History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 56

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 56

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The following is an exhibit of the income, condition, and amount of the funds of the institution, as shown by the report of the trustees May 1, 1878:

Miscellaneous (or Joint) Fund .- The amount of this fund on the first day of May, 1877, was $589,720.99.

Its income during the past year has been from

Dividends on stocks

$1,633.50

Interest on loans.

30,556.36

Profit and loss account

10,85

Total income.

$35,200.71

The payments from the fund during the year have been as follows, viz. :

Indigent young women.

$4,000.00

Indigent widows.

4,400.00

Indigent boys

14,000.00

Indigent female children

3,670.00

Total payments

$26,070.00

This leaves a balanee of income, to wit, $9130.71, to be added to the principal of the fund, which makes it amount to $598,851.70, invested as follows, viz. :

State, city, and government stocks. $74,000.00

Bonds and mortgages, 454,051.00

Apprentices' loans .. 55,829.00

Cash

14,971.70

Total $508,851.70

Twenty-seven apprentiee boys have come of age and received loans of $500 each during the year, and the matured notes of 28 others have been surrendered.

Twelve of the girls formerly apprenticed have married dur- ing the year and received the marriage-portions to which they were entitled, and nine others of the same elass have received allowances for sickness expenses.

Forty-five boys and 27 girls have been indentured within the year.

The whole number of boys under indentures at this time is 125; and of girls, 64.

Contingent Fund .- The principal of this fund, May 1, 1877, was $335,938.06. The income since has been from

Dividends on stocks. $701.75

Interests on loans. 16,701.26

Total income ... $17,403.01

The payments from the fund have been :

Taxes $11,767.74

Expenses .. 5,059,85

Annuities. 9,50.00

Indigent widows.

2,650.00

Profit and loss.

3,798.00

Total expenditures .. $24,225.59

The principal of this fund is now $329,115.48, invested as follows, viz. :

Stocks

$52.040.00

Bonds and mortgages. 262,390,00

Cash.

14,685.48

Total $320,115.48

The amount paid from both funds for the year to indigent widows is $7050.

Agricultural School Fund .- The principal of the fund on the first day of May last was $94,521.41. The income from New York City stock and loans the past year has been $5914.54. Dedueting from this sum the contribution of the fund to the taxes and expenses of the institution, amounting to $1821.83, and adding the balance of the income, to wit, $4092.71, to the fund as reported last year, the principal of the agricultural school fund at this time amounts to $98,614.12, invested as follows, viz. :

New York city stock . $10,000.00

Bonds and mortgages. 86,725.00

Cash 1,889.12

Total $08,614.12

The amount of the several funds of the institution, with the building and lot occupied for the purposes of the eorpora- tion, is $1,061,979.30, divided among the several funds as fol- lows, viz .:

Joint fund .. $598,851.70

Contingent fund.

320,115.48

Agricultural fund. 98,614.12

Banking house and lot ... 35,398.00

Total $1,061,979.30

The present trustees are Geo. W. Hubbard, Wm. H. Dickin- son, and J. P. Felton.

The Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes .- This humane in- stitution was the first public establishment in the United States where the deaf were taught to read the lips, and the dumb to speak.

It was chartered in 1867, and was endowed by its generous founder, the late JJohn Clarke, in the sum of $50,000. Imme- diately thereafter the school was established, and the system of instrueting by articulation decided upon, and Miss Harriet B. Rogers, who had been successful in teaching this method, was ehosen principal.

Mr. Clarke died in 1869, and made the institution his resid- uary legatee. The whole endowment of the school is derived from bequests, which now amount to over $365,000. The school was opened in what is known as the Gothie Seminary

181

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

building, on Gothic Street, owned by L. J. Dudley. Here it was continued until the year 1870, when the Round Hill property, consisting of 11 acres, was purchased at a cost of $31,500, and in the fall of that year the school was opened. The old buildings were remodeled and new ones erected. Clarke Hall is used for recitations, Baker Hall for boys' dor- mitory, and Rogers Hall for the girls' dormitory and residence of the principal. There is also a large workshop, a laundry, a stable, and a cottage for the farmer.

In the matter of the system of instruction in this institu- tion, it was said by the president of the institute in his first annual report : " Articulation is used as the means of instruc- tion, because we believe it the best method for our pupils. The institution is not, however, pledged to any unchangeable system, but only to that, whatever it may be, which experience shall prove to give the best results." An experience of more than eight years has confirmed this opinion concerning the essential characteristics of the system, but modifications in its application have been made; and these modifications, with the causes which have induced them, it is our purpose now to present. In order to do this, it will be necessary to note some points in the history of the Clarke Institution, and also to mention the school which formed the germ of this,-a private class in Chelmsford, Mass.

