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CHAPTER III.
1815 -- 1816.

Interest in Deaf-Mutes -- Alice Cogswell -- An Invitation From Citizens of Hartford to Undertake the Education of the Deaf in America -- A Tour to England, Scotland and France to Gain Information -- Difficulties and Hindrances in Great Britain -- Success in France -- Temporary Pastorate in Paris.

DURING the winter of 1814-1815 Mr. Gallaudet remained mostly at his father's home in Hartford; preaching occasionally, and waiting for some decided indication of Providence as to the path of duty. There was no marked improvement in the state of his health.

Among his papers, one, entitled "A Reverie," bears internal evidence of having been written about this period, and closes as follows, after a reference to the importance of the then novel work of preaching the gospel to heathen nations:

Before the millennium arrives will one language prevail and swallow up the rest, or will mankind agree to form a universal language? Would not such a project be pregnant with incalculable advantages? How shall it be accomplished? What shall this universal language be? Is there already one, provided by Nature herself, easy of acquisition, universal in its application, and which demands neither types nor paper? Has such a language yet eluded the research of the profoundest philosophers, and is it left for some happy genius yet to find it? As is often the case, just when the mind is ready to light upon some most wonderful discovery, the capricious fancy disdains the dull process of beating out truth upon the anvil of experiment -- and my reverie ended.

Again can it be said in telling the story of this life that "we are such stuff as dreams are made on," for the fulfillment of his "reverie" came to Mr. Gallaudet when this possible "universal language" demanding "neither types nor paper" was realized in the language of signs which played so important a part in his work of teaching the deaf.

One of Peter Wallace Gallaudet's nearest neighbors in Hartford was Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell -- a physician of high professional and social standing. Among Dr. Cogswell's children was a lovely daughter nine years of age, on whom the blight of total deafness had fallen some years before, the result of a severe attack of spotted fever. As is not uncommon in such cases a loss of speech followed the loss of hearing, and before she had completed her fourth year this child was practically dumb as well as deaf. Her parents and family friends did what they could, in a very imperfect way, to develop her intelligence. But while their efforts were by no means fruitless, they did not succeed, as time went on, in establishing any clear and effective means of communicating thought. The child gained nothing of verbal language from the teachings of her zealous and loving friends.

It was during one of Mr. Gallaudet's vacations, while a student at Andover, that his attention was directed to the deaf child of his neighbor. His first interview with her was in his father's garden, where she was at play with his younger brothers and sisters.

One (1) who married, a few years later, a sister of Alice Cogswell, writes thus of this meeting:

His compassionate interest in her situation, with a strong desire to alleviate it, was immediate and deep. He at once attempted to converse with and instruct her, and actually succeeded in teaching her the word hat before she left the garden where the interview took place.

Another, (2) writing of this memorable incident, says:

Following up this first step in such methods as his own ingenuity could suggest, and with such lights as he could gather from a publication of the Abbe Sicard which Dr. Cogswell had procured from Paris, Mr. Gallaudet, from time to time, succeeded in imparting to her a knowledge of many simple words and sentences, which were much enlarged by members of her own family, and especially by her first teacher, Miss Lydia Huntley -afterwards well-known as the poetess Lydia H. Sigourney-. This success encouraged her father in the hope, that instead of sending his child, made more dear to him by her privations, away from home, to Edinburgh, or London, for instruction in the schools of Rev. R. Kinniburgh, or Dr. Watson, that a school might be opened in Hartford.

As Mr. Gallaudet's acquaintance with Alice Cogswell continued, there grew up, to quote Mr. Weld again, "a very intimate intercourse with the child and her father's family, during intervals of relaxation from professional studies, extending through several years, which resulted in her acquiring, chiefly through his agency, so much knowledge of very simple words and sentences, as satisfied her friends that she might learn to write and read, and that Mr. Gallaudet, of all the circle of their acquaintance, was the person best qualified to undertake her instruction."

It was during Mr. Gallaudet's winter in Hartford, after his graduation at Andover, that his interest in Alice Cogswell began to take practical shape, and that he induced her parents to place her under the direct instruction of Miss Huntley.

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Nothing was more natural than that the mind of Dr. Cogswell, made thus painfully alive to the importance of establishing schools for the deaf in America, should turn to the young clergyman who had shown such enthusiastic interest in his child, as the man of destiny for the deaf of his country.

At the invitation of Dr. Cogswell the following friends and neighbors met at his house on the 13th of April, 1815, to confer with him as to the practicability of establishing a school for deaf-mute children in Hartford: Ward Woodbridge, Daniel Wadsworth, Henry Hudson, Hon. Nathaniel Terry, John Caldwell, Daniel Buck, Rev; Nathan Strong, D. D., Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet (all of Hartford), and Joseph Battel, of Norfolk, Ct.

The blessing of God was, invoked on the enterprise by Dr. Strong, and after an evening spent in discussing various means for attaining the desired object, it was determined to make an effort to send a suitable person to Europe for the purpose of acquiring the art of teaching the deaf in some one of the schools then existing in the old world. Dr. Cogswell and Mr. Woodbridge were appointed a committee to ascertain the name of a competent man who would consent to go, and to raise funds to meet the expense of sending such person. So great was the interest taken by the benevolent of Hartford in the novel undertaking, that Mr. Woodbridge was able to secure the promise of ample funds in a single day.

Mr. Gallaudet was the first choice of all interested in the enterprise. His modesty and distrust of his ability to undertake so important a work led him to defer accepting the mission for a number of days, and to urge that some other man should be named. His friends, however, were so convinced of his peculiar and eminent qualifications that they were hardly willing to seek for any other man. So at the end of a week Mr. Gallaudet felt himself compelled to respond favorably to what seemed to be a plain call of duty.

The following entry heads the first page of "A Journal of some Occurrences in my Life which have a Relation to the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb."

Hartford, Conn., Thursday evening, April 20, 1815. I informed Dr. Mason F. Cogswell and Mr. Ward Woodbridge of my willingness to undertake the employment of instructing the deaf and dumb in my own country.

And now must be noticed one of those strange coincidences that occasionally mark the lives of men, especially of such as seem to be called by Providence to do some particular work in the world.

Events in Mr. Gallaudet's life had led naturally up to his selection by those who knew him best in the home of his youth, to undertake an enterprise the success of which demanded a rare combination of qualifications.

But in no way connected with this chain of circumstances was the following letter which undoubtedly reached his hand on the very day he decided to accept the proposal of Dr. Cogswell and his friends:

ANDOVER, April 18, 1815.

MY DEAR FRIEND: -- Three days ago I met in Boston your old friend Mr. George Hall. He told me he should sail the next day for Savannah. Thence he should go to England, thence to the continent. The next winter he will spend in Paris, with the intent of acquiring information in regard to the instruction of the deaf and dumb. He does not mean to become a teacher, but to perfect his old system and gratify curiosity is his design.

He wishes earnestly for a companion, and for you to be that companion. Having but lately determined upon this voyage, and ignorant of your abiding place, he had no opportunity of communicating his wishes to you. His first question when I met him: "Where is Gallaudet?" His second "Will you write him this very day?" He will be five or six weeks in Savannah. There he wishes you to join him; visit England and then France. Or find him in England in the summer, etc., etc., etc. He will stay here or there as long as you please, do what you please, and be as agreeable as all the world. He believes that his old system of instruction will afford great facilities in acquiring information on the subject of the mission, that your acquaintance with deaf and dumb persons will be also of essential service, and that of course you will be mutually serviceable to each other, and be of all the rest of the world the most suitable for such an undertaking. -- He is sorry he could not have seen you, but nevertheless wishes you to pack up, and be off with all convenient expedition. He wished me to write without delay, and urge every motive that might induce you to engage in this benevolent undertaking. I make no comments. May Providence direct and bless you always.

Yours truly,
LORD.
-Nathan Lord, later President of Dartmouth College.-

A letter received on the same day, from Ebenezer Kellogg, who had been with Nathan Lord a fellow student of Mr. Gallaudet's at Andover, and who was for many years a professor in Williams College, says:

I had a letter from home yesterday: -- the deaf and dumb girl I carried you to see makes very considerable progress.

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From both these letters evidence is afforded that Mr. Gallaudet had been led by his interest in Alice Cogswell to seek out other deaf children, while he was still a student at Andover, and that he was known by his friends to have considered, at least, the subject of general deaf-mute education.

Of course the suggestion of Mr. George Hall, through Nathan Lord, can not be said to have produced any result. And yet the object he aimed at was attained through the very man he had named as fitted, better than any other, to the work.

Mr. Gallaudet was now in the twenty-eighth year of his age. Precocious in his early development as a scholar, he had added to his college course of study a decade of varied and valuable training. A year's study of law; two of teaching; three given to active business, including extended travel; three of theological study, and one spent in general reading, with practice in writing and public speaking, had combined to give him an experience, every element of which was of importance, as will appear in the sequel, in preparing him for the work that now opened before him. His social surroundings had been such as to make it easy for him to meet, on a level, persons of the highest rank in society. His sacred profession gave him a standing in the community second to none. His personal character secured him the confidence of every one who knew him, while his manners were so engaging as to inspire almost equal trust in the minds of strangers. In spite of his delicate health he exercised great personal magnetism. Although small in stature, his bearing was so dignified, and the evidences of his intellectual and moral strength so marked that many persons have been known to say, after meeting him, that they remembered him as a person of imposing presence.

All these elements of strength and influence would have proved as valuable in the profession of his choice, as they did in the career to which he was chosen. Few men have ever stood on the threshold of the Christian ministry with greater promise of success than was Mr. Gallaudet's at this time. The esteem in which he was held at Yale College and Andover Seminary was such as would have insured him an eligible position whenever he should signify his disposition to begin work. It was after many mental struggles that he had decided to devote himself to the preaching of the gospel, and he felt "the vows of God" to be upon him. He had completed his preparations in spite of great difficulties and discouragements and was now ready to preach. He was not without ambition, and in 1815 the position of a clergyman in New England carried enough of weight and influence to make it attractive to a young man.

It is not difficult to perceive, therefore, that while Mr. Gallaudet accepted cheerfully the responsibility now laid on his young shoulders, and did not hesitate to respond to the call of duty, so soon as he perceived it to be such, this decision involved no small personal sacrifice.

But the decision once made there was no looking back, and the second entry in his journal (May 10th) shows that in less than three weeks he was on his way to Europe. In the mean time (May 5th) he went with Dr. Cogswell to Glastonbury, ten miles from Hartford, where he had a memorable interview with the blind deaf-mute Julia Brace, then eight years of age, whose education at a later period attracted a degree of attention second only to that excited by the development of the more brilliant Laura Bridgman.

Spending a few days' in New York, where his father's family were then residing, Mr. Gallaudet embarked on May 25th, in the Mexico, burden three hundred tons, S. Weeks, Master, for Liverpool. Among the passengers was Washington Irving; also a number of English army officers, of one of whom Mr. Gallaudet related the following incident:

One of my military friends who was commonly lively and cheerful in his manner came to the table one morning with a very long face. I took occasion to ask him, later, if any thing unusual had occurred to dampen his spirits; when he told me that during the night he was suddenly awakened by what seemed to be the pressure of a heavy weight lying across him. Rousing up he perceived by the light of the moon, the body of a man in naval uniform stretched out on him in his berth. For some seconds after he was fully awake the apparition remained, and then gradually faded from his sight. He rose, dressed and walked the deck until morning. The chief cause of his depression of spirits lay in the fact that he had a brother in the navy. A note was made of the day and hour, and on our arrival at Liverpool my friend told me before we parted on the wharf that news had met him of his brother's death at sea on the night when his wraith appeared.

Mr. Gallaudet landed at Liverpool on Sunday, June 25th. During the few days he remained in Liverpool he made the acquaintance of Rev. Thos. Raffles and Rev. Robt. Philip, and visited the school for the blind several times. The following Sunday he spent in Leicester, preaching for Rev. Robert Hall in the afternoon, spending the evening, until a late hour, with the noted divine.

