4

The Commencement of School Duties

Thursday morning, the time in which active school duties were to commence, Carrie was placed with the other girls who stood in a long line in the large study room. After each one had been assigned a place in the line, they all marched in single file through the girl’s sewing room, which adjoined their study room, and so downstairs and on to a large building adjacent, which they entered. Passing through a corridor, they mounted a flight of steps, at the top of which a door, to the left, led into the chapel, a spacious room, lighted partly by rows of windows extending along two sides of it, and partly by an immense skylight above. There were rows of long, dark-colored benches, commencing in front of and near an elevated platform, and rising gradually from it, each successive bench being about a foot above the level of the preceding one, thus affording a free and unobstructed view of the platform from remote parts of the room. Into this room the girls marched slowly, while through the door on the opposite side of the room a long line of boys were also slowly entering. After all were seated—the boys on the left and the girls on the right—a neatly dressed gentleman came into the room, mounted the steps of the platform, and, turning to the assembled throng, gazed into their pleasant faces for a few minutes; then, smiling, he made a few quick motions, which had the effect of bringing answering smiles to many faces. Carrie did not comprehend the remarks that produced this effect, but her bright eyes followed intently his every movement. Going to a small round table he opened a large Bible that lay upon it, turned the leaves slowly, then paused, as if reading. Next he took a crayon from a wooden box on the table, and going to one of a number of large slate stones, which were ranged along the wall on that side of the room, he wrote a few sentences. Laying down the crayon, he straightened up as if bracing himself for his task, and began a series of odd but graceful gestures, now and then stepping back a pace and drawing his finger slowly along underneath some of the words he had written on the large slate, then resuming his gestures. Presently he paused, stood a moment as if in quiet contemplation, then stretched forth his arms, with the palms of his hands opened and turned upward. At this motion all the boys and girls rose quietly to their feet, and stood gazing intently at him, while, closing his eyes, he again, but more slowly and with a certain air of reverence, resumed his silent and expressive gestures. Thus he continued for some minutes; then, bringing the palms of his hands together, he moved them slowly forward, and in obedience to this silent “amen” the boys and girls resumed their seats. Thus closed the first morning’s service in the chapel.

The boys and girls now, class by class, filed slowly out of the chapel, going from thence to their respective schoolrooms to begin their tasks. Carrie was conducted into a large room. The first things noticeable upon entering this room—because of their novelty—were the large slate stones, in heavy wooden frames, ranged around two sides of the room. These slates, about two and a half by five feet in size, served the purpose of the common blackboard, to which they are far superior. There were about twenty of these slates in the room, designed for the use of the pupils. On another side of the room was a still larger slate for the teacher’s use. A large double desk, with a row of chairs on each side of it, extended down the center of the room. This, with a small table and an armchair for the teacher, completed the furniture.

Upon Carrie’s entrance she found a number of boys, apparently ranging in age from ten to eighteen years, seated along one side of the extension desk. She was shown to a seat at one end of the desk, and then discovered that she was the only girl in the class. Her new teacher—a gentleman not deprived of the senses of hearing and speech—had not yet learned the language of the deaf and dumb; therefore, he was assisted, at the beginning of his duties, by Mr. Hale, a deaf-mute gentleman of experience, as a teacher. Mr. Hale took a crayon from a box and wrote the word cat on the teacher’s large slate; then turning to the class he pointed to the word with his finger and made a motion, as if pulling his mustache, with both thumbs and forefingers. Then he stroked the back of one hand with the other, in the same way that a person would stroke a cat’s back. This was the sign for “cat.” Next Mr. Hale wrote cow, and, closing all his fingers except the little fingers (which were held up stiff and straight), he placed his thumbs on either side of his head, thus making of his hands a sort of imitation of a cow’s horns. Then he made the motion of milking. This completed the sign for “cow.” The word bird was next written; and putting his thumb and forefinger to his mouth in the position of a bird’s bill, he next spread out his arms, moving them to and fro in imitation of a bird’s motion in flying. This was the sign for “bird.” Writing the word hog, he placed one hand (the fingers of which were held straight) under his chin, and made a movement something like that made by a hog when rooting in the ground. Then he placed one hand high enough above the other, to indicate the size a hog ought to be. This was the sign for “hog.” These strange motions made Carrie laugh; but she was afterwards to learn that all kinds of objects and also a great number of the words used in the English language were distinguished by some sign.

