98 G. L. SMEAD 



tance in our work, in order to justify the claim that our schools 

 for the blind are educational institutions. 



Physical training is necessary to the highest efficiency in 

 all education for the seeing, much more for the blind. Blind 

 children are apt to form habits of sitting, standing and moving 

 that need correcting; and with many of them there is an in- 

 disposition to exertion, for lack of motive to overcome the 

 difficulties incident to blindness. Hence they need special 

 training to correct unsightly habits, and to arouse to activity. 



Physical training will have two forms, manual training 

 and gymnastics. Manual training has for its object instruc- 

 tion and practice in the use of tools. Gymnastics is concerned 

 with correct posture and motion, with energetic exercise for 

 the development of muscle. 



Physical training has to do with health and strength of 

 body, with the efficient use of all its powers and their applica- 

 tion to useful purposes. 



Physical training has also in it discipline of mind. It gives 

 alertness and quickness to the power of attention. It trains 

 the will to prompt action, and fosters the voluntary putting 

 forth of effort, so necessary to any success in life. In short, 

 physical training ought to have this ultimate result, the 

 unifying of body and mind, with the body the efficient servant 

 of the mind. This is especially needful for the blind ; for some- 

 times it seems that their bodies and minds lack harmony of 

 action, as though they did not belong to each other. Physical 

 training for the blind is important because it tends to correct 

 improper physical habits, and to arouse them from the inertia 

 so characteristic of many blind persons. 



Mental training is the main object of all education. 

 We might say that education has three objects : first to know 

 something, second to do something, third to have the dis- 

 position to do something; and that something may be physical, 

 mental, or moral. The principles of education are the same 

 for the blind as for the seeing, but the methods in some partic- 

 ulars are different. 



Language training should receive special attention in the 

 education of the bhnd. The power of expression is a source 

 of pleasure and profit to the blind. The communication of 



