"I think this is one of the noblest benefactions that has been conferred upon a worthy object by any purse during the long stretch of my seventy-one years" wrote Mark Twain. A newspaper account called it "one of the most wonderful boons in the history of mankind." Helen Keller wrote, "I have waited many years for such a magazine." They were referring to the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, which made its appearance in March 1907, the first general-interest periodical for any blind person who could read by touch. It was free of charge, too.

Yet, the Ziegler Magazine arose from the most improbable of circumstances. In 1905, the New York Herald published a routine item describing a rich man's legacy that bequeathed large sums to various charities. This announcement caused intense irritation to a Memphis newspaperman who happened to be in New York on business. He was Walter G. Holmes, a shy, rather nervous, middle-aged bachelor who had been business manager of the Memphis, Tennessee, Commercial Appeal. He fired off a letter to the editor, asking the rich to pay more attention to the needs of blind people. His letter was by no means impromptu, for it outlined a project to which he had given deep thought for many years. As printed in the May 31st, 1905, edition, the letter read: "Why is it that while the benevolent rich men are giving so much to charities, the blind, the most helpless of the afflicted, seem to be overlooked?" I have a blind brother, and this has interested me in the blind and caused me to realize their utter helplessness.

The lame and the deaf mutes are still able to use their eyes and thereby support and entertain themselves, but there is little that the blind can do, and they must sit day after day in idleness.

The raised type has given them a great power to entertain themselves and brighten their hours, but these books are so expensive that only a few of the blind can afford them.

For instance, "Ben Hur" in type for the blind costs $10.50. A few cities have libraries for the blind, but very few of the 100,000 blind have access to them. We are able to buy these books for my brother, and knowing the great pleasure they give him my heart sighs for the many who do not have books.

Every State in the Union has its schools for the blind, where they are taught to read, all expenses of board, [and]c., for a few years being paid, but at the age of twenty they must leave these schools, and few can buy the books. Why do some of our wealthy men not establish circulating libraries for the blind?

The government takes books for the blind through the mails free of cost. A few years ago when Mr. Carnegie's library donations were coming in so fast I tried to interest him in the plan. I found that $250,000 would put a good library for the blind in each State capital in the United States.

I am in New York for a few weeks, and if anyone can bring this to the notice of some benevolent rich man or woman I should like to give the benevolent person the details of a plan to which I have given much study. W.G.H.