San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-25

>~s1o L5OcO uuu ODcyeu me 70 AM
extent. ! think he would willingly have
laid down his life or endured torture for
my sake. Nothing made him happier
than to be near me as sat under the banynD
tree in my garden, smoking and reading.
When opened his stall in the mornings end
called to him to come out, lie fairly quivered
with joy at the sound of my voice, and gavo
vent to his satisfaction at seeing Inc by shril
trumpetings. His devotion was annoying a.
times, and one Of the first difficulties that ]
experienced was in teaching him to be less
demonstrative.
1t is q fact which most readers Of this mar,
rative have proved for themselves by actual
experiment that animals may be taught the
meaning of words. An intelligent dog, for
example, possesses considerable vocabulary.
| proposed to undertake systematic course
of instruction in the English language with
Ulysses, and TO ascertain to what extent he
was capable Of acquiring our vocabulary.
Whenever he learned a new word l made
note Of it in 9 book, and by constant reEisu
cortrived to fix it in his memory. As soon
is he began to comprehend what my purpose
was, as he did after had besr laboring with
linn u coG,Ae CT Weeis, lie became very eager
TO le.:R!. C2d greatly increased tho nRpidjty
of the ygGE.s.
The process OF teaching hfm nouns was
simple ay..G ossv. Dssch day would produce
several new srHicies, tell him tksir names,
and ks4re bizl hand them to nae as osIsod
Tor &4ocE. r.cg;Lt h.In 10 say "ysss and
mo" Is tae vSviiis; Of his trunk, end naie
hisl CsrnccsIao tl-.t Ire S'xs % ess ehRs nsalS
OF ehta-i".ly, - he Whetaer he undsssosoi
lie o. .,o9.
Afoea' vas we'll into the work the non-
ing lesson would go somewhat a, follows:
"Are You ready for your Lesson, U1ysssSe'
Ulysses hits his trunk afirmativeiy. Al
though ne does not understand "iesson,D the
woFd ready" is clear to him by frequent
use
hold out a ball, new object.
'sTEis Is ball. Ulysses-bal."
repeat 1t several times, until the sound
has fastened itself in his memory. Then /
lay it on ts2e table with pipe, cup and a
book l ask for them, one after another, and
ne hands thesn 10 ne. ! add numerous other
oljects, the nanres q which h. has already
learned, and thus eoanbnse review with ad-
vance instruction.
Together with tie noun 'sSall, " teach hin
the vs1bs troll, " throw" ard Drop and
perhaps an adpsrb CT tive, Ekc fast ca
SLOWLY and an adjective, round" Some
times there S an awkward hiseh, and havc
30 sbGadoa the stseElps TO tsseA him SOHO
plrsieuhar word, referring 70 IS again wksr
hiS vocabulary hos BEEN increased in Soma
otha- G,Ieetiosl.
y eeet&iA point once passcd, il ves Sar-
.,ck&nS vita what uapidisy proceeded. Ono
word led 20 another, a number OF rerGs to
~ IN I
li.la!iy dropped into way Of talking to linn
about the objects with which we wore vrk-
Nc, much as | would have Salzei to bright
sLikL ! was conscious ss times Shat only C
small part ef what WIS saying WIS under
stood, but X accustomed him ~ hearing the
words that he knew, uscI in Sssoqh&on with
others, to form complete statements.
In my search for objects to Use in the IN
sGruction of Ulysses, happened upon lump
of chalk With this 1 ske:cked various
things on q smooth plank of dark wood, and
found that they were readily recognized by
my pupil. From this l suddenly conceived a
new idea. sent TO Madras and had O large,
firm blackboard made, and ordered chalk and
crasers. Then began a Systematic and do
tcrmined effort to teach Ulysses to read and
write
There is one element that enters into eli
teaching, Of which it is difficult to give any
conception III narrative ct results, and the
IS time. l had been steadily at work with
Ulysses for nearly year before l began to
use Tie blackboard, and after l adopted taat
assistant it was many months ere important
results began to show themselves Any one
Alo hts ever labored with we'll meaning
but Obtuse pupil will appreciate how slow and
d!scoucaTing at times my WORK must have
beou. lie will also understand how the
progress, tr.Iing when considered day by
day, amounted 10 q good deal waen viewed
i'll tic aggregate.
.iiy L.&css.:: Ulysses to kod the chalk
II t&e ElGc!s g. his ,.-oJOScis and to mark
vita it upon tie !.lacl..ogord. 20 understood
ihct &c was TO initiate as IeaIiy Is possible
toe marks that l made. Ii thS way taurS
him to print the letters of the English alpha
bet IN clumsy characters several inches in
size. Gradually be became more expert in
making them and learned the names by
which they were called 1t was great tri-
umph for me when l first succeeded in get
ting him to write the letters of his own name
as l called them of, and saw myself the
proud possessor of an elephant who could
write his own autograph, perhaps the first Of
his species who ever performed that enligbt-
ened but compromising feat.
ALI this was easy enough, bat to make him
comprehend that certain groups of these pc
cnliar marks formed pictures, which were to
suggest definite objects to him, was very
different sort of an undertaking. The hitak
in the proceedings at this point was 30 sert
Gus that, for a time, gave up oil hope ~
accomplishing my object 1t seemed i'm
poasible TO establish the necessarY oonneo-