Thought-Stammering, but this is not true. Instead I found his to be a
bad case of Spasmodic Stammering, in which the convulsive action took
place immediately upon an effort to speak and which resulted,
therefore, in the inability to express a sound--the "sticking" tendency
so common to stammering and particularly to this type.
While the worry over his stammering had left him in a mental state that
made him impotent so far as normal mental accomplishments were
concerned, still the removal of his stammering by the eradication of
the cause would, I felt, entirely relieve the condition of mental
flurry and stop the nervousness.
The case was so urgent that the boy's parents decided to place him for
treatment immediately. The results were so gratifying as to be almost
unbelievable. By the end of the first day's work, the boy's whole
mental attitude was changed. His outlook on life was different. He felt
the thrill of conquering his difficulty and before many days, he was
working like a Trojan to make his cure complete and permanent. At my
suggestion, he remained with me for seven weeks, at the end of which
time he went back East, entirely changed in every particular. He was
smiling now, where before he seemed to have forgotten how to smile. He
was full of life, enthusiasm and ambition--no one who had seen him the
day he first came here, could realize that this was the same boy that
entered a few weeks before with the desire-to-live almost extinct.
There are hundreds of cases riot far different from this--I have cited
the case of this Polish boy to show what a complete transformation is
made in the mental state by a few weeks' work along the right lines.
Case No. 87.522--Here was a case of a type that is very, very common.
It was that of a girl, 17 years of age, from a good family,
well-educated and having all the marks of careful training in a home of
refinement. The most marked characteristic of her case was the tendency
to recur. In other words, she was an Intermittent Stammerer, who had
believed (as had her parents) that the tendency to get better was an
indication that she would soon outgrow the trouble. "If Marie still
stammers by the time she is 18--" this had come to be almost a
household word, for if she stammered at that time, it was the intention
of her parents (so they said) to have the girl placed under treatment.
As was to be expected, she continued to stammer and continued to get
steadily worse, although the tendency to be better and worse by turns
was maintained throughout the years. The periods of improvement were
eagerly seized by her parents, year after year, as indications of
out-growing, while the periods of relapse were seldom spoken of and
usually ignored. It was another case of the old saying that: "We like
to think that the thing will happen which we want to happen," and since
they wanted the daughter to outgrow her trouble, they insisted in
believing, despite their own unexpressed fears, that the daughter would
"eventually get over it!"
She did not get over it, however, and the critical age of 16 brought on
a condition so severe that her parents became alarmed about her and
sought advice as to what should be done.
An examination of her case brought out the fact that she had probably
inherited a predisposition to stammer, but that the immediate cause of
the trouble had been fright, caused by a nurse who had tried to
discipline the girl when small, by telling her that the "bogey-man"
would get her if she didn't do certain things as told. This
disciplining by means of fear is never a safe procedure and in this
case had been carried to extremes on many occasions, finally resulting
in the child becoming a stammerer.
She had a case of Genuine Stammering in its second stage and, according
to her own statement at the time the examination was made, had become
much worse in the last two years. At age 15 it seems that everyone felt
secure in the belief that her trouble would pass away, but at age 17,
the condition became critical, the disorder having previously passed
into the second stage.
Two and a half weeks worked a wonderful improvement in the girl's
condition, at the end of which time she was compelled to return to her
home on account of a death in the family. She remained at home for
almost a month, after which she returned to me to complete the cure.
Even under such an unusual and unfavorable circumstance as this, she
remained with me the last time only four weeks, and has, according to
her report, never stammered since, nor has she been oppressed by the
overpowering sense of fear that formerly seized her when she thought of
trying to talk.
Case No. 84.563--This case first came to my attention over ten years
ago, when I was called upon to make a diagnosis. This showed the
trouble to be a case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering, originally
caused, it seemed, from having associated with an old man who was
janitor in a wood-working plant belonging to the father of the boy
whose case I am describing. The janitor had stammered ever since anyone
about the place had known him and probably all of his life. In his
early days, with his youth to carry him on, he had tried to hold down
several jobs of consequence, but with varying success, dropping down
the ladder rung by rung until he reached the place of janitor. The boy
in question, having associated with the old man, early acquired the
habit of mocking his defective speech, with the result that he himself
soon began to stutter, which later turned into a combined form of
disorder known as Combined Stammering and Stuttering.
He came to me at the time he was 28, having found it necessary to go to
work on his own account, upon the failure of his father's business. I
explained to him that his was a case of Combined Stammering and
Stuttering, outlined to him the probable course of his trouble and what
he might reasonably expect if he allowed it to continue. Having been
married only a short time and being rather reluctant to leave home for
the length of time necessary to take the course, he decided to postpone
treatment until some later date. I heard nothing more from him for
almost three years, when he walked in one day, looking like a shadow of
his former self. There were dark rings around his eyes, his gaze was
shifty and I could hardly believe that this was the young fellow who
had seen me three years ago. Nevertheless it was the same man, with a
story that pointed out the danger of postponement. His trouble had
become steadily worse, he said, until it had ruined his control over
himself. He had become nervous, irritable and cross, without meaning to
be so, had lost one good position after another and finally, as a
climax to a long string of misfortunes, his wife had left him,
declaring that she would not put up with him in such a condition.
A second examination revealed the fact that his stammering had
progressed so rapidly since he had last talked with me, that it was now
perilously near the stage known as Thought Lapse. His control was not
entirely shattered, however, and he was accepted for treatment. It was
something over two months before he was back in shape again, but those
two months did a wonderful thing for him, for it put him in first-class
physical condition, removed all traces of his impediment and restored
the mental equilibrium which had been so long endangered. Later, as a
result of his restoration to perfect speech, his family differences
were adjusted, and at the last reports, he was making splendid headway
in a business of his own. Such is the power of stammering to
destroy--even home and happiness itself--and such the power of perfect
speech to build up again.
Case No. 465.722--This was the case of a man born in Ireland, who came
to this country as a boy, and the original cause of whose trouble was a
blow over the head in a street fight soon after landing in America.
When he came to me, he was 52 years of age and not only had one of the
most severe cases of Spasmodic Stammering I have ever seen, but was in
the first stages of Thought Lapse. He was practically speechless all of
the time and his trouble instead of manifesting an Intermittent
Tendency as it had formerly done, was now constant, indicating that he
was in the chronic stage of his difficulty. Aside from his Spasmodic
Stammering, he seemed unable to think of the things which he wished to
say. In other words, his trouble had been affecting him so long that he
had lost the power to recall and control the mental images necessary to
the formation of words.
