Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-10-20
SILENT SCHOLARS.
Teaching Deaf Mutes to Talk
in q New York School,
A Method which Requires Great Patience
and Perseverance,


every other brown stone front on the
block, queer class of pupils meets every
day. Some of the pupils are only five
years old and some are twenty, but not
one ever makes any noise, and in point
of quictness the class is model one.
Nobody ever hears schoolboy laughter
or schoolgirl jollity ring out from that
school-room, and the very house itself
has not even the conventional door bell.
You can count every tick of the little
clock with the class in full session while
you stand waiting in the hallway.
In this silent house deaf mutes are
taught to speak. Two private classes,
with seven pupils in each, meet there
day after day, and from 0 in the morn
ing till late in the afternoon struggle
with those simple sounds that most of us
learn unconsciously in our babyhood.
Miss Sadie w. Kecler is the teacher.
For eleven years she has worked among
deaf mutes and given to voceless
tongues the music of our speech. In
this country and in Europe she has
learned all that the best schools can Of
fer.
But whatever methods different teach
ers may have, to the on-looker who
spends an interested hour or two in her
classroom it seems that the only sue
cessful method must be nine-t -tcnths pa
ticncc. One must have the quiet pa
ticncc of marble statue and persistence
as the flowing of a river to perform this
modern miracle Of making the dumb
talk. To make sound over and over
again and then to begin at the beginning
and repeat and rcitelatc and explain and
recitc the same thing a thousand times
is somewhat suggestion of the work of
u ttuCHcl IIlC.
Two boys about seven, another of ten,
pretty girl of sixteen and two smaller
girls about eleven years old were sitting
quietly around little table. There was
blackboard and n First reader in the
room. Miss Kcclcr was teaching the
smallest boy to say "Ahw She put one
of his hands on her chest so that he
could feel the vibrating of the vocal
chords, and held the other close to her
mouth, so that he could feel the cxpul-
sion of her breath. Then she said "Ah!'
and he tried to say it after her. Then
her lips formed the word "papa," and
the little fellow, by closely watching,
cSsaycd to initiate her, but the only re-
suit was something that sounded like
'mum-mum." The teacher held the
lads hand to her lips so that he could
feel her breath as she expelled it in max
the ''p" in "papa." The "m" sound
did not bring any breath on his
hand; so he tried again, and, holding
his hand to his own mouth, changed
"mum-mum" into cultural sort of
"popo."
The little pupil had hard work getting
the letter &C." The only way he could
feel this sound was by placing his hands
one on each side of the jaw of the
teacher. The sound Of mp and "w"
he got by placing the fingers Of one hand
on the teachers nose and the fingers of
his other hand in precisely the same way
on his own nose. Then he copied the
movement of her lips and tongue cx ,
actly, and another letter was won. The
vowcls are taught first, then letters are
put together, and the lad at last learns
TO say "boy." Then he writes it on a
slate, and is told that the three letters
mean himself or any other boy.
One pretty little maiden named Min
ME, sits just across the round table. She
began learning early, and speaks very
nicely. OF course, that voice which she
herself has never heard lacks the modu-
lation that We unconsci usly learn to look
for. 81 love you," from those pretty
lips has the same measure of affection
expressed and the same placid intonation
that 81 hate you" has. She is good
example of the double system of teach
ing that goes on in this queer school
room. She has learned lip-reading.
Speak slowly to her and she can tell
from the changes in yourlips and tongue
what you say. Make the mere motion
with your mouth, as if whispering softly,
but do not make the least sound, and
she can tell what your words would be.
OF course in this combination of OBJ
ject-tcaching and ip-rcading there needs
must be strange mistakes. Take the
case of DR.. Gallaudet, who, speaking in
church to deaf mutcs, tried to explain
what deacon was. lie took his hat
and passed it round as though taking up
collection in church-that was dca-
con. Now, did they understand OF
course. Little George held up his hand
and was given n chance to air his knowl-
edge and tell what deacon really was
Gle is the monkey that goes round with
the organ-grindcr to collect pennies,
So when he wrote on the board the dcfini.
tion of "consequencc"-"that which fol.
lows" another bright lad said dog was
a consequence, because he followed the
man.
Just about century ago, the plodding,
painstaking Germans began to try to
teach deaf mutes to talk. They learned
it from Spain, and have been improving
ever since. Now nearly all the big cit
les of the civilized world have deaf mute
schc OILS. A child should begin at five or
six years to learn, and in ten years ought
to be able to talk fairly well. Most
teachers limit their classes to seven, as it
is difficult to give the desired attention
to each member Of larger class. The