A. %^ i5^. a'v]^ ^' Ci IMAGE TEST T/J '■';' I.C I.I 1.25 Science Corporal """ ^.".''J ' .mB ff f i i^S g g ' BHB „^, ^"■''"- *,.,ft»"^-*'-> ■-■*i>r''if'--.'(f,- iPPP IttpnnM frmii thf Amtrirnn AnnaU of the l>iaf and Ihimh J'H- Ajtrii, 1HH3. ' ».■• \- ':". UPON A METHOD OF TEACHING LANGUAGE > VERY YOUNG CONGENITVLLY DEAF CHILD. f A FEW monthh ago Mr. Denison, Principal of the Primary Department of the Colninbia Imtituiion for the Deivf ami Dumb, called the fttteutiou of the editor of the An7iali) to a new member of hia class who possessed a remarkable command of language. His attaiuments in other resjpectH were not extraordinary ; but he used the English language with a freedom and accuracy quite exoeptional in a congenital deaf-mute. His education was begun and carried on for three years by Professor Alexander Graham Bell. For several years past he had had no teacher. Inquiry of Pro- fessoi' Bell us to tiie method by which results so unusual bad beea attained led to the preparation of this paper. We are sure the narrative will prove uo less interesting to our readers th»>» it was to Mr. Denison and the editor, and we trust it will not only afford encouragement and aid to parents in beginning the education of deaf children at home, but will also have a stimulating and inspiring effect upon every teacher who reads it. Much of the method described is no less applicable to a class of pupils than to a single pupil ; and we have no doubt that in the hands of capable and devoted teachers it would go far toward solving the great problem of the mastery of the English lan^age by the oougenitaUy deaf.— Eu. Annam.] To the Editm- of the American Annab of tfie Deaf and Dumb: Sib : You have been kind enough to express the opinion that the readers of the Annals would be interested in knowing the method I adopted in educating a very young congenitaUy deaf child, who became my pupil in 1872, and who has since acquired umb for January, 1872. " The general piinciple is this : The pronunciation of words 'iiije^fii v:r.iAS; ■ »i i > '• -MpiiiMii. n ^ j ' wJLi. i' Ui ' L ''' M ■■■ ■■■ \i af» ; t . 'r' y » »i(j *' t -'' J''' t ) ^'W 'j ' Wl'>WH ' < ">S'unib for on of worda 8 nntl itent«itn'4e HHe of tnc viHibUt Hpftuh Hynd)()lH, the mind \h to 1 o educated by ordinary letters. The pupil must leain to read and write. "I belii've that (leorge T)iilgarn(> (ill his work entitled • I )idaH calocopliUH, oi' the J)eaf and Diiini) Man's Tutor,' published in l<»HO,t) has given ,ik th«! true principle to work ujion when he ttHHerts that n diof }» rmin Hhimid hi; tuiojht to read and irriti! Ill lis tieiirli/ as /msslhli' tin' mitiii' wiiif Ihiit j/oiniij niii's iiri' liiiii/Zil lit sjiiiik mill iinilirMmid Ihiir motliii Iiuhjiii'. "\\e should talk to the deaf child just as w(* do to the hear ing one, witli the exception that our words aie to Iks addressed to his eye instead of his ear. "Indeed, (ieoige Dalganio carri»)S his theory so far as to asseii that the deaf infant would as soon come to luideistand writt«in languag*^ as a hearing child docs speech, 'had the aiother or nurse but as nimble a han(i as commonly they have a tongue !' " The principles inculcated by l'r(!ndergast (in his 'Mastery of Languages.' lH(i4,J) and by Marcel (in his 'Study of Lan- guages, or the Art of Thinking in a Foreign Language,' lH(>l),t) would, if applied to deaf-mutes, point to the same result and to the same method of teaching. "The principles of Froebel's Kindergai'ten method of teach- ing are apphcable to (h'af-mutes. " Froebel believes that the tiatural hiatinct of the child to pliiy should hi utdized in his education. " His ideas would seem to intUcate that the successful teacher must appeal to the faculties of imagination and imitation, and encourage self-activiti/ in his pupil. " / 2>roj>ose, then, to blend the principles of Dalgarno aiid Froebel — to faindiarizc the child with written language by means of playP \\\ pirrsnauce of this plan the school-room was converted into a play-room, and language lessono were given through the instrumentality of toys and games. I was fortunate in securing the co-operation of a vei-y excellent • Experience uud rcflectiou biivti led iiie to nKxlify this principle. t Repriutod in the Annak, vol. ix, pj). 15-C4. J Bevjewed in the Annalt, vol. xiv, pp. 103-204. J ^ tom^her — MIbk Abbio Locke, now MrH. Stone, of St. Louis — with whose assiHtance George's education was carried on. Every toy was labelled with its proper name. The difterent parts of the room, the articles of furniture, and the viuious ob- jects in the room were jUso all labelled, so foi' as possible. Each window had p"sted upon it a piece of paper on which was writ- ten the word " window ;" so with the doors, mantel-piece, table, black-board, etc., etc. The words were written in ordinary script characters, with the letters slightly separated. Against one wall was a card- ra(rk arranged to display from one to two hundied little cai'ds, each about one inch squnre. Upon these curds were written from time to time the names of his toys, and of ill the different objects for which he had invented sign-nam s. Moet of his i:)laythuig8 were kept locked up, and were only produced one or two at a time, so as to afford constant variety. Word Exercises. 1. Our exercises would commence somewhat as follows : George would make his appearance in the morning anxious for play — making vigorous signs for some of his most valued toys. For mstance, he would fold his arms and beat his shoulders rapidly with his hands. This was his sign for " doll." The doll was accordingly pioduced, and his attention was dii'ected to the word " doll " pasted upon the forehead. We compared this word with the words wiitten upon the cards, to see who would first find that card with the word " doll " upon it. Of course in the beginning — much to his chagrin — I would gene- rally be the successful searcher. Having found the proper CRrd, we would play with it a sort of game of hide-aud-seek, w" ich interested him exceedingly. He would turn away or shut his eyes while I replaced the card in the rack in some place to him unknown. The game consisted in finding it again. Doll in hand, he would search for the card, comparing each written word with the word on the doll's forehead. He would shake his head gravely at each wrong word, and nod vigorously when he thought he had found the correct one. When he made a mistake I pointed out the proper card and made fun of him. He was very sensitive to ridicule, and was generally ambitious to try again and agam unt'2 he succeeded mi -assHTiacr-wscE? "^..sHivii^rffe^^Vim&e; of St. Loiiiu — canieti ou. The different Id the -.tu'ioiis ob- is jjosHible. Each whicJi was writ- lai)tel-piecc, table, |t characters, with wall waH a card- ^dred little cards, time the names 'or which he had were kept locked ae, so as to afford what as follows : u'uing anxious for most valued toys, eat his shoulders for " doll." The ion was dii'ected id. We compared cards, to see who loll" upon it. Of n — I would gene- d the proper card, le-aud-seek, wMch away or shut his some place to him igain. [, comparing each jhead. He would lid nod vigorously le. proper card and ridicule, and was it'2 he succeeded without my assistance. He was also much interested in my (pretended) unsuccessful efforts to find a c«rd placed by him in the rack while my back was turned. Greorge seamed to enjoy this game exceedingly, but we rarely continued it for more than a few minutes at a time, and even then we constantly vai-ied the names sought for, so as to avoid monotony. In the beginning the cards were all blank, and the first day I fiUed in about half a dozen names, but required him to find only one card. Next day we sought not only for that card, but for one or two of the others. After the lapse of a few days he beijame pretty famiUar with all the names, and then each day two or three new names were added, until he had quite an extensive collection of words at command. 