With the Compliments of the Authoi'. 
UPON A 
Method of Teaching Language 
TO A 
Very Young Congenitally DeaCChild. 
Alexander Graham Bell, Ph. D. 
Extracted, by permission, from the A msriemh-Annjsjs*tf±bs Deaf and 
DumlfApril, 1883, vol. xxviii, pp. 124-139. 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
GIBSON BEOTHEES, PEINTEES. 
1883. Reprinted from the American Annals of the Deaf 
April, 1883. 
UPON A 
METHOD OF TEACHING LANGUAGE 
TO A 
VERY YOUNG CONGENITALLY DEAF CHILD. 
[A few months ago Mr. Denison, Principal of the Primary Department 
of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, called the attention 
of the editor of the Annals to a neAV member of his class who possessed a 
remarkable command of language. His attainments in other respects 
were not extraordinary; but he used the English language with a freedom 
and accuracy quite exceptional 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- 
fessor Bell as to the method by which results so unusual had been attained 
led to the preparation of this paper. We are sure the narrative will prove 
no less interesting to our readers than 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 language by the congenitally deaf.—En. 
Annals.] . 
To the Editor of the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb: 
Sik ; You Lave been kind enough to express the opinion that 
the readers of the A nnals would be interested in knowing the 
method I adopted in educating a very young congenitally deaf 
child, who became my pupil in 1872, and who has since acquired 2 
a vernacular knowledge of the English language in its spoken 
and written forms. 
This boy was only about five years old when his education 
was commenced, and the results obtained in his case during 
the first two years indicate that the education of congenitally 
deaf children might profitably be commenced at home, and 
that they might even acquire a vernacular knowledge of 
English—at least in its written form—before being sent to 
school. 
The value of early home training in language cannot be 
overestimated. Our pupils, as a rule, do not enter school 
until after the age when children most readily acquire 
language. If they could commence their school course with 
even an imperfect and rudimentary knowledge of English, the 
labor of the teacher would be enormously reduced and the 
progress of the pupil immensely accelerated. 
In the autumn of 1872 I became interested in the boy whose 
education forms the subject of this paper, and the following 
extract from one of my note-books will give an idea of the 
general plan which guided my first steps: 
“ October Ist, 1872. 
“ Master George S , aged 5 years, became my pupil 
this morning. 
“He was born totally deaf, and has never spoken a word in 
his life. He has never been to school, but has received private 
instruction for three weeks from Miss Fuller, principal of the 
Boston School for the Deaf and Dumb. 
“He seems a fine, bright, intelligent boy, and there is no 
apparent defect in his vocal organs. 
“For my own guidance, and for the information of friends, 
I shall briefly sketch out the course I intend to pursue with 
him. 
“It is well for a teacher not to burden himself with too 
many rules, but rather to grasp general principles, and to leave 
the details of instruction to be worked out by experience. 
“ I propose to divide his education into two great branches— 
one relating to articulation, the other to mental development. 
“ The method of teaching articulation has been explained at 
length in the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb for 
January, 1872. 
“ The general principle is this : The pronunciation of words 3 
and sentences is not to he attempted until the vocal organs have 
been well drilled on elementary sounds and exercises * 
“ While, then, the mouth is being brought under control by the 
use of the visible speech symbols, the mind is to be educated 
by ordinary letters. The pupil must learn to read and write. 
“ I believe that George Dalgarno (in his work entitled ‘ Didas- 
calocophus, or the Deaf and Dumb Man’s Tutor,’ published 
in 1680,|) has given us the true principle to work upon when 
he asserts that a deaf person should he taught to read and 
write in as nearly as possible the same way that young ones 
are taught to speak and understand their mothei tongue. 
“We should talk to the deaf child just as we do to the hear- 
ing one, with the exception that our words are to be addressed 
to his eye instead of his ear. 
