Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-07-25
SwEARINo WITH A HAND WAVE.
Tho Silent Pre- family OF Deaf Mutes and
How They Learn 1t.

several frantic passes OI the nanQ
in front of companion 8 face, and
a man who never had spoken and
never will speak word had sworn
at the other as plainly as if the ar.
ticulate words had been shouted.
1t is something of puzzle to
many how persons who cannot hear
sound acquire profane vocabula-
ry, but the solution is easy. The av.
erage deaf mute, educated by the
most approved methods, can tell
what person is saying by the
movement of the lips, provided they
be visible. Deaf mutes who can read
the movement of the lips or the sign
language study the Bible, and in
consequence they are as familiar
with the phrase consigning sinners
to everlasting perdition as are those
gifted with speech and hearing. :
Following this line of argument,
one of tho most successful teachers
of the deaf and dumb in this CITY
said yesterday: 1T is not at all diff
cult to SEQ how the deaf and'dumb
learn tho uses of profanity. 1t is.a
strange thing, perhaps. but they
rarely make their profane signs ex-
oept under circumstances which pro-
woke any ordinary person to the use
of profanity. On the other hand, deaf
mutes vary i'll temperament as wide
ly as other people, and where one
has seemingly complete vocabula,
ry of profanity others seldom or
mover give expression to such sign
language.
Said another instructor: 1T Is
something which we cannot explain
any more than can parents, as a
rule, tell how their little children,
brought up among all the refining
influences of homo, learn to swear
almost before they can talk plainly.
Like other things which we have
not taught, the pupils pick up pro-
family in the streets from seeing
men swear at one another, and when
one learns tho use of profanity the
others soon pick it up" ....,I
There is no greater authority in
this country upon the subject Of
deaf mutes than tho Rev. Thomas
Gallaudet, who has been preacher
to and teacher CT those without
speech or hearing for half a century.
His father, Thomas M. Gallaudet in
1917 founded ut Hartford the first
school for deaf mutes in this coun.
try, and in 1859 the Rev. Thomas
Gallaudet began his mission work
among them. H.. 80. ).
DR.. Gallaudet said, when asked
about deaf mutcs and their ways
aside from their inability to speak
or hear, deaf mutes are in nowise
different from other persons. They
have the same feelings and tho same
passions, and in their own way ex-
press themselves just as foroibly as
those who speak and hear. AS a
matter of fact, the sign language
used by these people is in many
cases more expressive than any spo.
ken words, and i'll cases of anger the
deaf mutes find no difficulty in ex.
pressing themselves or making those
with whom they are angry under
stand exactly what is meant. ,f
ITO express sorrow for any one
the deaf mute will assume sorrow
full countenance and rub his hand
over his heart in a circle, meaning
thereby that sorrow is grinding his
heart. In anger, what is more ex-
pressive than an angry countenanoe
and the clinched hands shaken above
the headP
1.-THE sign language for deaf
mutes was invented about $50 years
ago by the Able dc l'Epee, teacher
in French school. lie noticed the
signs which children made to each
other and understood. He elaborat-
ed these signs, and, as result, what
is known as the manual sign Ian
guage was evolved. The oral system,
or that of understanding by means
of watching tho lips of the speaker,
was later invention. There are to-
day between rs and so schools in
this country for the instruction Of
the deaf and dumb. There is also a
college for them at Washington.
Most of these schools teach what is
known as the com bination system,
which is both the oral and manual
systems combined. New York Re-
corder.