634 
M'illv KiJKAL NEVV-VOKKcK 
April i?4, IDL.". 
The Deaf Child 
Treatment and Care of the Afflicted One 
A pathetic case.—A bout 10 
years ago a woman came to the su¬ 
perintendent of one of the large schools 
for the deaf, seeking admittance for her 
brother, a deaf boy of IS years. He was 
over six feet tall, a giant in strength 
and an infant in intellect. It was ex¬ 
plained that the parents were of foreign 
birth, and had never known that their 
boy could be educated. Now the father 
and mother were dead, and tlx- boy, with 
all his physical development., was help¬ 
less to make his way in the world for lack 
of education and training. lie could 
neither speak, read nor write a word. He 
could only be told the simplest things 
which could be expressed by motions and 
gestures. In short he was a big, smiling, 
dependent human animal for whom his 
sister, with her own family to work for 
and think of. must care, simply because 
in their ignorance her parents had not 
sent him in childhood to the institution 
provided by the State for such as he. 
Although he was really past school age 
the large-hearted superintendent allowed 
him to be enrolled in the school, but 
there was nothing to do except to place 
him in a class of beginners—children 
from six to eight years of age. Ilis 
progress was slow, because from years of 
inactivity his m< ntal powers were dull 
and rusty—or rather, undeveloped. Be¬ 
ing the largest boy in a school of over 
500 pupils even his unsharpened wits per¬ 
ceived the humiliation of struggling along 
in efforts to accomplish what little tots 
of one-third his years were able to do 
without apparent effort. Meantime, how¬ 
ever, he learned to do many things in tin; 
industrial department, and from constant 
association with other deaf companions 
he acquired many ideas. lie learned to 
write and to read a little, but his organs 
of speech were too stiff or the speech cen¬ 
ters of his brain too atrophied to be de¬ 
veloped, and after a few years he left the 
school. 
Parental Neglect. —Not many years 
later application was made to the same 
school for admission for a man of 37 
years, lie. too. was a farmer’s son, of 
sturdy physique and happy disposition, 
but with absolutely no education except 
of the muscles. As in the first instance 
his parents had died and left him de¬ 
pendent upon his brothers and sisters, 
but unlike the other boy, the reason of 
his never having been to school was that 
his parents could not bear to send him 
from home. So here he was, the heir to 
a comfortable fortune, but totally unable 
to care for it or to look out for his own 
interests in any way. It might be truly 
said of him that “light and heat and 
enough to eat were all he could enjoy,” 
simply because his parents could not fore¬ 
see the good that would come from the 
sacrifice they might have made for his 
sake in his early boyhood. We can only 
wonder how they will render account of 
their stewardship to the Master of The 
Vineyard. 
Beginning Young.— These are but 
two instances, but they are typical of 
the experience of every school for the 
deaf, and scarcely a year passes that 
those in charge do not learn of deaf 
children who should be in school but are 
kept at home during those early receptive 
years when mind and body are easily 
trained, because of the ignorance or self¬ 
ishness of parents. It is in the hope of 
saving some child, and the wish to make 
the public a little better acquainted with 
the education of the deaf, that these lines 
are written. There is no class of afflict¬ 
ed so little known and understood as the 
deaf* 
Popular Misconception. —There are 
people v ippear to thi. that the deaf, 
or “deel dumb” as we frequently hear 
them called, are a separate race. People 
have said. “How can you teach the deaf 
and dumb? I always supposed none but 
deaf people could understand and teach 
them.” Such persons do not know that 
but for the grace of Hod they might have 
been similarly afflicted themselves. The 
ear is a delicate instrument and inacces¬ 
sible to the surgeon, physician and re¬ 
search student and the causes of deafness 
are many. Scarlet fever and spinal men¬ 
ingitis are the most frequent causes of 
deafness, but many children are born 
deaf, and deafness frequently results from 
any of the so-called childrens’ diseases. 
Even a fall or a blow on the head may 
cause permanent impairment of the hear¬ 
ing. Cases arc not uncommon where a 
child has gone to bed in apparently per¬ 
fect health and has awakened with hear¬ 
ing gone. 
Dumbness Results From Deafness. 
—Another frequent remark shows that 
in general people do not connect dumb¬ 
ness with lack of hearing, and they are 
quite amazed to learn that the reason 
deaf children cannot talk is because they 
don’t know what to say. That is, never 
having heard they have no way of know¬ 
ing the names of things. It would be 
as sensible to expect a person to be able 
to speak a foreign language which he 
had never heard or studied. 
