ARE you going out this afternoon, mother?" Alfred May asked one bright September afternoon, as, standing near his mother's dressing-table, he watched her movements with great interest. Mrs. May and her three children, of whom Alfred was the eldest, had arrived at Ramsgate to spend a short holiday, only a few days before my story begins.
“Yes, Alfred; I am going to pay a visit. You can go with me, if you please, unless you would rather run down to the sands with nurse and the children, and build castles till tea time.”
“Oh no, mother; if I am to choose, it will be to go with you. But where are we going?”
“To a pretty village called St. Lawrence, about a mile out of Ramsgate, and our visit will be to a school for the Oral Teaching of the Deaf and Dumb.”
“Oral Teaching of the Deaf and Dumb," Alfred repeated with a puzzled look; "I do not know what that means, but I mean to find out before we come home; or perhaps, mother, you will tell me all about it as we walk; but I must get ready now, or I shall keep you waiting.”
A few moments later, Mrs. May and Alfred were walking along the pretty road that leads to St. Lawrence. Alfred had met a few deaf mutes before going to Ramsgate, but had never paid a visit to a school for the deaf and dumb. He was quite delighted at the prospect of his visit, and said, "Oh, mother, how strange it will look to see a whole school doing lessons on their fingers. I am glad you will be able to talk to them, and I know all the letters; though my finger-talking is very slow by the side of yours or Aunt Mabel's, perhaps I can ask some of the boys to tell me their names if the master will give me leave.”
Mrs. May smiled. "Our finger-talking, as you call it, Alfred, will not be of any use to-day, as the ninety boys and girls, at whose school we are going to have a peep, are not taught to use their fingers in talking. Perhaps you will learn more from your visit, if I tell you a little about different ways of teaching the deaf and dumb.
“I think it is about a hundred years since the first school for deaf and dumb children was opened in London. At first the number of scholars was not large, and even some Christian people seemed to think it was almost a waste of time and money to try to teach deaf children anything, dumb only because they were unable to hear and so could not learn to speak. But the teachers were very kind and patient, and year by year the number of scholars grew larger, and many deaf-mutes were taught to converse by means of the finger alphabet with their teachers and each other. They also learned to read and write, and some, I am glad to be able to tell you, became true Christians. Most of the boys on leaving school were sent to learn trades: bookbinding, shoemaking, wood turning, &c., and many became clever workmen and were able to earn good wages, while some of the girls were taught dress making, straw bonnet work, book folding, and other light trades.
“But all this time the teaching was by means of what you call finger-talking, or, to give it its right name, the Sign and Manual System. Some years since, news came from teachers of schools for the deaf and dumb in Germany and America that a new, and they thought better, way of teaching deaf and dumb children had been tried with good success. It was called the Oral, or lip reading, System. The deaf could, it was said, be taught to understand what was said by watching the movements of the lips and even to say words by learning to make the right movements of lips and tongue.
“Wonderful, but was it quite true? The head master went on a visit to several schools where the new system was in use. On his return to London, he said he was sure from all he had seen and heard, that some deaf and dumb children could be taught to speak and understand lip reading; so a house suitable for a school was taken near Ramsgate, and Mr. Elliott, who for many years had been head master of the schools at Old Kent Road, set about the new and difficult work of teaching deaf children to speak, in a brave, wholehearted way.
“But here we are at the school, and you will be able to see for yourself what is being done.”
Mrs. May and her son were kindly received and taken at once to the schoolroom, where about ninety children, boys and girls, divided into classes, were having a reading lesson. Mr. Elliott was not in the room when they entered, but all seemed to be going on well.
Alfred was much surprised to hear quite a hum of voices. Some, he soon noticed, could not speak plainly, and others spoke louder than was necessary. All were anxious to please their kind teachers. A rather dull-looking boy, of about twelve years old, stood at the head of his class. A teacher turned to him and said in almost a whisper, "Fetch a chair for the lady." In a moment he crossed the room, returning with a chair which he placed for Mrs. May, with a polite bow. Mrs. May said, "Thank you," and asked, "What is your name?" The answer given was, "My name is Charles Smith.”
Alfred could not forbear saying, "How wonderful! I did not know he could hear." The teacher turned to Alfred and said, with a smile, "Charles Smith cannot hear, he is quite deaf; but he is one of our best scholars. He has been with us almost four years, and understands almost everything that is said by looking at the movement of our lips.”
Several other boys seemed much pleased to show Mrs. May their copy books, all of which were very neat and free from blots.
Mr. Elliott now entered the room, and it was pleasant to see the bright faces and happy looks that greeted him. All his pupils loved and were anxious to please him.
Mrs. May who had much personal knowledge of the deaf and dumb, and had known several of Mr. Elliott's old schoolboys, was soon engaged in an interesting conversation with him, while Alfred went, after receiving permission to do so, to a class of younger children who, grouped round a lady teacher, were having a picture lesson.
The picture just placed on the stand was one of a man seated on horseback, blowing a trumpet. The children readily named "A man," "A horse," when the teacher touched different objects in the picture with the pointer; but seemed at first a little puzzled when asked to give a name to the trumpet. One small boy called it a music, then the teacher gave its right name, and explained that the man was blowing it. As both trumpet and blowing were new words to the class, it needed great patience on the part of the teacher before all her pupils were able to pronounce them, but when the lesson was learned, Alfred could not be quite sure which looked most pleased, the kind teacher or her class.
When, after tea the same evening, Mrs. May and Alfred sat down for their usual Bible reading, Alfred asked if he might read the account of Christ healing the deaf man. (Mark 7:31-3731And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. (Mark 7:31‑37).) When he had read it he said, "Mother, I think the Lord in glory must be pleased with the work we have seen to-day.”