II.-EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. I. GENERAL REMARKS. New institutions and buildings.-Three institutions for the blind have been established during the year. Two, the Wyoming and Texas institutions-the latter for colored persons-are also for the deaf, and one, the Alabama Academy for the Blind, was formerly the blind department of the Alabama Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. Neither the Texas nor the Wyoming school was in operation during the year. In Pennsylvania a number of gentlemen of Pittsburg, in order to render available a legacy of $20,000, have set about raising additional funds for the establishment of a western Pennsylvania school, but the Office is uninformed as to the result of their exertions. In Kentucky the department created in 1884 for the education of the blind colored children of the State was opened October 4, 1886. At Roxbury, Boston, a brick building large enough to accommodate 35 or 40 pupils is in process of construction on a recently purchased lot of 6 acres, and will be opened during 1887 as the kindergarten department of the Perkins institution. Three lots and a commodious building have been secured for the Oregon school. The Perkins institution continues to be the New England school for the blind; New Jersey and Delaware still send their blind to the Pennsylvania institution, nine and three, respectively, and the District of Columbia has pupils at the Maryland school. Higher education.-The effort to secure a college for the blind continues unabated, and at the last biennial meeting of the instructors a committee of thirty-three was appointed to carry on the agitation of the subject. It is proposed to ask Congress to incorporate an institution for the higher education of the blind, such as has already been established for the deaf (see p. 840, Convention). At the instance of Superintendent Anagnos, the board of directors of the Perkins institution has taken steps in the organization of a post-graduate course in that institution, for those who have shown marked talent and capacity for higher attainment in any important branch of study or art. Printing for the blind.—The radical difference of opinion as to the relative merits of the "line" and the point systems of printing for the blind still continues (see p. 840, Convention), and, to accommodate the friends of each system, the annual income from the national fund is expended in equal parts in producing the same work in different type. As between the point systems of printing and writing known as the Braille and the New York, the latter bids fair to become the American system, although it has not been so generally favored here as the Braille has been in England and on the Continent. Editions of seven works-"Pilgrims Progress," "Imitation of Christ," "In His Name," etc.-have been printed and distributed within the last few years by the Society for Providing Evangelical Religious Literature for the Blind, which also publishes a Sunday-school paper having a circulation of 1,000; and the American Bible Society has published during the year an edition of the Psalms in New York point. All these have been printed by the American Printing House, at Louisville, Ky., the great printing centre for the blind. At the printing office of the Perkins institution, which has recently been supplied with a new press, Scott's Talisman, in two volumes, the New Testament, in three, and two volumes of an edition of Dickens's David Copperfield have been printed in raised type. Workshops for the blind.-Self-support in after life being the purpose for which manual instruction is given to blind pupils, the result is a matter of great interest to their instructors. If, after the time and money devoted to mental and industrial instruction, the great majority of the pupils become severally an educated rather than an illiterate burden on individuals or the community, merely from failure to make the vocations they have learned profitable, or from inability to obtain employment, it would seem doubly economical to drop the manual feature if, on examination, the cause of the evil be found irremediable. Touching this, Superintendent Chapin of the Pennsylvania institution, who has been familiar with the subject for the last 40 years, says: "In due time these young and elderly mechanics [pupils taught at his institution], having perfected their trades, are honorably discharged, some to their own homes, others to seek their fortunes in our larger towns. They apply for employment at the large manufactories and dealers, but are disappointed. There is not an establishment that will receive a blind man for employment. With the exception of those who succeed at their own homes in the country districts, there is very little hope for employment elsewhere for blind mechanics." Very much the same conditiou of affairs exists in England, on the competent authority of Dr. Armitage, and did exist in Saxony and other parts of Germany until the " Saxon system was introduced. This system consists in the institution's keeping up a permanent connection with its former pupils. For this purpose there is an annual fund of about $7,500 derived from "The Education and Employment of the Blind, by T. R. Armitage, M. D., 2nd ed., 1886, pp. 71 seq. invested funds, subscriptions, and the sale of work done by the pupils in the institution. When the pupil leaves the school, the director