Royal Albert Asylum for the care, education, and training of idiotic, imbecile, and weak-minded children and young persons, belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : thirty-fifth annual report.

  • Royal Albert Asylum (Lancaster, England)
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Royal Albert Asylum for the care, education, and training of idiotic, imbecile, and weak-minded children and young persons, belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : thirty-fifth annual report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mind of some of the more sensible children, which makes one wonder whether, after all, they do not feel and partially understand their position. To be told, in an intensely wistful manner, by a girl who had been urged to express her thoughts aloud, that she “ was thinking how nice it must be to be sane,” is very likely to give rise to some such conjectures; but the average child is thoroughly happy, enjoying alike school, play, and meal time—perhaps giving the preference to the last! No children could make a more appreciative audience than ours, when they fill our large amusement hall, sitting with eager faces anxiously awaiting the raising of the drop-scene, or clapping their hands in time to the closing bars of an orchestral composition. There is a fund of quaint, simple humour to be drawn from these children. They are so simple and strangely observant that one could fill pages with amusing anecdotes. Imagine a thoughtless, careless type of imbecile noticing immediately that his teacher’s shoes had been newly soled and heeled ! One would scarcely expect a sensible child to observe that. Anything or anybody new is sure of a very hearty welcome from our children, and, as a new teacher, I was made much of, petted, caressed, and sought after by quite a number of girls. One day I had occasion to visit the children in their day-room, and, as usual, there was soon quite a large crowd gathered round the “ new teacher.” One girl was particularly demonstrative, and I suppose I must have shown some signs of not over-appreciating her caress, for she was dragged from me by a bigger girl, with the rather unique injunction, “ Leave her alone, can’t you ? while she is quiet! ” No, the inmates of the Royal Albert Asylum are not unhappy ; they love, and are loved in return. Swedish drill has been continued by Mr. Vere, and military drill by Sergeant Bond, the Chief Attendant. Miss Burdett has conducted the musical drill exercises in her school for girls and junior boys. An exhibition of these different kinds of drill was given most successfully in the course of the entertainment last Christmas, I attach much importance to these gymnastic exercises, especially if care¬ fully adapted under medical direction. Sergeant Bond has, with remarkable patience, formed of the patients a drum and fife band, which gave a creditable performance at Christmas. One of the patients boasts that he is “ not only the big drummer of the big drum, but also the big drummer of the little drum.” The Industrial Training has been carried on efficiently, and the patients are making good progress. The boys who are learning sedentary trades have, during the fine, genial weather, alternated frequently with outdoor occupation, on the farm or in the garden, to the manifest benefit of their health and physique. All the senior boys who are capable of it follow some manual occupation, and are all the better for it in body and mind. For the younger boys, the half-time system for school and work is preferable. Excellent work Gymnastic Exercises Industrial Training.