Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

Mr. President, present these young gentlemen to the country in a much wider sense than colleges usually present their graduating class.

I would like to say another thing: That during these many years of public service I have loved to look upon this as a neutral ground, where, from all our political bickerings and differences, we come under the white flag of truce that should be raised over every school-house and college in the land. I am glad to say that, in spite of all the differences of party opinion, we have worked together in trying to make this institution worthy of our capital and our people. I am glad to believe that this progress will be unimpeded by any changes that may happen at the capital and unchanged by any vicissitudes that may happen to the country.

TABLE XIX.-Summary of statistics of schools for the blind.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Total

20, 245 19,668

30 593 133 2, 148 10, 241 22,991 2,007 3, 925, 006 481, 185 91, 259 733, 961 563, 459

a Reported with statistics for the deaf and

dumb (see Table XVIII and summary.)

b For both departments.

c School not yet opened.

d Total of items reported.

e Includes balance on hand from last fiscal year.

f Instructors only.

g Value of furniture.

h Includes income from other sources.

i Temporarily closed.

j Includes personal property, funds, and investments.

k Includes one quarter omitted in a former

report.

Several institutions for the blind have recently lost by death warm friends and supporters. The Tennessee school has been deprived of a favorite trustee, Samuel Watkins, esq., and the Georgia academy of Dr. James Mercer Green, the president of its board of trustees since its organization in 1852. Among the items of brighter interest to the friends of education for the blind may be mentioned a successful series of concerts given by members of the Maryland Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, the raising of some $37,000 toward providing a generous library for the blind in connection with the Perkins Institution at Boston, the appropriation of $10,000 by the legislature of Georgia for the establishment of a department for colored persons in its Academy for the Blind, and the authorization by the New York legislature of the appointment of a committee to select a site and report plans for the organization of a "State Home for the Blind."

ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS FOR THE BLIND.

The annual report for 1881 of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind gives an interesting account of the early history of schools for the blind, Mr. M. Anagnos, the director, says that the first attempts to educate the blind in America were made at Boston under the influence of Dr. John D. Fisher. At a meeting of those interested in the subject, held in February, 1829, this gentleman gave a detailed account of the processes employed in European schools to communicate knowledge to the blind, described the manufacturing processes by which they obtained a livelihood and exhibited specimens of books for their use. A committee was then appointed, and through its efforts "The New England Asylum for the Blind" was soon after incorporated. Two years later Dr. Samuel G. Howe was engaged as superintendent and sent to Europe to study institutions, to procure teachers, and to obtain the necessary apparatus for the instruction of the blind. Dr. Howe returned the next year and opened a school in his father's house, which soon gained a firm hold upon the public. Col. Thomas H. Perkins gave his mansion house, valued at $25,000, to the enterprise on condition that $50,000 be raised otherwise. This was done within a month. Neighboring States, as well as Massachusetts, made appropriations for the education of their blind in the school, and it was installed in a new home under the most propitious circumstances in September, 1833. In 1839 it was removed to better quarters in a more healthful location at South Boston.

Literary, musical, and industrial instruction was provided for in the plan of the school. In 1840 a department for the employment of pupils who had learned to work but had failed to find opportunities was opened. The making, cleansing, and renovating of beds, the manufacture of mats and brooms, and cane seating chairs were the occupations chosen. In 1850, a new workshop having been erected, the adult blind were removed from the main building, which had become crowded, and scattered about the neighborhood, boarding in different families and going to the shop daily like ordinary workmen. They were paid monthly wages, usually sufficient for their support. Some years later it was attempted to give aid to blind women similar to that which had been extended to blind men. A laundry was opened, but it was abandoned after a trial of five years as impracticable.

