pupil of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb: | tors, said that he much preferred signs and written language for deaf mutes, to the painful and distressingly labored enunciation of the Oral Method. VIOLET. Philadelphia, Tenth mo. 10, 1883. THE NIAGARA RESERVATION. There is some question as to the powers of the Niagara Falls Commission. From one point of view it would seem that this body was created to do all that should be done now. At all events, while the duties of the Commission, whatever those duties are held to be, are as yet not performed, it is in order to discuss the whole question in a broad way until at last adequate power is delegated to the proper men to do the best thing possible. The attempt to preserve such a property as Niagara-a possession of the people, whose value no one thinks of estimating in dollars and cents-requires just the kind of effort which republics habitually neglect to put forth. lt has taken years of appeal from individuals to arouse the authorities to do anything in the matter. But a beginning has been formally made at last, and by this act the State has assumed the responsibility of preventing the destruction of an object of surpassing natural beauty and grandeur. It can afford to do this in the best way possible, for the particular needs of the people. It cannot afford to do it in the second best way or in any other way. I am confident that all who will give the education of the deaf and dumb due consideration will be convinced of the superior merits of the Combined Method of instruction. I am a semi-mute, and can read the lips as fluently as most of my class, and can speak intelligibly. And what is more I have lost nothing in this respect since my connection with this institution. On the contrary, my voice is stronger and more distinct. But when I desire to be sure of communicating my thoughts to the deaf, I resort to writing or spelling, and have them do the same. With my friends I always speak, and when the answer is particularly important I have them write or spell to me, so that I may be certain that I understand just what is said. I am particularly glad that I am fully acquainted with the sign-language, as in this way I can more readily communicate rapidly and intelligibly with those who can only write or use signs. Signs, too, have been to me a very valuable means of instruction. My progress in school is more rapid than it would be were they not employed in my instruction. My teacher, by this means, communicates rapidly with me, and I find no difficulty in translating them into such English as I am capable of writing. Signs enable the deaf and dumb to attend lectures and to enjoy the services of the sanctuary. In this city as well as in other large cities, divine services are conducted in the sign-language every Sunday. Now the plan of removing nuisances a little In this way the moral and social natures of further away from the cataract than they deaf mutes are developed. The Episcopal now are is not the best way. Even if it is Church, recognizing the importance of their proposed ultimately to acquire the brow of mission to our unfortunate class, will, during the cliff along the river to the whirlpool, it is the session of the convention, now being held not prudent to take the least possible surface in this city, ordain to the priesthood the Rev. demanded now in order to gain a vantage H. W. Syle, a deaf mute, who, for a number ground for greater acquisitions. The park of years, has had the spiritual interests of the will make adjacent land more valuable, so that large number of deaf mutes living in this in a few fears the expense would be serious City and State under his care. It is often for land which now is worth but a trifle. stated by the enemies of the Combined Method This is proved by the experience of almost that we are taught signs. Any one who will every city in the United States which has a give the matter the least consideration, or public park. They have always taken less will examine the pupils in any well conducted land than they needed, and they have always sign school, will be convinced of the falsity found subsequent purchases enormously exof this statement. All deaf mutes use signs pensive. But the State should not play fast naturally, whether taught by the Oral or and loose with a work like this. It ought to Combined Methods. Signs are used to give be able now to define what it wants and all it us information and develop our minds, and wants. Certainly it wants a drive, and a for congenial deaf mutes they are pre-emi-roadway half a mile long is not a drive. nently useful. Nothing in my opinion can ever be successfully substituted for them. glance at the map will suggest to any one the circuit road about the whirlpool as proposed But as soon as we are sufficiently advanced by Mr. Vaux, while an examination of the we use written language in our school rooms ground will impress any one with a sense of and in conversation with our friends. No its desirableness. It is not only that taking less a person than the late Chief Justice in the whirlpool makes a comprehensible Sharswood, President of our Board of Direc-unit of the whole, nor because at this termin ating point there is such a combination of | Arabian