The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-13

into speech, and in year more viii
make himself understood. He is a very
bright boy, eager to learn, and his prog
ress has been remarkable, considering
that he never made an Ineligible Sound
until he was nine years old.
Another boy who entered the school
at the same time has made slower prog
ress. He has been i'll a great deal and
is very self-conscious. Nevertheless he
has fair-sized vocabulary and ought to
come to the Ineligible point soon.
In the kindergarten class are three
girls and a boy, all under six and all con-
genitally deaf. The bright child of the
school has been working only six months
and already she can say good morning
and several like phrases so that they
can be caught In fact, considering that
she is only four years old, it may be
said that she speaks her limited yocab-
ulary as well as the hearing child of her
years.
A pretty little fyaway with a pair Of
marvellous Irish eyes has only been at 1t
four months, and has only a few words
although she has caught the idea of the
mysterious vibration in the throat. She
can hardly be kept still long enough
to take any instruction, as she is flying
about the place most of the time A
lad of five is as pretty as cherub. He
has been under instruction for two years
and a half, but, except for half a dozen
words, does not make himself Ineligible
yet. He is pegging along nevertheless at
vocabulary of about fifty words, and
will learn in time. Meanwhile he has
practically overcome his deafness by
cultivating lip reading, his parents haY-
ing encouraged him by using no other
means of communication at home He
is not at all sure of many of the difficult
consonant sounds, and ''P" is his bug
bear. To teach that his teacher finally
resolved to use play methods: She took
feather and blew it with him. When
he had been accustomed to that form of
play, she taught him that he could send
it up more quickly by the explosive Jerk
of the lips used in making the sound of
''P,' and he caught the idea
Perhaps the strangest thing about the
children in this marvellous school is that
they do not know that there is any,
thing peculiar about them. They do not
realize that they are afflicted. If they
think about the subject at all, they be-
Heve that other people whom they see
communicating with one another by the
motions of their mouth are doing it as
they do-reading the lips. The fact is
purposely concealed from them, because
it is a part of the training that thew
shall be as unconscious of self as pos
sible, and partly because the task that
is set for them in learning to talk is
heroic one, and if any one of them real
lied its magnitude before learning fully,
he might give it up and try to learn
easier means of communication. They are
never allowed to know of the easy means
of communication afforded by the deaf
and dumb alphabet of the hands.
And what does it mean? 1t means that
the deaf child will be able to take his
place in the world scarcely handicapped
at all, and that the world is advancing
from the stage where the deaf and dumb
were classed as idiots-God's fools-and
is learning that it cannot afford to lose
single brain or the intelligent labor of
single pair of hands