Deaf and Dumb Asylum

The fourth Biennial Report of this Institution contains many interesting matters and we therefore extract largely from it.  The three Asylums, for the Insane, for the blind, and for the deaf and dumb are a credit and an honor to our State, and all will be glad to hear that they were in a prosperous and healthy condition.

We extract from the Report of the Board of Trustees:

During the last two years, the condition of this Institution has been one of unbroken prosperity – a prosperity limited only by the measure of our circumstances.  Quietly but surely has this out-growth of public charity and the rights of the needy pursued its course of humble usefulness dispensing to scores of impoverished minds the wealth of knowledge.

Teachers and scholars have cheerfully united to promote the great end of the Institution – the elevation of an unfortunate class.  And here let it be remembered, that this Institution is strictly and only educational in its character and therefore is not designed to be a mere Asylum for paupers or a Hospital for medical experiments upon the diseased or dead organ of hearing. – The end proposed is the education of the deaf and the means employed contemplate no other object.  We here use the term education in its widest sense, as embracing the harmonious cultivation of all the physical, mental and moral powers.

Few are aware how great is the difficulty of fully educating an uneducated mute, the difficulty being enhanced by the absence of that mental discipline and knowledge enjoyed on youth by those who possess all their senses.  And in this respect the Blind are less unfortunate than the Deaf, for the former can make large acquisitions of knowledge at home before attending school, whilst the Deaf are usually if not necessarily wholly dependent upon their Institutions for all they know.  The fact is stated to show how important such Institutions are, and how wise as well as generous has been public charity, out of which have grown so many efforts for the relief of the afflicted class.

Our school opens at 9 o’clock, a. m.  Our first exercise is a lecture in the natural and expressive language of signs.  This lecture is generally upon some moral or religious subject, and the occasion is taken to convey a knowledge of the common properties and duties of life.  No difficulty is found in imparting to even our youngest scholars abstract and spiritual ideas, although such ideas have no place in their minds whilst in an uneducated state.  The Bible, with its sublime utterances and solemn truths, is, indeed, a revelation to them, bringing as it does “life and immortality to light,” and opening to their vision a boundless world of thought.

The school is divided into three classes.  The advanced class is taught by the principal.  The second class is taught by his brother, and the primary class by the older pupils, under the direction of the principal.  This is our present arrangement, and although the classification is imperfect and another teacher needed, still we must yield to the requirements of economy, and adapt ourselves to circumstances.

We aim to give a knowledge of the English language together with the essentials of those branches of Science deemed most practical, and waste little time in efforts designed to surprise the public rather than benefit the pupil.

An effort has been made to keep our expenses within the specified sum, and the effort has been successful, but to do this we have been obliged to contract the usefulness of the Institution, by refusing admission to quite a number, and by dispensing with advantages which we otherwise might have enjoyed.

The census places the total number of mutes in the State at about three hundred.  But it is probable the census is incorrect, for already the Institution has given instruction to almost one hundred mutes, and the number in the State is doubtless near four hundred, for we have reliable data for the statement, that at least twenty five per cent. of this class might at any time be under instruction, the remainder being unfitted by age, disease, or other causes.

At present the principal has only one assistant teacher, the primary class being taught by the monitress and older pupils under the direction of the principal.

During the last two years, other teachers have been employed, but they have been discharged for the sake of economy.

The principal has never yet been able to secure the assistance of experienced teachers, as such command higher salaries than our means have allowed us to afford, and thus we have been unable, in this respect, to compete with other Institutions.

The law provides that the principal, shall, when deemed proper, make tours throughout the State in company with a number of his pupils, in order to excite an interest and call in a greater number of scholars, but necessity has required the opposite course, for from an apprehension that the Institution might be over crowded or embarrassed with applications for admission, no special effort has been deemed advisable, and indeed the general rule has been that an effort has been needed rather to limit than to enlarge our school, so as at all times to live within our means and do justice to those already admitted.

We feel that the prospect for a permanent building is not encouraging and, indeed, we do not expect the State at this time to consider that question.  We fear the day is now distant when the mutes of this State might look with pride and joy upon their own Asylum, complete in all its appointments, capacious enough to receive every worthy applicant, and standing in architectural grandeur as another perpetual monument of Iowa’s intelligent charity.

We now point with feelings of honorable pride to our magnificent Home for the Insane, and know, that when our national sky is once more clear, and these great States once more and forever united, as united they must be, then will the triumphs of peace appear in Iowa, and all our educational and charitable institutions pulsate with new life.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 4