Nights in its head at command, only striking features. But the river justifies the modified to suit the present year and place. drive constantly through its entire length. Now the first feeling of little folks who are The interest of the river is increasing and caught telling an untruth is mortification. emphatic, and yet it never is monotonous. They are greatly ashamed. Their cheeks When the reservation was first suggested, flame up, their eyelids wink, and the whole and no general feeling on the subject had weight of the universe seems to be on them. been aroused, the promoters of the project A thoughtful parent uses this natural occacould not act too cautiously. If Messrs. sion. Speak to the child sorrowfully. Make Olmsted and Gardner had asked for more, it a grave matter; do not scold; do not they would have secured nothing. But now, threaten. Let the offender see that you are when public interest is at high tide, the dan- grieved and shocked. Let him feel you have ger is not that the Commission will acquire a trusted his word and feel what it is to have reputation for extravagance. The cost of the lost confidence. Let him see the sacredness ribbon of land along the bank of the river of truth in your manner; what will be lost to the whirlpool would be a small fraction of to him if he loses it; what a broken relation the total expense, and it is not to be thought there will be between you if this is to go on; of when balanced against the fact that with- what loss to him if his word is to be found out this addition the park is incomplete and good for nothing. Make him feel the incontherefore unsatisfactory. The real danger is venience of lying, how hard it would be for that the Commission will acquire a reputation you to have to follow him up and make sure for timidity and shortsightedness. They will when his words are true. Above all have not act too boldly if they strive to meet the him feel that he has injured himself; wronged probable criticisms of the next decade. It himself. Then put it the other way, if you is an absurdity to preserve part of Niagara can, ask how he would feel if he could not and leave the rest to be despoiled. The depend on your word, or if you broke your group of phenomena which give the general promise or deceived him. The lesson then impression of Niagara are distinctly marked. stands open; it is not a balanced account. They have a beginning, a middle and an end. He is not punished; but he may be convinced, The rapids and the other incidents support may be shown that the hardest truth to the cataract as subordinate works of art sup- speak is as nothing to this humiliation, nothport an object of central interest. Manifestly ing in comparison to his own sense of disthe state should do no less than protect grace. Do not let your sorrowful mien last Niagara as a whole.-N. Y. Tribune. long enough to be an injury or a burden. Cheer up and cheer him up, and show your confidence by your changed manner. will help him to earn it in future. The best training is to help the child to curb itself, and the girl or boy who is in the right relations to father and mother will be more impressed by your sorrow over the discovery of a falsehood than by cuffs, or scolding, or any ingenious deprival or task.” THE CHILD'S FIRST UNTRUTH. We clip from the Ledger these simple and practical remarks in regard to one of the most important points in the early education of children. "Never whip a child for the first "story it tells. Do not even punish it. If you do you may give it the feeling that accounts are squared, and that it may go on with the practice, provided it will take the penalty if found out. It will soon argue that discovery is not always certain, and instead of being convinced of a wrong, will be rather inclined to look upon truth and lying as matters of profit and loss altogether. A timid child lies to protect itself, a shrewd child to get some benefit, a sensational child because its imagination is pleased with inventing striking stories. Some children are very sensational, and they will invent a story if they have none (true) to tell, to give them some little advantage over play-fellows. We suppose it is going down through the generations, slightly altered to circumstances, the "uncle that is a constable," and the other relations who are powerful or splendid. Every imaginative child has the whole thousand of That We would add a word in commendation of perfect simplicity and candor in the intercourse of children with their elders. If a child sees truthfulness and uprightness in the daily lives of his parents, insensibly his standard of action conforms itself to theirs, if he grows up in an atmosphere of unfailing love. We believe this to be the general experience. The springs of action are, however, still higher than the holiest parental influence. The sooner the little one is led to look for guidance to the inborn deity in heart and soul-to the "God consciousness," as the philosophers have designated it, the sooner is he able to perceive the true ethics. The law of righteousness early unfolds itself to the healthful mind. Says Emerson : "Health of mind consists in the perception of law. Its dignity consists in being under the law. Nothing seems to me so excellent | the "crape" ring within them are to be noticed as a belief in the laws. It communicates in telescopes of very moderate size. These nobleness, and, as it were, an asylum in rings are probably made up of great numbers temples to the loyal soul. of little solid masses. In their passage around the planet there is much interference and This would result in a gradual approach of clashing, and consequently stoppage of motion. planet. So there is a rational explanation to many of these masses to the surface of the Isaac Sharpless, from Haverford College Observatory, again publishes his "astronom-the supposed fact that the ring is gradually ical notes," defining the position of the greater planets, and pointing out other phenomena to be anticipated during the present month. We clip his article from the Ledger of this city The four bright planets will be very conveniently situated for observation during the rest of the year, in the evening. Venus will be an evening star receding from the sun. It has passed the point in its orbit opposite the earth, and as it separates from the sun will approach us and increase in brightness. It is, in the telescope, the shape of our moon when three weeks old. Nothing of interest in the shape of markings on its surface can be distinctly seen, and the period of its rotation, usually given as about 24 hours and the direction of its axis have not been determined with certainty. : Mars is in the east, rising about 9 o'clock. It is in the western part of the constellation Leo. Its markings, the snow spots around the poles, the configurations which are believed to represent its continents and seas, can be seen by a good telescope on a good night. The latter condition is very necessary as any quivering in the atmosphere will easily obscure the faint delineations. Its time of rotation, about 24 hours, is known to a second. It is nearly opposite the earth from the sun, and, being outside the earth's orbit, it is just now very favorably placed for observation. Jupiter is near Mars, rising about 7 o'clock. It is also placed at the best position for successful observation. With its four satellites, its great size and brightness, its well-defined belts running across its equator, and the numerous spots on its surface, it is always a favorite object for the possessors of small telescopes. The "red spot" in its southern hemisphere has about disappeared, though an English observer has recently announced increasing brightness. The satellites of Jupiter will often be hidden by passing in front of his face, by going behind him, or by passing into his shadow. Many of these phenomena will be visible during the coming month, the times being given in the Nautical Almanac. Saturn is visible all night in the constellation Taurus to the northeast of Aldebaran. Its rings are seen as near broadside as they ever are and the division between them, and widening, and the space between it and the planet narrowing. If the measures of 200 years ago can be relied upon, there is no doubt of this order was not then attainable, astronomers tendency. But as precision of the highest will wait till the drift becomes more evident. If proven, the final extinction of the rings by a fall to the planet is an event of no far distant future. Uranus, next beyond Saturn, has been recently subjected to a close scrutiny by Prof. Young, with the great 23-inch telescope of the Princeton Observatory. He says that belts. have been distinctly seen along its equator, thus giving the direction of the axis of the planet. The rotation is in the plane of the motion of the satellites, or nearly at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic. It is considerably flattened at the poles, having an eccentricity of 1-14. The sun spots have been plentiful and large during this fall and their continuance may be expected. A shower of meteors will be visible about the 10th of next month, which will radiate from the constellation Gemini. They are, some years, of considerable brightness and frequency. After midnight will be the best time to observe them. The variable star Algol in Perseus, which passes from 2d magnitude to 4th every 2 days and 20 hours, will be visible all the evening. It remains at its faintest stage only about 20 minutes. Then it slowly increases for 3 or 4 hours, and shines as a 2d magnitude star for 2 days and again slowly fades. The times of the minimum brightness during next month will mostly occur in the day time. One on the 1st may be seen between 5 and 6 o'clock in the evening. I. S. SOME years ago I was crossing a field in Dorchester, near Boston, Mass., and found a cow which had been tied to a tree with a long rope. In feeding she had gotten the rope wound about her legs and been thrown to the ground, and in struggling to get away had gotten the ropes still more wound about her, until she lay perfectly helpless. When after a long time, I succeeded in unwinding the rope and getting her on her feet, she came to me, with a kind look in her eyes, and lap ped my coat-sleeve with her tongue. When I went home I told the folks that I had met a lady in great distress, and had relieved her, and that she had rewarded me with a kiss. Cows have often been trained to know their names, and come when called. The great