176 



THE NEXT GENERATION 



"Blind from birth," we say; yet in point of fact they 

 were not blind when they were born. They came into the 

 world with eyes as sound as yours or mine. Blindness came 

 shortly afterwards. It came because, at birth, the microbes 

 were present as a disease on the tissues of the mother. From 

 the mother they found their way into the eyes of the child. 



se^-A 





Window Hanging 



Designed for the Massachusetts Building, Jamestown Exposition, 1907. Hand-woven 

 by blind women in the Art Fabric Shop of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind 



Even then the eyes might have been saved if the right 

 germicide had been used. 



At last, however, knowledge about this disease is spread- 

 ing so fast that different states are making laws for the 

 protection of the babies. 



Connecticut, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, 

 and other states have special state commissions for the 



