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How They Are Being Instructed to Become Self-Supporting.

To the Editor of The New York Times:

The Reuilly Hospital has been opened by the French Government near the Vincennes of Paris to accommodate as many as possible of France's ever-increasing number of blinded soldiers. A blinded mechanic was teaching a blinded soldier there, several weeks ago, to mount a tire on an automobile rim.

"Do you see?" asked the blind instructor.

"Certainly I see," the blind pupil answered proudly.

So interested were both in the lesson that neither was conscious of the pathetic irony of their words.

Very few blinded soldiers are seen in the streets of Paris nowadays. The fortunate ones are learning trades not requiring sight in the French Government's available institutions. The rest, helpless and despondent, sometimes even to the verge of suicide, are being cared for in the homes of friends and relatives. Whenever one of these blind men appears in the street he is saluted by almost every pedestrian. This custom, too, though beautiful, is pathetic, since the objects of the honor cannot of course perceive the mark of respect which is being paid to them.

The newly organized Reuilly Hospital accommodates about 250. Quinze-Vingts (founded in 1260 for the blind poor of Paris by the French King Louis, who was called "saint" because of his many good works) is said to accommodate about a score. A limited number are being cared for by the institution of Valentin Hady in the Boulevard des Invalides. The French "Lighthouse," which is conducted by Miss Winifred Holt, is also rendering splendid service.

Outside of Paris, hospitals for the blind, and particularly convalescent homes, are greatly needed. An institution at Montpelier, for example, is said to provide for only about thirty. At Lyons, Bayonne, and Bordeaux a few institutions for the care and training of the blinded soldiers of those localities are only now being completed. Institutions for the local battle-blinded at Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand, Chartres, Angers, Nantes, and other cities are desired. Although there are many blinded soldiers in the Province of Bretagne, no adequate institions -sic- have yet been provided for them. We Americans who want to do good should also realize that not only more hospitals and training schools for the blinded allied soldiers must be established, but also employment agencies, workshops, and salesrooms. None of the Governments at present has been able to develop these latter features of the work. Most instructors in French blind hospitals are themselves blind. Blind instructors understand best the difficulties and problems of their blinded students. The blinded pupils also are encouraged by reasoning that difficulties which the instructor has overcome they can overcome also. At St. Dunstan's, near London, a hearty, cheery, optimistic spirit and manner are especially encouraged among both the blinded and their instructors.

The blinded allied soldiers show a really remarkable degree of enterprise. One blinded English private, for example, has become an expert professional diver, and took an active part in the salving of a vessel which had been sunk by a German submarine in twelve fathoms of water off Folkestone. A Lance Corporal of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, who was blinded by shrapnel at Ypres, is now earning 35s a week by making wicker baskets and selling them in a small shop in a London suburb.

A remarkable accident causing blindness recently occurred to Captain B. of the Royal Flying Corps. He had ascended in his aeroplane to a height of 1,000 feet on an unusually windy day, when his engine failed completely. With great coolness, he unstrapped himself so that he would fall clear from his machine. When about 100 feet from the ground he was thrown by the wind against the aeroplane's screen, which, in breaking, destroyed his sight, The 1,000-foot fall in no other way harmed him.

Prominent French Government officials recently showed their appreciation of the aid which the B. F. B. Fund is seeking to give to the allied blind by forming a French B. F. B. Committee, which held its first meeting on July 1 at 26 Avenue Raphael, Paris, and sent a cable message of thanks and praise to the fund's Executive Committee in America. Almost all of France's battle-blinded soldiers in hospitals and training schools continue to wear their uniforms. On many of the uniforms medals for bravery have been pinned. At Reuilly itself most of the blinded work in small shops in what was formerly the garden of a convent. This garden has been named by the hospital staff "Workshop No. 1" because in it the battle-blinded are first led from the sick ward, given a cane, and taught to walk alone.

CORA PARSONS KESSLER,

Honorary Secretary B. F. B. Permanent Blind War Relief Fund.

New York. July 19, 1916.