In the fall of 1864 the present principal. Miss Harriet B. Rogers, took under her care a deaf-mute child, intending to teach it by means of articulation and lip-reading. This she knew had been done in Germany, though she had not learned the details of the system employed there. As the needs of her pupil demanded, she fashioned a system of her own, which, as later comparison showed, had many points of resemblance to the German method. She proposed also to employ the manual alphabet, during the first years of instruction, in the use of words which the child could not articulate. A brief trial of this combined method convinced Miss Rogers of the impossibility of attaining complete success in articulation and lip-reading unless these were employed as the sole means of communication ; for the pupil, during his early instruction, finding it more difficult to read words from the lips than from the fingers, was in danger of becoming dependent on the latter rather than the former, and thus would be content with that which was intended only as an aid to the higher attain- ment of lip-reading. She therefore abandoned the manual alphabet, and retained only articulation and lip-reading, and the result exceeded her expectations. Encouraged in her suc- cess by the favorable opinions of several leading educators in Boston, she made further trial of this method with seven other pupils, three of whom were congenitally deaf.

When Miss Rogers became principal, in 1867, she brought with her her former pupils, and with them the system em- ployed by her in the school at Chelmsford, which was the exclu- sive use of speech, lip-reading, and writing as means of in- struction, without the manual alphabet or signs, except such natural signs as are used with all children. In the second annual report her views in regard to signs were expressed in the following words : " Believing that all signs on the part of pupils, and all on the part of teachers, except those few and simple ones used by intelligent mothers and nurses to explain the meaning of new words or phrases, are prejudicial to ad- vancement in articulation, whatever their intrinsic merits, we do all in our power to prevent their use."

Articulation was taught by imitation. Hearing-children acquire it by the same process ; the difference being that, among the deaf, sight and touch are to be educated to perform the functions of the lost sense in the production of articulate speech. As hearing and touch are educated to supply the lack of sight to the blind, so may sight and touch supply the lack of hearing to the deaf. It is by no means claimed that the highest development of these remaining senses can furnish an equivalent for the loss of hearing, since the avenue of

sound is always open in the hearing-child, and speech is acquired without conscious effort, and often before the child seems capable of close attention ; whereas, on the part of the deaf child, the closest attention must be given ; and even this cannot compensate him for the loss of that constant tuition in speech enjoyed by every hearing-child, by which the meaning of the articulate and inarticulate sounds about him is made known, and by which, also, he is induced to imitate those sounds that express his emotions. Neither can any substitute be offered for the loss of hearing as a constant guide in speech. The deaf child is to be induced, through the senses of sight and touch, to attempt the imitation of each position and movement of the vocal organs necessary for the utterance of these sounds.

Without entering further into detail, it may truthfully be written that with Miss Rogers and the founding of this insti- tution was ushered in an important era in the educating of deaf mutes, Similar institutions have sprung into existence in various parts of the country, and the articulation and lip- reading method has proved a great success and blessing.

The finances of the Clarke Institution, notwithstanding the critical condition of financial affairs for five years past, are on a sound basis, and the prospect for the future is good. The statement of the treasurer shows that the receipts from the fund during the year just closed were $15,788.42; from the State of Massachusetts, $14,250; from other States and from individ- uals, $3095. The school expenses, strictly speaking, have been about $25,000, the construction and furnishing expenses about $6500, and the other expenses about $3000. The net debt of the institution now stands at about $36,000, the personal prop- erty, including the fund, may be valued at $265,000, and the real estate at upward of $100,000. The debt has been but slightly reduced in 1878, but will be more rapidly dimin- ished hereafter. More than half of it is owed to the fund itself.

During the past year there have been 49 pupils (27 boys and 22 girls) in the primary department at Baker Hall, while 23 pupils (8 boys and 15 girls ) have been taught in the grammar- school department in Clarke Hall. At the present time (Oct. 8, 1878) the number in the primary department entered for the school-year 1878-79 is 56, of whom 31 are boys and 25 are girls ; while in the grammar-school department there are 21 pupils (8 boys and 13 girls) ; and in both departments, 77 pupils (39 boys and 38 girls).

The following is a list of the officers of the Clarke Institu- tion from its organization to the present time :

Presidents .- Gardiner Greene Hubbard, elected 1867; F. B. Sanborn, elected 1878.

