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CHAPTER VI
THE SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED

"The love and wisdom of our Heavenly Father are manifest not only in those gifted ones who seem fashioned most nearly in his likeness, but even in these broken fragments of humanity, which should therefore be carefully gathered up, that nothing be lost which His sanctifying fingers have touched."

S. G. Howe.

"It is hard to realize that but two generations have passed since Dr. Howe first raised the cry 'A man overboard!' nor do we realize how far that voice has reached, or that its echoes will go on for ever.

"The school is indebted for its existence to Dr. Howe. Looking back through the annual reports and the unlimited appendixes printed with them, we find that before his decease he had considered most of the contingencies which might happen, and which have happened, in the life of our institution. . . . The school has been conducted as nearly as possible upon the lines laid down by him."

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED, 1903.

"I consider that his work with the imbecile is truly the chief jewel in his crown. The other things he did other men might have done, but he alone among the philanthropists of that time was able to see the need of this work, and to realize its possibilities."

WALTER E. FERNALD, 1908.

IN the year 1846 my father undertook a new work, one of the most important of his life. In the course of his labours and research in behalf of the blind and the insane, more especially of the latter, he had been deeply impressed with the sufferings and needs of a kindred class, the idiotic and feeble-minded. Up to that time nothing whatever of a public nature had been done in this country for these unfortunates. Seldom to be classed with the insane, there was no refuge for them save the poorhouse, where they were often fed and lodged, but where no attempt was made to elevate their condition, or to develop such powers as might be latent in them. It was my father's principle, many times enunciated in his reports, that the child with but one talent required and deserved no less care and attention than the one with five. Not only did his heart go out to these sufferers in an anguish of pity, a flame of resolve, but his wide gaze saw in their present condition a fearful menace to the well-being of the community.

My father knew that in France the education of the idiot had begun; (11) indeed it is probable that he may have visited the asylum at Bicêtre. When, therefore, in 1839, a blind child was brought to the Perkins Institution who was also idiotic and unable to walk, my father gladly undertook his treatment, and was able to improve his condition greatly in all respects. Somewhat later two other blind idiots were received into the Institution and were treated with "considerable success."

This success led my father to infer "that if so much could be done for idiots who were blind, still more could be done for those who were not blind."

Having assured himself not only that the thing could be done but that he himself could do it, the next step was to convince others first of the need, then of the expediency of action by the State.

"It was considered a duty," he says, "to endeavour to do something for idiots as a class, and various plans were proposed. Such, however, was the public incredulity as to the capacity of ordinary idiots for improvement, that it was thought best to proceed very carefully, and in the first place to obtain accurate official information as to the number and condition of these unfortunate persons in the Commonwealth. In the winter of 1845 it was resolved to make a movement."

Probably my father felt that he should not appear directly as the prime mover in this matter, lest it be instantly set down as the vision of an enthusiast; but as usual he makes no mention of himself. On January 22, 1846, Judge Byington, then a member of the House of Representatives, moved an order for the appointment of a committee, "to consider the expediency of appointing commissioners to inquire into the condition of the idiots of the Commonwealth; to ascertain their number and whether anything can be done for their relief, and to report to the next General Court."

This order was passed and printed the same day, Judge Byington being made chairman of the committee. In its report, presented March 25, 1846, the committee urged strongly the appointment of such commissioners, and subjoined the following letter from my father.