A
little boy was admitted as a pupil into the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Derby. Previous to his admission he had given his parents and friends a great deal of trouble, and fears were entertained that he would be none the less troublesome to those in charge of him at the Institution. Happily however, owing to the firmness and kindness of his teachers, he very soon yielded to the rules and became a good, obedient boy. At length the time came for the vacation, and, amongst others, this little fellow went home for his holiday. The dinner hour arrived, and sitting down with his parents, he looked up at his father and put his hands together. He wanted his father to ask a blessing. The father made the boy understand he did not know what to say, then the poor little fellow began to cry. At last he thought of a plan, he would ask the blessing himself; and so he spelt on his fingers the blessing he had learnt at the Institution, and got his friends to spell on their fingers after him letter by letter and word by word, and thus overcame the difficulty in which he was placed.