THE SWORD AND THE
two, it appears, being connected by hinges which join them together as a slip of leather does the two covers of a book. The writing paper is placed between the two boards, and the girl takes a peg or pin, which pressed on the paper pricks a letter, just as children prick a pattern in paper, save that each peg pricks one letter. The operation somewhat resembles setting up type, and all the "writing" is in Roman capital letters. Of course, the process is a slow one; but the document is precious to the poor heart far away that beats with affection at the sight of her child's epistle. What gratitude the sight of every printed page and written sheet should raise in our minds, for truly it .is a pleasant thing to behold the sun, and no inventions can fully recompense the blind for the toss of the sweet light.
It is holiday afternoon with the girls, so we do not see them at work, but we see the tools they use, and have the modus operandi explained to us.
Well, we shall not describe it all, for that would be difficult, and feminine accomplishments are beyond the descriptive powers of man. So we pass into the male wing. The first large lofty room is devoted to basket-making.
Ranged .on each side of this long apartment are a number of boys and men, all blind, save the two teachers; some are kneeling, some bending over unfinished baskets, others seated tailor-fashion, and a few are conveying osiers on then' backs across the room, depositing them with the utmost precision in the very spot where they are required; while one or two are lounging and conversing pretty loudly with each other. Indeed, one noteworthy feature of the whole arrangements is that conversation is unchecked. In every room there is a hum of voices, tune-whistling, or beating the work with a bar of iron. It is a scene of noisy life. But there is not a single unhappy face; everyone, even the most silent, is cheerful. "It would be a pity," remarked our guide, "to keep them quiet: it would irritate t. hem beyond measure." And looking at those sightless eyeballs, who could not admire the elasticity of the society's rule? Let them chat, and sing, and shout, since the gratification of seeing, one of God's greatest boons, is denied to them ! Gentleness towards all sufferers is a pressing Christian duty. There is enough of sorrow without our adding to it by hard restrictions or thoughtless neglects.
Our inquiries of our guide were spoken in a whisper. We knew how sensitive the blind were with reference to their affliction. Some years ago, we were in the company of a blind person, for days together, without mentioning, or indicating by remote reference, her blindness; and what we frequently observed was the singular way in which her affliction was
ignored by herself. Like most blind persons, if they understand anything, they observe, "I see it." "I have looked at it;" and their mental vision is certainly wonderful. We were glad, therefore, to notice, on our leaving the place, a printed card, requesting visitors not to put questions to the inmates directly referring to their unfortunate deprivation. Of course we obeyed the rule. A slight reference to the matter has often made them unhappy and despondent for hours. In answer to a question, as to how far the blindness of the boys and men was partial or total, we were told that no one was admitted into the school who could distinguish objects by the sight. ' They could tell, most of them, the difference between light and darkness, and their perceptions were acute. They know a stranger's walk, although they are not always able to keep clear of his path. Sometimes in parading the room, they will come across a form somewhat disagreeably; but, then, experience, as in other cases, teaches most persons wisdom; and the same instinct that guides a burnt child to dread the fire, makes these blind boys and girls careful not to knock themselves unnecessarily against objects harder than themselves. The chaplain of the school, whose interesting book on the blind was quoted in our previous paper,* very truly observes, "The blind boy educates his senses of touch and hearing into a state of exceeding acuteness, till they almost begin to atone to him for that which is denied, though, after all, they cannot do for him what a single ray of vision would do by one swift glance. ' It's a long time before you learn to be blind,' said a shrewd old blind woman.'" Some learn it more perfectly than others. A blind woman in a strange house will soon learn the whereabouts of every domestic appointment. There was a blind bell-ringer in Dumfries, who, early every motoring, visited the belfry, tripping up the stone steps as nimbly as if possessed of the keenest sight, and rarely missed the key-hole at the firs; trial. An old story is told of a blind messenger, a canny Scot, at Edinburgh, by Mr. Anderson. He says: "I had occasion to send out one of two blind men with a mattress; I gave him the bill with it, that he might receive payment; but, to my surprise, he returned with the account and the mattress too. 'I've brought back baith, ye see, sir,' said he. 'How so ?' * Indeed, sir, I didna' like to leave it yonder, else I'm sure we wad ne'er see the siller; there's nae a stick of furniture within the door.' 'How do you come to know that? O sir, twa taps on the floor wi' my stick soon tell't me that.'" It was a shrewd guess.
