I said 'Yes,' to that; and asked him whether the fall had
had anything to do with it. He said, taking me up very short, it had
everything to do with it, because the fall had made her, what they
call, stone deaf, which prevented her from hearing the sound of her own
voice. So it was changed, he told me, because she had no ear now to
guide herself by in speaking, and couldn't know in the least whether
the few words she said were spoken soft or loud, or deep or clear. 'So
far as the poor child herself is concerned,' says he, 'she might as
well be without a voice at all; for she has nothing but her memory left
to tell her that she has one.'
"I burst out a-crying as he said this; for somehow I'd never thought of
anything so dreadful before. 'I've been a little too sudden in telling
you the worst, haven't I?' says the old gentleman kindly; 'but you must
be taught how to make up your mind to meet the full extent of this
misfortune for the sake of the child, whose future comfort and
happiness depend greatly on you.' And then he bid me keep up her
reading and writing, and force her to use her voice as much as I could,
by every means in my power. He told me I should find her grow more and
more unwilling to speak every day, just for the shocking reason that
she couldn't hear a single word she said, or a single tone of her own
voice.
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