attempts at composition can only be compared with the fruitless groping of a blind man. The following specimen, written in the presence of the committee will illustrate the nature and extent of the difficulty. Last Saturday, boy play on a the run over him in the dead. From many, if not most of the schools for the deaf and dumb abroad, this class of deaf-mutes is excluded. It cannot be doubted, however, that the State of New-York in providing for the education of such, has determined wisely, as she certainly has generously and benevolently: for though their education will necessarily be imperfect, they will yet make considerable progress and if never able to write correctly, will still return to their homes with consciences enlightened, with a knowledge of duty and with a great amount of useful information on various subjects. Among these pupils of one year's standing, the committee observed a remarkable instance of memory. On entering the school room in the morning, one of the lads correctly wrote from memory, the whole of a very long passage from the Bible, which had just been explained in the chapel, and three fourths of the words of which, must have been as arbitrary to him as Choctaw or Chinese, to say nothing of the stretch of memory requisite to retain the order and succession of words. It is worthy of inquiry on the part of those competent to judge, whether in the rare instances of this kind which occur, the experiment might not be worth the trial of throwing away, to a good degree, the gradual ascent from difficulty to difficulty, ordinarily necessary, and to trust principally to the miscellaneous gatherings of an iron memory, accompanied with the requisite explanations on the part of the teacher. On passing to the classes of two years' standing, the committee observed a wider range in the use of words, together with the power of composing sentences of more difficult construction. The word, when, was given out to test their knowlege of adverbs, and the following were some of the sentences composed without dictation, by the pupils: When I was eleven years old I came to the Institution and began to learn the manual alphabet and write some easy words. When Dr. Webster killed Dr. Parkman, he must acknowledge that he killed Dr. Parkman. When young women are eighteen years old, they get free and must earn their own livings. These pupils showed, also, a good acquaintance with the nice distinctions of tense, by writing readily such forms as these, either the verb alone or the adverb, alone being given: I write every day. I am writing now. I will write to-morrow. One of the more promising, two years under instruction, furnished the following composition : THE SUN. The sun is a very great body. He is much greater than the earth and all the heavenly bodies. He shines very bright on the earth. serve him. He was created by God. He has no soul. The earth, moon and stars The sun moves about He is not hungry or thirsty. He makes men sweat while they work in fields all day. He is, as called, a king in the middle of the system as a lion. He gives light to the earth, to the planets, and to all the heavenly bodies. The earth moves about the sun once in a year, and moves on its axis once in a day. on his axis once in 25 days. The sun is 800,000 miles in diameter. He is 2,737,500 miles about. We cannot look at the sun, because he is very bright and hurts our eyes. We can look at him through a smoked glass. When it rains the sun shines on the drops of the water and makes a rainbow. Its colors are different. We like to see it. Even if this be regarded as partially a memoriter transcript of what he had read in books, it is certainly of no little interest as showing marked improvement in the understanding of written language. The improvement noticeable in the pupils who had completed three years of study, consisted in an acquaintance with adverbs of time, place and motion, the use of which in all languages is highly idiomatic, and which, though easy to those who hear, constitute no small embarrassment to the deaf and dumb. On the words as, more, and the relative pronoun who, the following sentences were written by different pupils: I think New-York is as populous as Paris. Gen. Scott is as tall as Mr. Clay. More than fifty people died of cholera in Ohio. An orange is more sweet than an apple. Last Saturday, I saw a boy who played on the ground near the East river. Col. Burr, who afterwards Vice-President of United States, murdered Gen. Hamilton at Hoboken. Other sentences were also written, which showed a familiar acquaintance with such words and phrases as about, which, when, fortunately, as soon as, as long as, &c. In the class of four years' standing, the committee did not find the marked difference between them and a portion at least of those who had been under instruction but three years, in respect to their knowledge of language, which might have been anticipated. Perhaps this might be accounted for by the greater difficulty of abstract nouns, in which this class had been exereised, and perhaps also by the special attention paid to arithmetic and geography, in which they appeared remarkably well. Several compositions were written by this class respecting their early impressions, from which the two which follow are selected: Many years ago I met my brother who was not afraid I was ignorant and I did not know God, Jesus Christ and angels. I did not study my lessons, and I played with my playmates on Sunday. I stole money and other things, and I paid cents to the man. He gave a candy to me and I ate it. I gave candy to my playmates. I was a deaf and dumb boy and my parents pitied me. I talked with my parents by signs somewhat, and my mother and friends walked with me to the Institution. I arrived at the Institution with my mother. John Witschief led me into Mr. Spofford's school.room. I talked with him by signs somewhat, and I looked at the schoolroom. Mr. Spofford left me in Mr. Benedict's school-room. I was very ignorant, and shook hands with Mr. Benedict. I learned to spell, and I improved. I understood to know God, Jesus Christ and many holy angels, that they are kind to me. When many persons die, the Saviour will save good persons and hate bad persons. He will cast them in a hell, but he will save good persons from the hell. He will live with them in heaven forever, and I love God, Jesus Christ and many holy angels. CHARLES HENRY LARKIN. [Assembly, No. 22.] 