2. When he became familiar with ti fe^v names I would get him to seek lor the proper card without first consulting the label upon the toy He would pick out some card and then compare it with the word pasted upon the toy. Great was his moi-tification when the two did not con-espond, and great also was his triumph when they did. I made a mental note of the names he learned by heart in thip way, and then pretended not to understand his signs for the corresponding objects. Fcj instance, I remember that one moniing he came do^vn stairs in high spirits, very anxious to play with his doll. He frantically beat his shoulder'* with his hands, but I could not understand what he meant. I produced a toy-horse ; but that was iiot what he wsuited. A table ; still he was disappointed. He seemed quite perplexed to know what to do, and evidently considered me very stupid. At last, in desperation, he went to the card-rack, and, after a moment's consideration, pulled out the word "doll" and presented it to me. It is needless to say that the coveted toy was at ouce placed in his possession. I always pretended to have great difficulty in understanding his signs when we were anywhere near the card-rack, so he soon became accustomed to pick out the words for any objects he desired. 3. The same plan was pursued at meals. A little card-rack was prepared for the dinnev-table, so that he might have written words at hand for everything he lequii-ed to eat or drink. 4. Another word exercise, pursued for a few minutes each day, .-_.J| iga;Mi" ' ,»?'a;ig ; ,»t ' i: ' .JK i ts.'''; ' \Mt i iia : j ' pvriia i i;w "•.I I It' ' 6 consisted iu the recognition of such words as " stand," " sit," "walk." "run;" "jump," etc., which were written upon the bhickboard and illustrated by standing, sitting, walking, run- ing. and jumping. Se^itence IHxercises. The greater portion of our time was taken up— even frc.a the first day— with the recognition of complete sentences, instead of single words. The exercises appeared under two forms: (1) impromptu written conversation, and (2) regular sentence exercises. 1. The impromptu conversation was going on all the time. I constantly asked myself the question, "If George could hear, what would I say to him now ?" and whatever came into my head I wrote. I kept on writing to him all the time until the black- board was covered with .vritmg and my arm ached. I emphasized words to his eye, and group-d them together on the board as I would have giouped them in utterance, leav- . ing gaps here and there where one would naturally pause in speaking. In a word, / tried to exhibit to his eye all the rela- tions that mould haoe met hia ear, could he have heard my speech. I believed thoroughly in the principle announced by Dalgamo that it is the frequency with which words are presented to the mind thai ir.ipresses them upon the memory, and hence aimed at much lorititig as the accompaniment of everything we did. I followed up my blackboai-d conversation by a liberal use of pantomime, beaiuig always in mind the general piinciple that I had formulated for myself, viz., that the use of pantomime ia to illustrate latiyuaye, not to tak-r.f ■.".«■-« rt'iife'iSlsr.jiP' m a," "sit," upon the Iki'jg, run- 11 frc.a the instead of mpromptu ses. the tune. !oukl heal', ,o my head the black- n together i-ance, leav- ,' pause in U the rela- heard my y Dalgamo 'jited to the ence aimed y we did. aerai use of ciple that I ymhne is to ng out this ■toiwards — ill give an it upon the I 9 \i 4 I 'I 1-2 ^4^t^ 'T^^S^^^" Mj»,'l,.»m»Ji.JiJS.*i"A^-^-"-'-^" " ' " " J^ 8 2. Regular sentence exercises. These exercises formed a regulai- viaily game, which could be vaiied ad libitum. A num- ber of diiections were written upon the blackboai-d which were to be acted out. Tad game consisted in distinguishing one direction from another. i^ • For example, the following sentences might have been written : We would then act out the seuteuccs, one by one, and after- wards I would take a pointer and indicate one of the sentences at random for him to act out without assistance. Of course he would make frequent mistakes. For instance, when I pomted to the sentence, " Run round the table," he might proceed to give the doll an imaginaiy drink of water ! Under such circumstances I would laugh at him, and write somewhat as follows: "No; that's not right ; you are givii.g the doll a diink of water ! !" I would then point to ihe