The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 29, 1903, Page 7

erwe esented to the Olym 5 THE SUNDAY CALL. are but two eclasses of human beings, those who hear and those who do not They are brought up and educatéd by hearing people in institutions that are virtually palaces and nothing can exceed their love and reverence for the teachers who eared for them and helped to guide their careers. A rule the tenor of t! deaf mute mind is & complete dependen: on the judgment of their hearing friends. The faith goes to that extent that the deaf would honor the opinion of an illit- erate woodchopper in preference to that ef & mute who has the right to attach A. B. or B. B. to his name. The conviction with which a mute will quote the authority of a hearing man is characteristic of the deaf as a class. They are also the greatest newspaper readers In the world. The mute does not look upon the daily paper as a mere con- veyer of news; he regards it more in the light of an intimate friend and an au- fhority. He lets the paper think for him. “The paper says so” is a favorite argu- ment. Anmother marked characteristic is that you never see newspapers of differ- ent political faith in a deaf mute fam- ily. A Republican paper ecan always tound tn a Republican family and wh that paper says is law. What I ha sald of the dependence of the educated deaf is a complete refutation of the oft repeated allegation that the deaf are al- ways suspicious. The old works on the deaf and dumb written at the tims when that class of people were little under- stood epeaks of them as suspiclous and it seems to be the fashion of the more recent works on the same subject to quots from those ancient authorities until “‘sus- piclous” has become a cant word. Even Marion Crawford in his latest novel re- fers to it and I cannot vontradict him with sufficlent emphasis. There Is nothing more sad than to see a man lose his hear. ing when advanced in years. Under the impression that baseness {s attached to the words ‘deaf and dumb,” he does not want to associate with the deaf, On the other hand, he shuns the soclety of his own peopl He harbors the 'hallu- cination that he is constantly the subject of discussion; he is far more alone than those that are born deaf. Of the natural mutes it cannot be sald that when educated they are a whit more unhappy than hearing people. We have societles, we have representative men—in fact, many of us are in touch with every passing interest. There is lately pub- lished a book entitled “Neted Men of Cali- fornia Were the deaf of America to publish & like volume of their prominent men the book would be as bulky. We boast a deaf mute millionaire: we can trot out a deaf mute banker. A good example of a business man may be found in a Chicago deaf mute ¥ho pays $7000 yearly rent for the place in which he con- trols 4 large printing busin, In fact, thers is not a walk In life in which deaf- nesa is not absolutely a disability, yet there are *few professions In which the deaf do mot succeed. Thers are about 1000 deaf mute graduates from the va- rious universities throughout America. Californie has not a few remarkable muty One of the richest butchers In Btockton or Sonora is F. McCormick. One of the best known street contractors of San Franelsco is Leo C. Williams. Theo- dore Grady, lawyer with Bishop & Wheeler; Willlam Oldham of Santa Rosa, . reher of records; Martin Aronson of this &ity, a notary public; J. C. Har- lan of Woodland, repeatedly elected Coun- ty Clerk; James Howson, chemist, T. d’Estrella, artist, and others, are all grad- uates of the California University. It is a curlous fact that the only thres mutes who are more or less well known to the American public are all Californians. The first is H. H. Moore, artist, who is as well known in New York and Paris as he is in San Francisco, where he was born, Next comes Mrs. Laura R. Searing, well known througheut the United States for her literary work. France possesses a still more notable lst—Berthier, author, Le- gion of Honor; Chambelleau, professor, who sports a blue button of the French Academy; Felix Martin_ sculptor, also of the Légion of Honor; - Paul Choppin, sculptor, of the French Academy and Bold medalist of the Paris Salon; Ferd!- nand Hamar, gold medalist and author of the famous Rochambeau Monument. The officers of the academy who are mutes are Demarest, Hirsch, Genis and Coche- fort. I am not sufficlently versed In ot er nations than France to give the names of thelr famous mutes, but I will quote one instance; A German mute built up from small beginning a great printing es- tablishment employing over 100 men; for his grit and ability he was personally congratulated by the German Emperor. Many of the deaf are necessarily me- any necessity of the State to bdufld o house of refuge for him especially. Car- negie's Triumphant Democracy says that the nefroes show the smallest percenta, of pauperism in this country. I have not the statistics at hand, but I belleve th centage, although the number of mutes in America reaches well in thousand: We very seldom see a beggar who is & genuine deaf mute; he is generally a make-belleve who can talk volubly enough when he is discovered as an im- postor. We seldom {f ever see & mute selling papers or sitting om the street with a small notlon’ store in front of him, nor yet peddilng lead peneils. the flelds, others take up mechanical labor, but the majority live by their brain It {s frequently the case with an edu- cated mute who recognizes his infirmity end its attendant drawback in business to take Into partnership a hearing man palr of ears while the wute furnishes the brain I think the one channel through whieh & deaf mute may ever become a great man will be painting or sculpture. A brilllant young professor of our univer- sity sald not long ago: “Fearful as your deprivation may be, your true means of expression is preserved to you, not of in- tellectual ideas through words, but of es- thetic ideas through form—you can at least see.”” And I agres with him. I donot think it probable that thers will ever be & great deaf mute novelist or thinker. There is very little likelihood that a deaf mute can ever be a Governor or President, but outside of the above mentioned there is no profession in which a mute may not reach the highest pinnacle. 