Evening star., 1898-10-29
WHERE SILENCE REIGNED

| "One OF the Queerest assignments that
was ever dished out to me when 1 was re-
porting In Chicago" said one Of the COR
respondents from the city by the unsaIted
| sea, was the covering of'a picnic of deaf
| and dumb people. There was, and is yet: a
| big organization, got together for social
| pleasures, of these afflicted people in Chi
| cago, and 1t was this organization that
gave the picnic out at Elliott's Grove a
wooded patch about fifteen miles outside of
chicago, on the occasion 1 speak of. When
| 1 got aboard the Illinois Central train that
took the party Of 700 or s0O-men. women
and chlldren-members Of the deaf and
dumb organization out to the grove, ]
found that there was but one other re-
| porter on the train, a pal with whom had
often worked before. We got together i'm
medlately, Of course, and we roasted the
dreariness Of the assignment to a finish
| Tor. leaving out the train hands, we SEEM
ed to be the only two on the train who
| could talk.
Nice, cheerful job, this growled the
man from the other paper, looking around
| olsconsolately. And the beauty of it is, we
| can't get back until about o'clock tonight,
1or that's the hour the train stops to bring
the crowd back, and it's the only train that
stops at Elliott's Grove, at that. That
| gives us eleven solid hours of this hilarity.
Bully good time we're going to have,
| don't think
The outlook for a day OF unmitigated
joy didn't look promising, for fact, and 1
! seconded his growl Justify, but l took the
thing bit more philosophically than he
| did, and soon became interested in watch
| ing the actions of the deaf and dumb peo-
pie. There always had been, in fact, a fas-
! clnatlon for me in studying the moves OF
| persons afflicted with loss Of hearing and
| voice. but had never, of course, had an
! opportunity before of observing their clever
peculiarities on such a large scale. The si-
| lent, yet animated, greetings that all hands
on a car would extend to newcomers were
| wonderfully interesting. The newcomers
appeared to be made to feel their welcome
| just as strongly as if a hundred throats
! had shouted it at them. The little deaf
end dumb girls and boys-few of them
| chlldren of the grown eXcursionists, but
given into their care for the day-played
| ana romped in the car aiSleS, and seemed
| 10 get just as much fun out of it kids in
| tull possession of their lungs and hearing
| The committeeman of the picnic party
| didn't quite understand it when they no
| uced the other reporter and myself talking
| together, but when we showed them our
| silver reportorial stars-newspaper report
| ers all carry these badges pinned to their
| left suspender straps in ChiCago-they took
US in hand, in the hospitable way that deaf
| and dumb folks have, and made US well
| come.
| 1T surely was remarkable to note the fun
| every member of that crowd of mutes
| seemed to be having when the grove was
| reached and the picnic proper began. You
could hear the wind stirring the leaves of
| the trees all the time. and yet there were
nearly 800 people having all kinds of fun
| right beneath the trees. The silence was
| extraordinary, considering the number of
| people you saw moving around. The young
| fellows put up swings and swung the girls,
| and, although the girls, of course, didn't t
| let out clepD. much less
| they went a-sailing in the air, they certain
| ly looked as if they enjoyed the swinging
| sensation as much as girls with voices and
| the capacity to giggle and scream. Two
| mines among the young men drew away in
| to an open space and began a game of ball.
| There was very little kicking over the
| voiceless decisions of the umpire. When
| any of the players thought they had a kick
| coming they gathered around the umpire
| with all kinds of frenzied gestculations.
| The umpire wouldn't pay particle of at
| tentfon to them. He'd elevate his chin and
! look right up into the blue arch of heaven.
| Then he'd point out to the field without so
| much making the letter "a of the alpha
| bet. and they'd march back to their sta
| tionS. There was a shooting gallery, run
| by mute. Instead of bells to mark bulls
| eye shots, a contraption would shoot up at
| the rear Of the target. The guns made
| hardly any report-they were air guns
| for the noise of a guns discharge, / was
| told hurts the ears of deaf persons
The queerest thing to see, however was
| the dancing. There was a big dancing pa
| vilion in the grove. and nearly all Of the
young people danced. The master of cere-
| monies stood platform and waved his
| arms, in waltz, or two-step, whatever
| time the dance called for, and the dancers
kept remarkably good time. They watched
| the man doing the arm-waving carefully
| out of the tails of their eyes as they fioated
| around. The master of ceremonies was
| rattling good pantomimist and he'd call
! Off the various figures of square dances
by going through, at the beginning of each
| figure, the various movements thereof-just
| enough of 1t to refresh the memories of the
| dancers.
Along toward noon, when we two re-
| porters began to get lonesome for a lunch
| room-there were no eatabies for sale on
| the grounds, all Of the mutes bringing their
| lunches in baskets-one of the committee
| men introduced US to a couple o. mighty
| nice-looking girls. Neither of US knew the
| first move of the deaf and dumb alphabet
| but the girls didn't look disappointed, some
| how or another, when we informed them
| by signs of our ignorance. Instead they
| laughed and looked at each other merrily.
| Each of the girls had a big basketful of
| swell things to eat, and they invited u.s. by
| cordial signs, to share the contents of the
| baskets with them. I'm ashamed to reflect
| upon how much of those girls nice food /
| ate. We got along splendidly with the
| girls by means of signs ignorant as we
| were of the mute alphabet. l couldn't help
| but think all the time what pity 1t was
| thdt TWO Such Smart-looking young women
| should be deprived of the power of hear
| ing, much less of speech They seemed to
| take it all very cheerfully, however and
| they appeared to have a good deal of fun
| between themselves, for often during the
| afternoon | caught them exchanging
| giances and smiling, as if they were sort
| of holding out something on US. This
| seemed bit puZzhng to me until the train
| pulled into .Ae depot in Chicago on the re-
| turn trip in the evening. My friend and
| myself were just about to bid the two
| young women adieu by means of our own
| little sign manual, when they both burst
| into merry laughter. My pal and / stood
| in the aisle like a pair Of petrfied men.
| You need not look so intensely sur
| prised, one of the girls than said smiling, in
| as musical voice as you ever heard we
| saw that you took us for mutes when YOU
! were presented to us--naturally enough too
| and so we both decided spontaneously
| and simultaneously to be mutes for an
| afternoon. We are simply friends of some
| of the ladies among the mute excursion
| lists, and so we came along with them,
| Now We've got to rejoin them. Goodbye
| and they both laughngly took their de-
| parture for another car to find their women
| friends.