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Of this visit he writes as follows to a friend in Hartford:

I called at his house just before the morning service, and went with him to his chapel, which is quite a small building in an obscure part of the town. Mr. Hall's discourse was from these words:

"There shall be no more curse there." His subject was set forth in a very plain, perspicuous and affectionate manner, with considerable feeling. There was nothing in his style, or expression, or turn of thought, very remarkable or eloquent. Yet there was a charm cast over the whole, a delicacy, a tenderness, a simplicity, in short, an accommodation of a great and lofty spirit to the weak comprehension of even the lambs of his flock, which raised my admiration more than the grandest display of his decidedly powerful talents would have done. . .

I witnessed his family devotions in the evening, and there was something in his prayer which said, what he well knew and felt, that the real saint has always in remembrance the injunction of our Saviour, which requires of His followers to become like little children. Mr. Hall, though a Baptist, is most liberal in his feelings toward other Christian sects. His congregation are in part Independents, who, of course, have their children baptized by some other clergyman. Oh! that the spirit of Catholicism would pervade all the Christian world!

On Monday, July 36, he visited a small school for the deaf in Birmingham, on Tuesday he had a glimpse of Oxford, and on Wednesday, the 5th, he reached London, where he expected to achieve the object of his mission to Europe. He was aware that schools for the deaf had been in operation for more than fifty years in Great Britain, and that in London the largest and presumably the best of them was to be found.

To the managers of this institution he presented himself with suitable letters of recommendation, expecting to find open doors, cordial hearts and ready hands to aid him in his work of benevolence. A very different reception awaited him. For he was soon to learn the astounding fact that in Great Britain the benevolent and Christ-like work of teaching the deaf had been for two generations a monopoly in the hands of a certain family; a monopoly so heartless that it refused to allow schools to be established in Ireland, and so grasping that at the moment of his visit to England a member of this family, of doubtful reputation and unsteady habits, was in America seeking to establish the monopoly in the New World.

The following letter from Mr. Gallaudet to Dr. Cogswell gives so full an account of the difficulties encountered by the former in London, that it may be inserted entire without further comment than to remind the reader that all the persons mentioned have long since passed away: in view of which it can not be thought indelicate to permit Mr. Gallaudet's expressions concerning them, never before published, to be made public.

LONDON, August 15, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR: -- I have not yet received a single letter from America. Surely my friends have not been waiting to hear from me before they wrote. I expected to have been made acquainted, before this time, with the progress of the concern in which we are mutually and so deeply interested. And such information I have really needed in order to conduct my negotiations with the school here in the best manner. For my application for admission into it has been attended with delays and obstacles that I did not expect. I will find no fault at present with those who compose the committee of the school, for I believe they have really wished to gratify me in what I requested of them, nor with Dr. Watson, its instructor, till I know a little more of his true character and learn whether his conduct toward me has proceeded from a wise and prudent Caution or a cold and selfish heart.

Premising that since my arrival in England I have written yourself and Mr. Woodbridge five times, giving you an account of what I had then done with regard to our project and the circumstances in which I stood -- I will now lay before you a succinct narrative of my proceedings till the present day.

I arrived at Liverpool on the 25th of June last and in this city on the 5th of July. On the 7th I delivered my letter of introduction to the Rev. John Townsend, accompanied by Mr. Barlow (Mr. Woodbridge's friend). I made Mr. T. acquainted with my object in visiting this country. He wished me to call at the City of London Tavern on the 10th, where he would converse with me further on the subject.

July 8th, I formed an acquaintance with the Abbé Sicard, who has since returned to Paris. He promised me every attention and facility at his school there, and his secretary invited me to attend the lectures which he was then delivering in this city.

10th, I called at the City of London Tavern, and in a note sent my credentials to the Rev. Mr. Townsend, who was in the committee room. After some time I saw him. He told me that he had laid my application before the committee and that a sub-committee had been chosen to confer with Dr. Watson on the subject. The same day, in the afternoon, I attended the Abbé Sicard's lecture.

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14th, I called on Mr. Michael Gibbs, one of the sub-committee. Nothing had yet been done respecting my application.

21st, After waiting a week, in hopes that I should hear from the sub-committee, I called again on Mr. Gibbs. He was not within. I left a note for him. I called again and found a note from him, in which he informed me that Mr. Townsend had two days before sent him my papers (meaning my credentials, such as Gov. Smith's, Gov. Goodrich's, Dr. Strong's, Dr. Green's of Princeton, certificates, which, by the way, so great is English caution towards foreigners, I have found absolutely necessary and almost indispensable) -- which he had sent to Dr. Watson. He also advised me to go with Mr. Townsend, who could attend to it in a day or two, to Dr. Watson's. I had been advised before by Mr. T. not to visit the school for the present. I immediately rode to Mr. Townsend's, who lives some distance from town, but did not find him at home. 24th, I received a note from Mr. Townsend, in which he said that on the 26th he would accompany me to Dr. Watson's.

So on this day I had my first interview with the doctor. He started certain fears and difficulties on the subject of my admission, and I explained the nature of my object and views. I observed, at parting, that I wished for an answer to my application as soon as convenient, as my expenses were considerable and their increase was diminishing the fund in America for the relief of our unfortunate deaf and dumb. Dr. W. said he wished for a little time to consider the subject, and that after conferring with Mr. Gibbs, he would acquaint me with the result. On my return I called on Mr. Gibbs and was informed that he had left town and would not return till the ensuing week. 28th, I visited the school and had a short conversation with Dr. W., but nothing decisive transpired. 29th, I went to Mr. Townsend's and had some conversation with him on my business. He said he would do every thing in his power to serve me, that he would endeavor to see Mr. Gibbs immediately on his return and urge the importance of a speedy meeting of the sub-committee.

31st, I again visited the school, and had some conversation with Dr. W. In the course of it, I inferred from what he said, that it would have been more correct for me (in his opinion), to have originally made my application to himself rather than to the committee, inasmuch as his engagement with them was simply to instruct the pupils of the school. But I acted by the advice of Mr. Townsend, the original founder of the institution and now one of the committee, and indeed, would it not have been indecorous in me to have gained an introduction to a public and charitable institution without first applying to those who have the management of it? Aug. 1st, I visited Mr. Townsend and also Mr. Gibbs, who said he would endeavor to have a meeting of the sub-committee held in two or three days. 3d, I called again on Mr. Gibbs, who said the sub-committee would meet the ensuing week. 5th, I had some conversation with Mr. Piper, one of the sub-committee. He expressed his wish to promote my views, but alluded to some difficulties that Dr. Watson had suggested, with fears that they might not be obviated. 7th, I had another interview of considerable length with Dr. W. I asked him if he could propose any plan by which he could give me the benefit of becoming acquainted with the theory and practice of his art. He replied, that he should rather wait to see the decision of the sub-committee. He again observed that the committee had no control over him any further than that he had engaged with them to instruct the deaf pupils who might be introduced into the school.

10th, I left with Mr. Piper a paper of some length to be laid before the sub-committee, who were to meet this day at the City of London Tavern, accompanied with my credentials for their examination. In this paper I gave a succinct account of what had transpired before I left home with regard to the proposed institution at Hartford, and also stated my reasons for not being willing to assent to any proposal of carrying to America with me an instructor of the deaf and dumb from this country, or of pledging myself, at present, to continue with Dr. W. for a definite period of time, without first making trial of my capacities for improvement in his art. I concluded with respectfully asking the sub-committee, whether they could in any way assist me in the accomplishment of my object.

11th, I received a note from Mr. Stephen Hough, chairman of the sub-committee, inclosing a copy of the report which they had concluded to make to the committee. It was as follows --

"Resolved, That after mature deliberation, taking into view the due discipline of the institution and the proper time requisite to qualify an effective instructor of the deaf and dumb: The auditors, in conjunction with Dr. Watson, beg to recommend the committee to allow Mr. Gallaudet to be received into the school for one month upon liking, with the view that on the expiration of that period he shall be engaged as an assistant for three years on the usual terms, with power to Dr. Watson to release him from his engagement sooner, if it should appear that Mr. G. is qualified before the end of that time."

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l2th, I called on Mr. Parnell, one of the sub-committee, to inquire whether the "liking" mentioned in the report was to be reciprocal. He said that that was the intention of the sub-committee.

15th, I visited Dr. Watson at the school in order to inquire into the duties of his assistants. He informed me that it is expected of them, and would be of me, to be in the school from seven o'clock in the morning till eight in the evening and also with the pupils in their hours of recreation. He observed that the first employment of an assistant is to teach the pupils penmanship. This I remarked would be a part of the principal difficulty that I had anticipated and would serve to illustrate it. For it showed that I might be familiar both with the theory and practice of certain stages of his pupils' improvement and yet be detained from advancing until they also should become familiar with them. This I observed would be a useless sacrifice of time on my part. I suggested again the plan of my having intercourse with his private pupils, but he declined saying any thing on that point, till I had made up my mind with regard to the proposal of the committee.

I called also on Mr. Parnell. He informed me that the committee had accepted the report of the sub-committee.

Thus you see, my dear sir, the dilemma in which I am placed. The committee throughout all this affair have been obliged to act with the greatest caution toward Dr. Watson. They have not been willing to offend him. I think I do not use too strong language. And I do believe had my business rested solely on the feelings of the committee I should have had every facility granted me that I could wish. But Dr. Watson, I must say, from the very first has conducted toward me with a cautious reserve that I did not expect, and suggested certain plans which I thought interfered a little with my right of private judgment, not to say with my feelings of delicacy and honor. For instance, he alluded to the Mr. Braidwood, who is now in America, and suggested the expediency of his being associated with me in the school at Hartford. On this I need make no remarks. He also urged quite strongly the scheme of my carrying one of his assistants to America with me. How could I do this? How could I at present (not having heard a word from you) pledge myself to bear the expenses of an assistant across the water, and also that he should be supported when he arrived there. Besides, I knew not the character or talents of his assistants, and a more formidable objection still was the fear, lest my plans of instruction and government might clash with this assistant's. He would be wedded to Dr. Watson's mode. I should wish, and I yet hope, to combine the peculiar advantages of both the French and English modes of instruction. For there are considerable differences between them. Well, Dr. Watson saw that I was bent upon acquiring the art myself and of pursuing my own plans of conduct. He now began to talk of difficulties in the way of my admission into the institution, always taking care to let me know that I ought originally to have applied to him and that the committee had no control over him in reference to this affair. He invited me, to be sure to visit the school and look among the pupils. He promised to give me any information in his power and to solve if possible any difficulties I had found in his art. But although I feel thankful to him for these civilities yet he must have known that I never could think of visiting his school, day after day, in the character of a mere visitor. I should soon have rendered myself obnoxious to him and to his assistants by the ardor of my curiosity and the frequency of my intercourse with his pupils. No, I wanted a definite arrangement with him of some kind or other that would have enabled me for several months, perhaps more than a year, to have become familiar with the theory and practice of his art. I offered him a remuneration for any services of this kind, but he declined it. He always talked of the length of time that would be necessary to acquire his art and generally spoke of four or five years. He alluded also to the difficulty of introducing me into the school in any other character than that of an assistant and for any short period of time; inasmuch as doing otherwise would create disaffection among his assistants, who engage to stay with him five years. I doubt not his views and feelings had great influence upon the sub-committee in making their report. And you see what this report is. If I comply with it I must bind myself to labor for Dr. Watson three whole years, be subject to his complete disposal of me during that time, have no hope of freedom unless he please (and all his feelings of interest would lead him to detain me in order to make his art appear as difficult and important as possible), and what is worse than all, be continually retarded and cramped in my progress, because I should be obliged to wait for the progress of the pupils whom I might instruct. Besides, when am I to avail myself of the Abbé Sicard's kindness? During these three years? No; Dr. Watson would not consent to this. Afterwards? Then four or five years must elapse from the time when I left you to my return. This is too monstrous a sacrifice of time and patience and money. Again, is it generous to place me thus absolutely at Dr. Watson's disposal to say when I am qualified? Shall I be treated like a mere apprentice, whom his master must chain by indentures lest he make his escape? Is no confidence to be placed in my own judgment and integrity? The more I think of this proposed arrangement the more I dislike it, and I already begin to look for some other way in which Providence may guide me to the accomplishment of my wishes. I do hope my perplexities here have taught me more sensibly my dependence on Him. To Him do I look for direction and I ask your prayers and the prayers of my friends, that I may be enabled by His grace to conduct with all due wisdom, discretion and prudence in my arduous undertaking. I ought to have observed that a salary of £35 per annum (with my board), for the first year and something more for the next is offered me, if I become Dr. Watson's assistant. This would be well earned in toiling for him from morning till night with only one-half day's recreation in the week allowed me!!! Think, my dear sir, what a wound my feelings have received in all this business. Think how we used to speak before I left you of the ready welcome and the cheerful assistance that I should receive here. Compare this with what has happened. You can easily fill up the picture. Well, it has all been ordered right and I have not despaired. I do not. Edinburgh and Paris are yet open to me. At the former is a very respectable school under noble patronage, of which a Mr. Kinniburgh is the teacher. My friends here (many of them) advise me to go there. I can not get worse terms than are offered me here. I may get better. The Scotch are hospitable. No rivalry exists between Mr. Kinniburgh and the Abbe Sicard. Living may be somewhat cheaper. The voyage thither occupies at this season of the year only three or four days and costs only as many guineas. The Rev. David Bogue, of Gosport, of whom you have doubtless heard, is now in London. I have often consulted with him on my business. He advises me strongly to go to Edinburgh. He has been there and is intimately acquainted with several eminent characters. He does not doubt my success. He will give me the best letters of introduction, among others, one to his particular friend, J. F. Gordon, Esq., one of the secretaries of the deaf and dumb institution. If I go to Edinburgh, I shall hope for more openness and cordiality, and for some arrangement with Mr. Kinniburgh which will enable me to become acquainted with the English mode of instruction at the same time that I may be revising my French in order to go to Paris, as soon as the state of France and my own preparation for such a visit will permit. As to revising my French here or having any leisure, it would be out of the question under the arrangement which the committee propose to me. I can not write you any thing yet respecting the internal economy and arrangement of the school here, for I have not had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with them. I hope you are advancing in the affair at home. Whatever arrangements can be made with regard to the collection of money, for the erection of buildings and the support of charity scholars ought, I think, to be done. With regard to the structure of such buildings, and the mode in which the pupils are received, and supported and taught, I shall give you the earliest information in my power. My funds also will require an increase. My expenses are considerable already, although I conscientiously study the strictest economy. They were much increased by my journey from Liverpool hither. Besides, I wish to purchase all the valuable books that I can procure which have a reference to my future profession -- the instruction of deaf-mutes. I have already been to almost every bookshop in London for this purpose and have procured a few, both in French and English. The school in Hartford must have such a library. It is a pleasure to me to think that I have the confidence of my friends at home, so that when I ask for funds they will, I know, feel satisfied that they will be applied with prudence to the furtherance of my object. I sometimes feel, however, that as I have devoted myself to the deaf and dumb in the early part of my life, with no stipulation with regard to my future support, trusting for this to the ordering of events by a kind Providence, that I might now be indulged with something more than the mere paying of my expenses. A trifling sum which I might use while in Europe for the procuring of a small library of my own would be a favor to me, and this I desire only because I have now so good an opportunity of collecting a few books, and have no resources of my own to do it with. And, In fact, rather than be deprived of the advantage of this opportunity, I should even seek for a loan of a small sum of money from some of my friends, hoping to be able to refund it after the establishment of our school. But on this point I merely disclose my feelings to yourself and Mr. Woodbridge, and I should never wish to have it mentioned if it would be at all unfriendly to the nicest honor of my own character as a man and a Christian, or unfriendly in the least to the welfare of the projected undertaking in which we have embarked.

