Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1909-05-29
|SCHOOL FOR
DEAF AND DUMB
Closing Exercises
| Held Yesterday
Forenoon
GOVERNOR CURRY PRESENT
His Remarks to the Pupils
Translated in Sign
Language.

!, The closing exercises of the school
for the deaf took place yesterday, al
though Tuesday next will be the last
| day of the term.
! Superintendent Connor opened the
exercises by giving brief but inter-
esting outline of the work accom-
/ plished during the closing school
year. He dwelt especially upon the
new innovations that had been intro
duced viz: the printing press and
the shoe making establishment stat
ing that the new catalogue and the
school newspaper THE New Mexico
Progress" were the work Of the
school boys and that the repairing OF
the shoes belonging to the pupils had
, all been done in their shop. The SUI
, perintendent had planned to have the
. closing exercises open for attendance
by the public, but owing to the fact
that the city is not yet entirely free
from contagious disease. he deemed
it advisable to invite only few Of
those most interested in the progress
of the institution.
The pupils in the two grades Of the
oral department taught by Misses Fe-
land and Engleman, evlnced remark
able ability in lip reading and used
their vocal organs, some of them
quite distinctly. To the spectators
who never before witnessed such an
exhibition this seemed marvellous.
! The advanced class in manual
training also showed fine progress
under the able tutorship of Profes.
, son Raumgardner.
. Following the exercises Governor
Curry made few well chosen re-
: marks to the school which were
translated in the sign language by
the superintendent for the benefit Of
: those not fully able to understand.
1 Among the visitors present, includ-
3 ing Governor Curry and the board of
9 directors, were School Superintendent
: J. E. Clarke, Territorial Secretary
= Nathan Jaffa, Major r. ]. Palen, Hon.
s Benjamin NJ. Read, accompanied by
t his two daughters and niece, Mrs.
S I. B. Hanna and Mr. and Mrs. T. C.
: Mcconnell.
Those interested will be glad to
II learn that the school is to continue
p another year under the efficient man.
s agement of Superintendent w. O..
hx, t. ;,L< =
t wife.
Said Superintendent of Public In.
struction j. E. Clark Of the exercises:
Yes indeed, | very much enjoyed
the closing exercises given at the
}. New Mexico Institute for the deaf. 1t
J. is quite unfortunate that conditions
:. We're such as to make it inadvisable
/ to hold the exercises this year where
Y the general public might have wit
;. messed them, for the nature OF the
d program was such as to show what
the daily work Of the institute is.
IL any tax payer lacks sympathy with
the purposes or the management Of
this institution he may easily be con-
vinced of the necessity of such a
school and of the success of our in
stitution at Santa Fe.
The various teachers came before
] the visitors with their classes and
/ demonstrated methods of instruction.
J Glasses in reading, spelling, language,
geography, physiology, ETC., were
Shown; exercises in lip-reading were
, given; but the most remarkable of
all were the exercises in oral recita-
tion on the part of those children
who have never heard a sound in
their lives. The teachers have been
so successful in developing oral
speech that absolute strangers found
but little difficulty in understanding
\ the statements made by the children.
or course, the tone and expression
were unnatural in many cases, but
this is to be expected since the child
e has no idea of the pitch OF his voice
or of the sound of language. Among
the many deaf people who have been
remarkably successful in their work
in this institution is young man
about fourteen or fifteen years of
. age who came to this country but 4
II few months ago from Germany and
. as a result Of scarlet fever recently
q entirely lost his hearing. This young
{ man has the problem Of q new Ian.
Z. guage as well as the problem Of lip.
u reading, sign language, etc., but he
g Is certainly making remarkable ad.
n vancement.
9 1T was noted by all that the pen.
q manship Of these children is quite
n above the average. The spelling, too
/ was exceptionally accurate. The at
$ tention Of these children Is not dis
n tracted, Of course, by the various
9 things that are going on about them,
(COufinund NJ, Do % EsSuht