I not only gave him the usual examination but applied the special Bogue
test, both of which convinced me that his case was far into the
incurable stage. There was little or nothing I could do for him at that
late date and so I told him. He acted as if dazed for a few moments,
and when the full force of the truth dawned upon him, it was as if a
cord had snapped and broken. Hope was gone. He was an incurable--and
knew it now, only too well. And as he turned and left me, I knew from
the droop of the shoulders and the hang of the head, that life meant
but little to him now. He was merely waiting--waiting for the last page
to be written and his book of despair to be closed.
Case No. 34.444--This young woman was very talented, had a beautiful
singing voice and could not understand why she was unable to speak
fluently when she could sing so well. The cause of her trouble was
distinctly mental and did not lie in any defective formation of the
vocal organs but rather in a lack of co-ordination between the brain
and the muscles of speech. In her case, the speech disorder had not
materially affected her health, although she admitted it had impaired
her power of will and her ability to concentrate. Six weeks put her in
good condition and gave her the opportunity to use her beautiful voice
to excellent advantage in speaking as well as in singing--much to her
satisfaction.
Case No. 667.788--This man came to me for assistance and relief from a
severe case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering. He shook like a leaf
when he talked, was very nervous, and could hardly sit still. His
speech was marked by loose and hurried repetitions of syllables and
words, alternating with a slow and seemingly dazed repetition of words,
as though he did not know what he was saying.
In a few moments, I learned that he was a habitual alcoholic, that he
was acquainted with the Delirium Tremens and that he frequently went
upon sprees lasting a week, which left him a physical wreck. He had no
backbone, there was no foundation to build on and his case was declined
as incurable, not altogether from the condition of his speech, but
because it is useless and hopeless to attempt treatment of the
stammerer who is also a chronic dissipator.
Case No. 34.343--This was the case of a young man who came to me at the
age of 17. He was one of the type that "seldom stammer." He explained
this to me and told me that many of his friends were not aware of the
fact that he stammered.
I gave him an examination and found his trouble to be a case of
Combined Stammering and Stuttering in the second stage. He was of the
Intermittent Type and at intervals his trouble became very bad, at
which times he made it a point not to go out among his friends--one of
the reasons which made it possible for him to say that his friends did
not know of his speech trouble.
This young man came to me hoping that I would tell him that his trouble
was not severe and that he would outgrow it in a few years. I was able
to tell him that at the time his case was not an extremely bad one, but
I knew that instead of being outgrown it would become ingrown, and I so
told him.
But he decided to postpone action until some later date, feeling sure,
despite what I had told him, that he would outgrow his stammering.
Four and a half years later, he came back. This time he did not say
that his friends knew nothing of his trouble. He was in bad condition,
his "seldom stammering," as he had called it, was chronic now and the
painful expression on his face when he tried to talk was ample proof of
the condition in which he had allowed himself to get. His trouble had
passed into Genuine Stammering and was of a very severe nature. There
was no thought of postponement in his mind at this time and he placed
himself for treatment immediately. Eight weeks' time saw his work
completed, with excellent results. His fear was gone, his confidence
renewed and his health greatly improved, in addition to being able to
talk fluently.
Case No. 66.788--Here was the case of a man of 30, a preacher, who
found no difficulty in preaching to his congregation, from the pulpit,
but whose trouble immediately got the best of him the moment he went
down into the church and attempted to carry on a conversation
individually. This became so embarrassing to him that he finally gave
up the idea of passing through his congregation, but satisfied himself
with standing at the door and greeting them as they passed out. This,
too, he was later compelled to give up on account of his speech,
although during none of this time did he have the slightest trouble in
delivering his sermons.
His was a case of Genuine Stammering. The mental control when he was in
the pulpit was almost normal. Talking to individuals, this control was
quickly shattered. He placed himself for treatment after having secured
a brother-pastor to fill his place for two months. He was a good
student, obedient to instruction, concentrating on his work with a
creditable energy. As a result, in five weeks' time, he found himself
able to talk to anybody under any condition without the slightest
sticking or fear. He could talk over the telephone and was master of
himself under the cross-fire of conversation which in his previous
state had bothered him so seriously.
Case No. 48.336--This is a case that represents a very common type of
Combined Stammering and Stuttering, and a type that is not so quickly
cured as might be imagined. This was a young man of 18, who not only
stammered but stuttered. His speech disorder, however, was further
complicated by a bad habit of prefixing a totally foreign word or sound
to the word or sound which he found it difficult to pronounce. "B" was
one of his hard sounds and in speaking the sentence: "We expect to
leave Baltimore," he would say: "We expect to leave
ah--ah--ah--Baltimore."
The fear of failure which caused him to acquire this habit of speaking,
led his friends often to think that his mind wandered, although as a
matter of fact, he was a very bright young fellow, without a single
indication of Thought Lapse.
I diagnosed his case as Combined Stammering and Stuttering, and
explained to him that he represented a type of stammering that might be
called the "Prefix Stammerer" because of their habit of prefixing every
hard sound with an easy word or an easy sound, even to the extent of
losing the sense of the sentence--so great is the "Prefix Stammerer's"
fear of failure.
He placed himself for treatment, and although his trouble was
complicated by this prefixing habit, seven weeks put him in good shape.
He forgot his fear of failure, found every word an easy word and every
sound an easy sound. He learned to talk fluently again and returned to
his home, both physically and mentally improved.
Case No. 98.656--This was the case of a rather arrogant young man from
a good family, who was too proud to admit that he was a stammerer.
Rather it should be said, he was too foolish to admit it. He was
well-educated and with the store of words at his command, succeeded for
some years in concealing the fact that he stammered. This he
accomplished by the substitution of words. That is, words beginning
with those letters that he could not utter were not used. If his
sentence included such a word, he quickly substituted another word of
somewhat similar meaning, but beginning with a letter that he could
pronounce correctly. This substitution of words was so well done that
for some time it was scarcely noticeable to the average listener. Often
he found himself incorrectly understood, because of his inability to
use the right word in the right place, but nevertheless he was
successful in concealing his speech defect from many of his friends.
This case is of a type known as the "Synonym Stammerer" because
synonyms are used to avoid stammering. The mental strain of trying
always to substitute easy words for hard ones, was very great, however,
and after a few years' practice, the strain began to tell on the young
man. It affected his health and made him nervous and irritable.
