Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-12

Strange scenes are witnessed in
Washington these days. Behold The
skies aflre with meteors at midnight.
and by day filled with swimming
monsters greater than whales. which
soar high above the Washington
Monument. encircle the Capitol and
the White House. and swoop down
low over the New Willard Hotter.
where is assembled Pentecostal host
speaking with tongues-or rather
without tongues-Parthians ana
Modes and Elamites and the dwellers
in Mesopotamia, and in Judea ano
Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asa,
Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt
and in the parts of Lydia ABOUT
| Cvrene. and strangers of Rome, Jews
and proselvtes, Cretes and Arablans,
we do hear them speak,-no, we 90
see them speak. without voice.
But nobody accuses them OF De1ng
filled with new wine, for these are
Vnlsteadian DAYS. AS Peter said,
there we're wonders in heaven above
and signs in the earth beneath, Tor
the multitude speaks the sign
10 nrrope. as wonderful indeed as the
great airships af1Oat.
The modern Interpretation OF the
geography mentioned above Woul9
Substitute the as States of the United
/ states in place of Parthia ct al
w,hance come the deaf mutes IN
national conference. There is the
vision of hundreds of men and women
with every evidence of Keen lhteih-
gence. conversing amongst themselves
| in pantomime, or listening-l.e., Wa'ch-
ing-a Voiceless orator upon INC
platform sending up more eagles tIiall
ever did q Fourth OF July Voclerous
;vfr
horror or indignation the evils ne
denicts and arousing his--not audi
| ence." for the Latin refutes the loea
that a deaf person can be an audi
ltor'-his spectators, who always APP
inland spontaneously at just the rlght
climax. All this is more impressive
than the swimming whales near the
| clouds. The 500 or 500 deaf persons
nroved so utterly self-sufficient ana
capable that they made a laynian
having ears feel that these side-head
| anpendices ought to be cut on. lest
the nossessors be classified with quad
| r,neds whose chief distinguishing
| features are his ears-useless APP
nendices now that man has learned
the expressive superiority of the sign
language. How much more rapid
| II is, How much more emotlonaily
expressive than the mere gutturais OF
the larynx, Why do we continue 10
bray. instead of rising to the cultural
heights of the universal sign IAN
guage?
| What a marvel has the last century
and a quarter achieved in developing
| the mowers and abilities or the oeaI
| All through the centuries until tne
| nineteenth civilization has looked
rnon deaf mutes as derelictS or crea-
ton. ,,.oz
all defective children to pc exposed
| until they died. No deaf child should
he permitted to grow up to become a
| hurden though some authorities
argue that it would hardly be possible
to prove that a young baby was deaI
! before he had grown past the age
of infant exposure. AT all events, the
! sama laws were enforced also In
Rome up to the days of Justlnian.
| In Rome. "since slaves had no
I recognized status in Roman law, we
NAV reasonably conclude that deai
| mute slave might fare worse ina, I
would a slave possessing All MS Iacul
ties" and most inhabitants Oh rtoiil.
| were slaves. "In the early law OF
Eona the deaf mute was considered
incap he was classed with the
mailman and the infant; he was uh
able to perform. without assistance
any legal act in his own benali.
Contrast that status with the Iac'
that today there is no learned pro1es
sion nor skilled trade which is not
practiced successfully by deaf mutes
At this conference there are archl
tects. dentists, teachers, artists
chemists and many other professional
men and women, not to mention tne
hundreds who are skilled in DRIVING
their automobiles through the Dusles
traffic and who have so traVeied u
Washington from distant States.
1t is estimated that there are be
tween sc, 900 and so 900 deaf mutes II
the United States--about one In every
t2. 500 inhabitants. OF this total abou
10000 are in special schools-mor'
than a quarter--supported either o1
endowment or by State or Federal ap
propriations, or by combination o
all such means of sustaining them
History tells us that until 1900 there
had never been any effort on the par
of the public to recognize any obliga
ton to educate the deaf There wa!
an effort by Philip Nelson in Rowley
Mass. to educate a deaf boy to speal
as far back as 1879, but there is NJ
record Of any degree of success.
X r
The first free school in the worl,
for the deaf was established in Part