o hearing
persons in conversation, and his intercourse must necessarily be slow
and tedious. The privileges of his church he cannot enjoy; in his lodge
he misses the fellowship which is one of its fundamental ends; in few
forms of convivial entertainment can he take part. Thus seeking an
outlet for those social instincts which charge through his being, the
deaf man finds himself among men, but as though surrounded by a great
impenetrable wall against which their voices break in vain.

Placed, however, with his deaf fellows, he discovers himself in a
different situation. He soon learns that by the use of that language of
signs so largely employed by other deaf men, and of which he in a short
time becomes master, he is able to converse with an ease and quickness
fully as great as by that means of which he has been deprived. Hence he
ceases in large measure to carry on his social intercourse with the
hearing, and turns to his deaf comrades; in them he builds up an
approximately congenial companionship and fellowship, and to them he
looks largely for his means of social diversion. With them he feels a
close bond of sympathy, and is moved to co-operate with them, and to
stand with them when their mutual interests are concerned. In time
associations in various forms come to be organized among them. In such
wise is realized the desire of the deaf as of all men to commune with
their fellows.

DESIRABILITY OF ORGANIZATIONS COMPOSED OF THE DEAF

By some people societies or organizations composed exclusively of the
deaf have been opposed, or at least looked upon with disfavor. This is
because it has been felt that it is not well for the deaf to form a
class apart in the community, and that unless discouraged the practice
will cause intermarriage among the deaf, which may result in an
increasing number of deaf people--a matter to which we have already
given attention.

But in combating this tendency of the deaf to organize among themselves,
we are really unmindful of an elemental sociological principle, that
like-minded persons are prone to congregate, and will seek to form
purposive societies and associations, exemplified as well in a boys'
athletic club, in a church sewing circle, in a lodge of free and
accepted masons, as in a "league of elect surds."[126] If "clannishness"
is the outcome, it must be accepted only as the necessary consequence of
the infirmity of the deaf, in the practical affairs of life such men
being bo