Wichita eagle., 1888-01-18
SUFFERERS SCHOOL.
HOW THE HABIT OF STAMMERING
is OFTEN ACQUIRED.

Is OFTEN ACQUIRED.
Scenes in the Oface OF Man Who Makes
Hating Speech Run snaoothly-Im-
pediments Of Speech of Nervous
Character. f
"Young man. how did you acquire the
habit of stuttering:" 81 u-u-nsed to
m-m-mock a man. When he d-d-die,1
took his place." The question was by the
professor of vocal institute, and the
answer by young man who had just an
nounced his intention of taking series of
lessons. A reporter was present, and sit
ting around the room were several intelli-
gent looking young men, the most of whom
could speak as fiuently as any one. All
declared that they had until recently been
most inveterate Sufferers or stammerers.
The doctors question suggested an inter-
esting train of thought. The reporter put
the same question to each of the patients
in turn. When was about 6 years of
ege," said number one, II commenced to
stutter q little. Then we moved to q
strange place and / went TO school. l
was very diffident, and the teacher at
tempted to force me to read and recite.
The scholars laughed at me, / became
more diffident, and soon the habit was
fixed on me-"
81 am his brother" said number two.
81 learned it of him.
"When l was young said number
three, Il used to play all the time with
another boy who was horrible sufferer,
ard learned it of him. Whenever l was
out with the boys and didn't think of it
would sometimes find myself talking all
right, but as soon as thought about it l
would commence again. My little brother
afterward learned it OF me-
Number four said he learned the habit
from another boy. but would have con-
9uered it had not his teacher forced him
to read and recite, at which times he be
came so nervous as to lose all control of
himself. Ali had acquired the habit at
the age of 6 or 7.
OF A NERVOUS NATCRE.
"That accords with the most of my ex-
perience,' said the doctor: these impedi.
ments of speech are for the most part of a
nervous nature. Lack of will power, the
Geographic system of the body out Of
order. imperfect connection between the
brain and muscles of speech. All this
trouble sometimes arises from sudden
fright. One patient of mine, young
lady, was slightly seized with s:ammering
at the time of the great fire Afterward
she saw a cow catch little child on its
horns. She was paralyZed with fright,
unable to scream or move. The animal
tossed the child into the air. She rushed
to the spot and the child was fatally in
jured. After that the lady was q bad case
of confirmed stammering.
''One of the worst cases ! ever had was
that of young man. When he was q
boy of 9 or : years of age his father
threatened. ii he committed certain Of
Tense, TO throw him into the we'll. The
boy committed the offense, and his father
held him for a moment over the we'll head
downward. From that time on the boy
could not talk plainly. Many children
acquire this malady in infancy, just as
they are beginning to talk. Their parents
or nurses tickle them, sometimes on the
bottoms of the feet, thinking the loud
laughter thus excited amusing The pa
papa which the little ones cry out at such
times is the first inception of the habit OF
suffering.
The doctor is a jolly fellow, of fine ply
sique and great personal magnetism with
the voice and laugh of lion, if lion can
be imagined as laughing In training his
class he commences, in the most natural
way in the world. to talk of all sorts of in
tereSting subjects, anu soon an infection Of
good feeling seizes all present. He roars
out his words with such force and fiuency
from the depths Of his immense lungs that
talking seems the easiest thing in the
world. Occasionally remark is ad-
dressed to some member of the class in a
conversational sort of way, and before
they know it everybody seems to be able
to talk. Occasionally he goes the rounds
Of the class with various vocal exercises
for the development of certain muscles.
SOME OF THE EXERCISES
Here are few Of the exercises Some
ministers and actors would do well to
practice them:
Amos Ames, the amiable aeronaut.
nided IN an aerial enterprise at the age
of So
'Obtain all opportunities of obhterat-
Ing obnoxious ostentations."
Henry bingham has hung his harp or
the hook where he hitherto hung his
hopes" What a nut for Cockney to
crack.
81 like white vinegar with veal very
WE'LL
''She sells sea shells Shall he sell sea
shellsg''
'Quixote Quixite quizzed queerish
quidboX. Where is the Gueerish quidbox
Quixote Quixite quizzeds''
When the pupils can recite these SEN
fences and hundred or SO similar ones
fluently they are graduated.
A clear cut, elegant ana fluent utter
ance is one Of the greatest graces with
which person can be gifted. It tells al
most the whole story OF ones birth, early
training and associations. The different
kinds of faulty elccution are known as
suffering, stammering, hesitancy, lisp
ing, exhausted breath, nasal sound and
improper articulation. Many people fall
under SO complete list as this. who in
some instances could improve their utter
ance by q little private practice and atten
tion TO the matter. A sufferer has the
most difficulty in uttering. lingual sounds,
such as words beginning with l.. while the
stammerer stumbles over the labiaI
sounds. of which words beginning with B
are an example. Both habits are accom-
panied with facial distortion, and some
times with a writing or twitching of the
whole body That these are nervous af
fections is shown by the devices resorted
to to get over some difficult letter or
sound as swapping the finger or stamping
the foot. Il shut mummy fist tight. "
said a Stammerer. land the electricity
runs up my arm and lets the sound
c-c-come OUT At the letter c he drove
his finger nails clear into the palm Of La
hands.-Chicago Herald.