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
