bly, and keeps a journal of the events of her life. Especially touching are her great cheerfulness and the gratitude which she displays to her instructor and instructress. She certainly possesses great natural talents; for a blind boy named John Cankford, from Annapolis, Maryland, who has also lost hearing and speech, makes but very little progress, notwithstanding all the efforts of his teacher, Miss Colton, and after short intervals of excitement falls back into a state of stupidity.

Mr. Howe justly remarks, how necessary it is for the blind, even after their education properly so called is completed, that they should all be assisted onward in the path of life. He directs attention also to their talents and aptness for music. This however is necessarily limited, where the reading of notes, along with others is concerned; while in giving instruction, the want of sight must render it difficult for them to guide the fingering and the position of the hands.

HOUSES OF REFUGE.

The houses of refuge are also worthy of particular mention. In several cities, as New York and Philadelphia,* they are established upon an excellent footing, for forsaken, orphan, vagrant, or begging children, and even for youthful criminals. No regular jury decides upon their reception or punishment, but judges and overseers especially appointed; since in general the design and object are not punishment, but to offer-and excellent results have attended the plan a place of refuge and reformation. Good instruction, both secular and religious, is intermixed with many kinds of labor; such as book-binding, chair-making and mending, umbrella-making, cooking, washing, sewing, &c. In New York, since 1825, there have been trained there 2,367 boys and 953 girls; and the yearly expenses of the establishment amount to near $20,000 for about 320 individuals. In Philadelphia there were received in the year 1843, 110 boys and 58 girls; and besides the committee of inspection consisting of men, there was chosen one of women also. The average cost for a child, including food, clothing, bedding, fuel, washing, furniture, superintendence, &c., amounted to about two dollars and thirty cents per week. They are supplied with rye-bread in summer, and wheat-bread in winter. For dinner they have soup, meat, and vegetables; for supper mush or boiled rice.

HOSPITALS; WIDOW AND ORPHAN ASYLUMS.

These are so numerous and in general so well conducted, that I can here only bestow upon them a general commendation, without entering into particulars.

* In New York colored children also are received, but not in Philadelphia.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE POLICE.

Gambling-houses, Lottery-offices, Hotels-Drivers, Cruelty to Animals-Games of Chance-Vagrants-Firemen.

Ir is evident, that many kinds of European police and police supervision cannot be employed in the United States. It would however be a great mistake to suppose that they take no trouble about any thing of the sort, and allow every man to act according to his own will and pleasure. On the contrary, the policelaws are for the most part excellent; and in many states (as Massachusetts) there are even traces of the ancient puritanic strictness in the punishment of adultery, fornication, selling obscene books, blasphemy, swearing, and drunkenness. But if in Europe unnecessary supervision and tyrannical intermeddling often occur, there is frequently felt in the United States a lack of useful and essential restraint. Too little is more easily borne with than too much; and if police-officers in the one country are sometimes arrogant and rough, in the other they are obliged to study an excess of politeness. Thus a police-officer is said to have addressed a rioter in the following terms: "My dear, good sir, will you not have the kindness to go home? Your worthy wife and amiable children must be anxious about you," &c.

I subjoin a few more specimens from the police laws of Massachusetts. Gambling debts are not valid; gaming-houses and lotteries are prohibited;* inn-keepers who turn away travellers without sufficient reason, and fail to provide suitably for their entertain ment, are fined $50, and lose their license. Such license is to be given only to persons of good morals and blameless reputation. They are bound to make up the loss of stolen goods; † are not to sell liquor to the point of drunkenness, are to give none whatever to minors or servants, or to grant them any credit. If an inn-keeper allows games with cards, dice, or billiards in his house, himself and the gamesters are punished. The selectmen may prohibit a tavern-keeper, under a penalty of twenty dollars, from furnishing dissolute and profligate fellows with any thing whatever. On week-days these public houses are closed at ten † Kent, ii. 593.

* Statutes, p. 376.

o'clock, and are not opened at all on Sundays. Only one spiritshop is allowed to 2,000 inhabitants. Should a driver leave his horses unfastened when he has passengers in his carriage, he is liable to two months' imprisonment, and a fine of fifty dollars. Cruelty to animals is punished by a fine, not exceeding $100, and imprisonment not over one year. If people are killed by officers in the use of legal force, the latter are not liable to indictment.

In South Carolina all games of chance are strictly forbidden. The gamblers are fined not over $500, and the keeper of the house not over $1,000; they are imprisoned not over a year, and the money staked is forfeited, one half to the informer, and the other half to the state. On any probable grounds of suspicion, a forcible entrance into the gambling-room is allowed. Equally strict are the laws in Illinois and Kentucky.* In the latter state what is lost in play may be demanded back by the loser, and heirs and guardians retain this right for five years.