It was at this time that he came to me. Genuine Stammering was his
trouble, and so it was diagnosed. He refused to admit that he had a
severe case, although the truth of the matter was, he did stammer badly
and the mental power which had sustained him in his attempts to speak,
was being steadily weakened by what we might term misuse.
He placed himself for treatment, although in a frame of mind that did
not augur well for his success, but by the end of the third day his
mental attitude had entirely changed, he came to realize the immense
difference between being able to speak fluently and naturally and being
compelled to substitute synonyms. From that day forth he was one of my
best students. His education stood him in good stead, his enthusiasm
was so spontaneous as to be contagious and at the end of four and a
half weeks, he departed, as thoroughly changed for the better as anyone
could wish. The arrogance was gone. In its place was something
better--a sure-footed confidence in his ability to talk--and this was a
confidence based on real ability--not on bluff. He was no longer
nervous and irritable--and in fact, before leaving, he had won his way
into the hearts of his associates to the extent that all were sorry
when he left and felt that they had made the acquaintance of a young
man of remarkable power.
Five years later, I met him in New York, quite by accident. He was in
charge of his father's business, had made a wonderful success of his
work and was universally respected and admired by those who knew him.
Even to this young man, who to many would have seemed to have all that
he could desire, freedom of speech opened new and greater opportunities.
If I had the space to do so within the covers of one volume, I would
gladly give many more cases, with description and diagnosis as well as
results of treatment. Specific cases are always interesting,
illuminating and conclusive. They show theory in practice and opinions
backed by actual results.
But lack of space makes it impossible to give additional cases here.
Those which have been given are typical cases--not the unusual ones.
The out-of-the-ordinary cases have been avoided and the common types
dwelt upon with the idea of "giving the greatest good to the greatest
number."
Every reader of this volume who lives today under the constant handicap
of a speech disorder, may well take new hope from the thought that
"What man hath done, man can do"--again!
PART IV
SETTING THE TONGUE FREE
CHAPTER I
THE JOY OF PERFECT SPEECH
If you stammer--if you are afraid to try to talk for fear you will
fail--if you are nervous, self-conscious and retiring because of your
stammering--then you don't realize the Magic Power of Perfect Speech.
You don't realize what perfect speech will mean to you. Listen to
this--from a young woman who stammered--who was cured--and who knows:
"The most wonderful thing has happened to me. What do you think it is!
I have been cured of stammering. You have no idea how different it is
to be able to talk. I just feel like I could fly I'm so happy. Just
think, I can talk I'm so glad, so glad, so glad, it's over. I just feel
like jumping up and down and shouting and telling everybody about it. I
never was so happy in my life--I never was so glad about anything as I
am about this."
That is the way she feels after being entirely freed from her
stammering--after learning to talk freely and fluently without
difficulty, hesitation or fear-of-failure.
And here are the words of a young man who has just found his speech:
"The Bogue Cure is marvelous. It is just like making a blind man see.
It is remarkable. The sensation of being able to talk after stammering
for twenty-five years is wonderful."
And another young woman--this time from Missouri:
"That six weeks was the beginning of life for me. All my life I have
had a dread of trying to speak which made life most unpleasant. I do
not have it now--I love to meet people."
The joy of perfect speech:
The wonderful exhilaration of being able to say anything you want to
say whenever you want to say, to whomsoever you desire to speak.
"I can talk"--that sums it all up. With that assurance comes the
feeling of the innocent man freed from a long term in prison--the sense
of completeness and wholeness and ability, the feeling that you are
equal to others in every way, that you can compete with them and talk
with them and associate with them on a plane of equality.
Such is the Joy of Perfect Speech!!
To know that the haunting fear is gone--that the shackles have fallen
away, the chains are broken.
To know that you are free--delivered from bondage.
What a feeling--what a sensation--
Living itself is worth-while. Life means more. The sun shines brighter,
the grass is greener, the flowers are more beautiful while friends and
relatives seem closer, kinder and dearer than ever before.
The Joy of Perfect Speech!
No words can paint the picture, no tongue describe the lofty feeling of
elation which crowns the man or woman or boy or girl who has stammered
and has been set free.
CHAPTER II
HOW TO DETERMINE WHETHER YOU CAN BE CURED
You can either be cured of your trouble--or you cannot. If you can, why
should you go about hesitating, stumbling, sticking, stammering and
stuttering?
Why should you deny yourself the privileges of society, the advantages
of opportunity, the fruits of success--if you can be completely and
permanently cured of the trouble which handicaps you and holds you back?
Why should you live a HALF LIFE as a stammerer, if you can be cured and
live the complete, joyous, happy, overflowing life?
Why should you be content with failure or half-success if the
triumphant power to accomplish, the masterful will to succeed is right
within your grasp?
Why should you continue to stammer if you can be cured?
The answer is, YOU SHOULD NOT.
The first step, therefore, is to determine definitely and accurately
whether you are in a curable stage of your trouble and whether you can
be completely and permanently cured.
These things you cannot determine for yourself. You have no facilities
for determining the facts. You lack the scientific knowledge upon which
such conclusions must be based. You cannot diagnose your case of
stammering any more than you could accurately diagnose a highly complex
nervous disease. In order, therefore, that the most important of all
questions, viz.: "Can I be Cured?" may be correctly and authoritatively
answered, I am willing to diagnose your case and give you a typewritten
report of your condition, telling you whether or not you are still in a
curable stage.
It goes without saying that this diagnosis must be based upon a
description of the case in question. This description must be accurate
and reliable as well as thorough. In order to insure this, I furnish
with each book a Diagnosis Blank, which when properly filled out, gives
me the information necessary to determine the durability of the case,
as well as to furnish much other valuable information about the
individual's condition.
In no case, will I undertake to pass on the curability of the stammerer
without a diagnosis first being made. You want the opinion which I give
you to be authoritative and dependable--a report in which you can place
your entire confidence. I cannot give such a report by merely hazarding
a guess as to your condition. I must base my report on the actual facts
as they exist. I must make a careful study of your symptoms, determine
what your peculiar combination of symptoms indicates, find out the
nature of your trouble, determine its severity.
When you have returned the blank--and when I have furnished you with
the diagnosis of your case, you can depend upon it to be accurate,
authoritative, definite and positive. It will give you the plain facts
about your trouble--be those facts good or bad.
