Deaf American Prose 1830-1930

Selections from Mickey’s Harvest: The Checkered Life of an Unusual Boy

214 Howard L. Terry Howard L. Terry* c Selections from Mickey’s Harvest: The Checkered Life of an Unusual Boy** Chapter 9 [After reading some unflattering gossip about himself, Mickey, now a young adult, reflects on Deaf newspapers at that time.—Eds.] Thus I was baptized, and became a follower of The Deaf Men’s Times. I soon learned what was going on in my world, what the “Big Guns” were doing, and what they wanted to do in the common interest of us all. I read columns of figures showing contributions to the fund of our organizations, which I must soon join; and I saw many a paragraph devoted to the plans of this one and that one for the best use of the money. No two of these Big Guns agreed, and therein lay some humor. Sometimes I would read the pleasantries our leaders would throw at one another, as politicians do. These remarks were very witty at times, and again very caustic. I was taking a genuine interest in affairs, and in that sheet, and in a controversy over methods of teaching the deaf. One day there appeared in the paper a poem bearing the title, “Our Needs.” It was signed Rob Roy, and the author’s real name was never made public. Here it is, I mean the poem, not the author’s name: *For Howard L. Terry’s biography, please see p. 159. **Howard L. Terry worked intermittently on this previously unpublished manuscript from 1917 to 1922. In 1922, Terry shelved the manuscript until writing the foreword and preparing the document for archiving in 1949. A bildungsroman about a young deaf man who lost his hearing at the age of twelve and his subsequent experiences in early twentieth-century America, this novel includes descriptions of many of the touchstones of Deaf life for young men of some means at that time, from education at a residential school for the deaf, to attendance at Gallaudet, to his travels across America with two deaf friends. Mickey’s Harvest will be published as part of Gallaudet University Press’s Classics in Deaf Studies series. Two chapters are excerpted here. —Eds. These excerpts are from Mickey’s Harvest: The Checkered Life of an Unusual Boy (unpublished manuscript), Gallaudet University Library. Mickey’s Harvest 215 OUR NEEDS Says a man in the East, “It is money we need— ’Tis the lack of it keeps us behind; Every deaf man on earth, whatever his birth, Should know it and bear it in mind! A dime from each fellow, or a coin bright and yellow, A drop from each goblet, at best, That wouldn’t be missed, and lo, presto, and hist! There’s a sum that would stagger you blind.” Says a man way up north of unlimited worth, “I have figured it out with my pen, We need dollars and cents to tear holes and big rents In the chest of the pseudo-deaf men; Just send me your cash, I’ll make boarding house hash Out of them in two minutes, or ten!” Says a man in the West, “Fifty thousand will do, To honor our friend, De l’Epee, The most pressing need of the day. Fifty thousand will do, I’ll make the monument, you, You fellows can hustle to pay!” Says the man on the banks of the Big Muddy stream, “We need money for one thing, I’m sure, I’m positive, certain, and sure, To be used in the fight for the cause that is right, Which is ending the Speech Trust dream! Yes, money’s the thing, with its jingle and ring, And I am the man with the wonderful plan To handle the coin and the cure.” Says the man who resides by the Sunny South tides, “I’m a business man, and I offer a plan. You must trust me with all you have got! It’s hard to earn money to buy bread and honey, So take my advice—I won’t give it twice— And buy shares in my mine—or a lot!” Says the man who is boss of the great N.A.D., “You have heard others’ claims, now just listen to me. 216 Howard L. Terry Here’s a plan I have long had in mind, Of a far-reaching, charity kind: We need a house with a dome for the President’s home...