, or when they do speak, convey
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 2: a whole world of well meant but misdirected sympathy in
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 2: a few ill chosen words. This misdirected sympathy is one
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 2: of the hardest things the blind adult has to bear.
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 2: And often when I urge a man to go out
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 2: among his friends as he did when he could see,
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 2: he answers, I can't do it just yet. I can't
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 2: bear the pitying tone. It would make me lose my grip,
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 2: and I must not let go. And sometimes I go
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 2: to his friends and explain the situation and persuade them
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 2: to call on their friend, take him out with them,
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 2: talk to him of the ordinary commonplace happenings, keeping their
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 2: sympathy well disguised, or rather showing a comprehending sympathy, a
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 2: sympathy that recognizes a brave man's effort to accept his
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 2: fate unwimperingly. Another popular belief is that the blind are
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 2: naturally very religious. Unfortunately, this belief seems to be shared
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 2: by those who selected many of the books to be
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 2: printed and raised types, since about one half of the
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 2: books selected are of a religious character. The blind are
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 2: naturally introspective, and their power of concentration is greater than
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 2: that of the average person, but I have not found
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 2: them to be unusually religious. I do not think that
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 2: blindness increases or decreases the religious tendency. A third fallacy
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 2: is that the blind can tell colors by feeling. This
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 2: is absolutely impossible. I have heard of men who could
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 2: tell the difference of color in horses, but upon questioning
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 2: them closely, I found that the texture of the hair
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 2: varied in light and dark colored animals. Of course, there
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 2: is an odor about some colored dyes, such as black
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 2: and indigo blue. Some of the blind are themselves responsible
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 2: for fostering this belief, but they do it to test
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 2: the credulity of the public, and they do not know
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 2: the real harm they are doing to the cause. It
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 2: is a common belief, too, that all blind people like
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 2: music and are especially gifted in this art. I do
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 2: not believe that the percentage of really musical blind people
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 2: is greater than that of persons who see. Sometimes a
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 2: blind man or woman will study music, either as a
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 2: pastime or in the hope of making a living, but
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 2: the lack of eyesight does not increase or diminish one's
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 2: musical ability. In the lecture on the psychology of blindness,
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 2: I endeavor to prove that the blind were not possessed
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 2: of greater faculties than their seeing fellows, but that loss
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 2: of eyesight made it imperative to cultivate the remaining senses
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 2: to a very high degree, and that such cultivation led
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 2: to a greater keenness in the interpretation of the information
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 2: furnished the remaining senses. When told that the blind do
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 2: many things well and quickly by employing methods different than
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 2: those who see, the information comes as a shock when
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 2: it is not entirely discredited. There is an idea prevalent
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 2: among so called well informed men and women that a
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 2: loss of eyesight carries with it a loss of mental
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 2: vigor and a total inability to engage in any of
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 2: the world's work. This belief, and the many foolish notions
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 2: which it breeds, presents one of the greatest difficulties to
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 2: be met and if possible, overcome by the blind man
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 2: or woman obliged to earn a livelihood. So potent is
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 2: eyesight considered that without it, some people think it is
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 2: impossible to perform even the simplest duties, and the person
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 2: obliged to substitute fingers for eyes and memory for paddent
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 2: pencil is regarded as a marvel of intelligence in skins
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 2: and as possessing a sixth sense. Anything done by the blind,
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 2: from recognizing a voice to remembering a street number, is
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 2: considered wonderful by the average person, and this attitude is
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 2: very trying to the blind adult, who is striving to
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 2: adjust himself to new conditions and train his remaining faculties
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 2: to the highest possible degree of efficiency. The commiseration and
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 2: incredulous words of his friends is one of the greatest
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 2: trials which the blind adult is called upon to bear,
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 2: and it is not strange that he is often embittered
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 2: and discouraged, and unwilling to subject himself to the thoughtless
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 2: comments and undisguised pity of his former associates. These associates
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 2: do not realize that their attitude is changed, or that
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 2: they are adding another burden to the already heavy load
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 2: borne by their friend. They are sorry, honestly sorry, and
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 2: want so much to help, But to their minds, blindness
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 2: is the greatest of all afflictions, and loss of eyesight
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 2: is accompanied by a corresponding loss of physical ability and
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 2: mental vigor, unless the person so afflicted is unusually gifted,
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 2: and in that case he is regarded as the marvel
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 2: of the age. Unfortunately, the percentage of gifted people is
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 2: no greater among the blind than among the seeing, and
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 2: so it is not strange that many of the former
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 2: class are unable to cope with the difficulties and discouragements
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 2: that blindness entails when thousands of seeing people succumb to
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 2: what they consider the unequal struggle for existence as a class.
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 2: I honestly believe that blind people are more courageous than
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 2: seeing people, and I am sure that a greater demand
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 2: is made upon their stock of courage. This demand will
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 2: be lessened when the public learns to look upon blindness
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 2: as a physical, not a mental handicap, and when instead
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 2: of compelling persons so handicapped to sit on the side
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 2: lines holding their broken swords, it leads them forward, places
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 2: a new sword in their hands, and brings them the
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 2: glad tidings that they are needed on the firing line.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 2: Loss of eyesight is always deplorable, but it is not
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 2: so terrible as the isolation which generally follows it, an
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 2: isolation due in large measure to misconception, lack of information,
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 2: and misplace sympathy on the part of the public, generous
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 2: to a fault in bestowing alms, but slow to believe
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 2: the ability of the blind and the wisdom of employing them.
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 2: If the public could be brought to look upon the
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 2: blind not as an isolated class whose affliction entitles them
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 2: to the pity and generous alms of those more fortunate,
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 2: but as men and women with normal aims and desires,
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 2: just as full of hope, just as eager to work,
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 2: and just as interested in things as when they saw
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 2: them through the natural medium, their handicap would be lessened
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 2: and their lives much happier. Most people think that all
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 2: that can be done for the blind is to divert them,
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 2: amuse them, provide for them in institutions, or encourage them
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 2: to accept private charity. This lack of understanding on the
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 2: part of the public is the greatest drawback to the
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 2: advancement of the blind, and often leads to untold misery occupation.
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 2: The blind should have, must have if they are to
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 2: enjoy any degree of happiness or retain their self respect.
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 2: Loss of eyesight does not deprive a man of his
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 2: desire to earn his daily bread or to provide for
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 2: those dependent upon him. He is willing and eager to work,
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 2: and should be given the chance. A French physician, himself
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 2: without eyesight, said, so long as the blind can still
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 2: bring their stone, however small it may be, to the
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 2: building of civilization or of bringing happiness to their kind,
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 2: they feel that they live, and whatever be the wounds received,
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 2: they are not out of the battle of life. The
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 2: inequality of arms only increases their ardor This inequality of
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 2: arms should and usually does, act as a spur to
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 2: the courageous man or woman. But to the mind of
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 2: the average sighted person this inequality seems to apply inability,
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 2: and so very little is expected of the blind, and
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 2: little thought is given to their possibilities. Senator Gore, the
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 2: blind senator from Oklahoma, says, it is a mistake to
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 2: tell the sightless their loss is insurmountable or inconsequential. It
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 2: is neither. The sightless confront a situation, not a theory.
