[125] See Appendix A for table in respect to the homes for the deaf. In connection with the scheme of homes for the deaf, it is interesting to note that there have been one or two suggestions for colonies for them, though such have never been taken seriously. One was by a deaf man in 1860 in the form of a memorial to Congress for the creation of a deaf-mute commonwealth. See _Annals_, viii., 1856, p. 118; x., 1858, pp. 40, 72, 136; xxix., 1884, p. 73. See also "Facts and Opinions Relating to the Deaf from America", 1892, p. 182; Proceedings of National Association of the Deaf, i., 1880, pp. 36-39. Farm colonies on a small scale for poor deaf-mutes have also been considered occasionally, but little further has ever been attempted. See _Deaf-Mutes' Journal_, Aug. 8, 1912; Sept. 12, 1912. CHAPTER V SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE DEAF SOCIAL CLEAVAGE FROM THE GENERAL POPULATION The preceding chapter has dealt with the economic possibilities of the deaf, and the extent to which they stand alongside the population generally. The other side of the shield in relation of the deaf to society is now to be presented, that is, how far their want of hearing will count in their participation in the social life of the community. While the deaf man may be an active component in the economic and industrial life of society, yet his inability to hear and his frequently consequent inability to speak stand in the way of his prompt and continuous partaking in its social life. He may, and does, have many friends among his neighbors and acquaintances, but in the discourse between man and man which forms such a large part of the interest and delight in living, he is unable to join. There is usually at hand no ready and rapid means of communication as there is between two hearing persons in conversation, and his intercourse must necessarily be slow and tedious. The privileges of his church he cannot enjoy; in his lodge he misses the fellowship which is one of its fundamental ends; in few forms of convivial entertainment can he take part. Thus seeking an outlet for those social instincts which charge through his being, the deaf man finds himself among men, but as though surrounded by a great impenetrable wall against which their voices break in vain.