"IJOW SHALL I LI'JAJLX TO TEAVII TIIL: HLIXDED SOLDI I'L'Sf' 571 



tlic iiiii>ic, ;lll(l ;ll times Would tlll'oW 

 lijick lici' licjiil ;is >lic (li'aiik in the smi^. 

 It was ;i licauliful iiictui'c I shall iicvci- 

 foi\iivt. One (»r llic sdiius was ol' roses, 

 •"tlie red for joy and the white for 

 pain."" W'lu'ii it was linished Miss Kel- 

 ler said. "Oh, I thiid\ the tnn(> of your 

 voiee is so s|)lcndid on that word 

 'white.""" Another song was "I'lttci'. 

 Patter. Little Drops of Eain,"" and she 

 tapped her fingers on the singer's shoid- 

 der in aeeonijianinient with the drops 

 of rain on the windowpane. Later wc 

 walked ill her llower garden and she 

 knew cMTv llower as I phieked it and 

 showed it to her. naming at a moment's 

 toneh the ])ansy. iho larks])ur, the rose, 

 and other llowers. 



W hat do the hlind get out of a stiidy 

 of nature yi They get all and perha])s 

 luoi'e than we do, but the shame is that 

 thousands of blind sit idli/ in their 

 homes — some of these too poor to he 

 called homes. Meanwhile there are 

 thousands* of persons ready to teach the 

 l)linded soldiers and get the glamour 

 that would come from that, and yet 

 seldom give a thought to these others 

 who could get so much pleasure from a 

 friendly chat, a walk, or anything to 

 take them out of their narrow lives and 

 give them a chance to "see" and taste 

 and smell and hear and feel the beau- 

 ties of nature that abound just out- 

 side and beyond their narrow walls. It 

 was Miss Keller who said, "The burden 

 of the blind is not their blindness but 

 their idleness." The fault that they 

 are idle is not theirs — it is ours. We 

 who have lieen blessed with sight are 

 l)lameworthy. We can give the greatest 

 pleasure to these blinded ones by help- 

 ing to make them normal, happy peo- 

 ple, and we can, too, find employment 



' If one wants to read a faspinating story, let 

 him get the book of tlie blind naturalist and 

 writer, Claronoo Hawks, Tlittinfi the Dark Trail, 

 published by Henry Holt & Co. 



lor them and lift this hurden of idle- 

 ness that is greater than iheir blind- 

 ness. At any rate we can give them 

 iioiirs and days of pleasure, and 1 will 

 guarantee that each of us will get 

 for himseU' even greater pleasure in 

 doing it.- 



'riiere ai'e 7."). 001) hlind in the Tnited 

 States. It is not likely that there will 

 he '.')(l hlinded soldiei's. possibly not 

 one fourth of this niiniher. There is 

 plenty to he done, yon see. for all our 

 l)lind at home in addition to the needs 

 of the war hlinded ; and, hesides, the 

 (Jovernineiit and the lied Cross stand 

 I'eady to do for every one of them.^ Let 

 us. at least, become better ecjuipped to 

 helj) the soldiers, by learning more of 

 the neglected already blind, and of 

 their needs. 



■-■ .Just now wlicn there is a scarcity of labor 

 everywhere, if we look about, with a visit to some 

 neighboring factory, we may be able to find where 

 the blind can fill many of these needed places. A 

 manufacturer called on me a few weeks ago and 

 during our conversation said, "I wonder if there 

 is any work in my place a blind person could do I" 

 I said, "Let me go with you and see." I saw at 

 once that there was, and the ne.xt morning two 

 blind girls were at work there getting, and earning, 

 $1.25 a day. Another girl has been added since. 

 Not one of these girls ever earned $3.00 a week 

 before with her knitting and similar work. The 

 work is the manufacture of spark plugs, and the 

 girls assemble, wrap, and box these plugs. 



■■' A "Red Cros.s Institute for the Blind" has 

 been established on tlu' grounds of the Military 

 Training School for Blinded Soldiers, at Cold 

 Spring Road, Guilford, Baltimore, at the request 

 of the Surgeon General of the United States Army. 

 The Institute, located on a beautiful country 

 estate, is planned to supervise the activities of 

 blinded marines, sailors, and soldiers, after they 

 enter civil life and to supplement the training 

 given at the Militarv Training School for the 

 Blind. 



The "Committee of Direction of the Institute," 

 as appointed by the Red Cross War Council, is 

 made uj) as follows: Mr. Henry B. Wallace, chair- 

 man ; Lieut. Col. C. H. Connor, vice chairman ; 

 Alfred E. Shipley, M.D. ; Mr. .James P. Munroe; 

 Mr. M. C. Migel; and Lieut. Col. .James Bordley, 

 director of the Institute. The hope is that the 

 war-blinded men can be placed in i)ositions wliich 

 will utilize as far as i)ossible the training. e.\i)eri- 

 ence, and interest of their work before the war. 

 The Institute will cooperate with the educators 

 and other workers for the blind, including li- 

 braries, the Zii'iili-i- Manazinc, and other printing 

 plants for the blind, in the i)roduction and distri- 

 bution of study and reading matter. — The 

 Kditor. 



