Untitled

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3102, 5 June 1917, Page 3

ROYALTY AT ST. DUNSTAN'S KING'S SURPRISE VISIT. The King's visit to St. Dunstan's 'last Week was literally a surprise one, for bo was actually in tho lounge before anyone Lad an idea who had alighted from the unostentatious car drawn up at tho door, states "The Queen" of March 31. St. Dunstan's has a charm all its own, and His Majesty, in common with thoso of his subjects who havo been, ablo to sco more or less behind the scenes, had evidently fallen under its spell, for lie camo to see moro of the wonderful work in which previous visits had aroused his ■interest. AIL manner of small details attracted his attention—the littlo knobs placed on the guiding rails to denote whera a path branches off, which explain' how the blind men can apparently swing along to various destinations in tho grounds without a moment's hesitation as to ' direction, amongst others. Tor two impressions always remain after n visit to St. Dunstan's—the extraordinary cheerfulness of tho men (indeed it is tho happiest place in London, instead of, as might be expected, the saddest) find their independence. , One of those under training confessed to tho King t hat for eighteen months - after tho wounds which resulted in loss of sight he had "sulked," and refused to seek the help and training given here, but at last wiser counsels had prevailed, and now after three months he found it "just heaven."

. The visit was paid in tho afternoon, so many of the men had deserted the workshops tor lessons in Braille, and almost all the little green tables in the. big light building , erected in the grounds had teachers and pupils busy at work; the former are almost all volunteers, many of whom have learned Braille with tpe one object of thus passing their knowledge on. Amongst the most interesting sections is; that devoted to stenography, and the King spent somo time watching messages being taken down in shorthand ready to bo transcribed by typewriting, and to every-, one's pleasure had a sentence mitten, at his dictation. Jt was this work, which has enabled many men to obtain lucrative appointments in business houses, which also roused the late Lord Kitchener's special interest; for St. Dunstan's appealed very strongly to him, and had his warm appreciation. Another branch

of training proving most successful is that of massage, aud a great demand already exists for tho masseurs, many of whom aro promptly engaged in military hospitals. A dozen or so. were under_ instruction when the King paid hia visit, busily engaged with their instructor in a little curtained alcovo with a skeleton alongsido for demonstration. And tho poultry, too, came in for a share in the Royal visit, for Sir Arthur is justly proud of the achievements of hie proteges in this particular, and has already tales of a steady success rewarding tho efforts of those whom he has had trained and started in poultry farms of their own, tho initial'"stock" of which costa him often close on £100. Every stago of the work is taught and mastered) from incubator to table, with classes for tho gaining of theoretical knowledge, and perfect equipment for each stage of practical evolution.

But tho King left before one of tho most interesting moments in the life of St. Dunstan's, to an outsider anyway; and that is-when soon after four o'clock a whistle tells that the day's work at lathe and typewriter, basket table and cobbler's bench, is over. Soon—though not immediately, for many of the men. are too interested in what they are doing to wish to "down tools" in a hurry—they come from all quarters across the grounds,, whistling, talking, laughing, till from the-many different paths they converge on the terrace in front of the house, to enter it through the long French windows and walk briskly across the fine rooms to their different destinations. ■ Very few even hesitate as they go, and by this hesitation a newcomer is quickly identified, for groping in tho dark, with dependence and those other attributes which to tho uninitiated seem inevitablo with blindness, are most conspicuously absent. "After all one can't do much with sight alone," the guiding spirit of the workshops remarks with cheerful brislfness; "even to hang a picture straight or lay a carpet one must have a foot rule." And certainly St. Dunstan's gives the lie to many preconceived opinions and limitations, i