sewing, shoemaking, sign-painting, tailoring, wood-working, and the use
of tools. The most common of all are carpentry, sewing, printing,
farming, shoemaking, and painting. In most of the institutions papers
are printed to afford practical instruction in printing, as well as to
give local news of interest. These papers are published weekly,
bi-weekly or monthly. A number of the schools, especially those in
agricultural states, also have small experimental farms in connection
with their industrial work, and dairy farming and truck gardening are
often given particular attention.[569]

FOOTNOTES:

[546] In America the one-hand alphabet is used practically altogether,
which is also the case with most of the countries of Europe. In England
the double-hand is employed mainly. Finger-spelling, as well as
sign-making, is very old with the human race. The Egyptians, Greeks and
Romans are said to have made use of a system of finger notation. In the
Middle Ages monks in their enforced silence often resorted to a finger
alphabet. Dalgarno, one of the early English writers on the deaf, had an
alphabet in which the letters were represented by parts of the hand. See
J. C. Gordon, "Practical Hints to Parents concerning the Preliminary
Training of Young Deaf Children", 1886, p. 34ff.; W. R. Cullingworth, "A
Brief Review of the Manual Alphabet for the Deaf", 1902.

[547] For a description of the sign language, see J. S. Long, "The Sign
Language: a Manual of Signs", 1910. See also _American Journal of
Science_, viii., 1824, p. 348; _Annals_, i., 1847, pp. 55, 79; v., 1852,
pp. 83, 149; vii., 1855, p. 197; xvi., 1871, p. 221; xviii., 1873, p. 1;
xxxii., 1887, p. 141; lvii., 1911, p. 46; Proceedings of American
Instructors, ii., 1851, p. 193; iv., 1857, p. 133; vii., 1870, p. 133;
xii., 1890, pp. 100, 171; Report of New York Institution, 1838, p. 14;
1840, p. 17; American School, 1856, p. 18; California School, 1875, p.
24. See also "The Deaf: by their Fruits," by the New York Institution,
1912.

[548] Against the arguments to abolish the sign language, it is claimed
that signs are free, and are as natural to the deaf as spoken words to
the hearing; that with certain of the deaf, especially the congenitally
deaf, they are all but indispensable; that they cause mental stimulation
as cannot otherwise be done; that the acquisition of speech requires a
great amount of time, which is often needed for other things; that the
voices of many