Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 154, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1911 — BLIND WOMEN’S CLUB [ARTICLE]

BLIND WOMEN’S CLUB

Young and Old All in Dark, Chat Vivaciously. Everybody Beems to Know Everybody Else and Handclapping, as Sign of Appreciation, Is Frequent and Prolonged. New York.—The Blind Women’s club will suggest a picture of Maeterlincklan gloom only to those who have not had the fortune to attend one of its meetings. More than forty women, young and old, all in the dark, chat vivaciously. Everybody seems to know everybody else by voice; handclapping, as a sign of appreciation, is frequent and prolonged. The club is one of the many activities of the Association of the Blind at 118 East Fifty-ninth street. wb!f||p| working to aid'the blind to overcome their'handicap and to make their lives useful and happy. Primarily, the object Of the club Is, by extending their horizons of work and interest, to provide a means for the blind women known to the association to meet and "see" one another, talk over the mutual problems, and also to bring cheer, comfort and happiness into the lives of other blind persons. The business of a recent meeting went with verve and almost all the members took part in the discussions cMr. In moments of quiet there would be heard the weary's the meeting In Braille, the system of earlier nart of the evening her readlast meeting was as faultless and as P n£^ o e Ugh * he J not awggestlmi ofanjunaUve Interest. In the course of the j

secretary written in ink. A lady who saw merely with her eyes was asked to read the letter. Owing to illegibility she bad to stop and finally omit some words. This raised a laugh from all the members who could read with ten eyes, Instead of only two. One woman remarked: “That can’t happen to our letters.". The home teacher of the association, who is a very active member of the club, and who goes into the homes of the blind, teaching them to read Braille, how to play games, how to make baskets and to knit, was telling some oi tier latest experiences in her work. “This .afternoon,” she was saying, “I paid my fourty visit to an old colored mammy of eighty-three, who has . been blind for more than half a century. During this time she has read nothing, has done little or bo work, Jnst sat In brooding Idleness. Oh! she was so anxious to do something to occupy her mind. Today was her fourth reading lesson in Braille, and she read almost perfectly, bln two or three more lessons she *45 be able to read anything.’*