February 9, 2026
DEAF MUTES AT DANCE.
They Feel Music, Floor Carrying
Vibrations to Their Feet.
Deaf and dumb people are "like the rest of us" except that they dwell apart in a world where there is eternal silence. Just because their language is not ours it does not mean that they do not have a good time occasionally, a truism which was demonstrated last night when seventy of them had a genuine masked ball in the A. O. U. W. hall at Ninth street and Michigan avenue.
The few visitors who attended the hop saw exactly what anyone sees at a function of this kind -- men and women gaily disporting themselves in all kinds of ludicrous costumes. There were smiles and laughter, perhaps, even, flirtations. The eyes behind the ashen mask of the clown sparked brightly through the peep holes at the lustrous orbs of the queen of spades or the kilted chorus girl. Only the hands, quick, sentient members that fluttered constantly, telling stories the tongue was intended to convey. Outside of this slight difference it was all that could be expected of a masked ball.
Miss Mary Annett was the funniest girl on the floor. The three judges decided this with a single gesticulation apiece. She was petite and pretty. An outsider would not have said "funny" but "interesting" in describing her.
She was tricked out in a blue gingham union suit of enormous proportions. As she glided easily to the tune of a waltz, her feet answering in some occult fashion the vibration of the music conducted to them by the floor boards, she was often applauded, but never laughed at. Mary got a hand-painted cracker bowl as a trophy.
Mary had two sisters present who rivaled her for grace and dress. They were Elda and Edna Arnett, both older than she and able to talk.
Leslie B. Honien, dressed as Happy Hooligan, was the funniest man. Honien is a printer. He had "pied" his costume. "Pied," by the way, is a technical term meaning "generally mixed up, presumably by accident."
Others who shared in the prizes awarded were C. O. Duffield and Leonora McGinnis. Goldie Marksbury played the piano.
The remarkable thing about the dance was that everyone knew how and followed the music, despite the fact that they were unable to hear a single note. The floor carried the vibrations to their feet.
The dance was a benefit given under the auspices of the Association of the Deaf. The returns, amounting to $60, are to go to the education of the deaf and dumb.
The judges were the Rev. J. Koehler, Charles Minor and Frank Laughlin.
Labels: dancing, hearing impaired, Michigan avenue, Ninth street
