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122 Douglas Tilden Reflections of a Deaf-Mute Philosopher “He who does not think is a fool; he who will not, is a bigot; he who dares not, is a slave.” —Anon. “If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all?” —Coleridge. “Just is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affection.” —Bible. A deaf-mute’s best friend are his ten fingers. We are a class of people without a precedent. Speak so that I may know what institution you are from. I have never met a deaf-mute who does not know something more than I do. I love flowers, not botany; speech, not vocal gymnastics. It is better to be a wise man once a month than to be a fool every day of one’s life. There is no Institution famous or successful, but because its people are so. It is not every body who reads obituaries in his life time. In an Institution as a republic, a man is intolerable, who is a little ahead of us. A deaf-mute may be honored except at his own Institution. We do not differ from the hearing people in one respect; we even have fools, bigots, and slaves. A man’s nervous self-depreciation may often be mistaken for pride. I would rather it be said of me that there is no man I come in contact with, whom I don’t improve, than I am as perfect as Buddha. Man is creation’s masterpiece. But who say so? Man! A deaf-mute is an equal of a hearing man. But who says so? A deaf-mute! Tell your hearing critics that their own work is not good enough for a hearing person, and they will spit on your grave. Goodness or wisdom is not a commodity to be picked up in an Institution. Experience is the tailor that fits clothes to you. A teacher who uses the institution as a commissary depot, to pursue some outside business, is a disgrace to the profession. The greatest complaint about a deaf-mute comes from a man who began his dealing with him by thinking him a fool. The trend of thought of old teachers of the deaf, may, through long association, become deaf and dumb. “Reflections of a Deaf-Mute Philosopher” is from The Silent Worker 16, no. 3 (December 1903). Reflections of a Deaf Mute Philosopher 123 A deaf-mute Baron Munchansen may add to the gaiety of the deaf-mute nation, but a deaf-mute gossip scavenger or informer is a trial to the soul. Every deaf-mute has a threefold disability; deafness as a physical disability, deafness as a mental detriment, deafness as a producer of prejudice. Prejudice is so potent that a loving parent, friend, or a teacher, would be secretly shocked if a deaf-mute is a better or greater man than he. Many a fool has undertaken a thing and failed because he sees a deaf-mute successful in it. There is one deaf mute in two thousand people and one hearing genius in one million. Does it follow that there is one deaf-mute genius in two thousand times one million? Make charity toward the frailties of others, the foundation of a deaf-mute organization , and a flood will not sweep it away. This world belongs to the hearing. Let us be wise in our generation, and advocate oralism for their sake, and signs for our own. Write a novel of a man who is at the same time a preacher and a lawyer, and the book will be thrown aside as an impossibility. The first impressions, favorable or unfavorable, unconsciously sway us. The first impression that a hearing man unconsciously has on being told he is to meet a deafmute , is that of disinclination and half-hearted curiosity. A deaf pupil on his vacation may, by example, improve a coarse home. Why may he not also improve the neighborhood of the home, then the village, nay, the whole city, state or nation? Who can calculate the moral influence Helen Keller is today exerting? Gratitude is an unknown quality. A semi-mute may be brighter than all the other deaf-mutes in Pennsylvania, have the benefit of the best education his state can give him and get a free college training into the bargain, and yet...

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