Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-01-07

I hieHt uhs ptoFcu sucCtssiul luo DOOhs SNOW luis
year excess of earnings expenses of S6S9 49,
which is a marked change in the balance of ac-
counts. Great is taken for the welfare and
improvement Of the convicts, and every thing is
done for their good which the nature of the case
will permit.
TEN in this State is far from being satisfactory
As have said BEFORE ii is attended by evils which
are disastrous in the extreme, and would respect
fully renew my recommendation that you provide
some method to reach this matter.
The Executive Council have given particular at
tention to the condition of the deaf, dumb and
blind, who sent to institutions out Of the
State. Some matters of detail have been corrected
ana improved, but upon the whole the present
mode of caring for those unfortunates is approved
as the best provision we could make.
The Hospital for the Insane is still crowded with
inmates. Applicants awaiting the completion
of the new wing, This it will be necessary to pro-
vide for. The building will then be architectu-
rally complete, and the institution as large as
can be advantageously managed. The adjacent
lands on the south have been purchased and the
grounds are now convenient sI1 symmetrical. Cor
daily couceding all that is claimed for the
sincere efforts of those who have the manage
ment of the institution in charge, still remain of
the opinion that we somewhat short Of perfec-
tion in methods, If not in system Of caring
/ for the insane. Cells and corridors and stone walls
are dreary confines for minds broken under the
weight of real or fanced wrongs. 1t may be justi-
| fed on the homeopathic principle that the proper
medicine for sick man is that which produces the
same disease in a we'll one; for brief treatment
of a sane man in these crowded corridors would
very give him title to stay there. l cannot
venture to point out {even were [ able) precisely
what should be done, but we may reasonably expect
/ that those who especially charged with this
responsibility, instead of troubling themselves too
much to defend what they do, should set them
selves to search out and correct the evils which
! nj, Al h,.E
it confession of fault if they strive to improve
in every possible way their methods instrumentaii-
ties, aud even their system.
If were to permit myself suggestion it would
! be that we strive TO make the Hospital less cf a
prison and attend more to the healing influences of
Nature Let the inmates come in contact much
as possible with that which is calm and free and
natural and sane. l think that the laying out OF
the grounds on some artistic plan would aford salu-
tary employment and recreation to many of the in-
mates and thus without much outlay the State the
place may be made attractive, and the gloom which
peryades the atmosphere Of such Institution be-
mitigated if not dispelled by the beauty and salu.
brity of its surroundings.
For some reason which does not now clearly ap-
pear the Insane Hospital is largely exempt from
that responsibility to the Executive Council which
affects other Institutions of the State. The practi.
| cal effects Of this appear in many ways, and have
not contributed to relieve the doubts which have
| sometimes arisen in regard to the management oi
the establishment. l would therefore nd
that the hospital be placed under the super
as other Institutions sustaining similar relation tt
the State.
The Trustees of the Maine General Hospital will
ask your aid 1t is under stood that generous PRIV
ate beneactions are ready to follow appropriate
endowment by the State. This petition is emf
nenty proper. and should be received with the most
favorable disposition.
| EDUCATIONAL.
There is probably no branch of our public inter-
ests where such improvement has been made as in
that of common schools Not that any strikin z
changes or brilliant results have yet appeared
but what mean to say is, that we set upon
right ways; that the faults, the wastes, and the
wants of our former practices have bs1n brought out
and appropriate means have been set in motion
which scarcely fail to work salutary and perma
nent effects. Weare seeking. not so much to change
the system, as to inuse lite into 1T that the bes
appliances, the best methods and the experience o
the best minds, can be extended to remote and hum
bic places; so that in an educational sense, Car
secure through every nook and corner of the State
the equal rights of ALL
1t is moreover no exaggeraticn to soy, that the
present is era in teaching. 1t is not a little
singular to find novelty 10 art old. But the
spirit of institutions the demands of the times
have necessitated aims, Objects and methods which
render education altogether different business from
what it was generation ago. 1t no longer seeks
ted facts, without harmony, relation, life OF per
manence; it now teaches the mind from the very
start to observe, compare, anayze, assimiiate-to
master and make Its own in fact it is education
the training unfolding, leading and fashionng forth
of the mind. Teachers must now have something
more than good moral character-that and some
thing besides-they must demonstrate that they
have character at all. They cant teach merely
what they have borrowed over night; but only that
which they have wrought out and made their own
This tells on the young mind; gives it edge and
point, and in many ways tends to fit all, bott
teacher and taught, TO enter uudismayed the Arena
Of these stirring and eventful tues. | think
the highest good is flowing from Normal
Schools, and Institutes and County Supervisor
ships. They have caught tho right spirit and
traasfuse it. They are the means mainly by which
the State is to be reached and brought within the
better modes.
That the people awake in this matter, it is
easy see. They have raised over $500, 200, this
past year, by direct taxation, and expended the
total of l00,0 900 for the support of schools
1t remains for to take care, by all means in oul
power, that such means are not wasted and such in
tentiOns foiled We want, among other things, t
see that all have fair chance; that, for instance
the cost aud changes and variety Of books do no
put poor parents to distress to keep the O
education within their chidrens reach.
l feel that these important matters, and ha Y,
thus spoken that may understand the spirit il
good deal Of time and money hitherto; bu
| believe have now begun better things
and that with the intelligence, good sense aud
yigor now brought to bear these interests, oul
people will before long be satisfied with the re
suits of their generosity aud care.
AS to our College Of Agriculture and Mechanical
Arts, although generous devotion to duty ha:
been manifest on the part Of all who are charged
with its immediate concerns, 1t yet fails to at
tain to quite tho prosperity which we hoped,
and which | believe is still possible for 1t -
1t is my duty to say that far as appears, there
are two principal causes Of its present feeble and
uncertain condition. LIST, The neglect Of me-
chanics and manufacturers aud masters of the H.
dustria Arts to assert their rights in the college.
ID, The deep-settled feeling the part of many.
that the location is unfavorabe The existence ui
these two Disadvantages it is worse than folly u
deny or, pass with soft words. The truth is,
we must come to an understanding in the matter.
tits pity to waste money and mind for the bes,
of motives, without hope of successful end. The
$28 900 voted last winter in condition Of perfect
deed of the property to the State, has fallen dead
through failure Of the town to make the full con-
veyanee. If all in earnest to have the col
lege go where it is, neither the State the
town need insist much upon conditions But if il i
the intention TO remove the college, then it woulC
be best not to expend more money there. ! am TN