ALS signed “A. Graham Bell,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8, June 24, 1873. Handwritten letter to "Mrs. Sanders," reporting on the progress of her son, "George" whom he is instructing at his school for the deaf. In part: "Dear little Georgie progresses so beautifully with his Articulation that I cannot help writing to let you participate in my delight. We have just overcome a great difficulty in the thorough mastery of the vowel etc.
This sound, besides giving him the power of pronouncing an immense variety of words, is the key to all the other vowel sounds. We have striven hard, for over a month to perfect it and it is now so thoroughly mastered, that Georgie pronounced perfectly naturally this morning a number of words like the following 'pea, bee, me, see, speak, beef, feet, &c &c.' He also articulated for the first time to day the word 'I.' The letter S is now done so well that the difficult double consonants ps, ts, fs, th, sp, st, sf, sth, are done easily. Indeed George's whole progress is most encouraging.
In regard to his mental development you can see for yourself what an immense stride forward he has taken. There is certainly not a deaf child in America who can show such wonderful progress in such a short length of time. I am perfectly delighted with him. I see a great deal more of him now than I have ever done before as I have relinquished all my private pupils so as to have my afternoons and evenings free." In fine condition.
In 1867, Alexander Graham Bell became an assistant to his father, Alexander Melville Bell, who had invented the phonetic 'visible speech' system for teaching the deaf. In 1871, Bell began teaching his father's system upon his arrival in Boston in April 1871, and by the spring of 1872, he was providing the same training to teachers at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Mass., and the American Asylum for the Deaf in Hartford, Conn. In 1874, Bell began printing the ‘Visible Speech Pioneer,’ a periodic publication that provided helpful information to various institutes for the deaf. He would also serve as professor of vocal physiology and elocution at Boston University during the 1870s.
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