remediably poor. But not only has it been ascertained that many, who would once have been considered, and treated, as incurably blind, may be restored to sight, but that by means of an asylum for those whose eyes no skill can open, they, like the deaf and dumb, may be taught the arts and trades, by which they may be secured from an otherwise inevitable dependence for their support upon the bounty of others. There are asylums for the blind in Paris, in Edinburgh, in Liverpool, &c; and I heartily congratulate our fellow citizens upon the prospect we have of a similar institution in our own city. It is not an experiment which is now for the first time making among us, of the practicability, to a very considerable extent, of enabling the blind to provide for their own support by their own labors. It is a well established fact, that there are important mechanic arts which can not only be practised by the blind, but in which the blind

May God speed

may even be instructers of the blind. the enterprise, which has for its object so excellent a charity!

*

*The New England Asylum for the Blind, in Boston, was instituted in February, 1829. It was opened for the reception of pupils about the middle of the last August. Dr S. G. Howe is its superintendent; and he has not only qualified himself for the service by visiting the best asylums for the blind in Europe, but he has with him a very able blind teacher of the blind, who came with him from Paris for the purpose of being an instructor in Boston. There are now four male, and three female pupils in the school; and they have already given very satisfactory evidences of the usefulness of the institution. The permanent fund for its support is now about $3000; and it receives from $2000, to $2500 a year, by a grant of the Legislature, which appropriated to this asylum whatever surplus might annually be uncalled for of the grant made

Another division in this class consists of the curably insane, in whom their malady is the result of causes be

for the education of the deaf and dumb in the State. There are, however, many applicants for this charity, who, from the inadequacy of its means of supporting them, are necessarily excluded from it.

In this connexion, I beg leave to express my sense of the great importance and value of one of the most interesting, and at the same time one of the least patronized, of our institutions for the relief of suffering humanity; I mean, "the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary." It is very common with me, as I pass from house to house among the poor, to see the young, as well as the aged, - parents and children, suffering grievously from affections of the eyes; and, but for this Infirmary, unspeakably aggravated would be their sufferings. But there they go for relief; and there they are actually relieved from diseases, which otherwise might have been of an indefinite continuance, and, in not a few cases, might have brought on a total blindness. It is, in truth, a matter of very great surprise, that after the publication, and distribution of the reports of this institution, in which we are told that about 700 individuals have annually gone to it for the advice and aid of its physicians; that from its commencement, in the autumn of 1824, there have been five thousand three hundred and sixty applicants for this charity; of the comparatively small number of cases in which their diseases have been incurable; of the cases of recovery from total blindness; and, of the large numbers who have there been restored to the use, and the enjoyment of their sight, who might otherwise have suffered from a diseased vision through their lives; and, when it is considered, that those who are so relieved there are of the class who depend on their daily labors for their daily subsistence; that many of them are females, whose diseases of the eyes have been induced by their severe labors as seamstresses, for the very purpose of escaping a dependence on charity for their support; and that many are the children of the poor, who, by a loss of their sight, may have no refuge from irremediable poverty, but in an asylum for the blind; it is indeed very surprising, in view of these unquestionable facts, that, in our benevolent com

yond their control. We place in the third class the curably insane, whose insanity is fairly ascribable to their own misconduct. As far as poverty, or a dependence on charity is occasioned by insanity, it is, of course, as remediable as is the disease; and the innocence of any in these cases being admitted, their claims, at least in the view of Christianity, are as unquestionable, as their condition is forlorn. The proportion is indeed so considerable of cases, in which, under modern treatment, the insane are recovered to the enjoyment of reason, that the division of poor to which I here refer has, on this ground, very strong demands upon the sympathy and interest of their fellow beings.* It would seem, indeed, to whatever cause insanity is in any case to be ascribed, that an appeal for kindness in behalf of those who are bereft of reason, and who can be suitably provided for neither by their own, nor by the

munity, this institution should not have obtained an endowment more suited to its unequivocal, and its great deserts. I am indeed glad of an opportunity, if my judgment shall be thought to be of any value on the question of the usefulness, and the claims of our charitable institutions, to call the attention of our opulent and philanthropic citizens to this important, and deserving Infirmary. It has done much, and might do much more, as a means of saving from poverty, as well as for the alleviation of physical suffering. It is, in every view of it, eminently a christian institution. But with its present resources, it can but partially accomplish its objects. It was founded by the philanthropy, and from the smallness of its funds could have failed but for the untiring services, of Dr Reynolds, and Dr Jeffries. For this Infirmary, as well as for an asylum for the bind, it would seem that nothing more could be wanted, than an appeal to christian sympathy and kindness. But they are both worthy of patronage, if viewed only as expedients of political economy.

*I am told by Dr Wyman, physician of the asylum in Charlestown, that three fourths of the insane, under a wise and faithful treatment, may be considered as curable.

resources of those immediately connected with them, must be wholly needless. And, happily, a truly generous provision is making by the civil authorities of our Commonwealth, exclusively for the insane poor. It is, in truth, a most humiliating fact, that many of the insane poor have been sent to the prisons in our State, and have thus been treated as criminals, - on no other grounds than that this was the least expensive method of confining them. Within six years, fiftyeight of this class of sufferers were sent to the House of Correction in our city; and there shut up in cells sufficiently dark, close, unventilated and unwholesome, to make incurable the insanity from which the unhappy subjects of it might have been recovered, perhaps, even by a month or two of the care and kindness which they could have received, if they had been placed in the asylum in Charlestown.*

There is another section of this class of the poor, which has peculiar claims upon the interest of the patriot, the philanthropist, and the Christian. I refer to that large body, the children of the poor, from infancy to 15, or 16 years of age. Here is at once the most abundant, and the most controllable of the sources of poverty and crime; for here may remedies of these evils be most effectually applied, and thus a new principle of life and happiness be imparted to society. Some of these children require, indeed, no especial care beyond that of their natural guardians; for there are no parents more judicious, vigilant

* Let any one go even now to our House of Correction in Leverett Street, and see the insane who are there, and if he be not shocked by the wickedness of this treatment of these unhappy fellow beings, why, I know not of any form of immorality which is sufficiently hideous to shock him.

and faithful, than are to be found among the poor. But some among them are orphans, who have no immediate relatives that are at once disposed, and able, to take the charge of them. Others of them are the children of widows, who would, but unaided cannot, bring them under the discipline of virtuous principles. And others of them are the intellectually and morally neglected children of poor and vicious parents. Depraved, however, as any of these children may be, they are still, respect to their poverty, to be accounted innocent; for their poverty, or dependence on charity, to a great extent at least, is a necessary consequence of their parentage. And this poverty should in every case be held to be remediable. Children of this

in

class are received into our House of Industry only when they are very young, where they are well taught, and are all indented to masters in the country before they reach the age of twelve years. These children, I am told by the master of the House, generally do well. A considerable number of those who are further advanced in years, and in vice, are sent to the House of Reformation, where, after having been well taught, and well trained in the way they should go, they are also indented to masters in the country, till they shall have attained the age of 21 years. The results of this experiment have been favorable beyond even the most sanguine expectations of its friends. But further provision for this class of children is demanded, and it will soon be made, in the establishment of a Farm School, to which we look as one of the wisest and most efficient of the institutions which has been devised by christian benevolence.* Poverty, and crime indeed

* The proposition of a Farm School, for the more extensive rescue and education of idle and morally exposed children in this city, was