The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-19

the deaf originated in Europe in the lat
Ter part of she last century Oral schools
were established by Heinicke in Ger
many and Braidwood in Great Britain,
ana the sign language method originated
IN the school of the Able de PEpee in
Paris, France. In 1875 the Rev. Thomas
Hopkins Gallaudet was sent to Eurone
! to study the oral methods then in use in
| Great Britain. Unfortunately for the
deaf of America he found the whole art
OF instructing the deaf in Great Britain
a monopoly in the hands of the mem bers
OF the l5raidwood family, and of teachers
instructed by them under bonds not to
reveal the secrets of the art to outsiders.
1t so happened that member of the
| Braidwood family was at this time re-
siding in America, and all sorts of diff
| culties were thrown in the way of Gal
landets acquiring the knowledge of the
Braidwood method of instruction in the
ploy young Braidwood as the tee cher of
the first American school. On account
of the unfortunate habits of the young
man, the Rev. Mr.. Gallaudet could make
| no promises of this sort, and he was
therefore denied the Information he de-
sired, excepting under conditions that
| it was impossible for him to accept He
then went to Paris, where he visited the
school of the Able de lEpee then under
the charge of his successor, the Able
Slcard; here he met with a very different
reception. The school was thrown open
to his inpsecton and every facility afford
ed to him to study the curious and in
terestlng. form OF language which had
been devised by the Able de l'Epee and
his associates and SUCCESSORS The De
FEpee sign language bears much the
same relation to natural pantomime that
a picture language Qike the Egyptian
hierogiyphics) bears to ordinary draw
| ing. The hieroglyphics consist largely
of abbreviated conventionalized pictures
| For example portion of the picture OF
lion, might be used to indicate a lion
and the symbol so formed might be en-
ployed to indicate, not lion. but
strength. A portion of the picture of a
dove, geltleness, &C., &c. In similar
manner the De rEpee signs consist largely
CT abbreviated, conventiopalized pam
tomime. For example, a deaf child
might go through a pantomime to con-
vey TO your mind the idea of woman.
He might indicate with his hands an
imaginary bonnet upon his head, au
| imaginary bonnet string hanging down
his cheek, the form of petticoats and
perhaps hold up an imaginary parassol
lady and all this to indicate the idea of
woman. The De rEppee language
abbreviates this to a single sign, the cap
string hanging down the cheek, and
this is used not in the sense of woman,
but a female generally, ana would be APP
! piled TO indicate the sex of animals as
well as OF human beings. A shirt front
stands for white, and a gesture indicat-
ing ruffles in a shirt front is used to in
dictate gentility or politeness, because
probably in the days of the Able de
l'Epee gentlemen were distinguished
from common men by the presence of
ruffies in their shirt fronts. I know of
| n int fi7dZ thon no
| etymology, so to speak, of the De FEpee
signs. Through the means of this sign
| language De 1'Epee and his successors
taught their deaf pupils French.
| We need not wonder at the interest dis
/ played by Gallaudet in this curious and
| PRODUCED it into the school which he es-
tablished at Hartford in 1917 This was
| the first school established in America,
! and as other schools sprang up the sign
language method employed in Hartford
| Conn. was introduced into other States.
The selfish policy of the Braidwoods pre-
vented the introduction of oral methods
for fifty years. Until 1867 the sign Ian
guage method alone was used in this
! country. Then came a revolt, and in
| spite of the strenuoussopposition of the
Hartford school i'll the legislature of
Massachusetts, an oral school was estab-
| lished on American soil in Northampton,
oral school was established in New York
city. and in 1868 another in Connecticut
| itself. In 1869 Boston followed by es-
tablishing day school for deaf children
OH the oral plan, and from this school
sprang the Portland School of Maine.
States, as | have before said, have
adopted the policy of non-interference
with the struggle still going on between
these rival systems of educating the
deaf. There has been no compulsion,
and the parents have had full liberty of
choice as to whether their children
should be sent to the sign school at
Hartford or an oral school. Before
Maine decides to abandon this policy of
non-i interference by sending all her deaf
| children to the sign school at Hartford
it would be we'll to examine the sta
tistics of schools for the deaf since the
introduction of the oral system into this
our deaf were taught by the sign Ian
| guage method alone. Since that ii me
statistics show that the proportion of
sign taught pupils has steadily dimin-
ished and the proportion of orally taught
as steadily increased, until today only
80 per cent. of the deaf of the New Eng
land States are taught by the sign Ian
| guage method and 81 per cent. by the
| oral method.
In considering the advisablity of dis
continuing the Portland School and
sending the pupils to Hartford, it would
be well to remember that statistics
show that the Portland method of in
struction is gradually displacing the
method employed at Hartford, in Ameri-
ca and all over the world. The schools
| of Europe are almost exclusively oral,
AMI the very school of the Able de
| PEpee in Paris where the sign language
method originated is now an oral school.
InAmerica the advance of the oral sys-
tenn has been more slow, because the
sign language method had exclusive
sway in this country for SO years. The
oral method, starting at Northampton
in 1867, not only has already secured
two-thirds of the pupils of the New Eng
land States, but it has spread outside
into the other States of the Union, and
the percentage of pupils taught by it is
constantly on the increase. For exam
pie, in 1891 only 1914 per cent. of the deaf
| children of the United States were
taught by the ora. method; III 1899 the
percentage had fisen to 1919 per cent.
and in 1898 "a. per cent. or nearly one
! fourth of the whole number, were taught
wholly by the oral method. The statistics
! for 1873 may be found in the American