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Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe

Creator:  (editor)
Date: 1909
Publisher: Dana Estes & Company, Boston
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 1

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450  

"But not so taught he whose simplest words are wiser than the wisdom of wise men, and who told us that if one sheep be lost we should leave the ninety and nine and seek until we find it. And shall we not, especially since we need not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness of ignorance, -- shall we not seek our lost lambs, and gather them into the fold of humanity, that none may be lost, and that we may give account to Him, who surely will demand of us his own with usury?"

451  

The school was soon moved from the Perkins Institution; not only on account of its own need of wider space, but because the blind pupils resented keenly, and perhaps not unnaturally, the presence of their weak-minded brethren. Always sensitive, they fancied, perhaps, that they might be classed with these unfortunates; even Laura Bridgman writes in her journal: "I should be so happy to be much more pleasantly established with the whole house if they could prescribe to the Idiots not to have our rooms."

452  

"In 1855 a pleasant site was chosen in South Boston, at some distance from the Perkins Institution, and a building erected which was for many years the happy and cheerful home of the feeble-minded children of the State.

453  

During a number of years my father devoted a large part of his time to the service of the School for Idiots, visiting it daily, examining all candidates for admission, engaging all officers, prescribing diet, regimen, rules and regulations, discipline and exercises, and making all examinations in person. He kept the correspondence, and ordered all expenses. He also travelled through the State in search of pupils, and visited other States, bringing before their legislatures the plan of having their idiotic children sent to the school at suitable charges.

454  

In the winter of 1850-51 he appeared with some of his pupils before the state authorities of New York at Albany, showing what had been done in Massachusetts, and urging the establishment of a similar school in New York. Soon after this visit a law was passed for the establishment of an "institution for idiots," with an appropriation of six thousand dollars a year for two years. In July, 1851, Governor Hunt of New York wrote to my father, "Your visit to our capital last winter was of great service. We feel that we are much indebted to you for the success of the measure thus far, and hope we may have the benefit of your experience and counsel in carrying our plan into practical operation. . . . You must remember that we are new beginners in the good work, and until we have had some experience of our own, we must look to the East for light and information."

455  

And in March, 1852, the Hon. Christopher Morgan, secretary of the New York Board of Education, wrote to my father, concerning the new school, "It may now be regarded as permanently established, and to your visit, more than anything else, are we indebted for this noble charity."

456  

All this labour on my father's part was without money and without price. It was not until 1868 that he consented to receive a nominal allowance for his travelling and personal expenses. I should add that from this time forward he was the recognized authority on idiocy in this country, and parents brought their idiotic, feeble-minded or backward children to him from all parts of the United States and from Canada for examination and advice. This also was a labour of love; he never would accept a penny in payment of such services.

457  

Until 1887 the School remained at South Boston, and was then removed to Waltham, its present and probably its permanent home. To-day, the ten pupils have increased to twelve hundred; and under the wise and benevolent direction of Dr. Walter M. Fernald each year shows some step forward in the great work of tending and elevating the helpless children of the Commonwealth.

458  

The "Idiots," as we children used to call the school, was another of the happy play-places. We loved to run along the sunny corridors, to slide down the wonderful fire-escape, to swing and climb in the big airy gymnasium, to finger the simple, bright-coloured apparatus of the schoolroom. We found nothing sad or painful in the scholars, with their happy vacant faces; nothing melancholy in all the bright, cheerful place. Many of the children were pleasant playfellows enough, and I can testify that a halfwitted girl may make a faithful and tender nursery-maid.

459  

Here, as at the Institution, "Doctor" was the central figure. His visit was the event of the day; teachers and pupils alike felt the stir of his coming, like a "going among the tree-tops." He passed like light through the rooms; the dullest child brightened at sight of him, and dear old Charley Smith, gentlest of fifty-year-old children, would leave his wooden horse to run to him.

460  

They loved him, the children whom he had rescued from worse than death. When he died, they grieved for him after their fashion, and among all the tributes to his memory none was more touching than theirs: "He will take care of the blind in heaven. Won't he take care of us too?"

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