instructor of deaf-mutes, which, to be intelligible, requires to be
quoted at length:

"One day, our distinguished and lamented historical painter, Col. John
Trumbull, was in my school-room during the hours of instruction, and,
on my alluding to the tact which the pupil referred to had of reading
my face, he expressed a wish to see it tried. I requested him to
select any event in Greek, Roman, English, or American history of a
scenic character, which would make a striking picture on canvas, and
said I would endeavor to communicate it to the lad. 'Tell him,' said
he, 'that Brutus (Lucius Junius) condemned his two sons to death for
resisting his authority and violating his orders.'

"I folded my arms in front of me, and kept them in that position,
to preclude the possibility of making any signs or gestures, or of
spelling any words on my fingers, and proceeded, as best I could, by
the expression of my countenance, and a few motions of my head and
attitudes of the body, to convey the picture in my own mind to the
mind of my pupil.

"It ought to be stated that he was already acquainted with the fact,
being familiar with the leading events in Roman history. But when I
began, he knew not from what portion of history, sacred or profane,
ancient or modern, the fact was selected. From this wide range,
my delineation on the one hand and his ingenuity on the other had
to bring it within the division of Roman history, and, still more
minutely, to the particular individual and transaction designated by
Colonel Trumbull. In carrying on the process, I made no use whatever
of any arbitrary, conventional look, motion, or attitude, before
settled between us, by which to let him understand what I wished to