Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-06-27

er's face, .asand alted-with his hand
to the throat and his eyes to the lips.
The word is pronounced again, and
he succeeds in spelling it Then he
points TO the board and thrusts his
finger down to the floor, to let us
know that there is baby down
stairs in a cradle. Call him a baby
and 70 will cry. BuJ ask him what
be is. aud he will spell boy, boy"
This little fellow has been in the
school about six weeks When he
first came communication had to be
set up between him and Mr.. Whipple.
There was no way in which they
could understand each other, and
beginning must be made. Mr.. Whip
pie took the boy upon his lap and
held him until he cried, then, thrust
ing his hand to his throat, he gave
him his first lesson.
Another boy was called up, Willie
Downing, who has been under Mr..
Whipple's tuition a year and half.
He recited in geography. Every
question must be put slowly, and
thoroughly articulated be takes it
from the lips, and does not use the
hand except in the dark, and then
his hand must be upon the throat of
the person who talks with him. He
gives his answers very slowly, artic-
ulates every elementary sound in
word, and shows a good deal of
knowledge for boy only IL years
old And yet, before he came to this
school, he was unable to have one
word of intercourse with his own
father and mother. lie read aloud
the history on the blackboard aud
read story about two squirrels, in
a book he has. We could understand
him about as well as you could un-
derstand foreigner who was &C
curing our language. There would
be the same misplacing of accents,
the same ups and downs ia infection,
and the same strong articulation.
While he was recting his lesson he
caught sight of our horse out of the
window, and looking at his teacher,
said, "Name ?" Mr.. Whipple inquir-
ed the name of the horse, and then
wrote on the slate "Rocket," and
told the boy to spell it. He speIt
the word and pronounced it, and
then our own names were given him
and duly spelt and pronounced Mr.
Whipple tells me that the children,
when once started, show great in
terest in acquiring knowledge, aud
are watching every body's lips But
many persons articulate words so
indistinctly that they can make
nothing Of what they say boards
and mustaches are also an obstacle
to lip reading, but by practice the
children become expert, and, like
type settlers, become sklllful at unrav-
cling poor writing on the lips.
Jonathan Whipple is, perhaps, the
first man that ever taught articula-
ton and lip-reading in this country.
A poor man, with very limited
education, occupied in cultivating a
small, rocky farm during tho sum-
mer months, and in the winter time
going from one neighborhood to an
other to butcher hogs, he is better
known as honest old Jonathan Whip
pie, the hog skinner, than as the dis
coVerer OF system Of teaching the
dumb to talk. And yet, there is not
in this country or in Europe, q man
who more thoroughly understands
the art of teaching this system than
this plain old man, and many a
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
valuable will die with him unless
somebody takes pains to preserve it.
His discovery was made in this
wise: He had a son, Enoch Whip
pie, now man forty-fve years of
age, who was born deaf. Enoch
was bright, intelligent lad, and to
see him thus crippled in his efforts to
gain knowledge was painful to his
father. Mr.. Whipple noticed that
his son would sit for hours and
watch his lips when talking, and the
thought occurred to him that he
might be made to understand from
the motion Of his lips what he was
saying. The child was not so deaf
but that he could hear sound when
sufficiently loud Mr.. Whipple
claims that the instances are very
rare indeed where a deaf person can
not be made to hear some sound
wenty years ago or more, the old
gentleman was at the Hartford asy-
lum, where they told him that the
children couldn't hear any sound
not even a car whistle. Mr.. Whip
pie thought they could, and asked
the privilege of trying. Permission
was granted, and he put his forefin-
ger to his mouth and fetched a
whistle that would have started the
dead. The consequence was that
nearly every childs head went up.
Not every teacher has the qualifica-
ton in this respect that old Mr..
Whipple has; his voice is so power
full, so terrific that horses and cattle
have been known to trembe under it
His son could hear him when he
shouted, for years that was the only
way in which he could convey to his
mind any thing. The boy noticed
his fathers lips when he shouted
and soon learned to understand by
the sign the lips made as much as by
the sound. So the father mouthed
to him such things as he had learned
to understand. Years ago, when we
were butchering we have seen Mr..
Whipple touch Enoch on the shout
der, 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.
If the boy could learn a few things
from the lips, he could learn many
things, aad so tho father went on
teaching him, first the alphabet and
then to read, during the long win
tcrs And now any stranoar mipht