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 2: We ought to study their problems and help them to
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 2: lessen their burdens, to smooth their path, and to multiply
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 2: their resources, to enable them to adapt themselves to a
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 2: new and sometimes a strange environment. To help them to
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 2: adjust themselves to a new set of circumstances, which presents
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 2: a different problem, as it presents a different situation from
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 2: those who possess the sense of sight. And the Senator concludes,
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 2: the greatest service we can render to the blind is
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 2: to help them to help themselves, and this is where
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 2: the public can help. Though, as I have said, in
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 2: its mistaken kindness, it more often hinders and encourages the
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 2: blind to accept alms instead of making it possible for
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 2: them to become self supporting, self respecting men and women.
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 2: The constantly increasing number of blinded men in the warring
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 2: countries has made it imperative to find work in which
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 2: they can successfully engage, and trades and occupations hitherto untried
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 2: have been found to be both practicable and lucrative. What
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 2: Sir Arthur Pearson is doing for the blinded soldiers at
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 2: Saint Dunstan's is little short of marvelous, and his success
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 2: should help the cause in all parts of the world.
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 2: In eastern cities allar much number of the blind are
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 2: gainfully employed, and new avenues of usefulness are being open
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 2: to them. At Ampere, New Jersey, doctor Skuyler S. Wheeler
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 2: has formed what he calls the Double Duty Finger Guild.
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 2: This is composed of some twenty blind people, sixteen men
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 2: and four women, and they have been taught to wind
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 2: coils for armatures used in electric motors and mill machinery.
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 2: These people earn from a dollar and a half to
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 2: two dollars a day, and their work is done as
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 2: well as that of the sided employees, though just at
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 2: first a little more time is required. They are making
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 2: up this discrepancy slowly but surely, and it is thought
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 2: they will soon do the work as fast as the
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 2: sided operatives. Unfortunately, on this coast we have no factories
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 2: where this winding is done. As most of the electric
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 2: concerns here do repair work, which varies so that it
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 2: would be difficult for the blind operative to keep changing
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 2: from one kind of work to another. Henry Ford employs
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 2: a number of blind men in his factory at Detroit.
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 2: There the men fit nuts to bolts, wind armatures, as
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 2: semi all different parts of machinery, and fold paper boxes.
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 2: In his factory, Mister Ford also employs other handicapped men
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 2: and has machineries especially devised for their use. He believes
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 2: that all large factories should employ a certain percentage of
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 2: handicapped workers as its contribution to the rehabilitation movement, and
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 2: it is to be hoped his example may be followed
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 2: by employers all over the country. The Lighthouse for the
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 2: Blind in New York City, the Cleveland Association for the
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 2: Blind in Ohio, and other similar associations are doing splendid
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 2: work in arousing the interest of the public and in
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 2: finding employment for blind men and women, both in their
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 2: homes and in shops with sighted persons. Mattress making and
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 2: upholstering have been found particularly adapted to the blind, and
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 2: in Boston thousands of mattresses are made and renovated yearly.
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 2: By blind workers employed in the shops of the Massachusetts
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 2: Commission for the Blind. Folding towels and laundries, wrapping, bread, packing,
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 2: ketchup bottles, and fruit cans are some of the things
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 2: being successfully done in the East, and the increasing shortage
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 2: of labor will induce employers throughout the country to see
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 2: them and realize that what the blind operative loses because
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 2: of lack of sight, he makes up by increased concentration
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 2: and faithfulness to duty. In the West, the people have
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 2: very little faith in the ability of the blind, but
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 2: in time we hope the social consciousness will become less lethargic,
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 2: and that the mental and physical needs of this class
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 2: will be given the consideration accorded to them. In the
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 2: larger cities throughout the East, the San Francisco Association for
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 2: the Blind, a privately maintained institution, is doing good work
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 2: in arousing public interest, and in its shops the men
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 2: are taught to make brooms and read furniture, and the
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 2: women to weave rugs and make baskets. It is in
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 2: constant search for new fields of endeavor, and this spring
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 2: it induced one of the largest canaries to employ over
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 2: twenty blind people to sort asparagus, and the same cannery
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 2: has a selected number of the best workers to cut
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 2: fruit in its orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. All
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 2: this is very encouraging, but it is only a beginning,
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 2: as there are hundreds of blind in this state who
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 2: should be contributing to their own support. This is why
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 2: an enlargement of the plant of the udush Real Home
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 2: for adult Blind in Oakland is so urgently needed. For
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 2: after all, the state should assume the duty of providing
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 2: its handicapped civilians with employment, instead of caring for them
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 2: in alms houses or permitting them to become objects of
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 2: private charity. The state should see to it that its
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 2: blind children receive an education which will fit them to
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 2: earn their own living. All schools for the blind should
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 2: be under the direct supervision of boards of Education, who
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 2: should give the same careful consideration to the problem of
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 2: educating blind children as is now given to the education
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 2: of seeing children. And this is one argument in favor
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 2: of classes for the blind in the public schools. Vocational
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 2: training is of more importance to the blind child than
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 2: to his more fortunate brother, and when this is recognized,
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 2: one of the barriers to his success will be removed.
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 2: Is there any reason why an intelligent, blind youth, especially
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 2: interested in medicine, should not be trained as an anatomist,
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 2: a hard and lung specialist, an osteopath, or a mansuur.
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 2: He does not need eyes to listen to heart beats,
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 2: find the third vertebra, or rub the kinks out of
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 2: a refractory muscle. In Japan, the government reserves massage as
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 2: an occupation for the blind, and in the hospitals of
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 2: England and France, blind massuurs are given the preference and
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 2: their work receives the highest commendation. Los Angeles has a
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 2: blind anatomist at the head of its College of Osteopathy
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 2: and several blind osteopaths. When mentally equipped, all blind students
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 2: should be sent to college and urged to fit themselves
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 2: as teachers. In every college and university, blind men should
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 2: occupy chairs in history, English, economics, and mathematics. I know
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 2: two blind men in this state well qualified to teach
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 2: any of these subjects, who are forced to accept inferior
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 2: positions because educators generally fail to realize that blindness is
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 2: no bar to mental attainment and that the ability to
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 2: teach does not depend on the ability to see with
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 2: the eyes. This will be better understood when the co
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 2: education of blind and seeing children becomes more general. God
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 2: speed the day. As music teachers, concert players, leaders of
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 2: the orchestra, or masters of the violin and cello, the
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 2: blind should have an even chance of success. But their
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 2: inability to read music at sight or watch the director's
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 2: baton often deprives them of positions which their quick ear
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 2: and well trained memory would enable them to fill with
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 2: profit to themselves and satisfaction to the public. And so
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 2: in all the professions. I know a man who, before
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 2: he lost his eyesight was considered an eminent lawyer, but
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 2: now his associates regard him pityingly, and his clients take
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 2: their business elsewhere. When the light went out of the
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 2: eyes of this brilliant man, it did not take his
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 2: brain as well. He is fitted to become a consulting
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 2: lawyer or court pleader, and could occupy a chair in
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 2: a college of law. Surely there is something radically wrong
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 2: when these conditions exist. Surely the public needs to open
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 2: its eyes and polish its classes in order to see
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 2: more clearly that there is a mental blindness, more pitiful,
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 2: more far reaching in its consequences than physical blindness, however
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 2: hard or uncomfortable the latter condition may be. Someone facetiously
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 2: suggested that I call this lecture bringing light to the seeing,
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 2: And in a sense, this is what I am trying
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 2: to do. But the light is carried by a kindly hand,
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 2: and the hand is the index to a heart in
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 2: which there is no bitterness, no malice, no distrust, a
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 2: heart brimming over with love, with hope, with confidence, and
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 2: with a belief that the public will see the light,
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 2: and seeing it and reading my message in its beams,
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 2: will pass it on to others, adding to it as
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 2: it goes, until it floods every corner of our vast
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 2: state and result in untold good for my people. And
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 2: let me tell you how this light may be disseminated.
