The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-06-12
GREAT PROGRESS MADE
BY Pupils of the Austine Institution at
Brattleboro.

| DldlllcpOius
Brattleboro, June 1.-THE second clos
ing exercises of the Austine institution
for the deaf and blind, held yesterday
in the institution, were of even more
interest than those of year ago, in
that some OF the pupils who participated
yesterday had opportunity to display
the remarkable advance they had made
in year.
The presence of DR.. Alexander Graham
Bell, inventor OF the telephone, an early
teacher OF speech to deaf mutes and the
founder Of the American Association to
Promote Teaching of Speech to the Deaf,
added to the Importance of the occa-
sion. DIR. Bell, at the conclusion Of the
exercises, made brief address in which
he referred to the fact that his inyen-
tion of the telephone was because of his
efforts in teaching the deaf to speak
The first grade work in charge of Miss
Margaret A. Nelson. was by deaf chill
dren, who read instructions and ques-
tons from the lips OF the teacher and
instantly responded. Maynard Medor,
who until two years ago had never
known what it was to speak, recited
distinctly short patriotic sentiment.
i EaCltlsCSs
Florence Bodwell, Zylphia Porter,
Martyr Pearl Grant. Florice Harrison,
Hazel Martyr and Mural Pratt recited
verses of my Country 'Tis of Thee"
the first three being given by individuals
and the last in unison. These pupils,
Miss Throckmorton, the principal, ex.
planned, have come to the Austine in
stitution from other schools where they
had been placed for education by the
state before the present institution was
esta blished, and while each had received
previous instruction il was not all in ac-
cord with the methods of the local in.
stituton.
Martin Fiske, blind pupil, played
Rubenstein's Melody in + as a violin
solo, accompanied by Miss Littlehaes,
and latc- played Gavotte by Daniels as
violin duet with his teacher. Both eff
forts were roudly applauded, as were
those of other pupils. He also gave an
exhibition of typewriting from dictation
by his teacher, Mrs. n. d. Clawson, and
of taking dictation on bralle machine
and transcribing it from that to the |
typewriter. He has a speed at present |
OF % words a minute on unfamiliar mat |
ter and has been taking instruction on
the typewriter only six months. He |
practices on one make of machine and |
takes lessons on another, which makes |
him familiar with two standard makes. |
Exercises by blind pupils in braile
reading and writing and in pencil writ
ing under the direction of Miss Marion |
Miller, teacher, were highly interesting |
and ranged from beginners work to the |
more advanced. The pupils who partici
pated in this were Fred Hoag, Dorothy |
Fiske, Martin Fiske and Vera Bickford.
DR.. Bells Talk.
DIR. Bell, who had reached the build
ing about the middle of the program,
was introduced by DIR. Holton, and spoke
briefly, sketching the history of the
teaching of the blind and the deaf from
its earliest days. He referred to the
chairman's introduction of him as the
inventor of the telephone and founder OF
the art of teaching speech to the ueaf
by saying that his telephone invention
had been the result of years of exertion
in teaching the deaf to speak in the
Horace Mann school. The oral method |
of teaching the deaf to speak goes back
some 200 years for the first school for
this form of teaching the deaf was
opened in Scotland in 1850. There were
no schools in America for teaching the
deaf at the beginning of the 10th cen
tury. and not until 1912 did member
of the Scotch family who had opened I
the first school open one in Virginia. He /
soon died and so carefully had the in
ventors of this system guarded the Sc
cret that no one else could teach it and
an American who went to Great Brit
ain for the purpose of learning it was
refused the privilege if he intended to
teach it.
The French system of sign language
for the deaf was introduced in school
in Hartford, Conn, in 1917 and 80 years
later the Clark school for the deaf was
opened in Northampton, Mass, and it is
from this school that most of the teach
ers of the deaf are now developed.
He referred to the fact that much of
his interest in teaching the deaf devel
oped from the fact that Mrs. Bell had
lost her power of hearing when a child
of four. He said that 20 per cent of
the deaf in the United States are now
being taught oral speech and contrasted
the different systems of teaching the
deaf, concluding with the statement that
all of these systems are now including
the teaching of oral speech.
The prizes were then distributed by
President HoltOn as follnws: Best class
work, Florence Bodwel: good deport-
ment, Pearl Starks. Sterling Pike; best
basketry work. Pearl Grant: greatest
improvement in basketry. Zylphia Por-
ter; best sloyd work, Lester Piper; best