UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 61 



or exposed upon the mountain to wild beasts. But 

 now there are millions of people bj whom it is recog- 

 nized as a duty and esteemed as a privilege to protect 

 and cherish her, or any one in the like situation. 



" There is something, perhaps, in the rarity of such 

 cases of manifold bereavement — something in the fact 

 that she is the first person who ever came out of 

 such a dark and silent prison to tell us plainly of its 

 condition — something of pride in the proof which she 

 gives of the native power of the human soul ; but still, 

 bating all this, the amount of tender sympathy in her 

 misfortunes, and of the real attempt to lighten them, 

 which has been shown by thousands of sensitive hearts> 

 is most gratifying to reflect upon. 



"lauka's present state. 



" At the period when the last mention was made of 

 her in our Annual Report, she had gained a sufficient 

 knowledge of language to converse freely by means of 

 the finger alphabet, on all topics which would be under- 

 stood by girls generally of twelve years old. She had 

 begun to come into relation with a variety of persons; 

 with the teachers and pupils in the school for the 

 blind, all of whom could converse rapidly and easy 



with her. She had become intimate with several 

 6 



