BLIND BABIES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOE."1
SIE,—May we ask you to grant a little space in which to allow us to tell your readers of a new project which has been initiated for the benefit of those most pathetic members of the very poor, the little blind babies, who are too often neglected and uncared for? The school education of blind children begins at the age of five, in a day or residential school, but from birth until this age it is too often the case that these infants are brought up more like little animals than human beings. In a poor household it is usually very difficult for any one to find time in• which to caro for them, with the result that they form bad habits, which often prove incurable later on when school age is reached. The education of the blind baby should therefore begin from earliest infancy. The National Institute for the Blind has undertaken to support and manage a Home for these poor little mites. A most suitable house with large grounds has just been purchased at Chorley Wood, and here some twenty-five blind babies will be brought up with the utmost care and tenderness until they reach school age. We hope that this Home for Blind Babies will be followed by others in different parts of the country, but in the meantime our object /13 to secure the success of this initial effort. The house and grounds at Chorley Wood have cost £6,500, and the further sum of at least .21,000 will be needed to fit it for its new purpose, £3,000 has already been subscribed, and we ask you to allow us to appeal to your readers to help in securing the balance. The project has the sympathy and support of Her Majesty the Queen and of Queen Alexandra. The Queen, in expressing her approval of and sympathy with the proposal, sent '150 towards the Fund which we are endeavouring to raise. Queen Alexandra in sending a donation of £100 expressed the belief that this new Home for Blind Babies will be a lasting blessing to them. May we hope that the gracious and generous sympathy afforded to our plan by the greatest ladies in the land will be followed by that of many others, and that our appeal for the blind baby may be crowned with immediate and abundant success?—We are, Sir, &c.,
ADELINE M. BEDFORD. ARTHUR PEARSON.
P.S.—Donations will be received and acknowledged by Adeline Duchess of Bedford if sent to 51 Berkeley Square, or by Sir Arthur Pearson at the National Institute for the Blind, 224 Great Portland Street, London, W.
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