28 VOCAL SOUNDS OF 



Very few of Laura's syllables can be written with our inadequate alphabet. 

 This is natural. If missionaries among uncivilized tribes find the greatest 

 difficulty in expressing words by alphabets which are even inadequate to their 

 own languages — a difficulty of which the early christianizers of Germany com- 

 plained — how much more unsuccessful must not be the attempt at writing many 

 of Laura's unmodified and frequently inarticulate utterances. I think, however, 

 I can say that the sounds of F, T, Pr, B, Ee, (German i,) and Oo^ (French om,) 

 are prevailing, together with the sibilant S. The sound L, I discovered in one 

 semi-guttural tone only, which might be approached by writing Lull. I also 

 observed the sound Fa — pa — pa, (for one of her best female friends ;) Fif — fif — 

 fif, (for a very lovely friend of hers ;) Pig — pig — pig, (for a female teacher of 

 hers ;) and Ts — ts — ts, (for Dr. Howe.) I have also frequently heard her utter a 

 sound between F and T. When she did not like to be touched, for instance, 

 by boys, who often did it in a sportive mood, she would repeatedly utter F — 

 generally in an equally sportive spirit; for, Laura is very fond of a joke, and 

 greatly enjoys good-natured teasing. 



Many of her sounds are gurgling, though not disagreeably so ; others consist 

 of a chuckling, and in general I would say that the throat and the lips seem to 

 be the organs which she chiefly uses. The tongue is often pressed against the 

 palate, producing a full, round, yet dull sound, which I cannot write. Vowels 

 are very little used, and if so, generally indistinctly. The clear sonorous vowel 

 in speaking and singing requires the ear and long civilization. Savages do not 

 make frequent use of fine open vowels; and a bold singing from the chest gives 

 way to nasal singing at a very late period only. All Asiatics to this day sing in 

 this twang-chant, and so do the modern Greeks. 



While I am writing these words, a tuneful mocking bird is pouring out its 

 melodious song before my window. Rich and strong and mellow as is the ever- 

 varying music of this sprightliest of all songsters of the forest, compared to the 

 feeble and untuned sounds which Laura utters in her isolated state, yet her 

 sounds are symbols of far greater import. She, even without hearing her own 

 sounds, and with the crudest organs of utterance, yet has risen to the great idea 

 of the Word. She wills to designate by sound. In her a mind is struggling to 

 manifest itself and to commune with mind, revealing a part of those elements which 

 our Maker has ordained as the means to ensure the development of humanity. 

 The bird, with all its power of varied voice, remains forever in mental single- 

 ness ; Laura, in all her lasting darkness and stillness, and with that solitary 

 thread which unites her with the world without — the sense of touch — still proves, 

 in every movement of her mind and urgency of her soul, that she belongs to 

 those beings who, each in a different indestructible individuahty, are yet fash- 

 ioned for a mutual life, for sacred reciprocal dependence and united efforts. 



Oliver Caswell, the blind deaf-mute at the same institution with Laui'a, utters 

 but very few sounds. He has the same opportunities which she enjoys ; but, 

 though of an amiable temper, he is not endowed with a sprightly mind. He has 

 one distinct sound, which he always uses to attract attention. It might be trans- 

 lated by the French tiens., or the English / say. 