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I ought to have mentioned that there are various school-books and ingenious modes of instructing youth in the different branches of knowledge, which I ought to purchase while abroad for the use of our school, and this also will make an increase to the fund necessary. Perhaps in the course of the fall, if it is practicable, you had better remit some money to Peter Barlow, Esq., 8 Tokenhouse Yard, London, by the way of a bill drawn in his favor on some house here for my use. This would be better than to draw in my favor directly, as I may be in Edinburgh. In the meanwhile I shall hope to get permanently settled and to write you more explicitly than I now can respecting the probable extent of my expenses and the length of my absence. I have already expended since I concluded to embark in this enterprise a little more than £130 sterling. But you will observe this sum went to pay for the necessary preparations for my voyage before I left America; my expenses from Hartford to New York and same at New York; my passage to Liverpool and expenses there; my journey from Liverpool hither; a month's residence here and some clothes and books. What my expenses will in future be I can not tell. I fear, however, that with the strictest economy my personal expenses when settled (not including necessary traveling or voyages, nor books, etc., for the school), will not be less than 1000 dollars a year. And this in London just enables a single man to live comfortably if he means to preserve an intercourse with a few respectable people. August l7th. This morning I breakfasted with Mr. Bogue and laid before him all my views with regard to the arrangement proposed to me at the school here. He thought it best for me immediately to go to Edinburgh, so that you must not be surprised if I conclude to shape my course thither within a few days.

The mother of Mr. Braidwood, who is in America, will be much obliged by any information you can give me respecting him. Do take some pains to do this. I wish to oblige her, and write all you know of him, be it good, bad or indifferent.

If, after all, I should judge it expedient to carry back with me an assistant from this side of the water for the benefit of the school in Hartford, when I have qualified myself, -- or should this become the more necessary, in case I should continue to be met with obstacles in becoming familiar with the English mode of instruction, and have easy access only to the French school, what would the patrons of our school say to such a plan? Should we commence with a considerable number of pupils, such an assistant might be quite necessary; for I said that one person can not successfully devote his whole attention to a great many. I only suggest this for consideration and I wish to hear from you and the other gentlemen on this point.

BE PARTICULAR also to send me by the earliest opportunity an exact account of what has been done with regard to the proposed school. And also something in the shape of a document to show these two things: that the school is to be a public and charitable institution, and that I am the proposed teacher of it and sent abroad for that purpose. Let this be signed by some persons in their official capacity. I have wanted already such a document very much.

August 19th. Yesterday I saw Dr. Watson and informed him that I had concluded not to accept of the arrangement proposed to me by the committee. I asked him whether he could propose any plan for the accomplishment of my wishes. He rather waived the subject and soon observed that I might perhaps as well make experiments upon deaf and dumb pupils in the United States as here. And yet he often speaks of the long time in which, under Mr. Braidwood, he was acquiring a familiarity with the theory and practice of his art. I did not press the subject. He again alluded to the difficulty there would be in introducing me into his school in an unknown character, meaning, no doubt, that I had not brought with me any official document to show , that I was designated as the instructor of a public and charitable institution.

But with regard to what I have said of Dr. Watson's character and motives, it is my most earnest and particular request, that no publicity be given, in any shape. I have a right to form my own opinion of the treatment which I have met with here and to communicate it in confidence to my friends. But it is the part of prudence and of Christian forbearance, too, in what we say openly of others, not to impeach their motives of conduct unless they avow them. It will be enough, therefore, to say, that the committee have proposed terms to me, that I could not feel myself justified in accepting, when I considered the importance of accomplishing my object as speedily as its final success would permit.

I hope to leave London for Edinburgh next week. I shall have the best letters of introduction, and I hope Providence will see fit to smile upon my visit there. You shall hear from me very soon again. Yesterday I wrote Mr. Woodbridge by the Criteria for New York, giving him a sort of epitome of this letter. This I did that you might be sure to hear from me.

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What has become of Julia Brace? I hope she will not be forgotten. You may think it chimerical, but I do believe she might be taught many words and perhaps to read, by having raised letters, in relief, as it were, which she might feel. This is the way the blind are taught at Amsterdam. I have a specimen of their type. They are now learning to read the Bible with their fingers.

I long to see Hartford once more and to be in the midst of my deaf and dumb children. I feel more than ever devoted to the object. Be assured I shall not be deterred from prosecuting it by any obstacles. It's a good cause, and Providence, we have every reason to think, will crown it with final success. But we must feel our dependence on Him. Mere human wisdom and strength are broken reeds on which to lean. How much I want to hear of your welfare and that of your dear family -- may I say, of your spiritual welfare. How often while I was with you, did I wish to ask the question, but my heart failed me, whether you did indulge the hope of being born of God. Even now, perhaps, I am taking a liberty which it is sometimes thought even the closest friendship will not justify. Pardon me. You will not object, however, to my saying that it is often my most earnest prayer that all that dwell beneath your roof may receive the richest of spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, and that God may enter into covenant with each of your souls. Let me ask, also, your prayers for me, that I may be preserved in safety till my return, and above all, that I may be enabled continually to act with a reference to the glory of God and to the best good of my fellow-men.

I have once written Alice, and I again write her. I shall hope to hear from her. Remember me affectionately to Mrs. C. and all your family and to other friends who may think of me. Yours sincerely,

T. H. GALLAUDET.

A few days after writing this letter, Mr. Gallaudet repaired to Edinburgh, with strong hopes of attaining the object he had so much at heart. But in Edinburgh, as in London, he was to encounter the Braidwood monopoly, and to find men of naturally benevolent dispositions and generous impulses, willing to recognize its binding force as against such an appeal from a distant foreign land as he most eloquently urged. Mr. Gallaudet's experience in Edinburgh is fully given in the following letters, the first being to Dr. Cogswell:

EDINBURGH, Sept. 22, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR: -- Not a syllable has yet reached me from Hartford. Indeed I am much grieved at this. I want to know your movements with regard to our project. I can not account for your silence. So many opportunities by which to write me, and yet four months now have elapsed since I left you, and I am wholly ignorant of what you are doing. I have written you and Mr. Woodbridge again and again, giving you a circumstantial detail of my proceedings. My last letters were sent by Mr. Junius Smith, who sailed in the Venus, bound for New York, the latter part of the last month. By him I gave you a journal of my proceedings at London. Strange that I should meet with any disappointment at the institution in that metropolis for the deaf and dumb! But so it was. Although I had frequent access to the school and several conferences with Dr. Watson, yet when I proposed any thing like an effectual arrangement for the accomplishment of my object, terms were offered me by the committee to which I could not accede. But of all this transaction, I have given both yourself and Mr. Woodbridge, by different vessels, a particular account. And here also I am surrounded with unexpected embarrassments. Mr. Kinniburgh, the instructor of the school in this place for the deaf and dumb, received his first instructions in his art from Mr. Thomas Braidwood, the grandson of the original Mr. Braidwood, to whom he bound himself not to communicate any information respecting the subject to any individual for seven years. Four years of this period have expired. I have been corresponding with Mr. Thomas Braidwood on this subject, in hopes that I might prevail on him to release Mr. Kinniburgh so far as his bond might refer to America. But Mr. Braidwood is not to be moved. This morning I received a positive refusal to my application. The reason for this which Mr. B. assigned is, that his brother, Mr. Jno. B., is in our country, -- the same gentleman of whom we heard as being in Virginia. The truth is, he left this place a few years since in disgrace. He was solicited to undertake the superintendence of a public school for the deaf and dumb. He conducted so badly and contracted so many debts, that he was obliged to abscond. What dependence can be placed on such a character! Still I do not despair. I hope yet to persuade the committee of the school here either that the bond under which Mr. Kinniburgh is laid is an illegal one, or at least that it has no reference to one from a foreign country. Still my success in this is problematical. I shall make all the efforts in my power. If I fail I shall resort to one or two private instructors in this neighborhood and in London, and if the state of France will permit, I shall visit the Abbe Sicard. I shall want more money to be remitted to Mr. Barlow. My expenses have been considerably increased by my unexpected delays and disappointments. Indeed I am confounded almost by this scene of trial which I have to pass through. But I do not despair. You must trust me that I will gain all the advantages I can for the promotion of our common object. I feel devoted to it. I long to see it accomplished. If you mean to have this business carried through, it will be necessary speedily to remit more money. Not that I am yet in want of it, but it is better to be beforehand in affairs of this kind. Perhaps I may yet have to expend some money in accomplishing my arrangements with the instructor here or with some private instructor in the way of a fee. Possibly an offer of this kind may yet move Mr. Braidwood. Mr. Kinniburgh wants no such reward. He is a most benevolent man. Should such an arrangement be necessary, how large a sum can you devote to this purpose? How much have you already raised? Rest assured I shall study economy in all my personal expenses; but if, after having devoted myself to this object simply on the condition at present of having my expenses defrayed, I am left in the lurch for the sake of a little money which I know could be raised in a short time in Boston and New York, I shall be extremely disappointed with regard to the generosity of my countrymen. For some days past I have been laboring to procure acquaintance among persons of influence here who may be able to assist me in any plans which I may finally think it expedient to adopt. Among these I feel a peculiar satisfaction in naming Dugald Stewart, Esq. And how do you think I found access to him? It was by means of Julia Brace, the little deaf, dumb, and blind girl, the importance of visiting whom I so strongly urged upon you, as you, no doubt, recollect. I mentioned her case to Dr. Buchanan, one of the clergymen of this place, observing that I should much like to communicate the facts respecting her to Mr. Stewart. Mr. S. happened soon to be in town. Dr. B. introduced me to him. I was invited to spend a day and night in his family at Kinneil house, about eighteen miles distant. I did this a few days since and left with him an account of Julia Brace with which he appeared to be much interested. I shall hope to see him in town before long. In the meanwhile Mrs. Stewart gave me a letter of introduction to Dr. John Gordon, the writer of the article "Deaf and Dumb "in the Encyclopedia, one of the committee of the institution here, on whom I have called, and I have no doubt that he will do every thing in his power to promote my object. He feels a deep interest in the general subject. But you can hardly conceive how slow a business it is to get at large bodies of men in this country. Several weeks, you recollect, elapsed in London before their committee could give me their ultimatum. And it will be some time before I can make my final arrangements here. I rejoice, however, that I came to Edinburgh. Here men of science have taken an interest in the instruction of the deaf and dumb. Here there are several pupils, men of respectability, of the former Mr. Braidwood's, with whom I can have an acquaintance. There is also one gentleman in town, and another thirty or forty miles distant, who have practiced this art; so that I shall procure a great deal of general information on the subject, even if I should not be able finally to get access to Mr. Kinniburgh's school. As soon as I make any definite arrangement I shall be careful to inform you by the first opportunity. I have been in Mr. Kinniburgh's school. Several of his pupils have made great progress; Turner, especially, whose letters are published in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia. I am now reading the Abbe Sicard's system in French, by way of preparation, in case I should visit him in Paris. He expects to publish a new work on the subject in the course of a few months. It will appear in London. Could I get all the necessary instruction in Scotland or England, and have a complete set of the Abbe Sicard's works, I should think it of less importance to visit Paris. But time alone can determine this. In the meanwhile, I hope my friends in Hartford will continue to remember me in their prayers, that I may be carried through this arduous undertaking successfully. Indeed I long to return. I feel more and more satisfied that, the simple, quiet, retired path of duty, in which we can in some way or other serve God and do good to the bodies and souls of men, is the only path of peace. Oh, that we may all be enabled to walk in it! During the short time that I have been in Edinburgh I have seen objects and formed acquaintances which, on the other side of the water, would, in prospect, have filled my soul with the most splendid visions of delight. To tread this classic ground, to be in the Athens of the world, and even to have intercourse with some of its greatest philosophers and literati, all this would promise much. But it has all served to convince me that nothing can satisfy the immortal mind but God Himself, and that so long as we divide our hearts between Him and any other object, so long there must be a tumult of wretchedness in our breasts.

