OCR Text |
Show The Deseret EaMe. SUPPLEMENT. MAY 16,' 1892. to others, and in short a very miserable man. Thus to be deaf is a UNEDUCATED DEAF MUTE. very great misfortune. But education opens thu way for Can you imigiue a more deplorable the deaf as it does for the hearirg It condition than that of an uneducated is a rugged path Oeset with difUcul-tiesbHe has no opportunity it leads into vast fields of to enjoy the pleasures of life, for he knowledge in the natural world and cm not communicate wi a the people in the world of thougit. Tiougti he aound him. lie does not even know cannot hear he can g learn waat is tie mines of the commou objects on in the world as well as hearing before Mm. He sees the beautiful people. He cannot talk but he can tbiugsin tae world us well as hearing write to those around him. He can people, but he understands nothing even learn to speak if he takes lessons about them. II '. sees the fl wers and in articulation, aud ne can know what smells their sweet fragrance, but ne people reply ny reading their lip. do ;s no k i w h iw tuey grow in the He can seUct a tiade and supori hu mn :r, or why thy dii in winter. him elf aud others. In fact, his poII; has no idea of ttie laws by wiilcj sition and his happiness depend 011 his nuure work. II j miy be natu:ally education. Tae uneducated deaf are very brigit and may tnink and reason even more deplorable than the uuedu a ) out the actions and even s that cated blind, for th i blind can always cc:ur aoout uim, bus be is poverle!s obtaia a meat amount of information t j express his thougits without a lan from taose about them hut the deaf muse rem lin in igaoraucc because guage. A few wants and feelings he learns they do uot understand even the to sho.v by s um simple signs, but he vvriiteu or printed word. must pas 4 through life deprived of Let us stop taen and consider what, tni threat satisfaction of being able to a oltssing tuis beautiful lustitutiou cjinmauisate fully wild his parents is to the d uf in tais part of the and frieuds. Even a man who hears, State, aud let us be thauktul there if uneducated, lias very little c nance are many such institutions in this to succeed in tile world. II i cm noi country that afford to every deal obtain any good position that will child in the laud au opportunity for give him a comfortable living. If he an educatiou which will burnetii him does hot uot, underso ld math.m itics, all thiough lift Sel. he can not g t a position as book keeper; he cm not tntfe, for he docs rHE DEAF IN ANCIENT notkuow if Me is losiug or gaining. TIMES. But he must do something that re THE' CONDITION OF AM a burden ut deaf-muti-- ? go-ic- : quires no brain work, au he will undoubtedly rem lin poor all the days of his life. Surely it is still wore for a deaf-:n- u e to be placed in such trying circumstances. II 3 can only remain at home in the condition ot a child helping his parents but without any independence or any thing he can call his own. Or he may be able tu earn a few dollars at such work as be has been able to pick up. If tne deaf-mu'- .e does not take advantage of the many schools that are opened to him, he will always remaiu in ignorance of God, of truth, of himself and the future. He can not make friends, for he can neither read nor write. He can not mak-- money for he has not learned a trade, and he will be always dependant on so 111 one else perhaps 1 j 2 The eirliest record concerning them louad in tne Mosaic law, where the words occur ,,Tnou snalt not curse the deaf." Tuts treatment they received at that time was, therefore, nut much better than that accorded them somewhat later by the Greeks aud Romans, who considered tuem a burden to society and to state, and disposed of them in a inauuer rimiiir to that of the Sparis tans, who destroyed or abandoned deformed aud sickly iufants Herodotus, the historian, tells of a deaf-mut- e son of king Croesus, and refers to him repeatedly in Lis writings, but no account is given of any attempt to educate him. Tne following anecd jte tells of his sudden recovery of speech and hearing. At the taking of the fortili id town of Sirdes, a Persian soldier rushed, with drawn sword upon Croesus, whom he did not know, with intent to kill, when his deaf mute son, witnessing the imminent peril of his father, suddenly shouted: "man, do uot kill Croesus.11 These were the first words he ever spoke and he continued to speak from this time cn. Taisisave;y wonderful story, but it is to be relegated to the realm of myths. For even if this young man had suddenly obtained his hearing how could he have spoken, never having heard a word before? This is said to have accutred about 540 B.C. The ntxt record regarding the deaf is found during the last century B.C. and is related bv Pliuy in his Natural History. He tells us that Q l'cdius, a deaf-mutwas instructed in the art of pamtiug, and made very satisfactory relative of progress. A deaf-muMessala, the orator and wilier, is also said to have bern taught this art, But these are isolated cases, aud relate to the development of a single tal-e- n e te There is no recognition of the possibility of a general ni ital development, and even iu the Oih century of the Caristain era, the laws of Justuim do not allow the deaf to hold property to make a will, nor to participate in . any manner iu public affiirs. It is very strange indeed that the Greeks as well as liomans did not recognize in the gestures of deaf-mutthe same language which they took es such pains to cultivate tor their stage performances in the shape of pantomimes. Tieir injures had developed this art to a degree unkuown at the present day. The Asiatic embassador for whose entertainment Nero exhibited a pantomime could ask for uo greater gift from his imperial host than the possession of a rnimi j actor. When asked, why he desired such an artist in to any costly gift wituin the emperors power, he replied: "Our neighbors are barbarians, who do not speak our language and it is diilhult to 001 aiu interpreter. " This mimic will be able to tell them what we waul." And iu spite of this lisihly perfected gesture language aud Its familiarity to all classes ot people no one thougnt of empiovlPi: is hs a means to educate the deaf The Deaf Speaker. per-fereu- ce |