In New Hampshire a justice of the peace, on evidence being adduced, is allowed (though under reservation of certain rights of appeal) to send to the work-house for six months, not only vagrants and other idle and worthless persons, but also players at forbidden games, all fortune-tellers, or those who offer, through secret arts, to discover stolen goods. Also all pipers, fiddlers, vagabonds, stubborn servants and children, nightrevellers, tipplers, obscene talkers,-all who neglect their business, waste their substance, and provide neither for themselves nor their families. Similar enactments exist in New York; but of course they must be enforced with great caution, in order not to lead to abuses.

In the fire department of the police, many evils have arisen from the exemption of young men from militia duty, on condition of enrolling themselves as firemen. They are seldom inclined to obey strictly the orders that are issued; besides which they fall into bad company, and, in some places, into violent and even bloody contests. The firemen of Philadelphia are accused of purposely allowing a church to burn down, because they did not like the doctrine preached there. In Boston these companies have already given place to better arrangements; and some other cities would do well to follow the example.

• Hall's West, p. ii. 202. Statutes of Kentucky, i. pp. 242, 756, 758.

CHAPTER XXX.

ADMINISTRATION, CITY REGULATIONS.

Self-Government-Counties-Communities-Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Richmond, Washington-Change of Officers.

No country of the world is so little governed by authority as the United States; and nowhere is so much left to the immediate regulation and decision of the people themselves. This absence of all pupilage and centralization lessens, without doubt, the strength of the general government; as was seen, for example, at the breaking out of the war of 1812, the contests on the Canadian frontier, the affairs of the Bank, &c. Legal means, however, have still been found of sufficient power to produce obedience on the part of the several states (as in South Carolina, on the question of nullification), and also to bring into harmony with the jurisdiction of each state, the authorities of its cities and towns. Moreover the right of selfgovernment, thus granted, induces every individual citizen to understand and take part in public affairs, lessens discontent and opposition, and leads to maturity and independence in the best sense of the word.

If the general government has but four ministers (for the Departments of State, Treasury, War, and the Navy), it is plain, from this small number, that it does not extend its attention and co-operation to the great variety of objects, which elsewhere occupy an immense number of officers, and impose heavy cares upon them.

The same holds good of the government of the separate states, Each state is divided into a certain number of counties; though these do not so much form peculiar political corporations, as divisions for certain branches of administration. All the voters in a county choose, usually every year, three commissioners and a treasurer. The business of the former is to take care of the public buildings, the highways, licenses, the division and liquidation of the county-taxes, the administration of the prisons, poorhouses, county property, &c. Sheriffs are usually appointed by the governor, and confirmed by his council, or the senate, for a greater or less number of years. † They watch over the public *They have neither seat nor vote in Congress.

↑ Mason's Treatise, p. 49.

peace, guard against and punish all breaches of it, superintend the prisons, and execute all commands emanating from the higher officers. Registers of deeds are often chosen for five years by the whole body of voters. The duties of officers are minutely prescribed; and in the justices of the peace, and especially in the meetings composed of several of them, there is a peculiar means for compelling the officers to perform their duties. The functions of coroners and constables are similar to those of the same officers in England.

In direct opposition to the institutions of many other countries, the community is the source and the life, the punctum saliens, of every common public undertaking. It is entirely independent in all matters that relate to itself alone; for example, buying, selling, laying taxes, conducting law-suits, &c. The commu nity of inhabitants or voters elects for every considerable department of business special officers (usually for a year), and even furnishes them to the state for certain purposes; while it no where asks or permits the interference of the state-officers. The town-officers frequently receive no fixed salary, and have no prospect of further advancement; but they are paid according to the particular services rendered, and return after the expiration of their term of office, unless re-elected, to the body of their fellow-citizens.

The following is taken from the laws of Massachusetts. In the town-meetings every one is entitled to vote, who is twenty-one years of age, has resided a year in the town, is not a pauper, and pays a tax. The selectmen elected by the citizens appoint the meetings, and make known publicly the precise objects for which they are held. What ten or more voters propose in writing must be taken into consideration. If the town-officers do not perform their duty in this matter, a justice of the peace may at the request of ten or more qualified persons call a town-meeting. A moderator is chosen to preside. He gives permission to speak, and all others must quietly listen; disorderly and disobedient persons are removed and punished. In these town-meetings all the necessary town-officers are chosen for a year by ballot. No one is obliged to fill the same office two years in succession. The presiding officer is often re-elected, and so remains in office for two, four, or six years. The citizens are obliged to serve in the city-watch, unless they prefer to pay the cost of a substitute. The town-clerk keeps a record of births and deaths.

Similar regulations are found in all the states, and the principles of organization are substantially the same for all the cities; such as the general right of suffrage, a mayor, two coun

*The selectmen are in the towns nearly what the aldermen and council are in the cities.