Corporators by Art of Incorporation .- Osmyn Baker,* Wil- liam Allen, Lewis J. Dudley, Julius H. Seelye, George Walker, Gardiner G. Hubbard, Theodore Lyman, Horatio G. Knight, Joseph A. Pond,* William Claflin, James B. Congdon, Thos. Talbot, elected 1867.

Corporators by Election .- Joseph H. Converse, Jonathan H. Butler,* Frank B. Sanborn, elected 1868; J. Huntington Lyman, elected 1870; Samuel A. Fisk, elected 1873; Henry Watson, elected 1875; Charles Delano, Edward Hitchcock, elected 1877.

Treasurers .- O-myn Baker, elected 1867 ; Lafayette Maltby, elected 1809.

Principal .- Harriet B. Rogers, elected 1867.

Associate Principal .- Caroline A. Yale, elected 1873.

Steward .- Henry JJ. Bardwell, elected 1870.

The State Lunatic Hospital .- The movement which resulted in the establishment of this institution was begun in 1854, when a committee was appointed by the Legislature to inquire into the condition and number of insane persons in this State. The committee recommended the founding of an asylum in

* Deceased.

182

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

the western part, and Northampton was chosen for the loca- tion.

The erection of the building was hegun in March, 1856, and on the following July 4th the corner-stone was laid by the Masonie fraternity, and July 1, 1858, it was opened for pa- tients. The original cost, including furniture, was $343,000. The centre building is of brick, four stories in height, with wings on each side three stories high, and, with its extension in the rear, which is 190 feet deep, gives a front line of 512 feet, while the floors cover an area of four acres. The main or centre building is surmounted by an observatory, which af- fords one of the finest landscape-views in the Connecticut Valley. The centre one of the two wings on each side of the main building is also surmounted by a cupola.

Since the erection of the building various improvements and additions have been made. A large proportion of the floors have been relaid, a laundry has been added to the main building, also storehouses, carpenter-shops, etc. In the four years next following its opening the State appropriated for lands and outbuildings $15,550. Since 1867 the institution has not only been self-supporting, but has purchased land and erected buildings costing $76,625.31. The institution has cost at the present time $443,175.31.

The hospital-farm, which twelve years ago contained but about 190 acres, has been increased by various purchases to about 332 acres, and is now sufficiently large for the necessi- ties of the institution. The site is admirably adapted to the purpose to which it is devoted, and a large proportion of the soil is available for tillage and pasturage. Somewhat more than 300 acres of the land is in one traet, nearly a mile in length from east to west, and varying from a quarter to half a mile in width from north to south. It is bounded on the north, for a distance of a little more than a mile and one-fifth, by Mill River; and on the south, through its whole length (a distance, including curves, of 6084 feet, or a fraction over a mile and 48 rods), by a public highway. Thus its situation is such that, although in the immediate vicinity of a pretty large town, it can be subjected to that seclusion and iso- lation which are important in the treatment of the insane, with but comparatively little inconvenience to the surround- ing inhabitants. Its position, and the irregularities of its surface, combine to invest it with the possibility of becom- ing one of the most beautiful of estates. Nature has done her share of the work ; and it now awaits the share of art, a por- tion of which it is from year to year receiving.

Although a State institution, this hospital has received no gratuitous assistance from the State since the spring of 1867. Since that time it has relied for its income solely upon the products of its farm, the board-bills of its patients, and the small sum of $10 each for the burial expenses of State patients who die in the hospital. The receipts from the last-mentioned source during the past year were $100.

For the entire support of State patients, including clothing and loss from breakage and all other kinds of destruction, the hospital receives $3.50 per week from the treasury of the commonwealth. This is the compensation fixed by statute law. Nearly one-half of the inmates belong to this class. During the past year the weekly average of them was 48.14 per cent. of the whole.

For town patients it receives 83.50 each per week from the town treasuries respectively for board, together with pay for clothing furnished by the hospital, and for damages suffered from them. Of town patients, the werkly average for the year was 39.75 per cent., or about two-fifths of the whole.

For private patients there is no uniform price. The average pay from all who were here Sept. 30, 1878, was $5.17,3% each per week. Clothing and damages are extra charges. The weekly average of these patients during the past year was 10. 12 per cent., or a trifle more than one-tenth of the whole.

The average weekly pay per capita which the hospital re-

ceived for ALL its patients, State, town, and private, in the course of the year is $3.7018. Such are the only pecuniary resources of the hospital.

In April, 1865, the hospital was freed from debt, and the financial statement at the close of that month showed a balance of $302.04 in its favor. Between that time and the 1st of June, 1867, it received a direct bonus from the State of $5000, in two appropriations, for specific purposes,-one of $2000 and the other of $3000.

