Cherokee phoenix. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1828-1829, August 27, 1828, Image 4

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Cherokee phoenix., August 27, 1828, Image 4

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Newspaper Page Text* POETRY. From the Boston Recorder. “THY WILL BE DONE.” There was a harp whose tone could charm mv soul From all its sorrow—Childhood’s frequent tear Vanish’d before it, like the mqody frown Ofliim who on the throne of Israel heard The lyre of Jesse’s son.—It was my wealth; And I was rich, though the world call’d me poor. But in my trembling hand that harp was crush’d, And down I laid me on the earth to mourn, Struggling in bitterness.—1 had not learnt Then,—in my wayward years ’twas good for Man To bear his Father’s yoke. There was a bower Where from the noon-tide heat, or evening blast I oft found shelter. Through its woven leases Such mingled incense breath’d, and the pale, moon Cast her clear beam so pleasantly, it seem’d A spot for holiest musing, where the shafts Of care or ofunkindness pointless fell. There came a storm, and where the bower had been Was desolation. So I sat and wept, Like him who o’er his lov’d and smitten gourd, The daughter of a night, made wild com plaint, Thinking it w'ell to hold his grief, till Death Should blot its semblance from his muf- munng heart. There was a plant, whose root was in my breast, Its fragrance cheer’d me, and I hop’d to pluck Its fruit in heaven.—There came a fearful blight, And its fair leaflets wither’d, one bv one. I breath’d upon them with a sleepless prayer, And tears by agony, distill’d, fell down Into the bosom of those fading buds: In vain!—for by a viewless Hand ’twas torn With all its rootings forth. Throughout my soul Each fibre bled.—That wound can never heal. It rankles still, although in crowds I wear A smiling brow. Yet blessed be the Power Who dealt such anguish to me. It hath check’d The vanity of hope,—and from the dust Where in deep thought my lowly lip was laid Call’d forth in meek sincerity the prayer, “ Thy will be done.” ' H. Monday, June 16th, 18-28. From the Juvenile Miscellany. THE DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND GIRL. Ill the city of Hartford, Connecti cut, among other interesting institu tions, is an Asylum for the education of the deaf and dumb. The building is large and commodious, and finely situated upon a commanding eminence. The present number of pupils is 120, who in different classes, and under the superintendance of several teachers, are engaged in the pursuits of knowl edge. They are cheerful and happy, and enjoy their intercourse with each other, which is carried on by the lan guage of signs, and the aid of the manual alphabet. It is peculiarly af fecting to see this silent assembly of-% fering their morning and evening pray ers. Many visiters have been moved to tears, by this voiceless communion of young hearts with their Maker. Among the inmates of this mansion is one who particularly excites the attention of strangers. She is entirety deaf dumb and blind. Her name is Julia Brace; and she is a native of the immediate neighborhood of the Asy lum. She is the only instance of so great a misfortune, of which any rec ord is extant, except one European boy by the name of James Mitchell, concerning whom the celebrated phi losopher, Dugald Stewart, published an interesting memoir many years since in the Edinburgh Review. He was so irritable that few experiments could be tried for his benefit; Julia has been mild and docile, from her childhood. She was the daughter of exceeding ly poor parents, who had several younger children, to whom she was in the habit of shewing such offices of kindness as her own afflicted state ad mitted. Notwithstanding her blind ness, she early evinced a close obser vation with regard to the articles of dress, prefering among those which were presented her as gifts, such as Were of the finest texture. When the weather became cold, she would oc casionally knej£ on the floor of their humble dwelling, to feel whether the other children of the family were fur nished with shoes or stockings, while she was without, and would express uneasiness ut the contrasts. Seated on her little block, weaving strips of thin bark, with pieces of leather, and thread, which her father in the processes of making shoes re jected, she amused herself by con structing for her cat, bonnets and van- dykes, not wholly discordant from the principles of taste. Notwithstanding her peculiar helplessness, she was oc casionally left with the care of the young children, while her mother went out to the occupation of washing.