Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-01-08

i
ment has proved successful. The books show this
year Of earnings oyer expenses Of SGS9.l9,
which is marked change in the balance Of
counts. Great care is taken for the welfare and
improvement Of the convicts. and every thing s
done for their good which the nature Of the
will permit.
| am constrained to say bere, that the Jail sys-
ten in this State is far from being satisfactory.
As have said before, it is attended by evils which
are disastrous in the extreme, and would respect
fully renew my recommendation that you provide
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
and improved, but upon the whole the present
mode of caring for those unfortunates is approved
as the best provision could make.
The Hospital for the Insane is still crowded with
inmates. Applicants are awaiting the Completion
of the new wing. This it will be necessary to pro-
vide for. The building will then be architeetu-
rally complete, and the institution large
can be adyanta gcously managed. The adjacent
| lands on the south have been purchased. and the
grounds convenient and symmetrical Cor
daily conceding 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 are somewhat short Of perfec
! tion in methods, If not in system of caring
for the insane. Cells and corridors and stone walls
dreary confines for minds broken under the
weight Of real or fanced wrongs. II may be justi-
! fed on the homeopathic principle that the proper
medicine for sick man is that which produces the
same disease in well one; for brief treatment
Of in these crowded corridors would
very give him title to stay there. | cannot
venture to point out (even were able) precisely
what should be done, but 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
inevitably grow up in such institutions and think
it confession of fault if they strive to improve
in every possible way their methods, instrumental
ties. and even their system.
| If | were to permit myself a suggestion it would
be that we strive to make the Hospital less Of 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. / think that the laying out Of
the grounds some artistic plan would afford salu-
tary employment and recreation to many Of the n-
mates and thus without much outlay by the State the
place may be made attractive, and the gloom which
pervsdes the atmosphere of such Institution be
mitigated if not dispeled 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 mana cement of
the establishment. would therefore recommend
that the hospital be placed under the supervision
other Institutions sustaining similar relation to
the State
The Trustees Of the Maine General Hospital will
ask your aid. 1t is understood that generous priv
ate benefactions 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 striking
changes brilliant results have yet appea red
but what mean to say is, that set upon
right ways that the faults, the wastes, and the
wants of our former practices have been brought
and appropriate means have been set in motion
which scarcely fail to work sautary and perma-
nent effects. We are seeking, not so much to change
the system, to infuse life into it; that the best
appliances, the best methods and the experience of
the best minds, can be extended to remote and hum
Bile places; that in educational sense, can
secure through every nook and corner of the State
the equal rights of all.
1t is moreover exaggeratcn to say, that the
present is new era in teaching 1t is not a little
singular to find novelty in an art so old But the
spirit Of our 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
to the mind with strange forms and aggrega-
ted facts, without harmony, relation life, pcr-
manence; it now teaches the mind from the yery
start to observe, compare, anaiyze, assimllate-t0
master and make its own in fact it is education
the training unfolding, leading and fashioning 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 ali. They can't teach merely
what they have borrowed night; but only that
which they have wrought out and made their own.
is ia IN q IN nd eifr and
point and in many ways tends to fit all, both
teacher and taught, to enter undismayed the arena
of these stirring and eventful times. l think
the highest good is fowing from Normal
Schools and Institutes and County Supervisor
| ships. They have caught the right spirit and
transfuse it, They are the means mainly by which
the State is to be reached and brought within the
better modes.
That the people are awake in this matter, it is
easy to They have raised over $500 900, this
past year, by direct taxation, and expended the
total sum of 81 100000 for the support Of schools
1t remains for us to take care, by all means in our
power that such means are not wasted and such in
tentons foied, We want, among other things, to
see that all have fair chance; that for instance.
the cost and changes and variety of books do no;
put poor parents to distress to keep the OF
education within their ehildreus reach.
feel that these are important matters, and have
thus spoken that We may understand the spirit in
which shall be called to act. We have wasted
good deal OF time and money hitherto; bat
believe have now begua better things,
and that with the intelligence. good sense aud
yigor now brought to bear on these interests, our
people will before long be satisfied with the re.
suits of their generosity and care.
As to our College OF Agriculture and Mechanical
Arts, although generous devotion to duty has
been manifest on the part of all who are charged
with its immediate concerns, it yet fails to at
tain u quite the prosperity which we hoped,
and which | believe is still possible for it -
1t is my duty to say that, far as appears, there
are two principal causes Of its present feeble and
uncertain condition. lst, The neglect of me-
cbanies and manufacturers and masters of the ln-
dustria Arts, to their rights in the college
%, The dcep-settled feeling the part Of many.
that the location is uufavorablc Tho existence of
these two disadvantages it is worse than folly to
deny or, pass with soft words. The truth is,
we must come to an understanding in the matter.
tits apity towaste money and mind, even for the best
of motives, without hope of successful end The
S2S 900 voted last winter in condition Of perfect
deed Of the property To the State, has fallen deaG
through failure Of the town TO make the full con
veyance. If We are all in earnest to have the col
lege 60 on where 1t is, neither the State nor th
town need insist much upon conditions. But if it i
the intention to remove the college, then it woult