“Indeed, George Dalgarno carries his theory so far as to 
assert that the deaf infant would as soon come to understand 
written language as a hearing child does speech, ‘had the 
mother or nurse but as nimble a hand as commonly they have 
a tongue !’ 
“ The principles inculcated by Prendergast (in his ‘Mastery 
of Languages,’ 1864,J) and by Marcel (in his ‘ Study of Lan- 
guages, or the Art of Thinking in a Foreign Language,’ 18694) 
would, if applied to deaf-mutes, point to the same result and 
to the same method of teaching. 
“ The principles of Froebel’s Kindergarten method of teach- 
ing are applicable to deaf-mutes. 
“ Froebel believes that the natural instinct of the child to 
play should he utilized in his education. 
“ His ideas would seem to indicate that the successful teacher 
must appeal to the faculties of imagination and imitation, 
and encourage self-activity in his pupil. 
“ I propose, then, to blend the principles of Dalgarno and 
Froebel—to familiarize the child with ivritten language by 
means of play.” 
In pursuance of this plan the school-room was converted 
into a play-room, and language lessons were given through the 
instrumentality of toys and games. 
I was fortunate in securing the co-operation of a very excellent 
* Experience and reflection have led me to modify this principle, 
t Reprinted in the Annals, vol. ix, pp. 15-64. 
f Reviewed in the Annals, vol. xiv, pp. 193-204. 4 
teacher Miss Abbie Locke, now Mrs. Stone, of St. Louis 
Avith whose assistance George’s education was carried on. 
Every toy was labelled with its proper name. The different 
parts of the room, the articles of furniture, and the various ob- 
jects in the room were also all labelled, so far as possible. Each 
window had pasted 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- 
rack arranged to display from one to two hundred little cards, 
each about one inch square. 
Upon these cards were written from time to time the names 
of his toys, and of all the different objects for which he had 
invented sign-names. Most of his playthings 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 instance, he would fold his arms and beat his shoulders 
rapidly with his hands. This was his sign for “ doll.” The 
doll was accordingly produced, and his attention was directed 
to the word “ doll ” pasted upon the forehead. We compared 
this word with the words written 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—l would gene- 
rally be the successful searcher. Having found the proper card, 
we would play with it a sort of game of hide-and-seek, which 
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 again until he succeeded 5 
without my assistance. He was also much interested in my 
(pretended) unsuccessful efforts to find a card placed by him in 
the rack while my back was turned. 
George seemed to enjoy this game exceedingly, but we rarely 
continued it for more than a few minutes at a time, and even 
then we constantly varied the names sought for, so as to avoid 
monotony. 
In the beginning the cards were all blank, and the first day I 
filled 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 
became pretty familiar with all the names, and then each day 
two or three new names wTere added, until he had quite an 
extensive collection of words at command. 
2. When he became familiar with a few names I would get 
him to seek for 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 
mortification when the two did not correspond, and great also 
was his triumph when they did. 
I made a mental note of the names he learned by heart in 
this way, and then pretended not to understand his signs for 
the corresponding objects. 
For instance, I remember that one morning he came down 
stairs in high spirits, very anxious to play with his doll. He 
frantically beat his shoulders with his hands, but I could not 
understand what he meant. I produced a toy-horse ; but that 
was not what he wanted. 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 once 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 dinner-table, so that he might have written 
words at hand for everything he required to eat or drink. 
4. Another word exercise, pursued for a few minutes each day, 6 
consisted in the recognition of such words as “ stand,” “ sit,” 
“walk,” “run,” “jump,” etc., which were written upon the 
blackboard and illustrated by standing, sitting, walking, inn- 
ing, and jumping. 
The greater portion of our time was taken up—even from the 
first day—with the recognition of complete sentences, instead of 
single words. 
Sentence Exercises. 
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 writing and my arm ached. 
I emphasized words to his eye, and grouped them together 
on the board as I would have grouped them in utterance, leav- 
ing gaps here and there where one would naturally pause in 
speaking. In a word, I tried to exhibit to his eye all the rela- 
tions that would have met his ear, coidd he have heard my 
speech. 
