The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1869-02-12
MANIT woo:
Friday, February IL, 1869.
Illinois School for Idiots and Feeble
minded Children.

Through the kindness of Superintendent
WILBUR, Of he Illinois School for Idiots and
Feeble Minded Children, we have received
the Sd and 4th, reports lin one coyer) of
the officers of the above named school.
During the year 1867 there were Al pu.
pills in 1868 there were Co. Some have
been discharged as incapable of improve
ment and some SO much improved as no
longer, in the opinion of parents, to need
the training of the school. The present
number of pupils ia so. Their average
age is thirteen years.
nee the opening of the school 207 ap-
plcatlons for admission have been receiy-
ed from 60 Of the lO2 coun les Of the state
There have been Is applications from
other states, of which four were from Wis
consin.
1t is regarded as probable that there are
over 1000 of the wretched persons in
Illinois, and established by investigation
that their number equals that of insane
persons and exceeds that of the blind and
deaf and dumb.
The trustees in the Sc report remark
that the improvement in the mental an d
physical condition of all the children is
very marked and noticeable and the de-
velopment Of the hidden and apparently
unreachable powers of mind of many of
them, is clearly in advance of our antici>
pations, hopeful and sanguine as those an
tcipations were in the outset"
In the 4th report they state that their
convictions of the usefulness of the school
are strengthened and deepened by further
experience, and they declare that in their
judgment the claims Of this large class of
children to an education (Which in their
cases can be procured only under the pc
culiar methods employed in such instifu
tions) care as legitimate and reasonable as
those that any other class Can set up
They strongly urge the legislature to
make immediate provision for erecting
permanent buildings of sufficient capacity to
receive all the feeble minded chldr> n of
Illinois.
The reports Of the Superintendent con-
tain highly interesting accounts of the con>
dition Of the children, at the time of their
admission and of the progress made in
their education, with here and there
hint of the curious processes employed.
We suspect that people who may hap
pen to be possessed of only that degree of
hopefulness, patience anG skill that usual
ly falls to the lot Of human beings, will not
marvel over much at the fol lowing remark
incidentally made by the Superintendent
I'm several instances, it has taxed the iu-
genuity OF the teachers severely, to devise
means to arrest the attention and to ascer-
tain the reliable points in the cases, which
should prove to be the starting points for
systematic development of their faculties.
The expenses Of the Institution for two
years have been $50, 264l9
Children between the ages of seven and
fourteen who are so deficient in intelligence
as to be incapable of being educated at any
ordinary school, and who are not epileptic,
insane or greatly deformed, may be admits
ted"
The education furnished, includes not
only the simplest elements of instruction
usually taught in common schools, where
that is practicable, but also a course of
training In the more practical matters OF
every day life, the cultivation of habits of
decency, proprlety, self>management and
self reliance, and the development and ems
largement OF capacity for useful occupa-
ton.
A similar school is greatly needed in
this state. We trust the present legisla-
ture will establish one.