with a few trifling changes, stands to-day as it left the hands of its
inventor. The base of the system consists of six raised dots enclosed in
what is called a cell, thus--

+---+ |. .| |. .|. |. .| +---+

The dots are numbered as follows: left-hand dots, 1, 3, 5; right-hand,
2, 4, 6. For reading purposes the dots are arranged in cells
corresponding to the base cell, each cell being a letter or contraction.
In Grade II Braille, there are in all eighty-two word and letter signs.
The letters of the alphabet

+---+
|. |
are as follows: Dot 1-- | | --represents the
| |
+---+

+---+
|. |
letter A; dots 1 and 3-- |. | --the letter B;
| |
+---+

+---+
|. .|
dots 1, 2-- | | --the letter C; dots 1, 2, 4--
| |
+---+

+---+
|. .|
| .| --the letter D, and so on. The arrangement
| |
+---+

of the dots in the cell gives not only all the letters of the alphabet,
but signs that stand for words and phrases as well.

I began the study of Braille with Miss Gilles, a New Zealand lady, as my
instructor, while I was at St. Mark's Hospital. I was first given a
wooden box full of holes. Into these holes my teacher showed me how to
put nails with large heads, the nails being placed in cells to
correspond with the Braille alphabet. After I had succeeded in grasping
the principle of Braille by means of the nails--which, by the way, I
frequently jabbed into my fingers instead of into the holes--I was given
a card with the alphabet on it. At first the dots seemed without form
and void; and when I was asked what numbers I felt, I did wish for my
eyes, as I was utterly unable to convey to my brain the letter under my
fingers. The hardest part of Braille for the beginner is not in getting
it into the head, but in getting the fingers to take the place of eyes.
But it is only necessary to persevere to get the proper, illuminating
"touch" into the finger tips. The men made sightless in the war were in
most cases confronted with grave difficulties. Their hands were hardened
by toil, and their fingers calloused by work in the trenches. One of my
comrades, when given his Braille card, struggled over it for a ti