I believed thoroughly in the principle announced by Dalgarno 
that it is the frequency with which words are presented to the 
mind that impresses them upon, the memory, and hence aimed 
at much writing as the accompaniment of everything we did. 
I followed up my blackboard conversation by a liberal use of 
pantomime, bearing always in mind the general principle that I 
had formulated for myself, viz., that the use of pantomime is to 
illustrate language, not to take its place. In carrying out this 
principle, therefore, I always wrote first and acted afterwards— 
avoiding the converse. 
As an example of these impromptu exercises, I will give an 
imaginary conversation just as I might have written it upon the 
board; 7 
A* Au/HcC fc ls< 
:T/.--.'/ 9>t^tji,m 
n. ‘«/-7' -*.* 
''t'iyC&lsiJf- c^.h^njL.. 
. ' &Ort< 6*>£ ■ /n-t'L eat 
r£*y£r . /tsCJLd ' 
A1* a %tt6i #a 
. ctvJg 
Specimen of Impromptu Conversation. 
dsc., ad libitum. 8 
2. Regular sentence exercises. These exercises formed a 
regular daily game, which could be varied ad libitum. A num- 
ber of directions were written upon the blackboard which were 
to be acted out. The game consisted in distinguishing one 
direction from another. 
For example, tlie following sentences might have been written: 
rm 
Aot*n*' 
<*n 
y //s // dtfwio?. 
3U & u 
We would then act out the sentences, 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 pointed to 
the sentence, “ Run round the table,” he might proceed to give 
the doll an imaginary drink of water! Under such circumstances 
I would laugh at him, and write somewhat as follows: “ No; 
that’s not right; you are giving the doll a drink of water !!” I 
would then point to the 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 his 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 their differences in length, and partly by the 
recognition of individual words. 
At first, however, the sentences were not recognized inde- 
pendently of their 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 
Writing. 
He was extremely fond of these sentence exercises; but 
when he played the master, he was not contented with merely 
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 scribbled 
all over the board, and then made signs for me to act that out! 
After consideration of the subject, I came to the conclusion that 
this was a clear indication that the time had come to teach him 
to write. The great difficulty in the way of doing this lay in 
the fact that at this time he did not know a single 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 surprising as it was 
gratifying. 
I 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 in his hand 
and allowed him to trace over what I had written. 
It is true that his first attempts resulted in rather ludicrous 
caricatures of the originals ; but he never forgot the meaning of 
a sentence he had traced over in this way a few times. 
The attempt to imitate my writing forced him to observe 
minutiae that had hitherto escaped his attention, so that sen- 
tences began to be recognized quite independently of 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 in his com- 
munication with others. He had not progressed sufficiently to 
be able to write without tracing, but he would often come into 
the school-room out of school hours for the purpose of taking- 
cards from the card-rack to give to servants or friends to make 
them understand what he wished. 
Spelling. 
The moment he evinced the independent desire 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 
teaching him his letters and a manual alphabet. 
For this purpose I adopted the plan, recommended by George 
Dalgarno, of writing the alphabet upon a glove. The arrange- 10 
ment of tlie alphabet I adopted is shown in the following dia- 
gram : 11 
This glove I presented to him one morning as a new play- 
thing. He put it on his left hand, and then went to the card- 
rack, as usual, and presented me with the word for some object 
he desired; we shall suppose the word “doll.” I then covered 
up the 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 found 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 a card from the card-rack I made him spell 
the word upon his fingers. 
Occasionally I would test his memory by requiring him to 
spell the word while I held the card behind my back. ’When I 
became convinced that he knew the word by heart I tore up 
the card. 
In this way, one by one, all the cards disappeared from the 
rack. For a long time he 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 his 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 while 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 
what 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 his 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 touched. 