By this time the novelty of the gestures or motions had so enchained the attention of these new learners that they watched with ever-increasing interest every new motion, sometimes trying with creditable effort to imitate their teacher. But these motions were only the introductory step to the lesson. Having finished them, Mr. Hale took a book full of pictures of common objects, with which every child of ten years of age or over is supposed to be familiar. This book also contained many short sentences, and a few very simple stories relating to the pictures. Among the many pictures in this book he soon found one representing a cat. Then he pointed to the word cat on the slate. Next, book in hand, he went from one pupil to another, showing them the picture, sometimes stopping and pointing again to the word on the slate and then to the picture, to help some slow intellect to comprehend that the word was the name of the animal represented in the book. Some of the more wide-awake and intelligent among them looked at the picture for an instant, nodded their heads knowingly, pulled imaginary mustaches, and stroked one hand with another, showing thereby that they understood the relation of the word to the object. Each of the names of the other objects that had been written on the large slate was explained in the same way; but before this task had been quite accomplished the noon bell rang, and the pupils were dismissed to prepare for dinner.

After dinner a half hour was allowed for recreation; then the pupils were again marshaled into line and proceeded, class by class, to their schoolrooms for two hours more of schoolwork. In Carrie’s schoolroom the forenoon’s exercises were resumed.

When the time for closing school for the day drew near, Dr. Mayhews, the superintendent, entered the room and laid upon the teacher’s table a number of paper-covered books. Each of these books—which were copies of the annual report of the Board of Trustees of the institution—contained, among other matter, copies of two alphabets for the deaf and dumb. One of these was called the “one-hand alphabet,” and the other the “two-hand alphabet.” Dr. Mayhews directed the teacher to distribute these books to the pupils, with instructions that they must commit to memory all the letters of the one-hand alphabet. “The two-hand alphabet,” he said, “is not used in our schools, and therefore need not be learned by the pupils.” The teacher, in obedience to these directions, distributed the books, and, with Mr. Hale’s aid, explained to the pupils that they were to learn to form the letters with their fingers, as shown in the book. Then school was dismissed.

Carrie thought she would be free for the remainder of the day, but she was doomed to be disappointed; for scarcely was she out of the schoolroom when she was taken in charge by one of the older girls, who conducted her to the sewing room, where she found the other girls were assembling to take lessons in sewing. She was given a coarse linen towel to hem, and, sitting down on the bench pointed out for her, rather unwillingly began her task. Presently one of the girls noticed that she was sewing with her left hand. This fact was communicated to the seamstress, who came to Carrie’s side, took the needle from her left hand, and placed it in her right one. Carrie took a few awkward, uneven stitches with this hand, and then defiantly returned the needle to her left hand and continued her work unmolested.

Thus the time passed until the small hand of the clock indicated the hour of five p.m., at which hour all needlework was gathered up and laid away, and Carrie, quitting her seat, ran swiftly downstairs and out upon the smooth lawn, where, with others, she indulged in pleasant and healthful pastimes until the supper hour came. The waving of a white handkerchief from one of the many windows signaled to some of those wandering about out of doors the fact that supper was ready. Those who saw the signal immediately, in turn, signaled to those who had not noticed it, and soon all hurried to the study rooms, where they took their places in line. Then came the march to the dining room. This being Thursday, the supper consisted of plenty of good, fresh bread, butter with just a hint of age about it, prune sauce, two cakes for each, and tea—the invariable bill of fare for supper on this day of the week. After supper another half hour was allowed for recreations, which were carried on indoors.