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How do you all do? What advances is Alice making? My best regards to Mrs. C., to Mary, Elizabeth, and Mason. Nor would I forget your domestics, to whom I wish to be remembered. May Almighty God continue to bless you all with every needful temporal and spiritual good.

Yours truly,
T. H. GALLAUDET.

In a letter bearing date Edinburgh, December 6, 1815, to Mr. Ward Woodbridge, of Hartford, Mr. Gallaudet, after rehearsing his futile efforts to induce Mr. Braidwood to release the authorities of the Edinburgh school from their bond of £1,000 to him, writes as follows:

Notwithstanding Mr. B's refusal, I still had hopes that the committee of the institution, might, upon reflection, consider the bond as an illegal one, or, at least, as not applicable to my case. I was encouraged in this by several of my friends. I resolved, of course, to apply to the committee. Many of them, and Mr. Gordon among the rest, were in the country. I had to wait some time for their return. They at last met and were unanimously of opinion that good faith required of them a strict observance of the bond even in the case of a foreigner. I wish, however, that you should understand that in all the intercourse which I have had with the committee and with Mr. Kinniburgh, the worthy and able teacher of the institution, I have met with the most kind and liberal treatment; and I have not the smallest doubt, that had it been possible, I should have received from the institution, gratuitously and cordially, every assistance which it could afford me. These events occupied some time. The season had advanced considerably and several reasons determined me to spend a few months longer in Edinburgh. The state of France was at the time very unsettled. A few months would probably determine whether the Bourbons could maintain their place. The libraries here contain several rare and valuable works on the instruction of the deaf and dumb, which I could not probably have any other opportunity of examining. From these, especially from a treatise by Dalgarno, belonging to Dugald Stewart, Esq., I have made extracts that I hope will be of service to me. Dr. Gordon also, the author of the article "Dumb and Deaf" in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and Dr. Thos. Brown, Professor of Moral Philosophy, have been kind enough from time to time to lend me books which treat directly on the subject of my intended pursuit. I have also been attending Dr. Brown's lectures on the Philosophy of the Mind and revising my French a little; so that, all things considered, I hope our project will not eventually suffer by my detention here. I ought to mention also that I have been successful enough to procure the Abbe Sicard's works, which I have been reading. My present plan is to visit Paris in the spring. In some of my late letters I have mentioned that it would be well to add a little to my pecuniary resources. It is best to be in season with things of this kind. I have resolved to ask whether it would be thought quite consistent with the strictest adherence to propriety, to allow me while abroad something more than my mere expenses. I have one reason for making this request, the wish that I have to improve the opportunity I enjoy of purchasing a few books. But do not mistake me. I have no wish to push this matter. Whether it be pride or a better principle, I do hope that my settled plan of life is to devote myself to the service of God and to trust to His providence to make provision for me, without being at all particular on this point in any dealings which I may have with my fellow-men.

I close this letter in haste, as I have just received a letter from my brother who expects to sail from Liverpool in a few days. Give my best remembrance to all inquiring friends. My health has suffered a little from the extreme variableness and humidity of the Edinburgh winter; but I hope to revive in the spring. May the Giver of all good continue to yourself and family this invaluable blessing and shower down upon you the more delightful blessings of His grace. My best regards to Mrs. W. and your family.

Yours truly,
T. H. GALLAUDET.

Among Mr. Gallaudet's papers numerous evidences appear of the efforts he speaks of making "to procure acquaintance among persons of influence" who might aid him in his efforts to break down the Braidwood monopoly.

His diary mentions a "breakfast Thursday morning, August 31st, with Rev. D. Dickson, D. D.;" of a "dinner with Dr. Duncan, senior, Friday, September 1st;" of a "dinner with Mr. James Carmichael, Saturday, September 2nd;" of a "dinner with Dr. Anderson, Sunday, September 3d;" of a "breakfast with Rev. Dr. Hall, Monday, September 4th, at Pulan's farmhouse, half a mile from the Lunatic Asylum Morningside village, Lenton Road;" and a dinner at a "festival of Pomona, Oman's Tavern, St. Andrew's Square, Tuesday, September 5th." Among the friends he made was Lady Anna Maria Elliott, a daughter of the Earl of Minto, to whom Mrs. Dugald Stewart had introduced him. Lady Anna was a friend of Mrs. Braidwood, and expressed the hope to Mr. Gallaudet that "Mrs. Braidwood might perhaps listen to the representations of an impartial person, sooner than to those who may be supposed to have a nearer interest in the matter." But the Braidwood monopoly was equally proof against the blandishments of personal friendship and titled rank, as against appeals in the name of Christian charity.

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To Mr. Gallaudet, and as he says, to some of his advisers, the contract with Mr. Braidwood seemed as one without legal force, and this view he did not hesitate to express openly. But when the incidents of his experience in Edinburgh were made, somewhat later, the subject of comment in the public journals, he was virulently assailed, accused of the "sin of violating the obligations of gratitude and truth," charged with "obtuseness of understanding" and a "defective moral system," all because he had ventured to characterize the Braidwood bond as an illicitum pactum.

While remaining in Edinburgh Mr. Gallaudet received an interesting letter from his far off pupil, Alice Cogswell, which will be read with interest as showing the progress she was making under the instructions of Miss Huntley -Mrs. L. H. Sigourney-.

HARTFORD, Wednesday, October 11, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR: -- I remember story Miss Huntley was tell me. Old many years Mr. Colt little boy Name man Peter Colt very much curls little boy hair Oh! very beautiful mama lap little boy comb curl love to see O beautiful. Morning long man preacher coat black come bow ask mama give little boy hair make wigs very beautiful preacher give, mama no preacher yes oh yes talk long man say come back little boy scissors cut hair white hair curls all in heap make wig preacher am very much glad proud little -- little boy head very cold mama tie handkerchief warm, tears no more mama very sorry. I hope my hair never cut make wigs -- This morning study all in school away Geography all beautiful a school all very beautiful very still very good noise no -- the Play no, Miss Huntley work and two go Norwich all school come not -- me very sorry come back little while -- O all very glad, -- O beautiful -- I love you very much --

Your affectionate,
ALICE COGSWELL.

In a letter from Dr. Cogswell, of the same date, Alice's letter is explained as follows: --

As soon as I knew of Mr. Upson's sailing I proposed to Alice to write you by him. She readily consented, but said she was at a loss what to write. I told her to write the story Miss Huntley related to her from Mr. Colt -- the circumstances I will relate, that you may the better understand it: Mr. Peter Colt, from Patterson, was lately here on a visit; he told her -Miss Huntley- what happened to him, when he was a little boy. It seems he had a very thick head of white curled hair; a clergyman who was visiting his mamma, took a fancy to it, for the purpose of making himself a wig; his mamma, at first, refused, but after a little urging, talk long, as Alice calls it, she consented, and the hair was cut off and the wig made. You will observe that the conversation between his mamma and the preacher is somewhat in the form of a dialogue. You know so much of her manner, that I believe you will understand it. Miss Huntley communicated the story to her by signs. Miss Huntley, as, you will perceive by Alice's letter, is at Norwich, on a visit. The letter is all her own, without any assistance or correction. With every wish for your success and happiness,

I am affectionately yours,
MASON F. COGSWELL.

MR. T. H. GALLAUDET.

Mr. Gallaudet remained in Edinburgh until toward the close of the winter, making good use of his time, as may be understood from his letters, although he failed to accomplish the special object of his visit. The memoranda found in his notebooks show him to have been indefatigable in his endeavors to improve himself in every possible way. He made many acquaintances among the cultivated people of Scotland -- visiting Dugald Stewart at his home near Edinburgh, and Thomas Chalmers at Glasgow -- both of whom, as well as Mrs. Stewart, became his warm friends, Dr. Chalmers sustaining a voluminous correspondence with him after his return to America.

Mr. Gallaudet during his stay in Edinburgh wrote a letter to Dugald Stewart, describing the case of Julia Brace, a blind deaf-mute whom he had visited before leaving America. Some extracts from this letter will be of interest, particularly in view of the fact that the teaching of this child antedated by several years the education of Dr. Howe's more distinguished deaf and blind pupil, Laura Bridgman.

Mr. Gallaudet says, under date of September 26, 1815:

When about four years and a half old, this little girl was afflicted with a violent fever of long continuance, on her recovery from which it was found that she was entirely blind and deaf. She had before this enjoyed the use of all her senses in perfection. .... For a short time after her loss of sight and hearing she retained the use of speech, which she employed to make her wants known to those around her. But in this she soon became imperfect and incoherent. Still she would delight to repeat in their order the little lessons of words she had before learned in her spelling book, and what was most distressing to hear, to pour forth, occasionally, an incessant volley of oaths and imprecations, which were, no doubt, first taught her by the force of a pernicious example, and now furnished by memory on every occasion of perturbation or anger; for at this time she was the victim of a temper so furious and ungovernable, that nothing short of absolute confinement could restrain it; and this, as the mother acknowledged, was unfortunately too seldom employed. Her circle of words daily contracted within narrower and narrower limits, so that when I saw her she uttered nothing more during the space of a few hours than two or three inarticulate sounds which seemed to be the result of some emotions, though they were entirely unintelligible. And these imperfect remains of speech must soon be lost, so that she will in a little while be as absolutely dumb as she is now deaf and blind. Her senses of touch and smell have been gradually growing more acute and discriminating. She could go to any part of the house without assistance, and even into the yard, which she sometimes did with a basket for the purpose of gathering chips...