As an offset to the $5000 honus, the hospital has purchased and paid for several lots of land, amounting to about 142 acres, the total cost of which was $22,565. The State, then, has been overpaid for its bonus in the sum of $17,565.

The amount paid by the hospital for repairs and improve- ments in the course of the thirteen years from Sept. 30, 1865, to Sept. 30, 1878, is $156,701.31.

The surplus of cash assets now on hand is $27,590.88, or $27,288.84 larger than it was on the 30th of April, 1865.

The purchased provisions and supplies, including fuel and stored clothing now on hand, are estimated to have cost $11,019.57. The amount of similar supplies on the 30th of April, 1865, was 82500. The increase of assets under this head is, therefore, $8519.57.

The value of household furniture in the hospital is, at a low estimate, at least $10,000 greater than it was on the 30th of April, 1865, at the same rate or standard of appraisal. To be certain, however, of no exaggeration, let it be called $8000. Collecting these several sums, the account of debit of the com- monwealth to the hospital appears to be as follows :

Excess of cost of land over direct bonus.

$17,565.00

Repairs and improvements

156,701.31

Excess of present cash assets ...

27,288.84

Increase of provisions and supplies.

8,519.57

Increase of furniture.

8,000.00

Total

$218,074.72

The necessary current repairs of the buildings may be esti- mated at $3000 annually. Deducting this sum for each of the thirteen years since Sept. 30, 1865,-a total of $39,000,-there is a remainder of $179,074.72. To this amount, then, has the hospital assisted itself to things for most of which it is gen- erally expected that such institutions will rely upon direct ap- propriations from the treasury of the common wealth.

The following table exhibits the deaths, and their ratios, from Sept. 80, 1858, to Oct. 1, 1878:

OFFICIAL YEAR.

Whole No. of Pa-

Daily Average No.

DEATHIS.

Per Cent. on Whole

No. of Patients

Treated.

Per Cent. on Daily

Patients.

1858-59.

313

229.55

-1

19 6.07

8.27

1:59-60

398

255.96

6.78

10.54

1860-61

43-

314.26

6.91

9,54

1861-62

442

313.80

4.29

6.05

1862-63.

470

355.28

5.53

7,31

1863-64

475

3.57.63

9,89

13.14

1864-65.

342.40

11,97

1865-66.

488

376.35

6,35

8.23

1866-67.

543

401.03

8.65

11.71

1867-68

565

413.41

7.61

10,40

1868-60 ..

59€

405.10

4.23

6.17

1×69-70 ...

408.83

2.2

4.54

6.64

1870-71.

1871-72

619

428.72

5.97

8,63

1872-73.

614

437.23

6.52

8.62

1875-76.

629

474.21

5,88

7.80

1876-77.

603

476.16

6.96

8.42

1877-78.

551

442.43

4.17

5,19

tients.

of Patients.

Men.

Women.

Total.

5.46

8.07

1873-74

626

469.54

475.35

3.42

4.80

1874-75

3.99

5,32

421.90

The proportion of deaths for the full period of twenty years, as calculated upon the whole number of patients annually treated, is 6.01 per cent. ; as calculated upon the daily average number of patients in the hospital, it is 8.23 per cent.

The proportion of mortality of the first ten years was 25 per cent. greater than that of the last ten.

8.76

Average No. of

183

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

By either method of comparison the ratio of deaths for the year just elosed is far below the average, not only of the whole period, but also of the latter half.

At the chose of the official year, 1876-77, 475 patients re- mained in the hospital : 229 of them were men and 246 women. In the course of the year just ended 40 men and 36 women, a total of 76, have been admitted ; hence the whole number under treatment within the official year was 551, of whom 269 were men and 282 women. The number discharged was-of men, 40; women, 59; total, 99. Of deaths there were 23; 14 of them being of men and 9 of women.

At the close of the year, Sept. 30, 1878, 215 men and 214 women, a total of 429, remained in the hospital. The largest number of patients on any day in the year was 476,-on the 26th of October, 1877 ; and the smallest number 429,-on each of four successive days in June, 1878. The average daily num- ber for the year was a fraction over 442.

Of the 99 patients who left the hospital, 26 were recorded as recorered, 44 as improved, and 29 as unimprored.

Trustees of the Northampton Lunatic Hospital.

Name.

Residence.

Appointed. Ended.

Canse.

Charles E. Forbes .. Northampton .. 1856

1857

Term expired.

Lucien C. Boynton ...... Uxbridge.

