Review of Revieips, 20/S/05. 



THE LAND OF SILENCE. 



Living in the 

 midst of us is a 

 section of our 

 fellow crea- 

 tures to whom 

 the world is 

 not as it is to 

 us. Those of 

 us blessed with 

 the full enjoy- 

 ment of all our 

 senses can 

 scarcely under- 

 stand what it 

 must mean to 

 l)e shut out 

 from all sweet 

 sounds which 

 make up so 

 much of our 

 life ; never to 

 know the pas- 

 sion of music, 

 Vhoto. never to be 

 ravished with 



Victorian Branch Australasian Deaf and Dumb 

 Association 



Sarony, lU Elizabeth-street. 1 



Mr. Ernest J. D. Abraham, 



Principal and Chaplain of the Adult Deaf and ^i c,„-,(rc of 



Dumb Mission of Victoria ; Prer,ident of the '•';'^ ^uiijjb ui 

 Australian Deaf Mute Congress, HJ03-4 ; President birds, never to 



be roused or 

 soothed by the 

 modulations of the human voice, nor to be stirred by 

 the activities of the busy world, to live in absolute 

 stillness (how oppressive and nerve-shaking at times 

 absolute silence is), and to live in it endlessly ! 



Not can we understand what it must mean to be 

 dumb. To be unable to uncover soul to soul, to 

 reveal the depths of the mind, to appeal, to in- 

 fluence, to dominate by the power of facile, forceful 

 speech, or to chann, please and sway by the mar- 

 vellous power of thrilling song, every fibre of the 

 being throbbing to communicate with fellow-man 

 through the natural channels of speech, onlv to be 

 brought up against a dead wall of inability 1 



And never to have known these powers ! What a 

 blank, what a desert ! Priceless things to have lost, 

 once having possessed them ; more priceless, if 

 that could be, to those who never have known them. 

 For partial knowledge is better than utter lack, and 

 to have known speech and hearing for a time gives 

 one an entry to a region of beauty and splendour 

 which would cheer and aid a stricken one through 

 years of stillness and enforced silence. But never 

 to have known them means such an absolute shut- 

 ting out of those who lack speech aind hearing from 

 a world of knowledge and beauty, that it is some- 

 thing even more tragic, and th-^ ^ack is still more 

 terrible. 



Yet there are about 1500 people in the Common- 

 wealth who are both deaf and dumb. It is believed 

 that there are about 500 deaf mutes in Victoria, 

 about the same number in New South Wales, over 

 200 in South Australia, just under 200 in Queens- 

 land, and a little under 100 in West Australia and 

 Tasmania. 



THE DEAF NOT NECESSARILY DUMB. 



A verv common mi-stake that is cnade with regard 

 to deaf mutes is that they axe deficient in mental 

 power. Consequently, they are in some cases 

 classed in tht^ same list as these unfortunates, and 

 with others as afflicted and helpless. For instance, 

 according to a .section of the Victorian Marine Act 

 of 1890, the shipping companies are held liable by 

 the Immigration Department for a bond of ;^ioo 

 on a passenger " who is a lunatic, idiot, deaf and 

 dumb, blind, or infirm, and likely ... to be- 

 come a charge upon the public, or any public or 

 charitable institution." It is a cruel thing to in- 

 clude fleaf mutes in a category like this. 



It is often .supposed that dumbness is a natural 

 disability, but deaf mutes are simply mute because 

 they are deaf. It is not because they cannot exer- 

 cise their vocal chords, but simply because never 

 having heard they do not know of their powers of 

 speech. 



Mr. Samuel Johnson, M.A. Principal of the Adelaide School 



