Contributed by our Regular Correspondents Local Brevities The frost hurt the cranberries badly. WARNER has the addition to his residence plastered. The work was done by Mr. C. B. GLASS, and he made a first class job of it. If there is any money in hops this year where is it? "Sylva WILDING," the author of "My King," published in the Press last week, and many other fine poems, with her charming niece, Miss WOODWORTH, of Nunda, New York, have been sketching the scenery about Friendship for a couple of weeks. They returned home last Monday. MAXON & CONVIS have repaired and greatly improved the flouring mill, and are doing a good business. They are the kind of men who win success by attention to business. We've picked our hop yard, and now feel confident that we are a qualified candidate for the county poor house and public charity. A. F. HILL will start east next Monday to purchase a fall stock of goods. Don't get in a fever, ladies; it will be a whole week before the goods arrive here. Juneau county held its annual county fair this week. None is to be held in Adams county this year. Quite a number of our villagers are out on the cranberry marshes after the wherewithal to make a little "sass." Crop Reports The following, from the town of Rome, is in response to the request we made two weeks ago for reports of crops in the various towns of the county. The columns of the Press were too much crowded to permit us to give it room last week: Small grain in Rome, both in quantity and quality, is a little ahead of the average crop. Many pieces of wheat have far exceeded the expectations of their owners. One field of spring wheat on W. W. BURHITE's farm, produced thirty-two bushels per acre, and the average yield on the same farm was twenty bushels. James CRANEY, T. W. HORTON, O. G. CANCK, L. FINCH, and others, all harvested pieces of very fine wheat. Oat is about a common yield. Potatoes and other vegetables are doing well. Corn is as good as in other years, except a few fields destroyed by hail in the neighborhood of Greenough creek. Another year the area of small grain will be largely increased in this vicinity. Mr. HORTON has broken fifty acres this season, and Mr. RUSSELL a piece somewhat smaller. These enterprising farmers intend to sow the greater part of their new land to winter wheat. After a few years the boys who leave our county to seek employment in the harvest fields of Minnesota and Iowa, will have plenty to do at home. This and other reports demonstrate that we live in a land where honest toil receives its just reward, and that our county is as productive as any of its boundaries. One more such harvest as the one recently garnered, and the common verdict that Adams county is a waste of barren sand, will be numbered among the things of the past. E. R. WILEY Now let another speak and tell his experience; but let the brethren be brief Visit to the Delevan Institute for the Deaf and Dumb Elkhorn, Sept. 18, 1878 Editor of Press: Did you ever "leave dull care behind," and return to the scenes of your childhood? If so, then you know how much I am enjoying my visit with friends of the dear old past; no less friends to-day than they were twenty years ago. But I am to tell you about my visit to the Institute, and full comprehending the limited space you have for home correspondence, I will try to be brief, and in so doing must leave out much that would be of interest to your readers. In company with Mrs. G. B. BACON, her daughter, and little Gertie ENGLISH, I left Kilbourn City on Wednesday morning, the 4th instant, for the Delevan Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. At Watertown Junction we were met by the Stewart and a large number of mutes. I am sorry to say I have forgotten the number of mutes on board the train, but I visited on car completely filled with those unaccompanied by friends and in care of the Stewart. Arriving at Clinton Junction we found the train had been wrecked on the Western Union road, and instead of reaching Delavan at 3 P. M. we did not arrive there until 8 P. M. The Institute is located about a mile from the town, on an elevated plain, overlooking one of the loveliest countries eye ever beheld. Of course our first view was taken by moonlight and gaslight; and as our gaze fell upon the lovely scene spread out before us, we felt here is "rest for the weary:" and we were indeed weary, having carried satchels and baskets up the long hill leading to the Institute. The Professor informed us that a carriage had been sent for us; but supposing we would wait for a conveyance the driver had missed us. Upon entering the reception room we met with Matron and attendants whose frank open countenances were an assurance of welcome. Shown into the bath room we divested ourselves of the dust which had accumulated so thickly upon our hands and faces as to give