Oh, how happy she was
the first day I wrote down on her slate that I wouldn't worry her about
speaking any more! She jumped up on my knees--being always as nimble as
a squirrel--and kissed me over and over again with all her heart. For
the rest of the day she run about the room, and all over the house,
like a mad thing, and when Jemmy came home at night from performing,
she would get out of bed and romp with him, and ride pickaback on him,
and try and imitate the funny faces she'd seen him make in the ring. I
do believe, sir, that was the first regular happy night we had all had
together since the dreadful time when she met with her accident.
"Long after that, my conscience was uneasy though, at times, about
giving in as I had. At last I got a chance of speaking to another
doctor about little Mary; and he told me that if we had kept her up in
her speaking ever so severely, it would still have been a pain and a
difficulty to her to say her words, to her dying day. He said too, that
he felt sure--though he couldn't explain it to me--that people
afflicted with such stone deafness as hers didn't feel the loss of
speech, because they never had the want to use their speech; and that
they took to making signs, and writing, and such like, quite kindly as
a sort of second nature to them.
Pages:
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160