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When any new object was given to her she first felt every part of it, moving the ends of her fingers over it with peculiar minuteness and delicacy. She then applied it to her upper lip, on which she rubbed it for some time, as if there was the seat of a more nice sensibility of feeling, and after smelling it, all of which she did with much apparent eagerness and delight, she immediately placed it in her sister's hands, still retaining hold of it herself, and with her fingers directing her sister to the same process of touching and smelling through which she had just passed, and the pleasure of which she seemed to wish to enhance by making it a social one.

Speaking of a fear of strangers, and especially men, which Julia had, and which could be traced to a dread of her physician, who had applied painful blisters to various parts of her body during her illness, Mr. Gallaudet says:

When I saw her this fear had very considerably abated; ... she freely felt us, rubbing our hands with her own, which she afterwards applied to her nose, as if still retaining on them the peculiarity of our smell, which by this curious mode of transmission she seemed to acquire with wonderful accuracy. An experiment that we several times repeated furnished satisfactory evidence of this.

We put our watches into her hands. While doing it, she rubbed our hands with one of her own, which she immediately applied to her nose, in order to determine to whom the object belonged. Then she passed through her usual process of feeling and smelling the watches, with their appendages, and of soliciting her sister to do the same. After she appeared to be satisfied with doing this, each of us attempted to take from her the watch which did not belong to him. She invariably perceived the deception, would not suffer the wrong commutation, as she might deem it, to take place, but returned to each his own watch. . . . New clothes are highly gratifying to her. . . . She has sometimes a disposition for sport, particularly in the way of playing off tricks of youthful merriment on her brothers and sisters. . .

After detailing some incidents, Mr. Gallaudet expresses the opinion that a certain amount of instruction might be imparted to this unfortunate child -- claiming, however, much less important results than were actually attained when Julia came, a few years later, under his care in the school he established at Hartford. After having gained much useful knowledge in school, Julia Brace lived happily for many years in the institution at Hartford, performing certain duties in an exemplary manner, and enjoying the society of a circle of friends to whom she was warmly attached, and with whom she communicated with considerable facility through the medium of the language of signs. She never attained to any great proficiency in verbal language.

On the 12th of February, 1816, Mr. Gallaudet left Edinburgh for London, where he spent a couple of weeks before proceeding to Paris. It was during this stay in London that he made the acquaintance of Major-General Macaulay and his brother Zachary, the father of the great historian.

With Zachary Macaulay, who was then the editor of the Christian Observer, Mr. Gallaudet formed an intimate and valued friendship which was broken only by the death of Mr. Macaulay. Many long letters, on subjects of public, as well as private, interest passed between the two friends, one of which will be found at the end of this chapter.

Mr. Gallaudet arrived in Paris on the 9th of March. Within three days he was cordially received by the Abbe Sicard, then at the head of the Royal School for Deaf-Mutes, and offered every possible facility for the achievement of the object he had been vainly pursuing in Great Britain.

The benevolent Abbe permitted Mr. Gallaudet to have access to the several classes of the school, beginning with the lowest and proceeding in regular order through those of higher grade.

He also arranged that Mr. Gallaudet should have private lessons from his distinguished pupil and assistant Massieu.

For two months this work of training went diligently forward. On the 20th of May an important incident occurred, which is recorded as follows in Mr. Gallaudet's diary:

In a conversation had with Clerc this day he proposed going to America with me as an assistant, if the Abbe Sicard would give his consent. I think of addressing the Abbe on the subject.

Clerc was a young deaf-mute about his own age, who had been a favorite pupil of Sicard's, and was then teaching a class in the Paris institution. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, well versed in all Sicard's methods of instruction.

His proposal to accompany Mr. Gallaudet to America was most opportune, for the latter was beginning to feel somewhat impatient to return to his native land, and begin the work for which he had been so long endeavoring to prepare himself.

Mr. Gallaudet lost no time in seeking the Abbe's consent to part with Clerc, sending him the following letter within twenty-four hours after Clerc had offered to accompany him to America.

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TO THE REVEREND MR. THE ABBE SICARD:

Director of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, member of the National Institute of France, etc., etc.

REVEREND AND ESTEEMED SIR: -- On Sunday last I unexpectedly met an American friend, the commander of a vessel which is soon to sail for the United States, who very strongly solicits me to return with him to my native land. His request is seconded by another of my friends, who has been engaged in this city for twelve years past, in commercial transactions, and who expects to return to America in the same ship. The conveyance would be peculiarly convenient and agreeable to me. I suggested this circumstance to Mr. Clerc, at the same time expressing my fears that it would be quite out of my power to enjoy it, as I doubted whether I could be sufficiently qualified for my intended employment, the instruction of the deaf and dumb. I also observed, that could I procure some deaf-mute as an assistant, I should not hesitate to do it. Mr. Clerc, of his own accord, offered to go with me in this capacity. I told him I could not think of proposing any arrangement of this kind without first securing your approbation, and it is for this reason I now take the liberty of addressing you.

I am fully sensible, Reverend Sir, that in asking you to part with so faithful and valuable a pupil, I solicit, on your part, a great sacrifice; and I should have but little hope of succeeding in my request, were I not satisfied that the interests of humanity in the western world will plead strongly with you in my behalf. To these interests, in Europe, your life and genius have been devoted, and I can assure you the pleasure which I should feel in transmitting, from your hands, so great a blessing to my countrymen would only be equaled by their gratitude in receiving it. They are by no means ignorant of your justly acquired reputation, and could I thus commence the establishment in New England for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, under your auspices, the name of Sicard would be as dear to America as it now is to France.

My country is already under great obligations to you, Reverend Sir, for the very great kindness with which you have given me free access to the advantages of your important establishment, but how would those obligations be increased, could you consent to send Mr. Clerc with me, as an illustration of the wonders you have performed in redeeming the human mind from the darkness of ignorance, and in illuminating it with the rays of knowledge and virtue. In such a gift the world would see an illustrious proof that philosophy and humanity equally prevail in the breast of the Father of the Deaf and Dumb in France, and that his benevolence can surrender for the good of mankind what his genius has adorned with the most useful and endearing accomplishments.

Very unexpectedly, and in a manner quite unsolicited on my part, Mr. Clerc expressed his willingness to go with me should it meet with your approbation. Should you consent, Reverend Sir, to grant this approbation, I have no doubt that Mr. Clerc and myself could enter into arrangements which would be deemed advantageous for him, both by himself and friends. For the establishment which I hope to commence, having already excited considerable interest in New England, being under public and respectable patronage, and having a town for its intended situation which is less than two days journey from the large cities of Boston, New York, and Albany, will, I trust, if properly conducted, soon be in a flourishing condition.

I have taken the liberty, Reverend Sir, of expressing my thoughts in writing, for I thought I could do this with the most clearness and precision, and could you furnish me with your reply in the course of a day or two, I shall esteem it a great favor. I am, Reverend Sir, with sentiments of unfeigned respect,

Your very obedient servant,
THOMAS H. GALLAUDET.
PARIS, May 21, 1816.

The venerable Abbe, now nearly eighty years of age, hesitated at first from parting with his favored pupil and valued teacher, but not many days passed before the eloquent appeal of Mr. Gallaudet produced its effect and the consent of the Abbe was communicated in the following note:

J'ai repondu, ce matin, à neuf heures à mon cher eléve Clerc, et je lui donne mon approbation, avec des conditions qu'il vous communiquera. J'espere, monsieur, que vous serez content de moi. Je fais, avec plaisir, le sacrifice que vous m'avez demandé. Ce 27 mai, 1816.

L'ABBE SICARD.

Mr. Gallaudet felt himself justified, though not authorized in any way to bind the gentlemen under whose patronage he was in Europe, in entering into a contract with Mr. Clerc for three years. The provisions of this agreement were very advantageous to the young Frenchman, and he turned his face toward the New World under favoring conditions rarely accorded to men. He was called to bear an important and prominent part in a philanthropic work in a new country, being at the same time free from any considerable responsibility or anxiety for the undertaking; a handsome income was assured to him, with the privilege of returning to his native land after three years; and he went as the friend of the chief actor in this new enterprise.

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Having secured the services of Clerc, Mr. Gallaudet lost no time in returning to America.

Within three weeks, or as soon as Mr. Clerc could complete his arrangements for leaving home and friends, they sailed from Havre on the 18th of June.

The records of Mr. Gallaudet's stay in Paris show that he lived a life of intense activity during the fourteen weeks that he remained there.

The best hours of every available working day were devoted to the school-rooms of the institution for deaf-mutes. Private lessons from competent teachers supplemented these zealous labors. Time was found for numerous social engagements and some sight-seeing, and besides all this Mr. Gallaudet acted as pastor to an English speaking congregation, preaching no less than fifteen sermons, which were afterwards published in a volume.

A number of these sermons were prepared in Paris; and the entire collection, coming as it did from one with little previous experience as a preacher, received such high praise from the critics of the day as to call for more than a passing notice in this connection.

Mr. Gallaudet, in his dedicatory note to Mrs. Hannah More, with whom he had formed an intimate acquaintance while in England, speaks as follows of the sermons and the occasion of their delivery: (3)

Most of them were delivered while I was prosecuting in Paris, under the auspices of the venerable Abbe Sicard and his interesting pupil, Clerc, my present fellow-laborer, the object of qualifying myself to instruct an unfortunate and too long neglected portion of my countrymen, the deaf and dumb. Several of your Nation and my own, taught in their own lands to hallow the Sabbath of the Lord, felt a desire to do this in the splendid and voluptuous city where they had assembled, as their surest safeguard against its fascinating seductions, and, at the request of this little flock of strangers I became their temporary preacher in the Chapel of the Oratoire, to which we were kindly allowed access.

The volume, which was published in 1818, received warm commendation in America, but nowhere was it more highly approved than in England, in the columns of the Christian Observer, London, in July, 1818, two years before Sidney Smith flippantly inquired, "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?"

The Observer, after a long extract from the closing sermon, which was one delivered at the opening of the school for deaf-mutes in Hartford in 1817, says:

From the length of this quotation it may possibly be inferred that we consider the last discourse as the best in the collection; and perhaps, at the moment in which we are writing these lines, there may be some justice in the remark, so far, at least, as regards the touching eloquence of the composition. But in truth a similar kind of impression has accompanied us in the perusal of almost every sermon in the volume. It is impossible to read one of them, without perceiving the deep seriousness of the writer, and the elevated character of his mind. His subjects are of high importance; and he appears to be capable of adorning any subject which falls within the range of his Christian ministrations. His views are scriptural and correct; his imagination lively, but under due control; his language, at all times, or with very rare and trifling exceptions, perspicuous, elegant and chaste, and often remarkable for its vivid and glowing eloquence; and the arrangement of his materials is so easy and natural, that every thing seems to have fallen without effort into its proper place. Many of his subjects are common, but he has the art of throwing over them an air of novelty; and while we consent implicitly to every statement as he proceeds, we do it with the sort of pleasure experienced by a traveler in passing on a road with which he was formerly acquainted, but the beauties of which he does not recollect to have sufficiently observed. He remembers the great features of the country around him, but there is a certain freshness in the air, or a luxuriance of vegetation, or a general liveliness in the landscape, which had hitherto in some way escaped him; and he is glad to dwell upon ancient recollections, with so many circumstances of additional interest and unexpected gratification.

It is, further, the uniform tendency of these discourses to invest Christianity with an amiable and dignified character. We feel that there is something ennobling in religion, and are almost compelled to love and to admire it. Some of the topics of inquiry would lead many preachers into the thorny paths of controversial disputation; but the mind of Mr. Gallaudet is of too high an order to be thus beguiled. He appears to have drunk of the pure streams of Christianity -- pure as they flow from the fountain of holy truth -- and the words which he speaks are words of truth and soberness. If his views be elevated, his religion is also practical; and few intelligent persons can peruse these discourses without perceiving both the reasonableness and the excellence of the principles which they inculcate. We venture in conclusion, to recommend them as admirable specimens of compositions for the pulpit -- equally remote from coldness and enthusiasm; animated, interesting, and judicious. And many as are the valuable sermons produced by the divines of our own country, we shall rejoice to be frequently favored by such importations from America.

