mutes. To do this, understandingly, we must pre- | fame of those who conduct these Institutions, truth mise a few observations on the peculiar situation of obliges us to say that the results have not realized Deaf mutes, the means which are generally em- the expectations of the philanthropists. We could ployed to obviate their misfortune and the success point out several individuals of good talents, who, which appears to attend the efforts which are thus after a residence of five or six years in a Deaf made in their behalf. The peculiar condition of mute Institution, cannot write the English language the Blind has already been sufficiently explained. intelligibly, and we believe that the oldest InstituDeaf mutes are born with the same internal tions in this country have not produced one single faculties, emotions and passions as other men, they graduate able to write the same language with ease have by nature the same desire and the same men- and fluency. To use the expression of one of the tal capacities, but they are deprived of one of the most distinguished of Deaf mute instructors; the most important physical organs, by the use of art of instructing the Deaf and Dumb, may be which man converses with his fellow-man. Each said, notwithstanding what it has accomplished in individual presents the phenomenon of an immortal past times, to be materially in arrears of the science." and thinking spirit, pent up within what is, without The reason of this failure can be made very plain a metaphor to him, a prison-house of clay. The to every philologist who is aware of the fact that the imprisoned spirit seeks to effect its escape. It study of language is not the study of a science, longs to break down the wall of separation which but the study of an art, and that it must accordingly divides it from its fellows, for man by his very be prosecuted not by the method of abstract prinnature is disposed to “exteriorize” himself, to ex- ciples but by the assiduous exercise of familiar press outwardly what he feels inwardly. In en- practices. No doubt there is a science of landeavoring to communicate with his fellow-man, the guage, and that a very profound one, and there is Deaf mute is compelled, in the absence of words, also a science of each individual language, as there to resort to the indication of present objects, and is an anatomy of each individual man, but you to the delineation by motion and gestures, of those must have the man before you can dissect him, and which are absent. This language, if it deserves you must know the language (vulgarly speaking) the name of language, wants the lightness, the sim- before you can make a science of it. What is the plicity and the precision of our oral language; it is practice of nature in the matter? How do little unwieldy in its material and burdensome in its use, children learn languages? It is a very simple mattherefore but little adapted to become the medium ter, but a matter like all the great primal truths of of communication between man and man. But, existence, the neglect of which, in the study of besides, this language is not understood by the vast languages, has puzzled many a hopeful scholar and majority of mankind. Although the most simple perplexed many a famous pedagogue. It is by the of the natural signs which the Deaf mute employs, continued and persevering repetition of a certain may be comprehended by all with whom he comes sound, in plain, palpable and direct connection with in contact; there is a variety of natural signs which a certain known and familiar object that a child are not so obvious in their meaning. The very learns both to understand the words of a language infirmity under which the Deaf mute labors leads when spoken and to speak them himself with unhim to examine surrounding objects with extraor- derstanding. By the institution of nature, therefore, dinary minuteness, with a view to describe them to it appears that to learn a language easily and prothose with whom he communicates, and though the fitably a person must be put into an atmosphere, so signs which he employs in his descriptions may be to speak, impregnated with it, and he must remain natural, they may not be readily comprehended by in that atmosphere for a certain considerable period, those who have observed these objects with less greater or less according to his capacity of percepcare than himself. tion and imitation, till these signs, in connection The great object, therefore, in the education of with the things of which they are the symbols, Deaf mutes is to give them a knowledge of the have become an habitual and customary part of his language which forms the medium of intercourse associations, and every artificial or imitative sysbetween their more favored fellow-men either by a tem of teaching languages must be good or bad visible representation of our audible sounds, that according as its machinery approaches to, or reis, by making them understand the meaning of our cedes from, this original norm which nature has written words, or by teaching them to imitate the set up. We meet daily with the proof of this fact. motions of the lips, etc. of speaking persons and Among so many children who receive instruction informing them of the meaning of these motions. in the French language, we see that not one sucFor this end alone numerous Institutions for Deaf ceeds in acquiring even a tolerable knowledge of motes have been established which, whatever their it, except those who have been forced for some beneficial effects in other respects may be, must length of time to use that language exclusively as expect to stand or to fall according to their success the medium of communication with the persons in this peculiar task. who surround them. A still more striking example Without wishing to detract aught from the fair of this is often witnessed on the continent of Eu

