thoroughness of his knowledge of alphabetic discourse, other things being equal, will probably be his ability to do the world service by means of it; at all events, as he can more readily converse with the mighty and elegant writers of the past or the present, in that proportion will be his own intellectual and spiritual advancement and enjoyment. But the committee need hardly give an opinion on the subject since the Abbé Sicard has said, "that for those who can write and read, they are no longer either deaf or dumb." Nor would the committee have said even so much, were it not that it is sometimes supposed that too much time is given in the Institution to this study, and not sufficient to what is called "practical knowledge." Practical knowledge, if the committee understand the term, can never be given in a school; it is learned only in the struggles, the contacts, the practisings of every day life-life beyond the school walls. It is the object of the Institution to show the pupils how to attain this. It is not desired to send them out into the world so wise that they shall never learn that they have only begun to study. The Institution aims to make them practical men, and, therefore, they are as thoroughly instructed as is possible, in the short time that is allowed for so great a study, in that which alone can furnish them with a substitute for the speech and hearing which nature has denied, but which are so absolutely necessary for their contact with men. They are taught to read and write the English language correctly. And the committee do not hesitate to commend, most heartily, the earnest efforts of the instructors in the accomplishment of this great end. The peculiar difficulties which stand in their way are, perhaps, not sufficiently considered. The committee confess that they had not apprehended them: it is possible that others have not. And yet to appreciate the triumphs of the teacher-may we not say of the deaf mute himself these ought to be understood. The intricacies of the construction of our language, the idioms, the constant use of figures of speech are indeed difficulties to every school boy, but to the deaf mutes they are obstacles hardly to be surmounted. It is to be considered that our language is foreign to them. It is as Chinese to a school boy. Nor have they the advantage which a hearing foreigner would possess in the study of English, by becoming daily more familiar with the usages of the language from the mouths of all with whom he should become familiar. Nor again are they forced, as a foreigner would be, to make frequent trials of their skill in procuring, by means of English, what they need. All their own conversation is in the sign language. Whatever they learn of English must be learned, until they are able to read for themselves, from a few instructors, who, except in the recitation room, almost necessarily speak to them in their native tongue. Another difficulty opposes itself. They think in the language of signs. Dr. Howe in his account for 1842, of the progress of his wonderful instruction of Laura Bridgman, gives an illustration of this, which, although it may not always have the same manifestations, we suppose is equally applicable to all deaf mutes. "If she be intently engaged by herself, her fingers are moving, and, as it were mechanically forming the letters, though so swift and fleeting are the motions, that no eye can trace them. I have often arrested her when thus soliloquising, and asked her to tell me distinctly what she has been saying to herself; and she has laughed and sometimes said, 'I cannot remember;' at other times, by a strong mental effort, she has recalled the fleeting thoughts, and repeated them slowly. Another proof of spontaneous connection between her thoughts and these arbitrary signs, is the fact that when asleep and disturbed by dreams, her fingers are at work, and doubtless uttering her thoughts irregularly, as we murmur them indistinctly in broken slumber." Now a school boy among us may make rapid progress in learning to read, because he thinks in the language. Yet it is to be remembered that he takes no pleasure in his study until the words, instead of being slowly spelled out, readily suggest their meaning. The deaf mute, however, is a foreigner, who, added to the disadvantage of never hearing a word to familiarize him with our tongue, has no temptation, and, until he has attained a considerable proficiency, no ability to think in English: no ability, because our constructions are so different from his own; no temptation, because he rejoices in the most simple and natural language in the world. It is as language in its infancy. There are nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and interjections. There are few conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns. The observer must fill up the blanks. Much of our conversation, which has many words and few ideas, would quickly fail before the rapid elocution of the deaf mute. A hearty shake of the hand, a shrug of the shoulders, a shiver, would soon finish many of our lengthened salutaions. It is no wonder that they love to speak in their "mother tongue." Two excellent illustrations of this latter fact were given to the committee. Whenever it was expedient to hasten a particular examination, the sign language was resorted to. No book is so quickly understood by them, nor is the style of any so pleasant to them as the Bible. The reason is obvious: being translated from the originals, it retains much of the freshness and simplicity of those ancient tongues. Now, until the deaf mute has by patient toil sufficiently overcome the difficulties of our language, to think in it with pleasure, he never can write in it with ease or elegance. Another view of the difficulties both of the pupil and teacher may be taken. For it the committee feel indebted to one who has himself had no small experience in this instruction. "Ordinary children in learning to read and write, after acquiring the use of alphabetic characters in expressing vocal