IT was a pleasant day in the early spring of 18-. Morning school was over, so at a signal from their teacher the boys and girls (for the school we are going to visit was a mixed one) left their classes and trooped out into the playground for the half-hour before dinner, which they were always allowed to spend much as they pleased.
If you, dear young reader, could have joined them at their play you would, I think, have said "The children are having a good time." Ball, played either singly or in twos and threes, seemed quite a favorite game. A few of the girls had skipping ropes; while tops and marbles were taken by the boys from pockets in which they had been hidden away during school hours.
But though a few of the players made a strange kind of noise sometimes, most of the games went on very quietly; not a word was spoken, no sound of merry voices, no peals of ringing laughter reminded passers-by that it was the children's playtime.
I wonder if any of you have guessed my secret? Ah, I think some of our party have, for Grace and Julia are whispering together. What is Grace saying? That she believes I am going to tell you about a school for deaf and dumb children, or, as they are often called, deaf mutes.
Grace is right, and I hope that our talks on paper about the deaf and dumb, perhaps, too, before we say good-by, a few of the blind people I have known, will not only make us each more thankful to God, the Giver of every good and every perfect gift (see James 1:1717Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)), for the blessings of speech and sight which we enjoy, but help to train us in habits of thought for others, so that we shall not mind taking a little trouble or giving a little time to help or comfort those who never hear the music of a loving voice or see the light of a kindly smile, the afflicted children whose lives are so often sad and lonely ones.
But we must return to the playground. One of the elder girls, whose name I really do not remember, so will call her Jane, came from the house where the master and mistress, Mr. and Mrs. S., lived, and going into the midst of a ring of girls who were playing catch-ball, waved her hand twice. The children knew the signal quite well, they understood its meaning, too-"Attention," or "I want to speak to you." And as Jane was a great favorite they left their play and gathered round her, all eager to know what she had to say to them.
But I see some of you are looking quite puzzled, and Nellie says I promised to tell you about deaf and dumb children, and she does not know how they could talk to or understand each other.
You will smile when I tell you that once I had the same thought myself. But if ' Nellie will only have a little patience, I think I shall be able to explain what I must own seems strange at first.
There are two ways of teaching deaf mutes. One is called the oral or lip-reading, the other the sign and manual system. By the oral method the children are taught to pronounce words by placing the tongue and lips in certain positions, and then trained to use what small powers of voice they possess. I once saw a lesson on the oral system given to a class of deaf mutes, and I think every child in the class must have taken "Try, try again" as his or her school motto, while great patience was needed on the part of the teacher.
But I have only answered half the question, so I must tell you that it is by means of what we call lip-reading that deaf mutes who have been taught to speak are enabled to understand what is said. It would take me so long to explain on paper how lip-reading is learned that I am afraid if I tried to do so you would get tired of our subject in the very first chapter. But if you will say a few short easy words over very slowly to yourself you will find the form of your lips change with almost everyone It is by watching these changes that a good lip-reader will see, for we must not forget they cannot hear, what others are saying.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////P. 5 ILLUSTRATION/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ORAL TEACHING.
The other way, of teaching deaf children sign and manual, is much older and quite different. About a hundred years ago two Christian workers, one living in, and I believe a native of, France, the other a Scotchman, were led at nearly the same time to take an interest in the deaf and dumb, and, after much thought and prayer, to attempt teaching them by making at first what are called signs, and afterward the letters of the alphabet by movements of the hands and fingers, the pupils of the French teacher using only one, those of the Scotchman both hands.
Quite a number of deaf mutes were in this way taught to read the Bible. Still more had to be sent away for want of room. At last it became necessary to open schools for the deaf and dumb, and other teachers took up the work. The few signs at first used grew into a silent language. At the present time deaf mutes who have been educated on this system in England, Scotland, and America use both hands in finger-talking, while those who went to school in France or Ireland employ one only.
But as we have been away from the playground quite a long time, I may as well interpret the rapid finger-talking of the first class of girls by telling you the news that Jane had brought to her young friends was, that a new girl had just been brought to the school. Jane had seen her, and one of the teachers would soon bring her into the playground. The newcomer, as she was not likely to be one of their classmates, might not have excited more than a passing interest in the minds of the elder girls had not Jane added that the stranger, whose name was Susie, was so small as to look almost like a baby.
“How old is Susie?" one of the girls asked. Jane held up the thumb and forefinger of her left hand, and all children then knew that the little girl was seven years of age. Jane then explained by signs that the new-corner was not taller than a child of two, and so small that Jane said she was just like a very large doll they had often seen in the window of a toy shop on the King's Road.
Though I do not know Susie myself, I have often talked with deaf mutes who were at school with her. I think, from what they have told me about her, she must have been a dwarf. But as perhaps Jane did not know the word or its meaning, I am not at all surprised at her saying "Susie was just like a doll." And yet how unlike, for I am sure you all know that Susie had a soul. A soul of such value that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, who came as Son of man to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)), had given His own precious blood that it might be saved and made fit for the holy presence of God.
But at the time my story begins, which is going to be all true, poor little seven-year-old Susie did not know anything about the Lord Jesus and His love. I do not think she even knew she had a soul. But the Savior who had said "It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. 18:1414Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:14)) was leading the lonely child by the right way. In my next chapter I hope to tell you something about Susie's school-days.