Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — Made to Speak. [ARTICLE]

Made to Speak.

Last week Miss Nellie Bullard, of Waycross, Ga., was dumb. To-day she talks fluently. The cause of her being speechless was cleft palate, a misfortune from birth. Her voice is clear and her words are- uttered distinctly. This change has been wrought by means of an artificial palate obturator made of vulcanite and rubber. It was made by a dentist of that city. Formerly Miss Bullard experienced great difficulty in swallowing. The dentist learned of her misfortune, and after making an examination decided to try an experiment. For several weeks he has worked on the artificial palate obturator. Last week it was completed. Miss Bullard came on a visit to her relative, Colonel R. C. Cannon, and she was presented with the palate obturator as a free gift. It was adjusted in her month, and for the first time in her life she uttered a word. Like a little child, she began to talk from the simplest words in common use until to-day she converses freely with her friends. Miss Bullard is seventeen years of age, and is pretty.