Trying to Get Information Under

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1914, 11 October 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

Trying to Get Information Under

The following lnmdunc well illusUdles the dulfieulties ot doaf mute& in more waya than one among those who are unacquainted with them, their ways and then 1 language : One day in Augudt a deat mute artiat happening to be near South Mountain, went to visit the famous battle field Autiecam. After toiling for hours up to Turner's Gap he came back within sight ol a lonely cabin on the mountain top. Through the open door could be seen a woman, already advanced in >ears, with a hooked nose on which a very ancient pair of " specs" were suspended. Sue waB a very hag in appearance. The ohair she sac in was a rickety-looking affair, as venerable as the old dame herself. She was reading a book which seemed to have stood the wear and tear ot hali a century. The artist walked in and bowed to the ancient dame, who returned his curious gaze with interest. He took out his tablet and wrote. "Is this the place where the battle was fought ?" and handed it to the old lady. She looked alternately at the tablet and at the writer as if she could not understand what wad wanted. He then wrote siugly the word 3, " cannon ',' battle," lt soldiers," underscoring them, but all to no purpose — she still did not understand him* Sne now began to eye him suspiciously and to move away from him in a line with the old broom, which was stowed away in a comer — He now resorted to drawing — drawing a good likeness of a battle. The ancient beldame stared more suspiciously than before at^the hasty sketch, and continued to put as gieat a distance between herself and the intruder as possible. The artist warf at his wits' end, when a brilliant idea struck him. Acting upon it at once, he described a battle in pantomime, imitating the thunder of the cannon and the meeting of the hostile ranks, when he suddenly stopped short in his description at seeing the old lady hobble along as fast a3 her aged lima would permit to the corner, where she hastily seized the old broom. He quickly made his exit without waiting for the answer. W.