TALKING WITH THE FINGERS.
No doubt, many of the little readers of "The Nursery" go to school; yet not many of them, I think, can ever have been in such a school as the one in which I am teaching. The walls of the room are hung with pictures of birds, animals, insects, fishes, and flowers. The blackboard is covered with drawings of many familiar objects.
While I am writing this, seven little boys and nine little girls (how many does that make in all?) are busy writing on their slates. These children do not have any books to study. I tell them what I wish to teach them, and they write it down, and try to remember it. But I teach them without speaking a word. I talk to them with my fingers.
You have guessed already, I dare say, that these dear little children are deaf and dumb; that is, they can neither hear nor speak. They cannot go to school and live at home, and see papa and mamma night and morning, as you can; for there are no schools for them near their homes. They have to go a long way from home, and stay in school many long weeks without seeing father or mother, brother or sister. So, when vacation comes, how glad and happy they are! Some of them are even now writing on their slates, "In sixteen weeks we shall go home."
I have said that these children cannot speak; but that is not quite true, for many of them are learning to speak. When I talk to them, they look very closely at my lips, and so learn to tell what I am saying. Some of them have very sweet and pleasant voices, the sound of which they have never heard in all their lives.
And now let me say that I hope you will learn the finger-alphabet; so that, if you visit any of my little pupils, you can talk to them.
If you ask them, they will spell very slowly,—how fast they can spell!—so that you can read what they say. Perhaps you can get "The Nursery" to print the alphabet for you.