BLIND GUIDES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 675, 29 May 1929, Page 16

BLIND GUIDES

AN EXPERIMENT IN SCOTLAND j ! The Royal Blind School at Edin- | burgh has a company of Girl Guides, ! and it occurred to the librarian of the j Royal Scottish Museum in that city, j that it might be possible to bring much J joy to them by taking them on a country ramble, helping them to distinguish flowers and trees by scent and touch and to identify the songs and notes of birds. If they would write essays, telling what they had learned, their guide thought he might then correct any wrong impressions they had received on the expedition. The plan was carried out with half the company, as more would have taken too much time. The essays show clearly how successful the studies were. Very quickly flowers were identified. The calls and songs of the birds were I represented by their likeness to some sounds or rhythms of human speech. The first essay by a blind girl says: ■'When we used to go out it did not seem so interesting, but now that we study the flowers and the call of birds we have mox-e pleasure in walking. We found a great many wild flowers and learned the calls of several birds.” Seven of the rambles are described. One description is by a former pupil of the Blind School who is deaf as well as blind, and her account of flowers, fruits, and leaves is remarkable. Indeed, the whole experiment is most significant, and should lead to a great development in this form of observation. One has only to read the closing sentences of one of the essayists to feel how vast an opportunity awaits the sympathetic teacher. She says: “For many days this ramble gave me food for much thought. I was filled with the wonder of it all.”