— It was on suchcocasions that little Ju lia evinced not only a maternal solici tude, but a skill in domestic legisla tion, which could not have been ra tionally expected. On one occasion she discovered that her sister had bro ken a piece of crockery, and imitating what she supposed would be the disci pline of their mother, gave her a blow. But placing her hand upon the eyes of the little girl, and ascertaining that she wept, she immediately took her in her arms, and with the most perse vering tenderness soothed her into good humour and confidence. Her parents were at length relieved from the burden of her maintenance, by some charitable individuals who paid the expenses of her board with an el derly matron, who kept a school for small children. Here her sagacity was continually on the stretch to com prehend the nature of the employment, and, as far as possible to imitate them] Observing that a great part of theij time was occupied with books, she of ten held one before her sightless eye with long patience. She would als spread a newspaper for her favont kitten’ and putting her finger on ill mouth, and peceiving that it did nol move like those of the scholars wherj reading, would shake the little animj al, to express displeasure at its indo lence and obstinacy. These circum stances, though trilling in themselves,! reveal a mind active amid all the ob stacles which nature had interposed.--j But her principal solace was in the employments of needle-work and knit ting, which she learned at an early age to practice. She would thus sit absorded for hours, until it became necessary to urge her to that exercise which is requisite to health. Count erpanes beautifully made by her, of small pieces of calico, were repeated ly disposed of to aid in the purchase of her wardrobe. And small portions of her works were sent by her bene factors as presents into various parts of the Union, to show of what neatness of execution a blind girl was capable. It was occasionally the practice of gentlemen, who from pity or curiosity visited her, to make trial of her saga city by giving her watches and em ploying her to restore them to their right owner. They would change their position with regard to her, and each strive to take the watch which did not belorg to him,—but though she might at the same time hold two or three, neither stratagem or pursuation would induce her to yield either of them, except to the person from whom she had re ceived it. There seemed to be i 'principle in the tenacity to which she adhered to this system of giving every one his own, which may probably be resolved into that moral honesty which has ever formed a conspicuous part of her character. Though nurtured in extreme poverty, after her remo val from parental roof, in the constant habit of being in contact with articles of dress or food, which strongly tempt ed her desires, she has never been known to appropriate to herself, with out permission, the most trifling ob ject. In a well educated child, this would be no remarkable virtue; but in one who has had the benefit of no mo ral training to teach her to respect the rights of property, and whose perfect blindness must often render it difficult even to define them, the incorrupti ble firmness of this innate principle is truly laudable. There i9 also, con nected with it, a delicacy of feeling, or scrupulousness of conscience, which renders it necessary in presenting her any gift, to assure her repeatedly by a sign which she understands, that it is Jor her, ere she will consent to ac cept it. Continuing to become an object of increased attention, and her remote situation not being convenient for the access of strangers, application was made for her admission into the Asy lum, and permission accorded by the Directors in the summer of 1825.— After her reception into that peace ful refuge, some attempts were made by a benevolent individual, to teach her the alphabet, by means of letters bolh raised above and indented beneath a smooth surface. But it was in viin that she punctually repaired to the school-room, and daily devoted hour after hour to copy their forms with pins upon the cushion. However ac curate their delineations sometimes were, they conveyed no idea to the mind sitting in darkness. It was therefore deemed wiser to confine her attention to those few attainments, which were within her sphere, than to open a warfare with Nature in those avenues which she had so decidedly sealed. It has been observed of persons, who are deprived of a particular sense, that additional quickness, or vigor, seem bestowed on those which remain. Thus blind persons are often distinguished by peculiar exquisite ness of touch, aid deaf and dumb, who gain their knowledge through the eye, concentrate, as it were, their whole souls in that channel of observation.— With her, whose eye, ear, and tongue, are alike dead, tbe capabilities both of. touch and smell are exceedingly heigh tened. Especially the latter seems almost to have acquired the proper ties of a new sense, and to transcend evin the sagacity of a spaniel. Yet, keeping in view all the aid which these limited faculties have the power of imparting, some of the discoveries and exercises of her intellect are still, in a measure, unaccountable. As the abode which from her earl iest recollection she had inhabited were circumscribed and humble, it was supposed that her first reception into the Asylum she would testify sur prise at the spaciousness of the man sion. But she immediately busied herself in quietly exploring the size of the apartments, and height of their stair cases: she even knelt, and smell ed to the thresholds; and now, as if by union of mysterious geometry with a powerful memory, never makes a false step upon a Iligbt of stairs, or en ters a wrong door, or mistakes her seat at the table. Among her various excellencies, I neatness, and love of brder are con spicuous. Her simple wardrobe is systematically arranged, and it is im possible to displace a single article in her drawers, without her perceiving and restoring it. When the large bas kets of clean linen are weekly bro’t from the laundress, she selects her own garments without hesitation, how ever widely they may be dispersed a- mong the mass. If any part of her dress requires mending, she is prompt and skilful in repairing it, and her per severance in this branch o£ economy, greatly diminishes the expense of her clothing. Since her residence at the Asylum, the donations of charitable visitants have been considerable in their a- mount. These are deposited in a box with an inscription, and she has been made to understand that the contents are devoted to her benefit. This box she frequently poises in her hand, and expresses pleasure when it testifies an increase of weight ; for she has long since ascertained that money has the medium for the supply of her wants, and attaches to it a proportionable value- Though her habits are peculiarly regular and consistent, yet occasional ly some action occurs which it is diffi cult to explain. One morning during the past summer, while employed with her needle, she found herself in commoded by the warmth of the sun. She arose, opened the window, closed the blind, and again resumed her work. This movement, though perfectly simple in a young child, who had seen it performed by others, must in her case have required a more complex train of reasoning. How did she know that the heat which she felt, was caused by the sun, or that by in terposing an opaque body she might exclude his rays? At thp tea-table with the whole family, on sending her .cup to be re plenished, one was accidentally re turned to her, which had been used by another person. This she per ceived at the moment of taking it into her hand, and pushed it from her with some slight appearance of disgust, as if her sense of propriety had not been regarded. There teas not the slightest difference in the clips, and in this in stance, she seems endowed with a de gree of penetration not possessed by those in full enjoyment of sight. Persons most intimately acquainted with her habits assert that she con stantly regards the recurrence of the Sabbath, and composes herself to un- sual quietness, as if for meditation.— Her needlework, from which she will not consent to be debarred on other days, she never attempts to resort to; and this wholly without influence from those around her. Who can have im pressed upon her benighted mind, the sacredness of that day? and by what art does she, who is ignorant of all nu merical calculation, compute without error the period of its rotation? A philosopher who should make this mysterious being his study, might find muej^to astonish him, and perhaps something to throw fight upon the structure of the human mind. Eefore her entrance at the Asylum it was one of her sources of satisfac tion to be permitted to lay her band upon the persons who visited her, and scrutinize with some minuteness their features, or the nature t>f their appa rel. It seemed to constitute one mode of intercourse with her fellow beirgs, which was soothing to her lone ly heart, and sometimes gave rise to degrees of admiration or dislike, not always to be accounted for by those whose judgment rested on the combin ed evidence of all their senses. But since her removal to this noble institu tion; where the visits of strangers are so numerous as to cease to be a novel ty, she has discontinued this species of attention, and is not pleased with any long interruption to her established system of industry. Julia Brace leads a fife of perfect contentment, and is in this respect, both an example and reproof to those who for trifling inconveniences indulge in repining, though surrounded by all the gifts of nature and of fortune. The genial influences of spring wake her lone heart to gladness, and she gath ers the fiist flowers, or even the young blades of grass, and inhales their fresh ness with delight bordering on trans port. Sometimes, when apparently in deep thought, she is observed to burst into laughter, as if her associa tions of ideas were favorable not only to cheerfulness, but to mirth. The society of her female companions at- the Asylum is soothing to her feelings; and their habitual kind offices, the guiding of the arm in her walks, or the affectionate pressure - of their hand, awaken in her the demonstra tions of gratitude and friendship.— Not long since, one of the pupils was sick—but it was not supposed that a- mid the multitude who surrounded her, the blind girl was conscious of the absence of a single individual. A physician was called, and the super intendent of the female department, who has acquired great penetration in to the idioms of Julia’s character, and her modes of communication, made her understand his profession by pres sing a finger upon her pulse. She immediately arose, and taking his hand, led him with the urgent solici tude of friendship, to the bedside of the invalid, and placing his hand upon her pulse, displayed an affecting con fidence in his powers of healing. As she had herself never been sick, since early childhood, it is the more sur prising that she should so readily com prehend the efficacy and benevolence of the medical profession. It would be easy to relate other remarkable circumstances respecting her, but it is not desirable that this article should be so far extended as to fatigue the reader. Should any of you my young friends, for whose sake this memoir has been written, visit at any time the Asylum at Hartford, and be induced to inquire for the deaf, dumb, and blind girl, you would probably find her seated with her knitting, or kneedlework, in a dress, neat and in its plainness con formable to the humility of her cir cumstances. There is nothing disa greeable in her countenance, but her eyes forever closed, create a deficien cy of expression. Her complexion is fair; her smile gentle and sweet, though of rare occurrence; and her person somewhat bent, when sitting, from her habits of fixed attention to her work. Many strangers have wait ed for a long time Jo see her thread her needle, which is quite a myste rious process, and never accomplish ed without the aid of the tongue.— You will perceive nothing striking or attracting in her exterior, though her life of patience, industry, and content ment, has traced correspondent fines upon her features and deportment. My dear children, it will be diffi cult for you to gain-a correct idea of a person perfectly blind, deaf and dumb, even after repeated lybeholding her. Cover your eyes for a short time, and you shut out this world of beauty. Close your ears, and you ex clude this world of sound. Refrain from speaking, and you cease to yfl communion with the world of inte] gence. Yet were it in your powefl to continue thus for hours, even f] days, you still have within your raj] a treasury of knowledge to which ] can never resort. You cannot pi] ture to yourself the utter desolation] one, whose limited acquirements a] made at the expense of such toil, a] with the hazzard of such continual eS ror. Never, therefore, forget to ] grateful for the talents with whi] you are endowed. For every ne»fl idea which you add to the men] storehouse, praise Him who give] you with unveiled senses to taste the! luxury of knowledge. When the smile of your parent! and companions makes your hear! glad, or when you look at the bright! flowers and fair skies of summer,! think with compassion of her, who] must never see the face of her fellow] creatures, or the beauty of earth and sky. When you hear the melody of I music, or the kind voice of your teachers; Oh! strive to value and improve your privileges; and while you pour forth all the emotions of your souls in the varieties of language, for. get not a prayer of pity for her, who dwells in perpetual silence; a prayer of gratitude to Him, who has caused you to differ from her. L. H. S. Hartford, January, 1828. From the “Objects, Pleasures, and Advau- | tages of Science.” ■ ASTRONOMY. I The size, and motions, and di9tan« I ces of the heavenly bodies are such I as to exceed the power of ordinary B imagination, from any comparison with B the smaller things we see around us. ] The earth’s diameter.is nearly 8,OOOi§ miles in length; but the sun’s is above!* 880,000 miles, and the bulk of the sun I is above 1,300,000 times greater than I that of the earth. The planet Jupiter, I which looks like a mere speck, from H this vast distance, is nearly 1,300 H times larger than the earth. Our n distance from the sun is above 95,000,- ■ 000 of miles; but Jupiter is 490,000,- E 000, and Saturn 900,000,000 of miles I distant from the sun. The rate at which the earth moves round the sun is 68,000 miles an hour, or 140 times swifter than the motion of a cannon ball; and tbe planet Mercury, the nearest to the sun, moves still quick er, nearly 110,000 miles an hour.— We, upon the earth’s surface, beside being carried round the sun, move round the earth’s axis by the rotary or spinning motion which it has; so that every 24 hours we move in this man* ner nearly 14,000 miles, beside mov* •ing round the sun above 1,600,000 miles. These motions and distances, however, prodigious as they are, seem nothing compared to those of the com ets, one of which, when furthest from the sun, is 11,209 millions of miles from him; and when nearest the sun, flies at the amazing rate of 880,000 miles an hour. Sir Isaac Newton calculated its heat at 2,000 times that of red-hot iron; and that it would take thousands of years to cool. But the distance of the fixed stars is yet more vast: they have been supposed to be 400,000 times further from us than we are from the sun, that is 38 millions of millions of miles: so that a cannon ball would take four or five millions of years to reach one of them, supposing there was nothing to hinder it from pursuing its course thither. Howard’s opinion of swearers. As he was standing one day near the door of a printing office, he heard some dreadful volleys of oaths and curses, from a public house opposite, and buttoning his pocket up before he went into the street, he said to the workman near him— “I always do this whenever I hear men swear, as I think that any one who can take God’s name in vain, can also steal, or do any thing else that is bad.” Extraordinary Calf.—Capt. Wil liam Hurd, of Rochester, N. H. is the owner of a Bull Calf of his own raising, of which the following is a de* scription. Length, from back of the horns to root of the tail, six feet; girth, five feet; weight, 7th July, six hundred and sixty eight lfcs; weight three weeks previous, five hundred and seventy five lbs; gain in three weeks; ninety three lbs; and is only 7 months old.—Portsmouth Journal.