People are also prone to think of the deaf as an unhappy, morose or dejected class. Professor E. T. Devine in his "Misery and its Causes" (1909)[140] enumerates the deaf, among other classes, as embodiments of misery--"not for the most part," he is careful to state, "personally unhappy," but rather with reference to their imperfect senses. This view is clear enough, and in one sense is doubtless correct; but it does not express the entire situation in respect to the deaf. While their deafness must always be a serious and distressing affliction, and even handicap and burden as well, and while the deaf must often bemoan their fate, it yet seems to be true that the deaf as a lot are not "unhappy." They are good-natured, see the world from an odd angle sometimes, yet are as much philosophers as the average man; and when in the company of their deaf associates are able to derive fully as large a portion of happiness as any other group of human beings. The deaf are cheerful, swayed by the same emotions as other mortals, responsive equally to all the touches of life, and are not, at least in these days of education, a morbid, brooding, passionate folk, as is too often the popular judgment. VIEWED AS A DEPENDENT CLASS In some quarters the deaf continue to be looked upon as one of the dependent classes of society. Mr. Robert Hunter in his "Poverty" (1904)[141] under the head of "Dependents and their Treatment" places the deaf and dumb as "absolute dependents." Such views, however, are no longer general, the deaf having themselves demonstrated to what extent they are a self-supporting part of the community. But where this belief is still shared, the deaf are thought in many cases to be in need of aid or public charity; or at any rate to be economically inferior to the rest of society. Deaf pupils in the schools, for instance, are often referred to as "inmates" or even as "patients," not only by the public but by newspapers as well; and the schools themselves are often spoken of as "asylums" or as charitable institutions.[142] This nomenclature is hardly defensible on any ground, and by it the education of the deaf is not even given its true status. As a further illustration of the general feeling, though rather of different order, may perhaps be cited the attitude of the general insurance companies toward the deaf. Though some of the companies accept the deaf at their regular rates, a number refuse them altogether, while others limit their liability or demand an extra premium.[143] This is largely because of the fear that the deaf are more liable to accidents than other people; but in point of fact the deaf seem to be a long-lived people, and it is likely that with greater statistical knowledge concerning them, most of the discrimination would cease.[144] NEED OF A CHANGED REGARD FOR THE DEAF