1856

1×58

Eliphalet Trask.

... Springfield.

1856

1875

John C. Russell

... Great Barrington. .1$56

1×59

Resigned.

llorace Lyman ..

.Greenfield.

.185G

1857

Removed.

Charles Smith ...

. Northampton

1857

1860

Resigned.

Luther V. Bell.

Somerville

.1857

1859

Zebina L. Raymond ...... Greenfield.

.1858

1559

Franklin Ripley

.. Greenfield ..

.. 1859

1×60

Died in office.

Edward Dickinson Walter Laflin ..

Pittsfield

1859

1806

Term expired.

Silas M. Smith.

Northampton.

1800

1863

Chmiles Allen ..

Greenfieldl.

1860

1861

Resigned.

Alfred R. Fickl.

Greenfield

1861

1864

Edward Hitchcock

. Amherst ..

1863

Still in office.

SiTas M. Smith.

Northampton.

.1864

Edmund H. Sawyer ...... Easthampton ...

1864

Hemy L. Sabin ....

Williamstown

1866

1876

Trim expired.

Adams (. Deane ...

.. Greenfield.

1875

Still in office.

Henry W. Taft ... l'ittsfield

1876

The institution was opened with W. H. Price, M.D., as superintendent, who remained until 1864, when Dr. Pliny Earle was appointed to the position, and is the present incum- hent. Dr. Earle bas ever manifested a deep interest in the in- stitution, and much of its present success is due to the efficient manner in which he has watched over and guided its affairs. The present officers of the hospital are as follows :

Trustees .- Silas M. Smith, Esq., Northampton ; Adams C. Deane, M.D., Greenfield ; llenry W. Taft, Esq., Pittsfield ; llon. Edmund H. Sawyer, Easthampton ; Edward Hitchcock, M. D., Amherst.

Resident Officers .- Pliny Earle, A.M., M. D., Superintend- ont ; Edward B. Nims, M.D., First Assistant Physician; Daniel Pickard, M.D., Second Assistant Physician ; Walter B. Welton, Clerk ; Asa Wright, Farmer ; Danford Morse, Engineer.

Treasurer .- Pliny Earle, Northampton.

Subordinate Officers .- Jeremiah E. Shufelt, Male Super- visor ; Luey A. Gilbert, Female Supervisor; F. Josephus Rice, Steward ; Mary E. Ward, Seamstress ; Nell Russell, Laundress ; Charles Ziehlke, Baker.

The hospital is beautifully located on an eminence about one mile west of the village, and commands one of the most picturesque views within the bounds of the Connecticut Valley.

Shady Lawn Sanitarium .- A. D. 1874, Gothic Seminary be- comes Shady Lawn Sanitarium.

After a considerable period of disuse this attractive estab- lishment was, in the summer of 1874, selected for a work no less commendable and useful, and as profitable and honorable to the town, as had flourished within its precincts in its palmiest early days. Indeed, its celebrity can hardly have been as great or wide as at the present moment. In another division of this history we have given a sketch of Dr. A. W. Thompson, who devoted it at the time in question to the general uses of a pri- vate hospital for the wealthier classes of invalids, with especial

reference, however, to insanity, to diseases peculiar to women, and to the alcohol and opium habits.

Success would seem to have been secure from the start of his enterprise. Patients were sent from great distances, and by the advice of the most eminent physicians. Canada, the West- ern and Southern States, California, and Cuba have con- tributed, as well as New England, New York, and the home vieinage, to the list of its cases. It is very plain to the visitor that Dr. Thompson has not solely relied upon either his own previous reputation with the public and his medical confrères, or upon the beauty of his grounds and the loveliness of nature at this spot, for the continuance and success of bis business. He has poured himself out into the place. It is not too much to say that be has recreated it; and its new birth has com_ pletely adapted it to every want of its invalid guests. A liberal hand has supplied every modern convenience of gas, water, steam, and furniture. Billiards, exercises, horses, are made a free means, whether of diversion or needful prescrip- tion. A generous air of taste, conscientious care, skill, and liberality quite fills and invests the establishment ; and we add our voice to the concurrent expression of visitors and writers who speak of Northampton men and institutions when we congratulate both the doctor and the town upon his success.

We conclude with the remark that we should suppose Shady Lawn would eminently meet the wants of invalid luxury- seekers, not only for the reasons given above, but because of its proximity, over easy walks, to the business-centre of a fine town,-to the opera-house, post-office, public library, railroad stations, and stores,-being only one block removed ; and yet it is retired, within ample grounds, and remote from rumble and dust.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 56

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700