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A Leaf from a Teacher’s Diary 51 The boy took hold of his hair, and made signs for me to look at it to see if it was white. “No, it is all black,” responded I, “because you are quite young.” The boy smiled, as if he thought that I had a last acknowledged the corn, and he signed to me on his fingers, “old never!” at the same time pressing his finger against his breast, and accompanying the action with a shake of his head, by which he signified that he would not become old, not he. c A Leaf from a Teacher’s Diary Preface * * * I once had a young girl in my class, who seemed to be in the neighborhood of seventeen years of age. Her head, phrenologically speaking, was fully developed in the lower part of the forehead, indicating quick perceptions and a good degree of mental activity. In the region of firmness her head towered high, giving obstinacy of opinion and an unwavering nerve. Her features, in particular, were angled and ridged; they were drawn into stern muscular positions, as if her mind were wrought up to positive decisions, and her feelings wound up to a high pitch. Her temperament and whole organization indicated muscular strength rather than fineness of texture, which, joined to very great self-esteem, gave to her thoughts the quality of roughness and positiveness . Her companions thought she was the smartest girl to learn that ever went to a deaf-dumb school. I never will forget her admirable rendering into the sign language of the “Memorandum of a School Girl,” written by myself, in which the spirit of the original was given with a point and elegance rarely equaled in written versions of the pantomimic language. In parenthesis I will say, in connection with this subject, that she was an eye-witness of the scene in which I played a conspicuous part. I must write the ideas conveyed in the motions of her arms and hands in prose, varying the words and expressions , as well as the arrangement of them, so as to make clear and distinct sentences; for the gestures of the deaf-dumb deal largely in figurative language, especially in metaphors, personifications, similes, and comparisons. In short, I am responsible for “A Leaf from a Teacher’s Diary” is from An Account of St. Ann’s Church for Deaf Mutes and Articles of Prose and Poetry, ed. Bonaventure Clarke (New York: John A. Gray & Green, 1865). 52 Joseph Mount, “Joe the Jersey Mute” the wording of her ideas; she, for the translation of my manuscript into signs. It may here be remarked, that in the conversion of the sign language into prose, the life of the style is sometimes endangered. Sunday.—Read some; prayed twice; kissed my pet, Mary; tried to keep myself unspotted from the world of haughty girls; saw the teacher come along, but did not speak to him. Monday.—Went to school this morning, and got a sharp scolding for spelling the word “wife” wrong. Saw the teacher kiss Mary. Were I a teacher, I should not kiss a boy, even though he was a mere child; but he who is a man— he who is a teacher—he who must teach the young idea how to shoot—kissed a girl, and she his scholar! Not right, surely. Tuesday.—Mary told me that the teacher slipped a cent into her hand while he was correcting her slate. Thought him a strange fellow, but took care not to express myself to that effect. Wish he was more of a gentleman. Mary reckons herself “some, if not somer,” as Becky would say. Wednesday.—The teacher desired us to compose a story. I scratched my head for a minute, and a bright idea struck my mind. I forthwith composed a little story, which ran as follows: Kissing “A gentleman saw a little girl. She was nine years of age. He was smitten with the charms of her infantile form. The devil tempted him to kiss her. He fell. He did kiss his fair little Eve.” [My readers, the little story above quoted was written by my spirited girl, but wanted a few alternations (sic). It is here introduced in an improved form.] I watched the face of the teacher while he read the story. How his face reddened! and yet he did not lose command of his temper. Served him right. Hope he will not kiss Mary again. Thursday...

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