sentence, " Give the doll a drink of water," and write " That's what you did," and make fun of him. This exercise would be varied by George playing the master while I became his pupil. I would test liis knowledge by occasionally acting out the wrong sentence, and it gave him great delight to correct me. In this way he learned very readily to distinguish about half a dozen different sentences, partly from their position on the board, partly by then- differences in length, and partly by the recognition of individual words. At first, however, the sentences were not recognized inde- pendently of theii* position on the board, and, as a general rule, by next day he had forgotten their meaning, excepting when they had been left on the board over night, so that they occupied the same relative positions as before. 9 s formed a m. A num- which were uiahing one leen written : le, and after- ;he sentences Of course he 1 1 pointed to ooeed to give ircumstances Hows: "No; water ! !" I ill a drink of ;e fun of him. g the master ting out the jorrect me. jh about half dtion on the partly by the >gnized inde- geueral rule, cepting when they occupied , ... : . ■;■■ : Writing. He was extremely fond of these sentence exercises; but when he played the master, he was not contented with mere y pointing at sentences that I had written-he wished to write them himself ! This desire was forced upon my attention one day in the following manner: He took the chalk and scnbbled all over the board, and the^i made signs for me to act ttmt o««/ After consideration of the subject, I came to the conclusion that this was a clear indication that the tims had come to teach him to write. The great difficulty in the way of doing his lay in the fact that at this time he did not know a smgle letter of the alphabet-he recognized words and sentences only as wholes I determined to make the experiment of teaching him to write sentences as wholes, and the result was as surprismg as it was ^'f commenced by writing on the board some direction he wished me to act out. After partially erasing this, so as to leave the writing faintly visible, I placed the chalk m his hand and allowed him to tra«e over what I had written It is true that his first attempts resulted m rather ludicrous caricatm-es of the originals ; but h^ never forgot the meamng oj a sentence he had traced over in this way afewt^mes. The attempt to imitate my writing forced him to observe ruinuti^ that had hitherto escaped his attention, so that sen- tences began to be recognized quite independently o their posi- tion on the board, and were remembered from day to day. His imitation of my writing improved with practice, and soon became quite legible. I observed also that his comprehension of my impromptu writing seemed to improve at the same time, and he evidently experienced a desire to use words m his com- manic^tion with others. He had not P^og^^/^ «""'[ j^ be able to write without tracing, but he would often come into the school-room out of school hours for the pm^ose o takmg cards from the caa-d-rack to give to servants or friends to make them understand what he wished. Spelling. The moment he evinced the independent deske to communi- cate with others by written words, I felt that the time had come to give him a means of .forming written words for himself by teacliing him his letters and a manual alphabet. For tL purpose I adopted the plan, recommended by George DalgliL, of .Siting the alphabet upon a glove. The arrange- • :-! J* -tWBS** c BE. tv This glove I preHeuted to him one morniug as a new play- thing He put it on his left hand, and then went to the card- rack, a. usual, and presented me with the word for some object he desiied; we shall suppose the word "doll." I then c.