A BLIND MAN ON BLINDNESS.*
M. DE LA SIEERANNE'S touching book is not merely written to interest those who care for the blind philanthropically ; it is full of general and curious information, is even, in some degree, a work of art, and is especially striking from a cheer- fulness and brightness of tone which can hardly be called patience. There is no lamentation, no suppressed suffering, in this vivid account of the life of the blind by one who shares it. He is like the blind man whose friend exclaimed thought- lessly on finding him in a dark room, and who answered, " It is always light for me, you know." He has not written this book to ask for pity—of that he and his fellows are sure— but to show how little difference there is intellectually between the blind and the seeing, and to claim for the blind all those advantages of education, moral and 'physical, by which they are as capable of profiting as any other citizens.
M. d'Haussonville, who writes a delightful and sympathetic preface to the book, finds it hard to believe that M. de la Sizeranne's picture of the happiness, the privileges of the blind, is not drawn with too bright colours. It is Christian resignation, he says, which gives this tone to the writer's thoughts; and he tells the little story mentioned above. M. de la Sizeranne is one of those for whom there are no dark rooms. No doubt this is true, and no one, of course, can really believe that the loss of a sense may even add to happi- ness ; but the fact that the writer is an exceptional man in his way need not affect either the truth or the fascination of any- thing that he tells us.
In nearly all ways the experience of one blind man must be that of another; it may differ in degree, but not in kind. It is the same difference, intensified, as that which exists between a blind man's and a seeing man's use of his other senses. The seeing man hears, the blind man listens ; the seeing man touches, the blind man feels, and with his whole body. There is the same keenness in the matter of smell. It is difficult to realise how far these three senses go, used thus, towards compensating for the loss of the sense of sight. The blind know, M. de la Sizeranne reminds us, on what sort of earth or pavement they are walking ; they feel and recognise what is under their feet. The sense of smell teaches them what kind of shops they are passing, if in a town; while their ears can distinguish a street from a boulevard, and keenly know the difference between every kind of vehicle that goes by. Each bell that rings tells its different story to the blind man's ear ; he knows the sounds of the trades, the different works that are going on all round him. In a country walk each wood, each path, each meadow describes itself to the touch or smell, and the trees speak with voices of their own :—
" Le lilas et le chine ne disent pas is mime chose lorsque Is vent passe ; ils ne feissonnent pas de la mime maniere en inai et en octobre. Autres sent les °lee tux qu'on entend, lorequ'on est assis an pied d'un vieil orme, an milieu d'un grand bois, ou Bur la bergs de la riviere qui traverse la prairie."
* Lea Avougres. Par un krone° Maurice de la Sizeranne), Avon uno Prance do M. le Comte d'Harvisouville, do l'Ae.thltnie Frame tee. Paris : Hachette it die. In a fog, when seeing people are most at a loss, a blind man is more at his ease than usual. He is not disturbed by conflicting noises, as when the wind blows or a regiment is marching by. He can be more surely guided by the sound of his own footsteps, different when they approach any obstacle in the way. The famous Quinze-Vingts, the blind beggars of Paris, used to be employed as guides when there was a fog in the city.
We cannot here follow M. de la Sizeranne through his very curious and affecting study of the psychology of the blind, nor into all the valuable particulars be gives as to their pro- fessional education in France at present. We can only say that these parts of his book are worth careful study, if only for the sake of learning how little one knows of the real state of such a large number of one's fellow-creatures. This is a book that can hardly be read without the consequence of largely increased understanding and deepened sympathy. The chapters on " L'Intellect" and "Le Moral" are particu- larly interesting, correcting what we must call vulgar errors, sweeping and ignorant conclusions, as to the powers and the disposition of those who are blind.
The history of what philanthropy in France has done for the blind is long and curious. Saint-Louis, about the year 1260, founded in Paris the Hospital of the Quinze-Vingts, for three hundred blind beggars. This was a religious foundation of brothers and sisters, and the charity of the time loaded it with endowments and privileges. M. de la Sizeranne gives a slight sketch of the not very edifying history of this founda- tion. The celebrated Quinze-Vingts, it seems, were not distinguished for their piety, or indeed for any virtue. Their only useful work on record is the acting as guides in foggy weather. Among the blind of France they were the aristocrats, and they bore themselves as such :- " Dane Paris, les Quinze-Vingts aaient maitres et seigneurs; et m@me en province, lorsqu'ils voyageaient pour lours affaires (car ils en avaient), la flour de ha attache sur leur poitrine. et qui leur avait etc concedee en bonne forme par Philippe le Bel, leur assurait la meilleure place au porche du sanetuaire. Il y a partout des aristocraties."
They alone had the privilege of begging in the Paris churches, and they had also the singular right of saying their prayers out loud, while ordinary people prayed in silence. One of their occupations, when not engaged in begging, or in bullying the less fortunate blind of Paris, was fighting a small rival foundation, the Six-Vingts of Chartres, established by Philippe le Long, which tried now and then to poach on the preserves of the Quinze-Vingts. The begging in the churches, which must have become a public nuisance, was stopped in 1.780; but the buildings and institutions of the Quinze-Vingte survived the Revolution, and in later years came under the influence of more modern ideas, originated by the remarkable philanthropist, Valentin Haiiy.
A large part of M. de in Sizeranne's book is occupied with the life and work of Haiiy. To him, it seems, is due the conviction that the blind could and should be taught like other people. His institution of les Aneugles-Travailleurs sprang up side by side with the old QUinZe-Vinges, and was treated with high favour by the authorities of the Revolu- tion, the more so because Haiiy was completely a man of his time, a thivphilanthrope, a philosopher with no religion but that of humanity. He did a wonderful work, however ; not only training his blind pupils as musicians, but striking out first, as far as we know, the idea of the raised type which was, of course, the beginning of all real education for the blind. This school of Holly's really led to the foundation of the institution of Teunes-Aveugles, at which Louis Braille was educated, and where he, at seventeen, was already beginning in 1826 to work out his wonderful system.
Hafty's own story was rather sad, for his personal work in Paris hardly survived the years of the Revolution. Napoleon, says M. de la Sizeranne, was not inclined to show any favour to an institution worked by theophilanthropie,—" it n'aimait ni lee reveurs ni les faiseurs do phrases." The Aveuyles- Travailleurs were therefore, in 1801, reunited to the old Catholic institution of the Quinze-Vingts ; and Valentin Rally, his work an apparent failure, his opinions out of fashion, his school deprived of its character—for at the Quinze-Vingts, even in those comparatively enlightened times, there was little or no teaching, and the blind might choose between idleness and learning to weave or spin—retired from his post with a pension of 2,000 francs. He afterwards went to Russia, where Alexander I. had a fancy for establishing a blind-school ; but this came to nothing, and in the end he returned to France, to be neglected by the public, who could not forgive his sympathy with the Revolution, but feted by his old pupils, and honoured by those few who called him "the father of the blind."
It seems as if M. de la Sizeranne was right in looking back to Valentin Haiiy as the founder, in France at least, of the great system of education which has so entirely, in the present century, altered the condition of the blind. He also had the high merit of understanding that the help the great majority of these sufferers wanted was moral, more than physical,—education rather than alms :— "I1 amble dire an passant qui pease Je domande plutet yam aide morale quo votre aumene. Je donnerais dix ans de vie pour quo vous m'appreniez gagner mon pain.' Valentin Haity it y a cent ans rencontra un de cos aveugles, et it comprit."
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