Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-20
TALKS WITH HER ARM,
"here Deaf and Dumb Girl Carries the
Alphabet and How She Uses 1t.

"here Deaf and Dumb Girl Carries the
Alphabet and How She Uses 1t.
James V. Dorpman and daughter
Lodge Pole, Neb.," is written in a
bold hand on the register at the Ridp-
way House. Mr.. Dorpman is a tall we'll
built man of sixty years, with a lonp
Dearu strongly tlnged with gray. His
daughter is about eighteen wears old
ohe has an intelligent, pretty face. and
the brightest and bluest kind of BRIGHT
blue eyes.
When Mr.. Dorpman and his daughter
hrst came to the Ridgway House they
attracted the attention and the curiosi-
" OF the guests by their strange be-
naVlor- whether in the parlor or in
the olhlng-room, Mr.. Dorpman ALWAYS
sat on the left-hand side of his daughter
anu tapped her left arm constantly with
the ringers of his right hand, as though
Paying on typewriter. His fingers
Skipped mmbly at random from the
girl wrist almost to her shoulder and
pack again At intervals he paused and
the girl smiled, nodded her head. or else
tapped her left arm in the same manner
with the fingers of her right arm. the
ola man closely watching their move
mentS.
The strange actions of the couple were
SUBJECTS Of continual comment and spec
ulatlon among the guests. Finally some
one noticed that the father and daugh-
Ter were never heard to exchange a
WORD. They always sat quietly when in
each others presence. and were always
drumming on the girls left arm as if it
were planoforte. The girl kept away
from the other guests of her sex, and
was never seen in conversation with
any one. At the dining table Mr.
Dorpman gave the orders to the walters
Doth for himself and his daughter.
Nhen Proprietor Butterworth met the
young woman on the stairs and said
aHably, Good morning." She never an
Swered
The strange actions of the couple oc-
casloned such widespread comment and
curiosity among the guests of the house
that finally Proprietor Butterworth APP
preached Mr.. Dorpman while he was
standing at the cigar counter one dav,
and after few minutes of general con-
Versatlon asked him to explain the con-
slant tapping on his daughters arm"
30 you've noticed that. eh?" said Mr.
Dorpman. with laugh. We'll. that is
how talk to Hattie. She is deaf and
dumb
Mr.. Butterworth asked him how he
was able to converse with his daughter
by simply drumming on her arm.
You'll thfnllit easy after.I tell you"
he answered. You must remember
that we came from an obscure part of
Nebraska, settled there with my wife a
quarter of a century ago Eighteen
years ago. when Hattie was born, there
was not a house within mile of us. nor
city within sixty miles. As the child
grew older we discovered that she was
deaf and dumb. We we're at a loss how
to communicate with her. We were far
away from a civilized community, and
no one that we knew was familiar with
the sign manual for deaf-mutes, so that
the baby grew to be a child before we
could devise some scheme to talk to her.
Finally my wife hit upon a novel
idea She got a clever young fellow
who worked for us to tattoo the alphabet
on Hattie's arm. The letter "A began
just above the wrist, and the letter II
ended just below the shoulder blade.
Hattie was then six years old In less
than year by this means my wife and
/ had taught her the alphabet.
L men we began 10 spell out words by
touching each letter very slowly with
our fingers. As the child learned we
became faster, and when Hattie was
twelve years old we were able to talk to
her as rapidly as person can spell out
words on typewriter. Hattie. too,
learned to answer us by drumming on
her tattooed arm. OF course, for several
wears at first. when we wanted to tall
to her, she to us, she had to roll UP
the sleeve of her left arm. Gradually
her sense of touch became so fine that
she knew without looking just where
each letter was located, and her mother
and |. by constant practice, were ena-
bled to strike these letters with her
sleeves rolled down.
THE tattoo was not very deep. and
by the time Hattie was sixteen years of
age it had entirely disappeared, leaving
her arm as white and spotless as wom-
ans arm could be. But she knows Just
where each letter was, and so do !, for |
have been drumming on her arm ever
since she was knee high to graSShop-
per. OF course, | am the only person
alive able to talk with her, as my wife
died about six months ago, but l hope TO
arrange SO that she may be able to talk
to others. While we are on East | am
going to get some one to instruct her in
the sign manual. She is bright and
Quick. and will soon learn. "-Philadel
phia Inquirer.