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REPORT OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS.

To the President and Directors of the Literary Fund:

GENTLEMEN,

The visitors of the Virginia institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and of the blind, are gratified to be able to commence their eighth annual report by announcing the fact that the elegant and commodious structure designed for the permanent accommodation of the schools, has been completed and is now occupied by the officers and pupils of both departments. The undertakers have fulfilled their contract with great fidelity and punctuality, and there is probably no building in the United States, intended for similar purposes, which possesses the same advantages of beauty of location, symmetry of proportion, and convenience of interior arrangement. Great care has been taken to separate, as far as practicable, the two classes of pupils, and more especially the different sexes. The dormitories of the females of both classes are in one wing, and those of the males in the other, whilst the centre building is occupied by the officers.

The experiment is now about to be made as to the practicability of educating two classes of persons so widely dissimilar in their habits, tastes and capacities, under the same roof. It is one which has never been made before in this country, and many judicious men have expressed doubts as to the result. Whether those appre

hensions are well founded or not, time will make known. All the visitors can say is, that thus far they have seen no cause for discouragement, and they are determined to exercise all the powers with which they are invested to secure harmony and success. In these efforts they are assured they will meet with the cordial co-operation of the accomplished principals and other officers of the institution.

The arrangement of the schools in both departments, during the past year, has been eminently satisfactory to the visitors. The principals, teachers and assistants of every description, have been diligent in the discharge of their respective duties, and the pupils have continued to conduct themselves with that propriety which has marked their whole deportment since the foundation of the institution, and which has secured for them the respect and good will of the whole community in which they reside.

It will be seen by the accompanying report of the principal of the deaf mute department, that one of his pupils, Miss Sarah Madison Hargrove, has died since the commencement of the present year. She was a girl of feeble constitution, and had long been the subject of disease. During her sickness she received every attention which the maternal kindness of our estimable matron could bestow, and her remains were followed to the grave by all her fellow-pupils and the officers of the institution. The solemn ceremonies of the occasion were performed in the sign language by the Rev. Joseph D. Tyler, the principal of the deaf mute department, and seemed to produce a deep impression on all who witnessed them.

The present number of pupils in the deaf mute department is 38, of whom 21 are males and 17 females. The number in the blind department is 26, of whom 14 are males and 12 females.

The number of applicants for admission into the blind department is sixty-three, and into the deaf mute department fifty-one.

When the original appropriation for the erection of the building was made, the visitors employed Mr. Robert C. Long, a distinguished architect of Baltimore, to prepare a plan embracing the necessary means of accommodation for one hundred pupils. This plan, with some modifications, was adopted, and has been followed in the construction of the present edifice. It has been ascertained, however, that there is ample room for the accommodation of one hundred and sixty pupils, instead of the number originally contemplated. This gratifying fact places it within the power of the general assembly, without any additional expenditure for building, to receive all the applicants for admission, by making a comparatively small increase of the annuity. It is a fact well estab lished in regard to all schools and boarding establishments, that the average cost of supporting the pupils diminishes as the number increases. This institution will be found to furnish no exception to the general rule. would be very little additional expenditure for fuel, lights, tuition, &c. if the number of pupils were increased threefold. The visitors, with the view of giving some precise information on this subject to the general assembly, have requested the two principals and the steward to make an estimate of the probable cost of maintaining each additional pupil, and they have authorized them to say, that if the annuity is increased five thousand dollars, they will receive, maintain and educate sixty pupils in addition to the present number.

The present annuity, burthened as it is with all the salaries of officers and other incidental expenses, is insufficient to support more than the number now in the institution. During the past year indeed, the expenses

have necessarily exceeded the income to a small amount. This result has been brought about in some measure by the anxiety on the part of the visitors to receive the greatest possible number of applicants who were importunate for admission into the schools, and partly by a confusion in the accounts arising from a want of conformity between the fiscal year of the institution and the calendar year. The latter circumstance led to a similar result in the Western asylum at Staunton, until the legislature wisely provided that the fiscal year of that institution should terminate with the calendar year. As the fiscal year closes on the 30th September, and many of the largest items of expenditures for negro hire, provisions, &c. become due after that time, confusion in the accounts is almost inevitable.

