THE PERKINS INSTITUTION AND MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.

Early in the last year the Trustees of this Institution made an appeal to the "generous and benevolent of the community for a printing fund for the blind. They desired to raise a fund which would yield an income of five thousand dollars a year; and they thought that with such an income the press could be kept in constant activity, and could issue twelve or more volumes per annum.

Extracts from the Appeal.

"The great book of nature, with its myriad pages of beauty, its endless variety of scenery, and its ever-changing aspects of sea and sky, is constantly open to the seeing. The achievements of art can be enjoyed by them at all times and seasons, and literature gives them daily something new and fair to feast upon. How different is the lot of the blind, and how few are the privileges of this sort which they enjoy! Yet even for these children of misfortune a brighter day is dawning, and literature, which is, next to music, their greatest solace, holds out to them its consolations and its joys. Enter a room where some seeing person is reading aloud to the blind, and note the intense interest with which the older members of the group hang on the lips of the reader. How they drink in every word! This is their compensation for all the beautiful things which others enjoy, and from which they are cut off. While a seeing person often grows restless, a blind person sits in an attitude of intense enjoyment and appreciation, draws a long breath when the reading is over, as if it had been almost too good, treasures up all the historic facts or philosophic truths in the storehouse of his memory, and leaves the room enlightened and enriched. Those golden hours are treasures which he never forgets to count over with pride and pleasure. The mention of the title of each well-prized book brings a smile to his face. He has 'lived through' literature, not dreamed over it.

"How more than happy, then, is he, when it offers itself to the tips of his own fingers, when he need look to no seeing person to step in as an interpreter between his author and himself! This is the work to which the most earnest energies of the friends of the blind should now be directed; namely, the foundation of a choice library of embossed books for their personal use. The noble thoughts of great minds were never meant to be shut off from those who are bereft of sight. Hundreds of them have felt, in their solitude and darkness, how cheering and useful is intellectual light. they have already received is not enough. They ask for more.

But what

Shall their

call be heeded? May we not hope that the voice of the same benevolence which has inspired the hearts of so many noble men and women with a desire to ameliorate the lot of those whose night endures from the cradle to the grave, will whisper to others of high aim and purpose, Go ye, and do likewise'?"

In response to this appeal a public meeting was held April 1, in Tremont Temple, presided over by his Excellency Gov. Long. He spoke stirring words full of sympathy for the blind, and of interest in the object which had brought them together. He was followed by other distinguished gentlemen, who bespoke a hearty co-operation on the part of the benevolent.

As a result of that meeting, and of the efforts growing out of it, about forty-four thousand dollars have been raised for the printing fund for the blind; and the hope is that the remaining thirty-one thousand dollars needed to complete the fund will not long be wanting.

The following is compiled from the reports of the Trustees and of the Director:

Present State of the School.

"The institution continues to be in a flourishing condition, and its influence and importance as the most effective agency for developing the capacities of the blind, and enabling them to become independent workers with hand and brain, increase from year to year.

"The establishment is provided with appliances and apparatus of the most approved kind, and is well appointed in all its departments, which are so arranged as to form a cluster of fruitful branches to crown the solid trunk of the parent tree.

"The business of the school has been carried on in a very satisfactory manner; and the results of its workings, which have been witnessed from time to time during the year by members of our board, have been thorough and solid. This was manifestly shown in the searching examinations, and at the graduating exercises, which were held at the close of the term in the music-hall of the institution.

"In the management of the affairs of the school there is a fixed and definite policy, which consists in adhering to what is good, in improving what is imperfect, in strengthening what is weak but useful, and in adopting what is pointed out by the light of experience and science as best adapted to the wants of the blind.

"The institution entered upon the fiftieth year of its organization in August last, and with the close of the present school session will occur the first semi-centennial anniversary of its existence.

"The time which has elapsed since then has seen wondrous changes; and in no instance more remarkable than in the matter of the education of the blind. The little band of six pupils first gathered together by Dr.

Howe, in his father's house on Pleasant Street, has expanded into whole ranks and files of pupils, graduates, and candidates. Useful blind citizens have finished their honored career, and gone to their graves. Young children are constantly coming to us for the first rudiments of education. Music-teachers, tuners of pianofortes, mechanics, men of business, trained and fitted for the efficient practice of their respective professions and arts under the fostering care of the school, ply their avocations actively in all the towns and villages of New England. The timid blind child, hardly trusting his feet to move alone, or his hands to trace the first letters of the alphabet, to-day walks among us as the self-poised, self-dependent man, managing his own affairs, assisting in those of others, scorning the idea of being a recipient of alms, helpful, respected, intelligent, and industrious.

"In looking over the annals of the Institution, and recounting the changes through which it has passed, and the work it has accomplished, we cannot but see that it has been to the blind of New England what the heart is to the human body, the centre and source of their mental vitality and power, the spot from which the young, fresh, and bright stream of intellectual and moral light is distributed in every direction to strengthen their character, awaken their dormant powers, and illumine their darkened path in life.