American statesman and orator, Daniel Webster, asked, just before he died, that all his cattle, which he loved so much, should be driven to his window, that he might see them for the last time; and as they came, one by one, to his window, he called each by name. -Kindness to Animals. For Friends' Intelligencer. EL MAHDI. The progress of the conquering false prophet of the Soudan has startled the civilized world, and his military triumphs during the last eighteen months have given him sufficient prestige to excite the utmost enthusiasm among his followers. At present, he stands in the position of the expected Messianic deliverer and teacher of Islam, who has been awaited with hope, century after century by the Arab of the desert, and the year of his appearance completed the twelfth century from the Hegira. His complete overthrow of the Egyptian army led by European officers, his Arab blood and the date of his appearance all combine to promote a tendency toward the acknowledgment of his claim as prophet and divinely accredited ruler of Islam. It is believed that if the course of El Mahdi be not promptly checked, and if he, by virtue of his claims and his successes, should be proclaimed at Mecca as Caliph, the whole vast Mahometan world would be unsettled; and England's position as guardian of civilization in Egypt, becomes one of great responsibility. The British government has a foothold in the land of the Nile, and doubtless has power adequate to the present, or almost any emergency. But the great statesmen who now hold the reins of power are assuredly averse to a conflict of this kind, and are believed to be far too enlightened to be willing to engage their country in a bloody war with a fanatical, ignorant people, although complete conquest cannot be thought doubtful. No arbitrations, nor congresses of the nations, is attainable in a case like this; and friends of the human race may well invoke for Gladstone and his compeers that wisdom which alone should guide a great Christian empire. The N. Y. Tribune thus briefly states the situation : Egypt proper extends from the Mediterranean to the 24th parallel of north latitude, and comprises 216,000 square miles. The Egypt over which the Khedive and his sovereign, the Sultan, claim jurisdiction stretches southward thirty-one degrees to the Equator and includes an area of 927,000 square miles. In consequence of the annexations and conquests of Colonel Gordon and other soldiers of fortune a nominal ascendancy had been secured beyond the Cataracts to the borders of Abyssinia and up the White Nile to the great lakes of Central Africa. Khartoum, which is now menaced by the false prophet, ostensibly owes allegiance to the Khedive and is the centre of the Egyptian government of the Soudan. It is a city with a population of 20,000, and is situated at the point where the blue Nile rushing headlong from the mountains of Abyssinia pours its dark torrent into the sluggish current of the White Nile. If Khartoum falls into the hands of the false prophet, the ascendency of Egypt in the Soudan will be brought to an end. The Khedive's authority, which once extended as far as Lake Nyassa, will not be recognized beyond the first Cataract. The question arises whether the British government will take any measures to prevent the capture of Khartoum and the spread of religious fanaticism in the Nile countries south of Cairo. The halting of the foreign garrison will merely secure Lower Egypt against its own panicstricken army and population. It will not arrest the false prophet in his career of victorious conquest as the self-styled Vice-Regent of Allah.' S. R. TEMPERANCE REFORM. While the temperance reform has been meeting with varied fortunes in this country, and has lately suffered many rebuffs, its progress in England seems to be assured; a result due largely, no doubt, to the natural and healthy methods of agitation and legislation which have been in operation. The diminution in the use of beer and spirituous liquors in Great Britain is indicated by the fact that the revenue from excise duties is now $25,000,000 less than it was seven years ago. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, after years of persistent agitation, secured the adoption of the principle of local option by the House of Commons in 1880, and within the last two weeks the same body, by a majority of eightyseven, reaffirmed the principle that the question of the sale of intoxicating liquors in communities shall be settled by the inhabitants of such a community, the ministry accepting substantially Sir Wilfrid Lawson's resolution. The unanimity of the best English sentiment on the subject is striking, and may well furnish food for reflection for our own temperance agitators. The Church of England Temperance Society now numbers about 500,000 members, spends over $100,000 a year in this work, and has not only the sympathy ་ the time appointed, and uniess very great efforts are made on all sides it will be ready for lead to it. Some attention should be given to use five months sooner than the lines which the fact that the mechanical works on the the western side were carried out in accordance with the system of an Austrian engineer, but the active co-operation of the great body of laymen and clergymen in the English Church. The other religious bodies are even more enthusiastic, and the steady and healthful progress of the reform is due largely to the absence of extravagant claims and of denunciations for difference of method; coffee-Brandt-that is to say, the boring machines houses are multiplying throughout England, temperance meetings are largely attended, and the agitation has passed into something like a great popular movement. -Exchange. and the ventilators were put in motion by hydraulic power. The work accomplished in the Arlberg Tunnel is double that done in the St. Gothard and three times that done in the Mount Cenis.