In view of the facts above set forth, the visitors respectfully recommend that the annuity of the institution be increased five thousand dollars, and that the fiscal year be made to close with the calendar year.

The reports of the principals, which accompany this report, will exhibit in detail the condition and wants of their respective departments. The visitors cannot too earnestly second their recommendations of the propriety of putting the workshops of the institution on a more substantial and efficient basis. A large majority of the pupils of both classes are in humble circumstances, and must rely upon their own exertions to secure a support after they shall have left the institution. It will strike every one, therefore, as a matter of the highest importance, that they should be taught some trade by which they can earn a livelihood. To accomplish this it is necessary to be provided with tools, and with a sufficient amount of raw material to commence the different branches of manufactures. Full sets of tools for all the shops will cost between three and four thousand dollars.

The principal of the deaf mute department also recommends that horticulture, combined with the cultivation of shrubs and flowers, and the arrangement of ornamental grounds, be taught as one of the branches of education. In this recommendation the visitors fully concur. The taste for gardening, and a more perfect system of cultivation, is rapidly extending itself through our country, and promises to furnish a wide field of useful and profitable employment. It might be rendered tributary not only to the health and amusement of the pupils, but tend also to diminish the expenses of the institution, by furnishing it with all the vegetables necessary for its own consumption, and supplying a large surplus for market.

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If the legislature should approve this suggestion, the visitors would recommend the immediate purchase of a slip of about 20 acres of rich alluvial meadow land which adjoins the grounds of the institution on the south and This body of land is now for sale, and can be had for $100 per acre. It is extremely fertile, and is intrinsically worth that amount to any one disposed to purchase, but lying as it does immediately in front of the building, and separating the grounds of the institution from a stream of running water and from a public road, it possesses a relative value far greater to the institution than to any one else. If it were purchased the visitors confidently believe that its products would be much greater than the interest on the sum required to buy it. If the present opportunity of acquiring it is neglected, it will be divided into small parcels and pass into other hands, and can never hereafter be obtained on terms by any means as favourable. The purchase of it would have the farther beneficial effect of securing the institution against the annoyance from bad neighbours, or the erection of any buildings which might prove nuisances. Upon the whole the visitors are satisfied that it would be sound policy and true economy to make the purchase.

The visitors also recommend that a law be passed exempting the property of the institution, including hired servants, from state taxation, and the officers, attendants and servants from serving on juries, working on the public highways, and performing military duty except in case of actual invasion of our commonwealth.

The condition of the finances of the institution will be seen by the report of the treasurer, which is herewith transmitted.

The visitors have been enabled by close economy, not only to finish the buildings originally designed with the appropriation made for that purpose, but have also completed a detached brick building intended for workshops, 51 feet long, 31 feet wide, and three stories high, and in all respects admirably arranged for the mechanical operations. They have also retained a sufficient sum to make the necessary enclosures, and to pay to W. C. Adams $2300, with interest from the 8th day of May 1845 until paid, which is due to him for work done on the institution. This will be paid out of the instalment of the appropriation which falls due on the 25th day of July 1848. The said Adams has also another claim against the institution which he has frequently preferred, but which the board have never been willing to recognize as a legal demand, and which they did not consider they had the authority to pay if they had considered it just. The facts connected with this claim are these: When the original appropriation was made for the erection of the buildings, the visitors at their first meeting adopted a resolution that they would in no event suffer the expenditures to exceed the amount appropriated by law. This resolution was dictated by a most anxions desire to avoid incurring any debt beyond the means of payment provided by the liberality of the legislature. This determination was made known to all the bidders for the building, and constituted one of the terms upon which the biddings were to be based. The visitors then called to their aid practical workmen, who modified the plan furnished by Mr. Long, so as in their opinion to bring it within the means provided by law.

They then proceeded to receive proposals for the work, founded upon a particular scale of prices, and Mr. William Donoho became the contractor, at a rate 40 per cent. below the Alexandria and Richmond book of prices.