State Schools. —Every State in the 
United States, except New Ilapmsliire, 
has a State School for the Deaf, 
and New Hampshire makes provision 
for the education of her deaf by 
sending them to the excellent schools 
in neighboring States. In these schools 
board, laundry, school-books and med¬ 
ical attendance are free, so clothing 
and traveling expenses are the parents’ 
share of the financial burden. If the 
the words, he also learns to see how 
those words look when spoken by another, 
and thus he learns to hear with his eyes. 
So if your child loses his hearing after 
the age of two or three years, when 
lie has begun to say words, you must 
make every effort to prevent his for¬ 
getting these words. By holding toys or 
objects before him and getting him to pro¬ 
nounce the name, you can help him to re¬ 
member speech, then if you lead him to 
watch you while you speak the same 
word distinctly and naturally he will 
soon learn to understand many words oy 
sight. In the same way he can learn 
to do things when told. “Wash your 
face,” “Comb your hair,” “Bring some 
wood,” and many such things are easy 
to get from the lips if associated with 
actual doing of the tiling, and if used 
daily. These are only simple suggestions 
to make life easier and happier for your¬ 
self and child, till he can have the aid 
of a trained instructor. There arc books 
and magazines devoted to the teaching 
of the deaf which will be of help to par¬ 
ents. If you can have none of these you 
can at least train your child in habits 
of neatness, promptness and busyness. 
The first and great lesson all children, 
whether deaf or hearing, must learn is 
obedience, therefore do not allow your 
child to grow in habits of willfulness and 
disobedience. Do not think you are com¬ 
pensating to him for his affliction by per¬ 
mitting him to have his own way. Shield 
him from being either teased or pampered 
by the other children. And do not think 
vour cross is greater than other mothers 
Lunch for the Rooster. 
parents cannot meet that expense, pro¬ 
vision is made by the county so that no 
child need go uneducated. For those who 
can afford it there are private schools in 
most of the large cities, and many States 
have a day school law which provides 
for the employment of a trained teacher 
of the deaf in a room or rooms of the 
public school of every town in which 
three or more deaf children live. Be¬ 
sides this there are often teachers of the 
deaf who would gladly spend their Sum¬ 
mer vacation in the home of some deaf 
child, either teaching the child or in¬ 
structing parents how to train him, in 
exchange for board and a small weekly 
wage. 
Mother And Child. —To the mother 
who cannot bear to be parted from her 
child it is hard to speak. My heart is 
wrung with an ache of sympathy when¬ 
ever I think that this separation must 
be. I have but to look at my own child 
to realize what it must mean. The one 
consolation must be that it is best for 
the child, and a separation now is less 
hard to bear than the mental and spirit¬ 
ual distance which will lie between par¬ 
ents and ciiild in after years, if mind 
and soul are left untrained, for there 
is no sadder sight in all human experience 
than the uneducated deaf-mute, and in 
these days when provision is so freely 
made for them no parent can allow self¬ 
ishness to stand in the way of the child's 
best interests. 
Preserving Speech. —Except in rare 
instances your child need not be dumb, 
for if taken early enough skilled teach¬ 
ers can train the vocal organs so that 
speech, though not perfect, may be de¬ 
veloped, and as the child learns to speak 
are called to bear, nor that your child is 
the only one of his class. Remember the 
33.000 other deaf children in the schools 
for the deaf in this country, and the un¬ 
counted others who ought to be in school 
Avoid The Quack. —Perhaps the most 
valuable advice which anyone can give 
to the parents of deaf children is ''lie- 
ware of quacks.” It is pitiful to think 
of the hundreds of hard-earned dollars 
which yearly go to swell the fortunes of 
those conscienceless birds of prey who call 
themselves doctors, and by raising false 
hopes and giving nothing in return, take 
• from those who can ill afford it sums 
either large or small for devices and 
treatment which often do more harm than 
good. It is natural for us to leave no 
means untried which may relieve our 
dear ones, but when the hearing is per¬ 
manently impaired no means for its re¬ 
storation has yet been found. Bear this 
in mind; the son of the King of Spain, 
the daughter of one of the wealthiest 
manufacturers in America, the niece of 
tin* great financial wizard of the United 
States, are deaf. If it were possible for 
hearing to be restored, would not it have 
been done for them? your deaf *51* 
hard-of-hearing child to the most reputa¬ 
ble physician, preferably an ear special¬ 
ist, and abide by what he tells yon. If 
he gives you no hope, and if the child 
is of school age begin at once to ac¬ 
quaint yourself with the steps to be taken 
toward his education—which means “pre¬ 
paration for complete living.” My sym¬ 
pathy for every mother of a deaf child 
is so great that if any words of mine in 
the way of further information or great¬ 
er details can relieve her anxiety it will 
be gladly given. a. a. s. 
