Mrs. Miller. A Study of Psychic Blindness

Mr. Miller was a contractor, a well-to-do man of the merchant class. He was successful in his business, very fond of his home and his wife, and looking forward with eager anticipation to a son. Indeed, during the first three years of their marriage Mr. Miller had continuously reminded his wife that he not only wanted a son but felt that the son's arrival was a part of her responsibility to him.

Mrs. Miller was a good housewife, a pleasant neighbor, a kind friend. She made her home attractive for her husband, advancing his interests in every way she could. She cultivated his friends, entertained them at his pleasure, and made him always her first consideration. Indeed, except for the long delay in the arrival of the heir they were very happy.

But when the first baby did come, to the sorrow and regret of both Mr. Miller and his wife it was a little girl. The father suppressed his disappointment as best he could, and named the little girl “Marion,” spelling it in the masculine fashion. But he nicknamed her “Son,” and “Son “she was ever after to him. As soon as she was able to sit by his side in the car he took her about with him on his daily trips, where “Son “was soon known to his business associates. He made her his constant companion—his pal—and the two were inseparable.

Some two years later a boy was born. From the first the little fellow was weak and ill, dying after a few weeks. He had not been long enough with them for Mr. Miller to really feel his going. But he clung ever closer to Marion.

It was when Marion was four that her father died. Mr. Miller's passing was sudden and tragic. The family was bereft, indeed. Yet the break in the family group left no economic problem, for there was ample property and valuable securities to make Mrs. Miller and her little daughter more than comfortable for life.

Soon after her husband's death Mrs. Miller's eyes began to trouble her. From just a slight blurring at first, the dimness gradu