While I am writing this, seven little boys and nine little girls (how many does that make in all?) are busy writing on their slates.  These children do not have any books to study.  I tell them what I wish to teach them, and they write it down, and try to remember it.  But I teach them without speaking a word.  I talk to them with my fingers.

You have guessed already, I dare say, that these dear little children are deaf and dumb; that is, they can neither hear nor speak.  They cannot go to school and live at home, and see papa and mamma night and morning, as you can; for there are no schools for them near their homes.  They have to go a long way from home, and stay in school many long weeks without seeing father or mother, brother or sister.  So, when vacation comes, how glad and happy they are!  Some of them are even now writing on their slates, “In sixteen weeks we shall go home.”

I have said that these children cannot speak; but that is not quite true, for many of them are learning to speak.  When I talk to them, they look very closely at my lips, and so learn to tell what I am saying.  Some of them have very sweet and pleasant voices, the sound of which they have never heard in all their lives.

And now let me say that I hope you will learn the finger-alphabet; so that, if you visit any of my little pupils, you can talk to them.

If you ask them, they will spell very slowly,—­how fast they can spell!—­so that you can read what they say.  Perhaps you can get “The Nursery” to print the alphabet for you.

S.A.E.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March, 1880.

A DAY ON GRANDPA’S FARM.

[Illustration:  A Day on Grandpa’s Farm]

“Arlington!” cried the conductor, as the train stopped at a little station in Central Wisconsin.  We got out of the car just in time to see grandpa driving up in his big double wagon.

We climbed in, and grandpa said, “Get up, Bill!  Go along, Jip!” and away we started for the farm.

When we got there, the first thing we saw was grandma making cookies with holes in them.  She said she would give us some if we would be sure and not eat the holes.

After dinner, my sister Ally, cousin Johnny, and I, went out to take a ramble in the barn and hunt for eggs.  Pretty soon we heard Johnny calling, “Oh, come quick, and see what I have found!”

We ran quickly to the place where he was, and there we saw a hen with a brood of chickens.  One of the chicks was on its mother’s back, one was on the floor in front of her, and the others were peeping out from under her wings.  It was a pretty sight.

After naming each of the chickens, we all made a search for eggs.  We found one nest with five eggs in it, another with three, and another with two.  Johnny put the eggs in his cap, and carried them into the house.

He soon came running back, saying, “Now, let us go and have a swing.”  So we all went to the swing, and swung till we were tired.  Then Ally said, “Oh, come and see the ducks swimming on the pond!” but Johnny said, “Wait till I get my boat, that uncle Sam made for me.”