eyes, I don't know which, perhaps all together, glass of wine, and re-filling my pipe-there's induced me to make as spoony a proposal as great philosophy in a pipe, as we all know-I awaited the result of my charming scheme as calmly as I could. ever fell from the lips of a green cockney.” "It was not long coming. About half an hour after Marietta's departure, the door was slammed Perhaps so, Mr. Tape, but those gentlemen open, and I found myself sprawling and kicking, seldom volunteer into the army, I believe. I or rather sprawling and trying to kick, for they knew," said the veteran, continuing his narra- wouldn't let me, in the arms of five or six ugly tive, "that I might as well whistle jigs to a mile- rascals, who, showering upon me all the time the stone, and expect it to get up and turn partners, vilest abuse, hurried me off to prison. Into it as ask the general in command of the division, they thrust me like a dog; and there, when I about forty miles off, to rescue Pedro from the could recover breath and speech, I greeted Pedro, grasp of the Spanish authorities. The British my fellow-prisoner. The alcalde and Ramez had generals never meddled with the administration only promised to release him, and, of course, of Spanish justice under any pretence what- when the object was gained, refused to abide by ever; but I also knew that if he received a mes- the bargain. If I had not been the most consage stating that I was in danger, he was bound summate ass that ever browsed or brayed, I might by general orders to afford me every assistance have guessed as much. Ramez had now two in his power. Marietta,' said I at last-the victims, and that promised a double holiday. wine must have been unusually strong-I have Well, gentlemen, this was, you may suppose, hit upon it. We'll save Pedro yet, in spite of a very unpleasant situation to find myself in ; but them all!' The pretty creature jumped up, as, thank Heaven, I was never much troubled clapped her hands, and sobbing, laughing, and with nerves, I did not so much mind it after a talking, all in a breath, exclaimed, Dear In- bit. Marietta, I was sure, would be off to the glese, I knew you would!' You, Marietta,' said I, as soon as she was sufficiently calm to listen, 'go to Ramez and the alcalde, and tell them you will deliver into their hands the famous Afrancesado spy, Henriquez Bajol, on condition of their releasing Pedro. If they consent denounce me.' 'You, Henriquez?' said she, staring bewilderedly. 66 general with her best speed when she saw the ugly turn matters were taking: so that if my captors were not in a very patriotic hurry indeed, there was a chance on the cards yet. Pedro obtained some cigars of the jailor, an old acquaintance of his; they were first-rate, and we both became gradually calm and composed. Ah, genNever you mind,' I re- tlemen, I have often thought that if the moral plied. A note to General Picton-I'll write it observations I addressed that evening to my at once-will soon get me out of their clutches, friend Pedro, upon the duty of respecting nawhoever I am.' I wrote the note and gave it her. Now mind, Marietta,' said I solemnly. 'that Pedro sets off with this note the instant he is liberated. How soon can he reach the General on foot?' By to-morrow night,' she answered. Very well; and now then about it at once.' She was off in a twinkling, and I was at leisure to reflect on what I had done. To tell the truth, I did not, after a few minutes' quiet eogitation, feel excessively comfortable. They "I will not, Tape; but don't you hurry me as would be certain to believe the story; Henriquez they did. Well, the next day I was dragged bebeing, I was sure, known to none of them per- fore the alcalde and that rascal Ramez, where, sonally. I was a precious deal more like a Span- to my very great and most unpleasant surprise, jard then than an Englishman; and I spoke the two men, guerilla soldiers, swore that they had language so well—not altogether grammatically, frequently seen me in communication with the it is true, but so like a native of the south of French outposts, and that they verily believed Spain-that I felt I should have some difficulty, me to be no other than the infamous Henriquez. should occasion require it, to undeceive them. Vainly I protested, finding the thing was getting Then they had such a pestilent way of making much too serious, that I was an English officer; not only sure, but short work with whoever they my assertions were laughed at, and I was resuspected of commerce with the hated French, conveyed to my dungeon, after having heard mythat it flashed unpleasantly across my mind-the self sentenced to be shot at the same hour which General's help might perhaps arrive too late! was to see the last of Pedro. Mr. Tape, please However, I was in for it; and so, taking another to touch the bell. I'll take another cup; for my tional prejudices, particularly with regard to sheltering wounded foreigners, and the shocking folly of