BLIND WOMAN'S HOBBY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 62, 11 February 1936, Page 11

BLIND WOMAN'S HOBBY.

CROSSWORDS IN BRAILLE. CIGARETTE CARD COLLECTIONS.

Crossword puzzles cause many heartbreaks to those who have all their faculties, but to an Auckland woman who is almost totally blind, Mrs M. F. Hedges, of 118 Iteimers Avenue, Sandringham, they are a source of unfailing delight. Mrs Hedges uses a special perforated frame, with the squares rep represented by groups of six holes in the positions used in the Braille alphabet. The clues are dictated to Mrs Hedges, who ininches them in Braille on strips of paper. She then fills those squares normally printed black with brass tacks, while she fits other tacks into tho remaining squares in the form of Braille letters, in this way she has worked many puzzles, and has even entered for competitions. So far as she knows, Mrs Hedges is the only blind person in the Dominion solving puzzles in Braille. But crossword puzzles are far from being Mrs Hedges’s only hobby. A great stack of albums filled with cigarette cards testifies to her enthusiasm for collecting. She has 290 sets of small cards, and nearly 50 series of larger sizes. She also has a collection of about 2000 different match-box labels. These she is able to arrange by using a very powerful magnifier, but owing to the strain she has to use her sight sparingly. Knitting that would fill any woman’s heart with envy fills every room of her spotlessly tidy house. Cushion covers, bedspreads, fancy jumpers, and other articles are beautifully made, and with these she helps to earn her living, although, until recently, she was employed wrapping goods in a factory. Colour she judges by sound. “I will not blend two colours if the names do not sound well together,” she says. Her work is not limited to plain designs, for she displays with pride samples of lacy patterns which she has knitted. She writes the directions in Braille and works from these, and some elaborate work was done while travelling in tramcars. Another hobby which contributes to her boundless good cheer is card-playing, while her other interests include chess, draughts and music.