The wonderful gains made by the blind in overcoming their heavy
handicap was brought strikingly to public attention at the second
annual sale and exhibition of the New York Association for the
Blind. Women were at work on small hand looms, on linen looms, and
on carpet-weaving looms. A blind girl operated a power machine.
Stenographers sat at their work, fingering ordinary typewriters, and
transcribing notes from phonographic dictation. There were all the
usual, simpler displays of chair caning, basket weaving and broom
making and there was music, both vocal and instrumental. The guests
were told interesting stories of many of the workers. One was of a
man who applied to the association for help when first stricken blind
and most despondent, thinking that all avenues of usefulness had been
closed to him. As a result of the instruction given to him, he is now
able to earn a good salary and to support his family.
The work of the association has so increased during the past year,
that besides the building on Fifty-ninth street and the workshop on
Forty-second street, the special committee for the prevention of
blindness has an office in the Kennedy Building at 289 Fourth avenue.
In co-operation with the State Department of Health the committee is
working particularly toward the prevention of ophthalmia neonatorum.
Following are the members of the committee: P. Tecumseh Sherman,
chairman, Dr. Eugene H. Porter, Dr. Thomas Darlington, Dr. F. Park
Lewis, Dr. J. Clifton Edgar, Thomas M. Mulry, Dr. John I. Middleton,
Miss Louisa L. Schuyler, Mrs. William B. Rice, Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt,
Miss Winifred Holt, Miss Lillian D. Wald and George A. Hubbell,
executive secretary.