Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1879 — STUTTERING. [ARTICLE]

STUTTERING.

The Afflictions of h Young Man With an Impediment In Hie Speech, “ It don’t bother me,” he said, ‘‘except when I get excited, or have been taking a little too much to drink. 1 could sit down and talk to you for an hour without stuttering; but it got me into an awful scrape a while ago. You see, I was going home on last Thursday night —” “On Friday morning,” I suggested. “ No—l was early enough that time. Not later than eleven o'clock. Just after I turned into Spring street I met a party of three men, who had been drinking pretty hard. They seemed to be strangers in the city, and there was no doubt that they had lost their way. “ They stopped as I came up, and one of them, a big, broad-shouldered man, faced me and addressed me in this style: “‘Will you p-p-please to t-t-tell me the way to C-c-c-canal street?’ “ When I perceived that he stuttered I was afraid that there was going to be trouble; but what could I do? He would have been sure to go for me if I had tried to pass on without answering, and I was ashamed to turn and rurf away. I felt that I was getting excited, and was sure that a fit of stammering would follow; but I tried to keep cool, and blurted it out in this shape; “ ‘ There is B-b-broadway, and Canal street is f-f-four blocks farther down.’ “ I know that niy face turned red, but don’t believe it was near as red as his. He was as wild as a tornado. “‘Y-y-young man,’ said he, ‘you are t-t-trying to m-m-m-mock me.’ “N-n-no, 1 ain’t,’ said I, more excited thaujjver. «P-p-p-pou my word, I ain’t.’ “‘You lie!’ he shouted, as he was ■too mad to stutter any more, * and I mean to teach you better manners.’ “With that, before I could either run or dodge, he hauled off with that big fist of his and lot me have a thumper right between the eyes, just where the black was bound to spread finely on both sides of my face. 1 thought that lightning had struck me, and felt as if my head was caved in, or my nose broken, at least. He dropped me another on the left cheek, while I was gazing at a street full of stars, and then one of the fellows with him took a hand in the game, or a foot, and lent me a kick that landed me on the other side of the gutter. “After that I don’t know what happened, until one of my friends found me somewhere up town, wandering about like a blind man. ■ He asked me what was the matter, and I begged him to take me to a doctor. He got some raw oysters, which I put to my eyes, and then took me to a doctor, but I couldn’t get any leeches, and it may be a week or so yet before my face recovers its natural color.” I sympathized again with the young gentleman, but asked him whether he had not sense enough to refrain from trying to talk to stuttering men. “I ought to have,” he replied, “aa I never fail to get into a scrape when I do it; but I can’t seem to help it” I asked him whether there wete many stuttering people in New York, remarking that 1 seldom met any person who was afflicted in that way. “ I should say there were,” answered Billy, “by the way I meet them. But l suppose it will be just my confounded luck to run across every stammerer on this side of the Atlantic, sooner or later.’Li. ; ■ , ' “Are they very sensitive?” “ Sensitive is no name for it. They flare up in a minute, and are ready to go raving mad if they suspect anybody of mocking them. It is because I know how touchy they are that I try to steer clear of them, but it is not al ways that I have sense enough to succeed. Sometimes the devil gets hold of me and drives pae into a stuttering match when I know that I ought to keep out of it. Not long ago I was in a bar-room town, wnere there happened to bo nobody I knew. I had been drinking rather more than was good for me, I suppose, and felt rather lonesome and liberal. “Down the counter was another young chap who ’was pretty full, and was trying to stand off the barkeeper for one more drink. I noticed that he stuttered pretty badly, and wanted to fraternize with him. So I thought that I would invite him to join me, though I hadn’t the least idea that I_would stutter over it. But this was the way it came out: v “ ‘ Y-y-young f-f-feller,’ said I, ‘won’t you t-t-take something with me?’ “Of coarse he made sure that I was mocking him, and he turned and went for me like a Royal Bengal tiger. I am happy to say that I ran a little '< faster than he did, and 1 didn't stop, after 1 had reached the sidewalk, until . I had put. several. Mocks Between nap and the bar-room.” „' “ That was your fault,” I Ventured to suggest •

