DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 22

22 UNFOLDING YEARS
These regular habits, pleasant companionship, the joy of being occupied every hour of the day, and above all of the love of study, developed the frail, shy girl of thirteen into a more nearly normal being. While I never became robust I acquired a measure of normal health and though still rather sober, I began to have a real childhood which I had missed in my early years. The struggles and pretence to see which I had kept up for so long was no longer necessary-- and oh what a blessed relief! Now I worked and played with those like myself and I was not expected to "see."
In those days little effort was made to find and bring young children into the school. Later this was done; kindergartens were established, and the education of the blind became more normal. Already the Perkins Institution in Boston, the New York Institute, New York city, and the Overbrook School in Philadelphia, were making history in the field of education. These institutions were more or less endowed and could have better buildings and equipment. The schools in the middle west were entirely supported by the States. In consequence, they were less advanced in methods and had to get along with limited apparatus. 
The Board of Trustees, which controlled the Iowa school, had given to it the high sounding name of "Iowa College for the Blind." However, with most people and even among those in Vinton where the school was located, it was generally spoken of as "the asylum." The superintendent and faculty stove to surround us with a normal and healthful atmosphere. It was explained to us and our parents that a blind child was just as much entitled to an education at public expense as his sighted brothers and sisters. It was then believed that such children must be taught quite differently from those with normal sight; as it was impossible to maintain such schools in all communities, it was only fair to provide free schools in some central place and free board and lodging during the school period. We never felt in any sense that we were in a charitable institution.

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22 UNFOLDING YEARS These regular habits, pleasant companionship, the joy of being occupied every hour of the day, and above all of the love of study, developed the frail, shy girl of thirteen into a more nearly normal being. While I never became robust I acquired a measure of normal health and though still rather sober, I began to have a real childhood which I had missed in my early years. The struggles and pretence to see which I had kept up for so long was no longer necessary-- and oh what a blessed relief! Now I worked and played with those like myself and I was not expected to "see." In those days little effort was made to find and bring young children into the school. Later this was done; kindergartens were established, and the education of the blind became more normal. Already the Perkins Institution in Boston, the New York Institute, New York city, and the Overbrook School in Philadelphia, were making history in the field of education. These institutions were more or less endowed and could have better buildings and equipment. The schools in the middle west were entirely supported by the States. In consequence, they were less advanced in methods and had to get along with limited apparatus. The Board of Trustees, which controlled the Iowa school, had given to it the high sounding name of "Iowa College for the Blind." However, with most people and even among those in Vinton where the school was located, it was generally spoken of as "the asylum." The superintendent and faculty stove to surround us with a normal and healthful atmosphere. It was explained to us and our parents that a blind child was just as much entitled to an education at public expense as his sighted brothers and sisters. It was then believed that such children must be taught quite differently from those with normal sight; as it was impossible to maintain such schools in all communities, it was only fair to provide free schools in some central place and free board and lodging during the school period. We never felt in any sense that we were in a charitable institution.