CHAPTER III
THE BOGUE GUARANTEE AND WHAT IT MEANS
No matter what caused your stammering, no matter how old you are, how
long you have stammered, how many times you have tried to be cured--no
matter what you think about your case or whether you believe it to be
curable--if I have diagnosed your trouble and pronounced it curable,
then I can cure YOU.
By the application of the Bogue Unit Method, I can eradicate the cause
of your trouble at its very source, and re-establish normal
co-ordination between your brain and the muscles of speech, removing
every trace of that "mental expectancy" which you call
"fear-of-failure."
I can show you how to place your articulation under perfect control,
how to make the formation of words an easy process involving no
apparent mental effort or noticeable physical exertion.
I can teach you how to produce any sound or combination of sounds, how
to make every word an easy word and every sound an easy sound.
I can show you how to talk without stammering--how to talk just as
freely and fluently as any normal person who has never stammered.
I not only claim to be able to do this for you, I back it up with a
past record of success in treating hundreds of cases similar to your
own. Like cures like. What has cured others like you, will cure YOU.
But I don't ask you to risk a single penny upon even that evidence and
proof. The moment you enroll in the Bogue Institute, I will issue to
you and place in your hands, a written Guarantee Certificate, over my
own signature, binding me to cure you of stammering or refund every
cent of the money which you have paid me for tuition fee, and asking
you only to follow the easy instructions given under the Bogue Unit
Method.
You are to be the sole judge as to whether or not you follow
instructions.
I will leave it entirely to you to decide. All I ask of you is full
opportunity to do my best for you and absolute honesty, such as you
expect and will receive from me.
I want to be absolutely fair with you--I want to cure you as I have
cured myself and hundreds of other stammerers. I do not want a dollar
of your money unless I have given you a dollar's worth of benefit in
return. I would not keep a penny of the money that you might have paid
me for cure of your stammering unless I had actually cured you,
provided, of course, that you had followed the instructions which
anybody of ordinary intelligence over eight years of age can easily
follow.
I have no fear of your dealing dishonestly with me. I know enough about
human nature to know that all you want is to be cured--and you
understand that to be cured you must co-operate with me to that end. I
can cure your stammering only with your co-operation--just as a music
teacher can make a pianist of you only with your co-operative and
sincere effort. Therefore, I ask only that you follow my instructions
carefully and faithfully--and I guarantee to bestow upon you the same
gift of Perfect Speech that I have bestowed upon hundreds of now-happy
men and women--and I put that guarantee in writing over my personal
signature.
CHAPTER IV
THE CURE IS PERMANENT
No one who stammers should put any faith in a cure for his trouble
unless the results are known to be permanent. A temporary cure is no
cure at all and should be avoided, for it is merely a means of wasting
money.
The Bogue Unit Method brings about not only a complete but a permanent
cure. The secret of its success as far as permanency is concerned, lies
in the fact that the basic cause of the trouble is removed at its very
source, the wrong methods rooted out and the correct methods installed
in their place.
Once this process is completed and the cure effected, the cure is
permanently insured, because its very cause is gone. You cannot stammer
without a cause--everyone understands that.
The proof of the permanency of the cure is attested by the many letters
from those who were here ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. A woman cured
at the Institute ten years ago writes:
"At 14 I was a very bad stammerer. I then attended the Bogue Institute,
where I was completely cured in a few weeks. I then secured a position
as saleslady in one of our leading stores where I have been called upon
to handle as many as one hundred sales in a single day. I have never
stammered once. My cure has been absolutely perfect for the past ten
years. It was certainly a lucky day that I walked into Mr. Bogue's
office the first time."
Another excellent proof of the permanency of the cure, is the
subjection of the cured student to tremendous mental and nervous
strain. Many of our former students were in the Great War, numbers of
them right up in the front line where the fighting was stiffest and
where the nervous and mental strain was terrific. Even under this test
(which was enough to make a normal person become a stammerer--and many
of them did) the results of the Bogue Unit Method held them to normal
speech. One young man writes:
"I completely regained my speech at the Bogue Institute in 1915. I
enlisted in the army and was sent overseas in the spring of '18, and
went through some of the hardest fighting the 42nd Division was in,
that being the Division I was transferred to, and am happy to say the
speech trouble has never come back on me. I was wounded by a fragment
of high explosive shell. One hit me under the right arm, fracturing two
ribs. Another struck my shoulder and a piece ranged downward into my
right lung, which now remains there. I developed tuberculosis in
November, in all probability from exposure as much as the wound. I was
evacuated to the U.S. early last winter and sent to this place, where I
am rapidly regaining my health and expect to be discharged about
September 1st.
"With all the hard experience I went through, stammering did not come
back to me. I have never regretted the time I spent with your
Institute, and I have only the highest words of praise for the work
being done in the Bogue Institute."
Another severe test of a cure of stammering is an illness such as may
have brought the trouble on in the first place. If the stammerer, for
instance, can undergo an attack of influenza or pneumonia and come out
of it without difficulty, it proves beyond all question of a doubt that
the cure is permanent.
For that reason, I wish to quote the letter of an Illinois boy who says:
"I am getting along fine with my speech. I am sure I will never stammer
again. I was sick the week after Christmas with pneumonia but it did
not bother me a bit."
Another young man says:
"It is now nearly six months since I left the Institute and in that
time I have not stammered a word. What do you think about that? It
surely is fine. But you know that. I was in Chicago last week and
visited friends and saw a doctor friend of mine who did not know that I
had been away, so he just stood there and looked at me, and said, 'You
are talking fine. How did you learn that?'
"I told him and then talked to him for four hours and he said it was
the best thing that had ever happened to me." Another letter, this time
from Honolulu and from a man who attended the Institute a number of
years ago, says:
"Just to let you know that I am still alive and enjoying life as I
never have before. I have forgotten that I ever stammered. Sincere
thanks to you."
This young man is now an engineer in the employ of the United Shipping
Board.
These letters give the answer better than I can--better than any
scientist can because they tell the real truth taken from the
experience of those who have tried and know--
First--That stammering can be cured by the Bogue Unit Method!
Second--That the cure is a permanent cure!
CHAPTER V
A PRICELESS GIFT--AN EVERLASTING INVESTMENT
There is no gift that can take the place of perfect speech. It is
beyond price--and the person who talks after stammering would give all
his possessions to keep from going back again to stammering.
