Alexander Graham Bell: Master of Sound #7 by Ann Hood Read Free Book Online

Melly told her.
    She climbed the winding staircase to the next floor, waiting for the others there. A large chandelier hung above the narrow hall, where two doors sat shut. The smell of gas hung in the air.
    Melly reached the landing and went to open the door for them. With his hand on the knob, he turned to Maisie.
    “Weren’t you the lot at the performance last night?” he asked her.
    Maisie nodded.
    “Did you forget to tell Father that you were here for a lesson?”
    Maisie hesitated, then nodded again.
    Melly seemed to accept this, as he opened the door and let them inside, calling to his father as he did.
    Professor Bell and Aleck came into the front sitting room, both of them looking harried.
    “They’re here for lessons,” Melly explained.
    “Now?” Professor Bell said. “But we have to get Aleck off to the train in a few hours.”
    Without waiting for anyone to reply, Professor Bell said, “Very well,” as if he’d made up his mind right then. “Hang up their coats, Melly, and tell your mother to send out some tea. And biscuits?” he added, directing this question to the children.
    “Yes, please,” Rayne said through a yawn.
    “Aleck, maybe you can help me out here,” Professor Bell said.
    “I’m happy to take a break from packing my trunk,” Aleck admitted.
    Professor Bell retrieved a large poster from one corner of the room. He took some time placing it on an easel and adjusting it so that everyone could see. As he set this up, Mrs. Bell came into the room with a tray. On it was a large teapot, six cups, and a tray of sweets as well as a pitcher of cream. She set it on the table, then poured cream into each cup before filling them with tea.
    “Please,” she told the children, who eagerlyreached for the sweets first.
    As soon as she left the room, Professor Bell faced the children, their mouths full of cake.
    “Visible Speech,” he said, tapping the poster. “Here are the thirty-four symbols that show every sound a human mouth can make.”
    At the top of the poster was a line drawing of a face, with an arrow pointing out of the mouth.
    The bottom was a confusing array of charts and figures. Felix tried to make sense of it, but he couldn’t.
    “In a moment,” Professor Bell said, “Aleck and I will do a little demonstration. But first, Aleck, would you recite something to show the children here what good elocution sounds like? Watch his lips and tongue as he speaks,” he directed.
    Aleck stepped forward. He cleared his throat and lifted his chin, throwing his shoulders back.
    “How doth the little busy bee,” he began, “improve each shining hour? And gather honey all the day, from every opening flower.”
    “His lips definitely looked different for different letters,” Maisie said.
    Professor Bell nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! That is why I believe my system can teach the deaf tospeak. And if they can learn to speak, they’ll be allowed to go to school and to get jobs.”
    “Shall I?” Aleck asked.
    His face showed how proud he was of his father’s system. Felix thought of his own father, how proud he’d feel when he and Maisie would come to his studio and he could show them his latest paintings.
    Aleck left the room, and Professor Bell took the poster off the easel and rested it on a table so that they could still see it. He replaced it on the easel with a large pad of paper.
    “Give me some words,” he asked them.
    “Rain,” Hadley said.
    “Cake,” Rayne said, taking the last piece from the plate.
    “Good!” Professor Bell said, busily writing symbols on the paper. “Another?”
    “Home,” Felix said.
    The professor called for Aleck to return.
    “Here I’ve written your words in my Visible Speech symbols. Aleck, can you read the words?”
    Aleck looked at what his father had written. To Maisie, the symbols looked a little like Greek letters and a little like the iron from her Monopoly game.
    But Aleck quickly said, “Rain. Cake. Home.” He added,