That evening when the doctor and Mary were sitting alone, she said, "John, that baby's eyes have haunted me all day long. And you say one-third of the blindness of the world is due to this disease." "Yes." "That seems to me a terrific accusation against you doctors. What have you been doing to prevent it?" "Everything that has been done--not very much, I'm afraid. Speaking for myself, I can say that I have long been deeply interested. I have written several papers on the subject--one for our State Medical Society." "So far so good. But I'd like to know more about it." "Write to the secretary of the State Board of Health for all the information that he can give you." The next day Mary wrote. Three days later she received the following letter: SPRINGFIELD, NOV. 16, 1909. My dear Mrs. Blank: Several states of the Union have laws in relation to the prevention of blindness, some good, some bad, and some indifferent, and I fear that the last applies to the manner in which the laws are enforced in the majority of the States. In the December, 1908, _Bulletin_ of this Board, a copy of which I send you under separate cover, you will find the Illinois law, which, as you can readily see, is very difficult of enforcement. But, as I said, much can be done in its enforcement if the State Board of Health can secure the co-operation of the physicians of the State. However, in this connection you will note that I have made an appeal to physicians, on page 757. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, the Board has not received one inquiry in regard to the enforcement of this law, except from the Committee on the Prevention of Ophthalmia Neonatorum. In regard to the other States, it will take me some time to look up the laws, but I will advise you in a few days. Sincerely yours, J. A. EGAN. After reading it carefully through, Mary's eye went back to the sentence, "Much can be done if the State Board of Health can secure the co-operation of the physicians of the State." She rose and walked the floor. "If I were a Voice--a persuasive voice," she thought, "I would fly to the office of every physician in our great State and then to every physician in the land and would whisper in his ear, 'It is your glorious privilege to give light to sightless eyes. It is more: it is your sacred duty. O, be up and doing!'" "To think, John," she said, turning impetuously toward her husband, "that I, all these years the wife of a man who knows this terrible truth, should just be finding it out. Then think of the thousands of men and women who know nothing about it. How are they to know? Who is to tell them? Who is to blame for the blindness in the first place? Who can--" Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. "Is this Dr. Blank?" "Yes." "This is Mr. Ardmore. Can you come up to my house right away?" "Right away."