THE BLIND POSTMASTER GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1080, 22 October 1883, Page 4

THE BLIND POSTMASTER GENERAL.

l.< t> lf you;chance to be in St Martin’s ■le-Grand about one o’clock in the dayyou will probably see, walking towards the General Post Office, with his arm through that of a guiding companion, a tall, fine-looking mkh wearing dark He- is. always dressed in and grey high hat, as though a perpetual summer-time surrounded him. r With ah athletic easy stride this man of over six feet swings along, bis gait and size attracting genet?! ’ •wiidh he calmly puffs sets : off the complete" self-sufficiency of his appearance. As nearef to the stranger r.i^o&tsek’that his'- face is clean « that ttie features are singu- ' on a' smaller sl T&ks‘^ey s would seem classic. The dark hair that hangs, rather negligently low towards the back of the neck shows . M jao, signs, of.the “silver streaks.” The only peculiarity that strikes you as the stranger, moves along is that people get aofjhis ! way ih a' manner utterly Lbttdbn-’streets,. and that his companion now and then slightly—- - - very sh’ghtly-r-draws him on one side. The surroundings and the sight, of a face made familiar by legion photo-j graphs in shop windows tell you at Once that this is no other than Professor Fawcett, the blind- Postmaster-General in the Gladstone Administration. Watching him now with awakened terest, you see Mr Fawcett' by-and-bye stop,.-suddenly, apparently of his own accord, before a closed entrance to the post office building on the western side | c4fe|t4rtm’s. The attendant, wh’o we subsequently learn is Mr Fawcett’s trusted secretary, leaves the blind man’s side and stepping forward unlocks a 1 private door._ At the sound Mr Fawcett strides through and the * {ibbr closes upon One of the most remarkably of Englishmen. Again we may ,be sitting ‘’in thy gallery.- of the House of Cqtfmons. * Mr Fawfcett enters from |"fhe lobby without assistance, evidently ■/Jknowing every inch of the way bv that with Which kind nature compensates; the sightless. The Postmaster-General sits down , near his colleagues with the ease of ah ordinary .^eseptly,, ; before the liohr bf so for questions has elapsed, is addressed tb Mr Fawcett iniiegard to the new ; contract for the Irish mail- sendees.' Mr Fawcett rises, T>d^Mg u td' Speaker with a greater courtesy than is displayed by r seeine members, immediately gives his time when I, thus saw Mr Fawcett the Irish mail contract was the subject of much, .discussion. . Me Fawcett made a-statement, containing many ffigueys, without .the slightest hesi,9ta4i% xfc' Using h>s hands to efnphasize particular passages, and speaking naturally and calmly,The ad;rthressed thei House in the same way to all intents as his colleagues ■ had done just before, and hardly would an unacquainted stranger ; have sup-" tpjosed that the Postmaster-General was not looking at the House, from behind those colored glasses; still less would „ he have imagihfiiOhACthe last quarter of a century had been one long night to Hemgr-i Fawcett—unbroken by a single ray of sunlight, unillumined skve through the channels of , the mind. A sight more powerfully illustrative‘of the force of resolution cannot bp eonceived, and one’s question, , when looking at this self-reliant, self-contained blind man. is not “How has he accomplished all this?” but rather'“How much would not such a man have achieved if he had kept his eyesight ? If Henry Fawcett, blind, . has wop by [ sturdy pe& v sferari£e'a' world wide fame, and established;.by cogent-, argumentation and careful research his title to a leadership' / in; pblitical and Social to what heights might he not have attained had that accident in 1858 ho weyyr,that MrFy wcett’s misfortune has in kny fktldered him deferential |W, yfeW cjr dependent ‘ upon others for 'hidden.- recesses; of . .bik mmq.he-!seems to have assimilated {the facts that have been read out to hinv andso : thoroughly' examined and thbm but that Ms convictions ’sifongest ; kind,, his . views with force expound with power, and bn the hustings or in the House‘whdn economic subjects arise his loud, cheery voice soundspouk in a way that arouses no smtiihejnfl>i( them- at once that within-;Mind; man partially informed, but; with a foeman keenest debating skill •■that cat* be brought against him. He ;JjysSj irv&oodon, in a/quiet pretty home wbere'«>garden-gives him ample walk, dogroom. '-‘Mt-Fawcett rbtaiiis his early sportk;'' he rides, rows, 'Whehfifihik native.Wiltshire walks v -<ol^—.--tm ■■■ -- '