The remainder of the
building was occupied by numerous committee-rooms, by the courts of law,
the judges' apartments, a law library, and a beautiful room intended for
a general library, but in which the collection of books at present is
very small. On the whole the building and its contents are very
creditable to this, the largest and wealthiest of the States in the
West, considering that forty years ago the country here was a wild
forest region where no tree had been cut down.

_25th October._--We have seen Columbus well, and it has much to attract
attention. On Saturday we went from the Capitol to the Lunatic Asylum,
but excepting in its being more pleasingly arranged than the one at
Utica, there was nothing very striking in its appearance. The galleries
in which the patients were walking were prettily decorated with flowers
cut out in paper, giving it a very gay appearance; and when the
patients become desponding, they have a dance in the great hall, to
revive them. The matron who went round with us said that the men and
women conduct themselves on these occasions with perfect propriety. The
men and women are otherwise so entirely separated in this Asylum that
papa went round to the men's wards with the doctor, while I was taken
round by the matron to those appropriated to the women. We thought it a
pleasant, cheerful-looking place, considering the melancholy object to
which it is devoted.

The next sight we saw was, the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb: being
Saturday, we could not see the mode of tuition, but we have gone through
it this morning, and yesterday we attended the afternoon service there,
so that in our three visits we have been able to form a pretty good idea
of the system carried out. They have an alphabet by which they can spell
words, which they do by using one hand only. They speak thus with
considerable rapidity, but this method is confined almost entirely to
express proper names and words of uncommon use, as the whole
conversation is carried on in general by signs, and it was most
beautiful to see the graceful manner in which the matron spoke to them.
As this system of signs does not represent words, but _things_ and
_ideas_, it has the great advantage of being universally understood when
taught, and as the same system is adopted in several countries of
Europe, in Norway and Sweden for example, a Norwegian and American child
can converse easily together without either knowing a syllable of the
oth