LOUIS BRAILLE IS A MUST

  My Husband has just come back from France, visiting the birth place and house of Louis Braille, in Coupvray. The village of Coupvray is situated on the slopes of a grassy hill set between the Brie region of France and that of the Champagne province. In spite of the proximity of the Marne Valley, it retains even today . . . the character of a rural village. One may still see the small brown-tiled roofs, the farmyards, the farmhouses and a village green surrounded by trees where are clustered together St. Pierre Church (where Louis Braille was christened on January 8, 1809), the village hall, and the monument by tienne Leroux set up in 1887 and topped by a bust of the inventor of the alphabet for the blind. The body of Louis Braille rested in the village cemetery till 1952. On his tomb can be seen a casket in which the remains of his hands are preserved--those hands which were the first in the world to finger the raised dots of the Braille alphabet. All around is still open country. High above is the farm of the chƒteau. Here and there amid the gardens and orchards, small grassy paths meander across the hillside. And, on the lower slopes, is an old wash house with wooden posts and mossy tiles where the clear waters of the Fr‚minette flow swiftly by, gently murmuring.

 Louis Braille’s   large stone house on the edge of the town.  A  solid house, built in the last half of the 18^th century.

The Braille’s also owned some farm buildings which are no longer standing. And seven and a half acres of land and vineyards

Louis Braille was the inventor of the Braille alphabet. His braille code brought literacy to the world. He was born in 1809. His Father, was   Simon Ren Braille, a saddlers. Monique, was his Mother.  There were four children, Louis, being the youngest.      

Inside of the atmospheric house, you will find, THE LIVING ROOM

This room is really the heart of the house, both by reason of the memories it evokes and on account of the very well preserved Briar style architecture. On entering, you will  find yourselves in the warm, cosy atmosphere of the homes of yesteryear., SimonRen‚ Braille, the saddler, lived with his whole family: his wife Monique and their four childrenÄÄMonique-Catherine, Louis-Simon, Marie-C‚line, and their youngest, Louis. It is here that are gathered together all the essentials of daily living.
Under the mantelpiece:

• The fireplace with its fireback bearing the arms of France, dated 1659.
• The bread oven built of small tiles. Its arch fits under the winding staircase. It used to be heated by burning dry vine shoots. Then after the embers had been pushed back, pies and loaves were placed in the oven.
• The cheese recess. The warmth of the oven enabled the successful processing of the renowned Brie cheese to be carried out; this was later further "refined" in the cellar.
• The door into the loft [or upstairs]. This stands between the alcove and the bread oven. In the past the term "granary" was used--where the grain would be stored.
• The alcove is very typical of the Brie region--oak-framed, adorned with roundels and ears of corn; the latter are symbols of the Brie region.

To the left, as you enter:

• The sink. The Braids used to call it "the washer." It is a large flat stone, slightly concave, where the wooden pail was set down. [By means of a hole in the bottom], the water drained away through the wall straight into the yard.
• The stove-setter. This consisted of crossed wooden slats on which frying pans and sauce pans were hung. A recess above the sink provided storage space for jugs, pots, and other utensils.

Also of note in this room are: the oak beams on the ceiling; the doors of the 18th-century wardrobe; the "maie" or bread bin, in which the loaves were stored; the warming pan used to warm the bed; the oak table; the gun; the lantern; the cross; and, above the door leading to the [upstairs], the portrait of Louis Braille the only photograph of the celebrated inventor.

THE WORKSHOP OF SIMON-REN BRAILLE, SADDLER

For over a century the Braille family carried on the craft of saddler from father to son. Louis Braille's grandfather, Simon Braille, had settled in Coupvray early in the 18th century. He had taken over his father-in-law's business which was already established in the village in the 17th century.
Some of the equipment and furniture used by the Braille’s in their craft may be seen in this workshop:

• The wooden workbench, much worn from long use; the typical chair with its seat consisting of crossed leathern thongs.
• The horse collar block. This enabled the saddler to shape the collar to fit the horse's neck.
• The sewing clamp, which the saddler gripped tightly between his knees to hold the leather firm.
• The branding iron. Heated, the iron was used to brand the owner's initials on the horse's rump. “Not sure I like the thought of that? Poor beasts.
• The saddler's tools: paring knives, awls, tool for stuffing, moulds, etc.

On the walls of the room:

• A grape harvester's basket. Simon-Ren‚ Braille owned some vines in Coupvray.

The tragedy of Louis Braille’s cause of blindness, came when   In 1812, he was a three year old. who loved to come and watch his father handle those mysterious tools laid out on the work bench. Mysterious and attractive. One day, taking advantage of his parents' absence, he seizes a [tool] and tries to cut a piece of leather, but his small hands are clumsy. The leather is tough. Suddenly, the blade slips and penetrates the child's eye. Nothing can arrest the infection which sets in, and the other eye becomes infected. At the age of five, Louis Braille [becomes totally blind].

