Well actually the "tongue" was only Swedish, but the story told briefly in back to back 1887 editions of The Chariton Democrat is kind of an interesting one.
The first report, published on Oct. 6, was brief: "Timothy B. Terrell has not spoken for six years. A week ago his voice came to him, and he can now talk, much to the delight of his family and friends. He is a son of T.C. Terrell and has been employed in Ekfelt & Sons ware rooms for some time."
The next report, with additional detail, was published as a followup on Oct. 13:
"Last week we coped from the Patriot an item stating that Timothy Terrell had regained his voice after being speechless for six and one half years. The item did not fully state the case, and we beg Timothy's pardon for parading him before the public again. He was rendered speechless by the ignorance of a quack doctor. About the first of August, Dr. McKlveen began treating him with electricity and medicine with the above happy result.
"He has been employed by Messrs. Ekfelt & Son in their store room and work shops for some time, and now that he has regained his speech, he can speak Swede quite fluently, although he knew nothing of the language when he became speechless. He understands everything said to him in that language, but only having a couple of weeks practice, gets mixed when he tries to speak some words.
"There is an old chesnut which says, 'There is no great loss without some small gain.' His misfortune closed up his mouth, gave him time to hear and think, and enabled him to learn something he probably never would have learned otherwise."
Timothy Burnside Terrell, known as "T.B." during most of his life, was 20 going on 21 at the time these reports were published. He went on to marry Emma Jane Wright; they had two sons, Gerald and Byron; and he spent the balance of his long life working as a farmer and carpenter. The Terrells are buried in the Chariton Cemetery. Whether or not his knowledge of Swedish came in handy during later years I cannot say.
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