The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-03-11

N e.. e.: go: =: !: +: 4; :: ::
con, says the Cen
fury. lie. however. says Of the project:
Il soon perceived. by falling into dis
course with some rational men about
such deslgne that the attempt seemed
so paradoxical. prodlglous and Hyper
bollcall. that II did rather amuse than
satisfy their Understandings Indeed.
Il was not until more than a century
after. when DE lEpce. Henicke and |
Braidwood founded schools In France.
Germany and Great Britain respect
lively, that any permanent institutions |
were established for the education Of /
the deaf Il Is a very rare occurrence |
when deaf person a. mute for any |
other reason save the lack OF instruc-
ton which a hearing child receives
through his ears Recognizing this
fact and that speech Is the most dis.
tinctiye gift Of man. Heinicke and
Braldwood devoted themselves 10 the
training Of the vocal organs Of their
pupils and 10 teaching them 20 read
the speech OF others by noting the
movements Of the lips and tongue. ON
the other hand the good Able de
] SDee based his methods OF lnsiruc
tion ui.cn ,ae fact that all human be-
lngs when deprived Of speech either
through deafness or ignorance Of the
language spoken about them. resort TO
signs 10 make known their wants Al
savage races have a code OF signs by
which they can communicate with one
another and with the surrounding
tribes lie therefore conventionallzed
and sysiematlEcd signs and invented
new ones when natural gestures failed
10 convey the idea. with this system
OF conyentionallzed signs brought 20
this country by Dr. Thomas a. Gallau-
Diet, a school was opened In Hartford
Conn. In the year 1917. Il had been
found. however. that the sign Ian.
guage dld not solve the problem Of
giving the deaf a means Of communi
cation with the world in general Very
few people understood this language.
while its construction. 90 far as there
was any. and he conciseness-a single
gesture frequently representing a com.
plete sentence Of spoken yernacular-
rendered II unit Tor representing era.
matlcally constructed language. The
method Of spelling the words with the
fingers by means Of a finger alphabet
was then pressed into service In con.
| junction with signs This u the same
a. writing In foreign character on
the blackboard or upon paper. except
that Il II more rapid and more con.
yonlent In this way the reading and
writing % GRAMMATICAL English could
be- taught. and both the manual alpha.
bet and the sign language are en-.
ployed In certain schools today. For
many years after the founding of The
Hartford school no speech vas taught
there. though today the teaching OF
articulation o. an important factor ln
their work IN 1867. largely through
the efforts % Horace Mann. Who some
years previously had visited the schools
oi Europe. two Institutions were 81.
tahllshcd in this country where the
deaf could not only Boz taught to speak.
but b. taught by speech without the
use Of the manual alphabet or the slen
language ono % those was in New
York city and the other lu Northamp.
ton Mass and they ore today large
and nourishng institution After the
establishment of these institutions
there spranr up IN this country. in the
ranks OF the teachers 90 the deaf a
division which already existed Ina En-.
rope. On the one side were the ardent
advocates Of the sign Language az a
means Of instruction and explanation.
while on the other were the opponents
Of signs. who employed the manual al.
phabet. writing and speech only. Tho
controversy has been waged with more
or less energy ever since. but like All
the ideas OF a cruder and less advanced
age the sign language has been grad.
uany crowded ont. until nov Il IA en-.
tlrely excluded from many schools and
used but sparingly In others A single
argument brought forward BY the son
Of a distinguished advocate OF the an.
Client method In support Of this Ian.
guage l. enough 20 indicate ia ulti,
mate fate. though Il has served a nobl,
purpose In ita day. lie SAYS. 1t Il
fact worth noting that the signs uset
by the Indians Of North America ar,
. identical In many instances with thos,
employed by the deaf-mutes of today.
No one will question the truth OF thi
observation. nor deny that Il Ia wortl
, noting; but We have reached stag,
In the worlds history whom We car
y lay aside the tools Of savarery
Through progress In cnllghtenmcn
We are fortunately able now 10 Civ
our deaf children a better means q
communication with men than are en-
ployed by the American Indians or m
. African savage Il a. a friendly strur
sic. In which the old-school advocate
Of tho sign language are the dofensly
party and the oralists the aggrcssor.
4. Both are. however. engaged In "a
great work Of amelloratlnr the cond
: tion OF an unfortunate class and hay
! much that h common ground wher
4 they can clasp hands with hearty NJ
4 prevail.
: In the schools for the deaf In N
United States today three systems
instruction are used. The methods en-
ployed are. In the nrst system. slgr
and the manual alphabet; second syt
q. TEN. speech and the manual alphabc
. third system. speech only. Writing
OF course employed In all the system
N Meant business