Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/47

Rh Elizabeth Fry were of the party, handsome women, with that noble expression and bearing which distinguished their mother. They spoke with warmth of the great good which women may accomplish, even beyond their own house and home, if they will only with clearness and steadfastness work for that object which is the true bent of their powers. There was a great consciousness of womanly dignity in these ladies, beneath the gentlest, the most womanly exterior. All women ought to have the same.

The Blind Asylum is one of the most beautiful institutions of Lausanne, and M. Herzel, its superintendent, is, of a truth, one of its most interesting men. A fine instance of his skill is a young man who, from his earliest childhood, was perfectly blind, deaf and dumb, owing, I believe, to small-pox, but whom M. Herzel enabled to become an intelligent, thinking, useful, and happy human being. M. Herzel has employed, in his case, the same methods which the American philanthropist, Dr. Howe, employed for Laura Bridgeman, and his success has been equally perfect. Young F. is now a strong, healthy, perfectly intelligent, and unusually cheerful young man. His skill as a turner is wonderful.

I was shown a little letter and a pretty gift which the young American had sent to her unfortunate brother in Switzerland, who, in the first place, had written to her, and sent her a little present. Affecting intercourse this, across the ocean, between two beings whom misfortune doomed to spiritual life-long captivity, but whom human love and the spirit of science have liberated!

The principal founder and supporter of this