The annual meeting of the Braille Literature Association took place on May 29 at the Mission Building, with the Rev. G. W. Sheppard in the chair, and Mr. H. Bourne as sec~ retary, and a good attendance of members. Apart from the ordinary business of the meeting, " demonstration of great interest was made by two blind Chinese from the In-[stitution of the Chinese Blind as to the capabilities of trained readers of Braille. Ong of the two is the only Chinese to have received a university degree, having taken his B. A. at St. John's University.
The chairman, after calling on ithe Rev. C. E. Patton to say the opening prayer, called on the mecting to rise and pay a silent tribute tothe late Miss S.J. Garland, a very keen member of the Associ tion who had taken special interest in phonetic script and had personally prepared the Chinese Braille version of the New Testament. Another member of the association told of his associations with the late Miss Gatland, remarking especially fon her faith and her remarkable ability, being a most efficient execu-'She had worked hard at the beginning of the Braille phonetic scheme, and now phonetic sheets, were scattered all over China in pard remarked that of all hu sufferings, none had such an appeal as blindness, When one reflected upon what had been done to help' the blind in the West, the industries which they took part and the pleasures they enjoyed, the work that it had been possible to carry: out in China seemed very small. Yet through small beginnings the] nation might be stimulated, and the National Government was already taking an interest in the blind and starting schools for them.
Mr. Pryer, of the Institation for the Chinese' Blind, had said that! there were million blind in China. The Association was trying in small way to render assistance to 'China. Until the missions came, attempt had been made to lighten their darkness. In China the work' is extremely difficult, as the normal writing is pictorial, not phonetic as. jin most other countries, and it was. not until the Chinese phonetic. Braille system was more or less matured that it was really possible to convey a written story to the blind.
'The movement had been carried lout by the missions, until it w Fealized that there was a need for general literature beside the' Scriptures, and then the Braille Literature Association was formed. School books, educational books and quarterly magazine were now being published. Comparatively speak~ ing, not very much progress had as yet been made, but with ce-operation much more is hoped for in the next fow years.
'The report of the honorary secretary, Mr. H. Bourne, was Jas follows: For various reasons the past year has not seen much advance the interests of the association. Regarding the Mandarin braille edition of the' "Pilgrim's Progress" you will remember that some a Vance sheets of the proof were exhibited at the annual meeting last year, but owing to causes entirely Beyond our control the book has not yet been completed. Thanks to the [ce-operation of the Institution for the Chinese Blind, Shanghai, and the Livbenzeller Blind Girls' School, Changsha, with the untiring efforts lof Mrs. George Anderson of the British and Foreign Bible Society' the corrected proof copies "of the first and second parts have been sent! to Japan and we hope that there will not be much further delay in putting Bunyan's classic in the hands of the expectant Chinese blind.
"The ambition of the Braille Litera. ture Association to put out one new book each year in Mandarin Braille has mot been attained in the year} just closed, 'The Committee selected list of books considered suitable for transcription into Braille and this was sent to the institutions for 'Chinese blind in north- and central 'China with a request that the blind themselves select a favourite book' jor alternatively suggest a book they frould like to have in Braille. The responses were extremely slow and' few. As "The Life of Pastor Hsi" the Committee has decided that this. be put into Braille, As some changes in the Mandarin Union Braille have been suggested, a portion of the book will be printed in the new style first and distributed for criti from the blind themselves.
In the death of Miss Garland we have lost an expert in the subject} lof Mandarin Braille and the Chinese blind have lost a devoted friend. The return to Switzerland of our treasur-jer, Mr. U. Briner, deprives the Association not only of its Treasurer but also one of its founders who has taken so much pains to keep up the interest in work among the blind, Following a report by Mr. Briner fon the financial condition of the ion, at the request of the chairman the members put en record their appreciation of Mr. Briner's work in keeping the association in such a sound financial state.
Following this Mr. G. B. Fryer gave a short talk on the history and evolution of Braille, showing how the world has practically got down to one standard system, the "Grade One anda Half" although the "Grade Two" was still greatly used England during the hundred years the system has been used many systems had sprung up, with resultant confusion, and a similar state occurred in China until 1913, when those interested got together Jand decided on one system instead of the nine then in use.
Miss Garland's work had reduced the code needed in the first system, the 408 Chinese sounds each being: represented by figures, into a system with 18 initials and 36 finals, and monstration, reading with. equal facility from English or Chinese, finding verses in the Bible ask-fed for by members of the gathering, and finally, showing how. sensitive his fingers,'one of the two read from. the scriptures with a cotton handkerchief folded eight times between his finger-tips and the script Officers of the Braille Literature Association for the ensuing—year} are: President, the Rev. R. C. Wills. Vice-President the Rev. A. J. Garnier. Hon. Sec., the Rev. W. R. Millican. Hon, Treas. Mr. G." A. Anderson. Committee, the Rev. C. Patton, the Rev. G. W. Sheppard and Mr. G.'B. Fryer.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.