This mode of contracting was adopted because the visitors knew that as they had but little experience in regard to such institutions, it would be necessary to make such changes in the plan from time to time, as to render it almost impossible to be regulated by any specific contract. Out of abundant caution however, they inserted as one of the terms of the contract, a proviso that in the event the appropriation should prove insufficient the visitors were not to be bound either individually or officially for any thing more than the funds subject to their control, but the contractor was to look to the legislature for his indemnity. With this understanding Donoho became the contractor, and Adams became his surety for the performance of his contract. Adams was not a mechanic, but was a large creditor of Donoho, and the inducement to him to become his surety was doubtless to secure the debt which he held against Donoho. Donoho commenced the work, and after making considerable progress became insolvent and was unable to prosecute his contract. Adams deeming the contract an advantageous one claimed the right to carry it into effect, and accordingly caused a considerable amount of work to be done. In this stage of the business the visitors found that the contract which they had made under the construction which was given to it by workmen was a very disadvantageous one to the state, and they found moreover that they had been led into a very great error in regard to the sufficiency of the sum appropriated to complete the building according to the plan. They therefore determined not to progress with it, but merely to place the building in such a condition as to be protected against the weather, and to submit the question to the general assembly to decide what should be done. They accordingly notified Mr. Adams not to proceed with the work. He, however, claimed the right to go on with it, and actually did work to an amount much greater than he has been paid for. He then discontinued his operations, leaving on hand a large amount of material and work ready to be put up, and work partially completed, which was ascertained, by appraisement, to be worth $2300.

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Shortly afterwards the legislature made an appropriation to complete the building; and in making the contract the visitors required the new contractors to take the material, work on hand, &c. at its appraised value, viz: $2300, and that sum they conceived themselves bound to pay Mr. Adams out of the appropriation, because it was applied to the completion of the building, and was estimated as so much cash in the new contract.

Mr. Adams had also done work which was permanently attached to the building to the value of about $ 1250, for which he has never been paid, and the state is now enjoying the benefit of that work. But it was done against the wishes of the visitors, and not upon their responsibility, but with the expectation on the part of Mr. Adams that the legislature would compensate him for it. Under these circumstances the visitors did not think themselves either bound, or at liberty even to pay it. The appropriation made by law was for the completion of the building, and contemplated work thereafter to be done, and not work which had been antecedently executed. The visitors therefore have declined applying any part of the fund which had been thus specifically appropriated for the finishing of the work to the payment of what could at most be regarded as arrearages of an equitable demand for indemnity, and they beg leave now to report the facts of the case to the general assembly, in the full confidence that such means will be adopted as the honour of the state and the principles of justice may require. The visitors would also recommend that provision be made by law for the more effectual prevention of trespasses upon the grounds, buildings, or other property of the institution. Being situated near the borders of a town of some size, it will naturally attract crowds of visitors, and the grounds, shrubbery, &c. will probably be subject to many depredations. Under these circumstances it is respectfully recommended that some summary mode of punishment be provided for wilful trespasses on the property of the institution. This might be effected by making all trespasses punishable by fine, to be recovered by warrants before a magistrate, and by authorizing the justices to require surety of the offender that he will not repeat the trespass. Something of this kind will be indispensable to the good order and harmony of the establishment.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

At a meeting of the board of visitors of the Virginia institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and of the blind, at Staunton, December 4, 1846:

The committee appointed to draw the annual report to the president and directors of the Literary fund, reported the same, which was read, approved by the board, and ordered to be certified to the president and directors of the Literary fund.

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A copy-Teste,

NICHS. C. KINNEY, Secretary.

REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE DEAF MUTE DEPARTMENT.

To the President and Visitors of the Virginia Institution

for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind.

GENTLEMEN, Since my last report death has taken from us a promising pupil. Miss Sarah Madison Hargrove died on the tenth of February last. She had been with us a year and a half, a brief period, but long enough to endear her memory to all who knew her. Her death, so painful to us, was calm and peaceful to herself, and furnished a beautiful attestation to the priceless value, in deaf mute instruction, of that language of signs by means of which we so early and so intimately approach the imprisoned minds of the deaf. She died long before she could understandingly read the Word of God, yet she had been taught, by signs merely, to know, to love and to confide in the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.

