[186] There were 66 found in a very short time.
[187] Volumes iii. and iv. of the _a.s.sociation Review_ (1901 and 1902) contain most interesting accounts of these first schools, with extracts from early reports, letters of Dr. Cogswell, Gallaudet and others; extracts from the Hartford _Courant_ and the _Connecticut Mirror_, both urging the importance of the school established at Hartford and the need of contributions, and the latter (in the issue of March 24, 1817) giving the conditions and terms of admission; also extracts from other papers, as the Albany _Daily Advertiser_, the New York _Commercial Advertiser_, the _General Aurora Advertiser_, _Poulson"s American Daily Advocate_, the _Christian Observer_, the _Freeman"s Journal and Columbian Chronicle_, of Philadelphia, and _Niles" Weekly Register_, of Baltimore.
See also E. M. Gallaudet, "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet."
[188] Pub. Stat., ch. 24.
[189] Pupils were in time received here from all the Southern states.
History, 1893, p. 5.
[190] This was to be called "The Western Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb". An a.s.sociation was formed, and the legislature was asked to incorporate the school. In 1822 a census was taken for all the state except two counties, when 428 deaf persons were found. The school was not established on the ground that it was too far removed from the center of the state. See _Annals_, v., 1853, p. 221; xxv., 1880, p. 30; Report of Ohio School, 1876, p. 30.
[191] A school under Roman Catholic auspices was established near St.
Louis in 1837.
[192] Report of Indiana School, 1851, p. 26. See also _Annals_, vi., 1854, p. 150. This honor is also to be shared in by the state of Ohio.
In 1844, or four years before the action of Indiana, the laws prohibiting the trustees from receiving more than a certain number of indigent pupils in one year at the expense of the state were repealed, and the trustees were authorized to admit suitable pupils, as they might deem necessary and proper. This probably had the effect of allowing all pupils free attendance, though it remained with the trustees to decide.
The formal removal of limitations respecting indigent pupils did not take place till 1854.
[193] A society was formed for the purpose, a charter secured from the legislature, and Congress pet.i.tioned for land. _Annals_, xiii., 1868, p.
233.
[194] History, 1893, p. 9.
[195] In Maryland, for instance, we find an early appropriation for those "teachable". The _American Journal of Education_ tells of the wonder on the part of the legislators of Ma.s.sachusetts when a cla.s.s of deaf-mutes was exhibited in their presence, iv., 1829, p. 78.
[196] P. 5.
[197] See Sketch of Origin and Progress of the Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb in Pennsylvania, 1821.
[198] Report, 1867, p. 12.
[199] See _Annals_, iii., 1851, p. 123, quoting from the _Boston Congregationalist_.
[200] History, 1893, p. 3.
[201] See Report of American School, 1823, p. 5; 1824, p. 10; 1840, pp.
5, 24; New York Inst.i.tution, 1829, p. 17; Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1839, p. 6; Illinois School, 1856, p. 10; Report of Select Committee to Visit Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1838, p. 3.
[202] It is interesting to note that of the first four inst.i.tutions incorporated in New York, the purposes are thus respectively given: "to afford the necessary means of instruction to the deaf and dumb, and also provide for the support and maintenance of those whose parents are unable"; "to aid and instruct the deaf and dumb"; "to instruct and support"; and "to receive, care for, support and educate".
[203] History, 1893, p. 4. See also _Annals_, vi., 1853, p. 234.
[204] Account of Origin and Progress of the Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1821, pp. 4, 7. See also "Sketch of Origin and Progress," etc., 1821, p.
4; Report of Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1875, p. 22.
[205] By Silva.n.u.s Miller, 1819, p. 15.
[206] 1819, p. 31 (reprint of 1894).
[207] 1839, p. 5.
[208] 1862, p. 5.
[209] 1853, p. 20.
[210] 1848, p. 3.
[211] i., 1835, p. 136.
[212] Jan., 18, 1817. Quoted in _a.s.sociation Review_, iii., 1901, p.
434.
[213] Address at Proceedings of Laying of Corner Stone, 1848, p. 13.
[214] March 1, 1827. Quoted in Report of New York Inst.i.tution, 1827, p.
19.
[215] By Lewis Weld, 1828, p. 3.
[216] Report of Select Committee of 18th Congress, 1st sess., upon a Memorial to Give Land, etc., 1824, p. 12.
[217] Quoted in _American Journal of Education_, i., 1826, p. 432.
[218] 1827, p. 10.
[219] 1834, p. 5.
[220] Address of Silva.n.u.s Miller, _loc. cit._
[221] 1863, p. 17.
[222] Quoted in History, 1893, p. 6. For other accounts of the condition of the deaf without education and the blessings to be obtained from it, see Report of Kentucky School, 1824, p. 10; Ohio School, 1842, p. 13; Kansas School, 1870, p. 12; History of Mississippi School, 1893, p. 3; _Southwestern School Journal_ (Tennessee), i., 1848, p. 49; J. H. Tyler, "Duty and Advantages of the Education of the Deaf", etc., 1843; Sermon by John Summerfield, in behalf of the New York Inst.i.tution, 1822; Discourse of Samuel L. Mitch.e.l.l, p.r.o.nounced at Request of Society for Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, New York, 1818; Addresses of Joseph H.
Lane and Ebenezer Demorest, before Legislature of Indiana, 1851.
[223] Harvey Prindle Peet, at first Convention of American Instructors, 1850, p. 141. See also _Annals_, iii., 1850, p. 160.
[224] x.x.xviii., p. 357.
[225] When the accounts of brave endeavor, and the rolls of those inflamed for human service, are finally made up, high indeed will stand the names of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Lewis Weld, John A. Jacobs, Abraham B. Hutton, Harvey P. Peet, Collins Stone, Horatio N. Hubbell, Thomas McIntyre, Luzerne Rae, Barabas M. Fay, David E. Bartlett, William W. Turner, Newton P. Walker, Jacob Van Nostrand, William D. Kerr, and others both of those who worked with them and who followed in their steps.
[226] Where the inst.i.tutions were under regularly chartered societies, these dues were usually fixed at $5, with life membership at $50, though the size of the fees varied in the different schools. In the American School the office of vice-president was created for those paying $200.
In some of these schools the fees proved of considerable a.s.sistance.
[227] The course of provision may be ill.u.s.trated in the case of the Ohio School. In 1829, at the beginning, an indigent pupil was to be admitted from each of the nine judicial districts of the state, "to be selected by the board of trustees from persons recommended by the a.s.sociate judges of the counties where they reside". In 1830 the number was increased to eighteen, in 1832 to twenty-seven, in 1834 to forty-eight, and in 1835 to sixty. In 1844 all suitable applicants were to be received, and in 1854 all limitations as to financial ability were removed.
[228] In many instances the school for the deaf was the first "benevolent" or "humane" inst.i.tution created by the state.
[229] In several instances a deaf man himself came to a community and organized a school.