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It is obvious, from what has been said in these pages, that we owe to the blind not merely an ordinary elementary "schooling" and some kind of technical training, or the opportunity of being drilled in a mechanical occupation and facilities to exercise it advantageously, but a rounded development of character and of their best and largest capacities, -- an education which will render them strong and vigorous both physically and intellectually as well as morally, will train their senses to keenness, widen their horizon of knowledge, nurture their natural aptitudes, foster their individuality, broaden their sympathies, chasten their feelings, warm their hearts by the contemplation of noble deeds, introduce them into the ethical world and into new fields of duty, instil in them a helpful spirit and enable them to attain a wide range of mental vision and a great power of thought and of varied expression, so that they may become better prepared and more fully equipped to solve the problems of life and act nobly their part in its drama when they shall enter upon the stage of practical activity. This sort of education will be for the blind a central sun of vast illuminating power, from which they may gather light and warmth and blessing.

The ultimate ideal, toward which we are striving, is briefly this: --

I. A kindergarten and primary school, possessing a sufficient endowment and amply provided with the necessary educational facilities and the best possible influences for training the little pupils in a thoroughly rational manner and for laying a firm foundation for their physical; mental, moral, social and esthetic development.

II. A grammar and high or preparatory school, offering a classical and an English course, complete in its departments for physical and manual training, as well as for literary, scientific and musical studies, add liberally supplied with educational appliances, apparatus and musical instruments of various kinds. Its financial status should be such as to enable it to secure the services of a strong corps of efficient and wide-awake teachers, and its curriculum should take into account the needs, the capacity, the limitations, the tastes and the special requirements of the blind, thus making provision for a thorough cultivation and discipline of all their powers, so that our graduates may be well prepared and adequately equipped to enter any of the New-England colleges and universities, or, if they cannot afford to do this, to take their places among the active and self-relying members of society.

III. A special fund, the income to be used in conferring scholarships on deserving graduates of our institution in order to enable them to avail themselves of the superior educational advantages afforded to youth of both sexes by the best colleges, universities, conservatories of music and professional or commercial schools in New England, where, in company with those who can see, the blind may pursue their studies in any branch of knowledge, in music or in the arts, sciences or professions.

It may be well for us to consider in this connection the question whether it is right and best to found and support a separate college or university for the exclusive use of the blind, or, if it is not, where their higher education should be prosecuted.

Experience, reflection and sound philosophy all lead to the conclusion, that persons suffering under a common infirmity are liable to certain unfavorable and undesirable consequences, flowing from their abnormal condition. These are undoubtedly aggravated by the close association of the sufferers in considerable numbers and for a great length of time, while they are lessened by constant intercourse with ordinary and normal persons. The reasons for this are obvious. The loss of sight is not merely a bodily infirmity; it affects all sides of the human organism, the intellectual and moral no less than the physical. It is the unanimous opinion of all competent and candid judges, that the blind as a class incline to one or the other of two extremes of conduct. They are either very timid, meek, hesitating and dependent, or bold, egotistical, conceited and so self-assertive as to be almost impertinent. Owing to their infirmity, which tends to shut them off from the rest of the world and to turn their thoughts inward, they are very apt to think constantly of themselves and to take wrong views of things, which dwarf their lives and hinder their possibilities of growth and success. They keep their thoughts entangled ever in the low lands of selfishness and miss the glories of the hills of self-forgetfulness and of the heavens that bend over them.

These traits and various other peculiarities of a similar nature, which ensue from the extinction of the visual sense, are intensified by the practice of removing the victims of this calamity from their homes and of gathering them together in large institutions for the purpose of teaching and training them. Great and beneficent as the advantages which our pupils derive from the present system of educating them unquestionably are, we cannot but regret most profoundly the necessity which renders it imperative for us to bring under one roof a large number of sightless children and youth, setting them apart as a separate class, and which is often fraught with consequences both evil and permanent.