us the appearance of real estate, and then repaired to the spacious dining hall, where tables were spread with a view to pleasing the eye as well as gratifying the appetite. Pure white spreads, and beautiful bouquets of flowers were upon every table, and the well cooked viands might tempt the palate of one less hungry than we were. The meal consisted of white and brown bread of a superior quality, "gilt edge" butter, cookies, cheese, pickles, green apple sauce, and tea. It is needless to say that having tasted nothing palatable after leaving Kilbourn, we did justice to the meal. If the proprietors of our first-class hotels had in their employ such cooks as are to be found at the Institute, there would be less grumbling about poor victuals and high prices. After supper sister B. and myself were shown to a neatly furnished room, containing an inviting bed, where we rested our tired limbs and enjoyed a refreshing sleep. Next day we made the best of our time looking over various parts of the building, but spent little time in the school rooms, as the teachers were organizing their classes, and we desired not to be in the way, although told that we would be welcome. In the morning we attended chapel; the lesson, "Who is my neighbor?" was an excellent one for the occasion, and the illustrations given by the Professor were very fine, conveyed to the mutes by signs and interpreted to us. The school opened with 117 pupils in attendance, an increase of seven over the opening last year. About 50 more are expected; so we see that scandal mongers have failed as yet to injure the general reputation of the Institute. I came to the Institute without prejudice either for or against, and tried when I looked into the face of the Professor to be unbiased by any previous reports. I pronounced him at once a man of large heart, full of generous impulses, and judiciously beneficent. His manners are agreeable, and he seemed to possess the faculty of making the children understand what he wishes of them in a way that makes them feel comfortable and willing to do his bidding. I should say he was not a man who would lift his hat to all whom the world calls great, but knows just how to make all feel at home in his presence, for he is extremely cordial and his sympathies are sincere. How must children feel who are unfortunate enough to belong to the silent world, in the presence of those who are like icebergs! Mr. GATES, though a very young man, as a Stewart can be second to none, and in looks and appearance reminds me of Lawyer HIGBEE, formerly of our county, and now of Arcadia, Tremealeau county. I have met with a number of Mr. GATE's acquaintances here, and all speak well of him. While stopping over several hours at Clinton Junction I had the opportunity of observing that while he had the power to govern the mutes under his control, he possessed the faculty of gaining their good will. The matron, Mrs. BROADRUP, is a woman of very marked physiognomy. While she has a cheerful face, the outlines are indicative of great will power, and children in her charge will feel her magnetism, and be swayed by her will without the aid of brute force. I should not be doing the Institute justice if I did not speak of Miss KELLEY, one of the assistants, whose duty it is to be good Samaritan to all. I do not know when I have met with a lady to whom I have become more warmly attached in such a brief space of time. She is an orphan, and says she intends to make her present occupation a life work. Her entire energies seem to be in the direction of doing good. As I must be brief I will close my personalities by saying I was favorably impressed by all whom I met who were in any way engaged in the welfare of the pupils, or whose duties were to look to their mental or physical good. Every possible arrangement has been made for the comfort of the pupils, and the building is arranged upon such a thoroughly hygienic plan that sickness must be rare. Plenty of bath rooms, warmed to any desirable temperature; well ventilated dormitories, each child occupying a single bedstead; hospital for both boys and girls, where each sex may be exclusively by themselves, with every comfort, and everything to sustain and make them forget in a measure their sufferings, with an air of neatness pervading all. In cold weather the building of wonder,--the washing, boiling, rinsing, wringing, and drying, all being done by steam. I would like to go into a detailed account of what I saw, but time and space will not admit of it. I will only add that no pupil coming to this Institute can have a better home than the one found here. Nature nowhere presents a lovelier view, and the arrangement of trees, walks and flowers is in delightful harmony with the works of the great Architect. More anon. Amanda C. DEWING
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