Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1901 — They Were Whispering. [ARTICLE]

They Were W hispering.

A conspicuous corner in the business district of Chicago is a favorite resort of deaf-mutes on Sunday afternoons. Here they meet for a social hour, often to the great amusement of the passers-by. One interesting incident of these weekly reunions is reported by the Chicago Tribune : Two men were at soipe distance from the others. They werfi standing three feet apart and talking energetically in the sign language. One of them leaned over to the other, grasped his coat lapels and drew him toward him. When they were close to each other the second man caught hold of the other’s coat, and they Cood face to face. From where the other deaf-mutes stood it was Impossible to see the movements of their bands. Intensely interested in the performance, one of the spectators, who was not a deaf-mute, took out a pencil and a piece of paper and wrote this question, which be handed to the mute: “Why are you two standing away from the rest and talking with your fingers hidden behind your coats?” The mute read the question and scribbled the answer: “I am telling him a secret, and we don’t want the others to hear.”