Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-04-25
TEACHING BLIND DEAF MuTEs.
Surprising Progress Made With q Number
of Pupils.


Three blind deaf mutes, whose facul-
ties have been developed from com
pletely latent condition, are subjects OF
special notice in the report Of the Per-
kins Institution Fer the Blind, Boston.
Edith Thomas is described us furnishing
convincing testimony to the efficacy OF
the system which is pursued Ill training
such children. She has good share OF
common sense, but is 4 little averse TO
intellectual exertion. Yet she is improv-
ing fast, gaining knowledge regularly
and Systematically and is Steadily be-
coming more skillful, attentive, thought
full, logical and earnest, and the stream
of her thoughts grows broader, deeper
and richer. She is fond of letter writ
ing and does it with increasing facility
of expression, while her letters show
that she appreciates the pleasures OF
life and despite her privations enjoys
them highly. She likes reading and be-
ing read to- but wants her books true TO
life and will not listen to fairy or high
" imaginative stories. She Is able TO
appreciate the rhythm of poetry, ana
Whittier and TennySon are among her
favorites. She disikeS arithmetic and is
backward i'll it, but is proficient III geoS-
raphy. She has learned TO mold maps III
CLAY and is able TO repeat accurately the
details of the surface Of the regions she
has studied. AT the school commence
ment of 1894 she modelled the map OF
Massachusetts, divided it into counties
in the presence Of the audience and
pointed out the natural features and the
towns with her left hand, while with
her right hand she spelled the names IN
to the hand of blind classmate, who
announced them. She has become 4
skillful dolls dresSmaker without the
aid of patterns, and in teaching the use
of the Braille typewriter to her compan-
ions she has exhibited the qualities Of
strict disciplinarian.
Willie Elizabeth Robin NOW 10 years
old, came to the institution four years
ago. totally blind and deaf and ignorant
of language. She has become proficient
in reading, writing, elementary zoology
articulation ard knitting and sewing
by the Sloyd method. She has even
learned to use her tongue rather than
talk with her fingers. She is specially
interested III studying animal forms
and searches out the minute details OF
their structure She is expected TO tell
all she can discover of each specimen
given her, to represent it in clay and
afterward write down what she has
learned Of crayfish studied thus she
reported: ''It has eight arms and two
legs and tail and two eyes; 1t has a
body; it lives in the water. The body IS
hard, and the arms and the legs are not
strong; they are soft. y
Tommy Sringer came to the kinder
garten department feeble, inert, exhib-
iting few signs of intelligence and SEEM
ingly devoid of most of the impulses of
children. He is now full Of eager curl
osity concerning the world about him,
enjoys life and is bright, atfectionate
and extremely fond of fun He is at the
head of his class III some of his studies.
He is remarkably interested Ill matters
of housekeeping and domestic economy.
He has a strong bent toward geological
study. In a talk about fish his attention
was drawn TO the backbone. He felt it
carefully from end to end and then
passed his fingers up and down his own
backbone TO show the correspondence.
ION discovering the eyes, mouth, nos
trils, etc., of the frog, he pointed to
similar features CT his own, and when
he found joints in the frogs hind legs
he Immediately began looking for the
Joints of his own body and found near
ly all \" No seeing boys portrait is
more animated III expression than his
Popular Science Monthly.