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Address Of The The Trustees Of The New England Institution For The Education Of The Blind To The Public

Creator:  Edward Brooks, Horace Mann, and S.C. Phillips (authors)
Date: 1833
Publisher: Carter, Hendee & Co.
Source: Perkins School for the Blind

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The Trustees deem it unnecessary to go into any particular detail of the method of instruction pursued at their Institution; the specimens at the end of this pamphlet, the raised letters, the musical notes, &c. indicate that the touch is the sense upon which the blind depend, for the acquirement of their knowledge. Their apparatus is as perfect, to say the least as that of any other institution, and they confidently hope for success, in accomplishing the object proposed by educating the blind.

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Fully satisfied as the Trustees were themselves, of the capacity of this neglected class for receiving an education, they were determined to prove it by experiment before making a call upon the public; on the return therefore of their agent from Europe with the blind teachers, they took seven blind persons from different parts of this state, varying in age from six to twenty years. These children, taken at random, have now been under instruction nearly five months, and can read correctly with their fingers books printed for their use; they learn arithmetic faster than the generality of seeing children; they acquire more correct and definite notions of geography from their maps than seeing children can, since they are unassisted by the written names; and their progress in music is decidedly great. In regard to manual labor, some of the pupils can already fabricate moccasins and door mats, which are as strong and durable, and as handsome in appearance, as those made and sold in our shops.

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Finally, the Trustees consider that they have accomplished the most difficult part of the task in putting their institution into actual operation; they have planted the tree -- it depends upon a generous public to water it and rear it; and they will only add, that if there be the slightest hesitation in the mind of any one about the propriety of encouraging the charity -- if there be any one who shall entertain the shadow of a doubt of the utility of their Institution, its doors are open, let him come and see for himself.

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N. B. The Institution is located at No. 140 Pleasant St. and may be seen Thursday afternoons, from three to five, by a permit from one of the Trustees, or from the Superintendent, Dr. S. G. Howe.

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N. B. The lithograph appended is a fac simile of the hand-writing of the blind teacher.

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OFFICERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND ASYLUM FOR THE BLIND
PRESIDENT,
Hon. JONATHAN PHILLIPS.
VICE PRESIDENT,
Hon. WILLIAM B. CALHOUN.
TREASURER,
RICHARD D. TUCKER, Esq.
SECRETARY,
CHARLES H. LOCKE, Esq.
TRUSTEES.
ABBOTT LAWRENCE, JOHN D. FISHER, EDWARD BROOKS, JOHN HOMANS, SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, PLINY CUTLER, STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS, ROBERT RANTOUL, SAMUEL P. LOUD, WILLIAM P. MASON, HORACE MANN.

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HOUSE..... No. 22.
MEMORIAL.
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled.

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The undersigned, a Committee in behalf of the Trustees of the New England Asylum for the Blind, respectfully represent, that after considerable delays and expense, they have at length brought that Institution to a state of forwardness, which is not only sufficient to demonstrate that the Blind are capable of being made to contribute in a considerable degree to their own support, but are susceptible of great progress in intellectual and moral improvement. In order to arrive at this point the Trustees first dispatched a gentleman of high reputation to Europe, where he remained several months, and in the course of that time, visited most of the Institutions on the Continent of Europe, as well as in England, for the Instruction of the Blind. On his return to this city, he brought with him two blind Teachers, one of them a native of France, as an instructor in the Mathematics and higher branches of literature and science; the other from Scotland as a Teacher in several mechanic arts.

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Immediately on the return of their Agent, the Trustees decided after mature deliberation, to select half a dozen children from among the numerous blind in the State, and make an experiment in educating them.

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In the month of August last, the Institution was opened in this city, with six young persons, most of whom were supported at the expense of the Institution, being unable to contribute anything towards their own education.

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The Trustees are now desirous that the Legislature, by whose bounty they have been enabled to prosecute their design thus far, should witness the success of the experiment. The mission of an Agent to Europe; the purchase of the necessary apparatus for teaching; the Salaries of Teachers, and the support of the pupils thus far, has so nearly exhausted the slender resources in the hands of the Trustees, that without further aid it will be impossible to continue the establishment even in its present humble condition, much less to extend its usefulness so as to embrace any considerable proportion of the unhappy class of beings for whose benefit it is intended.

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The undersigned respectfully request that the Legislature will permit the Trustees to lay before them the result of their exertions, confidently relying on the good feeling and intelligence of the community to extend to them that aid which they are convinced may be justly claimed for the indigent Blind of the Commonwealth.

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