Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1857-04-17
MISCELLANY.
A LETTER.
BY JoE, rHE JERSEY MurE.

BY JOE, THE JERSEY MUTE.
Among the thousands of educated
mute ladies in this country, / know
Of but few who have oven q tolerable
command of language. The paucity
of IDEAS which characterizes the great
est part Of this class of persons, is
mainly ascribed 70 the influences
which surround them. Shut out by
nature from oral communication with
their fellow creatures, they find great
difficulty in translating their ideas
into good English and besides, in
writing or reading, meet with great
many words, the meaning OF which
they are ignorant OF. As 10 consul
ting the dictionary in such a case as
this, still they sometimes find them
selves in doubt as TO the sense Of this
and that word. Too many parents of
muto children, and / say IL with
shame, do not think Il worth their
while TO continue their studies after
they have left school by helping teach
thcm, and thus contribute TO their
general intelligence. Woll may these
unfortunate children exclaim, Heaven
save us from such parents. We emust
study on, ever and ever. Why not
class tho mute romans rights with the
isms Of the day2
have been led into these reilec-
tions from a perusal Of letter of q
deaf lady, who "lang syne" studied
with mo in tho Deaf and Dumb Insti-
tute, at Philadelphia, In spite Of the
outward surroundings unfavorablc to
mental culture, she has prosecuted her
studies with a good degree ofsuccess,
as will be shown by the following cx-
tract from her letter:
My Dear ,Sister.-I could not get
time TO answer your lettor of the 2Sth
ult., as l was engaged in making a
shirt last week. / was very glad to
hear from home. Ny brother-in-law,
John. is going TO move from this place
TO Nineteenth ST. below Green, some
time this month. We will board there
with his family. He intends keeping
a grocery and provision store. We
are not going 10 keep house this
spring, as you intimated. Ny hus-
band expects TO buy q neat brick
house soon, and win then let some
family live therein Probably we
will go TO housekeeping next year.
You spoke in your letter about Lucy
Stole, i have heard a great deal
aboht her; she is very celebrated
woman Her sister-in-law, Elizabeth
Blackwell, is slSilful physician, and
lives in New York. Lucy's husband
is said to have been the cause of in
ducing her to wear long dresses. Ny
husband always approves Of the
Bloomer costumes, the naughty fell
low was agreeably surprised to
SEQ the marriage of Mrs. B. in the
Free Democrat. Are you glad that
she has been married to Mr.. P in
stead of to Mr.. CO When you
see her tell her that / wish her much
happiness. My husband is much
obliged TO sister Sarah for sending
him the California papers. l Thought
that the editors Of the San Joaquin
Republican had stopped sending
motherpapers. Go not think Judge
W has been in town; J have not
seen his name in the Daily News
which paper we take. You did not
say anything about Mr.. Ms NOV.
ing TO the West with his family. The
citizens Of z. are much excited against
the Irish Police, for they are n set OF
robbers. A good many persons here
have been garroted. ! am afraid 10
60 out in the evenings in conse-
Quence."
Judged by the rules of criticism
the above letter would be thought
nothing uncommon; but il, as il is
may be set down as better prepared
than can be ogot up by the average
Of the mute community. There is
nothing about the letter remarkable
TO note, as far as expression is con.
cerned-thc whole is common place
in thought, sentiment and form OF
place, but it furnishes evidence o.
what can be done by mute girl oI
mute capacity. The author never
writes but in haste, a fast which may
account for the easy and careless style
of the letter quoted above.
Side by side with It, the following
epistle, written by n mute man, sinks
into nonsense Of the most despicablC
nature:
81 got the news all right and an
very much obliged to you for them
l hope you found your mother better
and living yet than you expected.
hope you and your wife are quite wei
and good comfortable / am quit,
well but ] felt dull this weather is no
pleasant day. | have been to cut the
picture of the locomotive for the com
pany it is nearly finished. Please tel
Miss W if she has had taken hel
likeness, to send it to me, as she prom
ised she would have been expecting
IL for sometimes"
This is an exact fac-simile of tn,
original. Laugh as you may at tn,
accentric, for so they sound, blunder
which it shews on its very face, de
clare it is no laughing matter. Why
They show a two-fold misfortune u
in its true light; the two-fold misfol
tunes of deaf-dumbness coupled witt
ignorance.