, 1876-06-19
LIEGE.
Royal Asylum for Deaf,
Dumb, and Blind.
How Mute Children Are
Taught to Talk.
Wonderful Success Of the German
System OF Instruction.

Asylum for tic Deaf and Dumb and the Hind
The house Is Of red brick, very large, aud sur.
rounded hy spacious grounds, commanding n
SIcw Of the whole CITY of Liegc, together with
iii outlook on TO tho Valley Of tho Mcusc.
Thus the inmates have great advantage to
begin ~fth,-ptcnty Of pure, fresh mir. The
building Is very conspicuous, and easy to 1nd;
but, were 1t not so, ono would have ITO difficulty
in finding II, for must compliment the tnhabl-
tants Of Licgc on their
cNFAIL1S3 pOL1TESEas TO STRANGERS.
II yon inquire your why of the first woman
you meet, IN her ncnt mp and white apron, nnd
with, perhaps, q heavy ba1ket IN her n:1u, she
will not bo tatist1ed With directing you how 10
rcacl. your destination, hut often Insists upon
Kning the greater part Of the way with you, lest
you etloull make mistake. In Brutscls, OH the
contrary, yuu must never inquire your way, for
the Inhabitants always direct etrangers
wronE-tt IS one Of their CUSTOMS 4 custom
more ionored in the breach tl.an iii the ohserv-
ancc," one woulI think. There is In general Il
marked difference in the character md manners
Of the people Of the Northern, Or Flemish Prov
inccs, md those OF the Walloon Provinces,
which Rro situated principally III the south npd
southeast Of Belgium. The WulIopns are gcntlcr
and more tractablc tllnn the Flemish, anil the
poorer classes of the City Of Licge nre the gcn-
tlest In tllcfr manners, and the farthcst ad-
vnnccl In education, OF those Of my city of Bel
giuM; at least, So have been Informed hy per-
sons to have every opportunity Of knowing.
To return to
THE AsTLuM.
We were shown into tlc wnitfnE-ronm, whrrc
VIC hna lcsilrc tn a,lfnfre the white ouk loor and
furniture, lnt the portraits III tMiF Mairstfrs,
thc King and Queen Ut Belgium, which
adorn tho walls. Two gentlemen re-
cclyed us very kinlly4-onc the Director, wl,p
has the genera! supervision OF tllr Asylum, mud
Nan'letwillc,i, q Dntcl, gentleman, wto Eaye.
himself great trouble to explain tile Eystrl of
teaching To lie, To us who Ind never heard uf
the German system for teaching the deaf anl
institutions throughout Europe, and which has
been tried in tllis Asylum fur sis mouths with
very ]ar suuGss.-.tt seemed n little short u
miraculous. W bsgan at thu beginning, mud
lIea.l->tuster called three 1ttle 11es IT, him.
children of about $ ycars Of ngc,-and Eali,
making them all fix their Eyes on his lips, It.
To cur astonishmens, the children oil rcpeated
''' ''"'' pisr,scrIr us11 .: Asp Aup1nhr.
Or course, the Eoccs llad a peculiar eound;
but Tint the dumb should spcak at all, sccms
pnst belief. These same children went through
saine % eound = Is ID In Frenclj. Tkssn tltcy rail
papa, tbag) scau tajl>, and few other mon.
osyllablrs. Thcy had then shown oH al! their
| their !nl1rclr. After repeating each letter nr
word, one of the trio wrote It ltwil on the htack-
board, 70 SHOW that they undcretood what Tiny
raid The Ercat object Is to teach item to usi-
Of The Lips: next, to teach them to speak them
selves, They arc tIlat!c to fix their eyrs tile
TEACHERS mouth When he speaks, and thcu TO
make tho namc motion attcr hlin.
In the Second Class, the p,lp!ls are
] rArG1fT TO SAT WORDS, .
MS InId and tnn,saa, the names Of their brothers
and siEtcrs, their own nar.rs, aud To call their
teacl1er .Qoasfear: The names of the objects in
the list. After five yours Of especial
preparation, they ran h. taught, BY the help Of
oo:hooks, In the Easne way as ordinary thi!
drct,. asked the Hyad-sfasicr II tllcre was MT
when they once left the systc,n, nnd to ea''1;
| Anu; they will bu hblc to understand any o,le
speak BY the Inntfon of their lips. aa ther will
ne IN constant communication with people; md
organs are et!ll flexible, ttuy caii be taught to
speak flucntly, like any ono clse." The pupils
arc not encouraged to talk By signs. The 1lvAd-
Master t.,d INT tc did not even kl!ow the deaf.
a1I!c:u ul prrruus !s to lrcak town that senko vi
| isolation, and encourage them to
/ DO list AZ OTHERS 10;
therefore, the blind Are So much moro to he
|
10 tf1c dumb, am.l they can lr eIsabled
to help thcnsclscs, independently Of
others, hut nothing ean give sight
tn the blind. OF course, this systcnl takes
| little longer ttlnM MI an 0rlitlnry Education;
tl!e tpursc is complete IN ten years,-say from,
to IS years Ut ngc. Iii tho sceond Class, n boy
Of 10 took up bnok, and read with tulerahle
acenrasy ahoat half pagc,- c,--cxrlaintns by s!cns,
he rcna. The ilrst rllding-lessnns usr illustrated
| BY eolorcl engrnvings,-the brighter the better.
II u difficult to trnc the children to pitch tl,rr
9ets r1s,y ana to shea elesFy a With
facial contartions, hut 1 believe they loss that
| nftcr while. Tic boys In the sesans! Class,
who, s,cnk decidedly better than my otlnr
pupils In the Asylum among the deaf md ,l,1ul',
| KErRaTED THE MULTIPLICATION TABLE,
and wcFe u fur advance III arithmetic rs l'nys
nstontsl,el tho second iimc VISITED
s"u1i u iiei ne1sia ID tie " slssa 1 thu s Ii e"ud at
trst. The .irst In1c1 heard them spcak cuuld
understand them, It Is true; but tle!r poiecs
lad such peculiar sound hardly liGc hui
staod @ ' them mac @ bsttct, u ~ ani ther Vices sounl
cd more natural. Willie was waiting III the
waitng-room, hcar., cassrs, going on, ~ the
girls classroom, AMI the yotccs snililued like
those Of l!ttl: children learning TO talkt-un,yr-
told me tllat tho buys had 1naGe much Mure
progress III speaking, in thu six months that he
lmd hcvn tr''eflinE tl'c'a, tlan tue girls haa
done; they errtAinly wero much further al
| the EIrIs l,a.l not heuu NJ carefully taught III
the h"ys until very lately. was toiu that thIs
Byairm had been tntsu!ncrtl Into Deaf
md Dumb Asylum III Now York, by L German,
ltil perhApA III Ote Or mare ptller cities 0f thu
| ut.lull. There Ia nothing like going away from
ho1he TO learn facts shout ones native country.
| THK GlRlA.
6peNt one Afternoon Ia the gtEls cllss-t0ola,
WHti, uta11f f,f ffn IlI,