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 2: Let me importion your share in this labor of love,
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 2: this highest form of social service, this movement of re
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 2: education now sweeping over the land. I am so often
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 2: asked by those who wish to volunteer in their country's service,
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 2: what can I do to help in the re education
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 2: of the blinded soldier? And I invariably answer, you can
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 2: first help in the re education of the public and
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 2: this will be the greatest service you can render to
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 2: the men blinded in battle. In order to know what
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 2: lines of work will be available for them when they return,
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 2: we must look about and see what the adult blind
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 2: of our civil communities are doing. If we cannot employ
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 2: all those who are willing and able to work, how
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 2: can we hope to employ an increase number Later on?
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 2: Let us ask ourselves what the blind can do, and
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 2: then how much of this are we permitting them to do.
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 2: If we are an employer of salesmen and one of
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 2: our employees has recently lost his eyesight, let us ask
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 2: ourselves why. When he came to us and urged him
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 2: to let him continue to sell our goods, we told
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 2: him that although he had been a faithful worker and
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 2: we were exceedingly sorry for his misfortune, we could not
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 2: retain his services because competition was so great, and so
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 2: many unexpected things happened, and we felt we could not
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 2: entrust our business to anyone who did not possess all
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 2: his faculties. We meant to be very kind, and we
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 2: thought every word we said was true. But was it true?
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 2: Did that man sell our goods with his eyes? Or
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 2: did he sell them by use his tongue and his
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 2: personality to persuade customers to patronize us. If he had
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 2: a boy to go about with him, could he not
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 2: talk as convincingly, work as hard, and indeed, might he
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 2: not put forth a greater effort to extend our business
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 2: and make himself invaluable to us. This is a typical case,
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 2: and one that occurs almost daily. So it is in
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 2: all lines of work. The blind man or woman attempts.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 2: A blind piano tuner asks for work from house to house,
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 2: just as a sighted tuner has to do. But whereas
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 2: we sometimes employ the latter, we refuse the former, saying
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 2: we could not trust our instrument to the hands of
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 2: a blind man, And maybe we offer him a small
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 2: piece of silver to lessen the hurt we have unwittingly inflicted.
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 2: Perhaps a man with defective eyesight asks to clean house,
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 2: or help in the garden, or work on a ranch,
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 2: or perform some light task in a store, the same
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 2: condition obtains. We are so hurried these days we must
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 2: have the work done with the greatest possible expediency, and
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 2: so we cannot entrust it to anyone who is handicapped.
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 2: Although we are sorry and really wish we could do
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 2: something for such people. And so sometimes men who started
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 2: out with high hopes and lofty ideals are forced to
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 2: the streets there to depend on the spasmodic charity of
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 2: the passer by, and to attract this wavering attention to
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 2: the public, the man resorts to all sorts of subterfuges,
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 2: from holding up pencils and gum to grinding out popular
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 2: tunes on a wheezing old hand organ. Sometimes these men
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 2: have families and feel they must make this effort to
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 2: maintain them. Many of them try to sell newspapers on
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 2: the corners of our principal streets. But here too the
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 2: competition is very great, and little boys patrol the curb,
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 2: holding the ever ready paper under the nose of the
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 2: hurrying pedestrian, though he may be conscious of the blind
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 2: man selling in front of a building, thinks he cannot
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 2: spare time to go to him for a paper, and
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 2: so snatches one from the waiting boy, throws in the pennies,
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 2: and jumps on a moving car. Selling newspapers is better
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 2: suited to a blind man than almost any other line
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 2: of business. I mean the man who has never learned
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 2: a trade, or who has no special profession. If the
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 2: government could commandeer this line of work for its blind civilians,
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 2: I am sure there would be fewer itinerant street musicians,
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 2: gom or pencil vendors. Of course, after a while, the
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 2: blind man reduced to playing on the streets becomes accustomed
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 2: to the excitement, the roar of traffic and covers, I
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 2: will not say, urns more money than he could by canvassing,
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 2: piano tuning, or making brooms. And so once started on
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 2: this road, once accustomed to the acceptance of public charity,
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 2: it is almost impossible to induce the street vendor or
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 2: musician to try a more legitimate means of livelihood. He
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 2: invariably says an answer to the protest of those who
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 2: have the interest and advancement of the blind at heart,
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 2: When you can find me a job where I can
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 2: earn as much as I do right here, I'll take it.
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 2: But until then I must live, and I must help
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 2: to support my family. Meanwhile, these street merchants are creating
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 2: an erroneous impression in the minds of the unthinking but
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 2: ever sympathetic public, leading it to believe that begging is
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 2: all that the blind can do. And so when asked
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 2: to employ a blind person, even in the smallest capacity.
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 2: People mention the blind of the street and say they
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 2: will gladly contribute to the support of the sitelests, either
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 2: in institutions or by private charity, but they do not
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 2: believe in their ability to perform work of any kind.
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 2: Of course, this is not the answer given in every case,
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 2: but it is the reply generally made to all such requests.
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 2: This is the sad state of affairs here and in
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 2: many of the large cities throughout the country. And this
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 2: is why the State Library is conducting a campaign for
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 2: the enlightenment of the public. Whenever possible, I raise my
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 2: voice in this cause before clubs and organizations, high schools
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 2: and colleges, in order to change this mistaken attitude, in
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 2: order to urge a saner point of view. In presenting
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 2: this gospel of work for the blind, I put the
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 2: matter very plainly, prove to the public that it is
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 2: to blame for many of the conditions. I deplore, laugh
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 2: at its incredulity, score its misconception, urge a broader, more
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 2: comprehensive sympathy, and usually leave the platform with the assurance
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 2: that I have won many recruits in this campaign, So
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 2: dear to my heart. As I said in my last lecture,
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 2: the government has a well defined plan for the re
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 2: education of its blinded soldiers. But suppose this plan is
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 2: carried out and the men are returned to their home cities,
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 2: qualified to pursue a certain line of work, only to
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 2: find that the public does not share the government's confidence,
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 2: is unwilling to give them an opportunity to prove their ability.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 2: The public will cheerfully pay taxes to care for these
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 2: men in idleness and seclusion, thus diverting to the rear
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 2: of life's battle line, these heroes who have given the
• 2:04:33
  Speaker 2: most precious of all their physical possessions in their country's cause.
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 2: The soldier killed on the field of battle pays the
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 2: supreme sacrifice, all in a moment. But the sacrifice of
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 2: the blinded soldier is life long. Are we going to
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 2: find employment for these returned heroes or are we going
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 2: to add yet another burden to their already heavy load.