making rash engagements with young women, especially after dinner, had been taken down by a short-hand writer, they would have raised me to the next rank after Solomon!" No doubt of it," said Tape, looking nervously at the clock; "but do get on, captain; don't stop, don't!" tongue always feels dry and hot when I come to hood, and the general's orders are not to halt an this part of the story.” Mr. Tape did as he was desired, quickly, and bade the waiter who answered the summons "jump about." The anxious haberdasher had but just three minutes to spare. "That, gentlemen," continued the captain, “was a very uncomfortable night. I was never, from a child, particularly fond of water-drinking; but I remember crawling off the straw many times during the night, and almost emptying both pitchers. At ten o'clock we were to suffer, to be shot to death by half a dozen rusty muskets. It was dreadfully aggravating! Day dawned at last; six, seven, eight, nine, ten o'clock tinkled through the jail; the door opened, and in stalked Ramez and the alcalde, followed by the rusty shooting-party. We were politely informed that 'time' was up, and that we must both come to the scratch at once, as the spectators didn't like to be kept waiting. They then kindly pinioned us, and away we marched. You never, perhaps, walked in your own funeral procession, Tape, did you?" 66 6 instant.' I was delighted to hear it. The less said was, I felt, the soonest mended. If the general, thought I, were informed why he had been put to this trouble and risk, our meeting would scarcely be a very amicable one. Who is this?' said the officer, pointing to Pedro, who, though he had hallooed lustily was by no means out of the wood. One of ours,' I boldly replied. Then mount, my good fellow, at once,' replied he, motioning to one of the led horses. Pedro understood the gesture, though he did'nt the language; and giving Marietta, who had unpinioned him, one hug, was in the saddle in a jiffy. Out of the way,' cried the commanding officer to the alcalde, who, instigated by Ramez, was approaching to claim Pedro at least as lawful prize. Out of the way, fellow!' and he struck him sharply with the flat of his sword. The frightened functionary tumbled out of our path; the bugle sounded and we were off safe, sound, and merry." "Bravo!-Hurra!-Hurra!" resounded in irregular chorus through the room. Tape was off Lord, Captain Smith, how can you ask such like a shot; the unfortunate man was full seven a horrid question?" minutes behind his time. "Well, if you ever should, you'll remember it, that's all. Seeing King Lear is nothing to it, though that's reckoning pretty deep. On we marched, the priests praying, the bells tolling, and the infernal musket-men eying us as if to make up their minds exactly where to have the pleasure of hitting us. Oue scoundrel, with a short, ugly snub of an apology of a nose, meant, I could see, to send his bullet through my Roman. Altogether, it was the most disagreeable walk I ever took in my life. We soon arrived at the place of sacrifice, and were ordered to kneel down. Pedro,' said I, 'that jewel of a wife of yours has played us a sweet trick; but perhaps she'll arrive in time, if she comes at all, to return thanks for all the good things we are about to receive; and that's a consolation anyway.' I then took another look in the direction in which the expected succor ought to appear, when I saw, and tried to rub my eyes with my elbows to make sure I saw, but couldn't, a horsewoman on a summit of the hill; it was Marietta! I roared out like a raging bull, and Pedro gave chorus. As soon as Marietta caught sight of what was going on, she curbed her horse sharply back, and beckoned with eager gestures over the hill. A minute afterwards the ridge was crowned by half a regiment of British dragoons. The instant they saw us they gave one loud cheer and came on like a whirlwind. "A narrow escape, Smith!' said the commanding officer. But come, mount at once. There is a large French force in the neighbor 66 Gentlemen," said Captain Smith, after the applause had subsided, "do not, if you please, forget the moral of my story. Everything, the chaplain used to say, has a useful moral—even short rations-though I never could agree with him to that extent. The moral of this adventure I take to be this—Never, under any circumstances, assume to be what you are not; for if shot or hanged in a wrong character, you will never able to amend the errors of description.'" Chambers' Journal. TO ONE SLEEPING. Sleep on thy meek and thoughtful brow The traces of the frequent tear, Sleep on! for ever in thy dream Close by thy side, and round thee press Sleep on! for here on earth no more Thy heart's affection, not in vain, The little one, who from its rest Is with thee, lovelier than when thou In meek submissiveness did'st bow, Sleep on! for oft the spirit seems To pass from earth, and catch bright gleams Hears voices from the better land, And earthly slumberers are fanned "He giveth his Beloved sleep ;" Oh, then dream on, nor waking weep These holy visionings are given Boston, Mass. MATILDA F. DANA. IDIOCY IN MASSACHUSETTS. works from which is derived the information which we present to the correspondents and readers of the Messenger. "Strange," says Dr. H. in an article on this subject in the Massachusetts Quarterly, "strange how men reading the lessons of the past can be heedless of the cries and demands of humanity in the present! but so it ever is. Nobility in his saddle, Aristocracy in his coach, Respectability in his gig, Property in his counting-room, Propriety in his pew, ever have, and still do cry'Peace be still!' when the poor and lowly strive to struggle up a step higher upon the platform of humanity. The foremost countries of the world (and Massachusetts is one of them) are, however, beginning to heed the warning of the past and the threatening of the future. Some of the claims of the poorer classes are beginning to be understood, and granted, though still too much as boons, rather than rights. The time was when colleges were considered all that was necessary for national education; the time has come when the common school is considered still more necessary; and the time is at hand when universities for the rich alone shall dwindle into insignificance compared with the vast maWe perused with interest a communication in chinery which shall be put in operation for the he February No. of the Southern Literary Mes- education of the children of the poorest citizens. senger with regard to the "Education of Idiots," The pay of the dismissed soldier, and the honor containing interesting extracts from letters of now paid to his tawdry tinsel shall ge to enDr. Conolly and Mr. Sumner concerning the courage and elevate the teacher, and the hulks ondition of this unfortunate class of beings in of navies shall be left to rot, that the schoolhe institutions established in Europe for their house may be built up and adorned. In the elief, and it was not without some feeling of way, too, of what is called charity, but which ride in the reputation acquired by our ancestral should be called religion and duty, we are adState that we read the following sentence of the vancing. The time was when deformed chilonclusion of the article to which we refer "we dren were exposed and left to perish; a Saygelo not know, but we will lay any wager, even tus and Eurotas were everywhere at hand for our dukedom to a beggarly denier' that Massa- those who could not be reared to beauty and husetts has done something decided, something generous upon this subject before now!" Through some delay in the reception of our Vos. of the Messenger, the communication of which we speak has but recently met our eye, r we should sooner have replied to it, for it has een both our duty and our pleasure to procure "The frightful number of these unfortunates," uch information as we might with regard to the remarks in another place the same writer, “will egree of attention which this subject has re- dwindle away as the light of knowledge makes eived from the Legislature of Massachusetts, clear the laws which govern our existence. But appy, if through our humble efforts, a wider in the meantime," he urges, "let none of them ympathy may be created in behalf of these be lost, let none of them be uncared for,-but orely-stricken ones, and if the example of our whenever the signal is given of a man in diswn State may impel sister-states to exertion in tress-no matter how deformed, how vicious, how loathsome even, he may be,-let it be regarded as a call to help a brother." heir cause. Through the kindness of Dr. S. G. Howe, "rincipal of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, South Boston, a gentleman whose philan strength, but now the more deformed they are the more solicitude is manifested in their behalf. The sick are gathered into hospitals, the dumb are taught to speak, the blind to read, the insane to reason, and at last the poor idiot is welcomed into the human family.” Under an act of the Massachusetts Legisla * Report to the Massachusetts Legislature upon Idiocy. ropic exertions are too well known to need The causes and prevention of Idiocy. Coolidge & Wiley, omment here, we have been furnished with 12 Water St. Boston. ture, April 11th, 1846, Dr. Howe was appointed | breaking the instrument to pieces, he took it up chairman of a Committee "to inquire into the mildly but firmly, carried it home, got some straw condition of the Idiots of the Commonwealth, to and laid the offending tool upon it; then he ascertain their number and whether anything can brought some bread and water, and demurely be done in their behalf." A report was returned told the offender that it had been very naughty— in March, 1847; in the meantime the commis- that he did not want to hurt it—but it should sioners had been actively employed, both in have no other supper and no bed to lie on. personal visits and inspection, and also in