Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-08-24
LIP-READING BY DEAF MUTES.

Jonathan w nipple, OF Mystic, ".
Jonathan Whipple is an old man OF
well-nigh fourscorc years, but his heart
is warm and his force undated; he,
however, has little to do with the
teaching. Zerah c. Whipple, his
grandson, has charge of that. He is a
man Of about twenty years and has
learned the art of teaching deaf mutes
to read the lips and to articu,ate, from
his grandfather.
Jonathan Whipple is, perhaps, the
first man that ever taught articulation
and lip-reading in this country. A
poor man, with limited education, oc-
cupicd in cultivating a small rocky
farm during the simmer months, and
in the winter time going from one
cighborhood to another to butcher
hogs, he is better known as honest old
Jonathan Whipple, the hog-skinner,
than as the discoyerer of a system to
teach the dumb to talk. And yet,
there is not in this country or III Eu-
rope a man who more thoroughly UNI
derstands the art Of teaching this sys
tenn than this plain old man, and many
teacher on either continent could
learn Of him. 1t was necessity and
love of his own offspring that led him
to the discovery, and much that is val
liable will die with him unless some
body takes pains to preserve it.
His discovery was made in this
wise: He had a son, Enoch Whipple,
now a man Of forty-five years of age,
who was born deaf Enoch was a
bright, intelligent lad, and to see him
thus crippled in his efforts to gam
knowledge was painful to his father.
Mr.. Whipple noticed that his son
would sit and watch his lips when
talking, and the thought occurred to
him that he mi ght be made to under.
stand from the motion Of his lips what
he was saying. The child was not so
deaf but what he could hear sound
when sufficiently loud. Mr. Whipple
claims that the instances are very
rare indeed where deaf person can
not be made to hear some sound.
Twenty years ago or more the old
gentleman was mt the Hartford asylum,
where they told him that the children
could not hear any sound, not even Il
car whistle. Mr.. Whipple thought
they could, and asked the privilege of
trying. Permission was granted, and
he put his fore-hnger to his mouth and
fetched "A whistle that would have
started the dead. The consequence
was that nearly every child's head
went up. Not every teacher has the
qualification i'll this respect that Mr..
Whipplc has; his voice is so powerful,
so terrific that horses and cattle have
been known to tremble under it. His
son could hear him when he shouted;
for years that was the only way III
which he could conveyto his mind any
thing. The boy noticed his fathers
lips when he shouted, and soon learned
to understand by the sign the lips made
so much as by the sound. So the father
mouthcd to him such things as he had
learned to understand. Years ago,
when they were butchcring we have
seen Mr.. Whipple touch Enoch on the
shoulder, get his attention, and then
mouth to him something to do. No
one else could talk to him or make
him understand a word. This was the
beginning, and natural one. II the
boy could learn few things from the
lips, he could learn many 'hings, and
SO the father went on teaching him,
first the alphabet and then to read,
during the long winters. And now
any stranger might meet Enoch and
talk with him by the hour, provided it
was light, and the only popularity
that he would notice would be the
close attention that he would receive. 1
We know of woman whom he very
much frightened. She had heard of
Enoch, and that he was deaf and
dumb; he came to their house to
butcher, and during the butcheriug he
ca, his finger and went into the house
10 have it done up. Like most muteS,
he is silent unless spoken to, 50 he
only held out his finger rs she came to
do it up. She began talking to her
servant girl, saving, II am sorry this
poor dumb man has cut his finger
Enoch saw what she was saying, and
said in his slow, melancholy way, "Ac-
,hidents will happen The woman
was terrified and tainted. She Suppos-
Of thot his toncrlra had hprn nulonspl