child the mother
should remember that the child draws his impressions of the character
and the feelings of those about him from the expression of their faces,
and many almost unconscious little acts and gestures. Avoid very
carefully any appearance of being impatient, or bored, or contemptuous
at his failures. Try to understand the difficulties under which he is
working to maintain his place in the world. Do not humor his whims, or
spoil him by indulgence, yet treat him with the greatest consideration
and fairness. Above all, be cheerful and, at least apparently,
interested in his doings and sayings.

XVI

SCHOOL AGE

The question of what is "school age" for a deaf child is answered very
differently by different people. Most of the state institutions for the
deaf in the United States, Canada, and Europe will not admit children
younger than six years of age. Seven years is still the age of admission
in some institutions, but the tendency is to lower the age limit. In
some schools children of five are admitted, in a few those as young as
four, and in two or three small schools babies of two and three are
received. Any statement here must, therefore, be taken as only the
expression of the author's opinion, resulting from more than twenty-five
years of active teaching, combined with wide observation.

It would appear that, where home conditions are not bad, either
physically or morally, the proper place for the little deaf child till
he is nearly, or quite, five, is with his mother. Very much can be done
for the little one before he is five to prepare him for the instruction
which should be given at that age, but it is possible for the mother to
do what is necessary, and even the simplest home conditions are
preferable for very little children to the institutional environment. It
is impossible, in a school of from one hundred to five hundred pupils,
to create a real home environment, such as the very little child should
have. It is really a pity that the child of five should have to be
placed in the institutional environment as it at present exists. If the
legislative bodies of our states, and the gentlemen who manage the
schools, could only be induced to adopt the cottage plan of housing in
small units, the disadvantages of institutional life would be enormously
reduced.

XVII

ORGANIZED EFFORTS BY PARENTS TO OBTAIN BETTER EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS

It should be possible for every taxpayer in every st