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The following letters, selected from among a great number, must serve as illustrations of the correspondence which grew out of Mr. Gallaudet's stay in Great Britain.

Letter from Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D.

GLASGOW, March 2, 1817.

MY DEAR SIR: -- I beg leave to transmit for your acceptance a volume of sermons published by me within these few days. I received all the pamphlets about the Peace Society, and also your volume of sermons. I am compelled to say that I have, as yet, been able to look very little into either of them. I am glad to understand that your volume has been very favorably noticed in the Observer. But really for myself, I am so excessively engrossed, and I am so miserably in arrears, both with unread books, and unanswered letters, that I must for some time store it unread. I have been sadly pressed to take an active part in the business of a Peace Society established here. This I can not do, and all that I can possibly afford in behalf of this object, is my testimony in its favor.

I had, not many weeks ago, an application from Mr. Farquhar Gordon, of Edinburgh, for your sermon and report on the subject of the deaf and dumb. He had not seen them at that time. And I have, since I sent them, had another letter in which he fully exculpates you. I have learned that he was the author of the article against you in the Instructor, though I do not think that it is at all in harmony with the temper and principles of the man.

I cordially acquiesce in all you say about the dangers of conformity. I at one time thought that much would be done to conciliate the support of worldly men to the good cause, could its accommodation to the interests of civil society be cunningly held out to them. I am now far less sanguine of any good from their co-operation, and am veering toward the opinion, that the more broadly the aspect of peculiarity and separation is flashed upon the public eye, so much the better. Let us not partition this matter, or give countenance to the doctrine that there is any compatibility between the spirit of the Gospel and the spirit of natural and unconverted men. At the same time I rejoice in the belief, that Christianity is making progress; -- that evangelical statements are more tolerated by the public at large, and are entering with demonstration and power into a great number of individual hearts; that the national impulse at present is on the side of religious education; and that amid the conflict and operation of all the elements of darkness, there is an element of grace, working and growing and making such progress, as will at length subordinate and, like the rod of Aaron, swallow up all the others.

It is my earnest prayer, in your behalf, that as you have experienced the fulfillment of the one saying, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation,' so you may experience the fulfillment of the other, 'that in Christ ye shall have peace.' May this peace rest in your heart, and the world will not take it away. Do, my dear sir, pray for the entire simplification of your aim. 'Let your eye be single, and your whole body shall be full of light.' Oh, at what a distance do I feel from the principle of doing all things for the glory of God, and in the name of Jesus.

Your observations respecting the philosophy of mind, as illustrable by the phenomena of education in your seminary, are highly striking and just. And this suggests to me the mention of a work just now published by Thomas Brown, professor of moral philosophy, Edinburgh, on "Cause and Effect." I used to admire his former pamphlet on this subject, and I am prepared to expect a very profound and accurate exposition of this subtle and interesting argument. I have just begun to read it, and I think you will like it, not merely as a characteristic of, but highly creditable to the Scottish metaphysical school.

I am, very dear sir, yours most truly,
THOMAS CHALMERS.

Letter From Mistress Hannah More.

BARLEY WOOD, NEAR BRISTOL,
28th April, 1818.

REV. AND DEAR SIR: -- I would not return you my thanks for your kind letter and very valuable volume, till I had nearly finished your admirable sermons. You are not one of that numerous class of authors whom it is prudent and safe to thank for their books before one has looked into them, as the only way of preserving both one's veracity and good breeding. I declare my judgment is not bribed by your too flattering and most undeserved dedication, when I assure you I think "The Discourses" are of a very superior cast. Though deeply serious they are perfectly uninfected with any tincture of the errors of a certain new school in theology. Your style and manner are in thorough good taste, a garb in which I delight to see sound divinity arrayed. By the blessing of God, I trust they will do much good. The circumstances, too, under which they were delivered, as well as the place, make them still more interesting to the reader. I was going to point out to you the sermons with which I was particularly pleased; but I found the recapitulation would be almost universal. I would not except any. I was charmed and deeply affected with the sweet letter of my dear little dumb correspondent. -Alice Cogswell.- What heart-felt joy, dear sir, must it afford you to have been the honored instrument of rescuing this, and so many other forlorn little creatures, from a state of almost nonentity! "Inasmuch, as ye have done it to one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me," says our divine Master.

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I have taken the liberty to convey to your hands, through Mr. Macaulay, a ten-pound bank note, as a small token of my admiration of your admirable institution, to be disposed of in such a way as your judgment shall direct for its benefit.

Adieu, my dear sir. May it please Him without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, nothing is successful, to shower down His blessings on you, and on the great work you have, by so much labor, such perilous voyages, and such great difficulties, accomplished; and may many of your pupils thank you in Heaven for having been the favored instrument of bringing them thither.

I remain with sincere esteem,
Your very faithful and obliged,
H. MORE.

Letter from Zachary Macaulay, Esq.

LONDON, 7th November, 1818.

MY DEAR SIR: -- I immediately forwarded your letter to Miss More. I have not heard from her since -- indeed, there has scarcely been time: but I can not doubt that she will readily accede to your wish of having her likeness to adorn the library commenced by her donation. She has, of late, been suffering from severe attacks of illness, which have produced a considerable prostration of her strength; but her mind, amidst the infirmities of sickness and age, retains all its pristine vigor, and she labors to employ her remaining hours in elevating the views and aims of all around her, from earth to heaven.

The luminous account you gave me of the superiority of the French mode of instructing the deaf and dumb over the English, you will already have seen in the pages of the Christian Observer.

I should have been glad to have seen the specimen of American typography which you have sent me; but it was conveyed to me through the post-office, with a charge of £4 5s. on the cover. I have hesitated to pay this and the packet is still unopened. Whatever is put up in the form of a letter, if it comes by the packet, pays the full packet postage of 8s. 8d. per oz., and if by a merchant ship, half the packet postage, besides the inland postage. I have, of late, had many such parcels addressed me from America, which I have been obliged to decline receiving, on account of the enormous expense attending them. Some of my American friends also choose to address their letters to me by name, as editor of the C. O. This alone forms a reason against my receiving them. It would be a formal acknowledgment of a fact, which I have never acknowledged except to some private friends, and which, indeed, is not known at all to vast multitudes in this country, and only surmised even by the religious world generally.

I thank you for your kind inquiries respecting my son Thomas Babington. He is now in good health, and prosecuting his studies with ardor at the University of Cambridge. God has been pleased to endow him with very considerable powers of mind, and with a very strong desire for knowledge. My prayer -- and indeed I am thankful to say, my hope is that they may be sanctified and made subservient to His glory.

. . . . I have, of late, been much occupied with the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle. You will wonder at this. But the slave trade was my object. I have strong hopes that something effectual may be done, before the sovereigns separate, for that cause. I framed an address on the subject, which was put into their hands, and has been well received. The Emperor of Russia read it, he said, with the most entire satisfaction. He perfectly approved of the proposal to make slave trading piracy, and would do all in his power to effect this object. He gave copies of the address, with his own hand, to the kings and ministers assembled. "It was not to be endured," he said, "that Portugal should continue to resist the united wishes of Europe, by retaining the trade for a single day after other nations had abandoned it. As for the miscreants who should continue it, after it had been universally reprobated, their only proper designation and punishment were those of pirates. I take shame to myself," he added, "before God, that we should have left this great work unfinished at Vienna. I now see that we were guilty of a great and criminal omission, which must not be repeated. When I consider what I owe to the kindness of Providence in rescuing me and my people from the hand of the oppressor, I should be the most ungrateful of men if I did not labor, with all my might, to liberate those who groan under a worse oppression, and especially our wretched fellow-creatures in Africa." This was said to a friend. Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington are cordially co-operating with him.

The emperor spoke to the same friend, on the subject of the Peace Societies. He said "he could disapprove of no society which had for its object to hasten the happy time, which he firmly believed would come, when nations should have war no more. The great thing to be done, however, was rather to cure the passions which lead to war, than to declaim against war itself. He hoped to be able to induce the governments of Europe to concur in some plan of arbitrating their differences, which might supersede an appeal to arms; it was impossible, however, to effect this suddenly."

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In thinking over the utility of Peace Societies, both here and in America, it occurred to me that there was a way in which they might be infinitely more beneficially employed, than in publishing general declamations against war and its evils. If our Peace Societies would take pains to correct all the misrepresentations and exaggerations respecting the state of feeling towards us in America, and to produce kindly feelings towards her, by exhibiting the various circumstances of a favorable kind, which might be noticed; and if your Peace Societies were to pursue a similar conduct, with respect to this country, I can have no question it would do more to preserve peace, and prevent war between the two countries, than all the general reasoning on the subject of war they either have employed or can employ. This would be a practical and practicable object. The pursuit of it would prove the sincerity of their professions and the strength of their principles; and I think would make them popular in both countries.

Mrs. Macaulay and my brother, the general, who is now with us, unite in every kind wish, and in all assurance of esteem and regard, with, my dear sir,

Yours, very sincerely,
ZACHARY MACAULAY.

CHAPTER IV.
1816-23.

Return to America -- Efforts to Interest the Public in the Education of the Deaf -- Public Addresses in Many Cities -- Organization and Opening of the School at Hartford -- Favorable Action of State and National Legislatures -- Munificent Grant of Land from Congress -- Erection and Dedication of Permanent Buildings for the Institution -- Rapid Increase of Number of Pupils -- Difficulties in Management -- Attempt in the Board of Directors to Remove Mr. Gallaudet from Office.

EAGER as Mr. Gallaudet was to commence in America the work to which he had devoted himself with such enthusiasm, he was destined to experience, a trial of his patience on the homeward voyage. Calms and head-winds hindered the progress of his vessel, and fifty-one days passed after leaving Havre before he landed in New York. These days, however, were not wasted, for they afforded an excellent opportunity for him to perfect himself in the art of deaf-mute instruction with the aid of his assistant Clerc, and gave the latter time to improve his knowledge of the English language, which was slight when he left France. Mr. Gallaudet landed in New York on the 9th of August, 1816, and spent some days in that city, reaching Hartford on the 22d of the same month, having been absent on his mission a little more than fifteen months. The interest manifested, everywhere, in Mr. Gallaudet's undertaking was, naturally, very great; for it must be remembered that in 1816 no public charitable institutions of any sort, except a small hospital for the insane in Virginia, existed in our country; unless, indeed, alms-houses could be spoken of as such.

The following letter from Nathaniel F. Moore, a professor in Columbia College and later its president, to Rev. John McVickar, for more than half a century a professor in the same institution, written within a fortnight after Mr. Gallaudet's arrival in New York, gives a graphic picture of the attention shown to him and his companion.

NEW YORK, August 21, 1816.

MY DEAR SIR: -- Knowing the interest you take in the subject, I have procured for you from Mr. Gallaudet a report published by the Edinburgh Institution for the Education of the Deaf and the Dumb, containing some specimens of their composition; and I also send you a minute of the conversation we had day before yesterday with Mr. Clerc, the deaf and dumb companion of Mr. Gallaudet. This gentleman, you know, was sent abroad by the Connecticut institution that he might qualify himself to take charge of a school to be established at Hartford. He had not intended to return so soon, but this Mr. Clerc, who was seven years a pupil of the Abbe Sicard and eight years more a teacher in his institution, and who when Mr. Gallaudet became acquainted with him had charge of the highest class, having offered to accompany him, he thought it quite unnecessary to wait any longer, considering Mr. Clerc as capable of forming either the teachers or the pupils of the institution here as the Abbe Sicard himself would be.

