The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-10-21
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 quietness 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
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 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. Keeler is the teacher.
For eleven years she has worked among
deaf mutes and given to voiceless
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-tenths pa
tience. One must have the quiet pa
tience of marble statue and persistence
as the flowing of river to perform this
modern miracle Of making the dumb
talk. To make q sound over and over
again and then to begin at the beginning
and repeat and reiterate and explain and
recite the same thing thousand times
is somewhat suggestion of the work of
teachers life.
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 First reader in the
room. Miss Kcelcr was teaching the
smallest boy to say "Ah?' 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 expul-
sion of her breath. Then she said "Ah! I"
and he tried to say it after her. Then
her lips formed the word "papa," and
the little fellow, by closely watching,
essayed 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 a cultural sort of
''papa."
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 "m" 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 ex
actly, and another letter was won. The
vowels 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.
mic, sits just across the round table. She
began learning carly, and speaks very
nicely. OF course, that voice which she
herself has never heard lacks the modu-
lation that we unconsciously 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 a 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 tel
from the changes in your lips and tongue
what you say. Make the mere motor
with your mouth, as if whispering softly,
but do not make the least sound, an6
she can tell what your words would be-
OF course in this combination of OBJ
ject-teaching and lip-rcading there needs
must be strange mistakes. Take tn,
case of DR.. Gallaudet, who, speaking il
church to deaf mutes, tried to explain
what deacon was. He took his ha
and passed it round as though taking VI
} con. Now, did they understand o
} course. Little George held up his hant
and was given chance to air his knowl
edge and tell what deacon really was
ale is the monkey that goes round will
! the organ-grinder to collect pennies.
, So when he wrote on the board the defini
tion of "consequence"-'that which fol
I lows" another bright lad said dog wa
a consequence, because he followed th'
man.
Just about century ago, the plodding
painstaking Germans began to try t,
teach deaf mutcs 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 NUT
schc OILS. A child should begin at five o
six years to learn, and in ten years ough
to be able to talk fairly well. Mos
teachers limit their classes to seven, as i
is difficult to give the desired attention
I II