100 G. L. SMEAD 



talk and listen well in private and in public. Political in- 

 fluence consists very much in the exchange of thought be- 

 tween man and man. Good moral influence is exerted in the 

 same way. Blind men and women are not deprived of this 

 privilege of good citizenship by their affliction, provided they 

 are prepared for it by training and intelligence. Every avail- 

 able means should be employed to secure the correct use of 

 language and the ready and efficient attention to what is 

 spoken. Oral reading, oral instruction in the class room for 

 the power of attention; and topical recitation, written com- 

 position, and public speaking for the power of expression, all 

 will be useful for the purpose proposed. While oral reading 

 is very valuable for our pupils it should not be overdone. 

 Too much inattentive listening will defeat the object which we 

 have in view. It is well for the scholar to practice out of 

 class the slower, more thoughtful reading of raised print books, 

 of which we have now such a great variety. It has been sug- 

 gested that in the schools we read too much orally and do not 

 enough throw the pupils upon their own resources in reading 

 for themselves. It may be so to some extent. Excessive 

 reading to the pupils may dissipate the power of attention 

 instead of increasing it. There is reason in all things. A just 

 balance of means and methods wiU conduce to the highest 

 efficiency. 



With the study of the EngHsh language there should be 

 with the advanced pupils the study of some other language; 

 either Latin, from which so many of our words are derived, and 

 the study of whose structure is such a valuable discipline, or 

 some modern language, or both, if possible, as the German or 

 French for their practical value, and for the training they give 

 in the thinking of other peoples. 



All the studies of the school curriculum are as valuable for 

 the blind as for the seeing, but each may have its pecuHar 

 adaptation to the bUnd. The study of geography, for it 

 appeals to the blind child in his isolation and fixedness of place 

 to lead him out into a comprehension of a larger place than his 

 Httle, narrow, contracted world. The study of history is a 

 pleasure to the bright, blind student. In this study he comes 

 to reahze that there are other people in the world besides him- 