But Freedom-of-Speech is more than a priceless gift--it is a wonderful
investment. Should you ask: "Does it pay to be cured of stammering?"
the answer could be nothing but "Yes"--and there is evidence aplenty to
prove it.
One young man writes:
"I have never enjoyed life as I have since I left the Institute, both
in a business and social way. I am to get a 25% increase in my salary
the first of the month, which is at least partially due to my wonderful
perfection of speech."
Does it pay--? Does a 25 per cent. increase in salary pay? Here is the
case of a young woman who was about to lose her position because of her
imperfection in speech--yet when she returned home after being cured at
the Institute, she wrote:
"I was very much surprised when I went down to the office yesterday to
find that I was going to get my place back again. This evening,
Mr.--told me that I was to get a 33 1/3% raise at the end of next week,
so my stay with you has already begun to pay dividends."
Freedom-from-Stammering PAYS--in dollars and cents. On a cold business
basis, it is one of the best investments to be made. One man who
attended here a few years ago was a fireman in a large factory, stoking
boilers all day long. Today he is salesman--and the head salesman at
that--for the same firm--he makes as much as the President of the firm.
He works on commission--and he knows how to talk so as to sell.
Another man was section foreman when he took his course at the Bogue
Institute. Today he is manager of one of a great chain of big retail
stores and makes more in one day than he used to make in two weeks.
Another case is that of a young man from New York State, who gave up
his position to come to the Bogue Institute and be free from
stammering. Six weeks later he went home. Like the other young man
mentioned above, he met with a success--surprise--he was re-employed by
his old employers--and he, too, was given a 25 per cent. increase in
salary.
So, you see, freedom from stammering pays--pays splendidly and
continuously for all the rest of your life. It pays in satisfaction, in
contentment, in happiness and ability to associate with others on a
plane of speech-equality.
It pays in better salaries and bigger earning power--in opportunities
opened and chances made possible to you that are closed to the one who
stammers.
The world's successful men and women do not stammer. The happy,
contented people do not stammer. The money-makers do not stumble and
stick and stutter when they talk.
To be successful you must know how to talk. If you stammer today, make
your plans to get out from under the handicap--remember that it will
pay you and pay you well.
CHAPTER VI
THE HOME OF PERFECT SPEECH
The Bogue Institute of Indianapolis is truly the home of perfect
speech. For in no other place can be found the things that are found
here. Nowhere else is there that silent sympathy with the moods of the
one who stammers. Nowhere else is there that home-like atmosphere, that
all-pervading spirit of helpfulness and cheerfulness and good-will.
No matter how discouraged the stammerer may be, no matter how tired or
nervous or self-conscious--no matter how shy or shrinking from the gaze
of others--no matter how timid or filled-with-fear the mind, the
attitude begins to change within an hour after his arrival.
For this is the home of perfect speech. Success is in the air. Every
step I take counteracts the tendency to fear and worry and strain. I
know what the stammerer needs. I know the things that need to be done
to quiet the hyper-nervous case. I know what to do to banish that
intense self-consciousness and make the student self-forgetful. These
things have been learned by experience. And these gained-by-experience
methods start the student in the right way from the very first hour.
Pupils Are Met at the Train: We are glad to meet pupils at the Union
Station, where all trains over steam roads arrive, if the student
informs us beforehand (either by letter or telegram) the road over
which he is coming and the time he will arrive in this city. There is
no charge for this, it being merely a part of the courtesy extended to
students who are unfamiliar with the location of the Institute. A small
bow of blue ribbon should be worn as a means of identification.
When You Arrive: If you have not written or telegraphed us to meet you
at the railway station, as soon as you arrive go to the telephone booth
and call the Bogue Institute and a representative of the institute will
be sent for you promptly.
Your Baggage: The transfer of baggage from the station to the Institute
will be attended to by our office. The Baggage Transfer makes regular
trips to the Institute for the purpose of looking after the baggage of
new students as well as those who have completed the course and are
leaving for home.
Entrance Requirements: It is necessary that every student entering the
Institute be of normal intelligence and at least eight years of age.
Every student must also be of good moral character and must be able to
speak the English language sufficiently well to take the instruction.
When a stammerer has been cured in one language, however, he is cured
in all languages. Rich and poor are here treated with equal kindness,
courtesy and respect. We believe in those who are here to be cured,
regardless of their station in life, and we believe in helping them
accomplish that purpose in as short a time as is consistent with the
results which they desire.
Grounds and Buildings: The Institute Building and Dormitory stand in a
large lot, ideally located, in a desirable residential neighborhood
away from the dirt, dust, noise and clamor of the city and yet not so
far out as to be in the least removed from the city's activities.
Board and Room for Students: The Institute maintains its own Dormitory
and Boarding Department under the direct and immediate supervision of
the Institute authorities. To the right of the Main Dormitory Building
as you enter will be found the Dormitory for girls and women, while on
the left are located the General Offices and the Dormitory for boys and
men. Every facility has been provided for the comfort and happiness of
our pupils while at the Institute. Room, board, heat, light, hot and
cold baths and all other comforts and conveniences are provided.
Sleeping Rooms: The pupils' sleeping rooms and apartments are large,
well-lighted, and well-ventilated. They are comfortable both summer and
winter, ample facilities being provided to heat the entire building
comfortably at all times.
All of the sleeping rooms as well as the entire Dormitory and
class-room are lighted with electricity. Each room contains furnishings
necessary to make the room comfortable and home-like. Bath and face
towels are furnished without extra cost, as is all necessary bedding
and linen. Commodious and spacious bathrooms, with running water, and
modern equipment are furnished for the exclusive use of pupils.
Dining Room: Two large, airy and well-ventilated dining rooms are
located in the Main Dormitory Building. Here are served all meals, made
up in the most appetizing manner--wholesome menus planned for the
special needs of the type of students who come here. There is no
dieting, but meals are carefully balanced and highly seasoned dishes or
injurious food combinations are eliminated.
Every meal is prepared under the direct supervision of an experienced
chef. Under this direction our pupils are served with some of the most
delicious and healthful viands which can be put together--all of which
is evidenced by the students' enthusiastic approbation of the Institute
table fare.
Scrupulous Cleanliness: Every part of the Institute Buildings is kept
scrupulously clean--every day in the year. In this respect the Bogue
Institute surpasses many of the best hotels.