-Public Ledger. A Most interesting experiment has recently IT is a singular and cheering fact that, been made on one or two of the English railwhile there have never been so many sects as roads, which will probably result in the gennow, yet there was never so little sectarian-eral lighting of cars by electricity before long. ism as now, that is, never so little disposition to quarrel with and abuse by word and deed persons who hold different religious views from our own.-James B. Gregg. "OUR highest truths do not come by logical process, but by internal experiences.' ITEMS. THE ravages of the cranberry "fire blight' and the berry worm, in Massachusetts, are estimated to have caused a loss of about $15,000 during the year. On the 5th inst., there were severe shocks of earthquake at Rovenden Springs, Arkansas. They lasted forty seconds, were accompanied by a loud noise, broke crockery and glassware and loosened large rocks in a railroad cut. Of cotton-seed oil, comparatively unknown ten years ago, over 250,000 barrels, it is estimated, were made during the past season. Ten million dollars are now invested in this industry, which promises to become one of the most important interests of the South. THE public schools of Texas are said to be now in excellent condition. All over the State the towns are building comfortable, substantial, and even elegant school-houses; and in Denison there is in contemplation a plan for getting up classes in German and Latin in the public school. THE Managers of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans have adopted a design proposed by G. M. Jorgensen, architect, of Meridian, Mississippi, for the main building of the Exposition. The structure is to be 1,500 feet long and 900 feet wide, with 1,000,398 square. THE National Butter, Cheese and Egg Association held in Cincinnati last week has closed. A report was read showing that the total value of butter, cheese, eggs and poultry marketed in the United States in 1883 amounts to more than $600,000,000. The value of the milk and cream sold and not manufactured into butter and cheese during the same period is over $100,000,000. THE boring of the Arlberg Tunnel through the Alps is about completed. It is one of the finest works that modern science has achieved. The tunnel has been finished two years before trains have been thus lit for some little time, On the Brighton Line the saloons of certain but there have always been serious difficulties connected with the storage of electricity in the train. An invention has now been patented, however, by which the difficulties in question will, it is said, be obviated. The other day a trial of the system was made on the line between London and Leeds, a distance of 175 miles, when a Pullman dining car was lit by six Swan incandescent lamps, the light from which is described as bright, perfectly steady, and at no moment affected by "the oscillation of the carriage," making it not only possible but easy to read a newspaper or book printed in small type.—Public Ledger. THE bark Bessie Baker from Manila, May 25th, via Batavia, which arrived in Boston on the 6th inst., brings an interesting story of the "She reports that on AuJava earthquake. gust 27th, Babie Island, bearing N. by W., distant five miles, at daylight noticed a heavy bank rising from the westward, which continued to rise until it became obscured, the barometer suddenly falling to 29.40 and again suddenly rising at one jump to 30.70; had everything furled, and had no sooner let go the port anchor, when heavy showers of sand and ashes began falling. This was about noon time. Then it became darker than the darkest night, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane, and the sea perfectly smooth. A heavy rumbling, like thunder, was heard continually, the sky was lighted by flashes of lightning, and a strong smell of sulphur pervaded the air, making it difficult to breathe. Altogether, it formed one of the wildest and most awful experiences imaginable. The tide was setting strongly to the westward throughout the gale at the rate of 14 knots. The sky became clearer at 3 P.M., though the ashes continued to fall. On the 29th, while passing through the strait of Sunda we saw a large number of dead bodies, and the water for miles was covered with trees and ashes, the seashore for 600 miles being a field of lava. NOTICES. A Temperance Conference, under the care of Committee of Western Quarterly Meeting, will be held at Old Kennett Meeting-house on, First-day, Twelfth mo. 16th, 1883, at 2 P. M. All are invited. ELLWOOD MICHENER, } Clerks. ELMA M. PRESTON, |