It was but natural that for some years the providing of schools for the education of the deaf should be looked upon with wonder. To many the very thought of their instruction seemed strange. Curious notions had been held as to the deaf-mute's mind, and it was not certain how far it was capable of instruction. By some the idea of the education of the deaf was received with scarcely concealed skepticism, and despite the enthusiasm of the promoters and despite the cordial interest manifested in many quarters, there were not a few doubters. Efforts to educate the deaf were even declared quixotic and absurd. When the state of Illinois was erecting a building to be used as a school, it was by some called "the state's folly."[194] The legislatures themselves occasionally had misgivings, and now and then an appropriation was voted for a school more in hope than otherwise.[195] The work was thus with many often misunderstood, and a few of the schools did not have altogether easy sailing. But when it was found that the deaf could be, and were being, educated, not only were all doubts dispelled, but the astonishment almost goes beyond bounds, and even passes into a rapture of thanksgiving. Visitors, in some cases, flocked to the places where these wonderful things were transpiring. They came to convince themselves, and stood hushed in admiration at the spectacle before them. The accounts of a number of the early schools attest the greeting given to the new work. The New York Institution in its first report[196] speaks of the "numerous visitors" and their "expressions of mingled surprise and delight." In the new Pennsylvania Institution interest was markedly aroused. By _Poulson's American Daily Advocate_ of Philadelphia it was stated that 1,600 people crowded into a church to witness an examination of pupils, and by the _Columbian Observer_ it was declared that this scene "was impressive beyond description," and that "the exercises excited wonder mingled with the acutest sensations of compassion for these isolated beings."[197] An early report of the Tennessee School[198] speaks of the interest "evinced by the great numbers of persons" who visited the school, which was shown "by the sympathy warmly expressed with the great affliction" of the pupils, and the "surprise at the attainments made by them." Indeed, the new work is more than once referred to in the accounts of the period as a miracle. The age of miracles, we are told, was not past.[199] When a private school was opened in Kansas, the advertisement ran: "Behold the educational miracle of the nineteenth century. The deaf hear, the dumb speak, the blind see."[200] The wonders of education had become all the more marked and expectations were aroused to a high pitch, when it was seen about this time that the blind and other classes as well were being instructed. Great things were believed to be in store for the human race.