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 the 
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- 12 
ance, leaving pauses, here and there, corresponding to the 
pauses made in actual speech. 
The more I used with him 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 and 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 Dalgarno) 
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 
vernacular, derived great assistance from the free use of the 
eye as an interpreter of words addressed to the ear, and that 
therefore my pupil would derive similar assistance from his eye, 
as the interpreter of words addressed to the sense of touch. 
In addition, therefore, to the “ regular sentence exercises ” 
and “ impromptu written conversation,” I would talk to him a 
great deal upon his hand. 
We 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 him 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. 13 
In all our conversations I was careful to employ natural and 
complete sentences, but liis first attempts at independent ex- 
pression (like the first independent utterances of a hearing- 
child) consisted of isolated words. 
The use of the glove alphabet was so little noticeable that I 
could talk to him very freely in a crowd without attracting 
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. 
From the moment he learned the alphabet I gave him regular 
writing lessons, so that he should form his letters properly and 
write with ease. I then made him keep writing materials about 
him, and encouraged him to use them constantly in communi- 
cating with friends. 
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 sorry that it did not occur to me at the time to preserve 
them for future reference. It was not until late in 1873 that I 
made the attempt to collect a few scraps of this description, 
and those that are preserved in my note-book possess great 
interest. 
I shall conclude this paper by the following specimens of his 
composition, which will show that at little more than six years 
of age this congenitally deaf boy had acquired a vernacular 
knowledge of the English language sufficient to enable him to 
communicate by writing with hearing persons. 
Specimens of Composition. 
1. July Ist, 1873. Scrap found upon the floor in his father’s 
house in Haverhill: 
Gurdon is sick to Haverhill in the other Boom in the sofa. 
2. August 14th, 1873. Letter to his mother, written from 
Brantford, Canada; 
Dear Mama 
The small cat loves the large cat. Mary will go to Haverhill. Grand- 
ma S— will go to Haverhill. I will go home in the train and let I 
will sleep in the cars. Mama and Nat and I will drive in Haverhill. The 
many flags is in Haverhill. I will go upstairs in Haverhill to flags. 
Richards and John and nurse and I and Mr. Bell will go home. After 
breakfast I will go to see Freddy, is sleep. I will Eat fast. I love Gur- 
don and auntie. 14 
3. November 3d, 1873. Scrap found upon the floor 
Are these mine ? there to see the letters? if you please ? Yes Dear 
Mr. Bell. 
4. November ±th, 1873. Two scraps containing a conversa- 
tion between George and myself : 
Mr. Bell. I think /you are tired and hot now, so we will be quiet and 
rest now. What does “rest” mean ? 
First scrap. 
George. “Rest” means stop. 
Mr. Bell. Yes, dear. It means “stop” or “still. 
George. Or “wait.” 
Mr. Bell. Yes. 
George. Please may I put a your handkerchief and be like an old 
woman. 
Note in my record-book: “ After playing for a while he re- 
membered that his grandmamma had made fun of him for pre- 
tending to be a woman, so he wrote 
Second scrap. 
I am not put on my towel on my head and be like an old woman and 
Grandma said not now Grandma will be so very sorry now. 
5. November 23d, 1873. Letter written by George to his 
mamma in Haverhill. No person saw this letter until it was 
finished. Everything in it, even to the emphasizing of certain 
words, is his own. The omission of capital letters can be traced 
to the too frequent use of the manual alphabet in jdace of 
writing: 
“this is Sunday to-day & to-morrow will be Monday, the people are 
going to church. Mary and Nat are grown by and bye.* john is not sick 
now. I lore daniel now. lam going to bed bye and bye. the kitten is 
alive.t Mr. Bell is reading the book but papa and mama are not coming to 
be glad and I matched the lamp on fire. I looked at my little watch from 
my ka. J we will not drive with Mr. Bell. I will say please may Ibe ex- 
cised. § grandpa is tired to drive very fast home, we are walk very fast 
and go to franks horse and drive the colt on Wednesday to see the eggs 
and hens and kitten and hay and cracker are on dog is not eat the kitten 
fall to die to the grave, and lam well and I think that Mr. Bell 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. 
t The kitten had been crushed behind a book-case and nearly killed. 
