New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-01-26
AN INGENIOUS YARN

From The Philadelphia Inquirer
James v Dorpman and daeshter LU Des,c roI y,
the Rideeway House, Market II. and Deia@ afeave'
Mr. Dorpman IS tall wei-ot m"y i III Ssr,S v M;
daughter Is about eighteen years Ola. enc ma s
intelligent. pretty face and the brightest ana oies'
"' When Mr Dorpman and his daughter first came
the Ridgeway ionse they aiac.fp 1US hcSnv"r.
whether in the paror or in the dining room S ht
dougher and tapped her left arm constantly with the
fingers Of his right hand, as thouSh Day hs on d
typewriter Ills fingers skipped r nSR ana ri SaS
again At intervals he paused ana the glrl smlleu
s nVe manner With the fingers OF her right hand tho
old man closely watching their moN ements. ,,,s q,
continual comment and speculation among the guests
Finally some noticed that the father ana daushlet
were never heard to exchange word. They always
sat onetv when in each others presence. and were
always drumming on the girls LEFT arm a. II II W.
a pianoforte. The girl kept away from the otiIer
guests of her SEX and was in conversation
with any At the dining table MI Dorphal Sa w
the rGS %ne to PopFso S0'h ic iS met the
young woman on the stairs last Thursday anu sau,
salute The strange actions Of the couple occaSoned
such widespread comment and curiosity among INC
spproached Mr.. Dorpman while he was standing at The
cigar counter one day, and after few minutes OF gen
his constant tapping on his daughter's arm. n,m.,
so you've noticed that. EN- SAID MI DI uIp.if,
with a laugh well that is how talk TO lia''lc'
she is deaf and dumb .,,o :,
Mr. Butterworth asked him how he was able 70
converse with his daughter by simply drumming U"
her arm. an ,.o, he
You'll think It Is easy after tell YOU ne
answered You must remember That we came iroun
an obscure part of Nebraska. settled therc WIN NY
wife quarter Of century ago Eighteen years ~,
when Hattie was born. there was not mouse .ltnn,
a mile of rs nor city within sixty miles. " tns
child grew older we discovered that she wa, deai aa
dumb We were at loss how TO communicate WIN
her We were far away from CIVILIZED community
and no one that we knew was familiar with Tue slsi
manual for deaf mutcs that the baby grew 70 DC
child before we could devise some scheme 10 talk W
her. II, nj. imam = MAYA, idea She
cot clever Young fellow who worked for us 10 tatloo
the atnhahet on Uatties The letter "A began
inst above the wrist and the letter II ended Just oeow
The shoulder blade. Hattie was then SIX yean
old In less than a year by this means my vile I'D"
taught her the alphabet , -, -, .,,,,
Then we began to spell out words by tonch ,n
each letter very slowly with our fingers. As the
Child learned we became faster and when Hattie was
twcive wears old we able to talk to her as
randlv as a person can spell out words on type
writer Hattie too. learned to answer us by drum,
ming on her tattooed arm. OF course, for severaI
wears at first when wanted 10 talk 10 her. or sle
10 us she had roll up the sleeve OF her LETT arm
Gradually her OF touch became so hne that ss
knew without looking Just where each letter was
located and her mother and l. by constant prScuce:
were enabled TO strike these letters with her sleeve
rolled down.