The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-27

school for the deaf. dumb and blind has
now been opened in Ogden for three
weeks. This school is situated on a
commanding and spacious site above the
city, is destined to become one of the
I noted institutions of the west and is
even now doing work, the Importance
! and nature of which is not coniectured
py the general public. People have SO
long been ccustomed to thinking and
talking of such an intuition as though
1t We're a sort of asylum until it is diff
fcult for them to comprehend that it is
an educational institution where. train
ing is thorough and where pupils are
fitted to become intelligent, useful moral
citizens. In that school the dumb are
taught to. speak and the deaf to under
are educated in useful and appropriate
trades and accomplishments. In that
scsool type is set, a paper edited and
printed; shoes are made. and repaired.
furniture is designed and constructed;
fancy work of innumerable kinds is done
and all this by class of pupils that was
for long time looked upon as incapable
of receiving such instruction.
a Herald representative visited the in
stitution Friday and was shown about
by the courteous superintendent Frank
w. Metcalf.
A very interesting department of the
school is that where the dumb are taught
! to speak. Some pupils that have been in
the school the three weeks have already
OF words and to understand their mean
ing. This is done by teaching the pupil
proper position in which to place his
or her organs OF speech TO produce GER
tain sounds. This department is in charge
OF Miss Catherine King, a teacher of con-
siderable experience in the east. The
difficulties of the work can be imagined
when 1t is considered that an unin-
structed deaf mute has no ineligible
ideas in the mind TO work upon. He
does not comprehend what speech or.
sound is. In teaching. the pupils Miss
King uses various devices. There are
hand mirrors by which the pupils see the
manner in which they place their lips,
tongue and other vocal organs. Some
times one hand Of the pupil is placed on
his own throat and the other on the
teachers throat to illustrate the move
ments of the throat organs in speech.
Then. too. there are. ear tubes for use
in cases where pupils are only partially
deaf. There are many who are just deaf
enough to miss the key of sound but
who after being taught in this method
catch the key. and can be. taught to
speak accurately and intelligibly. In one
of Miss Kings classes a dozen words
were selected and written on the board.
Each pupil pronounced nearly every one
faulty of course. but still intelligibly.
They understood most of the words too,
and their ingenious methods of making
clear that they understood them were
arms, rocked to and fro to explain the
meaning of baby while another more
proficient in speech asserted distinctly
enough to be understood that Mrs. Met
calf had one.
In the room of the first and second
grade which is presided over by Miss
Francis NJ. Eddy
A VERY AMUSING INCIDENT
occurred. An action lesson was being
| Illustrated by means of what is known
as the sequence method. Each pupil was
required to write logically and in order
! the different actions in making a fire. A
| little stove was on the teachers desk
| and some wood near at hand. Each sue
cessive action was put down such as che
| got the wood" ''he cut the wood" "he
! put the wood in the stove;' 'he got a
match" The small boy who performed
J the latter act was not SO. proficient with
/ it as small boys usually are and dis
] arranged the birthstone in trying to light
! it in the stove. The teacher, Miss Eddy,
| started to do it for him but met with
bright-faced little fellow named Lowe
| was trying to get the teachers attention
| by animated signs. When finally he did
trousers leg and motioned the teacher to
| treat the match that way. But the
| teacher was not dressed for striking
| matches and the little fellow gravely
went up and struck the match man
fashion for the edifcation of the lady
and to the amusement of the visitors.
IT SEEMED INCoNGRUoUs
that not sound of laughter should come
from any of the bright-faced pupils
Nearly every pupil wrote the different
| acts down in remarkably clear char
acters. In fact the penmanship of nearly
| all the pupils of the school is excellent.
Miss NJ. Francis. Walker has charge of
| the second and third grades. She was
to an interested class. Questions were
written and answered in writing quickly,
neatly and rapidly, and illustrative
and written on slate or blackboard.
+. M. briggs who has charge of the
| fifth and six grade work was conducting
| a recitation in geography. 1t differed
little from an ordinary lesson on that
subject except that the questions and
answers were written out or spelled out
by the aid of the signs language.
| Cities were located rivers described and
the difference between a city ana a
state clearly illustrated. Mr.. briggs is
the only native Utah teacher in the
faculty. He is graduate OF the uni
| versity of Deseret and spent two years
| specially studying the sign language and
otherwise preparing to teach the deaf
and dumb.
E. P. Clark was also conducting a
seventh and eight grade work. His
| pupils were much interested in describing
and locating Ogden. One pupil called for
a Est of ten Utah counties wrote them
down readily, but misspelled a word or
two and made mistake IN capitalize ton.
Immediately half a dozen pupils were
eager to point out these errors.
THE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
contains eight pupils though more are
expected soon. The teacher, Miss Sara
Whalen, has taught in the Perkins in
stitute and in the Boston school for the
blind. The skill of some of the pupils is
almost marvellous The pupils are taught
to read and TO write both the raised let
ter and the raised print system. They
they are taught to be self-reliant in all
things, and 10 do everything for them
selves which can be done Most of them
could tell the time from an ordinary
watch or clock face, with the crystal re-
moved. One industrial trade taught these
pupils is the art of weaving cane-bot-
toned chairs, in which they become quite
skillful. Piano tuning is another ex-
cellent trade for them. Two boys in the
!. school David Egbert and John Lane.
played excellent music In concert, one on
the violin and the other on the guitar.
Egbert is an orchestra in himself and can
play music without any instrument at all
by clapping his hands in front of his
mouth while emitting his breath. The pu-
pills in this department are of diverse
| ages, but each seemed specially skillful
in at least one pursuit. In the MAN, they
are quite Skillful, and after q visit to that
school one realizes more clearly the full
fillment of the promise spoken by the
prophet Isaiah:
'And / VIII bring the blind by way
they know not; in paths they know not
will 1 lead them; will make darkness
light before. them and crooked places
straight These things will do and L will
not forsake them
/ INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT.
Printing carpentry and shoemaking
are the principal trades taught the boys
of the school. The printing classes are
| ~ l,o of = HI1rua q nd ba mini lie