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 2: Are we going to add the burden of dependence to
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 2: the burden of darkness. If we want these men to
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 2: know that we appreciate the service they have rendered to
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 2: their country, let us provide occupations for them. And in
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 2: order to do this, let us begin by employing the
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 2: civilian blind, the blind right here in our midst Let
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 2: us study the problem with an open mind, freed from
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 2: the old prejudice and unbelief. Let us turn the light
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 2: on ourselves and see that it is we who sit
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 2: in darkness. Let Us ask the blind leaders of the
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 2: blind what work can be done without eyesight, and let
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 2: us be guided by their judgment, their experience. And as
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 2: a bit of Red Cross service, let us employ the blind.
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 2: Let us create a demand for their labor. Let us
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 2: ask for work made by the blind, and tell our
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 2: friends to ask for it. Let us buy our newspapers
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 2: from the men on the streets, and let us give
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 2: our magazine subscriptions to blind men who have subscription agencies.
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 2: Let us patronize blind lawyers, osteopaths, salesmen, piano tuners, and musicians.
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 2: Let us find other and broader avenues of usefulness for
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 2: these our civil blind heroes, who went into the dark
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 2: with no blare of trumpets, no applause from cheering multitudes,
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 2: and who wear no badge of honor on their breasts.
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 2: Let us do this so that when the blinded soldiers return,
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 2: we may welcome them with the glad tidings that we
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 2: have work waiting for them, that we know they can
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 2: do it, because blind men and women here have blazed
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 2: the trail, and have, by their splendid courage and boundless enthusiasm,
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 2: succeeded in changing the attitude of the public and removing
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 2: the last lingering vestige of doubt as to the ability
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 2: of the blind to become self supporting, self respecting citizens.
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 2: In this campaign of enlightenment, this bit of Red Cross
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 2: service for the blinded soldiers and the blind adults of
• 2:06:32
  Speaker 2: our civil communities, every one of you can help, and
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 2: I feel sure it will be unnecessary for me to
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 2: ask a pledge of co operation from any one who
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 2: has heard me speak this afternoon. The State Library is
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 2: heartily with me in every phase of this campaign, and
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 2: with its co operation and encouragement, I go fearlessly forward,
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 2: overcoming obstacles, uprooting prejudices, laboring with heart and mind and
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 2: voice in the service of the blind and in the
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 2: hope of bringing about a clearer understanding of their needs
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 2: in the minds of the public. And now, in conclusion,
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 2: let me tell you my dream for the future of
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 2: the blind, A dream which, please God, will one day
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 2: come true. I dream of seeing blind men occupying chairs
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 2: in our colleges and universities, blind heart and lung specialists,
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 2: anatomists and osteopaths, lawyers and lecturers. In my dream, I
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 2: see blind salesmen, telegraphers, musicians, piano tuners and electricians, and
• 2:07:27
  Speaker 2: other men making brooms, brushes, mattresses, and furniture now so
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 2: often made by prison labor. And in my dream I
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 2: see blind women teachers, stenographers, dictaphone and switchboard operators, and
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 2: other women knitting, crocheting, sewing, cooking, weaving rugs, and making baskets,
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 2: and doing the work side by side were their more
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 2: fortunate sisters, and doing it as well and often better.
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 2: Then and only then will the greatest sting be removed
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 2: from blindness. Then and only then will the blind beggar
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 2: depart from our public thoroughfares. And when all these things
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 2: come to pass, my dream for my people will be realized.
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 2: Aren't you going to help to make my dream come true?
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 2: End of Lecture four, recording by Matthew Reese Davenport, Iowa.
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 2: Lecture five Prevention of Blindness and Conservation of Vision in
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 2: Adults and Children of five Lectures on blindness. This is
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 2: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 2: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 2: Recording by Matthew Reese. Five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M.
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 1: Foley.
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 2: Lecture five Prevention of Blindness and Conservation of Vision in
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 2: Adults and Children. Helen Keller, in writing on prevention of blindness, says,
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 2: try to realize what blindness means to those whose joyous
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 2: activity is stricken to inactivity. It is to live long,
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 2: long days, and life is made up of days. It
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 2: is to live immured, baffled, impotent, all God's world shut out.
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 2: It is to sit helpless, defrauded, while your spirit strains
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 2: and tugs at its fetters, and your shoulders ache with
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 2: the burden they are denied, the rightful burden of labor.
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 2: When I was twelve years old, the well known oculist
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 2: doctor Barkan of Blessed Memory, came to examine the eyes
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 2: of all the children in the School for the Blind
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 2: at Berkeley. I was the first to be examined, and
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 2: I remembered distinctly every word of the great doctor, when
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 2: after looking at my eyes, he turned to the superintendent
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 2: and said, sadly, needlessly blind, her eyesight could have been saved.
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 2: These words made a profound impression upon my childish mind,
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 2: and as I sat and listened while child after child
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 2: was examined and heard again and again the same remark,
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 2: needlessly blind, I resolved to know more about this eye
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 2: disease with the very long name ophthalmiaatorum, to learn its
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 2: cause and see just how it might have been prevented.
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 2: But we did not hear as much about prevention as
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 2: we do now, and although I did not forget the matter,
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 2: it was many years before I had an opportunity to
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 2: study it further. When I did, I found that at
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 2: least one fourth of the children in schools for the
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 2: blind in this country were there just because a simple
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 2: precaution was not taken at the time of their birth.
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 2: Five years before I knew there was such a thing
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 2: as unnecessary blindness, since I had been told I was
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 2: blind as the result of a severe cold in the eyes.
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 2: A Belgian doctor, Professor Creed, a famous obstetrician of Leipzig,
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 2: appalled to the number of children who lost their eye
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 2: sight within a few days after birth from a virulent
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 2: eye infection. Determined to try the effect of a simple prophylaxis,
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 2: a two percent solution of nitrate of silver dropped in
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 2: the eyes of every new born child. The effect of
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 2: the prophylaxis used in doctor Creed's clinic was marvelous, reducing
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 2: the number of cases from ten percent in eighteen eighty
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 2: to one fourth of one percent in eighteen eighty six.
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 2: Babies sore eyes or ophthalmia neonetorum is defined by doctor
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 2: Sidney Stevenson as an inflammatory disease of the conjunctiva, usually
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 2: appearing within the first few days of life, due to
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 2: the action of a puss producing germ introduced into the
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 2: eyes of the infant at birth. Doctor Creed found that
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 2: by putting two drops of the solution into each of
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 2: the infant's eyes at birth, all danger of infection was averted.
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 2: The solution is harmless to healthy eyes, and in ninety
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 2: nine cases out of a hundred, destroys infecting germs when
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 2: they are present. The cost of the drops is nominal,
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 2: about two cents per patient, and yet over ten thousand
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 2: persons in the United States and as many more in
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 2: other countries have been deprived of the most important of
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 2: the special senses through the ignorance and neglect of doctors
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 2: and midwives and the public at large. As to the
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 2: gravity of the disease and the methods of prevention. It
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 2: is estimated that twenty babies in every one thousand have
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 2: sore eyes, and that from five to eight of these
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 2: cases are serious and capable of causing blindness. Infant Ophthalmia
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 2: is found among all classes, but more especially among the poor,
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 2: who must so often depend upon the services of a
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 2: midwife or neighbour, who in most instances does not know
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 2: the meaning of the word antiseptic. Consequently, it was found
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 2: necessary to make laws for the prevention of this disease.