The number of our pupils the present session is thirty-eight, two of whom are detained at home, (for a short time only we hope,) by sickness.

The education of our pupils continues to be conducted according to that system of deaf mute instruction which the practical sense of the American mind originally adopted as best fitted to secure to the deaf and dumb the greatest good in the shortest time, and which an experience of thirty years has sanctioned by its fruits at the institutions in Hartford, New York and Philadelphia. In the American system articulation is not embraced. In declining to waste the invaluable time of our pupils in the generally fruitless and always painful labour of learning to articulate, we follow in the footsteps of the venerable and philanthropic founder of the American schools for the deaf and dumb, the Rev. T. H. Gallaudet. I quote his words:

"Articulation is not taught. It would require more time than the present occasion furnishes to state the reasons which have induced the principal and his associates not to waste their labour and that of their pupils upon this comparatively useless branch of the education of the deaf and dumb. In no case is it the source of any original knowledge to the mind of the pupil. In few cases does it succeed so as to answer any valuable end."

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To the same effect is the testimony of Dugald Stewart, one of the most eminent mental philosophers of his who lived at Edinburgh, hard by the school of Mr. Braidwood, perhaps the most accomplished teacher of articulation to the deaf and dumb, that the world ever saw: "To teach the dumb to speak (although, in fact, entitled to rank only a little higher than the art of training starlings and parrots,) will always appear to the multitude a far more wonderful feat of ingenuity than to unfold silently the latent capacities of the understanding; an effect which is not, like the other, palpable to sense, and of which but few are able either to ascertain the existence or to appreciate the value."

"The aim of Sicard was of a different and of a higher nature; not to astonish the vulgar by the sudden conversion of a dumb child into a speaking automaton; but, by affording scope to those means which nature herself has provided for the gradual evolution of our intellectual powers, to convert his pupil into a rational and moral being." The voice of experience, the example and advice of the wise, and the sentiments of profound observers of the human mind, did not need, but have received confirmation from the recent reports of two distinguished American teachers of the deaf and dumb, who visited Europe with a special view among other objects, of learning at the highest sources, the practical value of articulation as a branch of deaf mute instruction. It is much to be wished, that their interesting, able and conclusive reports of their visits to nearly all the schools for mutes in Europe could be generally read. Their investigations were separately pursued-the results are the same-a few of those results only can be given in the limits of this paper.

The German method spoken of by these gentlemen is that which embraces articulation as a branch of instruction, in distinction from the French method in use in our own country.

Instructing the deaf to articulate, labours under the following serious disadvantages among others:

1. Out of regard to the flexibility of the vocal organs, pupils must be received at too early an age to obtain the full advantages of instruction.

2. In consequence of the tender age at which it is necessary to commence instruction, no trades can be taught.

3. The German method is attended with a great increase of expense. Double the number of teachers is necessary.

4. The German method involves a great loss of time, and secures less progress in the pupil's acquaintance with language and general knowledge than our own..

5. On the German system the deaf and dumb suffer a great and irreparable loss in religious instruction.

6. The German system affords assistance only to the smaller number usually found within the walls of such institutions who still retain a considerable degree of hearing. Its advantages are for the few-its disadvantages for the many-certainly a very anti-republican system.

7. Instruction in articulation does not impart, in a degree greater than our own system, an externally humanizing influence to the deaf and dumb. "The German deaf mutes, when compared with our own, appear neither more intelligent nor more like human beings. The eye is not more calm, nor the countenance more animated or thoughtful."

"I was much struck with the anxious, painful look of the pupils, occasioned by the intense watching of the teacher's lips. They appeared to me more like perplexed strangers in a foreign country, than like those who easily and promptly understand what is said, and I cannot doubt that much of the time they are in just this state of confusion and uncertainty." Day's Report, page 195.