LOUIS BRAILLE'S ACHIEVEMENT

When we speak of Louis Braille's work, we should not forget two men who, in one way or another, were his forerunners. The first is Valentin Hay. In the 18th century this philanthropist had founded a school for the blind and invented an embossed alphabet for them. If Louis Braille was able to enter a special school in 1819, it was thanks to the pioneering work of Valentin Hay. The second is Charles Barbier de la Serre, a captain in the artillery [during the Napoleonic Wars]. He had found a way to communicate with his brother officers at night by means of a system of raised dots. The pupils at the . . . Royal Institution for the Young Blind . . . tried out this "Sonography," which took no account of spelling and, in addition, was most complicated. At the age of thirteen Louis Braille began his research with a view to designing an alphabet based on a cell of six raised dots. This system was enthusiastically acclaimed by the pupils but was rejected by the teachers (1826). Being sighted themselves, they refused to countenance a form of writing which they could not read. “But, I guess they thought, it was OK, and perfectly acceptable, for the sighted to be able to read what the blind can’t?
 It was not till 1844 that, at the inauguration of some new buildings in the Boulevard des Invalides, the governors at last recognized the undeniable value of the system. Since then Braille, adapted to many of the languages of the world, has become for the blind a universal written language.
In the room which is devoted to Louis Braille's work, various pieces of equipment and documents have been assembled, showing the birth of raised dot writing, its development and use.

My Husband, who visited the house/museum, to help to secure its future, told me how in France, all of the museums, are very encouraging for the blind to touch the artifacts. So he said the experience was incredibly moving.

 I must say, until  I had done some research on  this amazing man whom in my opinion, should beatified, I never gave Louis Braille, or indeed Braille, a second thought, other  than  the knowledge that blind people would be incredibly disadvantaged, without the dots, but now I have learned with you, I absolutely find the fact that a teenager, could find the strength to invent such an amazing form of communication.

What kind of person, of mind, does this sort of marvelous thing? What drove him to use his inventive brain in such a way?

So, now, where is Braille going today? I mean, in this day and  age, with all of the electronical equipment around, do we really want to carry about the huge, heavy books of Braille? Do we in fact, need Braille? I mean there is software which will inable our computers to talk/use speech. If we can touch type, we can write on our computers.

Yes indeed we need Braille. Why?

To be able to pick up a box of tablets and read what we are about to take, the household detergents can be labled. Shampoo and shower gels too can be labled and we can send Christmas messages and birthday wishes from a blind person to  another blind person, we can read our messages, our sighted kind sighted friends send us in Braille, as now you can buy Brailled cards and some of my sighted friends, can read and write Braille, because they have wanted to communicate with us.

You can buy a refreshable Braille display machine. The information from a computer, translates print into Braille, which raises pins to form the carictors, so the Braille user is able to read. They cost a fortune, because they are technically complicated, so they are made in small quantities.

But they are a fraction on the size of a Braille book and can fit into a small bag.

A little larger than a kindle.

My Husband, can’t take in poetry when he hears it  read to him by the softwear, on his computer, but if he touches the words, as you would read with your eyes, he can enjoy at his pace.

If Braille is to do or go anywhere in the future, please let it earn the respect that the great inventor Louis Braille, deserves?

Don’t  allow Braille to die? Don’t stop reading, I hope you are not like me, I so very much regret not being able to read  your words, your writing. Let us move on with technology, but not move away?

Notes

In Louis Braille’s museum,there are books from the UK, Germany and Italy, pre 1850

The first bible to be written in Braille, took three years to write and there are thirteen million dots and all were hand written, using a hand held dotter and a hand frame.

The wonderful museum  welcomes seven thousand visitors per year through their doors.

It is twenty minutes from Euro Disney        

After the death of Louis Braille and his direct heirs, the house became the property of the Maurice, Marniesse, and Braille familiesÄÄhis nieces and nephewÄÄwho administered the property jointly until 1878. At that time Mr. Toupet bought the house which overlooked the courtyard and in 1889 the Baudin family purchased the one facing onto the street. From 1898, the whole became the property of the Crapart family. The Braille home was sold on March 29, 1952, to the association "The Friends of Louis Braille," which was represented by Mr. Pierre Henri Monnet, the Mayor of Coupvray; it was then fitted up as a museum and opened to the public. With a view to acquiring for it the status of a municipal museum under government control, the association decided to donate all its assets to the Parish, recommending that the museum should be administered by an international organization (November 23, 1956). The Deed of Covenant setting out the agreement between the W.C.W.B. (World Council for the Welfare of the Blind) and Coupvray was signed on July 27, 1957.

Since that time the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind (now the World Blind Union) has proudly devoted itself to caring for this shrine which the blind of the whole world value as the birthplace of their benefactor.

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