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On March 1, 1888, the Garrison family, with the School's seven pupils, five boys and two girls, took possession of the Maxham property. The Vineland Training School was "off the ways," finally launched. The following years were to see the waves of its progress lap every shore of the earth.

The trials and triumphs of those years are briefly written in the chronology of the School. Its real history has been written in the lives of the children who are living or have lived in The Village of Happiness.

In the founding and management of the School, Professor Garrison had at all times the sympathy and wise counsel of his brother, Rev. Charles Garrison. The brothers had an inherited interest in the feeble-minded. In 1845, their father, Stephen Garrison, a member of the New Jersey State Legislature, had attempted to secure the establishment by the State of an institution for the care of this unfortunate group. The attempt failed but it was not entirely without results. Subsequently provision was made by the legislature of New Jersey for the care of a limited number of such children at Elwyn, Pennsylvania. This policy was continued for more than fifty years although, in the meantime, The Training School had been opened and another institution for mentally deficient girls and women established by the State, also at Vineland. Professor Garrison's interest and influence contributed largely to the establishment of the latter institution in 1889.

Professor Garrison's wise guidance of The Training School continued until his death in 1900. "In a little more than ten years he had surrounded himself by a coterie of philanthropic persons, elicited the sympathy of the best physicians, widely affected the public, and at the time of his death the Institution which he founded had acquired property consisting of 170 acres of land, on which are ten buildings, all of them valuable and adapted to their purposes and some of them really worthy of being spoken of as magnificent, representing an expenditure of about $200,000. His entire theory was based upon his motto for The Training School, 'The true education and training for boys and girls of backward or feeble minds is to teach them what they ought to know and can make use of when they become men and women in years.' "

Two years previous to Professor Garrison's death, Edward R. Johnstone had been called from the Indiana State School to become his assistant as Vice-Principal. He succeeded Professor Garrison. The mantle fell upon worthy shoulders. Inspired by "the vision" his genius has guided the work and controlled the policies of The Training School during the past thirty-two years.

No legacy left to The Village of Happiness by Professor Garrison transcends in beauty or expresses more clearly the simplicity and faith of his own soul than his "Good Night Song."

Every night in every cottage it is sung at bedtime. All evening assemblies, parties, plays, movies, close with it. It is a ceremony: the children rise; there is perfect quiet; then, in unison, they sing the poem to its simple tune; at the third verse, every head is bowed and, with lowered voices, "Now I lay me down to sleep" closes the day.

Good Night Song

Up to Thee my thanks would rise,
Thou Lord of earth and sea and skies;
Thou Lord my father and my guide,
Where'er I roam where'er abide.

Here within this dear retreat,
Thy helpful blessing I entreat;
Oh see my weakness, make me strong
And bless me in my evening song.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take. -- Amen!

Who shall doubt that the souls of fathers and mothers waiting in the Beyond have been comforted and gladdened as they, too, hear their children's voices raised in thankfulness from "Here within this dear retreat"? These are no idle fancies -- just a little faith makes them real.

THE VILLAGE SCHOOL

The training of mentally deficient children was from the beginning the purpose of the Village. There was no thought that these children could be thus prepared for self-sustaining and self-directing lives in the great world. It was patent that they could not compete on equal terms with the economic and social forces of a complex civilization. Therefore it was necessary that a different but complete world should be created for them -- one in which their limitations would be recognized, their capacities for usefulness developed, and facilities provided for utilizing their productive and creative powers.

It was becoming more and more evident that the public school systems, with respect to these children, were floundering about, more and more conscious of failure and calling for help. There were various reasons for this: lack of facilities; oversized classes; teachers under-trained and inexperienced in the handling of backward and difficult children forced upon them by "the system;" the absence of any approved scientific method of individual classification in regard to mental levels of children, with consequent mass grouping on the basis of chronological age.