Library Collections: Document: Full Text

The shop is under the immediate supervision of Charles F. F. Campbell, who is superintendent of the industrial department of the state commission. To his sympathetic work, in which he has been aided by Mrs Campbell, much of the success of this department is due. Miss Lotta Rand, assistant superintendent of the department of registration, was also present, as was Charles W. Holmes, deputy superintendent of 'the industrial department. Three members of the commission were present: Dr Edward M. Hartwell, chairman of the board; Annette P. Rogers and James P. Munroe.

The little shop, as has been said is an old, one-story wooden building, which has been very tastefully tied up inside, although all of the we beaten evidences of antiquity have been permitted to remain on the outside, except that a little sign over the porch tells of the present uses to which the old residence is being put: reading:

"Handicraft shop for the blind, under the direction of the state commission and Perkins institute."

Miss Keller, after lunching with Mrs Hooper, came to the shop about 3 o'clock, and for the next halt hour she was kept busy with the visitors who wished to see and chat with her.

At 3:30, after the people had assembled on the green, Town Clerk, Jewett opened the formal exercises, stating that the shop had been created through the efforts of Mrs Hooper and the state commission. He then introduced the chairman of the commission, Dr Edward M. Hartwell, who gave a brief outline of the appointment of the commission by the governor through an act of the state legislature in 1906, and the appropriating of money to carry forward the work. He told of the work which the commission had been doing and was doing at present among the blind people all over the state, of whom there were 4000.

Of these but a small number were born blind; most of them were overtaken by blindness after 30 years of age. Many of those who are blind can do some kind of work. There are some 60 blind women throughout the state who send consignments of their work regularly to the commission. Two shops have been established by the commission in Cambridge and one in Boston. One blind man has been net up in business as a cobbler in Swampscott and another in Manchester. Of course much had always been done by the Perkins institute, but the commission intended to supplement and enlarge the scope of this good work. Massachusetts is doing more for its blind today than any other government in the world.

Dr Hartwell wished it understood that the work which is to be offered for sale in the shop andl the work which is being generally done for the blind, was offered on its merits as work. Interest and sympathy were required in the movement, but the aim was to make the blind self-supporting if possible.

James P. Munroe said he regretted, as did others, that Mrs Hooper could not be present. He congratulated the people of Manchester on the deep interest they had taken in this work of the commission for the blind.

Helen Keller was then introduced and beside her stood Mrs Macy, just touching with her right hand the blind girl's left arm. Miss Keller said:

"I cannot express my delight at the opening of this new craft shop. It gives a heartening sense of progress in a cause that I hold dear, and we all feel repaid for the effort that it has cost to start the industries of the blind on a practical basis. I hope this will be the first of many shops for the sates of articles produced by skilled blind workers, and that the beautiful fabrics which they produce at Cambridge will be more widely known, not only in Massachusetts, but also in other parts of the country.

"If the shops should not pay in the material sense this summer, I trust none of you will feel that the effort is lost. It will warm the hearts of the blind everywhere to know that a generous friend like Mrs William Hooper has appreciated their ability. It will encourage other workers for the blind to see that the sightless can make articles fine enough to be admired by the cultivated and sold in this beautiful place.

"You have come here full of pleasant thoughts of rest and recreation. You have left behind many weary cares, responsibilities and good works in the city, but responsibilities and good works have followed you here and set up this little shop. They follow you not in the gray garb of charity and social problems, but as purveyors of beauty to charm the eye and light the intellect.

"The money which you spend here will bring you something better than fine fabrics. It will bring glad thoughts and the satisfaction that you have helped to render other lives useful and happy. If the economic mind dismisses as of no value the sentiments of brotherly love which the shop represents, will it not be satisfied with the thought that two blind girls, who live in Manchester, can work all summer and earn their own living?

"Think how the news of their success will spread from town to town, and how more and more people will desire to share in the beneficent work of giving the blind profitable employment. I rejoice in your power to increase the happiness of the sightless. It is true that some can give much and others only a little; but the large kindness behind that little makes it mean a great deal. I rejoice with you that it is your portion to carry encouragement and light to those who dwell in the dark."