X “ 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. 15 
on cm my pocket to put the pretty to keys.* I looked at the kitten fast 
asleep on my straw, dan is going to the cow milk on Monday. 
your Roving 
from George 
6. December 14th, 1873. Another original letter from George 
to his mamma: 
Salem 
“ My Dear Mama 
Sunday Dec. 14 
‘‘ I think that Mr. Bell is sorry that I wrote that to say My Dear 
Mama.t 
“I am sorry that papa and mama are not coming back now. I think 
that Dan is going to church on Sunday with Ellen and Maggie now. By 
and bye Ellen and Maggie and Dan will come after church. Maggie will 
stay here with the house. Dan and I went out to the cow milked at the 
fair. It was dark and it is light, grandma is afraid but I will not go but 
tomorrow. Ellen is not afraid to see the cow too. I may not kick the 
cow with be sorry not glad to be still on Sunday but bye and bye mary 
and nat is going to bed. Bye and bye Dan will cut.f but grandma is 
reading on Sunday. I think that grandma has gone to church with Mr. 
Bell. Mr. Bell’s beard is coming now.§ is like are the calendar. lam 
the deers in Boston. |j The snow is stopping. The rain is not well but 
rain is sick but the snow is well. Mr. Bell is reading too. Grandma is 
not reading but after dinner it is the sun too. Haverhill is very far away 
over here, are papa stay in Haverhill. 
7. March 26£ A, 1874. Letter to Mrs. H , written without 
any assistance: 
Salem, Mass 
My Dear Grandma H 
March 26th 1874 
I have been to the stable. I am very Glad that Mary will come back 
tomorrow. I loves Grandma H . I love Grandpa H too and I 
have finished school before dinner. I have new wheel barrow and there 
* This referred to some incident with which I was not acquainted. He 
went through a pantomime about it, showing that there was some definite 
idea he wished to express, but no one could understand what he meant. 
t When George had written “ Salem, Sunday, Dec. 14,” he attracted my 
attention, that I might see he was going to write a letter. As he seemed 
in doubt to whom to address it, I suggested that he should begin “ Dear 
Mr. Bellbut he wrote “My Dear Mamma.” Upon which I looked very 
sorry, pretended to cry, and went out of the room, much to his amuse- 
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 seen me before I had shaved. 
|| He had been pretending to be a deer 16 
is Grandma’s pig in the stable. Maggie is not going to church but maggie 
is going to church on Sunday. Mr. Bell is writing to you, but lam busy 
to write to you too. I have a new doll. The dolls are sitting in Mary’s 
chair here. Nat has a old bird and the new piano.* Mr. Bell has a new 
piano in Boston and play with me and Lilly t I am laughing at you. I 
am not laughing at Grandpa H . I have been the ladies last night and 
many days.J I love Maggie. I love Maggie dear pet. I must not go 
near the horse because the horse is large and I may go near the cow. 
slept in the train from Canada, but now I am in Salem. I will go to 
Haverhill in a few days. Isa is upstairs sewing. She is not finished 
sewing. 
Your loving 
George T. S.” 
t Mr. Bell had a new piano in Boston a long time ago and played for me 
& Lilly. 
* A toy bird and a toy piano. 
X “ There were a number of ladies here a few days ago.” The American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb is a quarterly publica- 
tion appearing in the months of January, April, July, and October/ Each 
nuipber contains at least sixty-four pages of matter, principally original. 
The subscription price is $2.00 a year, payable in advance. For foreign 
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scriptions and all other communications relating to the Annals should be 
addressed to the Editor, 
E. A. FAY, 
National Deaf-Mute College, 
Kendall Green, 
Washington, D. C.