UNCLE BAITS FARM. 57 



most interesting institutions I ever visited was the 

 Institution for the Blind, at South Boston. On the 

 elevation where this building stands, Gen. Washington 

 stationed his troops immediately preceding the evacu- 

 ation of Boston l>y the British ; some of the fortifica- 

 tion- are still Been near the asylum, I was quite 

 delighted by what I Ban and heard at this institution. 

 It was truly astonishing to Bee and hear girls and boys, 

 perfectly blind, reading, writing, oyphering, playing 

 musical instruments, and accurately describing the 

 most wonderful discoveries of science. In this insti- 

 tution I saw Laura Bridgman, who is deaf, dumb and 

 Wind. Her Bensibilitii leeply moved when the 



account of the Irish famine in 1847 was communica- 

 ted to her — she set to work immediately, and plied 

 her fingers night and day, until she finished a piece 

 of beautiful embroidery, which was sold for a barrel 

 of flour, and that barrel of flour was shipped on 

 board the " Jamestown," to assist the famishing 

 Irish in 1847. 



" She was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, Dec. 

 21st, 1829, and is described as having been a 

 sprightly and pretty child ; but during her infancy she 

 was deprived by a violent stroke of disease at once of 

 sight and hearing ; nor was it until four years of age 



