Anecdotes & Incidents Of The Deaf And Dumb Part 11

MALES:--

24 artists (painters), 24 artists (engravers), 5 sculptors, 18 indoor domestic servants, 37 gardeners, 28 commercial clerks, 28 messengers, 47 engaged in harbour and dock service, 37 farming on own account, 3 farm bailiffs, 463 agricultural labourers, 15 nurserymen, 13 grooms, 2 veterinary surgeons, 2 gamekeepers, 40 bookbinders, 55 printers, 26 lithographic printers, 26 engine fitters and machinists, 11 watch and clock makers, 41 bricklayers, 137 carpenters and joiners, 61 masons, 99 painters and paperhangers, 75 cabinet makers, 21 French polishers, 22 wood carvers, 12 carvers and gilders, 12 coach-makers, 15 wheelwrights, 43 saddlers, 42 s.h.i.+pwrights and carpenters ash.o.r.e, 5 innkeepers, 1 maltster, 5 brewers, 17 butchers, 19 bakers, 4 confectioners, 44 worsted stuff and cloth makers, 344 tailors, 507 shoemakers, 23 pattern makers, 10 hair dressers, 10 brush makers, 29 basket makers, 18 wood turners, 23 coopers, 71 coal miners, 22 brickmakers, 22 workers of porcelain, 29 gla.s.s makers, 11 jewellers, 55 blacksmiths, 65 iron and steel manufacturers, 14 tin plate workers, 360 general labourers, 11 engine drivers, stokers, &c., &c.

There are in Great Britain and Ireland about 20,000 deaf mutes.

A WILL MADE BY PANTOMIME.

The Supreme Court of Maine recently, after a six days trial, sustained the will of Horatio N. Foster, who was deaf and dumb, seventy-six years old, who could neither read, write, nor use the manual alphabet. The will, which was made by pantomime, devised 7000 dols. Only one similar case it is said was ever tried in the United States, and that was in North Carolina.

A BRAVE DEFENDER.

After reaching our encampment (at Jenin in Palestine) our dragoman told us that the people of the village were so quarrelsome and thievish that it was never safe to stop a night there without an extra guard, and he had engaged the brother of the sheik of the village to occupy this responsible post. This man was a great, tall, athletic-looking fellow, but a deaf mute. While we were taking our dinner he came into our tent, brandis.h.i.+ng a revolver. He expressed to us by signs how safely we might lie down and rest, because he (brave fellow as he was) by the aid of that revolver would protect us from all harm. Directly after our waiter--Dominicho--came in and informed us that the guard had borrowed this revolver from our dragoman, Ali Solomon, but that he stood in mortal dread of the weapon he had flourished before us so heroically; that he refused to touch it till all the charges were withdrawn from it.

With such a champion for our defender what cause could there be for fear?--_In Bible Lands._

A DEAF AND DUMB LAWYER.

Mr. Lowe, a gentleman who has been deaf and dumb from his infancy, will, we understand, be called to the Bar by the Society of the Middle Temple on Sat.u.r.day next. He has had a good legal education, and is considered very clever as a conveyancer.--_Brighton Gazette_, Nov., 1829.

A DEAF AND DUMB MAN ON THE BIBLE.

The following remarks on the Bible were written by a deaf and dumb young man 26 years of age:--"The Bible is more valuable than all other books in the world. It is divided into two parts, the one called the Old Testament and the other the New Testament. The former was written by inspired men, directed by the Spirit of G.o.d; the latter contains the news of the Gospel, written by the witnessing disciples while Christ was on the earth. The Bible informs us of the guilt of sin, of the punishment of the wicked, of the Saviour who died to save men from dangerous destruction, of the way of forgiveness by Christ, of the condescension of Him, of the mercy and love of Him, and of the happiness which Christ has promised to His disciples.

The Bible teaches us how to do good to others, how to help them in distress, how to avoid temptation, how to love and obey G.o.d, how to pray to G.o.d to keep us out of dangerous things, and pray to G.o.d for our parents, for their children, and for our other friends.

The Bible is a very precious gift from heaven, and contains many precious truths, therefore we should reverence it.

UNEDUCATED DEAF MUTE'S IGNORANCE OF G.o.d.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Vauncey Thompson wrote after having been under instruction in the Deaf and Dumb School for six years:--"When I was at home, I knew one word, 'G.o.d,' but I did not know what it meant, nor how the world was made, and my mind was very hard and uncultivated, resembling the ground that is not ploughed, and I was perfectly ignorant. I thought then that my mind would open when I was a man: but I was mistaken, it would not have opened if I had not come to school to be taught; I would have been ignorant and have known nothing that is proper, and no religion would have come toward me. I must study my Bible till my life is departed, and I hope G.o.d will please never forsake me."

DO THE DEAF & DUMB THINK THEMSELVES UNHAPPY?