8. Articulation does not (as generally supposed) counteract a tendency to pulmonary disease in the deaf and dumb. The direct contrary appears to be the fact. The intense, spasmodic efforts made by deaf and dumb children in producing vocal sounds, tend to the injury of the lungs. Strenuous advocates of articulation are compelled to administer caution. One such advocate thus writes: "At the outset caution must be exercised, not to cultivate readiness in speaking, at the expense of the health and life of the pupils." And another: "When instruction in articulation is commenced at a later period than three or four years of age, great prudence is necessary that the organs, unexercised and therefore weak, be not too much strained." And these cautions are needed. "Of the ninety-two actual or dismissed pupils in four schools, who are known to have died, thirty-nine perished of consumption. Of the twenty deceased pupils of the Leipzig institution up to 1838, the school in which articulation has been taught the longest of any in Germany, seventeen were reported as having died of diseases of the lungs !" Day's Report, p. 197.

9. The deaf and dumb do not generally retain, in after life, the articulation which has been taught them at such an expense of health, and time and money, and at such a loss of actual knowledge.

"In conversation with one of the most distinguished German authors on deaf mute education, he remarked that he was sorry to be obliged to admit, that, in after life, the speaking of the deaf and dumb generally degenerated, and was of less use to them than it promised to be on their leaving school. The few children, who had intelligent parents and friends willing to take pains with them, improved in speaking, but the larger number either staying at home among ignorant friends, or wandering about the country, went backward. In this wandering life they do not remain sufficiently long in a place to understand the persons they meet with or to be understood by them. The family is the only place where a deaf mute can hope to make progress." Day, p. 201.

"I met with a pretty large number of the former pupils of German schools, and was enabled to judge in some good degree of the value of their attainments, from personal intercourse. One of the most intelligent represented it as common in Germany, for the deaf and dumb, after leaving school, to relinquish, in a great degree, as he had done, the articulation they had there acquired." Weld's Report, p. 108.

10. Articulation in English is far more difficult than in German, and therefore all the foregoing objections have additional force in their application to our schools. "So great indeed are the difficulties in the way of teaching articulation, in English, to the deaf and dumb, that the German teachers themselves, although but imperfectly aware of them, unhesitatingly express the conviction, that with us it would not succeed, and ought not to be attempted."-" As a regular part of a system of public education, its introduction into our institutions, I am persuaded, would be a serious misfortune to the cause of deaf and dumb instruction." Day, p. 213.

"I can then recommend no fundamental change in the system pursued in the institution with which I am connected, or in the other American schools. Instead of regretting the original adoption of our system by Mr. Gallaudet, I am truly thankful that he was led to its adoption." Weld, p. 120.

To that system, therefore, we adhere at the Virginia institution to the exclusion of all systematic attempts to teach articulation. Among other objections to the system, which requires articulation to be taught, is the fact that pupils must enter school so young that no opportunity is afforded of teaching them trades. At our institution, receiving pupils between the ages of 10 and 25, such an opportunity is furnished, and we earnestly avail ourselves of it. We look upon the business of teaching our pupils some trade as of importance but little inferior to the more intellectual part of their education; and, had we space, would give many substantial, and we believe, convincing reasons for such an opinion. You, gentlemen, are aware of those reasons. May we request you to make the importance and the wants of this valuable branch of education known in the proper quarter, that it may be duly cherished and no longer be left dependent, as it now is, on funds specially designed for mere school purposes. We believe that the shop department of the institution may be made to support itself, but, obviously, it requires a small capital for the purchase of tools and stock. The good of our pupils requires, too, that a variety of trades. should be carried on, to afford them a choice suited to their varying tastes, capacities and physical condition. To the choice of the deaf and dumb we at present offer shoemaking, bookbinding, cabinetmaking to some extent, and carpentering. Our intimate connections with the blind department enables us profitably and pleasantly to combine the handicraft operations of the blind and the deaf, in some cases. The brushmaking and the carpenter's shops are contiguous rooms under the same foreman, and the brushes are made partly by the blind and partly by the deaf and dumb. The foreman of the bookbindery is also foreman of the printing shop for the blind, both opera

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