Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1872-09-14
A WONDERFUL CASE.
Thirty Yeara Deaf Dumb and Blind and
Living on Milk Alone.

A Correspondent Of the Hartford Times
sayi il h some friends over
POmlret hills, Conn, the other day, we
called on n singular character-a man 80
years Old, who is deaf, dumb, and blind.
He was horn deaf and blind. Whether he
would have been dumb or not had be
been blessed with the sense of hearing, ii
Is impossible to tell, but his glimmerings
OF intellect are evidently rather feeble.
This man Is well developed physically, is
Of ordinary heighth, has a stout thick
neck, aud looks strong and robust; hus
never eaten anything but milk, has never
tasted water, nor Il particle of any food
but milk. thirty years on clear mix,
and with neck ike an OK, and apparent
ly mus cuar system to correspond. Can
We say now that milk is for babes and
calves only, and not for strong men
This man had fall set Of strong double
ieath clear round, and every one of them
had TO bD pulled out, is he tore his clothes
TO pieces with th1m. As he didn't use
hem b. chew his milk with, he probably
hought he must make some use Of them,
ne they we've evidently made for some
thing, and hi, clothes furnished excellent
material on which to exercise them.
Another peculiarly OF this strange be-
Ing that through all his life long he has
chewed a rag or rather, ! should tsay,
has gummed L., since hi, strong coth
we taken from him. From infancy his
mother has had to place a rag in his
mouth as soon as he had taken his food.
ask her what he would do If she omitted
ii. Sh- said he gave her no peace till she
put IL back, He distinguishes strangers
from the neighhors and those who had
visited him befo c 10 K bod of his
hand aud he took il in huth vi AID seemed
to be- consd, ngi then he passed his hand
up tue lena th OF my arm, aud pa ted his
head and chest and made siueu ar guttu-
raj noise.
/ asked my mother what these manlles-
tat ons indicated. She said that Was his
way Or expressing iOy-Of showing that
he was pleased. His principal enjoyment
seems TO g insist in having his mother get
through with her work aud sit down by
his side He has Il swing in the room, in
which he spends a good part Of the time
swinging. Sometimes, when his mother
steps out, he will lock the door so that
she can't ct back again, which shows
that be has some wit about him, or trick
cry, at least. He is always very wakeiul
at night, and rOuses his mother out of bed
many times in the night. She says she
has lived thus without good nights rest
for thirty years, with the exception of
Saturday and Sunday nights. Every Dat
urday night he calms down like lamb,
and keeps that night and all the Sunday
after the strict letters of the old "Blue
Laws" of Connecticut. | don't suppose
he would venture TO kiss his mother on
that day. Evidently the spirit of Cotton
Mather takes p0ssessi IN of him then, and
rules triumphantly till Monday morning.
Ills mother attributes this hehdumHdal
to the fact that she changes his clothes on
Saturday night. If this has such Il sooth-
ing effect she ought to change them every
night. But ii is probably owing to the
mere fact of change from the ordinary
routine. This slight ripple of change is Il
change to him, and Il rest--a sort vi week
ly landmark in the dreary mOnotOnJus
blank of his life. Perhaps through the
clouds and mists of his vacant mind he
welcomes this slight ripple, and thus in
his poor way computes the flight Of time.
The flight of time--what meaneth il to
such u mind as thsl To wake and sleep,
to draw the breath, to take a pint o. milk.
The m goes round, the seasons change,
but naught of this knows he. Nations
arise, and nations fall-'tis all the same
to him. One drrary round, forever blank,
will death improve his state The bird
that hirs, the fish that swins, has better
| life titan lhi-.