Page:Vocal Speech for the Dumb.djvu/32

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24
DEAF, NOT DUMB.

quite interested in the poor little things, since I find they can talk rationally.' He did so, and during the next month, he was to be found for several hours, twice a week, listening to the pupils. The first time he put some questions vocally to one of the children, and received an answer, his delight was boundless. He felt almost that he was the wonderful instructor of the child, that he had placed the little deaf boy before him, far above the reach of his sad affliction, and had given him the power to see that which others hear; that he himself had restored to the poor boy the Divine gift of human speech, temporarily lost, but which for the untiring aid and skill of his teachers, would have been lost indeed for ever.

'From that moment Mr. Merian made a resolution, and his resolution was good. He gave 32,000 florins for the purpose of educating six pupils annually; and lent his most willing assistance and influence to the method of instruction he had so long, through unreasoning prejudice, condemned and despised.'

A similar noble instance is recorded in America, where a Mr. Clarke most liberally endowed the institution at Northampton, Mass., named after him, though in that country such support is the less wanted, on account of the State aid which is afforded to institutions for the deaf. Let us hope to find in this far richer country some such munificent benefactors.

Briefly to recapitulate some of the conclusions to which our investigations led us, we find that the 'French' system schools, to a limited extent, will always be wanted for those who cannot be educated on the 'German' system, viz., the weak in intellect, and the very few whose speech,