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 2: For various reasons, it is difficult to pass a law
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 2: making the use of a prophylaxis compulsory, and in only
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 2: a few states has this been done. But in more
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 2: than thirty states the immediate reporting of infant sore eyes
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 2: is compulsory, and in thirteen states the prophylaxis is distributed
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 2: free to doctors and midwives. In our own state, every
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 2: precaution is taken to prevent infant ophthalmia. Doctor Edward F. Glazer,
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 2: Secretary of the State Board of Health has given this
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 2: subject unlimited time and study, and with the help of
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 2: the California State Library, California Society for the Prevention of Blindness,
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 2: and many social and civic organizations, has conducted a continuous
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 2: campaign and has succeeded in passing a law which is
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 2: both simple and effective, and which has resulted in lowering
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 2: the percentage of infantile blindness and in arousing the public
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 2: to a sense of its duty in this regard. Doctor
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 2: Glazer and the above named organizations have also rendered yeoman's
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 2: service in securing the passage of laws prohibiting the use
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 2: of a roller towel and for the licensing and registering
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 2: of midwives in this state. The Law for the Prevention
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 2: of infant Ophthalmia provides for the immediate reporting of every
• 2:13:25
  Speaker 2: case of babies sore eyes, and failure to do so
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 2: is considered a misdemeanor and a third offense results in
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 2: the revocation of the license to practice medicine. In nineteen fifteen,
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 2: the State Board of Health purchased twenty three thousand prophylactic outfits.
• 2:13:38
  Speaker 2: These are little wax ampules containing just enough one percent
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 2: nitrate of silver solution for the eyes of a child
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 2: at birth. These ampules are distributed free to physicians and
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 2: midwives all over the state, and in the past two
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 2: years more than sixteen thousand have been so distributed. In California,
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 2: the birth certificate asks three questions. Was a prophylactic for
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 2: ophthalmia neonatorum used? If so, what the birth certificate must
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 2: be filed within five days. Few doctors have the temerity
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 2: to ignore these questions or confess that they have used
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 2: no prophylactic, so the questions on the certificate ensure the
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 2: use of the nitrate of silver solution in nine cases
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 2: out of ten, though its use at birth is not
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 2: made compulsory. Doctor Glazer reports that the birth certificates in
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 2: fourteen of the largest cities of the state for the
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 2: year nineteen seventeen show that on eighty seven percent of
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 2: the certificates filed, the questions had been answered and the
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 2: prophylactic used. In Berkeley, every one of the birth certificates
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 2: filed in nineteen seventeen reported the use of a prophylactic.
• 2:14:37
  Speaker 2: The state Board of Health insists on the reporting of
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 2: all communicable diseases, and infant ophthalmia is considered one of these,
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 2: and in this connection, doctor Glazer says, a case reported
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 2: is a case safeguarded, a physician aided, and a community protected.
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 2: But it is necessary to urge a ceaseless warfare against
• 2:14:55
  Speaker 2: this most prolific cause of infantile blindness, and social and
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 2: civic organization, churches, schools, and all individuals who deplore needless
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 2: suffering are asked to give the subject the widest publicity.
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 2: Physicians are only now beginning to realize that in all
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 2: phases of preventive medicine, their strongest, most necessary, and indeed
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 2: essential ally is the public, and the needed stimulus to
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 2: a better medical performance is an intelligent knowledge on the
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 2: part of the people as to what should be done.
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 2: It is a common belief that ophthalmia neonatorum is an
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 2: indication that one or both of the infant's parents have
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 2: led unclean lives, and so until recently, it has been
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 2: difficult to have all such cases reported. While ophthalmia neonatorum
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 2: is often the result of the social evil, the introduction
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 2: of other puss producing germs into the eyes at birth
• 2:15:43
  Speaker 2: is responsible for a large number of cases. So it
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 2: should be remembered that baby's sore eyes is not a disgrace.
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 2: Any baby may have the disease, but blindness from babies
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 2: sore eyes is a disgrace, for in almost every case
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 2: it can be prevented. Doctor park Lewis says, And when
• 2:16:01
  Speaker 2: we think of the long life of darkness of the blind,
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 2: the limited possibilities of the child to be educated, the
• 2:16:07
  Speaker 2: narrow lines in which he may hope to be trained,
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 2: the fields of usefulness from which he will be cut
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 2: off by his blindness, his dependence on others for things
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 2: he should otherwise do for himself. The financial loss to
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 2: the community for his maintenance when he might, under happier conditions,
• 2:16:21
  Speaker 2: not only have been self supporting, but possibly independent. The
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 2: pity of it all comes with added emphasis. The importance
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 2: then increases of every intelligent human being knowing that the
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 2: most serious forms of birth infection of the eyes, in
• 2:16:35
  Speaker 2: almost every instance should not have occurred. Doctor Lewis continues,
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 2: the majority of the blind are not wage earners, and
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 2: are thus not only an added expense, but an economic loss.
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 2: The education of each blind child costs the state yearly
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 2: about three hundred and fifty dollars, while it costs but
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 2: thirty dollars to educate a seeing child for the same period.
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 2: Ophthalmia neonatorum is a crime because of the suffering at
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 2: rings to helpless, innocent persons, and because it leads to
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 2: a reduction in economic efficiency, deprivation of many pleasures and privileges,
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 2: and very often immeasurable misery, suffering, and sorrow during a
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 2: lifetime in the dark. Of the twenty children brought to
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 2: me for inspection during the past three years, fifteen were
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 2: blind from infant ophthalmia. And as I myself am a
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 2: victim of this same disease, I am leaving no stone
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 2: unturned in my efforts to save other children from hardships
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 2: and limitations that are wholly preventable, and I feel that
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 2: I am peculiarly fitted to help in this great work.
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 2: There are other common causes of blindness in children, one
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 2: of which is fly a Tenular keratitis, usually the result
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 2: of poor or improper feeding or lack of ventilation, and
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 2: it often leaves the cornea badly scarred. Tuberculosis of the
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 2: eyes results in much the same condition, often causing total blindness.
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 2: Measles and scarlet fever cause blindness or defective vision. Parents
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 2: do not realize the gravity of these diseases and fail
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 2: to cleanse the eyes frequently or to keep the room
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 2: properly darkened. In some cities, during epidemics of these diseases,
• 2:18:07
  Speaker 2: health officers are requested to distribute circulars calling attention to
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 2: the danger to the eyes and giving instructions as to
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 2: their care. In this state, measles and scarlet fever are
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 2: among the communicable diseases which must be reported. Trachoma, a
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 2: virulent form of conjunctividis, is a communicable eye disease which
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 2: must be carefully safeguarded. It flourishes in unsanitary surroundings, camps,
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 2: and homes where the family uses the common wash basin
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 2: and towel. There are not many cases in this state,
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 2: but even one is too many. We are profiting by
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 2: the unhappy experience of Kentucky and other Southern states and
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 2: are adopting drastic measures for its prevention. Interstitial caratitis, or
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 2: inherited syphilis, is a common cause of blindness in children,
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 2: though in many cases the blindness is only partial, and
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 2: if taken in time, the remaining eyesight may be saved.
• 2:18:58
  Speaker 2: This disease usually appears be between the ages of four
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 2: and twenty, often following some childish malady, and it requires
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 2: the greatest care in most nourishing food to counteract its
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 2: pernicious effects. The victim of interstitial carotitis is never strong,
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 2: and although a blood test may show a negative condition,
• 2:19:14
  Speaker 2: any serious illness may cause the constitutional trouble to reappear.
