Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-07-29

In England the ordinary mode of com.
municatiOn between deaf mutes and those
who converse with them is by gestures and
signs, some OF which are alphabetical II
is only those who have mixed much with
deaf and dumb who know how to com.
municate with them in this manner. The
advantage of lip-reading is that il enables
the mutes to understand the words of peo
pie who have no special familiarity with
their ways, provided always that the
speakers have not too bushy boards and
mustaches. In the hopeful cases dumb,
ness is result of deafness, and when
once the attention is trained to observe the
play of the facial muscles these move.
mcnts of the face can be initiated Nv
initiating the actions they see in speaking
persons the dumb are actually made cana,
BILE of speech themselves so as to be audi.
BILE and Ineligible to ordinary people
The children examined on Thursday had
not attained perfection in this branch, for
the school had only been open three wears.
and the course takes eight. Their voices
wandered sometimes into strange and
mournful cadences, their "r's" were
usually whole syllables; but at last two
pupils made every word they said clearly
and distinctly understood. The establish.
ment Of the institution is due to confer
ences held in 1871 in the house of Bar
oness Mayer de ROthschild, who had al
ready founded the Jews Deaf and Dumb
Home on the same system and under the
same management. There are now tifty
children on the books who all pay some
amount for their education. After a few
words from Mr.. Van Praagb, the d.
rector of the school, the children came
forward IN four groups First, those
| who had been from fortnight to six
months in the school, very little girls and
boys, wrote letters on the blackboard and
| repeated them after their teacher The
next class has been a year in the school
and they wrote such words as "moon" and
thumb" and read off little sentences
with an eagerness to show their acquire
ments and pleasure of countenance and
gesture which contrasted strangely with
| their hating utterance. The next group
| had been two and half years in the
school, They could say 'copy book
very distinctly, and on being examined
knew that it was made of paper and that
it cost four pence. They worked easy
sums; enumerated the games they had
| played-cricKet and foot-ball-and the
|
from Mr. Van Praagh's dictation sentences
which he formed by his lips without say
ing word. The fourth group of chill
dren, who had been three and a half years
in school, were asked more difficult ques
tons One had been to Paris and liked
it very much. They talked French in
Paris, she said, and so one of the boys
was asked what language was spoken in
Melbourne. He made an intelligent and
amusing mistake in replying "Austra-
lian," and when asked to what country
Iceland belonged, began guessing, En-.
gland" Ireland" as other quick boys
do But one of the girls knew that Ice
land belonged to Denmark, and that from
Denmark came the Princess Alexandra.
They knew who fought the battle of
Waterloo, and that Bonaparte was dead a
long time ago" They knew that Sir
John Franklin went toward the North
Pole, where he found ice and snow. He
is dead" said one of the boys slowly and
solemnly .-Lond0n Times.