32 THE GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 



stitution. They were carefully written clown for me by the 

 Director, and I made notes of the signs by which the various 

 ideas were expressed in this school. " Father" is represented 

 in the prayer as " man old/' though, in ordinary matters he is 

 generally "the man who shaves himself;" "name" is, as I have 

 seen it elsewhere, touching the forehead and imitating the 

 action of spelling on the fingers, as to say, " the spelHng one is 

 known by." To "hallow" is to "speak good of" ("good" 

 being expressed by the thumb, while " bad" is represented by 

 the little finger, two signs of wMch the meaning lies in the 

 contrast of the larger and more powerful thumb with the 

 smaller and less important little finger) . " Kingdom" is shown 

 by the sign for " crown ;" " will," by placing the hand on the 

 stomach, in accordance with the natural and wide-spread 

 theory that desire and passion are located there, to wh.ich. 

 theory such, expressions belong as " to have no stomach, to it." 

 " Done " is " worked," shown by hands as working. The 

 phrase " on earth as it is in heaven " was, I believe, put by 

 signs for " on earth " and " in heaven," and then by putting 

 out tbe two fore-fingers side by side, the sign for sameness and 

 similarity all the world over, so that the whole would stand, 

 " earth on, heaven in, just the same." " Trespass" is " doing 

 bad;" to " forgive" is to rub out, as from a slate ; " tempta- 

 tion" is plucking one by the coat, as to lead him slily into 

 mischief. The alternative "but" is made with the two fore- 

 fingers, not alongside of one another as in " like," but opposed 

 point to point, Sicard's sign for "against." "Deliver" is 

 to "pluck out," "glory" is "glittering," "for ever" is shown 

 by making the fore-fingers held horizontally turn round and 

 round one another. 



The order of the signs is mucli as follows i — " Father our, 

 heaven in — name thy hallowed — kingdom thy come — will thy 

 done — earth on, heaven in, as. Bread give us daily — trespasses 

 our forgive us, them trespass against us, forgive, as. Temp- 

 tation lead not — but evil deliver from — kingdom power glory 

 thine for ever.-' 



When I write down descriptions in words of the deaf-and- 

 dumb signs, they seem bald and weak, but it must be remem- 