Mr. Clerc does not speak except by signs, by means of which we saw him and Mr. Gallaudet communicate with each other as expeditiously, almost, as we could do by words. With strangers he converses by writing. Mr. Gallaudet says that Mr. Clerc knew very little of English before they embarked together. You may judge yourself of his progress in it. My father saw him several days ago at the house of Mr. Gallaudet's father, and wrote upon a slate, "I hope you are pleased with New York." He wrote in reply, "Yes -- so well that soon I shall not regret France." When he called the day before yesterday with Mr. Gallaudet to return my father's visit my father wrote, "I hope you continue to be pleased with this country." He wrote, "Yes -- better and better," and before my father could read his answer he reached out his hand for the slate and added: -- "I meet with a good reception everywhere, and the kindest attentions are shown me." I wrote -- "We are surprised at your progress in English, your method of learning must have something peculiar in it, or your industry must be very great." He wrote: -- "By dint of studying I have got some progress, but my friend, Mr. Gallaudet, has been my best methodic." Before I had time to read his answer, he asked Mr. Gallaudet by signs whether he had not committed an error in the last word, and being told he had, he stepped up to me and rubbed out the two last letters. I wrote: -- "It is no wonder that you make mistakes, but that you make so few of them." He wrote in reply: -- "Ah, I make many mistakes, and very often, I assure you." When I read this he reached his hand for the slate and wrote: -- "Before having seen me, and being informed that I was deaf and dumb, did you know there were deaf and dumb? What idea had you of them? Did you think them unhappy or did you think their situation could be alleviated by learning to read and write?" I replied that "We had heard a great deal in this country respecting the Abbe Sicard and his predecessor, and we took great interest in the deaf and dumb, and consequently knew that their situation might be alleviated." He wrote: -- "I thank you for it, and the interest you express for us poor unfortunates."

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Sarah, at Mr. Gallaudet's request, entered into a French correspondence with him by writing: -- "C'est etonnaut que vous ecrivez si bien l'anglois, je serois bien contente de pouvoir ecrire le francois aussi bien." The sight of his own language seemed, as Mr. Gallaudet said it would, to please him very much, and he wrote: --

"J'etois agreablement surpris, vous ecrivez tres bien le francois, et je crois qu'un peu plus agee, vous l'ecrivez encore mieux." We had more conversation, both French and English, which was transcribed by Sarah, or written down from recollection by me immediately after, but as my epistle has already run out to a great length, I must suppress a part of it. I am not afraid of having tired you, because I am sure you will be, as we all are, very much interested in this poor unfortunate, as he calls himself; though he has, as I told him, almost lost all claim to that name. I have not been able to learn how abstract ideas are communicated to the deaf and dumb, but as an example of the justness of their notions I give you the following definition of virtue which Mr. Clerc wrote down verbatim and literatim, as you have it below, on my father's asking him what idea he had of virtue: -- "It is the disposition or habit of the soul to do good, to avoid evil, and to observe what divine and human laws order and what reason dictates."

I think the Connecticut institution will open under the most favorable auspices -- the talents and experience of Mr. Clerc, and the great progress Mr. Gallaudet had made even before his late visit to Europe authorize very sanguine expectations of the success of their joint exertions.

Believe me, with sincere respect and esteem, Yours,
NATHANIEL F. MOORE.
The REV. JOHN McVlCKAR, Hyde Park, N. Y.

While Mr. Gallaudet was still in Europe, his supporters and the friends of the deaf in Hartford were not idle. They secured an act of incorporation from the Legislature of Connecticut for the new institution in May, 1816, and raised a considerable sum of money by private subscription, not, however, enough to warrant the opening of the school. The solicitation of funds, therefore, became Mr. Gallaudet's first work. In October, 1816, the Legislature of Connecticut granted five thousand dollars in aid of the enterprise, which is believed to have been the first appropriation of public money made in America in behalf of a benevolent institution. In New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, and a number of smaller towns, the cause of the deaf was successfully urged by its young and zealous apostle. He enlisted the generous support of such men as Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey; Stephen Van Rennselaer, of Albany; Daniel Wadsworth, of Hartford; William Phillips, William Gray and Israel Thorndike, of Boston; and Robert Oliver, of Baltimore. Many donations of less amount followed the liberal subscriptions of these men, and before the opening of the new institution upwards of seventeen thousand dollars was secured.

Mr. Gallaudet's sagacity in bringing an educated deaf-mute from France was proved by the effect produced by young Clerc in their solicitations. His intelligence, and the fact of his being well educated, made it impossible for any one to question the feasibility of the work proposed to be done. And yet, strange as it may now seem, there were those who had declared, even from the sacred desk, that the proposal to educate the deaf was absurd, quixotic, involving a useless waste of money.

The records of the Board of Directors of the institution show that it was no easy task to effect its organization. These public spirited men were setting out on an untrodden path, at least in their own country, and it was difficult to obtain information from any source that might give them the experience of others.

It was thought desirable, since it was necessary to make the new institution a boarding-school, that a suitable person should be employed to take charge of the domestic department. In their search for such an officer the directors were for a number of months singularly unsuccessful, and so serious did this difficulty become, as the time for opening the school drew near, that a day was appointed by vote of the board on which the Divine assistance should be formally invoked. A special meeting of the directors was held toward the end of February, 1817, at which the several pastors of Hartford were invited to be present and conduct religious services. This occasion was in effect a solemn dedication of the new institution to the service and honor of the Almighty, and His especial blessing was asked on all its operations.

Soon after this meeting the organization of the institution was completed and public announcement was made that pupils would be received.

It was on the 15th of April, 1817, a date deserving to be commemorated as the birthday of organized philanthropic effort in America, that Mr. Gallaudet's heart was made glad by the actual opening of the school, for the establishment of which he had labored in the face of obstacles which would have seemed insurmountable to many men.

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It is not difficult, when his singleness of heart is remembered, and the devotedness of his self-sacrificing spirit, to imagine with what joy he must have contemplated the triumph of that day.

And yet, great as had been the burdens already borne, the difficulties overcome, labors far more severe were before him, happily unforeseen, the strain and stress of which his sensitive spirit and delicate frame were to endure ere his work for the deaf of America could be accomplished.

The devotion and self-sacrifice which he brought to the arduous duties he was now called upon to assume is well shown in the following extract from a letter addressed a fortnight earlier to the gentleman in whose hands the domestic management of the institution was to be placed:

And I do hold it to be our sacred duty, to do all in our power in our respective provinces to make the school flourish, although we should just get through the first year and save nothing, and have to complain of the want of generosity in the public or even in our directors.

It will be time and money and labor lent to the Lord and He will take care of us. Start then in your department upon a liberal, not an extravagant plan.

Go a little beyond what would be considered even a fair fulfillment of your engagements. To speak like a man of the world, I know if we make the institution respectable and flourishing during the first year, we shall have a power over the public and over the directors which is always the result of a man's proving himself to be worth something: and, my Christian brother, I want to prove, what you so forcibly suggested in one of your letters, and what men of business are not wont to believe, that a sense of responsibility to God and of devotion to the cause of Jesus Christ can lead men to nobler plans of conduct than all that is falsely called honor by this world.

Former biographers of Mr. Gallaudet have had little or nothing to say of the difficulties and annoyances that beset him from the outset of his career as the recognized head of the first public benevolent educational institution in America. They have pointed to the rapid development, ample endowment and firm establishment of the school, giving him due praise for his masterful management, and have stated the bare fact that after fourteen years of faithful service he was compelled on account of failing health to resign his office as principal.

In undertaking to give, more fully, the story of his labors while at the head of the school of which he was the founder, the writer begs to disclaim all desire to criticize -sic- or condemn the actions, and far less the motives of others who had to do with the management of the institution. He is willing to believe they acted always from convictions of duty -- that they had the interests of the institution at heart, that they meant no injustice to any one. They were novices in their work -- they were men of varying degrees of ability -- and for their errors of judgment the writer bespeaks the charity of the reader as he begins a narrative which in the light of to-day will seem astounding and even, perhaps, incredible.

In Mr. Gallaudet's diary the following entry appears under date of Sunday, January 25, 1818.

During the time which has elapsed since the opening of the school -ten months- I have had to encounter great trials. Now I am quite exhausted in health and strength. Oh! that God would appear for me, and make haste to help me. If I know my own heart I long for but one kind of happiness, that of zealous and cheerful activity in doing good. I have of late begun to ponder a good deal on the difficulty of my continuing to be the principal of such an establishment as this with which I am now connected will probably be. Most gladly would I hail as my superior here and as the head of the institution some one of acknowledged piety and talents and of more force of character than myself. Alas, how is my energy gone! How I shrink from difficulties! Oh! Almighty God, in thy wise providence thou hast placed me in my present situation. -- Thou seest my heart -- Thou knowest my desire is to be devoted to thy service and to be made the instrument of training up the deaf and dumb for heaven. Oh! turn not a deaf ear to my request. Oh! raise me from this bodily and intellectual and religious lethargy which has now so long prostrated all the energies and deadened the affections of my soul! Oh! show me clearly the path of duty, and teach me submission to thy holy will -- more self-denial and humility -- more patience and perseverance.

Thus did an over-burdened, fainting man, cry out in self-condemnation and self-distrust, laying on himself blame that belonged, if there was blame, elsewhere. With more of daily labor, hourly care, ever present sense of responsibility, oft recurring worry, frequent annoyance and opposition where cordial cooperation was to have been expected, all of which combined to form a burden too heavy for the strongest man to carry, this invalid with a heart of gold and a soul of steel, patient and persevering in the extreme, self-denying and humble to a fault, wrote himself down incapable, proud, impatient and negligent of duty, allowing his conscience to castigate his upright spirit when he was merely suffering from an entirely natural and inevitable attack of nervous prostration.

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From the time he assumed charge of the institution Mr. Gallaudet's duty was to give six hours daily to the teaching of a class that had no other instructor: he was expected to receive those, and they were many, who desired to visit the school: he maintained a large correspondence with the relatives and friends of pupils: he arranged and conducted exhibitions of pupils for the purpose of enlisting the interest of legislatures and the public in the institution: though not understood to have charge of the domestic concerns of the school he had more trouble with them than would have been the case had he been clothed with proper authority to manage them: it was necessary that he should take time needed for rest to train new teachers for their work: he gave up days of his vacation for the preparation of Annual Reports to which the name of the Clerk of the Board of Directors, and not his own, was appended: he was appointed by vote of the directors to membership on some of their committees and asked to attend and give advice at the meetings of the board, and then was called intrusive and impertinent by members of the board because he had complied with such requests.

Ample evidence of these facts is in the hands of the writer, to give all of which would unnecessarily burden these pages.

Two quotations from letters to the directors will suffice.

On the 4th of September, 1817, less than five months after the opening of the school, Mr. Gallaudet addressed a long communication to the board in reference to the management of the domestic affairs of the institution. These had been placed under the control of a gentleman and his wife who were supposed to be competent and trustworthy. This not proving to be the case, abuses were reported to Mr. Gallaudet, who felt compelled to interfere in behalf of those who had suffered.

Mr. -- -- -- , says Mr. Gallaudet to the directors, is bound by his contract to take care of the pupils on the Sabbath. Commodious seats in church were provided for them by the committee; but Mr. and Mrs. -- -- -- -- absolutely declined sitting with them. The care of them has, of course, devolved on some of the directors and the principal, who will continue cheerfully to accompany them to church on one condition, that Mr. -- -- -- -- be made explicitly to understand that in this particular, he is to exercise no control over them, and especially, that he is not in the face of the whole congregation to make signs of rebuke at them, thus situated under the care of the principal, very much, as has often been the case, to the mortification of the elder pupils, especially the young ladies.

I am told by my friend and fellow laborer -Mr. Clerc- that he is sometimes neglected in the gratification of so simple a want as that of a piece of white bread, and that when the mistress of the family, who is well acquainted with his wishes in this respect, makes not provision to have them always gratified, and when he has asked the servant for so small a favor and been told that "the house can not furnish it," with his accustomed good nature he has contented himself with a draught of milk alone.

After speaking of many other complaints, which he feels are well grounded, Mr. Gallaudet concludes as follows:

I would beg leave, respectfully, to inquire whether the principal of the institution is not entitled to some kind of authority within its walls; whether the pupils are to regard him as quite on a level, out of the school room, with themselves; or whether he is to have the right of interposition or control, should he see the pupils ill-treated, their conduct and language, as it has often been, very much misapprehended, and themselves incapable of understanding the signs which are awkwardly and vehemently made to them? Are they to feel themselves destitute of redress in case of grievances; of an interpreter in case of a mistake; of a friend in case of abuse? These things are suggested not, I hope, from feelings of wounded pride, as has been most ungenerously attributed to me, nor from a wish to exercise authority, which is by no means, to me at least, a pleasant task, but from the conviction, and surely it is a sober one, that the usefulness of that man is soon at an end, who, filling a public station of responsibility, and called to form the minds and conduct the education of those who look up to him as their teacher and guide, suffers the loss of that respect without the enjoyment of which both himself and his office must soon become contemptible.

