THE HORACE MANN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF. 87 



When the child enters the school he is usually provided with a lan- 

 guage of natural pantomime which is practical and very entertaining. 

 The sign of " mother " is putting the hand to the back of the head, as 

 if a coil of hair were there, while for " father " the hand is drawn over 

 the face in the manner in which he wears his beard. A cow is repre- 

 sented with the thumbs at the ears and the fingers extended ; a don- 

 key the same, with the fingers together and hands slowly opening and 

 closing. 



Some of the gestures are very pretty. A child tells his teacher 

 that his father was asleep when he came to school, by making the sign 

 for father and inclining his head to one side with closed eyes upon 

 his open palm, and shows his anticipation of some pleasure he is to 

 have, by making the gesture for to-morrow, over and over again ; with 

 one forefinger he closes his eye, and, lifting it quickly, makes it a fig- 

 ure one (opening his eyes, of course, at the same time), meaning that 

 he will sleep once before the time comes. 



It is strange that all children, coming from whatever place or con- 

 dition, have these natural gestures alike when they enter the school. 

 The quick motions of the little fingers, as they tell a long story in this 

 way, remind one of humming-birds. 



The children are as different from one another as hearingr children 

 are. Some are so pretty that artists might covet them, little ones who 

 have not yet learned to speak, but who look up at you silently, statues 

 in which the soul is to awake ; others, dwarfed and distorted in figure, 

 have a look of dull despair, too old for childhood. The heart is sad 

 and tender for them all. 



Every gesture is vigilantly suppressed as soon as the written or 

 spoken word can be used in its place, but in the youngest class these 

 signs are naturally most used. An animated group the eleven pupils 

 make, several of them mere babies of four and five years. They ask 

 very personal questions about the visitor, which the teacher readily in- 

 terprets if she sees fit. There are some inquiries concerning the age 

 of the stranger, for instance, or innocent comments on the size of his 

 feet, or the shape of his hat, which she may think best to ignore. In 

 this class is Charley, whose teacher spelled his name in the more com- 

 mon way until he intimated to her that he objected to having a lie on 

 the end of his name ! Constant association with one of the girls in the 

 class, who had a prejudice against the unvarnished truth, had early 

 familiarized the eleven with the word. This girl has a lively imagina- 

 tion and a strong vein of romance, which cause her, perhaps, to seem 

 unreliable to slower intellects. She never, for example, sees a com- 

 panion with a new necklace or dress, but she carelessly signs to her that 

 she herself possesses such articles by the barrel and bale ; while her 

 own home, which she describes to open-eyed listeners, as built of gold 

 with a diamond door and silver steps, has long been known by reputa- 

 tion throughout the school. This pupil, in her one interview with the 