ex- "By such means he has been much improved, tensive correspondence, not only in their own not only in behavior but in temper. He is growState and country, but in Europe. The result ing less violent and more manageable every of a second year's labor in this cause was re- day." ported to the Legislature in February 1848. The Truly "he that feareth is not made perfect in first part of the report contains remarks upon the love." various definitions of the terms Idiots-Idiocy—| The first attempt in Europe for the education upon their numbers, condition and capacities in of Idiots is thus noticed by Dr. Howe-"It is a Massachusetts, followed by many valuable sug- singular and interesting fact that the first regular gestions as to treatment (gentle or harsh) physi- attempt upon record to educate an idiot was cal care, &c., from which we would gladly quote made with a view to prove the truth of the theory did the limits of this article permit. Kind and of the sensualist school of philosophy which was gentle management has been uniformly found in so much in favor, in France, during the Revolutheir case as in that of the insane, most beneficial; tion. A wild boy who had been found in the and illustrative of this we would cite here an af- forest, was brought to Paris and became famous fecting instance mentioned in the Supplement to as the Savage of Aveyron. Great was the dethe Report, of an idiot youth of violent and irri-light of the wise men when they found that this table disposition whose parents had endeavored man could not speak any human tongue, and to overcome this temper by corporal punishment was devoid of understanding and knowledge. but without success. We will give the account The celebrated Itard undertook to teach him, in the narrator's own words. and it was expected that he would prove that all “The father spared not the rod, but healed not our ideas are derived immediately from the senses the child who, on the contrary, grew worse and and that our mental faculties are only sensations worse. The lessons in punishment were not transformed. According to the theory, by causlost upon him. Whatever object offended him ing certain sensations, certain ideas would be he would beat and punish just as he had been generated, and from these a given character propunished. If it were a tool of any kind he duced. No one was better fitted than Itard for would smash and break it in pieces; if it were a giving the experiment a fair trial, and he labored as far as man can whose feet are upon moving sand. But it was all in vain, and would have been nearly in vain under any system, for it became evident that the supposed savage was only an idiot. Itard, however, was not merely a philosopher, but a man of humanity, he became interested in the subject and followed up his attempts to instruct this poor creature with great zeal and ability for several years, and his laber was not lost. He saw what might be done for idiots and his thoughts and hints have been since acted upon by a disciple worthy of such a master-Mr. Edward Séguin." dumb beast he would beat and abuse it. "It happened one day that a zealous member of the Peace Society was a visitor at the house and witnessed a scene of contest in which the father barely came off victor. The visitor urged the father to follow a different course with his unfortunate son, to abandon all blows, all direct use of force and try mild measures. By his advice Johnny was made to understand that if he should commit a certain offence he would be mildly and kindly remonstrated with, have nothing but bread and water for supper and be obliged to lie upon the floor with only a little straw under him. Very soon he began to practice this mode of Dr. Howe also mentions the praiseworthy ofpunishment upon the cattle. If the cow offend-forts of Dr. Belhomme, of Paris, Mons. Ferrus. ed him, instead of flying into a passion and beat- Mr. Falret, and Dr. Voisin. Their principal esing her, he addressed her gravely, telling her the ertions have been made since the year 1824. “It nature of her offences, and assuring her of the is however," says Dr. Howe, "due to Edward He would then lead her out, lay Séguin to say that to him, more than to any other some straw upon the ground, bring a little water person, seems to be owing the great and rapid and a crust of bread, and tell her that was all improvement which has been made in the art of she could have for supper. One day being in teaching and training idiots. He has labored the field he hurt his foot with the rake, and in-with that enthusiasm and zeal in a beloved eb siead of getting angry as he was wont to do and ject which almost always ensures success. Ho consequences. has put forth a degree of courage, energy and terioration and even to elevate them, and shall perseverance, which, if exerted in the art of de- our Commonwealth continue to bury the humble stroying men and cities would have covered his talent of lowly children committed to her mothbreast with those