DEAK
DEATH VALLEY
understood. The blind can be talked with and read to, and are thus placed in direct touch with the world around them. The deaf know almost nothing, because they hear nothing. Speech tells them nothing, because they cannot hear; books teach them nothing, because they cannot read. The system of teaching by signs and the manual alphabet —in which the letters are formed by different positions of the hands and fingers—is not now used so much as the oral system. The sign-language, until people go out of their way to learn the language of one, keeps the deaf shut out from the world and shut up to each other. By the oral system, the child is taught to speak by seeing how his teacher speaks—to lip-read; that is, to read the speech of his teacher and others, as expressed on their lips. He learns to speak with all, not merely with the deaf; and books, literature and, through these facilities, the world are thrown open to him. Good work for the deaf-and-dumb has been done in the United States. The institutions are well-supported by grants from the states, and are usually well-managed. There also are missions and churches, in which the services are carried on in the sign-language, both in this country and in England.
Deak (dd'dk'), Francis, was born in 1803, at Kehida, Hungary. He was chosen representative to the Hungarian diet in 1832, where he became leader of the Liberals. After the Hungarian revolution, in 1848, he became minister of justice in the national cabinet. He made every effort to ward off the war which followed, and when Kossuth came into power he resigned. In 1860 he was leader of the moderate party, and as such drew up the address to the emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, who also was king of Hungary, demanding the constitution of 1848. This was refused; but in 1866, after Austria's losses in the war with Prussia, the demand was again preferred and this time was granted. To Deak, more than to any other man, is due the present dual government of the Austro-Hungarian empire, under which the Hungarians have practically as many rights and liberties as their old Austrian rulers. Deak died at Budapest on Jan. 29, 1876.
Deakin, Alfred, prime minister of Australia, and minister of external affairs, was born at Melbourne, Victoria, Aug. 3, 1856, and educated at Melbourne University. He entered the local legislature in 1879, and was successively minister of public works, solicitor-general, attorney-general, senior representative at the imperial conference in London (1887) and a member of the various conferences and conventions on Australian confederation. He has written a numbenof important works on irrigation in Australia,'the United States, India and Egypt.
Dear'born, Fort, on Lake Michigan, at tbe mouth oi the Chicago Slyer, on the
site of the city of Chicago, was built by _the government in 1803 to overawe the neighboring Indians. When war was declared against the British, General Hull, then in command at Detroit, ordered the garrison of Fort Dearborn to abandon that post and proceed to Detroit. The departure was delayed, however, and when the retreat began, Aug. 15, 1812, the garrison of 75 men, including officers and 30 friendly Miami braves, with women and children (the families of the soldiers and settlers), was attacked by 500 Pottawatomies. The battle was a short one. At the first fire the Miamis ran, and the troops were soon cut to pieces. During the fight a young Indian savage crept unseen into a wagon, and tomahawked 12 of the children. When two thirds had been killed, the remainder surrendered. Captain Wells, the commander of the 30 Miamis, fought so bravely that, when at last overpowered and killed, the savages took out his heart and ate it, hoping by this means to become possessed of the courage and prowess of the heroic scout. Fort Dearborn was rebuilt in 1816, and was garrisoned most of the time till 1837. In 1857 it was torn down, all but one building, which stood until the great fire in 1871.
Dear'born, Henry, an American general, was born at Hampton, N. H., Feb. 23, 1751. He became a physician, and during his leisure studied military tactics. The day after the battle of Lexington, he marched with 60 men to the aid of the Americans and covered their retreat at Bunker Hill. He went with Arnold to Canada, and was taken prisoner at Quebec. He served as major under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, and made a gallant charge with his regiment at the battle of Monmouth. He was twice a member of Congress, and for eight years was secretary of war under Jefferson. In 1812 he was appointed senior major-general in the United States army and. commander of the northern department. In 1813 he captured York (Toronto) in Canada and Fort George at the mouth of Niagara River. Dearborn was also for two years minister to Portugal. He died at Roxbury, Mass., June 6, 1829.
Death Valley, a desert-valley in Inyo County, California, lying nearly northwest and southeast between the Paramint and Funeral Mountains. The name comes from the fact that a party of emigrants perished here in 1849. It *s about 50 miles long and 35 wide. Its surface is about 250 feet below sea-level and is covered for the most part with a deposit of a white salt, mainly borax, that has been washed here from the surrounding mountains. The Amargosa River, usually a dry channel but now and then a raging torrent, drains into it a large desert tract of Nevada. The temperature remains for months near iao° F., and, as
