The eleven non-denominational schools may be themselves divided into two classes: those which are really homes for very young deaf children, sometimes under the control of a society organized for the purpose; and those which are purely private enterprises, owned and directed by one or more individuals. Of the former there are four homes or kindergartens--the Sarah Fuller Home of Boston, the McCowen Homes of Chicago, the Home School near Baltimore, and the Home School of San Francisco.[307] Their main object is to give their pupils an early start in the use of speech as well as to provide a home, and children as young as three, or even younger, may be admitted. The management of these schools is usually in the hands of trustees. Support is derived largely from the fees of pupils, though some schools are often the recipients of private donations, especially when children are taken without charge; and one or two have aid from public allowances.[308] The private schools of the second class are almost entirely dependent on tuition fees, though one or two likewise receive some state aid. With two exceptions,[309] they are found in large cities, New York having two, and Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati one each. These schools are both boarding and day schools. The method employed in the private schools is nearly always the oral, and this is the method also of some of the denominational schools. In some of the schools of both classes manual training and instruction in trades are given to an extent. FOOTNOTES: [305] There have been a number of private schools at various times, perhaps a score or more, which have been discontinued--besides those which were the nuclei of the state institutions. There are, moreover, several private schools for the hard of hearing, where instruction and practice are offered in lip-reading, and attended for the most part by adults. [306] Thus in the Michigan Evangelical Lutheran Institute, where the minimum fee is $10 a month, we are advised that only two or three pay the full amount. In St. John's Institute of Wisconsin, where $12 a month is asked, we are advised that the officials are "contented with whatever part of this sum the parents or guardians can pay". Voluntary contributions likewise do not always prove large. Of the Immaculate Conception Institution of St. Louis, we are advised that private contributions are "too meagre to support one child". The industry of the Sisters often adds much for the maintenance of the Catholic schools. [307] Another such home is in Philadelphia, but is now a state institution. [308] To the Sarah Fuller Home the state of Massachusetts allows $250 _per capita_ for some of the children. [309] At Lead, South Dakota, and Macon, Georgia. CHAPTER XIII THE NATIONAL COLLEGE