Gaillard in Deaf America by Henri Gaillard

Author:Henri Gaillard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
Published: 2016-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

The Conference

After the dinner we were taken to the Elks Club. This is an Irish-American secret society that had kindly loaned out its huge meeting hall to the deaf. The meeting had been organized by the Albany section of the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, or the Frats. In all haste they had convoked everyone they could reach. When we arrived on the stage, the deaf men and women, some hundred in all, were seated on rows of chairs facing each other, the curious seating arrangements that are modeled on the British House of Commons. Only the chairman, that is, President Bailey, was on the stage with us, our other hosts also being seated in order of rank in a single row.

Mr. Bailey introduced us. An ovation of raised arms received us and increased in agitation. Mr. Bailey opened the meeting by singing America the Beautiful in rhythmical signs. Then Mr. Frank E. W. MacMahon, of Troy, signed the Marseillaise. This was a revelation for us. His signing was ample and spirited and it progressed in time with his foot that soundly tapped the beat. The public had risen for the signing of the two national anthems. A tempest of applause followed Mr. MacMahon’s performance.

Then, we gave our brief signed speeches in turn. Here, as elsewhere in the course of our journey, we said roughly the same things, with variations and longer and shorter treatment of specific topics on the reciprocal and century-long affection between the two countries; France’s great appreciation for America’s intervention in a war of justice; homage to President Wilson, to the Gallaudets, to the progress accomplished by Americans, and in particular to deaf education; reflections on advances made by deaf Americans that the French had reason to envy; on the certainty of victory; on the hope, after the war, of working together in closer fashion to improve the lot of the deaf of the entire world.

M. Pilet emphasized mutual assistance programs, M. Graff deaf organizations and clubs. M. Olivier particularly engaged the interest of the public with his account of the capture of the city of Rheims by the Germans, its recapture by the French army after the battle of the Marne, his long stay in the city under siege, the bombing of the cathedral, and the destruction of the city. He had the secret of kindling the anger of his deaf public, to such a point that Mr. MacMahon, who had returned to the stage, undertook with energetic, irritated, and vengeful signs a denunciation of German barbarity as no other deaf person could have done it. He was answered with unanimous applause.

Mr. Morin, the vice president, explained everything that Americans owed to France, in particular from the point of view of the education of the deaf. “Bravos!” showed to what extent he reflected the sentiments of those present.

Philip Morin had a very French name. He said that he was from Canada. He had been in Hartford where his cordiality and concern for our well-being had made a very positive impression on us.

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