Two deaf and dumb scholars of the late Abbe Siccard were asked--Do the deaf and dumb think themselves unhappy? The following is the answer of Ma.s.sien:--"No; because we seldom lament that which we never possessed, or know we can never be in possession of; but should the deaf and dumb become blind, they would think themselves very unhappy, because sight is the finest, the most useful, and the most agreeable of all the senses.

Besides, we are amply indemnified for our misfortune by the signal favour of expressing by gestures and by writing our ideas, our thoughts, and our feelings, and likewise by being able to read books and ma.n.u.scripts."

The following is the answer of Clerc, the other pupil, to the same question:--"He who never had anything has never lost anything, and he who never lost anything has nothing to regret; consequently, the deaf and dumb who never heard or spoke, have never lost either hearing or speech, therefore cannot lament either the one or the other. And he who has nothing to lament cannot be unhappy; consequently the deaf and dumb are not unhappy. Besides, it is a great consolation for them to be able to replace hearing by writing, and speech by signs."

A DEAF MUTE'S IDEAS BEFORE INSTRUCTION.

The following extract from the correspondence of a deaf and dumb pupil with his teacher is a fair specimen of the natural condition of the deaf and dumb before receiving instruction:--

"Before I came to school I thought that the stars were placed in the firmament like grates of fire, and that the moon at night was like a great furnace of fire; I did not know how the stars and moon and heavens were made; but I supposed that the people, like us above the firmament, kindled the moon and stars; and I did not know whether the heavens was made by art or not. I thought the world little and round like a table, and was always intending to go to the end of it."

OBSERVATIONS OF DEAF & DUMB CHILDREN.

A gentleman called to see some little deaf and dumb girls who had been present at a large meeting in aid of the Inst.i.tution on the previous day, when the gentleman asked, "What did you think of the great meeting yesterday?" "I thought," replied a little girl of ten summers, "people would give great money for deaf and dumb school." To another little girl the question put was, "Did you observe any difference in the behaviour of the people present at the meeting?" "I saw some smile, and I believe some were fretting." "What do you think was the reason that some fretted?" "I thought they fretted about the deaf and dumb and about G.o.d."

A DEAF & DUMB BOY'S REMARKABLE DREAM.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

William Brennen, aged about fourteen and a-half years, having been awakened from sleep, his first words were that he had been dreaming; and when he got into the school-room he commenced writing upon his slate as follows, a.s.suring his teachers that he described exactly as he thought he saw and heard in his dream, and from his character for truth there was no doubt he did so:

I was dreaming about G.o.d; that he sent Jesus Christ, who came into the world from heaven. He was present with twelve men; they saw Him, and were frightened. He said, "Will you love G.o.d, and why?" They said, "He is the creator of all things; He saved us from our sin; He was walking on the water; He made them to live on the water and on the land. He spoke unto them, whose names are Disciples. I saw them by dreaming.

He said unto me, "Will you love G.o.d, and why?" I said unto Him, "Because He made me in a happy state and holy; he brought me to heaven from this world." His face was luminous and beautiful; he had a long beard, his hair was short and s.h.i.+ning--I could not look at him. He wrote judgments of mankind--some were very good. When they died he took some to heaven, and some were sent to h.e.l.l. His robe was very bright, like a cloud round the sun.

I could hear more than all the people in the world. I was more obedient to G.o.d. There was not the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars. I saw Addington--(one of his friends who had died lately)--who was in heaven.

He shook hands with me. He was more tall than you.

I saw Adam and Eve: G.o.d made him by His word. He made him of the dust of the earth. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. G.o.d said, "Thy name is Adam." He took a rib of the man whilst he slept; he made woman by taking the rib from a man. Her name was Eve. He made them in a happy state and holy. He made a garden of Eden. He sent them to live in the garden. G.o.d said, "Thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge."

I saw G.o.d making the world and all things. First the world, firmament, sun, moon, stars, land and water. G.o.d made the water with His breath, He gave it into the world. He made the sun, moon, stars very quickly with his word. He made the sun of part of the earth, from the world, and the moon of a little part from the sun, and the stars of a very little part from the moon. He did not make anything with His hands, but by His word.

I saw the world before the sun was made--it was all earth. He made Europe, Africa--all! and with His breath He made the sea. (Here his action was remarkable. He drew on his slate the continent and islands, blew with his breath with scarce any motion of his lips, and showed that the waters instantaneously flowed through their channels, and the seas were formed.) G.o.d made the firmament by His word; it is like silk paper, it is all round the world: there is water over it and clouds under it, and the sun s.h.i.+nes through it, and the moon, and the stars. (Here he described by gestures the motions of the earth, the sun, and moon, and that there were countless stars, larger much than the sun; that there was no axle on which the world moved, nor anything to keep it up like a cord, but that it was moved and upheld by the breath of the Almighty.)

There were many angels with him.

He had not a loud voice, and his eyes see the sun before him and behind him.