The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-28
FEEBLE MINDED FOLK
How They are Taught and
What They Learn at EIwyn.
METHODS IN VOGUE THERE
Anticipated the Best in Use
for Normal Children.
METHODS IN VOGUE THERE

dren, ons of the oldest and one of the
most progressive institutions of its kind,
has lately issued its forty-sixth annual re-
port. The suggestions recently made that
the board OF education OF New York city
should provide special classes, such as ex-
list in Europe and in several Of our own
to be mentally defective, gives an especial
interest TO such a report at this time.
DR.. Walter I. Fernald, the superinten-
dent of the Massachusetts school says:
The essentially educauonaI character Of
the earlier institutions has been main
tanned, but the relations of the different
parts Of instruction are now better I'M
derstood Education as applied to the
development Of these feeble-mInded child
rem Is now understood in It's broadest
sense, not as mere intellectual training,
but as uniform cultivation of the whole
being. As now organized, our
American institutions are broadly divided
into two depoTtments-the school, or edu-
cational, and the custodial. In the school
department the children are instructed
n the ordinary branches Of the common
schools. As compared with the education
Of normal children it is d difference of
degree and not OF kind. O.. . The princi-
pies Of physiological training Of the senses
and faculties were formulated by
Seguin, and elaborated and applied bv
Richards and Howe years before the era
Of the kindergarten and the dawn of the
new education. It would be difficult TO
estimate properly the influence Of these
original and successful methods of in
structing the feeble-ninded in suggesting
and shaping the radical changes that have
been made in the methods Of modern
primary teaching of normal children"
The latest report from the Massachu-
sets institution shows that of 14S cases
admitted within the year, % were admitted
to the school department and So to the
custodaI department. The report for 1897
distinctly states that 'in selecting cases
for admission from the large number of
applications on file, as far as possible the
preference was given TO young improbable
cases Of the school grade" The reports of
the Syracuse state institution and the
Pennsylvania training school indicate
similar policy. 1t Is plain, therefore, that
an these three institutions, and as a mat
ter Of fact it is true also for those more
recently established. the cust%lial or asy-
lum department is secondary TO the school
department in Importance.
New York, unlike most of the states,
provides separate institutions for different
classes Of detectives; a school for teacha-
bic children at Syracuse, an asylum for
the unteachable at Rome, a home for
feeble-minded women at Newark. and a.
cl0ny for ep1eptics at Sonyea. Pennsyl-
vania retains what is known as the colony
plan. Both the school at Elwyn already
~s,c-
tabHshed in 1897 at Polk, Pa, accommo-
date in separate departments on the same
grounds improbable and unimprovable
cases, epileptics, and some cases Of juven-
lie insanity. Elwyn is, therefore, more
fairly representative than any of the New
York institutions
The unaccustomed visitor TO Elwyn IS
likely to aHght at thelittle station, antici-
pating disa agreeable experiences and pain
full sights. As he ascends Elwyn hill he
comes upon groups Of children happily
wandering over the green Slope or gather
ing flowers at the edge of the wood
Farther on he passes a group or empr-
Gle farm-boys, contentedIy busy with rake
and hoe. The scene, showing that what
ever the beauty Of nature and contact
with her can give to these children of mis-
mortune is theirs, charms the spirit Of de-
preston from lbs mind.
The institution occupies one of the finest
sites in a country noted for lovely scenery.
The long line Of buildings curved among
the trees on the crest Of the hill. The in
sttution property Of several hundred acres
includes fertile fields. orchards. gardens.
picturesque woodland. Fairgrounds, with
pavilions and sand-piles and a beautiful
park.
The department Of the training school
occupies the main building, one wing of
which is used for the boys. the other for
girls. \ third of a mile away from the
main building, and connected with it by
a donkey tram-road. is the custodial de-
partment, its four buildings taken together
being known as Hillside. Half way be
tween Hillside and the other group Of
buildings : the hospital Colonies Of boys
dive on each of the three farms. Ridley.
Edgmont and Sky Crest. Two cottages.
Woodsds and the -Four Gables, furnish
homes for some Of the teachers. The 900
inmates together with officers. atten-
dants and other employees, form a COM
munity Of about LOO people. village with
its own station and post Office, electric
light plant and water supply, and practi-
cauy its own government.
The children in the training school de-
Dartment (they are all called children"
regardless Of age) are divided the boys
;n,o clubs bearing such names as Wash
ingtoa. Lincoln, Wilbur Seguin; the girls
into circles known as Faith. Hope. Doro-
thea L. Dix and the like. \ circle or club
IS composed Of children Of about the same
-.- - a.
viii Doe companionable and helpful 10 one
another The system fosters a feeling Of
loyalty snd couradeship. each group form
:ns a family within the great institution
family. The boys take great pride in the
decoration Of their club rooms Every
child who care TO can have some box or
shelf for his or her belongings. which are
proudly shown toa visitor; bearded fel-
low. maybe, shutting up with a picture
book or toy, a brighter one displaying
some really -ngenius or beautiful thing
made with his own hands. Individuality
8 taken into account 70 a degree one
might not expect in 50 large an inSritu-
ton. With the exception % the uniform
worn by The military companies formed by
the boys no style OF dress is prescribed
the girl AZ ElWyn decides upon The width
OF a rgfle or the trimming Of waist
with as much interest as woman Of
fashion puts into the selection OF . win
tiers Quit.
Individual attention is, Of course, aeces-
sary inteaching This class OF children. and
the lower the gradeThe smaller the classes /
are made. The schools are in charge o:
Mss Susanna Led OF Norway and four
teen assistants. For ten years the posi-