One of the young men, conversing by the side of another blind man, engaged at basket-work, was pointed out to us as a remarkable instance of
the powers of memory. This man, we were informed, was gifted with a most wonderfully retentive memory. Some time ago, charmed with Milton's noble poem, "Paradise Lost," he had it read over to him, a few lines at a time, and learnt the whole of the poem in fewer hours than any ordinary person like ourselves would require to commit to memory one of the twelve books into which it is divided. He has also managed to learn the whole of the hundred and fifty Prayer-book Psalms, and a large number of metrical psalms and hymns, as well as a considerable number of modern poems. Everything seems fish that comes to the net of his memory. "What, this man, whose name is Daniel Brown, has achieved," remarks the
chaplain, "may, to a certain extent, be done, and is done, by his fellow sufferers elsewhere. It must be remembered, too, that the blind youth is compelled to derive nearly all his knowledge from books that are read to him (his embossed books being very. few in number, very expensive, and almost entirely on religious subjects). While his friend reads, he listens most intently: he is now all ear; not a word, not a syllable, escapes him. He cuts off every channel of communication with the outer world, and opens but the one inlet to the wave of sound. Much depends, of course, on the fluency and distinctness of his teacher, but far more on his own habit of fixed and undivided attention. Here, in the mere task of learning by heart, he bas to listen acutely and patiently to all — even to every word — and this by dint of practice becomes comparatively easy."
A very large number of the blind inmates know most of the Psalms. Indeed, so well do they commit the word of God to memory, that the chaplain would be readily detected in any misquotation: and while we are on this point, we may add, that to attempt to teach such shrewd intellects, which are so well trained, and are always ready to detect a blunder, a man must have no small acquaintance with the subjects on which he speaks, and a facility of expression, combined with literal accuracy. Such men are not to be put off with a merely superficial teacher. "They know how to reason,"
said my guide," and they can reason most logically;" and so prodigious is their memory, that they never require to be told twice; figures seem to enter their heads, and find a permanent lodging there without the smallest difficulty. We heard our guide give orders as to the precise breadth and length of some various sized baskets that were to be made, and the figures were at once received into the memory. "You have to be careful what you say before them," he shrewdly observed to us; "and especially when you promise them anything, they will never forget it, nor forget to remind you
that they still remember it. This sometimes may place you in awkward fixes."
We have not chosen to interrupt any description of the various industrial handicrafts in which the blind were engaged on the afternoon of our visit.
One employment much interested us, and deserves a notice. Seated on a high stool, a blind weaver was working, with an ordinary loom, a colored rug. One's first question is, naturally enough, How can he discern the colors? There is a popular idea abroad, that a keen-witted and sensitive blind person has the power of detecting' colors by the touch; but this notion is against the experience of all who know anything of the blind, and is disbelieved by the blind themselves. The blind weaver at the loom informed us frankly, that he knew the difference of color only in two wax's
— by a difference in substance, or because the red and maroon were each put in a certain place, which he remembered. One of the colored wools was stiffer than the other, and so he knew that was red wool. That was the only method by which he could distinguish them. Colors, too, are sometimes distinguished by their being placed to the tongue.
We also saw some brush-making, and it was interesting to observe how perfectly every brush was turned out of hand. Of course there is, in each department, a seeing man, who finishes off when necessary, and always inspects all the goods. Ascending a flight of steps, we entered the chapel.
