SIGHT RESTORED

Evening Star, Issue 16992, 14 March 1919, Page 6

SIGHT RESTORED

REMARKABLE RECOVERY OF SOLDIER. EFFECT OF SWEETHEART’S VOICE. ■ NEW YORK, January 3. An old woman who leaned on the arm of a younger one emerged yesterday morn- jS ing from a tenement at 50 Mott street. mm They scanned eagerly the faces of all who '9 passed them, as they hesitated for a mo- M ment on the steps, The light of confidence jfl as Well .as that of anxiety wp,s in their eves, for ihcV had spent the greater part • S of the night in prayer, and their sanguine Italian spirits told them that to-day, on the eve of Epiphany, that which they sought should be revealed. From a house almost opposite, at 47 Mott street, another figure emerged. It wore tho grey-green uniform ot Italy’s Alpini and the slouch hat pulled low oyer the eyes could not disguise the attentive inclinations of the head this way and that as the sounds of the Sabbath morning in little Italy, the sonorous clanging of the hell in the' Church of the Transfiguration a few doors away, came to his ears. The man was blind. With deliberate step he turned and proceeded northward, away from the sound of the church bells, his practised stick unobtrusively ft clear course. The couple on the opposite side of the street mossed and hastened churchward. The blind soldier and tho two women came face 'to face. CRIES “T SEE! I SEE!" “Antonio I” shrieked the younger woman as they were about to pass. _ . . “ Margherita!” cried the soldier, raising bis bead and looking into the dark eyes that confronted him, and then, a voice that trembled: “I see! I see!” -I He was Antonio Spinclli, who last had seen the light on tho Carso Plateau more than two years ago, when Italy’s victorious aimics were sweeping onward toward Trieste. Nor since that moment wnon the inarticulate roar of battle had been silenced by an Austrian grenade, had Antonio Spinelli spoken. Sight and speech returned to him under the keen wintry sky of another land when his sweetheart, Margherita dc Luria, on her mother’s arm, found him in the shadow of the Church of the Transfiguration on the eve of Epiphany. Ail the shell shock alienist#; of the world could not convince Little Italy that T was not a miracle of divine origin Motstreet had seen it. From the sidewalks, from stoops, from doorways and from windows the inhabitants of that southernmost Italian cnlonv had seen sight given to the blind and speech to the dumb. They had seen a dark-haded girl, a grey-haired woman, and a man in the uniform of the Alpini drop with one accord to their knees on the cold sidewcuk and give thanks. Tim story of the miraculous occurrence spread to every Italian centre in the city and was the chief topic of conversation yesterdav. Antonio’s vowed thal to-day they would contract with a candU maker for an enormous candle, to burn twi years, which they will place and light in a church as a token of their Vvino shops, coffee-houses, and “ gelati ” shops were free to those who came with new details of the story or with ready ears for the details furnished by the proprietor, Antonio, who is 34 years old and an American citizen, had a wine shop in San Francisco, and was engaged to Margherita when Italy declared war. Nevertheless, ho promptly turned over the business to his widowed mother and returned to hia native land, where he enlisted in the Alpini. For more than a year he fought where the fighting was hottest, and bullets,_ grenades, and shells passed him by. Then in August, 1916. when Cadorna’s forces were sweeping to apparent victory on the Carso Plateau, an Austrian grenadier hurled a missile from where lie was lying, feigning death. Xb buret just over Antonio’s bead, and ha fell unconscious. puzzi.es best surgeons. Tho shock had an effect which puzzled the best physicians in the Italian military hospitals. For many months they expended their skill on Antonio without avail. He could neither see nor speak. Surgeons in Rome, Milan, and Florence examined him, kept him under observation, and re-examined him, but to no purpose. They could only shake their heads and give hope, that time or some great shock might effect a cure. Eventually Antonio was mustered out of service and sent back to New York. This added to hia perplexities, for throughout his long siege by silence and darkness ho had despatched letters, written by nurses, to his mother and to Margherita, in w'jjch he made light of his injuries, leading them to believe that he was virtually well and enjoving a holiday at the expense of the royal Italian Government. Row to inform them that ha was coming home blind and dumb ho did i not know." So lie did not toll them, trusting that some gentle method of breaking \ •the news would occur to him. But, although definite news of the nature of Antonio’s injuries had not reached his mother and .Manrhcrita, an official message : telling of his honorable discharge and de- ; parturo for New York reached them, I Days passed and weeks and brought no I further message. They resolved to make , the long jorney to Now York and inquire '• of the Italian' Consul, and finally found him and heard of ids remarkable experience.