Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1903 — COMPENSATION. [ARTICLE]

COMPENSATION.

Tba Little Blind Girl Did Not Think of lie Ins Unhappr. A personal experience of Governor Odell of New York, recorded In the Tribune, Illustrates anew how often the soul encompassed by Infirmity knows the compensating secret of happiness. Governor Odell was Inspecting the state Institution for the blind at Batavia. As he was walking through one of the buildings he noticed a gold-en-haired child standing at A window. She had her back to him. The Governor walked over to the window, and said: “How do you do, my little lady?" The child turned to him with a smile. She was exceedingly beautiful, but her eyes were sightless. “Are you Governor Odell?” she said. The Governor said that he was. “Oh, I have been waiting to see you,” she. said. “I heard you were coming.” The Governor then took her on his lap and asked her name. “My name is Ruth.” “I have a little girl at home Just about as big as you, but her name is Estelle.” They talked freely after that. The little girl told her story without sighs or bitterness. She was unable to go home for a vacation, because it was necessary for her to remain for treatment. It was a disappointment, but she smiled brightly as she said that ■'seeing” the Governor partly “made up.” Finally, when It came time for him to go, the Governor said: “Is there any message I can tak* back to my little girl from you ?” “Yes, oh, yes, you can give her my love.” “Is that all?” asked the Governor. “No,” said the child, clasping the Governor’s neck and kissing him. “Say I sent her a kiss.” The next day, when the Governor was in Buffalo, he bought the biggest doll he could find and sent it to Ruth. A few days later he got a letter of thanks. “I can feel its eyes shut when I put it to bed at night,” she wrote, “and in the morning I can feel them open. 1 have named my dolly Estelle, and I pray every night that your little girl may never be blind.”