Anecdotes & Incidents Of The Deaf And Dumb Part 2

DEAF, DUMB, BLIND, AND LAME.

David Simons, of Boston, is deaf and dumb; he is also blind; likewise he is lame. Penniless he is, and houseless. Finally, he is black, which may or may not be considered a misfortune. No,--finally he was run over by a team and dreadfully bruised. Yet we suppose that John Simons still desires to live, for he consented to be carried to a hospital.--_Deaf Mute Advance._

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

(From _The Graphic_, May, 1874.)

Messrs. Doulton and Co., who have done so well with stoneware, dignifying the simplest material by giving even to the most ordinary and cheapest articles shapes of real beauty, exhibit in Room 9 a most praiseworthy set of examples (3719) of very remarkable art and character, demonstrating princ.i.p.ally possibilities of wall decoration.

On the floor at the base of the division are some n.o.ble pieces of graphite stoneware contributed by Mr. Frank A. Butler, who is deaf and dumb.

A YOUNG GENIUS.

(From the Journal of the Society of Arts, May 1, 1874.)

Another artist who has made his mark on the ware by the originality of his forms is Frank A. Butler. He is quite deaf and almost dumb. He is one of many thus heavily afflicted who have pa.s.sed through the school.

He began his artistic life as a designer of stained gla.s.s, but his invention was not needed, nor, I dare say, discovered in the practice of an art which is almost traditional. I introduced him to the new work, and in a few months he brought out many new thoughts from the silent seclusion of his mind. A bold originality of treatment, and the gift of invention, are characteristic of his work. He has struck out many new paths. A certain ma.s.sing together of floral forms, and ingenious treatment of discs, dots, and interlacing lines indicate his hand.

THE LITTLE DEMERARIAN.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A little coloured deaf and dumb girl in Demerara came to Mrs. H----'s school, and wished to learn to read. It was thought impossible to teach her; the missionary's wife therefore shook her head, and made signs for her to go home. But she would take no denial; so Mrs. H---- sent to England for the "Deaf and Dumb Alphabet." It was astonishing how quickly the child was taught to read the New Testament, from which she learned to know Jesus as her Saviour. One day she signed to her kind teacher, "Missie, me too happy. You would think when me walk out that there were two people in the road; but it is Jesus and me. He talk and me talk, and we two so happy together."

DRAUGHTS.

Mr. James Wyllie (the Herd Laddie), the greatest living draught player, has been in Aberdeen for a whole week, playing in public against all comers. He played altogether 98 games, of which he won 79, lost 3, and 6 drawn. It is worthy of notice that three of the draws were secured by Mr. Benjamin Price, a deaf mute, and a well known local player.--_Scotsman._

THE UNWELCOME TAP.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Isabella Green was a young woman who was completely blind and deaf, and she was brought before a number of eminent surgeons to see if anything could be done for her. Her sad condition had been produced by violent pain in the head. The only method of communicating with her was by tapping her hand, which signified no, and squeezing it, which signified yes. The surgeons concluded that her case was incurable, and in reply to her earnest inquiries she received the unwelcome tap. She immediately burst into tears, in all the bitterness of anguish. "What!" said she, "shall I never see the light of day, or hear a human voice? Must I remain shut up in darkness and silence as long as I live?" A friend who was present took up a Bible and placed it to her breast. She put her hands on it, and asked "Is this the Bible?" Her hand was squeezed in reply. She immediately clasped it in her hands, and held it to her bosom, and exclaimed, "This is the only comfort I have left. I shall never be able to look upon its blessed pages, but I can think of the promises I have learned from it." And she then began to repeat some of the promises--"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee;"

"Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee;" "My grace is sufficient for thee," &c. She dried her tears, and became peacefully submissive to the will of G.o.d.

COROT AND HIS PUPIL.

Corot the Artist had a deaf and dumb pupil. The young fellow was employed in copying one of his master's beautiful pencil drawings, when he even tried to imitate a stain of glue which was on the paper. Corot, when he saw it, smiled, and said, or at least wrote, "Tres bien, mon ami; mais quand vous serez devant la nature; vous ne verrez pas de taches." "(Very well, my friend; but when you are before nature you will not see any stains.)"

M. Jean Baptist Corot, the great French landscape painter, died February 23rd, 1875, aged 79.

DUMB FOR TWO YEARS.

Two years ago, says the _Auburn Advertizer_, George Scott, one of a gang of desperadoes in New York City, committed a robbery, for which he ought to have received ten years in prison. When he was arrested he feigned to be deaf and dumb. Upon his trial he made much of his infirmity, and the result was that he succeeded in escaping with a sentence of two years.