• 2:19:20
  Speaker 2: It is a common belief that children will outgrow cross eyes.
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 2: This is not true, for the eye that turns either
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 2: in or out will sooner or later become useless simply
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 2: from disuse. Such children should have attention as early as possible,
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 2: even in infancy, as properly fitted glasses will usually restore
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 2: such eyes to their normal condition. Children are often needlessly
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 2: blind as the result of an unwise and harmful selection
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 2: of toys, such as scissors, forks, toy pistols, air rifles,
• 2:19:46
  Speaker 2: and bows and arrows. The observance of a sane Fourth
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 2: of July has lessened the number of accidents to the
• 2:19:52
  Speaker 2: eyes of children. I have thus far spoken of the
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 2: prevention of blindness in children, and now I wish to
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 2: call your attention to what is being done for the
• 2:20:01
  Speaker 2: conservation of vision in childhood. In the lecture on the
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 2: Development of the Blind Child, I mentioned special classes for
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 2: blind children in the public schools. In most of the
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 2: cities having such classes, Chicago and Los Angeles accepted site
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 2: saving classes, as they are called, are maintained. In these
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 2: conservation classes, the children do not read with their fingers,
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 2: but books in heavy face large type are provided, and
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 2: for these books we are indebted to mister R. B Irwin,
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 2: the blind supervisor of special classes in Cleveland. So here
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 2: again we find a blind man planning not only the
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 2: advancement of blind children, but the conservation of vision of
• 2:20:35
  Speaker 2: partially cited children. In these classes, desk blackboards are provided
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 2: and a great deal of oral instruction is given, and
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 2: the amount of reading is limited. A great deal of
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 2: handwork is required, and everything possible is done to save eyestrain.
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 2: Much time and thought is given to the proper lighting
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 2: of school rooms and to the color scheme of the buildings.
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 2: Light should not be judged by its brightness, but rather
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 2: by the way it helps us to see what we
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 2: are looking at. Walls should have light paper or tinting,
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 2: as dark walls absorb light strongly instead of reflecting it. Reds,
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 2: greens and browns reflect only ten to fifteen percent of
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 2: the light, which falls on them, while cream color or
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 2: light yellowish tints reflect over one half the light. As
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 2: a result of the ophthalmic work of the medical inspection
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 2: departments of many of our public schools throughout the country,
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 2: much is being done to help children who are partially
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 2: blind or suffering from some visual defect which may lead
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 2: to blindness if they continue in school under ordinary conditions.
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 2: Every large city should have one or more of these
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 2: conservation classes, and the demand for them will increase when
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 2: the public realizes their importance in saving the sight of
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 2: school children. Doctor d Scheinitz, an eminent oculist of Philadelphia,
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 2: in an address on conservation of vision, asked these questions,
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 2: Shall children be allowed to trifle with their most precious possession?
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 2: Shall our homes be permitted to disregard the rules of
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 2: visual hygiene? Shall children and those children of the law
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 2: archer growth men and women remain on the sidelines because
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 2: they cannot see well enough to play the great game
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 2: of stirring life with its joy of untrammeled effort. Shall
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 2: they not have a game which they can play? Shall we,
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 2: of these better walks of life pursue our way in
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 2: smug contentment and permit the preventable causes of blindness to
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 2: continue their black business and ever add to the role
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 2: of their victims. The leading oculists of the country recommend
• 2:22:25
  Speaker 2: sight saving classes, and many of them give their time
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 2: and money to the service of these handicapped children, establishing
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 2: clinics for their care and treatment. In Los Angeles, the
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 2: Parent Teacher Association has a wonderful clinic, and doctor ross A.
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 2: Harris and his assistants have saved the eyes of hundreds
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 2: of children who would otherwise have become public charges. But
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 2: here again it is necessary to educate the public. An
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 2: old schoolmaster, rich in the wisdom of ripe experience, has
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 2: said more children's eyes are injured in the home than
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 2: in the school, and his words receive daily verification. But
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 2: in schools where medical inspection is given and where a
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 2: visiting nurses in attendance, untold good is being accomplished, and
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 2: children who should wear glasses and attend conservation classes are
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 2: promptly sent to the oculist and assigned a place in school.
• 2:23:12
  Speaker 2: The commonest visual defects are first inflammation of the cornea
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 2: or imperfections of the lens. The cornea is often so
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 2: scarred as to make vision imperfect. Second myopia or progressive
• 2:23:23
  Speaker 2: short sightedness, a condition in which the axis of the
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 2: eye gradually grows longer. This lengthening is accompanied by stretching
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 2: of the eyeball, and such children always run the risk
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 2: of the inner and most important part of the wall
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 2: of the eye, the retina or nerve layer, being torn
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 2: away and blindness resulting. Where near sightedness is discovered early
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 2: and glasses are given that make distant vision normal and
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 2: all needless near work forbidden, the myopia may be held
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 2: in check and any considerable increase prevented. Teachers are usually
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 2: the first to notice such defects, but many parents do
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 2: nothing when their attention is called to the matter. But happily,
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 2: these conditions are improving in the school nurse and school clinic,
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 2: and all the clinics maintained by public and private charities
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 2: are accomplishing wonderful results. When preventive medicine and preventive social
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 2: service are joined in the effort to help mankind, there
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 2: must result a saving of our most precious physical possession
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 2: and an addition to human joy. The National Committee for
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 2: the Prevention of Blindness and Conservation and Vision, with headquarters
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 2: at one thirty East twenty second Street, New York City,
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 2: carries on a ceaseless campaign of enlightenment by means of pamphlets, lectures, charts,
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 2: lantern slides and posters, and the work of this society
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 2: is directed by mister Edward M. Van Cleeve, superintendent of
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 2: the School for the Blind in New York City. The
• 2:24:38
  Speaker 2: leading oculists of the United States are members of the society.
• 2:24:42
  Speaker 2: Charts and lantern slides are loaned to societies for the
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 2: prevention of blindness in the various states, and pamphlets on
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 2: many important topics are sold at a nominal cost. When
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 2: addressing a large gathering in New York and urging the
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 2: wisdom of publicity, doctor Descheinitz said, we are here to
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 2: help in the work of health, education, of eyes, sigh protection.
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 2: We are to call on society for aid in devising
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 2: measures and for means to carry them out, in order
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 2: that effective results shall merge into perfect victory. We are here, too,
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 2: I take it to cure those who are dull sighted
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 2: in this regard, so that with vision cleared, they shall
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 2: join in the struggle for ocular conservation and make it
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 2: possible to give sweetness of disposition and ever present cheerfulness
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 2: not to the blind, the good God sees to that,
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 2: but to those who shall be saved from blindness. In
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 2: New York and Boston, the children are given instruction in hygiene,
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 2: taught to properly care for the nose, throat, eyes, and teeth.
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 2: These lessons begin as early as the second grade and
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 2: are illustrated with charts showing how perfect teeth and eyes
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 2: should look. These lessons include the harmful effect of enlarged
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 2: tonsils and adenoids, and the children are very anxious to
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 2: be in as perfect condition as those shown in the pictures.