rope amongst the fashionable Englishmen, who, ney occupied, most blind persons had learned the with their attendants, repair to the baths of Ger- different positions of the hand which constitute the many; for while master and mistress hear nothing alphabet of the deaf and dumb, and could converse but French and English from the fashionable society with their mute fellow-travellers as far as these that frequents the baths and return from their Ger- had a knowledge of alphabetical language. Laura man tour as guiltless of a Teutonic guttural, as if Bridgeman, the celebrated deaf, dumb and blind they had never left their native land, their servants, girl at the Boston Institution, converses readily on the other hand, have heard the native dialect with the blind girls who surround her; she has not from the mouth of the German grooms and cham- been allowed to use any natural signs, and has, in bermaids, and have, with very little perceptible consequence, acquired a wonderful dexterity in the trouble, in three months, acquired a more practical knowledge of a language, of which they know not a single printed letter, than many a famous scholar has done by solitary study in three years.

use of the manual alphabet. Not only can she make herself the letters with great rapidity, but she reads them as fast as an expert sign-maker can make them. In the European Institutions at Zurich, Stockholm, Gruünd, etc., in which both Blind and Deaf mute persons are instructed, these two classes mix together in harmony and appear to enjoy the society of each other; it is said that the instruction of the Deaf mutes in these Institutions is divested of its greatest difficulties by their intercourse with the Blind.

ral superiority, but from the fact that the Deaf are obliged to spend a long time in learning language, which the Blind learned as other children do, while playing about the house, and that before he acquires a knowledge of language the Deaf mute must be totally unacquainted with all those things which are removed from his immediate field of observation. The advantages which the Deaf mutes would derive from daily intercourse with persons superior to them in knowledge must be obvious.

The application of this principle to Deaf mute Institutions is very simple. We have already shown that the only natural method which a Deaf mute has of expressing his thoughts is by the features of his face and the gesticulations of his body, especially of his arms and hands; these gesticulations constitute his natural language, consequently the language of his choice, the medium But the intellectual advantages which the deaf and in which he loves to communicate his thoughts, dumb would derive from associating with the blind especially if he be with other Deaf mutes. Our would not be confined to mere improvement in lanletters and words not being familiar to him, he guage. Any one who has been acquainted with Deaf will not use them except he is obliged to do so. mutes and Blind persons of the same age, who are In common Deaf mute Institutions, ninety-five hun-under instruction, can not fail to have perceived how dredths of the inmates being deaf and dumb, the greatly superior the Blind are in all kinds of knowtemptation to use the natural sign language, a lan-ledge that does not depend immediately upon light guage readily understood by all and natural to a and shade, or colors. This arises, not from any natularge majority of them, is very great. They are like English children learning French in an English boarding school; you may by strict discipline coerce them to speak French, but the moment that coercion is removed they will prattle away in English. Still, to learn the English language well, a constant practice of it is indispensable; it is not sufficient that in school-hours they be taught how to translate their thoughts from the sign language into English; they must learn to think in English, or else their language will always have the labored stiffness which characterizes translations. A union with blind persons in the same establishment must, therefore, have the most beneficial effect upon this great object in the instruction of the Dumb. The natural signs being mostly if not entirely taken from the visible properties of objects and being addressed to the eye, it cannot be made the medium of conversation between the Deaf and the Blind; they will have to resort to alphabetical language, in Let us now see what the effect upon the Blind which constant practice will soon render them per- would be. Intellectually they would not derive as fect. That this kind of intercourse, can and will much benefit as the Deaf, because being superior in take place, has been fully demonstrated by expe- mental development and acquirements, they would rience. About two years ago, some of the Blind be rather the communicants than the recipients of pupils of the Virginia Institution undertook a jour- knowledge, but we know that nobody can teach ney through the Eastern part of this State, in con- without learning. The Blind, therefore, could not nection with some Deaf mutes of the same Institu- be losers; indeed, the effort which they would be tion. Nothing was done on the part of their obliged to make, in order to use the manual alphateachers to promote intercourse between the two bet with facility, would be a useful exercise to classes, and still in the short time which the jour- them. Physically considered, it would be a great

The moral effect which such a union would produce upon the Deaf and Dumb must necessarily be salutary. If inclined to be vain, the sight of beings, also deprived of the use of an important organ, and still far superior to him in knowledge would teach him humility; and if melancholy repinings should oppress him, he has before his eye a number of beings whom it has pleased Providence to visit with an affliction as great as his own.

