Having seen the Charter Oak, let us proceed in company with the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet to the “Retreat for the Insane” of which he is chaplain. The place is delightfully situated, and severity of treatment carefully avoided. As we pass from room to room, we are very gravely and formally introduced, as strangers in the country, to the inmates Here we are introduced to a tall muscular old lady, who has her cap fantastically trimmed with bits of ribbon of various gaudy colours. With an air of assumed politeness and dignity, she asks me if I have been to Washington. On receiving a reply in the negative, she expresses great regret, and inquires if I have seen “Dan Webster” and, without waiting for an answer, hurries on, “Fine fellow Dan,—some solid timbers about Dan,—indeed, the Yankees altogether are not to be sniffed at.” I nodded the most entire assent to all she said.

We enter another room, and are introduced to a curious groupe. One woman has tied her mouth up with a handkerchief, to prevent her talking too much. She tells us that at first she had tied it over her ears, to prevent her hearing another woman's voice, who is constantly talking to herself, and making her head ache; but that she found her own tongue then going faster than anybody else's. She had therefore adopted the wise plan of tying her own mouth. She is eloquent in the praises of the institution, and calls it “A blessed Retreat—a blessed Retreat.”