fai birds when brought to the break¬
fast table cooked to a turn.
For many years afterwards, the great
flight of the pigeons was spoken of in
the neighborhood as the most astonish¬
ing thing that ever happened. While
the occurrence did not mark anything
of special note more than the event
itself, it was remembered for many
years.
One of the strangest parts about the
episode is that it apparently took place
only once, said Allen, who was unable
to find any information which might
indicate that this migration on such a
tremendous scale was an annual event.
Perhaps the leaders among the birds
were endeavoring to open up new ter¬
ritory and decided to take a look at
this part of the country.
No night flights were attempted. The
birds settled down to rest as dusk ap¬
proached. They probably spent part
of the early evening and morning in
foraging around for food, preparatory
to starting off on the next lap of their
journey. If they were all heading for
one destination, the people living in
that locality certainly must have seen
a most interesting sight.
All Have Disappeared
There is not a single living passenger
pigeon in the whole world. The fact
that there were billions of them in
existence at one period and their sud¬
den disappearance at another has
thrown around the matter a mystery
that has never been solved. It is
thought by some people that the great
slaughter of the birds in their last
flight from the state and nation caused
the complete disappearance of the
species. That is probably true.
When it began to be apparent that
the passenger pigeon was about to be¬
come extinct, attempts were made to
preserve the species. Great numbers
were caught alive and placed in the
zoological gardens throughout the
country; but still the number dimin¬
ished. At last, the species died out,
the last one of the captives — an
old. old bird — died in the zoological
garden in Cincinnati in 1914. For years
afterwards a prize of SI. 000 was of¬
fered for a pair of the birds, but it re¬
mained unclaimed. No other live birds
of that species could ever be found.
Thus wc sec a species of more than a
billion birds becoming extinct within
a period of a hundred years.
Braille lor the Sighted
By GERTRUDE RAMSEY
It's the most unusual class in North
Carolina, and it’s one of a series of
similar classes, the first held in the
Tar Heel state.
It's a class in Braille, offered at the
YWCA in Asheville for sighted women
who plan to use their knowledge as
volunteers in projects for visually han¬
dicapped.
Members learn to transcribe copy
into Braille, the special form of read¬
ing in which words are felt by the
finger tips rather than seen with the
eyes.
The current class, which meets for
an hour each Tuesday, is offered un¬
der sponsorship of the Biltmorc Lions
Club in co-operation with the YWCA.
Twenty sessions arc scheduled for the
course, and Mrs. Claude Lindsey of
Hendersonville is teacher.
Hight women are enrolled. A total
of 25 women have cither completed
the course in the two earlier sessions
or arc currently members.
The class meetings arc concen¬
trated work, and there is homework
also. If it were not assigned, the mem¬
bers would study during the week any¬
way, for all of them are extremely in¬
terested in the studies and several are
really dedicated.
Some arc there because they want
to use spare time in a worthwhile en¬
deavor. Some have learned Braille
writing because their own children arc
visually handicapped, and they use
their new knowledge in transcribing
Fast-Acting
Genlle
long-lasling
Relief
HEADACHE
Rheumatic-like Pains
school books and lessons for their and
other children.
One young woman is herself deaf.
She felt that being sightless was such
a handicap that she wanted to help in
some way. and her knowledge was put
to immediate use: she has been work¬
ing with a deaf-mute girl who is rapidly
losing her sight. This volunteer plans
to return to some of the sessions of
the current course so that she can
speed up her work, to better instruct
her pupil before darkness closes down
upon her completely.
Another student was the mother of
an extremely talented and attractive
visually handicapped seventh - grader
who finished among the upper 5 per
cent of her class in public school, keep¬
ing well along with her sighted class¬
mates. This mother has used her
Braille writing to help her daughter
and to transcribe books and spelling
charts.
During the summer, other volun¬
teers plan to tape-record eighth-grade
texts for this child to use in Junior
High School next fall.
The Biltmorc Lions Club has bought
a Braille typewriter for the use of
graduates of the class. They have, un¬
til now. been patiently, and slowly,
transcribing everything from reading
lessons to legal documents by hand.
This takes time: Braille letters are
formed by clusters of tiny holes
punched with a stylus. To the quick
and sensitive fingers of one trained to
read, each group of punched holes is
understood as quickly as a letter of
the alphabet is to those with vision.
But carefully punching each tiny hole
just exactly right takes time, and the
volunteers can't do nearly as much
work in an hour as they want to.
With the purchase of the Braille
writer for the use of the graduates,
and the gift of a second machine from
the N. C. Association for the Blind,
work will move more speedily. One
machine will be used exclusively by
a volunteer from Wayncsville who
gives many hours each week to tran¬
scriptions.
12
THE STATE. AUGUST 19. 1961