The establishment of a school in Boston and the influence of its friends hastened the formation of similar establishments in many places in various parts of the country. The New York institution for the blind was incorporated in 1831. It was opened the next spring. Until 1845 its prosperity was not marked, but became so in that year through the appointment of a peculiarly able superintendent, Mr. James F. Chamberlain. Philadelphia was not far behind New York in opening a school for the blind. It was organized with great care by Mr. Julius R. Friedlander, who, in his German home, conceived the idea of founding such a school in Philadelphia, since he had heard high tribute paid to its citizens. After the opening of his school he gave exhibitions of the attainments of his pupils before the legislatures of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and obtained

from them appropriations for the support of beneficiaries. The exhibition of pupils seems to have had a convincing effect upon legislatures and to have been the successful method of inducing them to establish schools. Dr. Howe took pupils before the Ohio legislature in 1836, and an institution was incorporated the next spring. He made a similar exhibition in Richmond, Va., in January, 1838, and an institution for the instruction of deaf-mutes and blind was incorporated in March. The organization of schools in Kentucky and South Carolina was effected after like efforts on the part of Dr. Howe. At the time of his death in 1876, 27 States had organized schools for the blind and others were sending their blind children to existing institutions, thus furnishing educational privileges to this class of unfortunates.

PRINTING FOR THE BLIND.

The most important recent event in the history of these establishments is the gift of Congress by reason of which they receive an annual allowance of books and apparatus. The value of the grants for 1881 to the various schools varied from $66.82 to those in Alabama and Oregon to $1,033.41 to the New York Institution, or about $4.45 to each pupil attending on the first Monday of January, 1880. The books recommended for publication in 1882 are Irving's Sketch Book; Hawthorne's True Stories; About Old Story Tellers, by Donald G. Mitchell; Goldsmith's Deserted Village and She Stoops to Conquer; Thackeray's English Humorists; chapters from a World of Wonders; Short Sketches from English History; Swiss Family Robinson; Principles of Harmony, by Sir Wm. Gore Ouseley; Our World, a primary geography, by Miss Hall; Perry's Introduction to Political Economy; and Hayden's Mental Philosophy. The work of the American Printing House at Louisville, which received the congressional endowment, has increased so that it requires a building for its separate use. The Kentucky institution, with which it has been connected for more than twenty years, wishes to retain it on the grounds of the institution. The intention to conform to this desire is expressed in the annual report for 1881 of the Printing House, as follows:

"To emphasize the fact that an establishment for printing books for the blind under the control of all those engaged in the work of teaching the blind throughout the United States was first founded and maintained for many years by the beneficent action of the State of Kentucky, and that it was finally endowed by the General Government in order that the great benefits coming from it to the blind of Kentucky might be extended to the blind of all the States in the Union, it has seemed to the trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind desirable to erect a building adequate in every way to their purposes, and to cost not less than $10,000, in the vicinity of the State School for the Blind."

I have received recently a letter from Dr. William Moon, of Brighton, England, who has become known in this country through his connection with printing for the home use of the blind, announcing his intention of visiting this country. In it he gives an account of the reasons why he undertook the work of preparing an alphabet for the blind, the principles on which it is founded, and the service it has already rendered. The following is an extract from his letter:

"Forty-two years of my life have been devoted to the advancement of education among the blind. The cause of my attention to this object was my own loss of sight. As soon as I became blind, I learned to read by the various systems of embossed type then in use. Upon inquiry I found that few of the adult blind, accustomed to work, could avail themselves of the benefits that several philanthropic and benevolent minds had provided for their use. The Roman letters were too complicated, many of them, in consequence of the numerous lines rendering the characters too intricate for the touch of the adult.

"The stenographic systems were equally difficult, owing to the numerous contractions, and frequently the same contractions stood for several words; so that the reader often had much difficulty in ascertaining which of the words or syllables should be used.

"After much prayer and thought upon the subject, I was led to adopt an alphabet, which, as far as possible, was the Roman letters simplified; but where this could not be done I removed the letter altogether and substituted a more simple character in its stead. When the letters of the alphabet were classified, I found that they consisted of 9 characters only. Books were then printed, and the success of the system was truly marvellous. I have since adapted the alphabet to 195 languages and dialects. The alphabet is doubtless of universal application, since it has answered equally well for all the various languages and dialects to which it has been applied.

