The room was dark and still. Only one boy was still awake. He sat on the edge of his bed at a far corner of the room. Slowly and carefully, he made small holes across a piece of paper with a sharp stylus. Every two or three minutes, he stopped and ran his fingers across the raised dots on the opposite side of the paper. A whisper came from the next bed, “Louis, are you still making dots? You’d better stop and get some rest. The teacher will be angry if you fall asleep in class.” The reply came slowly, “I know, I know. I’m almost finished now. Go back to sleep, Gauthier.” Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille reading system for the blind, put his paper and stylus on a table behind his bed. He stood up and walked across the room to an open window. He hardly noticed the cool April wind brush his face. He knew his system would work despite what others thought.
People do not lack strength; they lack will.
– Victor Hugo