Library: The leading papers and magazines are constantly available and
we encourage students to keep in touch with the world of events by
regular reading.
How the Time is Spent: The order of the day is as follows:
6:30 AM......................................Arise
7 to 8 AM................................Breakfast
8 to 9 AM............................Special Study
9 to 11 AM................Morning Treatment Period
11 to 12 AM....Progress Tests, Special Examination
and Personal Instruction
12 to 2 PM.........................Luncheon Period
2 to 4 PM........................Class Instruction
4 to 6 PM...............................Recreation
6 PM........................................Dinner
8 PM.........Children's Junior Class Retiring Hour
9 PM.........Children's Senior Class Retiring Hour
10 PM...................Adults' Last Retiring Hour
There are no classes on Saturday afternoon nor on Sundays or holidays.
There are no evening or night classes at any time and no student may
enroll who is not in a position to devote all the needed time to the
pursuit of the work. There is no part-time course, permitting the
student to work or go to public or high school while attending the
Bogue Institute. The work here is too important to become a
"side-issue." We insist that it be the student's regular and only
absorbing activity.
LECTURES: From time to time during the year, open lectures are given by
myself and assistant instructors dealing with the fundamentals of
speech or kindred subjects aimed to make for the students' rapid
progress. These lectures are important and must be attended by every
student.
A CAREFULLY-PLANNED COURSE: Every step of the student's course from the
time of arising in the morning to the time of retiring at night, is
planned for the best results. Experience has taught us what is best and
the day's program is built upon the lines of greatest progress in a
given time. There are no haphazard steps in this program--each activity
accomplishes a desirable and necessary result. These are the things
that make for sure and rapid success--and which insure that every day
shall show progress over the day before.
In the work of the Bogue Institute every student's course is under my
direct and personal supervision and direction. I am, of course,
necessarily aided by assistant instructors, each of whom was selected
with especial reference to his fitness for the work which is entrusted
to him.
Every Teacher is a Specialist: Each one is a specialist--a master,
backed not only by a thorough experience in the Bogue Institute, but
also having served an extended apprenticeship under my personal
instruction.
Every specialist responsible for any department of our instruction must
meet certain rigid qualifications. First, they must be well-educated,
refined and of the best character. They must understand the stammerer's
difficulty from a moral and mental standpoint as well as from a
technical standpoint. They must maintain a naturally sympathetic,
cheerful and helpful frame of mind at all times and must be able to
prove that the training under my hand has thoroughly qualified them to
serve the pupils of the Bogue Institute.
The long period of training and apprenticeship, which has always been
an outstanding feature of our methods, could be done away with, should
I desire to cheapen the instruction. Inexperienced instructors could be
employed for less than half the compensation of the experts I now
employ--but these things could be sacrificed only at the expense of
results. For many years the superiority of the Bogue Institute faculty
has been nationally recognized and this reputation we are today
maintaining--and improving, where this is possible.
CHAPTER VII
MY MOTHER AND THE HOME LIFE AT THE INSTITUTE
The home life at the Bogue Institute cannot be mentioned without also
mentioning my mother and the work she has done and is doing to make
this truly a home life. This is her work and she has succeeded. She
represents the pivotal point around which that home life turns and she
is the guiding spirit that makes the Institute a real home for those
who come here. It is her beneficent smile that makes you feel at home
when you arrive, her kindly influence which makes you feel at home
during your whole stay and her smiling God-speed when you go, that
makes you wish it were not time to leave.
Under Mother Bogue's direction, the Institute is a busy, happy,
cheerful and well-ordered home for the big and happy family that it
houses.
Music is here for those who wish to play. Games and books and magazines
for those who would thus entertain themselves and others. We are
acquainted with the truth that "all work makes Jack a dull boy--and
Jill a dull girl"--and wholesome and worth-while amusements and
diversions are provided for all ages and all occasions. These
amusements are for those who wish them--those who do not can always
find rest and quiet in their own rooms.
Rowdyism is absent. The hoodlum is not here. We find no difficulty in
establishing standards of conduct that become the lady and the
gentleman--and the regulations that are in effect are based upon the
belief that those who come here can and will measure up to these
standards.
Unity of Purpose: One of the distinct advantages of the plan whereby
all students live in the Institute Dormitory is that all who are here
have come for a purpose and bear that thought in mind. The student who
sits beside you at the table is here for the same purpose as yourself.
You are both working for the same thing--working earnestly,
enthusiastically, seriously--and withal, successfully--to be cured of
stammering.
What does this mean?
It means that the very atmosphere of the Institute is saturated with
energy, enthusiasm and the spirit of successful endeavor.
Determination, application, success--these things are in the very air
you breathe. The spirit that carries an army to victory is here--to
carry you to victory and success.
Absolute Privacy in Treatment: There is absolutely no publicity
connected with the attendance of any student at the Institute. Many
students have attended without even their families or friends being
aware of the fact. Others have come leaving behind the impression that
they were visiting friends--which in truth, they were, as they
afterwards found those connected with the Institute to be sincere and
worth-while friends, indeed.
Even in carrying on correspondence regarding the course, no one need
know anything about your intentions, for upon no occasion does the name
of the Institute appear on the outside of any letter or package
addressed to you. Only the name "BENJAMIN N. BOGUE" appears to identify
the letter.
At no time will your name, address or any information about you in
connection with your name be published or discussed in any public
manner whatsoever without your permission.
Care of the Health: Every safeguard is thrown around the physical
welfare of those attending the Institute. The location and
extraordinary sanitary precautions almost preclude the possibility of
protracted illness--this was evidenced by the startling fact that
during the severe and nation-wide influenza epidemic of the fall and
winter of 1918-1919, not a single student of the Institute was taken
ill. This speaks wonders for the remarkable good physical condition of
the many students who were here at that time.
In the event, however, that a student does become ill, the Institute
House Physician is at once summoned and in the case of a child, this
physician's opinion will be sent immediately to the parents.
In illness as in health, the kindly, courteous and yet unobtrusive
services of Mother Bogue are at the disposal of the student. Every care
is bestowed, special meals provided and every want looked after with
the same pains as if the student were in his or her own home.
Christian Influences: Indianapolis is a city of numerous beautiful
churches of all denominations, many of which are in the immediate
vicinity of the Institute. During the entire stay, students are
surrounded by the very best moral and religious influences and each
Sunday sees groups of students leaving the Institute to attend services
at the different churches.
