Mighty Proud

At a meeting held in a country village in aid of the Deaf and Dumb

Institution, Derby, a number of the pupils were present on the platform.

One of the speakers called attention to a bright looking little fellow,

and asked the audience if they knew him? and amidst general laughter

spoke of the boy's earlier years, how he had seen him running about

barefooted and dirty, playing with the worst boys in the streets; but

now completely changed in his habits and character. He went on to relate

a little incident he had himself observed a few weeks previous, when the

boy was home from the Institution for his holiday. The little deaf and

dumb boy was coming along the road, looking clean and bright, and

carrying a book in his hand, when four of his old gutter companions, all

in dirt, and who ought to have been at school, saw him, and one of them

shouted out, "Hello, here's owd dummy comin;" and all four went to meet

him, and tried to make friends with him, but he thought they were

scarcely clean enough for his company, and quietly passed on his way

towards home. The boys were surprised, and stared at each other for some

time; at last one of them said, "Oh, ain't he got mighty proud?"