Various Notes 
A Private High School. 
In a certain community of perhaps 
2.000 inhabitants the building of a high 
school has been under consideration. It 
was found that ten students attended 
high school out of town and that per¬ 
haps eight or 10 more might attend. Fin¬ 
ally. however, the question was decided in 
tin' negative. Then a few enterprising 
citizens got together. One of them, who 
keeps a small bank offered to engage a 
college graduate for IS hours a week 
(the bank is open only in the forenoon) 
at $450 for the year. The rest of the 
time he was to give to helping the stu¬ 
dents—more after the manner of a pri¬ 
vate tutor than a formal school teacher— 
for which, of course, he was to be paid. 
After a while eight men agreed to $40 
each and three others were ready with 
the same amount, if the studies could 
be so arranged that their sons would 
have time enough to help during plant¬ 
ing and harvesting time. Though every¬ 
thing is not settled, it seems pretty cer¬ 
tain now that the plan will go through. 
What do you think of it? Wouldn’t this 
be a pretty good idea in some other 
places? R. E. S. 
It. N.-Y.—Personally we think that is 
the way to conduct a high school. As a 
general proposition we think the State 
should give each child the best possible 
tra ; * ,; "g in the common branches. When 
we get above that it is a great question 
whether all should be taxed to provide 
higher education for the few. 
Borax for Washing the Hair. 
In your article of “Suggestions for 
Hair Dressing,” you speak about using 
too much borax. I low can you tell when 
you use too much? In what manner 
does it affect tin* hair, and what would 
be about the right quantity to use? 
Dobbs Ferry, N. Y. I. D. A. 
You can tell by the feeling of the water 
to your fingers when you get in too much 
borax, the water feels peculiarly soft and 
slippery. Then ‘ too, your hair when dry 
will be stiff and straight and dead, no 
gloss or life in it. In such a case, rub 
a little vaseline well into the roots of 
the hair and give a good deal of extra 
brushing; this will restore the natural 
gloss. A scant teaspoonful of borax to 
a quart of water is the usual amount, 
but this should be lessened for hair that 
is naturally dry. 
Starch Advice from a Laundry Man. 
T noticed in your paper a lady asked 
how to do men’s shirts with cuffs and col¬ 
lars at home. This was answered, but I 
think my way is much more simple, and 
a complete success, so I wish she might 
know it. Make a gum arabie solution by 
dissolving two ounces of gum arabie in 
two cups of warm water, bottle and keep 
corked for use when needed. Make starch 
by dissolving in cold water first and then 
pour really boiling water on it, stirring 
briskly until clear. Into this put one 
teaspoon or one tablespoonful of gum 
arabie solution. Wring the cuffs you 
starch out of this twice, open so staren 
gets into all parts evenly. I starch mine 
while wet. Then dry. The day you iron 
starch in raw starch made by dissolv¬ 
ing one tablespoonful of starch to a cup 
of quite warm water, add one teaspoon 
powdered borax, starch about two hours 
before ironing and roll tight in sprinkled 
shirt. I usually wring cuff twice in this 
starch to have it even. Have clean flat¬ 
irons of any kind. They never stick 
with me and if an extra gloss is wanted 
when nearly finished ironing sponge over 
surface with cloth wrung out of cold 
water and iron a little more until dry. 
M. I. REDWOOD. 
Lemon for Dish Washing. 
1 saw in TnE R. N.-Y. that a lemon 
cut in two used in washing dishes instead 
of soap was just as efficient. I have tried 
it and wish to say it is the finest discov¬ 
ery in household economics for me, at 
least, and so enthusiastic am I at th 
knowledge that I hope you will let a!! 
your readers interested in housework 
know—first because it works like a charm 
and erases all grease and tin* acid seems 
to mingle with cold or tepid water as 
well as hot, while in the case of soap 
the water must be warm or hot. Tie' 
dishes are left perfectly shiny and silver 
too, without the care necessary in soap 
using. Ones hands are benefited and 
cracks and chaps do not occur, and it D 
altogether a great boon. We use several 
boxes of grape fruit during the Winter 
and the halves used, using them over an 1 
over many times, are just the finest 
things in place of soap and I am regret¬ 
ting all the waste of those thrown away 
before knowing of their use as soap i" 
dish water—so simple and. yet so excel¬ 
lent a thing. If I had not read The !!• 
N.-Y. I should still be suffering the in¬ 
convenience of ignorance. 
s. p. t‘~~? . ". 