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 2: A teacher of one of these classes in Boston took
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 2: her children to a museum where they spent a morning
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 2: studying statuary. The next day, wish to see how they
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 2: had been impressed by what they saw, she asked, among
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 2: other questions, what do you remember about aphrodite? One little
• 2:26:07
  Speaker 2: boy held his hand up, saying she has adenoids. What
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 2: makes you think so, asked the teacher, wonderingly why she
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 2: had her mouth open all the time. The children learned
• 2:26:19
  Speaker 2: just how far from the eyes a book should be held,
• 2:26:22
  Speaker 2: and often call attention to a companion whose myopic condition
• 2:26:25
  Speaker 2: makes it necessary to hold the book very close, and
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 2: so the outlook for the children is very promising. With
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 2: conservation of vision, classes, classes in hygiene, with school nurses
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 2: and clinics, with medical inspection of schools, and with the
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 2: public aroused as never before to its responsibility toward its
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 2: boys and girls, we should have less need for oculists
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 2: and schools for the blind, and fewer persons should be
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 2: obliged to go through life deprived of the light, which
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 2: was God's first gift to the world. Before discussing the
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 2: prevention of blindness and adults, I wish to say a
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 2: few words concerning the attitude of oculists toward patients suffering
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 2: from eye diseases, which in all probability will result in
• 2:27:03
  Speaker 2: loss of vision. If for some special reason the oculist
• 2:27:07
  Speaker 2: fears it would be unwise to tell the patient that
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 2: blindness is imminent, he should at least urge him to
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 2: conserve his remaining vision and advise him to do as
• 2:27:14
  Speaker 2: many things as possible by touch, and warn him of
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 2: the consequences of eye strain. But whenever possible, it is
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 2: kinder to prepare the patient for oncoming blindness, so that
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 2: he may shape his life accordingly and may be induced
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 2: to learn to read, raised type, and use a writing
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 2: device before the light is entirely gone. Most of us
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 2: exclaim over our trifling hurts, the mosquito bites of life.
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 2: But when the real trial comes, when we know we
• 2:27:39
  Speaker 2: must face a great crisis, we square our shoulders, take
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 2: a long breath, and meet the inevitable with courage and fortitude.
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 2: I wish the oculists could hear, as I do, the
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 2: despairing cry of men and women who were led until
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 2: the very last to hope for a restoration of eyesight,
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 2: and then told that in their particular case, all usual
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 2: remedies failed. Doctor Deval, an eminent French oculist who lost
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 2: his eyesight at sixty, makes an eloquent plea to his
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 2: colleagues to tell their patience the truth, and, instead of
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 2: treating them when they know that loss of eyesight is inevitable,
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 2: advise them to study methods used by the blind, even
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 2: though they may not need to use the knowledge for
• 2:28:17
  Speaker 2: months or even years. There are a number of eye
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 2: diseases that may be inherited, and those having such diseases
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 2: should be told that they will transmit them to helpless
• 2:28:27
  Speaker 2: innocent children. The social evil is largely responsible for infections
• 2:28:31
  Speaker 2: of which ophthalmia neonatorum is only one result. But since
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 2: this disease comes so often from a cause which is
• 2:28:38
  Speaker 2: not generally discussed, it is particularly hard to combat. Forty
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 2: percent of existing blindness and a vast amount of physical
• 2:28:45
  Speaker 2: degeneracy is the direct result of venario causes. Certain forms
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 2: of glaucoma may be inherited, and children whose parents have
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 2: had this disease should watch their own eyes very carefully, since,
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 2: if taken in time, the progress of this disease in
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 2: certain forms may be arrested. Persons who see rings around
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 2: the lights should heed the danger signal and see an oculist.
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 2: Retinitis may also be inherited. I have known of three
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 2: generations becoming blind from this cause. Nearsightedness may also be inherited.
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 2: I have known this condition of the eye to be
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 2: present in four successive generations, and in the last generation,
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 2: the young woman became totally blind from detached retina due
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 2: to excessive eye train while in school. If you could
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 2: see my records and count the number of cases where
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 2: blindness is given as the result of straining near sighted eyes,
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 2: you would realize with me that progressive myopia should be
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 2: classed as one of the preventable eye diseases, and a
• 2:29:40
  Speaker 2: vigorous campaign waged against the marriage of persons so affected.
• 2:29:44
  Speaker 2: Near sighted people should be especially careful to avoid eyestrain
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 2: and should not work by artificial light. Bookkeepers, hotel clerks,
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 2: and women who do find sowing at night should be
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 2: cautioned against such work if they are myopic. Optic atrophy
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 2: is an eye disease very baffling to oculists, sapping the
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 2: vision slowly but surely as a rule, but occasionally destroying
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 2: eyesight in a very short time. Electricians and those working
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 2: in chemical laboratories are susceptible to optic atrophy. A common
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 2: cause of eyestrain is reading on street cars or using
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 2: the last lingering bit of daylight to finish a chapter
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 2: or complete some fine work. It is easier to turn
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 2: on the light than to spend years in the dark.
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 2: The eyes of many people are ruined because instead of
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 2: going to an oculus to have their eyes properly fitted
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 2: to glasses, they go into a ten and fifteen cent store,
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 2: try on a lot of cheap glasses and purchase the
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 2: ones that magnify the best and feel most comfortable on
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 2: the nose. The cheap variety of glasses are often made
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 2: from bits discarded by opticians and never intended to be
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 2: used again. People are not always careful in selecting eye
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 2: shades and often use those made of very inflammable materials,
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 2: which frequently catch fire and destroy the eye sight. I
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 2: cannot understand how people can trifle with the most press
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 2: of their physical possessions, and yet my record's team with
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 2: such instances, and the victims realize when too late, how
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 2: criminally thoughtless and careless they were. Some of our grown
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 2: up children need instructions as to the use and abuse
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 2: of their eyes. In Los Angeles, I addressed the various
• 2:31:15
  Speaker 2: parent teacher associations on these important subjects, and I believe
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 2: that the note of warning sounded by one who is
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 2: herself a victim of unnecessary blindness went straight home to
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 2: every heart. The percentage of adult blindness is increasing at
• 2:31:28
  Speaker 2: a very rapid rate owing to the numerous accidents in
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 2: factories and workshops, accidents that are in many instances preventable.
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 2: Owners of factories, quarries and mines and other industrial plants
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 2: have become alive to the necessity of safeguarding the eyes
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 2: of their operatives, and much needed legislation is being enacted
• 2:31:46
  Speaker 2: in all parts of the country. The National Council of
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 2: Safety and organization, in existence but five years, has accomplished
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 2: a great deal, and this council cooperates with the state
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 2: industrial Accident Commissions and with civic and social organizations. Sational
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 2: Council of Safety estimates that there is one worker killed
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 2: every fifteen minutes day and night in the United States
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 2: and one injured every fifteen seconds day and night. This
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 2: gives thirty thousand killed and two million injured, and of
• 2:32:13
  Speaker 2: this number, two hundred thousand are eye injuries. The National
• 2:32:17
  Speaker 2: Committee for the Prevention of Blindness estimates that there are
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 2: one hundred thousand blind in the United States, and half
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 2: this number are needlessly so. Mister will C. French of
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 2: the State Industrial Accident Commission estimates that we have one
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 2: million employees in the state and we have three hundred
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 2: industrial injuries daily including Sundays. We thus have approximately one
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 2: hundred thousand industrial accidents each year in this state. Since
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 2: nineteen fourteen, there were twenty three thousand, four hundred fifty
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 2: one eye injuries, and of these, five hundred forty nine
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 2: were permanent injuries, and eleven resulted in total blindness. The
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 2: medical and compensation costs of these eye injuries will be
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 2: about seven hundred eighty eight thousand dollars. The eleven blind
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 2: call for life pensions. The state Library home teachers are
• 2:33:01
  Speaker 2: teaching seven out of the eleven cases, and the Industrial
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 2: Accident Commission is very glad to cooperate with us. In California,
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 2: we have an average of twenty six eye injuries each
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 2: working day, and this number is likely to increase, especially
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 2: in the ship building industry because of the chipping steel
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 2: use of emery wheels and machinery in the construction of vessels.