crosses and decorations and taw-erly care, and let it rot in the earth, or shall she dry baubles, so highly prized by vulgar minds. do all that can be done to render it back with But how utterly worthless would be such tokens usury to Him who lent it? There should be no of excellence in a bloody and barbarous art compared with the high reward of an approving conscience which must ever follow labors of love in the field of benificence. We do not know that Seguin has a title; but surely one of field-marshal or peer of France, which might have been Acting upon these suggestions of their Comgiven at the whim of a man, could never equal missioners, the Legislature of Massachusetts apin true honor that of friend and benefactor of propriated the sum of $2,500, annually, for three the most afflicted of the human race; a title years, to try the experiment of education upon which he has gained by long years of patient ten idiots. Mr. James B. Richards, who was toil, and which shall be held in honor when that of destroyer shall cease to be prized by any but barbarians." doubt about the answer to these questions. The humanity and justice of our rulers will prompt them to take immediate measures for the formation of a school, or schools, for the instruction and training of idiots." Extracts are also made from letters describing the schools for Idiots-from those of Dr. Conolly and Mr. Sumner, already quoted by the correspondent of the Messenger, and which we therefore omit here, proceeding at once with Dr. Howe's appeal appointed teacher, visited the schools in Europe, to derive such information as might aid him in his task, and in October, 1848, began his labors with four pupils, whose number has since increased to eleven-all of them boys. The establishment is under the supervision of Dr. Howe, and under the same roof with the Perkins Institute for the Blind, a large and commodious building, occupying an airy and delightful position upon that part of South Boston known as Mt. The benefits of the Institution are not limited “No systematic efforts," says he, "have yet been made in this country to teach a class of Washington. these sorely bereaved creatures, but individual efforts have not been wanting in Massachusetts. to the ten for whom the present fund provides,— The success here obtained for the first time in private pupils being also received. the education of persons who by the English law are considered to be necessarily idiots as 'wanting all those senses which furnish the human mind with ideas,' has encouraged attempts to educate idiots. The results thus far are most satisfactory. In view of all these circumstances, we earnestly recommend that measures be at once taken to rescue this most unfortunate class from the dreadful degradation in which they now grovel. The school is yet in its infancy-only seven months having elapsed since its commencement. No report of its progress therefore has been offered to the public, but we are happy to lay before our readers such information as a recent visit thither afforded us. The unfortunate children who a few months since were unable to control their limbs, had no idea of size, form, or number, we found seated at desks, of the usual kind, and when called upon "It is true that the plea of ignorance can be to do so by their teacher, stood up before the made in excuse for the neglect and ill-treatment black-board, on which was printed in chalk part which they have hitherto received; but this plea of the alphabet, designated the letters, and comcan avail us no longer. Other countries have bined them into words of three letters. After shown us that idiots may be trained to habits of this they proceeded to exercises which would industry, cleanliness and self-respect; that the enable them to control and direct their muscles highest of them may be measurably restored to at the example of the teacher; such as folding self-control, and that the very lowest of them their arms across the chest, placing them at the may be raised from the slough of animal pollu- side, and extending them—the lessons not having tion in which they wallow; and can the men of been yet applied to the use of the left arm or of other countries do more than we? Shall we the feet. In the room were also placed ladders who can transmute granite and ice into gold and which they were taught to climb; (a straw matsilver, and think it pleasant work, shall we shrink tress being placed on the floor to prevent injury from the higher task of transforming brutish men in case of any falling.) Pupils who, when first back into human shape? Other countries are received into the school, manifested much timidbeginning to rescue their idiots from further de-ity, and indeed almost entire inability to mount one step, are now climbing up and down with Two blind idiots are under training at the Institution facility, and seem to enjoy their newly acquired for the Blind in Boston. knowledge. One child who, on his arrival, knew VOL. XV-47 |