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Fourteenth Annual Report Of The Trustees Of The Perkins Institution And Massachusetts Asylum For The Blind

Creator: Samuel Gridley Howe (author)
Date: 1846
Source: Perkins School for the Blind


Introduction

Samuel Gridley Howe hoped that his work with Laura Bridgman would help him prove that children were naturally moral and merely needed to be guided in a kind manner. He hoped to thereby discredit the orthodox Calvinist doctrine of original sin—the belief that all humans are born as sinners—and challenge conventional child-rearing practices based on fear and corporal punishment. Instead, Howe hoped that parents and teachers would instruct children with “moral discipline”: cultivating the good in children rather than trying to break a child’s will. Howe believed that citizens raised with moral discipline rather than fear would be better suited to participate rationally in politics.

In order to promote his views, Howe invariably presented Bridgman as a happy and naturally moral child in his annual reports, ignoring her occasional (and normal) bouts of nervousness, selfishness, anger, and lying. In practice, Howe held Bridgman to extremely high moral standards. At the slightest moral infractions—signs of impatience, interest in fashion, or small deceits—he and his fellow teachers punished her by withdrawing all contact. Because Bridgman’s impairments forced her to rely intensely on her teachers, this punishment of social isolation terrified her. As a result, she adopted precisely the behavior that Howe sought: constant moral self-examination. Ironically, however, her fears of moral missteps eventually led her towards evangelical Christianity and its notion of an all-forgiving God—precisely the outcome that Howe had sought to avoid.


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APPENDIX B.

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LAURA BRIDGMAN.

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TO THE TRUSTEES.

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GENTLEMEN:

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MY Report concerning this interesting pupil for the last year will be shorter than usual, because I intend to publish soon a continuous and complete account of her whole course of instruction.

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This seems to be called for by the public, who, in various countries, have manifested such a kindly interest in her case. The accounts of her instruction contained in our previous Reports have been translated into several languages, and extensively read. But it is impossible to do justice to such a subject in detached papers, published annually. Besides, the series of those papers is not perfect; large editions of some of our Reports having been completely exhausted by the demand.

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The importance of the case in a psychological and moral point of view justifies the attempt to put it upon permanent record. It is due also to the many kind and excellent persons who have manifested their sympathy for the child, and in various ways encouraged her teachers to perseverance in the attempt to overcome all the obstacles to the full development of her imprisoned soul. The account of her progress during the last year will therefore be general and concise.

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Her health has been good, until within the last three months, during which time her appetite has become impaired, she has lost some flesh, and has grown feeble. I have not been without apprehensions of serious consequences; but as there is no appearance of any organic disease, it is reasonable to hope that the functional derangements will yield to judicious treatment.

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The danger of the great and continual activity of her brain and nervous system has never been lost sight of; and constant care has been taken to guard against its evil effects, by exercise, and by amusements calculated to diminish it. But it may be, that, in spite of our efforts, her system has suffered from this cause.

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In the normal condition of the body, the constant hungering and thirsting of the youthful mind for knowledge is gratified by the spontaneous and pleasurable exercise of the perceptive faculties. The child has only to open his eyes and learn every day and every hour new combinations of form, dimension, size, color, distance, and motion among the innumerable objects around him. His ear and his other senses impart to his mind a thousand sensations, which, by a natural process, the mind in its turn attributes to external objects. All this process is one of learning; the result of it is knowledge, -- knowledge more varied and more valuable than any which a teacher can ever impart. It is the gymnastics of the mind; and by virtue of that beautiful law which commands pleasure to attend all natural exercise, it becomes both delightful and health-giving.

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But what to other children is spontaneous activity or pleasant exercise is to poor Laura severe effort and fatiguing labor. They see external nature as through a glass, and learn a thousand things at a glance; -- she has to break through a wall, and to examine every quality of every object by a slow and tedious effort. It is true that she takes delight in the effort, and has to be withheld from, rather than incited to, making it; but, although there may be the same proportion between the degree of effort and the amount of pleasure as in other minds, yet both are in excess; and excess in any thing is injurious.

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It has always been strictly charged upon her teachers, and I am sure never forgotten by them, that they are to guard against too great mental activity. But it is almost impracticable to prevent her from studying, for her common conversation is in the spirit of inquiry; so that it is possible her physical health has suffered from it. She will not admit that she is unwell; indeed, she probably conceals from herself the fact that she is so. But, from whatever cause her present indisposition has arisen, every effort will be made to remove it. She has already learned to ride on horseback, and takes gentle exercise in this way, every day, upon a pony, which, of course, has to be guided by a seeing person.

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Her mind has developed itself during the last year in a remarkable manner, as will be seen in the specimens of her writing and conversation. It is very fortunate that I was able to obtain as a successor to Miss Swift, her former able and excellent teacher, (1) a young lady fully equal to the difficult task of conducting her education. Indeed, to Miss Swift and Miss Wight belong, far more than to any other persons, the pure satisfaction of having been instrumental in the beautiful development of Laura's character.


(1) It is possible that some remarks in my last Report may have been construed into censure of Miss Swift; but they were not intended for that effect. She fulfilled her duty with ability and conscientiousness.

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The last year, especially, has been one of great difficulty and great danger; for the period has arrived when the natural tendency of every human soul to separate and independent individualism becomes very strong; -- that critical period when there is often a severe and sometimes a fatal struggle between the conservative spirit of the old, who would stunt the growth of the young and keep them in the dependence of childhood, and the aspiring spirit of the young, which irresistibly impels them to independence.

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