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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1915)
TTTE .STJXDAY OREGOXIAN, rORTLAlNTV 31 AT 9, 1915. Emerson. Lincoln c ferbLzk2cu2tfass Hzr first Flower. BT ANDREW WATRE3 FORD. TWENTY-YER-OLD girl, blind J from birth, suddenly recovered her sight as she was putting away a dish in the china closet of the dining-room of her mother's home at Marblehead. Mass. Her world, which she describes as "a world of blackness." became Instantly and strangely peo-. pled with cups and' saucers, glasses and plates. . Sight came to Maud Emerson Lincoln in the snap' of a finger. In fact, when he discusses the miracle which made her see she snaps her long, slender fingers with a sharp click like that of castanets and says: "Something snapped like that- in my right eye. I heard it, and 'then suddenly I saw. Two days later the same thing happened to my left eye." What did she see? What did she think of It? How does the world Impress a girl blind since two days after her birth when she sees for the first time? Miss Lincoln says that her first feel ing was one of extraordinary fear. "My hand shook as I put away the plate I held. Something that stung poured into my right eye. and turning from the1 half darkness of that china closet. I saw a short, plump woman standing by the dining-room table and I knew he was my mother. "The fact that I was actually seeing my mother, looking into the eyes of the woman who had watched over my specially, helpless childhood, frightened, me. Really, my mother's face and it is a sweet face scared me to death. J looked at her and screamed! "Then I ran over to the sofa and Little Stories of the Great War A Vsefnl Boy Scout. - ' IN a station, in France one day a Red Cross train arrived and busy doctors, nurses and ambulance men attended to the wounded with their usual quick ness and skill. But busiest of all seemed to be a khaki-clad, youngster' of perhaps 11, who made a breathless sprint along the platform carrying a great heap of cabbages and onions, on his way to the kitchen quarters And as he raced along the ambulance men. gave him an affectionate if subdued cheer. He was a bright little fellow with charming manner. He spoke only French, but assured' every one wlo asked him that he was British-born and bred and had been working as an ambu lance man since the beginning of the war. The Red Cross men told the rest of the story. To them he was known Selntlon of Circus Fnult. . ". . ' " ; ; . . 1111111 pSoMES M PICTURES fOlTJIE LITTLE . ONES- iSggafl J hFMJJJn XXliL ft-. threw myself upon it,-hiding my face In the cushions. I begged my mother to go away. I couldn't bear the sight I had prayed for all my life! "I don't know whether persons who have not lived . In the blackness as I did for 20 years can understand why I was so frightened. "Then when' I could be persuaded to lift my head from the sofa pillow I went to the window and looked out and I saw the American flag floating from the staff of the town hall, and below, in, the little square' In front of it, that whipping-post at which Samuel Bowen, namesake of my yellow cat, used to look from, my very windows. "It was wonderful to see our beauti ful flag flying over that place where there had once been' so much cruelty and pain. And I thought, as I stood there, that the world must always be beautiful wherever that flag flies. Since I have recovered my sight we keep .the flag floating over our dooTWay all the time. Did you see It as you came in? "Those ' red stripes are splendid, aren't they? It makes me feel brave and proud-Just to look at them. But the color I like best is cerise. My mother bought me this silk petticoat this week. Isn't it lovely?" With a coquettish .lift of the dull brown house dress , a vivid flash of cherry-colored silk came into view. '. . "It's pretty, isn't it?" said the girl who had been blind .10 days before. "Do you think a whole dress of that color would look well on me? "I have to wear glasses now. Do you think I will have to wear them always? Would you like to see my eyes with them off, or would it frighten you? as "Tich,"'. but on formal occasions he was. given he name of Thomas Skin ner. He liked-the khaki uniform of the British, admired the, men who wore it and simply refused to be. left, behind when a Red' Cross train steamed out of the station of his home in France one August afternoon.' . He was an or phan boy;, his guardian. had gon,e off to the .war and the-old-lady who had cared for him could no' longer afford to keep him.. . . .. . . . ..:..-:'""- It was agalnst-.all regulations, but Thomas Skinner' proved himself so very useful he't was a Boy Scout, of 'light and leading' in his locality that he was soon given the uniform he' desired. He is ,th"e only French" boy or man in British uniform and doubtless his coun trymen will' forgive him when he says: "Je s'uis Anglais; vlve TAngleterre.", Mother's Day THE second Sabbath day in May, By good folks has been set away .'.' "..'. That" they unto their mothers prove ' How deep and lasting is their love. r. f , . . . This pure white flower that all should . i wear ' ' .' -.. . i " Will show the thanks ; that children bear. - ' . Their, mothers for their care and love; It glows with light from heaven above. The white Carnation thus has grown To be by children always known. It makes the day Miss Jarvls set. Lest some of us perhaps forget The loving care and 'watchfulness, ' The Mother's words and fond carress. So let us on this ninth of May Wear this white bloom fop Mother's ' Day.. . ' -x-jjs-w wm Wll STwfcSt SDK - ........ r-1 it. . : w; a 1 You see, they move a little all the time, but the doctor says that will go away after: I get more accustomed to the light' and to seeing so F.uy ob jects." Maud Lincoln raised her well-formed right hand and took oft her glasses, re vealing very large slate-colored eyes, which now and then ' deepen to blue. Over their singularly sensitive surface there seems to play constantly a slight flickering motion, like -the ripple of a pool stirred languidly by an April breeze. These eyes have straTige shy Hopeful, . Anyway AND here's another of the thousand and one stories that are told about the little boy sitting on the bank of a stream and the kindly-faced. Inquisi tive old man -who comes along. . In this case the boy was particularly red-haired and freckled and fresh. And the old gentleman really meast to be good-natured and sociable. ' "What are you fishing for, my little man T'' he asked with a smile that was Intended as reassuring. ' The freckle-faced boy looked up at him a moment, glared, spat in the water and answered: . "Scutch ems?". S&Ci i Don'tKnow. I Never Caught None 'Em., ' V i X X x: v.sMf pr silt pilKi (C "' s:" ftll Woman And Kne It 9 pO) htpl IV, '2-V'"v Tbz (aksrsThc1 VlS VTZ., TKJ BH and it: Frightened fso TLit I Nearly Dropped If ness, a perceptible shrinking from their sudden bombardment by a world with' which they should have had 20 years to grow familiar. Nobody but the girl herself will ever wholly realize the shock of this' terrible impact. "For several days after I got my sight I was deaf," she said. "In the blackness I could hear perfectly. But after sight came hearing left me for a time. Then my sense of touch seemed to go. Even now I haven't It back "Scutchems? Scutcaemsr" exclaimed the old gentleman In surprise. "Mercy me, I never heard of them before what are Scutchems?" "You can search me. Mister," the boy replied. "I don't know. I never caugHt none of 'em." Then he grinned! The White Carnations LETTY sat scanning the evening paper one Saturday afternoon early in .May. Now to read the Jokes on the last page of that paper was noth ing new to Letty. for she always greet ed her father when he returned home f rom" business with "Have you got the paper. Daddy?" and then, "Are the jokes any good?" But if her parents had watched her on this particular evening they would have seen that the little girl was ab sorbed in an article o the first page. ' This was a story about "Mothers' Day." which would be on the following day, as that was the second Sunday in the month of May. The story was written about a lady Miss Anna Jarvis who had for many years been trying to get the United States to celebrate" this day. It spoke of the respect that ought to be shown to mothers by a public observance, at least once a year. And ltasked for a public recognition by every son and daughter offering the mother a white carnation, and wearing one themselves. The slogan for the day is ''The Best Mother Who Ever Lived." Now Letty knew that Bhe had the very' best mother who ever lived, and she thought the idea of the carnations the best she had ever' heard. She dropped the paper suddenly and said, "I think I'll run around the block, just to pick up an appetite." Daddy laughed, for that was his favorite expression every Sunday be altogether. There is very little sensa tion in my finger tips. "I couldn't ' touch food for several days. It was because the eight of things was so strange. The first time I saw an egg I couldn't eat it. It was fried on one side and it seemed to move all the time. ' That was at breakfast, and I shut my eyes and kept them tight shut till mother took it away. I couldn't drink & glass of water for a Ions time. When I tilted the glass I saw the water move and I was fright ened and nearly dropped it. Even now I would rather shut my eyes when I drink. "It is harder for me to see to grasp the sight of motion than of anything else. Still objects don't frighten me. The world of the blind is so still. And let me tell you this. The world of those blind from birth is a happy world. If I should lose my sight, now that I have had it. I should go mad. I think. I know that I should not care to live. But when you have never seen, seeing is just a. word. It really means nothing to you if you are blind. You don't grasp it any more than you know exactly what you mean "by words like infinity or eternity. They are Just beautiful words. And sight is Just a beautiful word to the blind unless they have had it and lost it. "For some Urge after my sight came I was unable to look at a human face without that sensation of horrible fear. I was so scared and my nerves were so upset by having so many objects pound ing against my eyeballs that the doctor made me go to bed in a darkened room and stay there for a week. And there are still many things which he will not let me look at. I have not yet seen the ocean. To be in Marblehead and not see the ocean which gives a living to so many Marblehead fishermen seems a strange thing! But I have heard it growl intr through many long New fc,ng- fore dinner; and as Letty was old enough to go out alone, no one thought It. strange. She kissed her parents good-bye and went to her room for her hat. Besides putting on her hat, she pocketed her purse, and then she hurried to the florist.