Litchfield enquirer., 1864-06-23

LAKEvnLE.-Ihe Connecticut School flo, lmbeciles, at Lakeville, was formally dedicated on Thursday afternoon last. The School is most pcturesquely situated on the summit of a 1 hill, commanding view of the village and lake, and is sufficiently large to accommodate sixty pupils, and is supplied with all the modern improvements. It is hardly yet com pleted, and Dr. Knight had occupied it only two days previous to it's opening. The Gov ernor was detained by illness, but the Lt.-Gov
 Ex-Gov. Holley and the legislative committee on humane institutions were present, together With other distinguished educational gentlemen from abroad. Addresses were made by the Superintendent, Dr. Knight, Ex Gov. Holley
 Lieut.. Gov. Averll Rev. Dr. Turner of the Deaf and Dumb Institute of Hartford, Dr.
 Butler of the Retreat, Hon. o. H. Perry and
 Nm. l.. Humason of the House of Representa-. tlves, Richard Smith, Esq. of Sharon and T. S
 Gold, Esq. of Cornwall. In the evening the company were elegantly entertained at the resi- dence of Gov. Holey, and altogether the affair passed otf with great eclat.
 We have room only for the speech of the Hon. Oliver Il. Perry, Chairman of the Committee on Humane Institutions, who being called up- on, responded as follows :-
 | MR. PRESIDENT :-J am not here to-day for an address to this numerous audience, gathered to give effect to these dedicatory l hu tSim oP the Legislature of the State, to whom are re- ferred all matters appertaining to the humane institutions of the State, among which your l School for lmbeclles has now taken most prominent and worthy place. We are here not | so much to read from reports, interesting as | they are, but rather to examine, by personal | observation, into the manner in which your school is conducted, and the degree of success attending it. do not know how others may have felt, but as for myself, could not look | upon the scene presented in the school room this morning, without being profoundly i'm pressed. That mans sensibilities must lie deeper than my own, that would not bear wit ness. by fearful eye and more quickly beating heart, to the sad yet hopeful interest of the spectacle there presented I need not say that We have been pleased with what we have here seen nay, will add, and in this think express the minds of the entire Con- mlttee, we have been more than pleased-we have been greatly gratifed. We expected to find that patient care and cultivation had done much to develope the naturally feeble intellect of these unfortunates; but we did not expect to witness the moral miracle of mind seemingly created, where none appeared be- fore. It is at the same time marvel and a demonstration that these imbeciles are within the reach of an impro vement which hitherto | ho hpQn rhf tl thing that can touch the heart of the philan- thropists, or call for the sympathy of the hu- mane, it is the condition of those who, by ma ture, are deprived of those faculties which usu- ally are the common lot of all. Your institu- tion endeaTors to meet the wants of this un- fortunate class, not so much by supplying that which they have not, as by cultivating that which they have; and so not only alleviate their suferings. but make them so self-hel pful as to relieve their friends or the community in which they live, from a lifelong burden, which otherwise be laid upon them. Other States, for some time past, have made success ful attempts to imp1o owe the condition of the imbecile and idiotic, but this is the first ex- pertinent of the kind in our own State, and for which we are mainly, if not entirely indebt- ed, to the benevolent impulses and the persev- ering and selfsacrifcing labors of its present Superintendent. We are happy to find the encouraging degree of success which has crowned his labers thus far, and in connection Il with the history of this institution, the name of Doctor Knight will be held in grateful and lasting remembrance. The State has already recognized the importance and value of this Institution by its benefactions, and has thus given the best possible proof of the estimate which it places upon it. Those, I doubt not, are but the earnest of that care and patronage which the people, through their representa- tiSes, are ever ready to bestow upon objects which so strongly appeal to the hearts. and hands of the wise and good in every age May its progress still be onward, until it's appoint ments and endowments shall be ample enough to reach every individual in the State, to whom otherwise the light of understanding would be forever shut out.