all know; the thing was looked upon by the boys as a 'bore,' and the knowledge (or rather want of knowledge) of these languages so gained, and the little use they were in after life, have passed into a byword.
Those thus taught never feel at home in speaking, find great difficulty in making themselves understood, and so soon cease to continue the attempt. So it is with those taught on the 'Combined' method. Articulation is to them a 'bore,' they find people outside their schools unable to understand them, and so they, too, soon cease to make the attempt.
Thus articulation is brought into discredit, not by its being in any way unsuited to the deaf, but because it has been treated as an accomplishment.
Indeed, the case of those thus educated practically differs but little from those under the 'French' system, but that little is not in favour of the 'Combined' method. In examining the pupils taught on this system, have found them the least educated, and the reason was not far to seek; for the pupils so taught were taken away from the rest to learn articulation, it may be half-an-hour a day, more or less. What were the constant remarks of the teachers? Why, that 'the articulation pupils were behind the others.' And no wonder, for whatever takes the pupil away from his companions regularly for never so short a time, be it articulation, drawing, Latin, or any other thing foreign to the ordinary work of his class, must have the effect of making him show to disadvantage with his class-mates, whose attention and time have not been disturbed. But, it may be argued, 'Could not more time be given to articulation?' It would be of no avail,
