Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institute for

Colored Youths.

R. E. L. HOLLAND, SUPERINTENDENT.

This Institution is situated about four miles northwest of the main business portion of the city of Austin, one-half mile beyond the present city limits. It combines schools for the blind colored children of the State and for those commonly known as the deaf and dumb. It is splendidly located on one hundred acres of land, mostly tillable, and presents one of the most picturesque landscape views, including the heights along the Colorado river above the city, to be found in Texas. The enrollment for the last fiscal year, ending August 31, 1920, was:

Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institute for

Colored Youths.

REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.

Hon. S. B. Cowell, Chairman, State Board of Control, Austin, Texas: DEAR SIR: I am herewith submitting to you my annual report for the fiscal year beginning September 1, 1919, and ending August 31, 1920, the same being the Thirty-third Annual Report of this Institution:

EARLY HISTORY.

An appropriation of fifty thousand dollars was made by the Twentieth Legislature, during the administration of Governor L. S. Ross, for the establishment of this Institution. Captain H. E. Shelley, Judge Z. T. Fulmore and W. M. Brown of Austin, constituted the first board of trustees for the school, and purchased the present site of a hundred. acres of land for its location.

The Institution is northwest of the city of Austin, just a half mile beyond the present city limits, and has a most beautiful and healthful location, free from city attractions, and yet close enough for all city conveniences.

The first session of the school was opened October 17, 1887, with W. H. Holland of Austin, as superintendent. For the first year there were seventeen pupils to enroll, and two teachers were employed.

An eleven-room residence, a part of the improvement when the place was purchased, was the principal building for the first year. In the spring of 1888 a new two-story brick building was completed and used for dormitory and classroom purposes.

PRESENT PLANT.

One three-story brick building used for girls' dormitory and classrooms and two two-story brick structures, the upper stories used as dormitories for boys and employes, and the lower floors for offices, classrooms, chapel and dining halls, make up the larger and more important buildings. A four-room rock building, a small brick hospital, a onestory brick laundry and boiler house, three frame structures, mule and cow barns, two small buildings used as shelter for cars and fire hose, and still two others used for storage purposes, make up a total of the present plant.

ENROLLMENT.

For the school year of 1919-1920 the total enrollment of the school was 183. They were divided as follows:

Of the 183 pupils enrolled for the year, 172 remained until the close of the school in June; eight were taken out of school by parents; one sent home on account of illness; one suspended, and one expelled. In the attendance, 52 counties of the State were represented.

The classroom work is both literary and industrial, The work in both of these departments for the past year has been very satisfactory. In the literary work, the course of study for the deaf is from the first to the tenth grades, inclusive, which is about the average amount of literary work done by deaf pupils. The course of study for the blind goes through the twelfth grade, completing a regular high school course. Musie, vocal and instrumental, form quite a part of the educational training of the blind.

There are thirteen teachers, including the two music teachers, in the literary department of the school.

In the industries are taught tailoring, shoemaking, sewing, cooking, carpentry, broom and mattress making, chair caning, foot-mat making, rug weaving, handicraft, drawing and painting and piano tuning and repairing.

Eight teachers are employed in the industrial department.

Some work is required of pupils on the farm, in the garden, on the campus and in the laundry; but, for lack of instructors for this kind of work, nothing definite is accomplished.

HEALTH RECORD.

During the school year, 1919-1920, the health of the student body was exceedingly good. There were no deaths, and there were very few cases of illness that required confinement to bed more than a few days. There were a few accidental injuries, but all made satisfactory recoveries.

Our specialist did a number of operations during the year upon the eye, nose and throat. This work was limited, however, on account of a lack of necessary funds to defray the hospital expense. All operations must be performed at one of the hospitals of the city, and an expense for the use of the operating room, the giving of the anesthetic, and the care of the patient, while at the hospital after the operation, must be met.

The relief offered by these operations is of such value to the suffering student that we hope that a much larger appropriation will be made in the future for the doing of this kind of relief work.

Much credit is due Dr. Sam Haigler, our attending physician, Dr. J. E. Howze, our oculist, and Miss Rosalie Ogilvie, our trained nurse, for the successful way in which they cared for the health of the student body.

THE FARM AND GARDEN.

Our head farmer resigned on September 1, 1919, on account of smallness of salary, and since then we have had to depend on a deaf young man and student help to carry on the work of the farm and garden. With this condition confronting us, we have found ourselves very much handicapped in trying to cultivate the forty or fifty acres of tillable soil we have.

The same persons whom we use on the farm had to haul all of our coal a distance of two or two and a half miles and do divers other jobs. Hence, farming is perforce a secondary effort with us.

We harvested during the year the following:

The above compares favorably with our crop for 1919, when we raised sufficient corn to feed our mules a full year, and more forage than both mules and cows consumed for the year.