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founded by the juvenile blind. ( I use
that term nhvays to distinguish those
who lose their sight in infancy ) .
The state institution for the blind in
Ohio was founded by Mr. Penniman ;
in Tennessee by Messrs. Champlin and
Sturtovant ; in Mississippi by Mr. Oham-
plin ; Indiana by Mr. Churchman ; Illi
nois , Samuel Bacon ; Wisconsin , Mr.
Churchman1'Missouri ; , Mr. Whelan ;
Louisiana , Mr. Lane ; Georgia , Mr. For-
tescue ; Maryland , 'Mr. Loughery ; Iowa ,
Samuel Bacon ; Nebraska , Samuel
Bacon this is the same gentleman who
now living on his stock farm , at Ne
braska City to whom I have referred ;
the California Home for the Adult
Blind was created practically by Joseph
Sanders , and the Novia Scotia home
was founded by Mary Dwyer. All of
these founders and benefactors belong
to the juvenile blind class.
In the United States sixteen persons
of that class had achieved great suc
cess as superintendents of these places
up to 1878 , and since that date many
have been added to the list , including
Mr. Sanders in California.
Besides these public or state institu
tions , there are many others of a privateer
or only quasi public character , run ex
clusively by blind men. The greatest
of these and one of the greatest in the
world is Hall's institution in Philadel
phia. His great product is brooms. By
my lost report from him he had just
bought seven hundred tons of broom
corn , to be manufactured by his blind
handicraftsmen this winter. His shops
and markets have been continually in
creased and extended for years , though
he is in competition with some of the
largest broom shops in the world , and
with cheap labor and prison labor.
The blind men in the California Home
for the Adult Blind in Oakland were
taught their trades by Joseph Sanders ,
who came to this state from Mr. Hall's
establishment in Philadelphia. He is an
excellent example of the thoroughly
trained and naturally able juvenile
blind. He is an expert swimmer and
fisherman , uses no cane in walking , is a
keen and adroit business man and a
skillful mechanic. The California
Adult Blind Home during his superin-
teudeucy took front rank , its earnings
paid into the state treasury averaging
during his entire incumbency $1,046 per
mouth. He succeeded two seeing sup
erintendents , and , with an increase of
only 17 per cent in his shop force , in
creased the monthly earnings of the
home 116 per cent and the wages per
hand of the blind workmen 46 per cent.
As a teacher and superintendent it is
probable that he has had few peers among
the blind , and as merchant , business
man and manufacturer , many who are
not handicapped by the loss of any of
their senses might sit at his feet and
learn. When ho loft the institution in
December , 1895 , it had an export trade
in brooms to Central America , Australia ,
Hawaii and British Columbia , and the
demand for its product was so great
that the blind mechanics were working
overtime to supply it. Then a visitor
could have the singular and interesting
experience of going into a large shop at
night , unlighted , and occupied by
nearly sixty mechanics , whistling at
their work , while the hum and bustle of
busy industry rose out of the dark.
To judge of the difficulty of teaching
a trade to the adult blind , one must re
flect that but few men think themselves
capable of learning a new handicraft
after they have passed their twenty-fifth
year , and fewer still attempt it ,
though m possession of all their facul
ties. Now take men of that age , and
upward , suddenly deprived of th'eir
sight , and fancy the skill and patience
and kindness that must bo used in tak
ing them by their fingers and teaching
them a trade by palpitation , without the
use of the eye !
I have seen blind men stand at the
broom clamp , weeping sorely in their
helplessness , and crying their unbelief
in their capacity to learn the trade. And
I have seen this patient , blind teacher
day after day encourage them , until the
brain at lost took control of the clumsy
hand and it acquired a finer touch , and
tears were dried , hope lighted the sad
face , and it seemed verily that their
path was blessed and had led them in
darkness to a world where there was no
more sorrow , nor crying , nor pain , and
all tears were wiped away.
There came to him in that institution
a deaf and dumb and blind boy , the
child of a dependent widow. As he
grow older and grow dearer to her heart ,
for our best affections go to the little
ones and helpless in our homes , he taxed
her forlorn resources more and more.
Mr. Sanders took him to the shop. No
word of instruction could pass the ears
of the lad , for ho lived in a world of
everlasting silence and darkness.
Touch was the sole means of reaching
him.
him.Patiently
Patiently , by putting a head of broom
corn in his hand and then a broom in
process of manufacture , and then a fin
ished broom , the idea was made to come
to him that the complete article was
made by putting together the single
heads of material. So , day after day ,
the lesson wont on , until the boy could
build a broom.
To such a child this instruction and
the knowledge it imparted was all that
a university education is to a lad with
all his senses. He became a most expert
workman , and , when he had so pro
gressed as to receive wages , he was not
long in grasping the idea of what they
meant , that it was some thing given for
his labor and exchangeable for what he
wanted.
Now , witness the high principle in
that apparently hapless , hopeless , help
less child 1 Ho was miserly in saving
liis money. In handling him Mr. San-
, (
ders had learned , by a manual code , to
communicate with him , to exchange
thoughts in fine , the blind could talk
to the blind and deaf and mute.
The boy one day told his teacher that
he wanted to buy a broom machine. It
was bought with his carefully hoarded
money , and he sot it up at home , bought
corn , made brooms and sold them and
contributed to the support of his mother
and himself ! Only a few centuries ago
if a blind man had done this for a deaf
and dumb and blind boy he would have
been either saluted as a saint , inspired
to work miracles by the powers of light ,
or sacrificed as a wizard in league with
the powers of darkness.
It was a work worthy to rank with
the training of Laura Bridgmau by Dr.
Howe , and taken with his capacity for
all the duties of his position , placed Mr.
Sanders in the same rank as Fasset , the
blind postmaster-general of Great Brit
ain , and Herreshoff , the sightless archi
tect of the cup-defending yacht.
He had taken from the widow her
burden and changed it into her support.
The strong and great , the conquerors
who have ridden in triumph , and the
winners of the glory of this world , fin
ally go the mortal way that must be
taken by the small and weak ; and if
there be somewhere an accounting and
some time a day of reckoning , who has
been BO proud and high in this brief
span , which is the common lot , that he
would not then gladly exchange all his
glory for this one deed of a patient blind
man recorded in that state hoped for , in
which Bartimous walks without a guide
and the lame and halt put off their
weakness and stand upright ?
Mr. Emil Brauu ,
THE ORIGIN in the Baker's Review
OF SUGAK.
view , tells his
readers , the bakers , all about the origin
of sugar. The article is herewith ap
pended :
" 'Who invented or discovered sugar ? '
is a question that was recently asked in
Germany , and the answer was given
that sugar has been known since the
dawn of history , but not in all countries.
The Chinese appear to have delighted
their palate with sugar for more than
8,000 years , and it was known in India
earlier than in Europe , being made from
a juicy reed or cane. One of Alexander
the Great's generals carried sugar to
Greece in the year 825 B. O. , as Sir
Walter Raleigh , some 2,000 years later ,
carried tobacco from Virginia to Eng
land. But even so late as 150 A. D.
sugar was still a rarity in Greece. The
famous physician , Galen , used it as a
remedy for certain maladies. Recent
experiments show that sugar has re
markable sustaining power when eaten
by those undergoing great fatigue. The
invention of the first process for refining
sugar is ascribed to the Arabs , and a
Venetian merchant is said to have pur
chased the secret from them and intro
duced the process in Italy. "