D
uring a revival of religion in one of the New England villages, a son of the clergyman returned home for a brief visit. The lad was a deaf mute, and had spent his first term in the Deaf and Dumb Institution, just then commencing its history. His parents having no knowledge of the language of signs, and the boy being an imperfect writer, it was almost impossible to interchange with him any but the most familiar ideas. He, therefore, heard nothing of the revival. But before he had been at home many days, he began to manifest signs of anxiety, and at length wrote with much labour upon his slate, "Father, what must I do to be saved?" His father wrote in reply, "My son, you must repent of sin, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." "How must I do this?" asked the boy again upon his slate. His father explained to him as well as he could, but the poor untaught boy could not understand. He became more than ever distressed; would leave the house in the morning for some retired place, and would be seen no more until his father went in search of him. One evening, at sunset, he was found upon the top of the hay, under the roof of the barn, on his knees, his hands uplifted and praying to God in the signs of the mutes. The distress of the parents was so intense, that they sent for one of the teachers of the Asylum, and then for another; but it seemed that the boy could not be guided to the Saviour of sinners. One afternoon the father was on his way to fulfil an engagement in a neighbouring town, and as he drove leisurely over the hills, the poor inquiring and helpless son was continually in his thoughts. In the midst of his supplications his heart became calm, and his long distracted spirit was serene in the one thought that God was able to do his own work. The speechless boy at length began to tell how he loved his Saviour, and that he first found peace on the very afternoon when the spirit of his father on the mountains was calmed and supported by the thought that what God had promised he was able to perform.