-vered up Uie word with the exception of the first letter, "d, and directed his attention to the glove. After a little searching he discovered the corresponding letter upon the glove. I then showed him the letter "o' on the card, and he soon foufcxi it on the glove ; and so with the other letters. After a little practice of this kind he became so familiar with the places of the letters that he no longer required to search, but pointed at once to the proper letter upon the glove. Every time he required r. card from the caid-rack I made him spell the word upon his fingers. Occasionally I would test his memory by requirmg him to spell the word while I held the card behind my back. Wlien I became convinced that he knew the word by heai-t I tore up the card. In this way, one by one, all the cards disappeared from the lack. For a long time lie was very proud of his glove, and was delighted to find that he could communicate with his parents and friends, and they with him, by simply pointing at the letters on las hand. In communicating with me it was unnecessary for him to wear the glove, as we both remembered the places of the letters. I kept up the practice of writing to him, as before, but required him to spell the words upon his hand wliUe I wrote them on the board. He soon became so expert that he could spell faster than I could write, and often finished his sentence by guessing wliat I was going to add before I had written more than two- thirds. When this stage had been reached I often used the manual alphabet with him, instead of writing. I took liis hand in mine and touched the places of the letters upon his hand. He did not require to look; he could feel where he was couched. He recognized the words in this way, however rapidly I spelled them upon his hand. As I had five fingers, I could touch five letters simultaneously, if I so desired, and a little practice enabled me to play upon his hand as one would play upon tlie keys of a piano, and quite as rapidly. I could also give emphasis by pressure upon the fingers, and group the words together as they would be grouped in utter- ■MM 18 ance, leaving pauses, here ana there, corresponding to the pauses made in actual speech. The more I used with hwu this means of communication the more I rejoiced in the fact that I had decided to employ an alphabet addressed to the sense of touch, instead of sight. It left his eye free to observe the expression of my face ai d the actions and objects which formed the subject of our conversa- tion. The general principle upon which I was working was to speak to him by written words, as I would have spoken to a hearing child by speech, and I believed (with George Dalgomo) that he would in time come to understand written language by the same process that children learn to understand their mother tongue. It seemed to me that hearing children, in acquiring their veiijacular, derived great assistance from the free uoe of the eye as an interi)reter of words addressed to the eai', and that therefore my pupil would derive Himilai- ..^riistauce from his eye, as the interpreter of words addressed to the sense of touch. In addition, therefore, to the " regulai sentence exercises " and " impromptu written conversation," I would cal)^ to hnn a great deal upon his hand. W*) would go to the window and chat by the half hour at a time about what was going on in the street. At night also I would frequently visit him in his bed-room for the purpose of satisfying myself that I could communicate with him as readily in the dark as by day. His progress now became very rapid, and he commenced to talk to me by words, instead of signs. I placed no other pres- sure upon him than my pretended difficulty in understanding his gestures, and allowed liim to express himself in any way he chose. From the moment we commenced to employ the manual alpha- bet I myself abstained from the use of any other gestures than those I would have employed in talking to a hearing child under the same circumstances. My pretended difficulty in under- standing his signs increased from day to day, so as to force him more and more to attempt to express his thoughts by English words. I would assist him in this by translating his signs for him from time to time and making him repeat the sentence independently upon his fingers. •mmmmmmf i; ing to the nication the » employ an f Hight. It ace avd the ir convcrsa- :ing was to ipokon to ft e Dalganio) anguuge by their mother uiriug theu* uoe of the U-, and that rom his eye, of touch. 