sounds, have but to transfer their previously acquired knowledge and use of verbal language from the ear to the eye or rather to re-learn through the eye that which they have already learned by the ear. In the case of the blind who learn to read by passing the fingers over raised letters, the transfer is from the sense of hearing to that of feeling or touch. This is but to substitute one sense for another as a medium of communicating knowledge already acquired. Deaf mutes have, by a beautiful figure of speech, been said "to hear with the eye and speak with the hand." So the blind may be said to see with the fingers. So children who hear and speak, in learning to read written words, the meaning of which, through infancy and childhood, they have been learning to understand through the ear, may be said to hear with the eye, what they first learned to hear and understand by the ear. The use of verbal signs in expressing our ideas is wholly arbitrary; and it is only by long and often repeated use that they become intelligible to the mind through one or more of the senses. The perception of an object, or the sign for that object, acquired by the mind, through one of the senses, may, in most cases, be transferred to some one or several of the other senses. Of this general fact as applied to language, the above mentioned cases afford striking examples and abundant proof. Thus we see that the process of learning to read, in the case of children to whom language has already become intelligible through the ear, is but the overcoming of a mechanical difficulty. Far different is the case of the deaf-mute pupil. Not only has he to learn the form and use of the alphabetic characters and their combinations for forming representatives of ideas, [Assembly, No. 140.] 9 but the meaning and application of each and every word that he learns. Add to this the whole system of syntax from its very elements; the entire knowledge of the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences, from the simplest to the most complex; the ever varying signification of terms, common and figurative; phrases direct and inverted; together with the endless number of idiomatic expressions and figures of speech with which spoken and written language abounds; and then consider that all this is to be learned entirely without the aid of the ear, and without the benefit derived from the constant practice of language in conversation, in all the various circumstances and conditions of life, and then may be perceived some of the difficulties with which the deaf-mute pupil has to contend, in acquiring a knowledge of alphabetic language." With all these difficulties, our instructors and pupils are grappling, and that successfully. For the course of instruction so judicious and eminently useful, the Board are again referred to the schedule. It appears to be the most philosophical; necessarily therefore the most simple that could be devised: as necessarily it is likely always to be the most successful. But its application requires on the part of the instructor the utmost patience and laborious effort; habituation to the modes of thinking of the deaf mute, deep sympathy with him, and great facility of illustration; in fine, a love for him and a love for the work, which few instructors in the speaking world possess. The committee believe that they only give due credit when they say, that these qualities belong to the corps of teachers to whom the Board has committed the supervision of this great charity. The committee desire to give the Board some evidence of the truth of this encomium in the results which this year has attained. The subjoined compositions are only specimens. Those which were written during the hurry of the examination are distinguished from those which were written at leisure for their teacher's eye. All must be astonished at the accuracy with which they were written, and the acquaintance with the words and structure of our language which they evince. An illustration of the remarks upon the difficulties with which the deaf mute must contend, will also thus be given. The compositions of the earlier classes are evidently translations of the sign language, (indeed the first instruction, as will be seen, must be given in this way,) with such use of our grammatical arrangement as their lit tle acquaintance with it would allow. The compositions of the older classes are as evidently, in most parts, thought out in English. The following are translations of a tale told by the teacher to the seventh class. They entered in the autumn of 1843. We give first the literal translation of the sign language, that what is original in the translation may be seen. TALE. Years gone by, boy bad went got over fence, tree climbed, intending apples steal, but dog came, barked at boy, boy was frightened; gentleman heard dog barking, came saw boy on tree, told come down, boy came down immediately; gentleman whipped boy severely, boy shook fist, boy went home very angry crying. Translation. He wished Some years ago a boy went to an apple tree to steal to eat some apples, and he climbed up a tree and stole some apples in his pocket; but a good dog heard that the bad boy noised,* and the dog ran immediately to him and looked at him very sharp. The boy was very much afraid of him. The gentleman heard that the dog looked at the boy, and the gentleman saw him and ran to him and he told the boy to come down to the ground. The boy obeyed the gentleman, and the boy came down to the ground and stood on the ground. The gentleman whipped the boy very hard and he was much hurt. The boy went away. TWO LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE EXAMINA MY DEAR PARENTS TION. Ins. For the Deaf and Dumb, } I am very well. I am going to write a letter to you. I hope that you will find it. I hope that you will come here to-morrow afternoon and talk with me. I like to see you very much. I will stay at home with my parents, but I must come down to the Institution again * An instance of oirginality in the formation of words. |