A little boy was admitted as a pupil into the Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb at Derby. Previous to his admission he had given his parents
and friends a great deal of trouble, and fears were entertained that he
would be none the less troublesome to those in charge of him at the
Institution. Happily however, owing to the firmness and kindness of his
teachers, he very soon yielded to the rules and became a good, obedient
boy. At length the time came for the vacation, and, amongst others, this
little fellow went home for his holiday. The dinner hour arrived, and
sitting down with his parents, he looked up at his father and put his
hands together. He wanted his father to ask a blessing. The father made
the boy understand he did not know what to say, then the poor little
fellow began to cry. At last he thought of a plan, he would ask the
blessing himself; and so he spelt on his fingers the blessing he had
learnt at the Institution, and got his friends to spell on their fingers
after him letter by letter and word by word, and thus overcame the
difficulty in which he was placed.