3 exercises " ilk to hiiH a If hour at a light also I purpose of m as readily mmenced to J other pres- iderstanding I any way he lanuol alpha- features than J child under y in under- to force him 3 by English liis signs for the sentence 13 In all our convorKatiouH I was .-areful to employ natural and complete sentences, but his first attempts at bidepondent ex- pression (like the first independent utterances of a hearmg child) consisted of isolated words. ,, „ ,t The use of the glove alphabet was so little noticeable that I ,,„uld talk to him very freely in a crowd without attractmg the attention of others. I took him to Barnum's museum and talked to him all the time the lions were being fed and I am sure that no one among the spectators had the slightest suspi- cion that the boy was deaf. Prom the moment he learned the alphabet I gave hnn regular writhi- lessons, so that he should form his letters properly aud write with ease. I then made him keep writing materials ibout him, and encouraged him to use them constantly in commum- cathig with friends. -, ^i a Before six months had elapsed I frequently found the floor littered with scraps of paper that he had used in this way, and I am sorrv that it did not occur to me at the time ^ preseiwe them for future reference. It was not until late m 1873 that I made the attempt to collect i few scraps of this descnption and those that are preserved in my note-book possess great interest. . . <• u;„ I shall conclude this paper by the following specimens of his composition, which will show that at little more than six ye.u-8 of age this congenitally deaf boy had acquired a vernacular knowledge of the English language sufficieut to enable him to communicate by writing with hearing persons. Specimena of Composition. 1. July Ist, 1873. Scrap found upon the floor in his father's house in Haverhill : Guraon is Hick to Haverhill iu the other Boom in the sofa. 2. August U«A, 1873. Letter to his mother, written from Brantford, Canada : < • . ""ZfZxX cat loves the largo cat. Mary will go to Haverhill. GraucU ma S- will go to Haverhill. I will go home m the tram ami let I Tulep" the cars. Mama and Nat and I will drive m HavorhiL T^e ,uany flags is in Haverhill. I will go upstairs m Haverhill to flags Riids and John and nurse and I and Mr. Bell will go home. After bre^^t I will go to see Freddy, is sleep. I will Eat fast. I love Gur- don Rii.ur Mr. H.1I. 4. Xoi'iiii/xr -I///. 1H7H. Two HciiipH cuiitiiiuiitg '^ toiivorwi- tioii botwooii Uoorgo uiul iu.VH«»lf : Firil. m-rap. Mr. Hill. I think v"" mv tind iiiiil hut imw, mo wti will I !• */"'*'' it'"' imt now. Wlmt iloi's " i-fHt" niiun 't Oei'i-gt'. "UoHt" uieiinH Kfop. Afr. /Ml. YoH, ilfiir. It nicimH ••«to|>" or "Htill." (iiorgc. Or " wuit." Mr. IMl. Yi'H. (ii'orgi: IMciiho uiiiy I I'ut ii your liandkorrliinf iiml l.c likf an ol.l woniiin. Note in ini/ record-hook: " Mtvv i)liiviii{,' for a whilo Ihi i«!- iiieiiibcic.l tliat his {rraii(liiiiumim liiul uiiule fun of liim for jn-e- teiiiling to be a woman, ho ho wrote :" Sfeond neriip. I ikMi not put on Hiy U)wel on my lioiul iiml lie like im old woinun and (trandnia wiid not now (Jraudniu will l)f no very w/v// now. 5. iVouemher 2iid, 1HT^. Letter written by George to Iuh uiaunna in Haverhill. No person Haw this lette.- until it waH ftnished. Everything in it, even to the emphasizing of certain wordH, is hiH own. The omission of capital letters can bo tracetl to the too frequent use of the manual alphabet in pliu-e of writing : "this in miid/ty to-day A to-morrow will be Monday, the people nr^ jjoiug to rhurcfi. Mary and Nat ure groirn by and bye.* John is not Hick now. I lore dauiel now. I am going to bed bye and bye. the kitten ih alive. + Mr. Jiell is reading the hook but papa and mama are nut coming to be glad and I matched the lamp on tire. I looked at my little watch from my kft. X we will not drive with Mr. Bell. I will say pleiwe may I be ex- cused. § grandpa is tired to drive very fast home, we art! walk very fast and go to franks horse and drive the colt on Wednesday to see the eggs and hens ivnd kitten and hay and cracker are on dog is not eat the kitten fall to die to the grave, and I am well and I think that Mr. Hell is sick to be tired and go to Boston to the house to go to bed to die to lie down ♦ Mary and Nat (his brother and sister) will grow up by and by. tThe kitten had been crushed behind a book-case and nearly killed, ' + •' Ka" was the children's name for George's nurse. § He had just been taught to use this expression when he wished to leave the dinner-table before the others had finished. WP^RS^WRS'SSSasSS' 16 IMC y Yi'H l>('iir II coiivuruu- II 1 !