TEACHERS OF THE DEAF AND BLIND. 69

their pupils' difficulties. I do not recollect having met any teacher of the deaf or blind who was not a model of sympathetic patience. This remark is almost unnecessary, inasmuch as their possession of these qualities might be inferred from their having chosen this kind of teaching as their life-work. They may have thought that it would be interesting, but they must have seen that it would be exceedingly difficult. This applies with greater force to the teacher of the Ideaf than to the teacher of the blind. It may be matter of opinion whether to be blind or to be deaf and dumb is the greater calamity, but, as a question of education, of mental health and balance, I am quite convinced that the deaf-mute is the greater sufferer. He is more difficult to teach and more isolated; a wider gulf than in the case of the blind separates him from continuous, interesting intercourse with his fellows. He can, no doubt, read, and, if of intellectual type, will reach a higher level of culture than the blind man, who may not have an attendant who can read to him as often as he wishes. But only relations or intimate friends of the deaf person will take the trouble to write, sign, or spell out on the fingers any but important matters. He has therefore little share

in the commonplace but interesting topics of daily life, which are as essential for mental as digestible food is for bodily health. Of him as of others it is true that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. By reading he will ameliorate the sadness of his life, but he will not get rid of the feeling of isolation, which is seldom the lot of the blind, who can freely take part in the interchange of opinions about subjects of general interest, which contribute so much, if not to culture, at any rate to the enjoyment of life. We accordingly find that the deaf-mute is usually a sadder, more suspicious, and less contented man than the blind. I have asked a good many blind persons whether they would prefer to be as they are or be deaf and dumb. The invariable answer, from both the cultured and the comparatively uneducated, has been that they would far rather be as they are. An old woman, who has been an inmate of Edinburgh Blind Asylum for about sixty years, put the matter in a nutshell in reply to my inquiry,-"The mind is aye fresh when the lugs are open."

The abnormal development of one sense or faculty, as in some sort a compensation for the absence of others, is well known. I have seen

FACULTIES ABNORMALLY DEVELOPED. 71

two very striking examples of this in the same asylum. One was a boy and the other a girl, both completely blind, and both largely imbecile. The boy, who is now fourteen years of age, has an ear for music so abnormally developed that he possesses the rare talent of "absolute pitch."

If he is taken into a room and a note is struck on a piano, he will at once name the note. Take him into another room where the piano is at a different pitch, and he will name any note that is struck. Further, if all the ten fingers are struck down at once on the keyboard of an organ or piano, he will begin at the top note and name downwards every note struck. One day this remarkable power was turned to good account. When one of the organ pupils was playing, the swell-coupler went out of order, and, when pulled out, caused several notes on that manual to cipher (sound) without depressing the keys. None of the students were able to distinguish the notes in the resulting discord. In their difficulty they sent for this semi-imbecile boy, who at once enlightened them and the defect was remedied.

The girl, who was eight or nine years of age, was an inmate for several years but was ultimately sent home as hopelessly unteachable, and yet

she had the remarkable faculty of being able to tell instantly on what day of the week any date that could be mentioned would fall. Three or four years ago, when the Lord High Commissioner (Marquess of Tweeddale) and his suite visited the asylum, I gave each of them a separate card of all the months of the year. To every date they mentioned the girl gave at once the day of the week on which it fell. I tried her with the dates of the three preceding years with the same results. She made only one slip, and immediately corrected herself. She has not been taught, for the best of all reasons that the teacher has not the slightest idea how she does it. When asked how she does it, she replies apparently in the most brainless tone, "I don't know."

OLD PARISH SCHOOLS.

73

CHAPTER IX.

OLD PARISH SCHOOLS CANDLEMAS CHANGED CUSTOMS -M. BIOT'S ESTIMATE-PARISH SCHOOLS' RELATION TO THE UNIVERSITY-FIRST SCOTTISH CODE-"NO USE PUMPING WHEN THE WELL'S DRY" SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH GRADUATES COMPARED-A STICKIT MINISTER.

SOME reference to the old parish schools and to some of the methods and customs that have long passed away is germane to these scholastic jottings. The contrast in respect of buildings and equipment between them and the schools erected by school boards is very striking. The modern demands for a certain number of square and of cubic feet per child were in many cases neither thought of nor provided. The desks were often double, the pupils facing each other —an arrangement admirably adapted for making discipline difficult by offering temptation to unnecessary talking and general restlessness. These desks were in many cases flat tables, which did not contribute to good penmanship. Steel pens