CHAPTER XV. ARTICLE I. ARTICLE II. ARTICLE III. ARTICLE IV. INTRODUCTION. MUCH has been written on the subject of educating the deaf and dumb, by gentlemen who have themselves taught and instructed them with great success; and who have been the means, through a bounteous public, of establishing asylums for the exclusive purpose of educating indigent persons of this description. It is to be feared, however, that those establishments have operated like scarecrows with teachers in general, who have been induced, in consequence of the establishment of such asylums, to think there must be so much difficulty in educating these unfortunate mutes, that none are competent to undertake the charge but such as have attended an asy B lum for instructions, and have thereby acquired a thorough knowledge of all the mysteries of this seemingly occult science. These newly initiated artists, instead of taking off the mask, which was worn by their predecessors, have put another on still more hideous, and thereby dazzled the ignorant with their quackery.* In the sequel I shall endeavour to convince the public, that the difficulty of instructing the deaf and dumb has been in idea, not in practice; and that any parent or teacher, may educate a child born under such privations, as usefully as can be effected at any of the public asylums. The education of the deaf and dumb has for ages been conceived a matter of great * I understand, it is usual to give a considerable sum of money to a teacher at an asylum for such instructions; and that the person who has learned the mystery, is bound in a bond, to a certain amount, not to take a pupil, in the same manner, for a number of years after he has been so taught. This is making a trade of it indeed! difficulty, and even by some an impossibility. Very few persons, consequently, have given themselves the trouble of investigating the subject; yet all who have attempted the education of them have succeeded beyond their own most sanguine expectations. About sixteen years ago, I was applied to by a gentleman, who had been in company with a brother of mine, who was born deaf and dumb, to know where and how he was educated. It appeared, that a friend of this gentleman had a daughter, twelve years of age, born deaf and dumb, and a family of ten children besides, who could hear and speak. The latter were sent to school; whilst this unfortunate mute was kept at home in a state of ignorance, because the parents imagined that this misfortune precluded all hopes of instructing her. If the child had been blind, I should have been less surprised at this conduct; for I have always considered the want of sight as a greater obstacle to the acquisition of knowB 2 |