REPORT OF MR. DAY,

On the Annual Examination of the Pupils.

HON. CHRISTOPHER MORGAN,

Secretary of the State of New-York,

and Superintendent of Public Schools.

SIR-In accordance with the invitation I had the honor to receive from you, I have attended the annual examination of the pupils of the New-York Institution for the deaf and dumb, which occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday, the ninth and tenth of July last, and respectfully submit to you the following

REPORT:

On entering upon the duties assigned me, I found every facility afforded for the most thorough examination into every department of the Institution, domestic, mechanical and educational. It contributed also, in no small degree to the pleasantness of the examination, to be associated with the Rev. Doctor Adams, of New-York, who as the committee of the board of directors, attended all the examinations, and suggested many valuable inquiries. The result of these inquiries and observations, I now proceed briefly to state.

DOMESTIC DEPARTMENT.

This we found in excellent condition. Indeed the healthy appearance of the pupils, speaks volumes in behalf of the care and efficiency with which it is conducted. A marked neatness pervades every part of the building. The food is plain and whole

some, and served with considerable variety. The care taken in the ventilation of the building, especially the sleeping rooms, is worthy of all praise: and after we had made the tour of the building, from the kitchen to the dormitory, and seen the scrupulous attention paid to the established conditions of health, we ceased to wonder that during the fearful prevalence of the Asiatic cholera in New-York last summer, the Institution for the deaf and dumb was wholly exempt from its ravages.

This I inspected with no little interest, for in the facilities for obtaining a trade, on which, in after life, the pupils may depend for a livelihood, the American institutions differ from the institutions generally on the continent of Europe. That ours have greatly the advantage in this respect, cannot for a moment be doubted. A large part of deaf-mutes come from indigent families, and after they leave the Institution, must depend for a support, to a great degree, upon their own exertions. If they would live, they must work and to work to any advantage, or to sustain themselves amid the constant competition which exists, they must be taught how to work, that is, in other words, in the majority of cases, they must have a trade. It is obvious that as a general rule, under no circumstances, can they learn a trade as easily or as well as in connection with an institution which interests itself in endeavoring to make them good and useful citizens. The trades at present taught, are the same which have been preferred for a number of years, viz; cabinet making, shoemaking, book-binding, tailoring and dress-making; to which may be added gardening. When it is considered what a signal advantage employment in setting types would be, it seems worthy of serious consideration whether the addition of printing, especially for the pupils from the cities, would not be desirable.

INTELLECTUAL DEPARTMENT.

This of course is of preeminent importance, and to it my attention was chiefly directed. Instead of giving a simple detail of what the committee saw and heard in passing from class to class, it may better answer the purposes of comparison to arrange

the observations we were able so make according to the several branches of study. These may be enumerated as follows: writing, (penmanship,) composition, arithmetic, geography, history and biography, astronomy, general knowledge, articulation, morals and religion. The examination was much facilitated by the schedule placed in the hands of the committee by Dr. Peet, containing a clear statement of the standing and studies of each class, a copy of which is subjoined.

1. Writing. The formation of the letters of the alphabet is obviously one of the first things to be attended to, in a course of instruction in which written language is to be made to supply the place of speech. Accordingly, we found all the pupils able to write with ease and facility. Most of them have a clear, plain hand, and the penmanship of not a few is uncommonly beautiful. It would be difficult to find among an equal number of speaking children, so many specimens of good writing as these pupils exhibit. And since for the deaf and dumb a plain hand corresponds in many respects to a distinct articulation among speaking children, it is manifest that the instructors of the NewYork Institution have not overrated its importance.

With the manual alphabet, which conveniently supplies the place of written letters, when a slate or other writing apparatus is not at hand, and which is here made on one hand instead of two, as in Great Britain, the pupils, from the first, become entirely familiar.

It may be stated that in all the classes we found each scholar standing before a large slate, so that the committee were able to see all the mistakes that were made. The difference between the thoroughness of such an examination, and one in which, as in most of the schools for the deaf and dumb on the other continent, the pupils write on small slates and the teacher selects those he thinks proper to show to a visitor, is manifest.

2. Composition. Under this head is included all that pertains to the knowledge of written language, viz: the meaning of words, their proper spelling, and their appropriate place in connected discourse. It is peculiar to the instruction of the deaf and dumb

that in learning the English language, they necessarily learn at the same time what in other schools is divided into separate branches, as spelling, grammar and definition. Instead, there fore, of looking at each of these branches by itself, the committee were called to direct their attention to the ability exhibited by the pupils, to express their thoughts in written language. To impart this ability is obviously a chief part of the labor of the instructor of deaf-mutes: for by obtaining such an acquaintance with language as to be able to express their thoughts in it, they are at once brought into communication by means of writing with speaking men: they can enter into conversation with their parents and friends: and through books can go on without limit in adding to their knowledge. To compare an acquisition like this, with the power of articulating a few common sentences, as is sometimes done, is as great an indignity to reason as to compare the intelligence of mind with the chattering of a magpie.

To the knowledge of language, therefore, possessed by the pupils, the committee directed their principle attention. The scholars who had been one year under instruction were found to have acquired the power of writing connected sentences of a simple character, together with a considerable vocabulary of words, and the more elementary inflections of the verb. The following specimens are a fair sample of the attainments of the more advanced of these:

A man chopped a tree with an axe. The tree fell down on the ground. The man lifted it and put it in a wagon. The wagon carried the tree home.

Last Saturday, a boy played on the railroad. A car ran over the boy. Some people saw the boy and they ran to the boy. They carried him into a house. The boy's parents are very sorry. The boy was dead. The people put him in a grave.

It will not be understood, of course, that all who had completed their first year of instruction were found able even to approximate to this degree of attainment. Several of them are evidently, somewhat deficient in natural capacity: some came under instruction at an age too advanced to permit them to learn easily, and one at least, was embarrassed from defective vision. From these various causes, a part of them, notwithstanding the faithfulness shown in instruction, are painfully backward. Their