At seven o’clock p.m. all who were not already there were summoned to the study room, now brilliantly lighted by twelve gas jets. Here they took their accustomed seats at the many desks, and under the supervision of a teacher, commenced the task of preparing their lessons for the following day. Carrie laboriously formed with her fingers—all unaccustomed to the exercise—letter after letter of the one-hand alphabet until she came to the last one; then, after a short pause, recommencing the task, she with more ease formed them again. Thus over and over again the rows of quaint characters were repeated, until she remembered almost all of them. At eight o’clock p.m., she and the other small girls were excused from further study and conducted by a supervisor up to a large dormitory, which, with its soft, white beds, scrupulously clean, and its other neat appointments, looked very inviting. Carrie being tired, fell asleep in a very few minutes after she laid her head upon her pillow and slept soundly. She was awakened early the next morning by a gentle shake administered by the supervisor, and having, with some assistance, dressed herself neatly, she, with other girls, went below to a large washroom, where from a faucet she obtained cool, clear water with which she bathed her face and hands. Then, after combing her hair—for the performance of which she was obliged to borrow a comb, not having one of her own—she went to the study room. Soon the summons to breakfast came. This meal always consisted of bread, butter, hot coffee with plenty of milk and sugar in it, beefsteak—sometimes rather too tough—and gravy.

Breakfast over, the girls were sent upstairs to make their beds, which they were required to do very neatly. Then the various rooms, staircases, and halls were swept and dusted by girls specially chosen to perform these duties, while those otherwise unoccupied were sent to the sewing room to resume their needlework.

At eight o’clock the bell rang as the signal for all to prepare for morning service in the chapel. Work was then laid aside and, again, all repaired to the chapel to, “in dumb significants,” thank God for the mercies and help already given and to plead for the bestowal of fresh mercies, strength, and help for the proper performance of the day’s duties. Then the schoolroom tasks were once more taken up.

Carrie now had three new classmates of her own sex, who had arrived the previous day. The object exercises begun the day before were resumed. After a while a box of crayons was passed around, and the pupils were sent to the large slate blackboard to try to copy the words written upon the teacher’s slate. This proved a rather awkward task for most of them, and the words they laboriously formed were but poor imitations of the neat characters on the teacher’s slate; yet the teacher saw in them the germs of future success, and he smiled approvingly. There were some among them who were so unused to the task that after a few ineffectual attempts they gave up in despair, seeing which the teacher, to encourage them and teach them the proper way to operate, placed the crayon in proper position in the hand, which he then assisted to form the words. While thus proceeding on his round of inspection, giving a hint here and a lift there, he found Carrie awkwardly tracing the words in straggling, disproportioned letters on her slate with her left hand; and with a gentle remonstrance he promptly took the crayon from her left hand and placed it in her right. This new posture at first made her efforts still more awkward and difficult; but partly from a sense of duty and partly from the fear of being again corrected, she persevered in the use of her right hand, and gradually found the task of writing with this hand growing easier.

The day passed with the usual round of duties. The night hours, too, glided swiftly away, and with the dawn of Saturday morning the inmates of the institution again commenced their accustomed duties. At eight o’clock the chapel bell summoned the busy throng from their work to chapel devotions; again, when these were ended, did the boys and girls repair to their schoolrooms. Then the lessons studied Friday evening were recited. Carrie and her classmates were, one after another, called to the teacher’s desk to repeat from memory the twenty-six letters through the medium of the one-hand alphabet. In the performance of this task some of them made but few mistakes; others could remember scarcely any of the letters. While these novices in language were exhibiting their newly obtained and meager knowledge of the “a, b, c’s,” other classes were receiving an outline of the Scripture lesson designed for the coming Sabbath. At ten o’clock a.m., school for the day closed and work was immediately recommenced, the girls going to their sewing and the boys proceeding to their tasks of learning trades in the cabinet shop or shoe shop connected with the institution, or in making splint bottoms for chairs, or doing odd jobs of work. Thus they continued until nearly noon, when work was stopped and all prepared for dinner.

Saturday afternoon was always a half-holiday, so many of the older boys, after their weekly bath, arrayed themselves in holiday attire, and with the superintendent’s permission, wended their way to the city in search of amusement. The small boys and the girls both large and small were denied the privilege of spending their holidays in the city; so, after the indispensable warm bath, they were obliged to devise ways and means for passing away the time. Some of the more provident and tidy spent most of this time in repairing and arranging their wardrobes; a few read; some wandered aimlessly from place to place; some employed the time in writing letters; others played various games or engaged in conversation; and so the afternoon hours, one after another, slipped silently by. As the sun approached the western horizon the boys were seen—some alone, others in company—returning from the city; and by the time the supper hour came all had returned, tired and hungry and ready for the invariable supper for this day, which was bread, butter, cold beef, crackers, and tea. After supper all amused themselves as best they could until half-past eight o’clock, when all retired to rest.