1 do not th 2 more generous people than the deaf exist anywhere Treat them fairly and they will respond in like manner, thres fold. An instance of their generosity may be seen in the Gallaudet monument at Washington, D. C. About 1520 a young elers: was considered the f t person to go to Paris and learn the Abbe de I'Epes hod of educating the dumb. On re- ing to this country he started the American school for the deaf and dumb at Hartford. He stayed in the pro- fession but a few years, returning to the ministry, and his devotion to the deaf has been far surpassed by his two worthy 1 many other teach- ers. Dr. of ‘the Berkeley University has been a teacher for forty- six years. But G idet was the vistble symbol of the ctual and moral emancipation of the American deaf, an: that was enough. The deaf mutes ral ed by subscription $12,00 for & monu- ment. California, though possessing only about 200 deaf mutes, contributed 3600, which was second only te New York. Thers has been some discussion eon- ing the degrees of merit of the oral sign method of teaching the deaf and dumb. The oral system, bordering as it does on the marvelous, necessarily savors of charlatanism. Nevertheless, there is no denying the fact that there is an untold advantage in the ability to speak and to read the lips. The fore- most teachers. and professors have sift- ed the two methods and so panned out their comparative merits to bedrock that all further discussion would be going round and round in a fruitless circle. I am unable to pronounce a single word, - but it s only in business that I feel the disadvantage of the loss. [ am constantly in tact with men whose time is so v able that they converss with me all the time with their eye on the clack as it were. As writing with a pencil is tedious, I have to think over a large range of ideas and express their salient points i w words as I can, even at the of persplcuity. It is better to an argument by persu; n in the classroom, the club or c tee room wields much influence w annot be gained by writing. A T my studio once made t remar that he could see no progres: the statue I was modeling I I could speak I would have explained that ever; e inch of a statue is like page of a book: that each inch re- es careful stud: 4 that a single stroke e thumb would if I had to loaf a whole day proper moment for vivid might have mentioned sterpleces and exam- abor, but what If [ took the time to write all that? It be- ing out of the question, I made reply “It takes God thirty years to make a perfect man, and 3 are not perfect either.” T, of course, 4 the point, but it was like kn a man down What impression of ‘myself the visitor carried away with him I do not venturs to say, but it must have t 8a R AR AL g [ s or £ nds of the Berke L] L s BT won the ppointment on <position, and . er work, was on ex of instructor at » Bote. wr it The deaf, altheugh in limited communi- sights in the world than the uneducated e nonument, which cation with their fellow beings, are still deaf and dumb. Simply because he can- e head of Mason street, on progressive enough to'have their own 80- not express himself audibly he is jeered e rk of Mr. Tilden, as cjeties, their own churches, thelr own at by adults and ridiculed by the chil- hue memorial fountain p,mes for the aged and infirm; they . dren. If he passes thfough the various of rket, Bush and .. (nbir own newspapers, their own Stages of youth and manhood under such beeicrt o stress of circumstances he displays the s work impresses one Yy Comventions or congress; they are con- g 1y .de of an ox/and his faos teked ax s rectness and strength, ceded to be intelligent voters, they pay expression which seems to ask every per- best that can be said of taxes, rear familles and very often they son he meets, “What the devll do yos tions every piece has been hon- e Paris Salon. to a beautiful They have one hears ¥ LDEN. HE deaf 2 world of their a w of pantomime, .a w f eternal silence; an auxil- sphere almost totally unknown : of hearing people. M) citizens there is perhaps but deaf mute. one man is known ple e remaining 1900 ng about him, the . w it bolicd down 1o ope the mute, must neceéssarily being, because he can r nor speak.” Some of the 1900 . be astonished to know that in cetiity S S tter of the mute is of fine a fiber as is that of a hearing control large business interests. The majority of the people form thelr opinfon of the mute from an.occasional peddler, almost inveriably an impostor, who taps on the door and presents.a beg- ging card. They are totally ignorapt of the great body of the.deaf who are edu- cated, law-abiding, industrious and frugal citigens, Still it must be remembered that, it is little more than a hundred years ago that the mutes were intellectually eman- cipsted. A French priest named Abbe de I'Bpee. who is to-day reverenced by both Catholic and Protestant mutes throughout Chfistendom, was the first to prove that the education of the mute was a possibility. Before his day it was con- sidered out of the question to even at- tempt their education. In the ancient times the speechless, like all weakly or deformed children, were put to death. The Roman governors refused them civil rights, even the church denying them sal- vation because “faith must come through hearing.” There can be few more really pitiful rock vou intend uspitious of every one he meets and thinks that humaan beings are his arch enemies. With the educated mute he Is very different. He is generally born deaf and loses his hearing so early in life that he does not know what the loss is like; he is happy and contented. He may be cautious in busi- ness, but what successful man is not? A merchant prince has his agents, a politiclan his leutenants; does it not foi- low that they are suspicious? The loss of hearing is a most serious one; a mute is like a general who does not send out spies. There is always several times more rumors in the air than are published in a dally newspaper, and one of the cares of a public man is to anticipate, ward off or counteract them. To a deaf mute all is uncertainty. I /have often sat at the meeting of a committes through a whole hour, and at the end a question is sud- denly asked. I had not heard the dis- cussion, I have therefore to walk iron shod over the question, am a specialist, that the others are not; that I alone see the question clearly and deeply, or to assume the attitude of one who does not know a thing about it and showing that I is simply awaiting developments. ‘What are the ch you may ask. terigtics of a mute, ey have several, the one prominent pecullarity is thelr ut- ter faith in those whom they designate as “hearing people.”” To the deaf there ” ehanics, farm hands and laborers, but each one of them is a wealth-producer instead of being a burden on the com- monwealth. There Is not a single deaf mute in the almshouse, neither Is there ene. But how beiter could ! have es- plained in the same lenath of time? It 13 in such a moment that we feel the misfortune of being deaf and dumb the most.