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1876.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 525
are cut off, would seem naturally to produce in their minds
discontent and dissatisfaction; and to find them otherwise
under the peculiar circumstances of their affliction, was as
much a gratification to your Committee, as it is a recom-
mendation for the merit of the asylum. One of the best
evidences of the good government of the institution, and
that it fully meets all of its requirements, is the fact of the
cheerfulness and apparent happy content of its unfortunate
inmates, who attend their studies and daily duties with spirit
and lively good humor.
In visiting the various class-rooms, we found there ninety-
one human beings, ranging from nine to twenty years of age,
whose communications to each other, as well as to all, Can
only be conducted in pantomimic gestures and sign language,
but in such a graceful manner and degree of intelligence,
that is creditable to those under whose instruction they have
been and are now being taught.
Their progress, as shown in the examinations, in the vari-
ous branches of learning to which we put them separately,
is truly wonderful, and is a good guarantee of the fitness of
their instructors and the efficiency of the course and mode of
instruction.
There are some pupils there who are being taught vocaliza-
tion, and who have progressed so far as to speak comparatively
plainly, although they cannot hear the sound of their own
voice.
Your committee take especial pleasure in reporting that
the mutes are also taught the trade of shoe-making, in which
from the specimens of their work, which we carefully in-
spected, they show considerable proficiency.
All these worthy and laudable results could not have been
accomplished except through the zeal and interest exercised
by the officers and attachees of the Institution. The gen-
eral health of the pupils is excellent, the location of the
Asylum perhaps, being a co-contributor with the uniform
cleanliness of the buildings and all their departments and
their judicious ventilation, and the care exercised over the
pupils by the officers, to this desired end.
We are firmly convinced, that under its present manage-
ment, the Institution is daily progressing, and becoming more
and more useful in the relief of its unfortunate charges, whose
deplorable condition cannot fail to arouse every sympathy of
the human heart, and enlist every enaction and feeling of
pity
Your Committee therefore recommend the appropriation of
a sufficient sum of money for the maintenance of the Institu-
tion for the years 1876 and 1877, and from proper estimates,
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