Children Properly Cared For: Children placed in our care are given
special attention. As with the other students they are surrounded with
the most wholesome moral influences. Regulations provide that they must
remain inside the Institute grounds except during the proper hours of
the day, following their regular work. It is a very frequent occurrence
to have parents bring their children with the idea of remaining with
them during the course, only to return home within a few days, leaving
the children with us, having satisfied themselves in that short time
that the children are being just as well cared for here as if they were
in their own homes.
Parents sometimes remark that children will get homesick and want to go
home, but our experience with hundreds of cases proves that it is
usually the parent who gets homesick to see the child instead of the
child getting homesick to see the parents. The home-like surroundings
of the Institute and the care and attention which they are given, allow
small opportunity for children to become homesick, especially when it
is remembered that they are busy for the larger portion of the day, at
work which is to them of absorbing interest. In fact, we often find
that children make so many good friends that they are reluctant indeed
when the time comes for them to return home. Many of our students can
testify that some of the finest friendships of their lives had their
beginning here at the Bogue Institute.
Care for Ladies: My lady-assistants, as well as Mother Bogue, will see
to the comfort and enjoyment of lady-pupils. Ladies have their own
dormitories in a separate portion of the building and find their stay a
most enjoyable one.
A Reflection of Ideals: The congenial home-life at the Institute, the
minute attention to the wants of the students, the care given to women
and children, the solicitude for those who are ill or who for any
reason need special attention--this is but the reflection of an
ideal--that ideal is to make the Bogue Institute, not only in
instruction and results, but in every way, just what I would have liked
to have been able to find when I was searching for a cure for
stammering, more than twenty-five years ago. The comforts, the
conveniences, the atmosphere of helpfulness--these things all
contribute toward your quick and certain success--and that, I may say,
is why we have them.
THINGS YOU WANT TO KNOW
Deposit Surplus Money: As a matter of convenience to those who bring
with them extra money, we grant them the privilege of depositing it in
our safe. Other valuables may be left for safe-keeping when desired. If
the students prefer, they may deposit money with one of the city banks.
Pupils should not carry much money with them; they may lose it.
Pupils' Mail: Relatives, friends and others addressing letters to
persons in attendance at this Institute should address all mail to
students: "c/o BENJ. N. BOGUE" to avoid delay in delivery.
Foreign Students: It will be necessary for those who speak foreign
languages to learn the English language before they will be admitted to
this Institute. The instruction is only given in English, but persons
of all nationalities can be cured if they have the proper knowledge of
the English language. When once cured in one language, persons are
cured in all languages, however.
Companions for Pupils: Parents, guardians or companions may accompany
small children or others, when they wish to do so. It is entirely
satisfactory for those accompanying the pupil to be associated with the
children during treatment. They may room together, if desired, or they
may secure adjoining rooms.
When You Leave for Home: When necessary, we secure railroad tickets for
our young pupils, check their baggage and place them safely aboard the
proper train, when they leave Indianapolis for home, and otherwise take
especial and careful interest in having them properly started homeward
after their stay with us.
Rich and Poor Stand Equal: Claim is made that this is one of the most
commendable features of the Institute. It is not so in all institutes.
Fine clothes and freedom with money are not the test by which the
student secures his standing, but by his earnest, faithful work and
gentlemanly or lady-like conduct. It is inward worth, not outward
adornment and display of wealth, that wins friends and gives the
student a place on our roll of honor. The student is judged by what he
is, and not by what he has.
Neglected Education: No one need hesitate to place himself under our
instruction on account of neglected education or advanced age. All
embarrassments are carefully avoided. Scores of backward pupils, who do
not even know how to read or write, enter every year, and are entirely
and permanently cured by the Unit Method.
CHAPTER VIII
A HEART-TO-HEART TALK WITH PARENTS
If you are the mother or father of a child who stammers, you should
first of all read Chapters IX to XIV, inclusive, in Part Two of this
book. These chapters deal with the speech disorders of children from
before the first spoken word up until the age of 21, when structurally
as well as legally the mind and body of the infant merge into that of
the adult.
No mother or father can understand their child's disorder without
having read these Chapters. To fail to understand is to multiply the
chance for error in deciding what to do. Therefore, I repeat, if you
are the mother or father of a boy or girl who stammers, read chapters
on Child Stammering before you go further.
There are three mistaken beliefs in the minds of many parents of
stammering children which must be rooted out before the child will have
an opportunity to be cured of his trouble.
These beliefs are:
1--That the child will outgrow his trouble and therefore need
only be permitted to "grow older," at which tune the trouble
will disappear.
2--That the child could stop stammering if he would try--that
the trouble is but a malicious habit of the child's, which
he could put away from him if he would.
3--That the child's trouble is incurable and that nothing can
be done for him.
All of these beliefs are entirely fallacious and based purely upon
ignorance of the cause and progress of the child's trouble. There is
not the slightest scientific foundation for them, they are not beliefs
based on facts or upon experience--yet in many homes, they constitute
the chief obstacle between the stammering child and his complete and
permanent cure.
As long as you believe that your child will out-grow his or her
trouble, you take no steps to have the disorder eradicated.
What happens?
The trouble becomes worse from month to month and from year to year,
until in many cases where the "outgrowing belief" persists, the trouble
passes into a chronic and incurable stage and the stammering child
becomes the stammering man or woman, condemned to go through life under
a handicap almost too great to bear.
Write it on your heart that your child will not outgrow his trouble.
Ponder over the information given in the Chapters on Child Stammering.
This is not hearsay or guess-work but facts gleaned from a lifetime of
experience.
If you, as the father or mother of a stammering child, cling to the
second belief, that your child could stop stammering if he would try,
then I can see from this distance that your child has stored up for him
in the future, more than his due of misery. For as long as you believe
that he can stop of his own free will, you will be impatient with him
when he stammers. You will scold him and tell him to "stop that kind of
talking!" Thus you will irritate him, and bring to his heart that
sickening sensation that he is totally helpless in the grip of his
speech disorder and yet--"Oh, why will they not understand?"
Like the first belief, this belief that the child could stop if he
wanted to, is based upon ignorance. No mother or father who has ever
experienced the sensation of fear that grips the heart of the
stammering child when he tries to speak, will say that he could stop if
he would.