goes to his intended place of residence and secures the promise of a clergyman, the mayor, or some manufacturer to recommend and advise the future citizen, and to keep the director informed about him. When a pupil leaves, his outfit consists of a bed, clothing, tools, and material for his trade; all of which have been paid for out of his savings. Raw material is sent at wholesale prices on demand. Differences of national institutions and the large extent of territory militate against the adoption of this system here, and the result is being accomplished in another way. In the workshop, or working home, for the blind provision is made not only for former pupils of institutions who can not support themselves, but also for the large number of those who, losing their sight after maturity, seek to learn some handicraft by which they can support themselves. Of this class of institutions the Pennsylvania Working Home for Blind Men was the first. In 1875, the year of its opening, 13,900 brooms were made by its six inmates, and the sales amounted to $4,600; for the year 1886 the 105 inmates made 373,294 brooms, and the sales were $60,827.11. The inmates are charged $2.50 a week for board, which is deducted from their earnings, which in all amounted to $15,638 during 1886. The State appropriates $10,000 for maintenance and the city $1,000, while legacies and donations swell the total for 1886 to $17,000. In 1885, when there were 123 blind persons connected with the institution, of whom 24 were unskilled persons admitted during the year, the average loss for each was $33.80. Dr. Armitage computes the average amount given by the Dresden, Saxony, institution at $25. Mr. Convention.-The American Association of Instructors of the Blind held its ninth biennial meeting at the New York Institution for the Blind, New York City, July 6 to 8, 1886, with an attendance of 43 delegates representing 24 institutions. Wait, superintendent of the New York institution, in welcoming the association briefly reviewed its life. The first convention, at which fourteen out of sixteen schools were represented, was held in 1853, the next, the first of the current series, in_1871, since which the association has met regularly at biennial intervals. Mr. J. F. McElroy, in his paper on "Building for the Blind," advocated the subordination of architectural beauty to the requirements of the use the building is to be put to. As the noise of piano tuning and practice "is one of the most persistent nuisances," the isolation of such sounds becomes highly desirable. In the Michigan school the eighteen rooms for piano practice occupy wings and are on the sides most remote from the large open court in the rear of the main building and from its centre. The corridors of these wings are shut off from the main corridors by doors and heavy brick walls. The floors are concreted over a false flooring, upon which is laid a covering of ash, terminating at the partitions of the room, in order to prevent vibration. The partitions are double and are filled with "mineral wool," a hair-like mass of silica, which is almost impervious to sound and vermin. Mr. McElroy predicts the gradual downfall of the "old congregate dormitory system," "the indiscriminate herding of pupils into one room," through the provision for comfortable private rooms for pupils, and he urges such provision as tending to remove the reproach that institutional life tends to educate the children out of sympathy with their homes. Another point of construction specially relating to the blind (it is only such that space will permit here) is the important one of separating the sexes. If the sexes are completely separated, the building must be constructed to prevent communication; if they are to meet during recitation, such rooms must be centrally located and approaches must be arranged to prevent intermingling in coming and going. In the discussion that ensued Mr. Clement said he would supplant the congregate with the cottage system, a set of cottages for each sex. * Doctor Anagnos in his paper on "Workshops for the Blind," after speaking of the splendid achievements of the institutions for the blind, continued thus: "With all this success and progress, however, there is a proportion of blind adults, who can not maintain themselves by their unassisted labor. What shall be done with these classes? * Of the various measures which are proposed the establishment of special asylums or workshops for both sexes seems to be recommended on all sides." But Dr. Anagnos would not have men and women herded together as in an asylum; he would give them an opportunity to support themselves in commodious and well-equipped workshops; he would pay them in cash and leave them "to the wholesome responsibility of taking care of themselves." These industrial auxiliary institutions should be located in large cities where a ready market obtains, they should be non-political and non-sectarian, should offer high salaries to officers, should encourage the blind workman to remain at home by ransacting his business for him, and finally should have a permanent fund, the interest of which should be devoted to eking out the earnings of those who can not support themselves by their labor. Two cardinal principles must never be departed from in endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the 1 Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial Meeting of