The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-02-01
TRAINING DEAF MUTES
OF FLOWERY KINGDOM
Mrs. A. T. Mills, a Missionary,
Discusses China and Its
People.

Mrs A. r Mills a missionary, formerly
of Rochester. n. Y, but now OF Chetoo'
China, lis sojournlnG a few days In SAT-
Lake City, and Is registered at the hnuts-
ford hotel She Is an independent mis-
slonary worker and is returning TO emma
after a visit to this country OF about a
year. which she has spent In raising funds
for the furtherancc of her efforts
Training Chinese Mutes.
Mrs. Mills speaks the Chinese language
luently and WAS the first person TO un-
dertokc the task OF giving the deaf mutes
OF China religious and intellectual train
ing She has met with great success IN
her work In fact. to such an extent that
she was awarded a gold medal by the OF
hcIals of the Louisiana Purchase cAPosi-
tion two years ago. She first TOOK up inc
work twsnty-one years ago, under the al
rectlon Of the Presbyterian Foreign MIS-
sonary board, with her husband, VINO
died about ten years ago. III IecSpl
years however. she has been WORKING
independently, and through her own ef-
forts has established school Tor deal
mutes In Chcfoo China. which Is sup
ported by voluntary contributions from
Ike Institutions OF the United states ana
Great Britain
Uses American Methods.
Speaking of her work to representa-
said: 1T would seem. at first thought,
that l undertook q hopeless task, but 1t
Is not at all, ! mastered the Chinese
language, that is, the official language,
and / am greatly pleased with the re-
suits that | have attained. ! adapted
the American methods for teaching deaf
mutes to the Chinese language, using
phonetic charts, based on Prof Alcxan-
der Graham Bells visible speech symbols
Chinese Very Apt.
Contrary to the prevailing opinion. the
Chinese are q very apt people They want
to be great students, and their desire for
learning has, naturally materially assist
ed me In my work. ! could enumeratc
numerous instances OF the aptitude or
even the deaf mutes. The Chinese Gov
crnment. thus far. has never done any
thing toward the education of Its deaf
mutes, the latter being considered inca
pablo OF learning, 1t has been demon
strnted 10 the Government. however, that
the mutcS can be trained and we arc
hopeful that 1t will give us aid In the
work We arc now cndeayoring to bring
the great benefits OF the work to the no.
tice of the Chinese officials through Unit
ed States Minister Rockhill. The plan IS
TO train at the Chefoo school women TO
become teachers In order that other
OF China
Will Surprise World.
The Chinese are very clever people
the next two decades, and great changes
VIII become apparent They are natural
ly inclined toward agriculture, commerce
and literature. They do not desire to be-
come warriors, but, true the Govern
ment Is organizing q great standing army,
trained I'm German tactics. Their desire
for big standing army l take It, Is
merely to follow the example OF other
nations They have In view | suppose
the purpose of protecting themselves
against any encroachments on the part
OF Russia. but l do not think that thoy
VIII have TO give much thought to the
Russians for some time to come
Lost Great Opportunity.
America lost a golden opportunity to
assist In the forming OF the policy of
new China, simply because OF the Chit
nese exclusion act. The Chinese have al:
ways looked upon the Americans as their
friends They have. however, become
awakened to the meaning of the exclusion
act and they are rctaliating. by boycott
ting American goods. number Of the
sons OF the first families of China have
been sent to the United States for edu-
cational training. and, because of some
on the part Of United
States immigration officials. many have
been sent home, after being kept in pris-
ons several weeks. The result has been
that the Chinese of the higher classes
have practically given up the thought of
sending -ncir boys to America to receive
cducat ~NN''N