CHEAP LITERATURE:

ITS CHARACTER AND TENDENCIES.
BY A SOUTHRON.

advantage to the Blind to be associated with the Deaf; the Deaf could lead the Blind, they could explain many appearances of things which the Blind can not get a knowledge of by handling, and in the work department there are many articles which the Blind could readily make, all to nice finishing, which requires sight; this might be done by the Deaf

mutes.

Much has been spoken and written of late, concerning the recent system of cheap publication, so extensively adopted in the larger cities, and from thence, radiating into all sections of our Union; In conclusion, we must say, therefore, that we and varied, as the minds and characters of the hail with pleasure the announcement that attempts writers, have been the speculations to which it has are being made to unite in this country the instruc- given birth; and we only venture to contribute our tion of the Deaf mutes and of the Blind, because, mite, because we entertain some peculiar views we believe that by such a union, the instruction of upon the subject, which we desire to submit to the both classes will be materially facilitated. We dispassionate judgment of the public; for which, trust that the eminent philanthropist who first broke the writer of this article, and not the Review must the ice in this undertaking will not be discouraged be held responsible. by the difficulties which private interest and dogmatical ignorance are sure to throw in his way, but that he will pursue the noble course which he has so well begun until success crowns his efforts and fulfils his most sanguine expectations. Virginia Institution for the Blind. Staunton, 1843.

THE COMING ON OF NIGHT.

BY HENRY B. HIRST.

Down drops the dying sun:

The low breeze creeps among the nodding boughs
And over the shutting flow'rets gently flows--

Night cometh robed in dun.

Her quiet step is heard,

Like the far echo of some trickling spring,
Or the faint murmur of the downy wing
Of some lone woodland bird.

And from the dreamy sky

The moonbeams fall, fringing the trees with light,
Or playing on the river pure and bright,

That wanders singing by.

And from the sleeping stream

The mirrored stars a spiritual light

Fling hazily over grove and rock and height,
That smile beneath their beam.

Forest and field are still.
Nature seems wrapt in slumber, wholly dumb,
Save, when the frog's deep bass, or beetle's hum,
Or wailing whip-poor-will,

Disturb her weary ear;

Or the far singing of the silver rill,

That sings while leaping joyous down the hill
Her dreamless sleep to cheer.

It is a night of love!

Ob blessed night! that comes unto the poor
And rich alike, bringing us dreams that lure
Our souls to Ope above.

Philadelphia, March, 1843.

VOL. X-5

That this movement has been productive of important results, no thinking man can doubt-and infinite has been the self-laudation of enterprising publishers, who first set the ball in motion; and proportionably bitter their assaults upon the "grasping Book-Barons," whom they charge with the crime of lèse majesté against the Sovereign people!the privilege of acting as the high priests of literature, being considered ample reward for them; and the desire of profit, unworthy of their high vocation.

"Wisdom" now, literally "cries aloud in the streets, and no man regards her;" if the ragged urchins who throng the thoroughfares, and dog the footsteps of strangers, vending cheap publications, may be regarded as her heralds. Books are thrust before you as you walk the public streets, or, plunged in dreamy reverie, inhale the fragrance of your mild Havanna on the balcony of your hotel; the shrill cry of the news-boy rises above the din of the crowded streets, blends with the splash of the steam-boat paddles, and even the swift whirl of the locomotive cannot bear you beyond it. Time was, when books were so valuable for their rarity, as to be chained like criminals to the desks of libraries, which became shrines of pilgrimage to the earnest votaries of thought; but the order of things has been totally reversed; men do not seek books now, but are happy to escape from the venders of them; and beholding these things, the glad public claps its hands and cries aloud, that a “new era has dawned upon the world, when knowledge, so long the privilege of the few, has become the property of the many!" and that the intellectual millennium has at length arrived. And if, amidst this exulting uproar, a dissenting voice is raised, it is either totally disregarded, or scoffed at, as inimical to the great interests of the people. Unpopular as the avowal may be, we yet do not hesitate to declare that our sympathies in this matter are with the minority; for we not only believe, that this system tends to lower the standard of excellence among the educated few, but go still further, and openly assert as our belief, that it is calculated to

