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MANCHESTER, July 6 -- The beautiful little village green in the center of this quaint old town and fashionable summer resort was the scene of an unusually picturesque and impressive exercise this afternoon when Helen Keller, the wonderful blind girl, formally opened, in a very choice little address, the handicraft shop for the blind which has been located in an old, one-story, wooden building on the edge of the green.

Miss Keller and her teacher, Mrs Macy, were of course the main attractions and the 200 or more people who were present on the green when Miss Keller delivered her address from the porch of the little shop will not soon forget the expressive face of the blind girl as she spoke, nor the joy with which her features were lighted. She fairly quivered as she proceeded, for she was highly sensible of the importance of the moment and she probably felt that her words would bring somewhat of joy to the 4000 blind persons in this state as well as those who are blind everywhere.

Her words could be heard at a distance of about a half dozen feet, but at the end of each sentence Mrs Macy, who held Helen's arm, repeated the words so that all could hear them. Mrs Macy's face as she spoke seemed to reflect every slightest expression that passed over the mobile countenance of Helen Keller. She is equally as wonderful as Helen, seeming to complement everything in the deaf and dumb girl's nature.

It was a great day for Helen Keller, and in a way it was a great event for the blind everywhere, for the opening, of this picturesque little shop is one of the beginnings of the movement instituted first by the Perkins institution for the blind, but broadened in its scope by the commission for the blind, appointed by the state two years ago, to work out the problem of teaching the blind people of the state some of the useful handicrafts by which they might become self-supporting. Massachusetts is the first state to undertake such a beneficent work, and the results here are being carefully watched by all interested in the blind everywhere.

Already much progress has been made in this direction, and the kinds of handicrafts which some of the blind people have been taught and which they do with a skill that is simply amazing, is an assurance to the blind everywhere that their lives need not be wasted. When one sees some of these blind young women weaving on hand looms and working out designs in the warp and woof, apparently without difficulty, it then seems as if nothing were impossible to them.

In this little shop at Manchester today sat a blind girl at her loom working as skilfully as if she had sight. But perhaps, after all, even more wonderful was to see Helen Keller standing nearby, the center of a little crowd, talking with her lips to those about her, while her teacher telegraphed with her fingers on the palm of Helen's hand what was being said by those to whom she was talking. It Is a revelation of the latent possibilities of human life that can be brought out and developed by intelligent sympathy. As Fr Powers of the Sacred Heart church, who was present at the exercises, said afterward:

"It seems as though the Lord had intensified the powers of her remaining senses to make up for those of which she had been deprived."

The work displayed in this little shop, much of which has been done at the two shops which have been instituted in Cambridge by the Commission and one shop in Boston, is of a very high order. There was work from the hand looms, such as towels, table coverings, napkins and various other fabrics with original designs woven into them that give them a distinctive character; there was knitted and machine work, hand woven rugs and art fabrics for summer furnishings.

Besides these there are the articles which have been made in the Perkins Institution for years -- hair matresses, feather pillows, hair pillows, feather beds, brass and enameled iron bed-steads and other things. Everything that is done by these blind people is well done.

This shop in Manchester, if it is a success, will undoubtedly be the forerunner of similar shops at various places along the coast where people of means congregate in the summer time, but they will be merely offshoots of the shops in Cambridge and Boston established by the commission, and of the great Perkins institution, which is working in hearty cooperation with the state commission. However, this shop In Manchester has been established because of the interest which Mrs William Hooper of Boston, and one of the wealthy summer residents of this place, has long taken in the welfare of the blind. It is primarily due to her that the shop here has been started, although L. W. Floyd, who gave the use of the old building, should not be forgotten.

All those present at the opening exercises today regretted that Mrs Hooper was confined to her home because of a slight indisposition and could not be present, but her husband. William Hooper, treasurer of the Boston elevated railway, was present, and was very busy throughout the day at the little shop. They are the sponsors of the shop, and about everybody else in town, is expected to be the patrons.

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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."

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At the conclusion of her address Miss Keller held a reception for some minutes on the porch of the little shop. She was dressed in a light blue skirt and white waist, with a low straw hat trimmed with roses. She left in company with Mrs Macy on the 4:19 train for Boston to go to her home in Wrentham.