• Ijllltl illlll lie liki^ ail olil I \vliil<' lid r«!- liiiii foi' ])rt'- dIiI woiuiiU iiikI eorge to Iuh until it waa ing of eerttiiii can bo ti actxl t in place of the poojilti arc John is not Hick . the kitten iu re not coming to ittle wiiteh from iwo may I be ex- ■i; walk very fast to see the eggs ot eat the kitten Mr. Bell iH sick die to lie down ' and by. Qearly killed. len he wished to mv lioeket to put tl... pnttv ... keyn.- I M.^ tl.e kitten fant .,„1..,.,. on M.v Ktraw. dan in g.-ing to the cow m.lk on Monday. yonr hiving from (leorge (5. Ihvvmhn- 14/A, 1H7:1 Another original lott.u- fro.n G«org« to liis niainina'. Sau'iii 8nnear Mama .."l think that Mr. Hell .h Horry that I wn.t*. tlmt to Kay My Uuur • I am Horry that paim and mama are not eomnig ba.k now. I thi k ,„., I, an is going to eln.reh on Hun.lay with KUen ami Maggie now. Hy ,.,.d l.ve Kllen and Maggie and Dan will come after eln.reh. Maggie will „t.vv here with the lumse. Dan and I went out to the cow milked at the r,d; It waH dark and it in light, grundma in afraid but I will not go but ,.„„orrow. Ellen in not afraid to Hee the e«w too. I may not kick the ....w with be sorry not glad to be HtiU on nnnday but bye and bye mary .mdnatisgoingtobed. Bye and bye Dan will eut.t >mt grand, nam reading on H.inday. I think that grandma has g.me to ci h with Mr. Uoll Mr. Hell'B beard i« coming now.§ i; like are the calendar. I an. thedeerHinBoHton.il The hi.ow Ih Htopping ITie rain in not wc! bnt rain iH Hick bnt the snow in well. Mr. Bell Ih reading too. (.n^ndma ih not reading but after dinner it i« the Hun too. Haverhill is very f,ir .iway over hero, are papa Btay in Haverhill. 7. Mardi 2<}«A, 1874. Letter to Mrs. H , written without any assistance : „ , „ •' Bftlem, Matw March 2(ith 1874 My P«)ar Grandma H - I have been to the ntable. 1 am very Clhvd that M.iry will come back tomorrow. 1 loves (Inmdma H . I love Grandpa H- - too and I huve tiniHhed Bchooi before^linner. I have newwheel barrow and there ♦ ThiH referred to Home incident with which I was not acquainted. He went through a panton.ime .vbout it, Hhowing that there was Home definite Tien he winhed to expreHs, but no one could underHtand what he meant. t WherGeorge had written - Halem. Sund.vy, Dec. U." he attracted my attenUon, that I might nee he wan going to write a Ic'tter. Ah he Beemed •a doubt to whom to addrens it, I HUggented that he Bhould begin D ar Sr Bell ■" but he wrote " My Dear Mamn.a." Upon which I looked veiy forry, P etended to cry, and wont out of the room, much to h.H amuBe- ment. When he was about half through his letter I returned and read a book till he had finished. J " Will saw firewood." . , § George had Been me before I had shaved. 11 He had been i.retending to be a deer J^MM ' U: I i 1« JH (Iriii.cliiiii'M |iiK ill IIh' M»,iil>li'. MiiKK*'^ '•* " •♦ K"''"K '" fJmn'li >'"t muKKii' iM ^^'>um to chnn'li cm Hiiiiday. Mr. Hull im writing U, ymi, Imt I uni lamy til writt" to yon too. [ havn it iiuw doll. The iIoIIh iirti mttiiiK in Mury'd cliiiir hi-ri>. Nut Iiim it olil l>ir ' • • Your loving ; :. (im.rgc T. 8 -." * A toy Viird and u toy piauo. + Mr. Hell had a new piano in IVwton a long time ago and played for me A Lilly. X " There were a nuu or of litdleH here a few days ago." K f I ^•ii Iiiiri'li liiit iiihkk''' Ml, but I uiii Itimy mttiiiK ill Mury'K r. iinll hiiH II nuw iK>iiiiK lit ymi. I ilitiH liwt iiiHlit itiiil I iiiimt not |{ii I nonr tlu> cow. i>ni. I will go to 10 Ih uut lluiidiod {e T. H — ." find j>liiy*«.■ ^ ■^• W^amsoTOH, D; 0. kerly publica- jtober. Each )nUy original. Jor foreign ea, (li.fran,C8 r 0