REPORT 
OF 
 
RY 
OCT 6 1939 UNf f'LlSlT Of GLORGI 
 
Board of Visitors 
 
TO 
 
GEORGIA SCHOOL OF DEAF 
 
AT 
 
C~YE SPRINC, 
May 26, 1908. 
 
 REPORT 
OF 
Board of Visitors 
TO 
GEORGIA SCHOOL OF DEAF 
AT 
C~llE SPRING, 
May 26, 1908. 
 
  Report of Board of Visitors to Georgia School of Deaf at Cave Spring, May 26, 1908. 
'. 
To his Excellency Governor Hoke Smith} Atlanta} Ga. 
SIR: Pursuant to a call of Chairman B. T. Hayne, the Board of Visitors appointed by your excellency to inspect the Georgia School for the Deaf, at Cave Spring, Ga., met May 26, 1908, and beg leave to make the following report: 
It i a fact to be deplored that so few of our citizens have a clear conception of the real merit of this institution and of the va t amount of good that is being accomplished here. 
Your board made a thorough inspection of the entire buildings and campu and found the ame in excellent condition in the main repairs here and there being necesary, the money for which has already been provided, and the work is soon to be completed. 
We find the dormitories school building and workhop very much crowded, which will be relieved to ome extent by the addition to the dormitory just completed and by the fini hing of the ba ements hereinafter mentioned. 
We spent two hours in the school-room, and had an exhibition of the work being done in the various classrooms. 
(3) 
 
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The oral method of instructing the deaf is being stressed to a greater extent than was possible until within the la t year on account of the want of necessary means with which to employ the requisite number of teachers. The last e sion of the Legi lature having made a more liberal appropriation, several teachers were added to the force, but the number is still insUfficient for the present enrollment, to say nothing of the increase. The classes average from twelve to fourteen pupils, whereas no teacher can do justice to more than six or eight on account of the fact . that an individual effort must necessarily be made with each pupil, for the reason that they are deaf and are not capable of receiving instruction except by sight, which is not the ca e in the common schools. 
We find that two and one-half hours daily are devoted along industrial lines, the girls being taught cooking in a well-equipped cooking-school, sewing and cutting and making garment. 
The boys are given a more varied line of work, consi ting of printing, shoemaking, painting and woodworking along all the lines. They do something also in the way of gardening and farm work. The principal advocates the employment of a man to give systematic work along both these lines as well as dairying and the handling of cattle and other domestic animais. 
PupUs in art and manual training department are given instructions in paper-folding, free-hand cutting and drawing for the little ones. There is more advanced work for the older pupils in cardboard and wood. Special classes in painting-. decorating- and drawing- from obje<:ts and 
 
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copies. Physical training for the girls is also taught in 
 
this department. 
 
The chief aim of the principal and his efficient assistant 
 
seems to be to give to the pupils such a knowledge of the 
 
English language as is best suited in the pursuit of the 
 
usual avocations of life. Coupled with this the manage- 
 
ment is endeavoring to instruct each pupil in some one of 
 
the branches of handicraft, and in addition to these they 
 
are given a practical common-school education. The 
 
Board recommends: 
 
1. An appropriation of $3,000 to finish the basement 
 
of the new dormitory and equip it with the necessary 
 
laboratory, closets, shower-baths, etc., which was not pro- 
 
vided for in the appropriation of this building, and which 
 
your board thinks is very necessary for the health, cleanli- 
 
ness and convenience of the pupils. 
 
2. An appropriation of $1',500 for the completion of 
 
the basement of the school building for the purpose of 
 
furnishing room for the teaching of sloyd and for manual 
 
training, as well as for a play-room for the smaller chil- 
 
dren when it is raining or too col~ to allow them on the 
 
campus, thus utilizing space that is very necessary at a 
 
very small cost, that is at present useless and which will 
 
to a certain extent relieve the congested conditions of 
 
I 
 
other departments. 3. That an appropriation of $1,500 be made for doub- 
ling the capacity of the present stand-pipe by raising it 
 
from its present height to eighty or ninety feet in height 
 
so as to furnish capacity not only for the storage of an in- 
 
creased supply of water for fire purposes, but for hlrtlish- 
 
 6 
ing power for running a small dynamo for making the neces ary all-night lights in the halls and closet, af,ter the main y tem is shut down, that are now made of coal oil, which is a con tant menace of danger. This could be connected with the main system so that lights could be turned on at any point about the premises that might become necessary. It hould be remembered that the children are all deaf, and ight would be their main reliance in case of an emergency. The two main buildings are fairly wellequipped with inside tand-pipe and hose, yet on account of the inadequate supply of water they would prove inefficient where mo t needed. 
4. That three hundred feet of hose be purcha ed for u e at the negro chool, a thi property has no fire protection except one water-plug. 
5. That a competent blacksmith as foreman be employed, and the blacksmith-shop which has already been equipped be put in operation for the training of boys in that line of work, for which we recommend an appropriation. 
Some of the above recommendation have been made by former boards, and your board, seeing the necessity for the same, again call attention to them. 
We urge upon you the necessity of the pa sage of the bill now pending before the Legi lature which provide for the completion of the main building, and we hope that you will see proper to call attention to it, as well as the recommendations herewith in your message to the Gen- er(il Assembly. 
We take pleasure in recommending to you the noble ef- 
 
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fort of Prof. VI. O. Conner~ who has spent Iris life in this 
institution. How nobly has he performed his work and is doing so yet! 
And, in commending him to you, we would not minimize the splendid efforts of the assistant principal, Miss 
ettie McDaniel, and the able corp of teacher and other officials of the institution, for no citizen of our State can vi it thi institution and jW3tly claim that the entire surrounding, moral training and indeed the whole atmosphere are not what they should be. 
Respectfully submitted. B. T. HAYNES, Chairman, LEON HOOD, Secretary, WM. B. KE T, DR. G. Y. PEARCE, E. C. SMITH, T. S. SHOPE, G. W. H. SIMMONS, 
J. G. Hu T, 
E. P. McDA IEL, 
J. G. EUBANKS. 
 
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