the American Association of Instructors of the Blind, 80, 107 pp., Fort Plain, N. Y., 1887. blind: they must be dispersed in general society and subjected to the ordinary influences of life; and the sexes should be strictly and absolutely separated. Mr. Chapin's paper dealt with the difficulty of the blind workman in procuring employment (see p. 833, Workshops for the Blind) and the hygienic necessity of work to him. He advocated an industrial establishment for the blind on the model, with a few modifications, of the Pennsylvania Working Home for Blind Men (see p. 839). This paper was followed by one from Mr. Hall, superintendent of the home just referred to, descriptive of the character of that institution. Mr. Huntoon thought the question of providing for the adult blind not germane to the education of youth, while Mr. Wait considered it as quite legitimate by reason of its being a legacy that had come down with the other principles borrowed or inaugurated by the pioneers in the work of educating the American blind. "Every Institution," says the resolution of the First Convention, "should afford employment to all its graduates of good moral character." The experience of his own institution proved this to be impracticable, and the necessity must be met by the incorporation of private associations for the purpose of furnishing employment to the blind workman, and of intruding their care into his private affairs only so far as his inability to care for himself demands. Statistics show that in 1879, of 307 blind persons in the almshouses of the State of New York, 83 per cent. had lost their sight after their twentieth year, and that 87 per cent. had pursued some useful or skilled occupation before losing their sight; of the 1,200 persons who had been instructed at the New York institutions only 21 were in the almshouse at the above date. At the close of the discussion Mr. Battles introduced the following: "Whereas, deaf-mutes and the blind require entirely different methods of educa tion, and whereas a number of States co-educate these two defective classes, "Resolved, This association disapproves such co-education." The resolution was unanimously adopted. The session was then closed by Mr. Battles's paper on "The Powers, Duties, and Responsibilities of the Superintendent," and a vote of confidence in the Society for Providing Evangelical Literature for the Blind. Mr. Huntoon, in his paper entitled "The General Character of the Embossed Literature which the Schools for the Blind Demand," had the purpose "briefly to summarize what the [American] Printing House has already done,” and to protest against the purchase of apparatus with a part of the income from the Congressional fund for printing embossed books. Speaking of the point system, Mr. Huntoon remarked: "The points have come to stay, and they have come to dominate." Mr. Hall acknowledged that he had been converted to the New York point system. Mr. Dow trusted that it would soon become the system universally used. Mr. Battles said that the boys of the Pennsylvania institution averaged in reading only twenty-eight words a minute, while in the New York institution (Mr. Wait's, the author of the New York point system) the average was about sixty-three, although, so he stated, the comparison between the schools was hardly fair as a test of the relative merits of the systems on account of the conditions under which the trial was made at Philadelphia. Mr. Wait thought that the sentiment of the profession is uniting, and the sooner it is decided that the funds of the American Printing House shall be expended upon books of one character of type the greater will be the supply of literature for the blind. Mr. Babcock considered the point as greatly superior to the line in tangible power, and that the one system should be the New York point. Mr. Harvey said he would be glad to know that all the books from the American Printing House were to be in point printing, which, on the principle of the greatest good to the greatest number, should be adopted. On the other side, Mr. Graves maintained that children complained to him that they could not read the point as long as they could the line, because their "sense of touch becomes weak," and Mr. Wood did not think that the test referred to by Mr. Battles was at all final. Mr. Wait, in his address on the important question of "A College for the Blind," said that as the kindergarten and the university were the educational extremes, as the blind had shown their ability to follow with advantage the higher studies-witness Saunderson, mathematician and successor of Newton at Cambridge; Foster, professor at the same university and postmaster-general; Nelson, of New York, professor of languages; and Carll, blind graduate of Columbia College, New York, and author of the "Calculus of Variations"-and as blindness is a bar to those vocations to the praetice of which light and sight are indispensable, and as our public policy recognizes higher education as being the right of all who are competent to receive it, "is it too much to ask that those who must work in darkness shall be given special facilities for enlarging the contracted sphere of their opportunities and for preparing them to do their work well?" To those who would have the blind enter the colleges for the seeing, Mr. Wait responds by saying that experience has shown it is impracticable; the difficulties that