- who . fortunately lived close by. ""I want 12 white carnations," she said, "the prettiest you have." "You are buying all I have left." said the man. "I have had a run on them today." "Tomorrow Is Mothers' Day," said Letty confidently and with importance. "Of course every child will want one to give her mother." "Why do you want 12?" asked the man, his curiosity aroused. "'Cause this is the first year I've ever done it, and as I'm 12 years old. I owe Mother the other 11." With her precious package Letty flew out to the kitchen and said to the cook, "Please, Molly, keep these in the icebox for me until tomorrow." Next day, when Mother entered the dining-room, a vase of beautiful carna tions greeted her. Tied to the stems was a card which read: "For the Best Mother Who Ever Live'd." Nor did Betty stop there. She who was always respectful and thoughtful to her parents was even more so on this Mothers' Day and she Succeeded in carrying out the fondest hopes of Miss Anna Jarvis, to whom the Nation should be thankful. Excusable Error. - (Birmingham Age-Herald.) "How many people came over orig inally in the Mayflower?" "1 believe the latest estimate is some thing like 9.784.326 persons." "Nonsense. The vessel could only car ry a few hundred.' "The estimate was based. I believe, on the .apparent number of their de scendants in this country." ' - land Winters. When I lived in the blackness I thought of it as of some huge animal an animal like Samuel Bowen Lincoln only as big as the world." "Samuel BoWen Lincoln" is Miss Lin coln's .pet and best friend. He is a big yellow cat who once loved nothing so much as to 'lie at the feet of the -tail, slender girl, then blind, who loved to stroke his amber colored fur in the long, dim hours of her llghtlesa days. Since bis mistress recovered her sight, however, Samuel Bowen Lincoln has permitted himself to gratify his natural male instinct for prowling. ' But before Miss Lincoln could proceed with her story Sam had to be summoned from a neighboring fence and introduced. "Sam is named after Samuel Bowen, a Colonial Judge who once owned the house we live in. Tou see, our windows look right out on the Town Hall, and in the left-hand corner of the steps you can see an old post. That was the whip ping post, and Judge Bowen. who was a very cruel man, used to stand in this window where I am now and see that hie sentence to the whipping post was carried out with the severity he desired. There is the post now. Look! Seel" ' Unconsciously Maud Lincoln say "See!" with the rapture and pride of a 2-year-old just learning, to talk of the little child who says. "See the kitty! See the dog!" as much to impress his new-found words upon himself as upon his hearer. "So many mothers of little, sightless children will be glad to hear that, I think. It has made my own. mother much happier since I have told her that. I didn't realize what it meant to me not to see. When I was a little OUR PUZZLE CORNER 13 CIRCUITS See if you can discover what is on the opposite end of the seesaw by cut ting the dots with a pencil. HIDDEN DESK ARTICLES. I put a rose in Kate's buttonhole when she recited in school. Fhllip endured much pain from his tooth. Mr. Fape rented a talking machine for my party. The rule, Rose made applied only to herself. CITY PUZZLE. If the following are written, one below another, their zigzag letters, be gl rifling 'at the upper" left-hand coruer girl I went to the Perkins Institute f6r the Blind in Boston for a while, and learned to read. But after I came back home I forgot it gradually. New at 20 nearly 21 I will have to begin my education. I learned gradually to help .mother about the house, but except for that the only thing I can do is to play the organ. Of course ' I play only by ear. Would you like to bear roe? I am sorry, but I can play only hymns and Tlpperary.' I can elng, too. The tall girl seated herself on a wooden bench In front of the old-fashioned organ that is the chief ornament of the pleasant . New England parlor. Later on she will have the long free stride of a well built, strong .woman, but as yet her step is timid.. tentatively the step of one who has walked in darkness for 20 years. "When I first saw the keys I couldn't play." she said. "They frightened me so. But now I have gotten used to see ing them and all my pieces have come back to me." Swinging back to the keys the girl played slowly, solemnly the opening bars of Cardinal Newman's hymn, "Lead. Kindly Light." and In a surpris ingly clear, true alto voice sang the opening verse: "Lead, Kindly Light, amid the enclrcN ing gtootn; Hawclf "For. Ttuz First Tixaa- Lead Thou me on. . -The night is dark and I am far from home; r . "Lead Thou me on." , The great hymn has been, sung .by master choruses in immemorial cathe drals, but never with more touching faith and solemn feeling than by that slim, tall, bespectacled New England girl to whom its fine words were a (Concluded on Hage H PUZZLE. and ending at the upper right-hand corner, will spell the name of a large city of the United States: 1. A word meaning hidden. 2. Raising up. , 3. Articles of wearing apparel. 4. A benefit or advantage. G. Heckles. .. r Aunrra. Hidden Dtsk Articles: li.k, pen. paper, ruler. Zigzag Muzzle: Cleveland.. 1, Cob cealed; 2. elevating: 3.' overcoats; 4, prlviyrse; b. desperate.