The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-08-11
Scenes in O Deaf Mute School.

A BOSTON correspondent of the Wor-
cester spy gives this interesting account
OF the puolic deaf mute school in that
city, where articulation is taught:
One Of the public schools here is for
deaf and dumb children It was estab.
lished last autumn, and the results of the
six months teaching are encouraging to
the teachers, and astonishing to outsiders
There are between thirty and forty pu-
pills, girls and boys, from six years old to
sixteen. Some were born deaf and dumb
some became so while they were mere
babies, and few had learned to talk and
read little before they lost their hearing.
a few of them had received instruction
previously at Hartford, or some other in
stitution but a large majority came to
this school knowing not even their let
ters, and having no means, excepting nat
ural signs, of communicating with each
other. Here signs are not allowed, and
the children are taught to articulate. The
method OF instruction is very interesting,
and must require almost superhuman pa
tience in the teachers. First the alphabet
is thoroughly taught With large chart
on one easel and blackboard on another,
tie teacher begins with those unfortunate
pupils who cannot hear sound she
makes. She points to letter, A for in
stance, and says it over and over again,
showing the children how the lips form
it, placing their fingers on their throat
that they may feel the organ there, and
the motion when she articuates the
letter, showing them how to ill their
lungs and to make sound +; then the let
ter is written in its varying forms, CAPT
tai, small, writing and printing; and 50
letter after letter is taught until the al
phabet ls mastered. Then comes short
words and sentences, taught in the same
slow, patient way. There is nothing
more interesting Or more touching than
To watch 8 lesson given to one Of these
children. The teacher wishes to teach
the child the words 'on" and " under"
She places a book on chair, looks into
tbs child's face, who has already learned
book and chair, and tells him to say
these words. lie says them, and in
strange voice, but still quite plainly, and
touches them as he speaks. Then the
teacher laying the book on the chair,
says ION, on" until the child repeats it
then placing the book undsr the chair,
makes him say under; then she writes
both words on the blackboard that he
may spell them, and he writes them after.
taught at the same time in this way) she
then gives him an exercise, speaking as
she would to a child that can hear, Put
your slate on the table," put your hat
under the table," and so on. The
Child repeats each sentence after her, and
then does the thing required often max
ing mistakes, but trying until he under
stands and succeeds
The eagerness in young faces, the
strained attention, the whole soul in the
eyes which are fixed with almost painful
intentness upon the teachers lips the
struggle for speech; the passionate de
light at success, when the teacher says
right, are strangely pathetic 1t seems
as Ii some peculiar character were ncedi d
Tor such teaching, and this school is fortu-
nate in its teachers. The four ladies' have
all from various reasons, been Interested
for years in the teaching of the deaf and
dumb, and when this school was opened,
intense sympathy with this form of atllic-
ton led them to undertake this work
rather than something more easy and
pleasant. They seem to have infinite pa
t;ence with the poor little creatures who
have such fearful difficulties to contend
with they have real enthusiasm in the
wa NJ GNU ChtllC ldltH III IT'S anu
they have reason for their faith, for al
ready they are teaching arithmetic and
geography 1t is wonderful to see class
called up before the blackboard on which
are written fifty words without connec-
ton, and each scholar in turn takes
the pointer aud indicates the word the
teacher speaks. There are no signs; she
speaks as she would to any other class,
with perhaps a little more emphatic enun-
citation, and a little more pronounced
movement of the lips; every eye is fixed
upon her face, and when she has spoken
the word, every eye is turned on the
blackboard, and if the boy there has failed
To understand, and points to the wrong
word, the little hands go up eagerly To
correct the mistake. Then the blackboard
is cleaned, and they write words and SEN
fences from diciation. They learn veiy
quickly to understand the motion of the
llpe, and those who articulate most dis
tinctly are able TO talk little with their
teachers. Having once seen this school it
is impossible to forget it /; and one goes to
it again and again TO assure ones self that
it is real that it is no tale of mage, but
that such wonders are really done by the
devotion, patience, and sweet
ness of four young ladies who give their
hearts TO these unfortunate children.