MOTHER'S DEVOTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 19

MOTHER'S DEVOTION

DEAF AND DUMB SONS

MANY HANDICAPS OVERCOME

The health, training, and education of children is one of the chief concerns of women/and most mothers find it a whole-time job even if their children are normal and healthy. It is easy to imagine how! much/more difficult is the task of rearing children who are. deaf and dumb from birth.

Such a/ task Mrs. Gettings, of the Nyora Ferneries, -eyen niiles from Gosford, Australia, and that she has accomplished her-task well is plain to everyone who visits this paradise in a gully, states the "Sydney Morning. Herald." Seriously concerned about the appalling disability. of her two sons, and equally determined that she would not spare herself in her- efforts to make their lives as happy, and .interesting as possible, she watched them anxiously in their infancy in order to discover what things attracted them most. When she found that flowers, ferns, and plants fascinated them and absorbed their attention more than anything else, she provided them with bulbs and seedlings and taught them to look after them. BOYS* INITIATIVE. Often their jjhildish curiosity as to how the plants were faring proved too much for them, and they would dig them up to see how far they had progressed, but gradually the love of growing things was fostered in them. After the boys left school at Wagga Mrs. Gettings bought the gully at Gosford, and they made their home there, i The boys were given a free hand, and the initiative they have displayed in turning what was once a wilderness into a place of remarkable beauty is proof that patience, understanding, and proper training can conquer even the most serious' handicap.

Trees, flowering sbhrubs, bulbs, and flowers of every description find a home in this wonderful place. In fact, no matter where the eye may rest, there is beauty in abundance. Tree trunks, halved lengthwise, hollowed out and filled with soil, have ferns gathered from . the bush growing luxuriantly in them, and these, line the paths leading to shady, fern-filled nooks and glades. Square cement tubs, made by the.younger boy, are filled with flowers and plants; rustic arches made with tree trunks; trellis-work and bushhouses (the bush-houses filled with all kinds of ferns) tell of their industry, and the growing of flowers, fruits, and vegetables for sale provides a livelihood for them as well as an outlet for their energy. FEAR OF BLINDNESS. Picnic parties and tourists find ample accommodation with seats and tables, boiling water, etc., and the willow-lined creek, which has five Dutch .paddleboats (the only boats of their kind in Australia), provides plenty of amusement for the family as well as for the visitors.

The elder boy is a keen student of soil character, and, in fact, everything pertaining to the:welfare and growth of plant life. Both boys are interested in birds, and own 36 lovebirds. To Mrs. Gettings's sorrow, the boys are now half-blind. Indeed, they have suffered from night .blindness from birth, and it is feared they will lose their sight altogether. Such a calamity, inevitable as it appears to be at present, is Jbpund to increase her anxiety for her teens' future, but even the terrors of that physical handicap may be lessened tty- their mother's help and understanding. :

AAnother. son and a daughter, who are happily free from the disabilities tha|t affect their two brothers, conduct the farm work connected with the fern\eries.