Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-11

| IN natural tones, Wnllo OIneTS, tsNe-
cially those deaf from birth, speak
without expression or with a queer
accent. All of them who have had
special training for three or four
j years are easily understood. AS
they grow older they seem to lose
some of the strain noticeable in the
voices of the smaller ones, and the
effect is remarkably natural. *
and other sounds made in the back
of the mouth are most difficult for
the deaf to grasp and reproduce.
but even these are mastered after
repeated illustrations and much
practice.
These children are starting out in
life without the ability to hear and
with such handicap in the way OF
learning to speak, and yet when you
look in on them at lessons, meals,
or a game they are apparently nor
NAL boys and girls. They laugh
and talk. Sometimes they all talk
at once just like any group of happy
school children. Their lessons are
much less formal than those in a
regular school, and they are en-
Outraged to talk. so long as they
Go not get too far from the school
work at hand, or do not forget
puliteness.
Arithmetic and other lessons are
put on a practical basis. Learning
to read is for them matter Of be-
lug able to enjoy more stories, and
their letters from home. Most of
them are voracious readers. The
writer was interested to find that
fwEen they had a spare moment the
older ones ran to get books and
were soon absorbed in primer
stories or fairy tales.
Music is little more than name
to children totally deaf, but sense
of rhythm is taught them by means
Of the piano. A little upright piano
is pushed out into the middle of a
room and several children stand
at the back with their hands against
the instrument. A teacher plays
two chords over and over-frst a
loud chord and then a soft one.
Through their unusually sensitive
! fingers the children feel the vibra-
ton, and say as she plays, zone,
two, one, two" accenting the enc.
just as the pianist has. When she
changes to a heavy chord and two
light ones they feel the difference
instantly and Mango their count
to Zone, two, three" They also
feel and distinguish fast and
! slow" playing, and high and
slow" notes. The sensitiveness of
the deaf to vibrations was shown
when the other day one of the pu-
pills remarked:
Some one is playing the piano
downstairs"
"Yes," said a teacher, How did
you know?"
Il can feel it coming up through
: my feet" the child answered.
Most ST Miss Reinhardt's family
have been deaf since birth, or lost
. their hearing through illness.
Where the auditory nerve is alto
, sether destroyed, there is no hope
| of any return Of the hearing, In
. iurS to the ear drum does not nee
. essarily indicate permanent or total
deafness.
One Child can hear sometimes if
y spoken to directly in the ear. On
some days she will catch every word
spoken in an ordinary tone close
: 10 her. At other times, when the
; air is less clear she cannot hear a
: shout. Later, this girl can possibly
; wear an ACQUISITION and hear more
( plainly, but while she is still SO
: young an instrument might possibly
injure the delicate hearing sp-
: paratus.
1t is II years since Miss Rein
hardt established her school in
| kensington. and she says that the
; entire profit of II years is repre-
. scented by the cottage annex, which
she bought.
Work of this sort" she says
cannot be profitable, because ever
: if a school were taking in large
sums, it would want to put the
proceeds into equipment
} The work Of developing deal
: children should be endowed through
! number Of schools for the deaf
/ ste thinks, so that they can be con-
lnued indefinitely, and for the sake
l of progress. AS it is. she, and most
2 Of the other heads of private schools
fol- the deaf. struggle along, trying
to pay an adequate corps Of teach
l ers, and to keep the household
= warm, well fed and comfortable or
the amount paid in by the pupils.
l Sometimes Miss Reinhardt feel:
= as if the financial end Of the game
Y must be a losing one, but on the
= ether side of the scale she is win
l ] n,Gg so heavily in her efforts with
g the children that she is encouraged
E tc keep on, hoping that somt
r wealthy and benevolent fairy vii
= finally come TO the aid of deaf chill
'dren.
: