The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 24

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24

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

ing parents of deaf children to send their children
to schools where they may learn the sign-language
and in encouraging parents also to learn it.
Upon the whole, deaf children are as bright as
other children. Just because they cannot hear, other
senses, such as the senses of sight and touch, are
very highly developed. This fact makes deaf people
very desirable workmen where acute and delicate
touch or sharp sight is required. Because they
cannot hear, deaf people are probably more careful
than others, and for this reason there are fewer
accidents among them than there are among hear-

Chapel of Deaf-Mute Congregation
at Milwaukee, Wis.

ing people. Speaking of the cleverness of deaf-
mutes, let us not forget that among them are to be
found graduates of higher schools. Some of them
become expert stenographers, others do fine work
with the pen and brush, and still others become
expert mechanics. In our youth we knew a deaf-
mute who had charge of the most delicate machine
in a large shop in Indianapolis.

_ Because most deaf grow up without church asso-
Ciations, it is quite hard for them to acquire the
churchgoing habit in later life. From the testimony

of our missionaries we draw the conclusion that

“probably no more than one out of ten deaf in our

larger cities can be persuaded to attend church

regularly. But for all that, the work among the
deaf is by no means in vain. Our workers among
them find that, once they get a deaf person inter-
ested in church, he becomes very regular and loyal.
Particularly do the deaf seem to appreciate it that
our workers, while hearing persons themselves, have
taken the trouble to learn their language to bring
them the Gospel-message.

When the writer was a boy, he learned the sign-
alphabet, though he never gained great proficiency
in it, owing to the fact that the only deaf person
who, had lived in our neighborhood moved away,
which left him no one to “talk” with. Talking by
means of the alphabet is a very laborious task. If
our missionaries to the deaf were to communicate
their Gospel-message to their spectators by spelling
out the words with the sign-alphabet, the message
would have to be very short, and even at that their
“hearers” would soon grow tired.

Instead of this slow spelling out of words the
missionaries use a sign-language which originated
in France about the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury and was brought to this country early in the
last century by a certain Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet.
By means of this language the missionary to the
deaf can communicate his message of salvation quite
rapidly to his “hearers.” They use no articles and
prepositions in this sign-language, and even tense
is very often not indicated. “I shall write a letter
to mother this afternoon,” would be stated thus in
the sign-language, “I write letter mother afternoon.”
And if the deaf-mute should impart this informa-
tion after writing the letter to his mother, he would
use the same signs. This “speaking” of the deaf
by means of signs and pictures representing persons,
objects, and actions, when translated into ordinary
speech, sounds singularly abrupt.

Bible-passages, as a rule, cannot be quoted to the
deaf just as they are written. John 3, 16 would
probably be made to read thus: “God loved world,
gave Son, only one, all believe, not perish, have life
never-ending.” So also the Bible-stories must be
told in the language of signs and pictures. The
face and hands and actions of the whole body must
help to form much of this sign-language.

The “singing” of a deaf-mute congregation is
bound to make a deep impression on any person
who “listens in.” The pastor repeats the song in
the sign-language, and the deaf-mutes follow each
line of the hymn by making the same signs. The
deaf greatly enjoy “singing,” as can plainly be seen
by the intentness with which they follow the pastor
in his “lining out” of the hymns.