• 2:33:21
  Speaker 2: The State Accident Commission advocates goggles, one pair to each man.
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 2: There are four kinds of goggles used. Those for the
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 2: protection against flying material, for protection against intense heat and light,
• 2:33:32
  Speaker 2: for protection against gases, fumes and liquids, and dust goggles.
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 2: Masks are urged for welders and babbiters, and these masks
• 2:33:41
  Speaker 2: are so strongly constructed that they not only fit the eye,
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 2: but have shields at the size of each lens to
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 2: prevent the flying chips from entering the eyes from the sides.
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 2: In most of the large plants, There are committees of
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 2: safety composed of employees, and they do much to reduce
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 2: industrial accidents. Precautionary leaflets are circulated among the workmen, and
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 2: attractive posters printed in all languages are used. Some of
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 2: these are very effective. One chose a man saying goodbye
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 2: to his wife and five little ones, and underneath is
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 2: written how could they do without you? One of the
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 2: best known slogans, and one carrying conviction, is you can
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 2: see through glass goggles, but you can't see through glass eyes.
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 2: Many trades and occupations have their well recognized types of injury.
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 2: In bottling work's eyes are frequently lost through the impact
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 2: of popping corks. The bursting of unprotected water gages caused
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 2: many cases of blindness yearly among engineers and machinists. In
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 2: the grinding trades, eyes are frequently lost by bits of
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 2: flying emery becoming embedded in the eyeball, and the Industrial
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 2: Accident Commission recommends iron or glass guards for emory wheels.
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 2: In factories, quarries and mines, more serious damage is done
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 2: by larger bits of metal or stone. Sometimes harm is
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 2: done in an attempt to remove the foreign body from
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 2: the eye, as the hands of the one performing the
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 2: service may not be cleaned, or the instrument used may
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 2: be the corner of a soiled handkerchief, a toothpick or match,
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 2: or even as sometimes happens, the tongue. More eyes are
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 2: injured from infection than from the presence of foreign bodies, which,
• 2:35:11
  Speaker 2: if properly and carefully removed, might result only in temporary
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 2: inconvenience and the loss of a few days work. Workmen
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 2: should not trust to the shop or factory doctor, but
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 2: should go to the company doctor at once. Immediate and
• 2:35:24
  Speaker 2: competent care should be secured without delay, and this will
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 2: save eyes and also save employers and insurance companies a
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 2: great deal of money. Lime burn, solder burn, and all
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 2: the so called dusty trades produce chronic inflammation of the eyes,
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 2: which often results in total blindness. The National Council of
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 2: Safety enumerates fifty five industrial poisons, thirty six of which
• 2:35:46
  Speaker 2: affect the eyes. Absorption of drugs often causes blindness. Tobacco, wood, alcohol,
• 2:35:52
  Speaker 2: lead used in so many industries, bisulfide of carbon used
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 2: in making rubber, nitro benzol used in the manufacture of explosives,
• 2:36:01
  Speaker 2: and some of the anolin d eyes, hoods, and exhausts
• 2:36:05
  Speaker 2: should be used to prevent the escape of dangerous fumes, vapors,
• 2:36:08
  Speaker 2: and gases. For men exposed to great heat, anti sweat
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 2: pencils have been manufactured, and when these are rubbed over
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 2: the goggles, the glass will remain clear of steam for hours.
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 2: Special eye coverings are designed for men working over acids
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 2: or in sand blasting. One of our pupils, a man
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 2: passed fifty, who had worked in a creamery for over
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 2: twenty years and who usually wore goggles when making tests
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 2: with sulphuric acid, neglected to take the precautionary measure one morning,
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 2: and some of the acid splashed up into his eyes.
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 2: He is totally blind and must begin life all over again.
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 2: There have been so many cases of blindness as a
• 2:36:42
  Speaker 2: result of dynamite explosions occurring in quarries and mines that
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 2: laws have been enacted for the protection of workmen. When
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 2: a blast has been fired and it is not certain
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 2: that all the charges have exploded, no person is permitted
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 2: to enter the place until forty five minutes after the explosion.
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 2: My records prove the great need for this auctionary measure,
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 2: and I only wish it had been enforced years ago before,
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 2: so many men in the prime of life had been
• 2:37:06
  Speaker 2: deprived of eyesight and of earning capacity as well. Improper
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 2: lighting and ventilating in factories, shops and stores, and work
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 2: requiring excessive eye strain contributes to a long list of disabilities,
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 2: often resulting in total blindness. The passage by our last
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 2: legislature of the Common Towel Bill prohibiting the use of
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 2: roller towels anywhere in the state, has removed one of
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 2: the most flagrant causes of infection, and one to which
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 2: very little attention was paid by factory workers generally. I
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 2: know one young man and two young women whose total
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 2: blindness is the result of infection from the use of
• 2:37:39
  Speaker 2: a roller towel. I trust all these facts and figures
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 2: may not prove wearisome, for it is necessary to know
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 2: them if you are to realize the extent of the
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 2: work being done here and elsewhere to prevent blindness and
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 2: conserve vision. I have not mentioned all the activities of
• 2:37:55
  Speaker 2: the State Industrial Accident Commission or the National Council of Safety,
• 2:37:59
  Speaker 2: but a visit to the Safety Museum, five hundred twenty
• 2:38:02
  Speaker 2: five Market Street, San Francisco, or to the Union League
• 2:38:05
  Speaker 2: building Los Angeles will enlighten you further as to the
• 2:38:08
  Speaker 2: progress of the safety first movement, and convince you of
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 2: the wisdom and humanity of it. Let us adopt prevention
• 2:38:14
  Speaker 2: and conservation as household words. Let us do our share
• 2:38:18
  Speaker 2: in spreading the gospel, and soon we shall have fewer
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 2: blind babies, fewer children sitting on the side lines, and
• 2:38:24
  Speaker 2: fewer men and women deprived of eyesight at the flood
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 2: tide of life. This is another of my dreams, and
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 2: this one is already coming true. Let there be Light
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 2: was the first recorded utterance of the Most High God.
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 2: Let there be Light has been the watchword on the
• 2:38:40
  Speaker 2: lips of human progress during all the centuries that have gone,
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 2: and they must be the battle cry of progress during
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 2: all the centuries that are to come. I am sure
• 2:38:49
  Speaker 2: we shall all be glad to do our share to
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 2: preserve this light for our own and future generations. End
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 2: of lecture five recording by Matthew Reese Davenport, Iowa. End
• 2:39:06
  Speaker 2: of five lectures on blindness by Kate M.
• 2:39:08
  Speaker 1: Foley