“Increased experience in our work stimulates our energies, and quickens our zeal for its more thorough and satisfactory performance. Full well we know that we are far from having reached the highest attainable point; and yet we cannot but hope that the amount of positive good gained, and of evil removed, through the agency of the school from year to year, is steadily increasing. A mere repetition, however, in a perfunctory fashion, of what has hitherto been done, or the performance of approximately the same work in a somewhat better manner, is not sufficient. In order to advance the cause

of the education of the blind, and bring it within the limits indicated by science and prescribed by the nature of their case, we must strive to overcome more difficulties, and to surmount every obstacle that can be reached by human perseverance.

"The number of pupils is rapidly increasing. There never were so many young children, and particularly little girls, received at the beginning of any previous school session as this year. Most of them seem to be quite intelligent and promising; while in a few cases the disease which has caused the loss of sight has undermined the constitution, and weakened the mental faculties.

"A system for the efficient and proper training of the blind, in order to be successful and productive of good results, should be adapted to the special requirements of their case, and calculated to meet the exigencies resulting from their affliction, and to promote the full development of their remaining faculties, and the harmonious growth of their powers. It should constitute a sort of physical, intellectual, and moral gymnasium, preparatory for the great struggle in the arena of life, and should include that finishing instruction as members of society which Schiller designated as the education of the human race,' consisting of action, conduct, self-culture, self-control, — all that tends to discipline a man truly, and fit him for the proper performance of his duties, and for the business of life. A mere literary drill, or

any exclusive and one-sided accomplishment, cannot do this for the blind. It will prove insufficient and incomplete at its best. Bacon observes, with his usual weight of words, that 'studies teach not their use; but there is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation;' and all experience serves to illustrate and enforce the lesson, that a man perfects himself by work blended with reading; and that it is life elevated by literature, action quickened by study, and character strengthened by the illustrious examples of biography, which tend perpetually to purify and renovate mankind.

"Mechanical teaching has been persistently avoided; and the system of requiring the pupils to commit stolidly to memory the contents of textbooks, to recite meaningless rules glibly, and to learn crude and obscure statements of abstract theories and wordy definitions by heart, has no place whatever in our school. On the contrary, the time is devoted to the nurture of the intellectual faculties, to the development of the mental powers from which ideas are born, and to the acquisition of those great truths which relate to the happiness of the human race, and to the general welfare of mankind.

“In the primary departments of the school the educational processes have been pre-eminently objective, synthetic, inductive, and experimental; while in the advanced divisions they have been subjective and analytic as well, - deductive as well as inductive, and philosophical as well as experimental. In the high classes a broad and deep foundation has been laid for future achievement. Here the pupils have attained a good degree of scholarship and culture, which increases the strength and fertilizes the resources of their mind. Here they have been taught how to command their powers, and direct their energies. Here they have been furnished with all available facilities to prepare themselves for a useful career in life.

"Kindergarten and Object-teaching.

"The blind usually experience great difficulty, not only in getting a clear idea of things from mere descriptions, but obtaining by feeling correct notions of the forms of objects to which they have not been accustomed; and this is a serious drawback to their acquiring much valuable and practical information. This difficulty arises, not from any general defect in their powers of sensation, for these are in the majority of cases not in the least affected by the causes which produce blindness, but rather from the want of a special and thorough training of the sense of touch.

"To remedy this important evil as far as we may, and at the same time to awaken and exercise the powers of observation, comparison, combination, invention, memory, reflection, and action, the kindergarten system and object-teaching have been found among the best and most efficient auxiliaries; and both have received due and earnest attention in our school.

"The workings of the system in our school have been most beneficent. Children who seemed entirely helpless, and had no command whatever of their hands, have been roused to energy and activity by the agency of the kindergarten. Through the simple but interesting and attractive occupations of block-building, weaving, embroidery, moulding in clay, and the like,

they have acquired a great degree of muscular elasticity and manual dexterity, which assists them in tracing on the maps with alacrity, in deciphering the embossed print easily, in tying the strings of their shoes neatly, in stringing beads promptly, in using their needle adeptly, and in doing a number of things readily which they would have felt unable to undertake without this training. Modelling is particularly beneficial to the blind: it helps them to acquire a more or less correct idea of forms of various kinds, which it is almost impossible for them to obtain by the mere handling of objects. Kindergarten work may thus be likened to the exercises given to beginners in music, which prepare the student for rendering difficult pieces more brilliantly; and no training of primary classes of blind children can attain a high degree of efficiency without its assistance."

66

The total number of blind persons connected with the institu

Ordinary expenses for the year ending Sept. 30, 1881, $47,290 82
Extraordinary expenses, improvements, etc.

148

26

174

19

155

8,988 52

$56,279 34

The total amount of invested funds, including printing-fund, is 170,97 040

From which there is to be paid cities and towns one-half income for 1881.

69,349 94