“Yes, that was my fault,” said Bill; “but it happens sometimes when no mortal being could possibly prevent It. One'Oii' my saddest adventures in that line occurred to me last winter. 1 was at a ball one night, a real nioe ball, and was enjoying myself remarkably well. There was a verv pretty young lady at tfie ball, of good family, a fine dancer and quite the rage, to whom I was anxious to be introduced. I secured an introduction without much trouble, and asked her for the pleasure of a dance with hor, in my sweetest manner and without the slightest shade of'a stutter. She graciously assented, and handed me her tablets, on which "There was plenty of room, as the danoing had just begun. “‘Pleaso to p-p-put your came down,’ said she, * f-f-for whatever dance you prefer.’ “ What a pity it was that she stanw mered so! What a pity, too, that I didn’t h*Ve sense enough to put my name down where I wanted it without saying a word! But I was sure that I could speak without stuttering, and this is what I said: “‘ 1 will t-take the f-f-first waltz, if you p-p-please.’ “ ‘ Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,’ and, of course, she supposed that she was scorned. I don’t think that my face could possibly have been redder than hers was just then, but I know that it burned like fire. “ ‘How dare yob m-m-mock me?’ she exclaimed, as the sheet lightning shot out of her eyes. ‘ You are n-n-no gentleman, and I wish my b b-b-big brother were here, to p-p-punish you as you deserve.’ “ Wnat could I do? I tried to explain the trouble to her, but I stuttered worse than before, and she only got madder and madder. She called the floor-manager, told him that I had insulted her, and asked him to order me out of the ball-room. But he happened to be a particular friend of mine,and he assured her that I had an unfortunate impediment in my speech, and succeeded in pacifying her. I doubt whether she more than half believed him, as she not only refused to dance with me, but would never after that speak to me, nor even look at me.” I condoled with the unfortunate young man and remarked that his unpleasant adventures might be exceptional. “Do you believe,” I asked, “that the stuttering of one person begets in other persons a propensity to stutter?” “Of course, it does. You see how straight I am talking now; but if you should begin to stutter, I don’t believe that I could keep from chiming in, and 1 suppose it is the same with others.” “And do all stutterers, when they are answered by stutterers, imagine that they are being mocked?” “Every mother’s son of them, and every mother’s daughter, too. I don’t believe they can help it It is as natural as for sparks to fly upward. Even those with whom I am well acquainted, knowing that I usually speak straight enough, suspect me of putting up a game on them if I stammer in their presence. That reminds me of the saddest event of my life. I don’t like to talk about it, but will tell you the story, as you take such an interest in the matter. Not long ago—never mind just when—l fell in love with a girl who lived in Twenty-third street. She was just as sweet and nice as you ever find them, and I was struck just dead gone. We met at a number of balls and sociables, and got on together splendidly. There was such a complete understanding between us that we were as good as engaged; but it was necessary that I should see her father and get his consent —not to the engagement, but to what you may call the proper preliminaries. Although I was so well acquainted with the girl, you' see, I haa not the slightest acquaintance "with her parents, and had, never met her at home. So I had to call on her father, and ask his permission to wait on the girl, in the usual proper style, you know. Mary Ann promised to post him up about me, and to smooth the way for me, as I felt somewhat embarrassed about the business. “At the appointed time 1 called on the old gentleman, who was in the insurance business, and pretty well fixed. I was shown into the parlor, and he came in smiling. Mary Ann had the way, as she promised to, and everything was lovely. He had heard a good account of me, from some source that probably wasn’t well Informed. “ I was as cool as a cucumber, and plainly told him what I wanted, in as few words as I could respectfully use, and without the slightest suspioion of a stammer. “We got along very weft together, though I would have been glad to get away, as 1 know when I am well off, and was afraid that something might happen. Fortune seemed to be smiling a little too fresh, as a fellow may say. But he was half crazy about that girl of his, and was # very fond of . talking about her. So we fought it out on that line until he got excited and, great heavens! he stuttered. This is the way he came at me: ‘“ Well, young m-m-rpan, so you want to wait on my g-g-girl, d-d-do you ?’ “What could I do! I was bound tp answer, and a nod or a wink wouldn’t do. Yet I was as sure that 1 couldn’t help stuttering in speaking to him as I was that I sat in that chair. If I had only known previously that he was liable to stutter I would have asked Mary Ann to explain my failing to him, so that there might be no trouble; but, of course, she hadn't said a word about that or any of my other failings, and there I was. “ There was nothing for it but to jump in, and yop may bet that the cold shivers ran over me before I jumped. I hesitated a bit, trying to keep as calm as possible, and then I let out and did about the roughest job of stuttering that ever got any poor devil into trouble. , •“I would be g-g-g-glad to,’ says I, ‘if I c-o-c-oan have your p-p-p per-per-per—get it out alter a while—p-p-pern. mission.’ * “His face turned blue, and I thought he was going to have an apoplectic fit; but it was another kind of fit that was on him. “ ‘ You infernal scoundrel!’ says he, too mad to stutter, like all ibe rest of them, ‘ haver you come here to insult me*” y “I couldn’t explain; I might as well have tried to explain to a can of nitroglycerine when it has made up its mind to explode. 1 rose from my chair and made for the door, but the too of his boot was a little quicker than I was, and it caught me, and huTried me up oonsideraldy; yet I didn’t move fast enough to prevent him from putting in aooupl9.niOTe ficsfoolass kieks before I got out of the front door. He threw my hat out on the sidewalk after me, and 1 was so oompletely overcome that

I went up an alley and had a regular cry, like a school-girl. “ The next day I received a note from Mary Ann, accusing me of having insulted her father shamefully, and declaring that she would never speak to me again. She kept her word, too.” Again I condoled With the unfortunate young man and supplied some liquid for lubricating his throat after so much speaking. • ' “Yee,” said he, “it was too b-b-blamed bad. Let’s have some m-m-m-m-mpre beer.” “It won’t do, Billy,” said I; “you are becoming excited, and you might meet another stutterer and get into trouble again.” Thanking him for the information he had imparted to me, I went my way?— Brooklyn (AT. Y.) Eagle.