Anecdotes & Incidents of the Deaf and Dumb.

by W. R. Roe.

PREFACE.

The Deaf and Dumb cannot help themselves as others can. From the cradle they are cut off from their fellow creatures. They can only cry, like the dumb brute, to make their pains and wishes known. G.o.d only can know the bitterness of heart, the desolation of the deaf and dumb child of the poor, as it grows up in a world without speech or sound--a lifelong silence! A mother's smile it may understand, but her soothing voice never comforts or delights it. While others grow in love, and life, and intelligence, its heart is chilled and its mind enfeebled. Only under suitable instruction, given at an early age, can the deaf mute become anything but a burden to others and to himself.

The anecdotes in the following pages will doubtless be read with considerable curiosity, and it is hoped that the Midland Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb at Derby will receive some pecuniary a.s.sistance by the publication of this little book.

There are 1119 Deaf and Dumb in the Inst.i.tution's district, which comprises six of the Midland Counties.

The Inst.i.tution is supported by voluntary contributions.

W. R. R.

_Midland Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution, Friar Gate, Derby._

ANECDOTES

OF THE

DEAF AND DUMB.

ASK A BLESSING.

A little boy was admitted as a pupil into the Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb at Derby. Previous to his admission he had given his parents and friends a great deal of trouble, and fears were entertained that he would be none the less troublesome to those in charge of him at the Inst.i.tution. Happily however, owing to the firmness and kindness of his teachers, he very soon yielded to the rules and became a good, obedient boy. At length the time came for the vacation, and, amongst others, this little fellow went home for his holiday. The dinner hour arrived, and sitting down with his parents, he looked up at his father and put his hands together. He wanted his father to ask a blessing. The father made the boy understand he did not know what to say, then the poor little fellow began to cry. At last he thought of a plan, he would ask the blessing himself; and so he spelt on his fingers the blessing he had learnt at the Inst.i.tution, and got his friends to spell on their fingers after him letter by letter and word by word, and thus overcame the difficulty in which he was placed.

DEAF AND DUMB CLERGYMEN.

In America there are four deaf and dumb clergymen working in connection with the Church Missions to the Deaf and Dumb. There are also in connection with the same mission eight lay readers, all of whom are deaf and dumb.--_Deaf Mute World._

HOW TO SAVE THE RATES.

In a vast majority of cases where the deaf and dumb are allowed to grow up uneducated and uncared for they become inmates of Workhouses or Lunatic Asylums. Many years ago L---- K---- was taken from a workhouse in Derbyshire where he had been for a number of years, and educated and apprenticed to a suitable trade; he is now a steady, industrious man, married, and himself a _ratepayer_. This is only one of many similar instances that have come within our experience. In some other cases they are struggling to support widowed mothers and sisters.

FATAL ACCIDENT TO A DEAF AND DUMB BRIDE ON THE DAY OF MARRIAGE.

The following is taken from the _Manchester Mercury and Harrop's General Advertiser_, June 10, 1800:--"On the 12th ult., in the Island of Anglesea, Mr. Henry Ceclar, a gentleman well known for his pedestrian feats, to Miss Lucy Pencoch (the rich heiress of the late Mr. John Hughes, Bawgyddanhall), a lady of much beauty, but entirely deaf and dumb. This circ.u.mstance drew together an amazing concourse of people to witness the ceremony, which, on the bride's part, was literally performed by proxy. A splendid entertainment was given on the occasion by the bridegroom; but a dreadful catastrophe closed the scene, for the bride, in coming down stairs, made a false step, and fell with so much violence against a chair that she immediately expired."

M. BERTHIER.

This gentleman, who is now senior professor in the Paris Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb, is described as a man of rare merit, probably superior in literary abilities and acquirements to any other deaf mute from birth that any country can produce. He is the author of several works that would do credit to a well-educated man whose knowledge of language had been acquired through the ear. On a recent occasion of a public exercise at the Inst.i.tution he was decorated by the President of the Republic with the Cross of the Legion of Honour, the first time such a distinction had ever been conferred on a deaf and dumb person.

"HIS RIGHT NAME."

In a letter received by the head master at the Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution at Derby, a lady writes about a little boy she had a.s.sisted in obtaining admission into the Inst.i.tution, and said that "During the little time (18 months) that William has been in the Inst.i.tution he has improved wonderfully." She writes--"You know he used to be so wild, dirty, and careless; he was always interfering with everybody, in fact he went in the village by the name of Troublesome Dummy. All is changed; he is a nice clean, well behaved boy, and people are beginning to call him by his right name, William. We shall never forget what you have done for him."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

AN INGENIOUS BOY.

We were lately shown a curiosity in the shape of a sewing machine entirely of wood. It was whittled out of ordinary pine with an ordinary jack-knife by an ordinary boy--no, not an ordinary boy; it was the handiwork of a deaf and dumb boy who resides at Ma.s.sachusetts. A machine was left at the house of the boy by an agent, and the lad, with considerable ingenuity, made a counterpart of the machine, and did it wholly with a jack-knife.

"MIGHTY PROUD."

At a meeting held in a country village in aid of the Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution, Derby, a number of the pupils were present on the platform.

One of the speakers called attention to a bright looking little fellow, and asked the audience if they knew him? and amidst general laughter spoke of the boy's earlier years, how he had seen him running about barefooted and dirty, playing with the worst boys in the streets; but now completely changed in his habits and character. He went on to relate a little incident he had himself observed a few weeks previous, when the boy was home from the Inst.i.tution for his holiday. The little deaf and dumb boy was coming along the road, looking clean and bright, and carrying a book in his hand, when four of his old gutter companions, all in dirt, and who ought to have been at school, saw him, and one of them shouted out, "h.e.l.lo, here's owd dummy comin;" and all four went to meet him, and tried to make friends with him, but he thought they were scarcely clean enough for his company, and quietly pa.s.sed on his way towards home. The boys were surprised, and stared at each other for some time; at last one of them said, "Oh, ain't he got mighty proud?"

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A DEAF AND DUMB SCULPTOR AT BRUSSELS.

A deaf and dumb sculptor named Van Louy de Canter has recently obtained two prizes, one a silver medal with a ribbon of Belgian colours, and a second cla.s.s award for his best work in marble; the other a bronze medal; he has also an honourable certificate from the Belgian Exhibition of 1880. It is encouraging to hear of his success, and to know that from his devotion to the art, he will persevere in the right way to be a credit to his country and to his numerous friends among the deaf and dumb.

MONOGRAPH of the COLLEONBOLA & THYSANURA.