Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-12
SILENCE HAT SPEAKS.
A Visit to the Iowa Deaf
and Dumb TnStitu g. the
Schools There,
Learning to Articulate-Lip
Reading-Scenes at Din
ner--the Workshops.


dumb was built here in 1869, at tn,
time Of the transfer of the institution
from Iowa City. Ia tho fall of 1871
the main building caught fro from
lamp and burned down. Although the
FIRE originated late In the night when
oil hands and inmates had retired,
not q life was lost nor o person Injured
The west wing was loon rebuilt, then
the center, and last year the east wing
was completed, making now a good,
substantial building, bat none too
large Tor the present number, there
being now 270 inmates. A deaf and
dumb institute is not, as many sup.
pose, a charitable institu ion, for
strictly speaking it ia an educational
institute, every inmate belonging to
some class In Ito v.st range of ciassl.
ication Of pupils, There ore sixteen
teachers daily employed in the bald
Ing, besides six others employed at
the head of the various industrial do.
pGrtments. ALI the elementary
branches are taught here that ore
nursued In the public schools, and Ia
mathematics the study of algebra has
recently been added. 1t has been
arranged to give o course of study
covering eleven years. This may
seem a long time, but when it is con
sidered that the larger portion Of chill
dren who enter this institution have
little, or In fact no, practical knowl.
edge or Idea Of language and
Its means Of transmission, and
owing to their peculiar misfortune
their means of obtaining this
knowledge Is quite limited, often
taking some from six to eight years
to get o sufficient understanding of
the language to practically commence
the studies OF O common school edu.
cation, yet many will be able to grad
uate In from three to five Year,; much
depends upon tho students, attention,
industry and application to their
studies.
Quite recently the superintendent
has added q valuable study to tho In.
stltute being a form Of natural science.
While the Idea is new and novel 1t Is
none the less valuable. 1t consists OF
a study Of the origin and various uses
OF cereals, fruits, sugar, sulphur aud
other articles for food, manufacturing
and other purposes. Rev. A. Rogers
who has had charge of the institution
less than three years has everything
running in first.clasu shape; tho farm
consisting Of 30 acres furnishes vege
potatoes and suoh, enough to
run the concern besides enough broom
corn to supply quite an extensive
broom factory. Among the other In.
dustrlos sustained hero for the benefit
OF the children is q carpenter and
cabinet shop, o boot and shoe shop,
and an extensive prluting Office ut
which 10 printed "rho Dsat Muto
Hawk Eye" the lsrgts; and hand
somsst paper of tho kind in the United
under the charge Of NJ.
Folsom, editor. The people of tho
have reason to feel proud of the
grand work the deaf and dunno In
ia doing ard with Its present
efficient corps Of officers and teachers
1t will continue to be Q credit to our
state, and . blessing to the hundreds
who . partake Of the advantages
therein.
THE VISIT Oh THE BEE.
One morning of stweek two repre-.
Of The BEE found them
riding out to the institute In
responie to On invitation and buggy
from superintendent Rogers. we
usherod Into the reception room,
to several Of the officers
and instructors and then set out to
make q tour Of the nchool rooms. Be.
fore we started, however, we fingered
. moment to look at a bust of Laura
Bridgeman, the American girl who
was deaf, mute and blind, and yet,
with the major part of her ssnses
gone, became me of the cultured and
accomplished women of the continent.
Tho first room entered was tho pri-
mary. where Miss G liup, of this city,
pres'des. There yer twenty .one little
muten, boy and girl, In the room.
Most Of them had been only five
months under instruction and it was
surprising to see how qalck and faclle
they were in expressing their
These mute children, almost with
out exception, learn rapidly and hold
with retentive memories, but tho no.
ton OF words N connected with OBJ.
;ects 10 extremely difficult for the
mind shut out from the use OF Ian.
guage and from very necessity limited
In thought to those things that have
material existence.
"How do maasge to mako them
the incoming Of q written
character, or even an expression of the
we asked Miss Gallup.
"Thers are four things that must 90
together to give them the idea. First,
the actual thing itself. as q cat, then
Cat placed en- the blackboard and
which they are shown how to make on
the slate, next the single gesture of
the sign language expressing cat, ana
last the combination of finger move.
ments that spell the word in the mute
alphabet. Ga each one of these thsv
drilled day after day until they have It
mastered.
u noticed you stamp ON the floor
luvt now to attract their attention"
the other visitor, "it thoy are
deaf how do they notice it2"
"They feel the conclusion. Their
nerves are much more sensitive to any.
thing OF the kind than hearing 200.
ple." p'''
YES" said Supt. Ruyers, 81 can
call a boys attention when I am a
hundred feet away in a hall, by a
stamp you would not feel"
The little people went through a
drill In the sign language With great
dexteri'y, answered questions written
on the blackhoard -Ith