P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



859 



what it is for the sake of nearness to the 

 great water power which rushes from the gap 

 in the hills. The intervale was cleared and 

 smoothed for raising perfect hay. The steep 

 side hills have been maintained in woods be- 

 cause they are too steep for agriculture, and 

 because, if they were cleared of trees, their 

 sands and gravels would wash down upon the 

 fertile land of the intervale. Similarly upon 

 the upland farms the greenery along even 

 the tiniest brooks has been preserved in or- 

 der to obviate that wasteful washing away of 

 soil which results from carrying plowing to 

 the edges of the water-courses. Throughout 

 the landscape before us it is most interesting 

 to note how beauty has resulted from the 

 exercise of common sense and intelligence. 

 The every-day forces of convenience, use, 

 and true economy have here conspired with 

 Nature to produce beauty, and this beauty is 

 of a very different and much more satisfy- 

 ing kind than that which tries to found itself 

 on mere new caprice or fashion." 



Perversity conquered. — The story of suc- 

 cessful dealing with two cases of idiocy mani- 

 festing itself in violence is related by Mar- 

 garet Bancroft, of Haddonfield, N. J. The 

 first case was a deaf-mute, twenty years of 

 age, " a sickly, wild, destructive, disgusting 

 specimen of humanity," who had to be taken 

 charge of day and night. He would tear or 

 destroy three or four suits a week. An at- 

 tendant, having noticed that he was fastidi- 

 ous about the color of the things he wore, 

 suggested having fine clothing for him. He 

 was fitted with a suit, and " the success was 

 wonderful. He was perfectly delighted, blew 

 and puffed on his clothes, and from that 

 time, unless some very serious trouble arose 

 with his care-taker, he never destroyed any- 

 thing unless it was ugly. He was gradually 

 led on from one step in good behavior to 

 another — sitting to witness a play, being 

 photographed, sitting in school during the 

 opening exercises, drawing lines, and mat- 

 weaving, in which, when he threaded his 

 needle and put in one row without help, the 

 whole school set up a hurrah. " There were 

 many ups and downs, but from that time 

 improvement was constant" till boy and 

 teacher were separated in consequence of the 

 burning of the school building. The success 

 is a subject of wonder to all who know of 



the case. " It has taken unbounded patience, 

 hopefulness, and trust, but the great secret 

 has been love, our love for him and his love 

 for us and trust in us." The other case was 

 a boy who had been hurt mentally by a fall, 

 a destructive, murderous savage, with whom, 

 " for some time after his arrival, we felt that 

 we had a young tiger in our peaceful home. . . . 

 The first attempt to have him in the school- 

 room was a tempest." He was tied in a chair 

 and had to be held by two persons ; then he 

 had only to be tied ; but, " after six months 

 of this work, we could have him in the school- 

 room untied for a short time. It was so in 

 everything we attempted to do with him ; 

 in teaching him we were obliged to have one 

 person hold him while another directed his 

 hands. So on until we gradually got him 

 to like his work. In marching, calisthenics, 

 games, kindergarten work, chart work, board 

 work, slate work, there were the same battles 

 week after week; but now he leads the 

 marching. . . . He is trying in all his work 

 to use his right hand, but it is a great effort, 

 and requires the exercise of patience on his 

 part. He is loving and neat, takes great 

 pride in his clothes, says his prayers, and 

 tries to please. . . . We are proud of his 

 table manners." 



Plains in fold Countries.— In his book 

 on Ancient and Modern Steppes and Tundras, 

 Prof. A. Neb ring undertakes to show that 

 such formations are marks of the post-glacial 

 transition period, the analogues of which can 

 be found in the central regions of Europe 

 and North America, and even in the South. 

 The heaths of central Europe, the puszten 

 of Hungary, the African deserts, North 

 American prairies and savannas, and the 

 pampas and llanos of South America, are, 

 according to his view, all of one class with 

 them. Their common characteristic is not 

 the desolation we usually conceive when the 

 steppe or the tundra is mentioned, which is 

 only a topographical incident, but the limita- 

 tion of vegetation to herbaceous plants with 

 scarcity of trees, and a general flatness or 

 moderately undulating character of the sur- 

 face. Sometimes island elevations occur in 

 them, which are covered with trees, and 

 whence streams flow. They are not depres- 

 sions, but often constitute table-lands or cap 

 the tops of mountains or high hills. As de- 



