Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-12
HOT-HEADED PEOPLE.

Deaf MHtes Very Quick Tempered but Also
Extremely AGectionate.
It is very difficult matter to reply to the
queries propounded in regard to the deaf
mute as an individual or to deaf mutes as a
class, as their habits and mode of living ale
identical with hearing and speaking people.
Deaf mutes are found in every walk of life,
and in what ever station they find them
selves, they very quickly adapt themselves
to. In the cities you find them adopting the
same fashions in dress, attending the same
places of amusement, forming the same kind
of associations as the hearing people do.
How, then, shall we classify them? Not by
their habits, not by their mode of living.
Well, then, what? By their peculiaTities
and by their idlosynerasies. Notwithstand-
ing that the average mute will deny it, 1 in
sist on one thing that is true of them, and
that is their almost universal hot-headed-
ness.
At the age of IL, when I found myself
bereft of nv hearing and student in an
institution for the deaf and dumb, l was
surprised to find to what an extent this
peculiar habit prevailed. My first few DAYS
as q student were oays of wonder to me, and
I confess of terror, fearing that these mo-
mentary outbreaks would develop into a
riot. remember some of the younger boys
were discussing the merits % of two con-
testants in a prize fight, and nearly all the
younger pupils fought this battle over a
dozen times. Politics. baseball, etc., afford
a vast field for these wordy wars. / say
''wordy" wars, but they frequently end in
something more. I nave seen the same
tendency in clubs, societies, etc., among the
deaf and from the fact that the practice is
90 general, I conclude that the lack of vocal
speech accounts for it in q great measure,
Every graduation of speech can be expressed
in signs. One can speak the various tones
with the alphabet of the deaf, if he has had
any previous knowledge of spoken Ian
guage, the same as in oral speech, but the
congenitally deaf mute does not recognize
but two extremes, his ordinary method of
expressing himself and the vigorous fight
ing attitude he assumes when he wishes to
emphasize his remarks. There is no golden
mean. This is only one OF his peculiafities.
AFFECT1oNATE PEOPLE.
But, in general, deaf mutes are not SO
very different from other people, as I said
before. have seen them in their home life,
and their love of home is allied to that of
the hearing person. do not know why it
is SO. but the children of deaf mute couples
are nearly always bright and intelligent,
and, no matter under what circumstances
you find them living, you will always find
9 hearing child of deaf mute parents has an
extraordinary amount of affection for his
parents. At an early age the child begins
to realize his mothers infrmity, and by the
time be is years old you find him talking
intelligently to his parents.
As the child grows up he learns more and
more of his parents language, and some
times at the age of 6 you find him acting as
q sort of telephone between the outside
world and his home. He brings in all the
news of the neighborhood, acts as inter
prefer for all callers, and soon begins to
realize that he has an important mission to
perform-that of supplying hearing and
speech to his mother and father. Tie ties
OF flial affection are strengthened in this
way, and il is easy to understand why the
home life of deaf mute couples is usually
such q model one.
AN AUsPIcIoUs OUTLOOK.
As to the future of the deaf, the outlook
if indeed auspicious. A comparatively few
years ago be was generally found employed
(if employed at all) in some subordinate
capacity where the hours were long, the task
fnovv ard fhe compensation light. With