Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/708

 688 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

It is true, the number of those that have acquired a position in which they can earn what they want for life through what they have studied in science is small ; but we are still in the beginning of this movement. A few years ago a blind man was hardly able to visit a university and pass an examination. The general want of confidence is perhaps the greatest obstacle that a blind man meets, and it is difficult to persuade our friends that they do us a much greater favor by giving us occupation, even for small pay, than by giving us presents.

It will be a good while before even a poor blind man may earn through his mental work, in which he must not be inferior to full-sighted people, just as much as they; and till then it must be our endeavor to render those happy that are forced to gain their livelihood by manual occupation, in which we cannot deny they are a good deal inferior to their seeing brethren.

What is the state of these unfortunate people now, and how are they to be assisted? Most blind people are much less inde- pendent than others. In early childhood their kind mothers will guard them from the rough approach of other boys. Then they are shut out from life by their education in an institution where they learn some trade. When they leave school, in which everything was arranged according to their state, shall we then expect them to be able to meet all the difficulties of life to which they are entire strangers ? The real education for life through experience, which any other child has in the house of its parents without learning it, is still to come. In what way can a blind man earn his livelihood? Those who are not study- ing may do it in two different ways either by music or tuning pianos, or by the practice of a trade. In music they are much less inferior to seeing people than in a trade. Their talent is mostly at least as good as that of a common musician, and their diligence often greater. They have musical notes which they can read with their fingers, and though the number of those that are playing in an orchestra is still small, as organists, music teachers, and even pianists they are performing their work well. But the state of the poor working blind man, and still more of
 * he girls among them, is much less agreeable.