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Show Americansrlunq for Trench Blind SoBiere Qr Devoted men and women wom-en from the United States teach warriors who have lost their sight -certain I vocations by which they can earn a living 5 8y DOROTHY CAN Fl ELD FISHER. AR-TDJE Paris Is full of i K'i 'IB V ) big new street slsns' m "a"s urmounted, an-V$ an-V$ IlxJvI nounclng In very large iMjNy letters the existence of fjyL war philanthropies of gk-J one kind and another for e,SStot the relief of those stricken strick-en by the disasters of this disastrous age. No signs are bigger, big-ger, none have larger letters than those surmounted by the crossed flags of France and the United States which announce that a Franco-American committee is at work there. And yet one of the most Interesting, unique and valuable of these fine American philanthropies has no big sign, no large letters and Is so little known in America that I am sure a description of Its work will be news to most Americans, and very good news at that This Is the Phare de France (the French Lighthouse for the Blind). It is supported by the Franco-American Committee for Men Blinded in Battle, oad Is under the direction of Miss Winifred Holt, whose years of work at the American Light-louse Light-louse for the Blind in New York has BO marvslouslv trnnsfnrmorl Ufa fnr the bll.n,f that city. S'. nas been In France for a little more than a year, throwing herself Into work for men blinded in battle with the same tremendous energy and indomitable perseverance which has accomplished so much for the blind In America. The French Lighthouse is the result of that year's activity. Into Quiet Courtyard. Imagine that you are now about to visit that Institution under the guidance guid-ance of one of the volunteer workers, perhaps that charming young granddaughter grand-daughter of our President Grant, to whom is often aesigned the task of showing visitor about. You ring at No. 14 on the Rue Daru, the quiet old street of the Russian church, with its gold-tipped domes. The heavy door swings open, you tep into a large, peaceful, stone-paved oeurtward, with a handsome old palace facing you, at the top of a flight of broad steps. A soldier or an officer In s) natty uniform is probably either going ulrubly up or coming confidently down those steps, swinging a light bamboo cane. Ills alert, upright bearing bear-ing give you no hint of his blindness. If you follow him as he turns to his left, you find yourself In a well equipped gymnasium for the blind, which Is, so your guide tells you, the only thing of the sort In France. Your blind soldier (who is enjoying a rest between lessons) stoops, puts on a pair of roller skates, and Is off In a dashing swoop about the polished gymnasium gym-nasium floor. Ills face is soon tingling and glowing glow-ing with the exercise, the strong rhythmic swing of his body Is exhilarating exhil-arating to witness. Your guide murmurs mur-murs that four months ago that man was In a hospital, alone, sick, utterly discouraged, life a black abyss of despair before him. Here is one of the achievements of the French Lighthouse. "But Is he really blind?" you ask Incredulously. In-credulously. "How can he have won,, back that fine physical poise, that splendid confidence In his body which means so much for seeing people and which we never associate with the blind?" America's Great Gift ' "Ah, that Is the special secret of this American Institution, the especial gift of America to the French blind. Our blind soldier, his interval of recreation rec-reation gone by, has slipped off his roller skates and stepped quickly Into a nearby room. His blindness only revealed by a flourish of his light cane to make sure of the position of the door. He has gone to tnke a lesson In massage, which Is one of the most profitable means of livelihood open to men without eyes. Like all his fellows fel-lows in the Phare, he takes very short lessons ; with frequent Intervals of recreation and change of occupation, because war blindness means nearly always head wounds and head wounds mean a brain that must not be overtaxed. over-taxed. We leave him to his study of the skeleton, the big plaster casts of muscular mus-cular arms and legs, and to his expert teacher; while we turn to other things. Our guide takes us back through the 7f!k' j --I I I I I lis Jl shower bath room and pauses proudly. proud-ly. If you are an American you probably prob-ably look blank. Shower baths are not such uncommon objects as all that Oh, but they are, she tells you, in France, for the blind I So uncommon, In fact, that only at the Phare you are visiting can blind men, after exercising, exer-cising, have the stimulating tonic of showering water, which helps so much to tone up the system shattered by the nervous shock of wounds. This Is one of the Americanisms of the Phare. Look at it respectfully. At the door of the court your guide hesitates between possibilities and then decides to show you the printing press in the big room above the gymnasium. gym-nasium. This is an American machine, ma-chine, the only electric press which prints books for the blind in France. By the t"me this article appears the first Issu-J of a