her with eager eyes
which saw everything, the children were reading aloud from their
odd-looking books. It was strange to see their small fingers fly so
rapidly over the pages. Horace said it was "a touching sight."

"I wonder," went on Dotty to herself, "if they should tease God very
hard, would he let their eyes come again? No, I s'pose not."

Then she reflected further that perhaps they were glad to be blind; she
hoped so. The teacher now called out a class in geography, and began to
ask questions.

"What can you tell me about the inhabitants of Utah?" said she.

"I know," spoke up a little boy with black hair, and eyes which would
have been bright if the lids had not shut them out of sight,--"I know;
Utah is inhabited by a religious INSECT called Mormons."

The superintendent and visitors knew that he meant _sect_ and they
laughed at the mistake; all but Dotty and Flyaway, who did not consider
it funny at all. Flyaway was seated in a chair, busily engaged in picking
dirt out of the heels of her boots with a pin.

Horace was much interested in the atlases and globes, upon the surface of
which the land rose up higher than the water, and the deserts were
powdered with sand. These blind children could travel all about the
world with their fingers as well as he could with eyes and a pointer.

The teacher--a kind-looking young lady--was quite pleased when Mr. Parlin
said to her,--

"I see very little difference between this and the Portland schools for
small children."

She wished, and so did the teachers in the other three divisions, to have
the pupils almost forget they were blind.

She allowed them to sing and recite poetry for the entertainment of their
visitors. Some of them had very sweet voices, and Mrs. Clifford listened
with tears. Their singing recalled to her mind the memory of beautiful
things, as music always does; and then she remembered that through their
whole lives these children must grope in darkness. She felt more
sorrowful for them than they felt for themselves. These dear little
souls, who would never see the sun, were very happy, and some of them
really supposed it was delightful to be blind.

Their teacher desired them to come forward, if they chose, and repeat
sentences of their own composing. Some things they said were very odd.
One bright little girl remarked very gravely,--

"Happy are the blind, for they see no ghosts."

This made her companions all laugh. "Yes, that's true," th