Adventures in Silence

For some years I have considered writing a book concerning the life of the deaf or the “hard of hearing.” It is hard to understand why our peculiar and interesting life in the s...

The Nature of the Journey to the Silent Country—Substitutes for Perfect Silence—Sounds of Nature Companionable—The Direct Attack—“Just As I am”—Compensation in Idealized Memorie...

Head Noises—The Quality Probably Depends on the Memory of Sounds Heard in Youth—The Sea and the Church Bells—“Voices” and Subjective Audition—Insanity and the Unseen—The Rich Dr...

The Beginnings of Deafness—The Cows in the Corn—Re-adjustments—The “House of the Deaf”—Spirits of the Past on Our Side—The Course in Philosophy—The Reverence of the Ignorant Her...

Early Adventures—From Boston to the West—The Milkman and the Ear Trumpet—The “Milk Cure”—The Office of the Apple—Cases of Mistaken Identity—The Prohibitionist and the Missing Un...

The deaf man may not excel in conversation, but he is usually strong on reflection. He has plenty of time, for his life is roughly divided into three chief periods, working, sle...

I have often been asked if deaf people of middle-age can safely be entrusted with the bringing up of a little child. That depends—both on the grown people and the child. General...

We all have our pet aversions, and with deaf people the popular candidate for this position is the man who is positive that he can cure the disease. The “hope-deferred” period c...

The Deaf in Social and Business Life—The Partially Deaf—Endeavors to “Get By”—The Yeas and the Nays—Fifty Cents or a Dollar?—The Safety of the Written Word—The Indian and the Wh...

Some years ago we planted a hedge at the end of my lawn. For years I could sit at the dining-table and look over it. At night I saw my neighbor’s window-light, and by day I coul...

The average man does not begin to realize how sadly he has neglected the training of his vocal organs. I have known men who have less than half the articulation of a bullfrog to...

Telephone Difficulties—Seeing and Believing—Bell and the First Telephone—Choosing Intermediaries by Professions and Appearance—When the Bartender Beat the Preacher and the Farme...

Music—Beethoven in the Silent World—And Milton—Our Emotional Desert—Dream Compensation—The “Sings” in the Old Farmhouse, and the “Rest” for the Weary—The Drunken Irish Singer in...

Looking Wise and Saying Nothing—Passing Encouragement Around—The Critic and the Short Skirts—The “Lion” and the Honest Deaf Man—How Reputation and the Deaf Man Overtook the Hon....

Some deaf persons make the mistake of concluding that the affliction chains them at home and that they should not attempt to travel. This is wrong, for they thus lose many extra...

The Training School for Robbers—Eavesdroppers Who Heard Not a Word—The Fox and the Wolf—The Murderer—The Plans for Eloping—Regarding the Deaf as Uncanny—The Narrowness and Preju...

Imaginary Fears, Stuffed Lions and Bogus “Wild Men”—Sound as Stimulating Emotions, Even of Animals—The Brazen Courage of the Deaf—The Rum-crazed Men—The Overflowing Brook—The Dr...

The Terror that Flieth by Night—’Gene Wilson in the Dark Silence—How He Fought off Insanity—Childhood Fears—The Cat in the Garret—The Blind and the Deaf at the Dark Railroad Sta...

When a man becomes convinced that he is definitely headed for the silence, he must make up his mind whether he is to be a grouch or a gentleman. The word “grouch” has not yet be...