The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-20 00:00:00

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PROLOGUE

'ater Deaf and Dumb School

Which
I woul

e critic's

shields

Sur young

t indulg,

And inexperienced amateurs of soug
New to the scene—and to the minstrel's page—
The graceful tread—and tact, too, of the stage,
knd all that study, more matured, bath sought
Ight,"

. •
" To snatch a grace beyond the reach of thoub
They feel how much success from you must spring ,
A frown would leave their hearts too sad to sing !
For as the Sun calls beauty to the flower,
Encouragement lends talent double power ;
Too oft its meed to merit we deny—
I_

Too oft is genius doomed to starvc
And many a gifted mind is lost, unheard,
For want of one kind, cheering, fostering word ;)
Yet here they hope the cause will aid their claim,
And critics pardon what they else might blame.

Full many a varied path of life I've traced
Where worth and beauty every circle graced,
But—if my heart can prejudice dismiss—
I never gazed on nobler scene than this!

Of all the charms which woman's power attest,
The beauty of benevolence is best ;
And never charity found lovelier throne,
Than when she made sweet woman's breast her own

Could charity more pure, more heavenly shine,
Instruction seek a labour more divine,
Than when the Deaf and Dumb they onward led,
And o'er their minds the light of knowledge shed ;
Showed them, by signs, where angel footsteps trod,
And made their spirits conscious of their God ?
Oh, what a gleam of glory broke around,
When first their souls a living Scripture found,
And o'er the double darkness of their night
Mercy arose !—and ignorance took flight !

Say ye, who, blessed with language to explain
Each wish, each pleasure, feeling, hope, or pain,
What bath the world to bribe ye to forego
The Godlike power to utter what ye know,—
To lose all sounds that bid the soul rejoice,
The music—taste—and eloquence of voice ?

Oh, not the gold of empires could suffice
To purchase that which is beyond all price ?
Then, if ye feel how blest it is to find
Words to express each movement of the mind,
How must ye grieve for those who never heard
A mother's—sister's—friend's—nor kindred word
Nothing to pierce the solitude of gloom !
If everfeeling spoke to human breast—

Or human tears true sympathy exprest—
Here should their warmest tribute be conveyed,
Their kindness—bounty—pity—be displayed ;
Here should their hearts with grateful hopes ascend,
And here the Deaf and Dumb ne'er want a friend.

CHARLES SWAIN

_.._.----.1111.50..--

THE HINDOO CONVERT

The following lines were suggested by an anecdote told of a
young Hindoo. who, being frequently found weeping, and
being questioned by the Missionary as to the cause of her
sorrow, was at length induced to acknowledge that, having
felt the saving truths of the Gospel, she wept for her !no-
ther's ignorance, who was wandering with her tribe in a
part of the country where the Missionary labours bad not
at that time extended :

` Why lost thonweep, my daughter—why ?" the pastor kindly

,
Who be saidnt with holy zeal beside the Indian's lowly bed
;
" Why dolt thou weep—the sacred page, where rests thine

anxious eye,
Doth it not bear a healing balm to sooth thy every sigh ?"

—she cried—" I feel it all—l own its matchless

" Father.

grace,
And, oh ! I would its blessed truths were felt by all our race :
My :Mother. she whose gentle smile beamed bright on child-
hood's way,
She doth not feel its gracious power—Father—she cannot

She wanders by the gushing fount—she hears the wild wood

song,
lists the fresh'ning breezes play the forest boughs among ;
She
Yet knows not of the Mighty One who bids those breezes