monthly magazine for the blind will have been issued from this press. Blind Editor Busy. . The magazine Is under the direction of a blind editor, who with a corps of seeing assistants (volunteers), will also, during the winter, arrange for the publication by this press of a series se-ries of manuals in raised type, which will help the blind In their re-education. You descend the stairs, glance In at the gymnasium, where a couple of blind men are now fencing, under the careful direction of a teacher, and your guide tells you that the teacher Is perhaps the best-known master of arms in France. In spite of being mobilized he manages to come three times a week to give himself to his blind comrades. You cross the court to the room of the handicrafts. Here you see sights which, If you are inexperienced in what may be done for the blind, seem miraculous to you. You see a one-armed one-armed blind man who in five weeks has learned to manage a knitting machine ma-chine so that he can earn a good living liv-ing by knltMng sweaters and bands. You see another blind soldier with only one arm who Is weaving successfully success-fully by means of a device of his own Invention, which enables him to make one foot do the work of his missing hand. You see blind men weaving colored col-ored rugs with but slightly more supervision su-pervision than Is usually given to sighted weavers, and others who are making filet work. Then your guide steers you away and astonishes you by saying that you have not yet even set foot Inside the main building proper. This main building build-ing Is a beautiful old palace, belonging to the Vatican. The entrance hall Is a nobly proportioned room, which serves as a general meeting place. You Are Astonished. Here come wives, sisters, sweethearts sweet-hearts to visit with their men, to hear of progress made in re-education, to guide the sightless heroes out for a walk In the pleasant paths of the nearby near-by park. Through this room pass the teachers of stenography, typewriting, type-writing, Braille reading and writing, clay modeling, who dally fill the rooms of the old palace with such useful use-ful Industry as It can never have known before. Here the blind men as they step out of the dining room adjoining, pause for a moment to light their cigarettes and pull down their well-fitting uniforms, before they take their brisk way along the Ingeniously placed paths of coca matting. Now you are to see the stenographic department. Everyone who uses a typewriter knows that the best work is done without looking at the keys; and this me.'ins that In typewriting the blind are perhaps more nearly on a footing of equality with the seeing than in any other gainful occupation. Your guide (remember that she is the granddaughter of our General Grant) stops to chat for a moment to one of the teachers in the stenographic steno-graphic department, a tall,' steady-eyed, steady-eyed, extremely attractive American girl who is another gift of the American Ameri-can White House to the French blind. This is Miss Esther Cleveland, who is giving all her time to the work of the Phare. Miss Cleveland is no amateur teacher teach-er of stenography. She has mastered the entire Braille system of instruction instruc-tion at the Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind and has been working for months in England. There are the dormitories (for this American institution is housing and feeding its men as well as re-educating them), here are the bathrooms (strange Innovation in this eighteenth century abode), there is the clinic room, where minor medical attention is given, where wounds are cared for, antiseptic ' treatments carried on ; as well as the other rooms already referred re-ferred to. Keeping Men Cheerful. It Is difficult to reaMze the effort required to create and maintain the cheerful atmosphere of the house, which means as much for the future health of the men as does their careful care-ful tpr-hnlrnl re-education. Outside the classes, the Institution is like a well-run club. The president of the French republic has several times given his box to the blind men at the Phare, and they often go out to the theater and the Opera Comlque. Owners Own-ers of automobiles send their cars to take the blind out for long, exhilarating exhilarat-ing drives. The blind men have a club of their own where they discuss all manner of topics and enjoy music and recitations. Some of them go for horseback rides in the Bols, and others, on their vacations, vaca-tions, have found themselves so benefited bene-fited by the tonic, healthgiving atmosphere at-mosphere of the Phare that they have been able Joyfully to take up again old delights of swimming and fishing. fish-ing. And all this comes from America. Here is an American woman who has left a big American philanthropic enterprise en-terprise and given a solid year of her life to alleviating the misery caused by the war In which her country has officially no part Here Is a comparatively compara-tively small committee of American men and women who, without dipping Into any of the funds raised by the great war-relief organizations, has been able to raise money enough to start and carry on the work you have seen. |