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'It should be strongly impressed upon the mother of the blind child, that she ought to do nothing for it which it can by any possible pains do for itself; she should allow it to roam about where it will; there is no fear of her suffering it to come to any serious harm; there is no danger that the tendrils of maternal affection should fail to twine about the frail plant, but there is danger that they may encircle it so closely, as to stint forever its growth.

'It would be useless to quote the immense attainments of many blind persons, who have had the advantage of a proper education, or have been endowed with great talents, for such examples would rather tend to discourage many blind than induce them to strive at imitation; but I may notice what I have repeatedly seen; the extraordinary difference between blind youth possessing the same natural advantages but differently treated by their parents. I have known young men who could not walk out without a guide, nor occupy themselves in any handicraft work and who could not even dress or feed themselves; they were moping, helpless dependents, sitting bowed under the weight of an infirmity, and the consciousness of their inferiority, which was recalled at every movement by the officiousness of their friends; they were alike useless to themselves, and burdensome to those about them.

'I have known others too without greater natural advantages, who required little more personal attendance than seeing persons, who never were assisted in shaving, or dressing, or feeding themselves, or going about in the neighboring houses; who could go all over a city; nay, who could ride on horseback in the country, and mingle with grace and spirit in the waltz, and the other amusements of society. These young men prided themselves in dispensing with the services of those about them as much as possible, and would take quite in high dudgeon any speech of condolence, or any allusions to their infirmity.

'In fact a blind youth should not be reminded of his infirmity, nor taught to consider himself as inferior to his fellows; it is not only useless but discouraging, and his abilities ought to be directed to the development of those of his senses which remain to him. He ought to be made to attend to all his own personal wants and comforts, he ought to be left to puzzle and grope out as many things as possible, and to be left rather in perplexity for an hour, than receive assistance in the accomplishment of anything which it is morally possible for him to do. And let me say that they can accomplish many things which to an unattentive observer would seem impossible; it would be hard, for instance, to convince many people that a blind man can by the sound of his voice ascertain whether a table of a sofa had been removed from a room which he had much frequented; that he can tell pretty correctly the age and size of a person from hearing him speak; or that he will correctly judge the character or another from the intonation of his voice in a conversation; that he can attain as much excellence in mathematical, geographical, astronomical and other sciences as many seeing persons, and that he can become as good a teacher of music, language, mathematics and other sciences, yet all this, and more can he do.'

The Trustees have endeavored to base their institution upon broad and scientific principles, and have spared no pains to commence aright. They have procured from France, one of the most accomplished young men who have been educated at the Paris Institution for the Blind; a young man whose acquirements in the classics, in history, mathematics, and general knowledge, would do credit to any seeing person of his age. He combines also with this, the talent of communicating his knowledge to others.

The Trustees earnestly beg the attention of the public to this fact, which they consider of great importance, viz., the superiority of the blind to seeing persons as teachers of the blind; they agree with Dr. Howe, that no person can so well understand and overcome the difficulties which a blind child has to encounter in learning, as one who had to encounter and overcome them himself. 'I should consider,' says he, 'a school for the blind without blind teachers, as necessarily imperfect.'

The Trustees have also procured from Edinburgh a blind mechanic, who teaches different kinds of work, which may now be seen at the Institution.

They flatter themselves that they have already introduced into their Institution, some important improvements in the method of teaching the blind; as one instance, they would refer to the map at the end of this pamphlet, which is on a plan entirely new, and unknown in Europe. There the maps are made with infinite pains and expense, by glueing strings on to another map, pasted on a board; besides the great expense and necessary clumsiness of which, they do not admit of the divisions and the lettering, which are here introduced. A map of this size would cost at Paris and Edinburgh five dollars; and it would weigh three or four pound's, and not have half as many distinctions as this, which costs less than one hundredth part of that sum.