Taken from: Fay,
Edward Allen, ed. Histories of
American Schools for the Deaf, vol. 3.
Washington, D.C.: The Volta Bureau, 1893. pp. 1-6.
The Whipple Home
School for the Deaf,
Mystic,
Connecticut,
1869-1893.
By Margaret
Whipple Hammond,
Superintendent of
the School.
THE WHIPPLE HOME SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
The Whipple Home School was founded by Jonathan and Zerah Whipple about twenty years ago.
Jonathan Whipple had a deaf son, Enoch, who is still living, at the age of sixty-eight years. Jonathan observed that Enoch watched his month very closely while he was talking, and that if Enoch did this he understood him. He also found that by having Enoch watch his month while he pronounced different words the boy would speak distinctly, when otherwise he failed. Jonathan Whipple was a man of indomitable will and perseverance and he determined to teach his son to speak and read the lips well. This he succeeded in doing, so that now there is certainly no better living example of the value of this method of teaching the deaf than Enoch Whipple. He reads the lips perfectly, speaks sonorously and distinctly, and is a man of strict integrity and broad cultivation.
Jonathan Whipple at all times advocated this method of
teaching the deaf, but no real plans for a school materialized until his
grandson, Zerah Whipple, was about twenty years old. Zerah was a thoughtful
young man and a good student.
He became greatly interested in his grandfather's
methods and determined to devote his life to the instruction of the deaf by the
oral method. This he did conscientiously and well. He invented the Whipple's
Natural Alphabet, which is still of great assistance to the teachers in their
work.
The School was quite extensively advertised, and it grew in numbers until a dozen or so pupils from all parts of the United States, and from little children to grown men and women, were under his instruction. In a few years Zerah purchased from the heirs of one of Mystic's deceased wealthy citizens his former summer residence and moved his little School there. This was an admirable situation for the School, and its location has not since been changed. The house is little over a mile from the village of Mystic, healthfully built and situated on a high hill, commanding a beautiful view of the village, river, and sound. One can judge of the healthfulness of the location of the School from the remarks of one of the teachers. She casually observed that she had taught there two years and the services of a physician had not been required for any scholar during that time.
Zerah Whipple did not make a success of the School financially, as he was never able to lift the mortgage from the property; but he was a wonderful teacher, as all of his pupils will testify.
At first the School was supported by the parents of the pupils and friends of the School, making in all about three hundred dollars a year for each pupil. Finally Zerah succeeded in persuading the State legislature of Connecticut and later that of New Jersey to appropriate one hundred and seventy-five dollars a year for each pupil from its State. This secured the advantages of his School to the poor, but added nothing to his finances, for more teachers were needed and they absorbed the profits.
Zerah Whipple died while still a young man, with his work but just begun. His brother-in-law, Frank Whipple, soon took charge of the School, and about this time the State of New Jersey withdrew its appropriation and transferred its pupils to the Trenton sign school. In the meanwhile deaf schools had been established in many of the other States, the advertising ceased, and soon the School numbered no paving pupils outside of the State of Connecticut.
Frank Whipple did not make a financial success of the
school, the number of pupils gradually decreasing until, about six years ago,
he was offered a position as articulation teacher in the California Institution
at Berkeley. This he accepted, and an aunt of Zerah Whipple's, Mrs. Margaret
Whipple Hammond, assumed charge of the School.
It again began to increase in numbers,
and now for several years it has averaged about twenty pupils. Two regular
teachers and one assistant teacher are employed. The assistant teaches and
observes and takes care of the girls out of school-hours. A man is employed to
take charge of the boys out of school.
This School is and has always been conducted on the strictly oral plan. No signs have ever been taught in the School, and the use of them has at all times been discouraged. Every child is taught articulation and lip-reading, and by means of these the English branches are taught.
The School session begins the second Wednesday in September and closes the first Friday in June, with about s week's vacation at Christmas-time, when the children may either go home or remain at School. Most of the vegetables, milk, and eggs are supplied by the farm attached to the School, and the strawberries raised there are sold to the merchants of the village in exchange for groceries.
The boys help about the farm out of school-hours, and the girls learn to cook, sew, and help about the housework.
In the past two years neither parents nor friends of the School have given over twenty-five dollars for any pupil, but with the help from the farm and the State appropriation of $175 for each pupil the School has been maintained comfortably and well. The School is, as its name indicates, a Home School. All, including the scholars, are members of one large family. All eat at the same table, use a common sitting-room, and are in all respects made to feel as if they were at home.
The School is evenly divided between the two teachers and graded as carefully as possible. Much individual attention is given to each scholar, the assistant being always ready to devote extra time to those pupils who may need it most. The teachers are supplied with all books and apparatus that they think will assist them in their work, though the general School library is small, no donations from outside having ever been made to it. Great pains are taken to awaken an interest in the pupils in reading, and all the books and periodicals that the means of the School will allow are procured. The proprietors of the School are glad at all times to entertain any one who may wish to visit the School and see what is there being accomplished.
The present officers of the School are:
Mrs. Margaret Hammond, Superintendent.
Miss Ida Hewitt, Teacher.
Miss Lizzie Donohue, [Teacher.]
Miss Grace Adams, Assistant Teacher.
Mr. Wylie A, Whipple, Supervisor of Boys.
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