Being transferred from Sing Sing to Auburn prison, he still kept up appearances, by means of which he escaped from doing heavy work, but was a.s.signed to duty in shoe shop No. 1 as waiter, being supposed to be fit for no more valuable service. He was sharp, ready and intelligent, and generally well behaved, though hot tempered. Keeper Bacon, under whom he was placed, had him always under strict surveillance, but never was led to suspect by anything in his conduct that he was not deaf and dumb.

Indeed, he says that he once saw Scott, who always went in the shop by the name of "Dummy," so roused up and maddened by something that had occurred, that he thought he would go crazy, yet he gave no sign that he was otherwise in respect to hearing and speaking than he seemed. About two months ago Dummy's time was up, and he was discharged. To give him a start in life again, keeper Bacon hired him to do some gardening.

Princ.i.p.al keeper Gallup did the same thing. He worked in this way for two or three weeks. While at his work children would talk to him and play round him, yet he was always apparently oblivious to their presence. But Dummy had a tongue and could use it, and his hearing was as keen as anybody's. One day he fell in with a fellow convict who had just been discharged from prison, and they went off up the street together, talking gaily. Captain Russell, foreman in one of the departments of the prison shoe shop, who was in the street, overheard their conversation; and on another occasion it happened that one of the keepers met Dummy at Louis Schuch's and talked with him for a long time.

THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE.

A fact without precedent has just happened at the Sorbonne. A young deaf mute, M. Dusuzeau, underwent recently with success the examinations for the degree of "Bachelor of Science." This distinguished pupil has answered by writing all the questions which have been put to him. This success, unexpected a few years ago, greatly honours the Imperial Inst.i.tution in Paris, and is due to the high standard which its learned director, M. Vaisse, maintains in the studies, and to the devotedness of the censor, M. Valade Reoni, head master of the instruction, and who has been the affectionate master of M. Dusuzeau.

M. Dusuzeau was married on the third of March last, at the church of St.

Germain, l'Auxerrois, Paris, to Miss Matilda Freeman, daughter of James B. Freeman, Esq., of Philadelphia, in the presence of a distinguished circle of friends. Miss Freeman stayed in England some months in 1882, and is therefore well known to many of our deaf and dumb friends.

LIKE THE COPY.

Florence B----, a little girl in the Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution at Derby, was painting in water colours during her leisure hours. She had been told to be very careful with the card she was painting, and do it exactly the same as the copy, and to these instructions she strictly adhered. When the card was finished she took it to the head master, who at once noticed a black spot painted on a bright flower. On being told she had spoilt the card with doing this, she replied "But it's like the copy," and at once produced it, when it was found that by some means an ink spot had got on the copy.

"DRUNKEN BILLY."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A poor deaf and dumb man, who might be said to be entirely friendless in the world until the Inst.i.tution of the Deaf and Dumb was formed at Derby, was continually in trouble, owing to his intemperate habits.

"Drunken Billy," as he was called by some, had however a tender place in his heart, and we frequently visited him at his lodgings and a.s.sisted him in various ways. After a time Billy was persuaded to sign the temperance pledge, and began to attend the lectures and services for the adult deaf and dumb. For a time all went well, but one hot summer day one of his fellow workmen, who ought to have known better, knowing that Billy had signed the temperance pledge, offered him a shilling if he would drink a gla.s.s of ale he held in his hand. The temptation was too strong for Billy to resist, and having taken one, it was not easy for him to resist a second, and in the end poor Billy got taken up by the police. The head master of the Inst.i.tution at Derby appeared, by request, to interpret the evidence, and it transpired that Billy had been sent to prison in the same month, June, each year, for the seven previous years. The magistrates however expressed their reluctance at sending Billy to prison, and asked him, through the interpreter, if he would try and keep sober, and if he would again sign the pledge; this he promised to do, and the magistrates on the bench not only dismissed the case, but each became subscribers of one guinea annually to the Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution. Billy, true to his promise kept sober, and again attended the services for the deaf and dumb, and when nearly 70 years of age gave a brief lecture of his "Life's Experiences" to the deaf and dumb, which caused considerable amus.e.m.e.nt, especially his remarks about Derby fifty years ago. Billy was always thankful for the help rendered him by the Inst.i.tution, and frequently said "If he might have his way he would be glad to die and get to heaven where he could hear." Poor Billy's life was a hard one, for death took a good wife and four little ones during the first ten years of his wedded life, and one by one the whole of his relations pa.s.sed away. Billy has now done with temptation, and recently pa.s.sed away to the majority, his last remarks bearing testimony to the value of the Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb.