of "The Nursery" go to school; yet
not many of them, I think, can ever have been in such a school as the
one in which I am teaching. The walls of the room are hung with pictures
of birds, animals, insects, fishes, and flowers. The blackboard is
covered with drawings of many familiar objects.

While I am writing this, seven little boys and nine little girls (how
many does that make in all?) are busy writing on their slates. These
children do not have any books to study. I tell them what I wish to
teach them, and they write it down, and try to remember it. But I teach
them without speaking a word. I talk to them with my fingers.

You have guessed already, I dare say, that these dear little children
are deaf and dumb; that is, they can neither hear nor speak. They cannot
go to school and live at home, and see papa and mamma night and morning,
as you can; for there are no schools for them near their homes. They
have to go a long way from home, and stay in school many long weeks
without seeing father or mother, brother or sister. So, when vacation
comes, how glad and happy they are! Some of them are even now writing on
their slates, "In sixteen weeks we shall go home."

I have said that these children cannot speak; but that is not quite
true, for many of them are learning to speak. When I talk to them, they
look very closely at my lips, and so learn to tell what I am saying.
Some of them have very sweet and pleasant voices, the sound of which
they have never heard in all their lives.

And now let me say that I hope you will learn the finger-alphabet; so
that, if you visit any of my little pupils, you can talk to them.

If you ask them, they will spell very slowly,--how fast they _can_
spell!--so that you can read what they say. Perhaps you can get "The
Nursery" to print the alphabet for you.

S.A.E.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March, 1880.

A DAY ON GRANDPA'S FARM.

[Illustration: A Day on Grandpa's Farm]

"Arlington!" cried the conductor, as the train stopped at a little
station in Central Wisconsin. We got out of the car just in time to see
grandpa driving up in his big double wagon.

We climbed in, and grandpa said, "Get up, Bill! Go along, Jip!" and
away we started for the farm.

When we got there, the first thing we saw was grandma making cookies
with holes in them. She said she would give us some if we would be sure
and not eat the holes.

After dinner, my sister Ally, cousin Johnny, and I, went out to t