Providing lor the
Deal, Dumb, Blind
For many years (lie State re¬
fused to make provisions for its
afflieted citizenship, but today
they are caret! for in institutions
that are a credit to North Caro¬
lina as a whole.
By R. C. LAWRENCE
ROBABLY the most remark¬
able figure in American life is
that of Helen Keller, the deaf,
dumb and blind marvel, who. al¬
though deprived of these three
senses before she was two years
old, none the less became a highly
educated woman, a brilliant grad¬
uate of Radcliffe College— a world
figure as an example of the triumph
of mind over matter.
We have had some remarkable
blind persons in Carolina also. I
remember the outstanding three
Simpson brothers who possessed a
total of three eyes among them.
William Simpson was a pharma¬
cist — leader in that line — and was
for many years Secretary of the
State Board of Pharmacy. He had
normal vision. Robert Simpson
had one eye, and was a prominent
druggist, operating a drugstore in
the Raney Library building in Ra¬
leigh. John A. Simpson was totally
blind, yet he was for many years
professor of music in the Institu¬
tion for the Blind; an outstanding
Sunday school teacher; and, it
being before the day of the auto¬
mobile. or the "seeing eye," he felt
perfectly at home on Raleigh
streets. He could multiply cor¬
rectly. in his head, four figures by
four. I can do this on paper, but
am always a little uncertain about
the correctness of the result. When
I edited a College periodical. I
asked him for an article. He sent
me a fine paper on “Mnemonics”
— not so bad as it sounds, being the
science of memory.
Powerful Influences
Great results usually have great
figures lurking in the background,
and such was the case with Helen
Keller. Alexander Graham Bell is
famous as the inventor of the tele¬
phone, but few know that it was he
who opened the eyes, ears and
e
tongue of Helen Keller, when he
sent to her the great teacher Anne
Sullivan. And here in Carolina,
back of the education of the deaf,
the dumb and the blind, are two
colossal figures in the life of our
state: Archibald DeBow Murphy,
father of our public school system;
John M. Morehead, builder of a
commonwealth.
The first hospital for the blind
was established in Paris as early
as 1260 to care for those blinded
in the crusades for the recovery
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
and the redemption of the Holy
Land from the rule of the Moslems.
Here at home Archibald D. Murphy
included "An Asylum for the Deaf
and Dumb" as a part of his compre¬
hensive scheme for a public school
system. Inspired by the work of
the famous Gallaudet, there was
organized a Society for the Insti¬
tution of the Deaf and Dumb, with
the Governor as president. Presi¬
dent Joseph Caldwell of the Uni¬
versity addressed the legislature,
pleading for an appropriation for
this cause, but nothing resulted
save the granting of a bare charter
for the society. In 1830 there were
273 deaf mutes, and 372 blind in
the State.
These figures enlisted the sup¬
port of the powerful Raleigh
Register, and Editor Gales urged
state support for such a school, but
it was yet more than a decade be¬
fore anything concrete was done.
In 1841 John Motley Morehead be¬
came Governor, and his two terms
were devoted to building railroads,
turnpikes, canals, plank roads —
and schools. In 1842 his message
to the legislature recommended
the establishment of schools for
the blind as well as for the deaf
and dumb. The legislature was
deaf.
Morehead was never defeated in
any purpose once he made up his
mind to go ahead. Having been
in one battle, he prepared for an¬
other in a different way. In 1843
he had a lengthy correspondence
with W. D. Cooke, principal for a
private school for these unfortu¬
nates at Staunton, Virginia. Not
waiting for the legislature to meet,
the Governor laid this correspond¬
ence before the first influential
body which came along, this chanc¬
ing to be the Presbyterian Synod,
which heartily endorsed his sug¬
gestion. The Governor was mould¬
ing public sentiment.
Morehead had yet other ammu¬
nition in reserve. Having tried a
simple message on the legislature
and failed, he resorted to a most
resourceful expedient. He had
W. D. Cooke to come to Raleigh
from Staunton and bring with him
a number of his pupils, who staged
a demonstration before the legis¬
lature. proving what such pupils
could be trained to do. This satis¬
fied those who doubted, and in 1844
the legislature passed an act ap¬
propriating §5,000.00 for the sup¬
port of such a school, to be supple¬
mented by a local tax of $75.00 to
be levied by each county for each
pupil sent from such county. No
provision for buildings was made.
Cooke Was First Principal
Cooke was chosen as principal
and served until 1860. He opened
the school in May 1845, with seven
deaf pupils in attendance. The de¬
partment for the blind was not
added until 1851. The presence,
inspiration and influence of Cooke,
and the result from his work be¬
came so apparent, that in 1847 the
legislature appropriated $10,000.00
for a building, and set aside one of
the public squares in Raleigh -
Caswell square — as the site there¬
for. The building was constructed
in 1849, and a little later the cause
received a gift of $6,000.00 be¬
queathed in the will of the gen¬
erous Irishman, John Kelly, and
on this modest beginning was
founded a work which has so
largely increased in later years.
Governor Morehead also did his
best to induce the legislature to
provide for the insane, but it was
not until the administration of
Governor William A. Graham that
this work was started. In every
humanitarian cause, the efforts of
Carolina governors was supported
by powerful outside influences:
Cooke in the case of the Deaf.
Dumb and Blind; Dorothea L. Dix
I Continued on page 25)
