The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-08-29
WHICH is WORSE, 10 BE BLIND Oh
DEAF?

The musical composer, Gouncd, !
has recently expressed his opinion .
that the blind are more to be pitled
than. the deaf; that their loss 10
greater aad their fate sadder. An.
other great composer, who became
deaf at the age of thirty, hardly
egreed with hiU; for although his
infrmlty did not put an end TO MS
work, iJ is believed that but LOT "
he would have accomplished even
greater things than those Whlcn
ihave brought him such IenoWn.
suppose Shakespsar, at that age, TO
| have been struck with paralysis SO
that he could neither write nor
| speak. In spite of the evidences OF
genius which ne displayed IN
ri hard ILL.," the Merchant OF
Venice and ,'Mldsummer NlgnIs |
I Dream" the world would probably
| never had "Romeo and Juliet,
"Hamlet," 81 Macbeth, M
.IsO'hello.
Beethoven certainly felt his loss
OF hearing as keenly as any one TEL,
g the loss of sight. 81 can truly say,
he declared in letter to friend,
that l pass wretched existence; for
the last two years I have almost
Stunned society because it is i'm
/. possible to tell people l am deaf.
My ears are ever ringing and sing
ing day aud night. bow can pro-
lclsim the weakness Of a sense
which 1 ought to possess in higher
degree than others, which did pos.
- sess In the highest perfection-a per.
. lection equaled by few OF my pro>
fession? What humiliation when
some one standing near hears dis
tant flute and ] hear nothing, or
listens to the sound of herdsme
and hear 80 sound? Such inci>
i dents have brought me to the verge
y, Of despair.
4, Samuel G. Howe, for many years
Nv the head of the Massachusetts, asy>
lum for the deaf, dumb and blind
gave as the result of his observation
that the deaf are deprived of more
than the blind. The Rev. w. III. Mil
IT. burn, She "biind preacher con-
ed versed with many affected like
all himself and many who were deaf
ass He was persuaded that his own was
the lesser misfortune. But it is no
@s generally so regarded. 1t would b'
III. III more correct to say, perhaps, tina
on the blind are pitied, but are not t
he pitied more than the deaf. Tn
deaf man OF deaf woman is foun
in comedy; his mistakes and mi:
haps are used to incite laughter. Blu
blindness is used in melodrama an
in romance, to stir the sympathIe:
to touch the heart, to bring tn
tears. a skillful dramatiss wou!
eer" rever for a moment think OF II
versing these conditions-maks fu
OF blind person ana throw We
of pathos atout the deaf. The vel
r I means of communication with tt
II two kinds of iDfirmities appeal
diff rent feelings. The shoutlr
and the pantomime, the mistak
and the Misunderstanding OF Il
deaf stir up rld'cule; while t.
treatment or the blind softens tt
. heart a1d mells the eyes. The So
cess of the famous play, The T.
- Orphans is chit fly due ID the bin
* ness of the heroine, while one OF t
most laDghabie portraitures
Bronson Howafd's Saratoga Is t
deaf old gentlemen who makes +
of his own infiimity. Shakesp
has several blind person sees In
plays, but zone deaf.
80 Between blindness ard del
A-H muteism there eau scarcely be a
doubt that blindness Is the smsl
. evil. The testimony Of all expe
mr. in the matter shows that blind ?
iE, sons more easily overcome the
stacles caused by their inf I'M
,mo THAI do the deaf and dun, and it
LlO historically true that more OF
blind have risen to d stiuctlon 81
the deaf and dumb. The Ell
upon the temper and character
TAI peculiar. The blind are genera
docile aud combining, the deaf
picious and irritable. This proba
aris, from the fact that the bl
are who'll, dependent on others;
a aueIds deaf only partially SO; the b
! illus have little upon which to exer
their curiosity; the deaf see M
which they do not understand
'ErS' out the worst construction upol
=. think themselves the object
to. ridicule and scorD. The VIII
helpless condition of the blind
accounts for the pity felt for tn
:. Tney elicit the same tender
-"' which inf nts envoke, and t
. deprivstions are for this re;
probably exag yerated somewhs
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