Skip to main content

Full text of "Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii"

See other formats


" STAMMERING-SCHOOLS "                 301

and years of time had failed to secure for me, a perfect and per-
manent cure. ... I found that I had wvolved (!) a method
which would cure other unfortunate sufferers, who were being
dragged back by some invisible monster, whose claws sank
deeper day by day, and caused much sorrow, pain andunhap-
piness." l

And thus another cries Eureka:

{t In the remarkably short period of ten days I found that I
had not only succeeded in entirely eradicating every vestige
of my former difficulty, but had also evolved a method of cure
that must sooner or later crown with new hope the sorrowful
lives of many disheartened stammerers."2

And yet another vision of light:

" Walking through one of our lovely Worcestershire lanes,
and, as was my custom, talking aloud to myself and carefully
watching every trip of the tongue, I suddenly became conscious
of one action in speech which is imperative before freedom of
utterance can be obtained. . . . When I returned home, I
talked to my people, I read to them, I recited poetry; indeed,
I scarcely knew what I did, I was so overjoyed. I was like a
child with a new toy, and I felt like a new being." *

It is these various secrets and discoveries that the
stammerer is asked to buy. Rarely indeed can he
ascertain anything definite concerning the system.

Another inducement frequently offered to stam-

1 The discovery: rhythmic speech and the "word-measurer."

* The discovery: time-beating,

* The discovery; Initial inspiration through the mouth, and control
of the breath.   See "Representative English System" (p. 258).