I say to you--and I want to emphasize this--that the first and foremost
ambition of your child who stammers, is to be free from it. The
greatest day of his life will be the day when he can talk without that
fear, without sticking and stumbling and hesitating over his utterances.
I say to you again--if that boy or girl of yours could stop their
stammering, he or she would stop it this very instant. They would never
stammer again--if they were endowed with the power to stop. But they
are not. That is the very seed of their trouble--their inability to
control the actions of the vocal organs so as to produce normal speech.
They have lost the control of those organs and they cannot of their own
volition re-establish that control.
The third belief, that stammering cannot be cured, is so easily
demolished that I shall devote but little time to it. It, like all
false beliefs, has its foundation in ignorance. The mother or father
who knows the facts, knows also that stammering can be cured. You may
not know whether your boy or girl can be cured, but you are offered a
way to find out--definitely and positively, by describing your child's
case on my Diagnosis Blank and returning it to me for a thorough
Diagnosis.
Put your beliefs to one side--whatever they may be. You can get the
facts if you want them. You can learn the truth if you will. Truth is
better than false beliefs and facts are better than superstition or
hearsay, which in every case leads to misery, dejection and despair--a
ruined life where a successful, happy and contented life might have
been--except for stammering.
You have a well-defined responsibility to your son or daughter. You
have a duty to perform--that is, to equip that boy or girl of yours to
go out into the world as well equipped as any other boy or girl--and
that means equipped with perfect speech--without which they will be too
greatly handicapped to fully succeed.
CHAPTER IX
THE DANGERS OF DELAY
In many of the cases which have come to my attention in the past many
years, the stammerer or stutterer has been afflicted with a malady more
difficult to cure than stammering, viz.: The Habit of Procrastination.
"Oh, I will wait a little while," says the stammerer. "A little while
can't make any difference!" And then the little while grows into a big
while and the big while grows into a year and the year grows into a
lifetime and he is still stammering.
Several months ago, an old man, stooped in stature, care-worn of
countenance and halting of step, presented himself to me for diagnosis.
His face was drawn into long, hard lines. His eyes shifted from side to
side, glancing furtively here and there.
In his trembling hands was a worn old derby which he turned about
nervously as he stood there talking. The nervousness, the trembling of
the hands, the drawn face, the shifting eyes--all this was explained by
the story that this man told as he sat there beside the desk.
"I fell from a ladder when I was ten years old," he said. "After that,
I always stammered. My parents thought it was a habit--I can remember
yet how my mother scolded me day after day and told me to 'quit talking
that way.' But it was useless to tell me to quit. I COULDN'T quit! If I
could have done it, certainly I WOULD, for having stammered yourself,
you know what it means.
"School now began to be a burden. I think I must have supplied fun for
every boy on the school grounds during recess-time, for if there was a
boy who didn't make fun of me and mock me and laugh at me, then I don't
know who he was.
"Then one day I started back to school at noontime, saw a crowd of boys
on the corner a couple of blocks away, thought of what a task it would
be to go into that crowd or try to pass it. A mortal and unreasoning
fear came over me. Try as I would, I couldn't screw my courage up to
the point of going past that crowd. But I had small choice. It was
either go that way or stay out of school. And stay out of school I did.
"And then came the crucial day. I could not ask my parents to vouch for
any absence--I dared not tell them I was not there. So I went back
without an excuse. The teacher was angry. She tried to get me to talk,
but I could not say a word. So she sent me to the principal. She, too,
asked me to explain. Try as I would, I couldn't get the first word out.
Not a sound.
"She, too, failed to understand. Result: I was expelled from
school--sorry day--nobody seemed to understand my trouble--nobody
seemed to sympathize with me--a stammerer.
"Although I pretended to be at school, before the week was out, my
parents found out. Then a storm ensued. I tried to tell them the truth.
They wouldn't listen. Father stormed and mother scolded. There seemed
to be no living for me there. So I ran away from home--ran away because
my parents wouldn't listen--because they wouldn't try to understand.
"Then my troubles began in real earnest. I won't worry you with the
details. I got a job--lost it. Got another--lost that. How many times
that story was repeated I do not know. And remember--I was but a boy!"
Here the old man stopped, his head dropped, his unkempt beard brushed
the front of a tattered shirt, that had seen its day. He seemed lost in
thought--he was living again those days and those nights when he had
wandered an outcast from the world. He was living over a lifetime in a
moment.
He sat there several moments--thoughts far away. Then he raised his
head and there was a tear in the corner of his eye as he said, "But why
should I go on? Look at me. See WHERE I am. See WHAT I am. You would
think I am over 70--I am not yet 50. But it is too late to do any good.
Here I am homeless, friendless, almost penniless. Nobody cares what
happens. Nobody would notice if anything should happen. Nobody has a
job for me--a stammerer. If I could talk, I could work. If I could
talk--Oh, but why tell it again? It is too late now--too late to do any
good!!"
He was right. It was too late. Too late, indeed.
This man was one of the Too-Laters--one of the Put-It-Offs, one of the
Procrastinators. His might be called the story of the Man Who Waited.
First, his parents refused to listen. His teachers, even, failed to
understand his trouble. And when he got out in the world he put it off,
this matter of being cured of stammering. He Waited! He kept saying to
himself that he would do it tomorrow--next week--next month. And
tomorrow never came. Next week and next month ran into next year--and
next year ran into a case that was hopeless and incurable.
He Waited!! How tragic those two words. He Waited! And his waiting
sounded the death-knell of a thousand boyhood hopes. HE WAITED!! And
health slowly took wings and flew away. HE WAITED!! And the insidious
little Devil-of-Fear piece by piece tore down his will-power, sapped
his power-of-concentration. HE WAITED!! And that first simple nervous
condition turned into something near akin to palsy.
On the tombstone of that man when they lay him under his
six-feet-of-earth, they might truly inscribe the words: "A
Failure"--and should they wish to set down the reason, they might add:
"He Waited!"
To the stammerer's question: "When should I begin treatment for my
stammering?" and "At what stage will I stand the best chance of being
most quickly cured?" there is but one answer. The time for the
stammerer or stutterer to begin treatment for his malady is the day he
discovers his stammering or stuttering. The best chance for being
quickly cured exists today.
The stammerer, then, to paraphrase Emerson, should "Write it on his
heart that TODAY is the very best day in the year." He should remember
that indecision, delay, uncertainty, vacillation, lead to oblivion and
that his only redemption lies in that golden opportunity known
as--TODAY!