Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-03-26

.Icystood In very large room.
Ito watched the lips Of people in the
| audience fifty feet away, and repeated
wor.,s after them. Maggie "Bcr-
man ), . Hartford, . /" boy" /" horse
and several other words were spoken as
plainly as four ont Of five sehool-chil-
,Iren Of his age would have pronounced
them. " Brooklyn bothered him. He
called IL Brugim. The boy could
not hear sound. lie never has
since ne was born. So Keen was
| his observation that he repeated
words by watching the shadow on
the white wall Of the person who ut
tered them. lie did not shirk sylia-
bic of the Lords Prayer nor stumble
once in his articulation. His pronuncia-
ton OF some words was peculiar, but
the whole was rendered with such
plaintiye simplicity and peculiar falling
| infection az the termination OF SEN
fences that many ladies who heard him
sobbed.
Another boy stepped on the platform,
sharp little fellow in short trousers.
| He watched peoples lips with eyes like
a lynx and shouted the words after
them as vociferously as newsboy.
Somebody tried him with hard words,
such as ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, but he pro-
nounced them before the tones Of the
first speakers voice had died away.
People pointed TO articles Of clothing,
such as a cuff, collar, glove. or coat, and
the boy told them what they were
doing. lie never dreamed of the ap-
plause that followed him TO his seat.
The boys were in charge Of n. +.
Whipple. principal Of the Oral School
in Mystic, Conn. He taught them to
speak. They are accustomed to him.
and can carry on rapid conversation
with him. Mr. Whipple explained on
a blackboard how he taught the chill
dren by drawing signs representing GER
tain movements and positions of the
tongue and lips. People in the audi
ence called out words, Mr.. Whipple
wrote them on the board, and the little
boys promptly pronounced them. One
man a red for =. Beecher." On the black
board il looked very much like one Of the
pictures on Puck'S "Freddy's slate"
The boy pronounced it Bee-cher. He
was called to the platform, and the
teacher pressed his wrist as he pro-
nounced the word again. The third
time he said, with smile of satisfaction,
Bee-cher. The audience rOared. The
boys are taught to accent their words
in this way. They like to talk, and
never forget the pronunciation of a
word they have once learned. Several
words were put on the blackboard,
which the little fellows instantly pro-
nounced, but did not know the meaning
of. Mr.. Whipple said that they had not
the least idea whether Beecher meant u
man or something good to eat.
Somebody asked Enoch Whipple, an
uncle of the principal, sixty years old,
to read the thirty-fith chapter of Isaiah.
The old gentleman has been deaf from
birth. He can hear the sharp toot of a
steamboat whistle or the boom of a
cannon when he stands close to it, but
he never heard word spoken in his
life. His father, Jonathan Whipple, a
Woodworking Connecticut farmer. used
TO take his little deaf and dumb
boy on his knee and say. " Papa's
poor darling One day he saw the
little fellows lips move and heard linn
whisper Papa" Mr.. Whipplc taught
his dumb boy to speak, and was the
founder of the oral system. For about
forty-fve years Mr.. Whipple has been
able to converse with people round
about him. lie read last night as dis
tinctly, as understandingly. and as
feelingly as Mr.. Beecher would have
read it, had he been on the platform,
what the Scriptures say about the time
when the deaf shall hear, the blind
see, the dumb speak, and the lame
walk.
Mr.. EnOch Whipple was asked to
make a speech, and he did so. Every
word was separated by a distinct pause,
but there was no perceptible hesitation
Of utterance. He told about his father
early teaching. and how, when he was a
lad. he was taken before a convention
of scientists from all parts of the cOun-
try in Hartford. One man offered him
Harvard course, but he preferred to
stick to his father and the farm. " And
! think have come along pretty well,
considering" he said. " don't yOu?"
lie laughed a little. very much like a
man with bad cold. Mr.. Whipplc be-
trayed a peculiar characteristic of many
Connecticut people in the rural districts,
which he could not have learned from
the books. In the course OF his re-
marks he several times said accom-
ing" once a-gOing," and again
" a-whaling."
Mr.. y. +. Whipple told Of the pro-
gress of oral instruction OF deaf-mutes
in the few schools where il was taught.
The difficulty, he said, was in getting
teachers competent to show the chill
dren how to pronounce difficult conso-
nantS, like X, m. Oh, tn, and some
others where the tongue was hidden
from their sight. Close observation
is necessary. and various amusing ex-
pedicntS are resorted to. There are
10000 deaf muteS in the United States,
most of them using the sign. language.
Mr.. Whipple thought that the oral
teaching must surely supplant the old
system. 1t was no longer an expert
mcnt. The pupils can talk more easily
to men without. whiSkerS.