Quakertown Online_Mystic Oral School

Taken from: Annual Report of the Board of Education of the State of Connecticut Presented to the General Assembly, May Session, 1874. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1874. pp. 87-89.

WHIPPLE HOME FOR DEAF MUTES.

The following Report of this institution is furnished by the Principal, Mr. Z. C. Whipple:

When we first opened our school for deaf mutes, very little was known as to the practicability of teaching to the deaf lip-reading and articulation. It was regarded as at the best only an experiment, and that too with but slight prospect of Success. Since the subject has been more widely discussed, and time has been given for some of the practical results of the experiment to become apparent, much more interest is manifested.

Since making my report last year, I have replied to over one hundred letters of inquiry from deaf mutes and the parents and friends of mutes. Many of them were of unsuitable age; some of them reside so far from the school as to make it impracticable to attend, and a large proportion were unable to meet the expense of instruction in a private school.

In the case of Connecticut deaf mutes, for whose benefit the Legislature in 1872 made an appropriation of $175.00 (one hundred and seventy-five dollars) a year, many of them who would otherwise be sent here to school are obliged to remain at home or to go to the free Asylum at Hartford, because their parents, while able to board their children comfortably at home on the products of the farm, have not the means to pay even a moderate board bill when the amount has to be raised in cash. We have had several applications from the parents of deaf children, not by any means paupers, but situated as above de-scribed, who were very anxious that their children should learn to talk, but were obliged most reluctantly to give it up when they learned that our school was only partially free.

In October, 1873, we moved to our present location in the town of Groton In moving we secured three desirable conditions: 1st, More room and better accommodations far the school; 2d, greater convenience to stores, post-office, railroad, etc.; and 3d, a situation that for healthfulness and beauty leaves nothing to be desired.

This farm lies on the west bank of Mystic River, about a mile from the village of the same name. It is better adapted to the needs of an institution like ours than any place with which I am acquainted. We have hired it for two years, and before that time expires we hope to purchase, or in some way to secure, the place permanently for the use of the school.

All of the pupils mentioned in my last report are still with us, and we have since received four others, making in all nine. Two have been removed from school, leaving our present number seven. Of our present pupils, three are Connecticut State beneficiaries, one is from Delaware, one from Pennsylvania, one from New Jersey, and one from Massachusetts. Of the two who have left school, one was from Rhode Island and the other from Michigan.

The progress of all the pupils in articulation and lip-reading has been eminently satisfactory.

Two cases deserve special mention. The first is that of Edward Forsyth, of Bay City, Mich. He lost his hearing about five years ago, at 13 years of age. Up to the time that he entered this school, last October, he had never read a word on the lips, and though he could himself speak plainly and fluently, could receive communications from others only in writing, or by the manual alphabet. His father visited him in March, and assured me that for the first time since his son’s deafness he had been able to make him understand by word of mouth. In a letter on the subject he said, “I am not only satisfied but delighted with my son’s progress,” and he repeatedly assured me that it would be impossible to estimate in dollars and cents the great worth of the art which his son had acquired in our school.

The other ease is that of Miss Maggie B. Lawrence, of Bayville, N. J. She was born deaf, and was educated principally at the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. She came here in March, without the ability to articulate a single word. She is now able to give all of the elementary sounds excepting d, g hard and j, and in many words in which these sounds occur she is able to approximate so closely to them that those who are accustomed to her mode of talking can readily tell what word she is attempting to speak. She reads regularly from Harpers’ Series of Readers, No. 2, and can read some sentences from the lips when each word is spoken separately, and often replies to a question orally.

Much of my time has necessarily been occupied in preparing lessons for my pupils, so that they may be able to comprehend what they are required to learn. Where all is new, this work is doubly arduous, both from my own inexperience in it and from the amount that has to be done. As I grow in the business, my work in that direction will diminish; for the lessons once prepared, can, if preserved, be used again and again with successive classes; while the lessons for the present class of pupils, as their education advances, will require less of special preparation to bring them within their comprehension.

During the past year my “Natural Alphabet” has been thoroughly tested, as a means of teaching articulation and lip-reading to the deaf. In every case it has been easily learned and readily applied, and much more has been accomplished than could have been done without its help, especially in showing to the pupils delicate shades and distinctions of sound, as well as the more difficult combinations. Every person, without exception, who has seen the Natural Alphabet in use in the school, has spoken strongly in its favor.

Mystic River, Conn., May 26, 1874.