The religious services conducted here are according to the forms and usages of the Episcopal church. Some few of the inmates are Dissenters;
two boys, indeed, are members of Mr. Spurgeon's church, and are always permitted to worship at the Tabernacle; but the Institution belongs, as far as a benevolent institution can be said to belong, to the "Church of
England." The chapel is a neat, simple affair, with a plain reading desk, and but for the organ, and, if we remember rightly, a useless table of
commandments, etc.; it might be taken for a mission-room. At this organ, a blind man was playing a per, ion of Handel's famous undying oratorio, "the Messiah ;" and never did we hear the Hallelujah Chorus rendered more perfectly. Blind people, all the world over, seem to have a distinguishing passion for music. Few attain great eminence in this art, but few who are educated to it, and have a quick ear for sounds, fail to gain ordinary success. "Music," a blind tramper, once observed, "is our only enjoyment;
we all likes it." Music, indeed, supplies to the blind the place of light;
consequently it forms no insignificant portion of the teaching at the Blind School. They frequently give public concerts, to which the friends of the
institution are invited. There is a large blind choir; and sacred music, vocal and instrumental, of the highest class, is performed by the choristers. The chaplain complains, however, that few churchwardens and trustees, in want of an organist, care about employing a blind man; "and in no[a few eases, though his love for it still continues deep and unbroken as ever, once outside the school gates, his practical acquaintance with good music is over; or, possibly, limited to such wooden strains as can be pomaded out of some excruciating instrument which Mozart himself could not make
endurable." Still, there are many blind organists scattered throughout the country, and their services are, in many eases, preferred to those who have the girl of sight, but less passion for music.
We cannot conclude our somewhat rambling sketch of some few things we saw in this commodious institution, without expressing our indebtedness to our guide, Mr. Midwinter, and the pleasure which we felt in witnessing the comfortable home in which one hundred and sixty inmates are placed.
Nothing could exceed the neatness and simplicity, of the arrangements. For cleanliness, the building would have done credit to the most scrupulous Quaker, whose hatred of a spot is proverbial. The dormitories were excessively clean; and we may add, that at the head of each bed a portion of the Scriptures was placed. At an early hour of the morning, as soon as they are awake, the Word is read individually at pleasure. And he who has habituated himself to reading the Scriptures in early morn will have
understood the freshness which belongs to them in a way that others can never know. No wonder that the pupils should be young Timothys. We were pleased to observe a shop, opened for out-dour workers, chiefly old pupils of good character; where they obtain decent and fairly remunerative employment. Still, how to find such labor for the blind is one of the most difficult problems which have been presented to the philanthropist's mind.
To our mind, the blind schools only meet the difficulty up to a certain point. We are inclined to believe that a vast majority of blind persons will always be comprehended within the divine Master's legacy to his church —
"The poor you have with you always." The following paragraph from the last report of the Society, refers in very modest terms to the good done by the School for the Indigent Blind:-
"It is a cause of great satisfaction that a very large majority of those pupils who have left us during the last few years are now working steadily at their trades, and doing what they can, though it may not be much, towards their own support. It must not be forgotten that it is far better for a blind girl or
youth, to earn a shilling or even sixpence per week, than to do nothing.
Idleness is a positive curse, and always bears a bitter harvest; and if the poorer class of blind can be taught to believe this, and to put their belief into practice, the gain to themselves will be a great one.
"The Committee will have done a great and lasting good if only' they succeed in teaching a large number of blind persons, for the most part ignorant and indigent, habits of patience, care, and industry to prefer work to idleness; to be anxious to do what they can, be it ever so little, to avoid becoming a burden
to their friends; to be cleanly and well-behaved, faithful and honest; to read their Bibles with some understanding of their duty to God and to man. And this much the Committee can most fully claim to be doing.
"The harvest may not be so abundant as they could wish, but it is a harvest of the right kind, and, by God's blessing, well worth the reaping."