And in the third place, because the character of the works which have had the most widely extended circulation, is such, as to taint and corrupt the youth of our land, by their open and shameless licentiousness. Such are a few out of the many charges which might be preferred, but these are sufficient for our purpose, if we can prove them, and this we now intend to do, as far as such charges

lower and debase the minds of the great mass of the people. This assertion may seem to involve a startling paradox, since it would appear, that the multiplication of books at almost nominal prices, would naturally tend to diffuse information among all classes of the community, and to spread the light of knowledge as well "into the huts where poor men lie," as into the luxurious mansions of the rich; but there is one important consideration are susceptible of positive proof. In an article usually lost sight of, and it is this, that to ensure a healthy state of mind, as well as of body, more care should be paid to the quality, than the quantity of food provided for it. "All knowledge is not nutriment;" far from it! there is a knowledge of evil, as well as of good;-a philosophy of vice, as well as of virtue,-and woe to that people, who are dependant for their mental food, upon the foul jackalls of literature, who revel only in its garbage and corruption.

recently contributed to the Democratic Review, by one of the most vigorous and original thinkers of the day, the remark is made, that "the present tendency with us, is to the creation of a literature, which levels downwards and not upwards: instead of feeling it an imperious duty to instruct and elevate the mass, the tendency among us is to take our law from the mass; and to bring thought down to a level with the narrow views, crude notions, and blind instincts of the multitude." And he then That this point has already been reached by the adds, that "if this tendency is continued and enAmerican people, we are not prepared to assert;couraged, our whole intellectual world will become but that such is the inevitable tendency of the superficial and void, and American life too feeble state of things now existing, we expect to prove to the satisfaction of all candid and unbiassed minds. The question, then, rests upon the inquiry, not as to the number or price of the books published and circulated, but as to their general character, and the influence which they are calculated to exert upon the public mind; thrown, as they have been, suddenly into the hands of multitudes of those, whose previous reading (to say the least) had been exceedingly limited. And here, in the outset, let us not be misunderstood,-the strictures about to be made, are applicable only to the "cheap publications," strictly so called; the reprints of standard works, which the old publishing houses have been recently driven into, to counteract (if possible) this movement, are neither, when collected, so It is admitted on all hands, that the first great cheap, nor as widely circulated as the penny publi- requisite of a free people is the general possession cations of obscure publishers in New York and of an enlarged intelligence; an ignorant people elsewhere; the New World press, and a few others cannot possibly long continue a free people, because, also, deserve to have it said of them, that if they to ensure the maintenance of rights, the intelligence have effected but little good, they also wrought but to detect infractions of them is required; and this little positive harm; having been outstripped in is especially the case in a country like ours, where the race for public favor by more unscrupulous everything being dependent on the popular will, it competitors, who now have the field; and it is is of vital importance that that will should be guiagainst these " 'petty instruments of mighty mis-ded by the dictates of an enlarged and liberal reason.

a thing to be worth preserving!" This is a strong and by no means a flattering picture; but let any candid man look around him, and answer, whether it be not a faithful one; and if so, let him then decide, whether he will lend his voice to swell the popular clamor, or singly, if it may be, raise it to vindicate, what he believes to be the right; for our own part, the ground we have assumed, we are now prepared to defend. But before entering into the proofs which substantiate our first charge, it may not be amiss to trace the connexion necessarily existing between the tendency complained of and the want of a national literature; creating the relation of cause and effect, the latter being the cause, the former the effect.

chief" that we now declare a war "even to the The only certain mode of securing this desirable knife." end, is by extending to the whole people the advanWe arraign them then, at the bar of public opi-tages of education; not alone by the more obvious nion, because, in the first place, they have crushed means of primary schools and colleges, wherein the hopes of our American authors, and blasted the rudiments only are required; each man's eduour prospects of possessing a national literature! cation, properly speaking, only commencing at the In the second place, because they have lowered period of his terminating his collegiate course; the scale of national honor, by enticing our people but by throwing open to the student a national liteto participate in, and benefit by a wholesale system rature, wherein works adapted to the "form and of injustice and fraud, both against foreign authors pressure" of the time and country in which he lives, and publishers, whose property they have fraudu may be found to teach him his rights and duties lently appropriated! often adding insult to injury, both as a man and an American citizen. For inwhen the wrong was complained of! formation on these points, he must turn over in

vain the classic pages of antiquity, or the produc- Dreadfully indignant were we, years ago, when tions of modern authors, living under forms of go- Sydney Smith sneeringly asked, "who reads an vernment totally adverse to our own. In all en- American book?" and if words could kill, immelightened times and countries, this matter of pos-diate would have been the death of that reverend sessing a national literature has been regarded by jester; yet the question might almost be reiterated sagacious statesmen as the one thing needful, to now, with the slight change of "who writes one?" cement the jarring and discordant elements, which for American authors are becoming, as a class, constitute a people, by a feeling which all could valuable for their rarity, and unless a favorable share-a feeling of national pride in the produc- change takes place, threaten to be soon extinct. tions of its own citizens, forming a kind of neutral We do not here mean to class as authors, the wriground, on which conflicting sects and parties, cast-ters for magazines and daily newspapers, though ing aside their differences, might meet in friendship, probably the greater part of the talent of the counas the tribes of Greece were wont to assemble at try is driven into that narrow channel; many of J their Olympia. Not alone valuable on this account, them being men of great ability, who, under a since it is the most enduring, as well as the most better state of things, would be authors of high useful of a nation's possessions; for, embodying celebrity; but the fleeting existence of the jourthe choice thoughts of her most gifted sons, it is nals for which they write, and the ephemeral nabequeathed to posterity, as that nation's richest ture of their contributions, chiefly on matters of legacy; the undying portion of her, which is to local interest, do not permit them to be ranked preserve her memory intact, long after her feats among authors by profession. If then, so many of of war and state-craft have been interred in the these writers have evinced, even on the contracted "Limbo of Vanities," among other forgotten things. theatre they have chosen, abilities of no common For does not England owe a greater debt to her order, why is it, that none of them attempt susSpenser and her Shakspeare, than to her long line tained and elaborate works; works such as "Posof forgotten Kings? Does not the antiquarian, terity will not willingly let die?" because there is even now, seek to trace the records of her early no encouragement for literary effort; because the history on the vivid page of Chaucer, rather than public seeks amusement and not instruction! bein the musty tomes of the Domesday Boke, or cause even our authors, who have already gained a other ponderous folios, which slumber in the dusty continental reputation, fail to gain the ear of an in200ks of old libraries? Well did that statesman different public; and in despair lock up their wriunderstand how deeply the character of a nation ting-desks, and hope for better times. is tinged by its literature, who asked "to have the making of the songs of a people, and he cared not who made their laws;" for he knew that the laws were engraven only on their memories, while the simple songs sunk deep into their hearts, and were transmitted to their children's children.

It is true, that there are a few illustrious exceptions, for Prescott, Sparks, Bancroft and a few other kindred spirits, to whom the love of historical research brings its own reward, still prosecute their useful labors; in the field of fiction, Cooper, like his own Leather-stocking, still treads with elasTried then by this test, what is the condition of tic foot the green sward and the prairie, while our own country. Does it not present the strange Simms, our Southern novelist, "abates no jot of anamoly of a thriving, energetic, and resolute peo-heart or hope," but perseveres in the career he has ple, whose physical wants are all supplied by their so well begun; Stephens has opened for us a wide own unaided efforts; who claim as their highest field of speculation by his discovery of ancient privilege, the right of governing themselves, yet cities in our new world; and an occasional burst of totally dependent on foreign nations for their in- melody from the Northern lyre, touched by the finellectual food! thankfully receiving the crumbs, gers of Bryant, or Lowell, gives us the assurance, which fall from the tables of their German, French, that though unstrung, it is not yet shattered: yet or English masters? Well might Mr. Hillard ex- these are but "rari nantes in gurgite vasto," and claim, in that noble discourse delivered at Boston, the support and maintenance of American Literathat "A nation, skilled in all the arts that multiply ture now mainly depends on the zeal and honesty physical comforts and conveniences, but in which of a few of our best magazines, which have the the imaginative faculty lies paralyzed and lifeless, penetration to know and love the forcible and true, disturbs us with a sense of something, incomplete in thought and expression; and the integrity, and imperfect; it reminds us of a world without unawed by popular or party clamor, to publish and children!"-rather let us say, of a gigantic body, proclaim it! perfect in all its parts, but moved by a complex Where are our authors, and how employed? mechanism and not by a living soul; a monstrous Washington Irving, taking lessons in diplomacy at Polyphemus, with but a single eye, and that turned the grave Spanish court! Bryant, the editor of a only to the acquisition of sordid gold-blind to the party print, the most prosaic of all human occupapriceless treasures of intellect and heart, which tions; Halleck, turning his attention from bookconstitute the only true wealth of a nation. making to book-keeping, of the two, we doubt not,