Mr. Carll surmounted, aided by the most favoring surroundings, outside of the class room, would prove fatal to the progress of the majority. During the last day of the session (July 8) it was resolved by the association: "(1) That in the judgment of this association, an institution for the higher education of the blind has become a pressing necessity for the intellectual, professional, and moral advancement of the blind of this country; (2) that this association warmly endorses the efforts of those earnest friends of the blind, who have, by unwearied endeavor, sought to establish such an institution; (3) that a committee of nine1 be appointed from this association to take up and carry forward this work on behalf of the association, said committee to be appointed by the chair." After the passage of the resolutions, papers were read by Mrs. Little on "Methods of Teaching," and Mr. Dow on "The Idiosyncracies of the Blind." Mrs. Little spoke of the great difficulties under which the congenital or practically congenital blind pupil labored in acquiring ideas, and of the assistance they derived from the objective methods of the kindergarten, and advocated the employment of tangible apparatus in the higher grades. The study of geometry is especially valuable, as it affords the blind pupil the best means "of acquiring the power of forming a correct conception from a verbal description." Meeting of the board of trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind.-This body, composed of the superintendents of the institutions for the blind, held its annual meeting July 7, 1886, at the New York institution, New York City. After some discussion, Mr. Graves, of the Alabama institution, who presented a proxy from Mr. Johnson, principal of that institution, was admitted as a trustee by a vote of 10 to 7. Mr. Dow then introduced the following resolution: "That requisitions by any institution for the blind upon the American Printing House for the Blind, for books or tangible apparatus, printed or constructed elsewhere than at the American Printing House for the Blind, shall be duly honored, provided that such requisitions do not exceed 20 per cent. of the income from the subsidy fund of the Institution making such requisition." An amendment to strike out 20 and insert 25 per cent. was lost by a vote of 10 to 8. The original question then coming up, Mr. Huntoon opposed the resolution, as it "would cripple materially the resources and the business affairs of the American Printing House." After an extended debate the resolution was passed by a vote of 14 to 5.2 II.-NOTES FROM CATALOGUES AND REPORTS OF INSTITUTIONS. ALABAMA. Alabama Academy for the Blind, Talladega, Ala.-Although this school entered upon its life as a separate institution in February, 1887, the source from which the following facts are taken covers a period previous to that event. In the literary department the course is continued above the common school studies, and in the department of music instruction is given on the piano, organ, violin, etc., and in the theory of music and in harmony. The print used is the Braille, New York point, and pin-type. Although the boys are employed in manufacturing mats, mattresses, etc., the object of the school is to prepare as many of its students as possible as instructors in literature and music. In order to secure competency the senior pupils are required to teach several hours every week. ARKANSAS. Arkansas School for the Blind, Little Rock, Ark.-This school opened in 1860 with 10 papils in attendance. In 1870 the attendance was 38, in 1880, 32, and in 1886, 63. The frail, dangerous, and unsightly wooden shells" formerly used as school rooms and dormitories have been demolished, and a handsome and commodious structure of brick erected, lighted by gas and heated by steam, capable of accommodating 120 children, and permitting a complete separation of the sexes. An annual appropriation of $500 is asked to enable the superintendent to supply worthy indigent pupils with the tools necessary to the successful prosecution of the trade they have learned in the school. After the kindergarten, the benefits of which are marked, the school is classified in 4 grades, each of 2 divisions; in the highest grade the course is academic. In the music department 37 pupils have received instruction on the piano, 11 on the organ, and 8 on other instruments, while 10 have been taught thorough-bass and harmony, and 6 tuning. In the industrial department shoe and brush making have been added to broom and mattress making, and it is expected soon to add willow work. Subsequently increased to 33. 2 The local board of trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind having asked an opinion from the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States as to the legality of this resolution, the First Comptroller of the Treasury, under date of March 12, 1887, responded as follows: "It is my opinion that the act authorizes the trustees to use the fund set apart by the act for the purchase of the supplies mentioned through the American Printing House for the Blind, at Louisville, Ky., alone; that said trustees are not authorized by the act to make such purchase from other sources, as it appears a majority of the trustees think they have a right to do, and that such a diversion of the fund would be unlawful." The fund here referred to is that established by Congress. |