The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-22
HARTFORD SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
Some Things That Prof. Bell Did Not Tell
About 1t.
To the Editor of the Press:

The question of the future of the Port
land School for the Deaf is exciting great
interest in your city and state just now,
and while their are many things to be
considered in reaching decision, it is
very important that that decision, what
ever it may be, shall be founded on an
intelligent understanding as to the facts
of the case and not on false impressions
and MISUNDERSTANDING
l have just read DR.. Bells letter in
your issue of the 10Th inst, and a
stron ger caricature of thesH artford school
or statements more calculated to mislead
the public as to the nature of its work,
it would be difficult to write. He refers
to 1T again and again as sign school,
conveying to the public the impression
that signs, and signs only, are the
tion while it is well known that such is
not the case Writing and the manual
alphabet play well nigh the sole part in
the instruction given in the school room.
The method of instruction in use here is
thoroughly eclectic, employing the best
language is but one element in it and
that preliminary one. The English
language is taught with a persistency
and success surpassed by no school for
the deaf in this country, or elsewhere.
DR.. Bell omits to mention the fact that
this school employs four special teachers
of speech and lip-reading, and that in
1,+1 l.
school has had patient and persistent in
struction in speech and lip-reading, none
being dropped until the special teachers
of those branches, after long trial. have
pronounced them incapable of acquiring
enough of those branches to be of any
fact that more than sixty-six per cent of
the pupils of this school are receiving
daily instruction in speech and lip-read-
ing. That the results attained here
compare favorably with those reached in
! schools where the oral method alone is
employed has peen testified to repeatedly
| by teachers from oral schools who have
| visited our classes and examined their
work.
Dr. Bell states that on the 18th of No
vember, 1898, there were 2056 pupils
taught wholly by speech and leaves tho
impression that all these are in oral
schools. He neglects to state the fact
that 1888 or more than 3-5 of these are
taught in schools employing the eclectic
or com bined system of which the Hart
ford school is pre-eminent example.
He fails also to state the further fact
that 2317 other pupils in these eclectic
schools are taught speech and lip-reading
though not taught wholly by speech
Ior Roll fb "a the II artfnrH cch nj
opposed the establishment of the Clarke
institution in 1867 Does he not also re-
mem Der that the one man who did more
than any other to defeat it's establishment
the first year it was before the Massa-
chusetts legislature was MIR. Dudley, now
the president of the Clarke institution.
There has been progress in the instruc-
ton of the deaf in the last twenty-five
years, and Hartford has not been left
one whit behind
The Hartford school works on the
principle Of doing the greatest good to
the greatest number of the deaf No
lone method school" is able to do this.
equally. The method of instruction
should be eclectic, in order that each
pupil may have the benefit of that
which is best suited to his case. BY all
means teach speech and speech reading,
| and teach them persistently, to all who
Cdu DG UcuclIUcQ ny UHCtH, DuU 40 not
dwarf a child mentally because he can
not make a successful articulator and
| lip-reader. The man who thinks that
deaf child needs only the means of in
struction employed in teaching hearing
children, does not understand human
| nature.
The point has been made that it is
much better for pupils to attend day
school and he cared for in private
families than to be placed in an institu-
tion planned for their special benefit.
This is an entirely mistaken idea. What
can be more pitiable than child put into
private family sswho have little in
terest in him, and who can have but the
most meagre communication with him.
Contrast his condition with that of a
child in an institution where everything
is planned for his improvement and COM
fort, where all can understand and com
municate with him freely; where he un-
derstands all that is said and done
around him, and where he is constantly
laying in store OF general information
picked up from the older pupils and
people about him, as hearing child does
in the family circle. Several schools in
this country started as day schools have
been changed into institutions in order
to secure these advantages for their
pupils, and others are deferred from do
ing so only by the want of means.
shall be educated in Maine or at Hart
ford, is of far less Importance than that
wherever they are, they should have the
benefit of every possible help to fit them
to take their places in the world as in
telllgent, independent, self supporting
citizens. That that is what the system
of instruction employed at Hartford has
been able to do for it's pupils for the
past seventy-five years let the graduates
of this school, scattered all over the
State of Maine, bear witness. That is
what it is doing now, and what it pro-
poses to continue to do in the future,
There is no ADLER corps of teachers in the
country than it possesses. II keeps fully
abreast OF the time, incorporating every
self improvement into it's system.
Seventy-five years ago pupils from Maine
came to Hartford by stage. They come
by better conveyance now. Methods
of instruction have changed in these
years as much as modes of travel
What the Hartford school is doing for
its pupils is not unknown to the state
officials of Maine. Yearly the governor
and executive council of that state have
visited the school, and they know what
is accomplished here. appeal to them
to corroborate the statements | have
made. Their number, taking the years
together is not small, and thew are me-,