4 Several years ago I was a very poor girl and resided with my mother and sister in my house. I was penitent to be a very girl. I liked to play with some speaking girls. I saw the large iron hook which hanged in the old house. I recollect that some girls told me that I would be hanged upon the hook. I was so much afraid of hanging that I cried loudly, because I would be hanged. I ran and hid under the stairs. They found me hiding under the stairs and mocked me. I was cross at them. When Mrs. Susan R. Day came to my home, I was a stranger to her and she talked with my mother about me. Mrs. Day found that I was deaf and dumb. Mrs. Day brought me to her house. She took care of me to live in her house. I was more happy to stay in her house than my house. I kindly helped at her house. She always treated me kindly and took care of me. She often gave many new clothes to me. I was very glad that I should be thankful to her for her kindness. I was very glad that I gained many cousins, friends, uncles and aunts. I recollect that my friend Eliza taught me a few words, cat, dog, cow and ox. My friends often taught me my name Charlotte, but I could not write some words on the small slate, but I could spell a few words with my fingers. My friend gave a thin book of the alphabet to me. I learned the letters of the alphabet for the deaf and dumb. Some friends told me that I would go to the Institute. I disliked to go to the Institution. They flattered me that the Institution was very beautiful. Mrs. Day paid money for new things for she would give them to me before I would go to school. Before school, Mrs. Day's husband died. I was very sorry for him, but I hope that her husband went to Heaven. I remember that he gave a new calico dress to me. He was always kind to me. When Mr. L. F. Day brought me to Dr. H. P. Peet, he was cheerful and shook hand with me. I began to learn the book of "Elementary Lesson." I was taught by Mr. Jacob Van Nostrand. In the morning Mr. Bartlett told me to go to the school of Mr. Van Nostrand. I could not find it, but the boy led me to go to the school of Mr. V. N. He made signs. I did not understand his signs, but I soon learn them. I tried to make signs and I tried to learn to read and write and make signs and improve. CHARLOTTE CONKLIN. In the classes of five years' standing, especially the part most advanced, a perceptible progress was observable, both in respect to their range of thought and their power of expressing their ideas. Specimens of their ability to use language may be found under the heads of Geography, History, and General Information, and in the following compositions, the first of which-a letter of condolence to the mother of a pupil who met with a fatal accident while returning to school-is of affecting interest: DEAR MADAM : INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, As I am one of the classmates of your son, my teacher advised me to write you a few lines to let you know how deeply we all sympathize with you. Though I am a stranger to you, it gives me much pleasure to inform you concerning your lovely son, who has been in our class since he first came here. Your interesting letter was received by Dr. Peet, the president of the Institution, and when our teacher read it to us by signs, our hearts were so full of sorrow that the tears rolled down our cheeks. None of my classmates have died since they began to be educated, except your son. He was very late in returning to school, but we did not think that he would be in danger of being killed by accident. One evening when the pupils returned to the Inst from the city, where they had taken pleasure in visiting the great fair, the boys came to the girls' room with a view to visit us. While we were playing and amusing ourselves, we received the sad news that your son was killed by being run over by a locomotive near Whitehall. Immediately the Institution was filled with great gloom. It pained us very much to think of his death, and we thought that he had better die from sickness than be billed by accident. Poor Orville probably thought of returning to school, of seeing the pupils again and of endeavoring to gain more knowledge. Alas! how very suddenly he was cut off, but I suppose his soul has gone to paradise and his shut ears and mouth are opened. How much happier he is in heaven than when he was on earth! How sweetly he sings with a multitude of angels who are sitting around him. There will no tears run down his cheeks, and he will gain more knowledge and enjoy himself more in looking at the wonderful and beautiful things which are around him. He was a good quiet boy and prayed to God every morning and evening and he trusted in Jesus Christ. You must not be troubled without your beloved son for the hope is cherished by me that you will be much happier to see him again in heaven when you die and how glad will he be to see you saved from going to the abode of the wicked. When I first came to school, I saw that he was a studious boy and always did right and cheerfully obeyed my teacher who was pleased with him and when he gave him good advice, he always did according to it. My teacher feels very sorry that he is no more. I frequently talked with him while at school and he often conversed about you and felt a very strong desire to see you for he had not seen you for four years. He said he would be very glad to go home the next vacation and see all his dear friends and then he would return to school to study harder than he did before. I feel very sorry that he will return no more. My classmates all desire to have me tell you that they feel very sorry for you and that they mourn over the loss of your son. We cherish the hope that we shall meet him again in heaven. Commerce is of two kinds, foreign and inland. The former is the exchange of commodities which is carried on by vessels between different countries on the globe, and the latter is the trade which is carried on between different parts of the same country. I shall write more particularly relative to foreign commerce. It is one of the greatest sources of profit to a nation, and is extensively engaged in on the principal seas of the globe. It promotes the prosperity, comfort and improvement of a nation. Merchants and sailors are mostly engaged in it. The merchants of the principal cities of the United States, especially those of New-York, own a great many ships which are constantly engaged in commerce. The advantages of commerce are, that it increases the comforts of every community, and enables every man in one |