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Forty-First Annual Report Of The Trustees Of The Perkins Institution And Massachusetts Asylum For The Blind

Creator: Samuel Gridley Howe (author)
Date: 1873
Source: Perkins School for the Blind

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That the multiplication of books in raised print, and the improvement of tangible apparatus of instruction, are of great importance.

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That uniformity of type is desirable, but not essential.

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BODILY TRAINING, COLD BATHING, &C.

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All systems of education and instruction of youth which neglect the means of developing and increasing the general health, strength, and activity of the body, are faulty. But a system for the education and instruction of a class of youth marked by a special and abnormal condition of body, would be grossly faulty, if it neglected special means for counteracting, as far as possible, the effects of that condition.

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Deaf mutes are an abnormal class; but their infirmity does not so much affect the healthy and normal development of the body as it does that of the mind. They are as strong, active and graceful as ordinary youth; hence they require physical training, as ordinary youth do, but no more.

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But the infirmity of deafness prevents the development of natural speech, and the main purpose of the instruction of mutes is to find a substitute for that. On the other hand, the infirmity of blindness, while it does not primarily affect the normal development of the mental faculties, does affect and impair, very considerably, the development of bodily health, strength and activity. Hence the young blind almost universally lack the bodily vigor, activity and grace which distinguish all youth, even the deaf mutes.

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As a class, they have all the mental faculties, the moral attributes, the social affections ready for development, and yearning for exercise; but they are comparatively puny in health, feeble in limb. It is plain to the eye that the standard of health and vigor among them is far below the average; and stubborn statistics show that they die comparatively young.

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In a class of youth at an academy or college, a large proportion are healthy, ruddy, hardy, and boiling over with animal spirits; while here and there is sure to be one whose erect and graceful form, beaming countenance, elastic flesh, clean limbs and springy tread, liken him to young Apollo, straining for action in the field of life.

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Among more than a thousand blind youth whom I have known, I cannot recollect more than three of the first class; not one of the second.

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It can hardly be otherwise; how can they, darklings, stand erect; move freely and swiftly; feel the fire and flash of youth, and strain for action in the battle of life? The pluckiest of ancient warriors, stricken blind, could only sit mourning in his tent and say, "Give me to see, I ask no more."

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But the worst of all is, that the natural effects of their sore infirmity are made tenfold greater by fond, foolish indulgence. Of all spoiled children, the worst and most persistently spoiled, are blind children. The most persistently spoiled, because while others may escape from the emasculating effect of fondling, when their tender years and dependent conditions no longer call out indulgent affection, the blind do not escape them, because their sore affliction, and their helplessness, makes the same appeal to compassion and affection which mere childhood always does. Ordinary children are required to do everything for themselves which they can possibly do; and blind children require this discipline even more than ordinary children; but the reverse is the case, and everything is done for them. Timid affection even restrains the locomotion which they yearn for; so that they are kept in babyhood and childhood as long as they can be. Almost all the boys and girls sent to this Institution show the sad effect of unwise indulgence. It has stunted them physically, mentally and morally. As compared with others, they are pale and puny; stooping in gait, timid of tread, and lacking in pluck.

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It is said of idiots, that they have so little of the human desire for action, that they shrink even from the effort to think.

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It is not so with the blind, at least of those presented here for admission; their natural bodily powers, their capacities, desires, resolutions, courage and yearnings for action, have not only not been well developed, but rather discouraged by their home training.

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They generally bear the marks of languid circulation of blood, and this causes languid condition of all the bodily functions; and consequently of the whole system. They are not up to concert pitch with other youth.

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The first thing needed was the correction of their low Condition of health and strength, as far as could be by correcting the habits engendered by their infirmity. Inaction, or feeble action of the muscular system, seemed the immediate cause of the general languor and feebleness of all the bodily functions. Freshly aerated blood is no more necessary to color the cheeks and lips, than it is to stimulate the brain to carry on healthy and vigorous thinking.

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To bring up the blind, then, to their highest attainable standard of mental power, one must begin with bringing them up to the highest attainable standard of bodily health and activity. It was in this view that I initiated a system of bodily training which certainly was a novel one, at least in that class of persons. The means were, first, free and frequent gymnastics in the open air; second, the use of cold water within doors, not only with a view to cleanliness, but to its effect upon the arterial and general circulation.

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