Sixty societies have been formed in Great Britain for sending teachers to the homes of the blind and for establishing free lending libraries for their use. Societies and libraries of this description have been formed in Australia and other countries, and not less than 200,000 volumes of our books are thus annually circulated among the blind poor free of cost, one of the greatest boons possibly the blind poor ever enjoyed. It is to set a scheme of this description on foot in the United States and Canada that I hope to visit America in the spring of next year."

INSTRUCTION OF THE BLIND.

Though the schools for the blind usually afford instruction in studies commonly found in the primary and grammar grades of public schools, the College for the Blind, at Vinton, Iowa, has a "senior department," in which there is a three years' course of advanced studies. The branches pursued during the first year are algebra, rhetoric, physiology, and zoology; during the second year, algebra, chemistry, moral philosophy, civil government, and American literature; and during the third year, geology, geometry, logic, mental philosophy, and English literature. The last report of the college gave the number of students in the senior department as 16. The labors of such men as Huber, the Swiss naturalist; Thierry, the French historian; and our own Prescott, performed during the period of their blindness, prove the possibilities of achieving much in science and literature without sight. But it requires teachers of peculiar power and skill to direct those who have always been blind, or who have become so while very young, in gaining a higher education. A recent report says:

"The qualifications of a true instructor of the blind are not as often possessed as many unacquainted with the work assume. Such an instructor must be one who can clearly discern and rightly estimate capacity and tone, who can enter the inner self of the learner, can feel his struggles, and help him to grapple with his difficulties. He must hold a profound reverence for humanity, an unswerving faith in the elevation of the lowliest, must see in blind boys and girls the divine image, though obscured by ignorance, helplessness, and awkwardness, and must be inspired by the firm conviction that they too can be raised to usefulness and can make good their heirship to the grand possibilities of the everlasting."

The quality of the instruction afforded by our institutions for the blind has been frequently commended. The methods of teaching and government which have endured the tests of the ordinary public school have been adopted and modified to suit the peculiar necessities of the blind. Occupations which promise means of support to their pupils have been tried and careful instruction given in those that have met the demand for a suitable and remunerative employment. Departments of music hold a prominent place in leading schools, and pupils who have that talent for music with which the sightless are often endowed are made skilful teachers and tuners.

The peculiarity and success of our schools as a body are stated with clearness and candor by Mr. M. Anagnos, as follows:

"The most valuable distinctive feature of the American institutions is that they constitute an integral part of the educational system of the country. Their existence is planted in the letter and nourished by the liberal spirit of its fundamental laws. They

5 Kentucky Institution for the Education and Training of FeebleMinded Children.

6 Private Institution for the Education of Feeble-Minded Youth, Barre, Mass.

7 Hillside School for Backward and Feeble Children, Fayville, Mass.

are the creations of justice and equity, and not the offspring of charity and favor. Thus the right of the blind to participate in all the educational benefits provided for every child in the Commonwealth is acknowledged by the State in its sovereign capacity; and since they cannot be taught in the common schools an express provision is made for their instruction. This policy has acted very favorably upon the blind. It has strengthened their good impulses and fostered in them an upward tendency and noble determination to become useful and independent. It has inspired them with self respect and made them aim at a higher place in the social scale than they would otherwise have sought."

TABLE XX.-Summary of statistics of schools for feeble-minded youth.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

The number of feeble-minded persons is such as to invite general attention to their wants. The insane are hardly more numerous-in some countries less numerous—and their number is more easily ascertained. Insanity is an affliction that falls upon youth and adults. Idiocy is found more often in children, whose infirmity may remain undiscovered for several years or end in an early death caused by the invariably attendant physical weakness. The difficulties of correctly ascertaining the number of feeble

36,000

Income.

Expenditure.

« PreviousContinue »