[130] This spirit is illustrated in many ways, perhaps most strikingly in the case where a deaf man seems likely to be debarred from some public position because of his want of hearing, when the deaf promptly rally to his support. We have already seen their action in connection with the order of the Civil Service Commission. Sometimes candidates for office have been asked to state their views on this subject. As a further instance of mutual assistance among the deaf may be mentioned the raising of relief funds for deaf sufferers in other localities in times of some great disaster. [131] In Ohio and Pennsylvania the state societies manage homes for the aged deaf, as we have seen; and in Virginia the state association supports a special missionary to the deaf. In Pennsylvania there are many county sections of the state body. In a number of centers a leading association is that of the alumni of Gallaudet College. [132] There has also frequently been discussion of a federation of the various state and local organizations. See Proceedings of National Association of the Deaf, iii., 1889, p. 14; ix., 1910, p. 25. [133] Such churches are now in New York, Philadelphia and Wheeling, under Protestant Episcopal auspices; in Milwaukee under Lutheran; and in Baltimore under Methodist. Special church buildings are also in contemplation in other cities. Funds for these churches are raised by the deaf with the assistance of their hearing friends. In the Roman Catholic Church there is a special organization of the deaf, founded in 1910, and known as the Knights of l'Epee. [134] There have been about thirty such publications created, the first of which seems to have been begun in 1839, and the second in 1860. See especially "Periodicals Devoted to the Interests of the Deaf," by the Volta Bureau, 1913. See also _Volta Review_, xii., 1910, p. 456; Proceedings of National Association of the Deaf, ix., 1910, p. 45. The present publications are: the _Deaf-Mutes' Journal_, of New York, a weekly; the _Observer_, of Seattle, a bi-weekly; the _Frat_, of Chicago, a monthly; and the _Pennsylvania Society News_, a quarterly. [135] Those now existing are: the _Catholic Deaf-Mute_, of New York, under Roman Catholic auspices; the _Silent Churchman_, of Chicago, under Protestant Episcopal; the _Silent Herald_, of Chicago, under Methodist; and the _Deaf Lutheran_, of Milwaukee, under Lutheran. CHAPTER VI POPULAR CONCEPTIONS CONCERNING THE DEAF VIEWED AS A STRANGE CLASS The position of the deaf in society is yet to be seen from another standpoint. The question may be asked, How does the public at large, how does "the man in the street," look upon the deaf? Are the deaf viewed merely as so many people deprived of the sense of hearing, in whom also the power of speech is often wanting? Or is there superimposed upon this a feeling, owing perhaps to the supposed isolation of the deaf, that they are in other ways a peculiar class of beings?