The other communication to the board is so short that it may be given entire:

March 18, 1818.
To THE DIRECTORS ETC., GENTLEMEN:

When your board first began to hold its meetings, I felt reluctant to attend them, and I did not until I was told by many gentlemen that my attendance would be very acceptable. I was even urged to go on the ground of my having been sent abroad on purpose to collect that information and experience, the knowledge of which might prove highly useful to the directors in their deliberations. 'You will be wanted as our chaplain,' was said to me, 'and you must be on committees for the transaction of business, which committees will have to report to the directors, and your presence therefore, so far from indicating any thing like intrusion, is really made necessary by the fact of your being placed on these committees. I, of course, began habitually to attend the meetings of the board, and to express my opinions on subjects relating to the welfare of the institution. Instances have occurred when I have hesitated about giving my opinion and have been told that no apology was necessary, but to express my mind freely. It was with feelings of surprise, therefore, that I have heard it suggested that my attendance at the meetings of this board has, in some instances, I know not by how many of the members, been deemed incorrect. Whatever rights may be supposed to belong to the principal of an establishment like this with regard to his attendance on the meetings of the directors, whatever value may be attached to his opinions on subjects touching the interests of the school, how great ought to be the confidence placed in one, or how much the indulgence, if indeed it deserve this name, shown him, who has been a laborious servant of the deaf and dumb -- how far an invitation to this effect has virtually been given by placing him on several committees -- these are considerations, gentlemen, which I would not wish to urge for one moment. After being invited and solicited to attend the meetings of this board, I retire from them, only requesting at the same time that the directors would please to express an opinion on this subject and to inform me what their views are with regard to the propriety of attending their meetings, a thing which I did not at first solicit and which I have not the least wish to repeat should it be unacceptable to this respectable board.

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I am, etc.

The embarrassment as to Mr. Gallaudet's attending meetings of the directors was happily relieved some months later by the contribution of one hundred dollars from a friend in Baltimore, whose name was not disclosed, for the purpose of making him a member of the board for life. And his unfailing modesty appears in his unwillingness to accept even this solution of the difficulty, until the directors had by a formal vote declared that they saw no impropriety in his becoming a director while holding the office of principal.

It must be said in this connection that Mr. Gallaudet's distrust of his own ability, and indisposition to assume and exercise authority which was not definitely conferred upon him, proceeding no doubt from his sincere modesty and his strict sense of justice, had the effect on certain occasions to impair his efficiency, and oftener to add greatly to his cares and worries.

The directors apparently failed to understand Mr. Gallaudet in this matter. When he hesitated as to his ability and showed a disinclination to accept power, they would take him at his own estimate, providing for the government of the institution in ways that were ineffective and cumbersome, and which were sure to end unfortunately, as they did.

A clearer discernment on the part of the directors of Mr. Gallaudet's ability to manage the institution, in all its departments, would have led them to give him full powers -- an arrangement which would certainly have saved a vast amount of exhausting friction on all sides.

But this clearer vision did not come to the directors, nor did Mr. Gallaudet ask for those broad powers which naturally belonged to his office. As a consequence the fourteen years in which he continued to act as principal of the institution were full of exasperating difficulties growing out of the mistaken policy of the board as to the method of government.

In July, 1818, the directors adopted a series of regulations recognizing the existence, defining the powers, and prescribing the duties of a Faculty, consisting of the Principal, the assistant Teachers and the Superintendent."

In certain matters the faculty were to act by vote, the members having equal power. Certain duties were assigned to the principal, and he was to perform them without interference from the faculty or the superintendent. Certain other duties were given to this last named officer, who was, so far as they were concerned, made equally independent.

Under such a divided organization the wonder is, not that there were serious difficulties and an utter lack of harmonious management, but that the institution was not overwhelmed with disaster and left to break down by its discouraged and handicapped nominal head.

The writer believes he is not awarding undue praise when he claims that few men could be found who would have shown the tact, forbearance, boundless patience and supreme charity in all judgments of associates that was ever exhibited by Mr. Gallaudet while he continued to hold the office of principal.

Evidences of the unwisdom of the "Faculty" organization abound in Mr. Gallaudet's papers.

A few months after the adoption of the regulations described above, which made the assistant teachers of equal authority in the faculty with the principal, Mr. Gallaudet received a note from one of these teachers, Mr. Clerc, in which he expressed his purpose to return to France, at least for a time. Mr. Clerc concludes as follows: --

Tell me frankly if you desire me to return to the United States, and if so, how many years do you wish me to stay? Do not say forever, for I am not willing to do it. Tell me likewise if you would have any objection to my having a salary larger than your own?

Mr. Gallaudet responds:

In reply to your note of this morning I tell you frankly that it is the first and most ardent desire of my heart that you would not go to France at all, and that if you must go you would return as soon as possible. It is indeed my earnest prayer that we may continue to labor together in doing good to the dear immortal souls by whom we are surrounded. If you can not conclude to spend your days with us, can not you engage after your return to stay five or six years? I do not urge this point. I would rather have you return to stay only two or three years than not to return at all. With regard to my salary, while I remain single, I shall be perfectly satisfied with my present income, unless some very unexpected change in the affairs of the institution by the liberal increase of its funds should make it convenient for the directors to increase it without injury to the institution. Nor shall I feel at all disappointed if your salary is made to exceed mine.

Strange as it may now seem, the suggestion of Mr. Clerc as to salary was, at a later period, acted upon favorably by the directors, and more astonishing yet, other instructors, whose services were considered of less value to the school than those of Mr. Clerc, received for years salaries larger than Mr. Gallaudet's.

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In spite of these annoying experiences, the affairs of the new institution moved on in a full current of prosperity.

In the winter of 1818 it was thought best to solicit the aid of Congress and it was proposed that the principal should visit Washington for the purpose of pleading the cause of deaf-mute education at the capital. Mr. Gallaudet felt that the appearance of an educated person of the class for which aid was to be sought would have great effect, and advised, quite unselfishly, that Mr. Clerc go in his place: since they could not both be absent at the same time.

This advice was followed and the influence exerted by Mr. Clerc at Washington was such as to secure the hearty co-operation of many prominent men. A year later an earnest and formal appeal for aid was presented to Congress through the representatives from Connecticut, Hon. Nathaniel Terry, Hon. Thomas S. Williams and Hon. Timothy Pitkin. This movement was warmly supported by many philanthropic members in both branches of Congress, prominent among whom was Hon. Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House. An act was speedily passed appropriating a township of wild land, more than twenty-three thousand acres, from the sale of which an endowment for the institution was ultimately realized amounting to more than three hundred thousand dollars.

Following closely upon this favorable action of Congress came the permanent establishment of the school in buildings and grounds of its own, which were ready for occupancy early in 1821. On the 22d of May in that year dedicatory services were held in the new building, Mr. Gallaudet preaching a sermon from 2 Corinthians v: i: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

This sermon, and the dedicatory prayer which followed it, are remarkable for the intense spirit of dependence and devotion to God which pervade them, and they illustrate in what rare proportions the highly spiritual and thoroughly practical were blended in the mind of their author.

We see before us, he says, a little group of our fellow-beings, who are called in the mysterious providence of God to endure affliction. This affliction may become comparatively light to them, and as it were, enduring but a moment, could it be made instrumental of working out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

They are just introduced into an earthly house well calculated for their accommodation, but it becomes both them and all of us, who feel interested in their welfare, to keep constantly in mind, that this goodly edifice, with its various sources of instruction and improvement, is one of the things which, though seen perhaps with grateful satisfaction, is still temporal, the worldly advantages may prove uncertain and must be transitory, and at which, therefore, we ought not to look with any sense of strong and undue attachment, but rather, raise the eye of our faith, and persuade these sufferers to do likewise, to a better home, to that building of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. When I say the worldly advantages of this institution may prove uncertain, do not understand me as wishing to disparage their true importance and value. To do this would be alike unwise and ungrateful. It would be unwise; for godliness hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come, and it is only a misguided enthusiasm which can aim to prepare youth for a better world, without, at the same time, training them up to a faithful discharge of all their duties in this. It would be ungrateful; for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving; and we might as well close our eyes to the budding beauties of this season, which the kind Author of nature is now unfolding to our view, as to shut our hearts against that general aspect of convenience, and that prospect of future comfort to the deaf and dumb, which the same Giver of every good and perfect gift deigns to shed over the establishment which we wish this day to dedicate to Him. But the brightest hopes of spring sometimes fall before an untimely frost, and human establishments of the fairest promise have often been so perverted from their original design as to become the nurseries of error, or so conducted in their progress as to promote the views of personal interest, or so decked out with the pomp and circumstance of greatness, as to serve rather for the ornaments with which ambition would love to decorate itself, than as the plain and useful instruments which the hand of unostentatious charity would employ to dispense our simple and substantial benefits to the suffering objects of her care. Believe me, these are the rocks on which this institution may be ship-wrecked. Its very prosperity should serve as the beacon of its danger.

The following is the key-note of the dedicatory prayer:

Almighty and most merciful God, in behalf of those whom thou hast called in thy Providence to direct and govern its concerns, we do now dedicate this whole institution to thee; to thee in all its departments of intellectual, moral and religious instruction; to thee in all its privileges of worship, prayer and praise; to thee in all its domestic regulations, and various means of comfort and usefulness; to thee with all its benefits both spiritual and temporal, beseeching thee to accept the offering and to make it subservient to the promotion of thy glory, to the honor of thy son Jesus Christ, and to the building up of His kingdom in the hearts of all who have been, who now are, or who may be the objects of its care.

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No sooner was the school for the deaf in Hartford suitably housed, than Mr. Gallaudet began to labor for the extension of its benefits. Pupils from several of the New England States, besides Connecticut, had been admitted on the payment of their expenses by their friends, but up to this time public provision for the poor was lacking. Mr. Gallaudet visited the capitals of the several New England States, exhibiting to the legislatures the happy results attained with many of his pupils. He delivered on numerous occasions a sermon from the text, "But as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see; and they that have not heard, shall understand." Romans xv: 21.

So eloquent and effective were these appeals that within a short time grants of money were made by all the New England legislatures for the education of the deaf, and the number of pupils rose soon after the completion of permanent buildings to one hundred and twenty-eight.

In the midst of all this prosperity and while Mr. Gallaudet was working far beyond the limit of his physical ability, a tempest rose about him that few men would have had the courage or the discretion to outride.

It was the natural outcome of the system, unwisely adopted by the Board of Directors, of placing the institution under the charge of two men, neither one controlled by the other.

The superintendent, to whom was committed the domestic management of the establishment, was jealous of the prominence and importance attaching to the office of principal -- he being the nominal head of the institution, though not controlling the superintendent, as he ought to have been allowed to do.

Under such an arrangement friction was inevitable; and so serious did this become that a movement was made in the board to secure the removal of the superintendent.

No evidence appears that Mr. Gallaudet took any part in this effort, but the "other head of the institution," as he sometimes styled himself, believed it to have been inspired by him, and took such active measures in retaliation, that when on the 15th of September, 1823, the directors voted to discharge the superintendent, a resolution was introduced "That the Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, the principal, be requested to resign his place." Action was deferred until the next meeting of the board and Mr. Gallaudet was informed that such a measure was pending.

The excitement among those interested in the institution was most intense during the next forty-eight hours. So far as can now be ascertained Mr. Gallaudet made no effort to prevent the adoption of the resolution requesting his resignation. Indeed, there is good reason for believing that he was disposed to resign and step out from under the heavy and unreasonable burdens which had been heaped upon him, without waiting for the possible passage of the hostile resolution. But those who knew best how valuable his services were to the cause of which he had been thus far the leader, would not listen to a suggestion of his retirement.

On the 17th of September a meeting of the directors was held at Morgan's Hotel, on State Street, to take final action on the pending resolution.

Twenty directors were present and the meeting continued for several hours.

The assistant instructors, five in number, had signed a paper resigning their positions and had placed this in the hands of the clerk of the board, with the understanding that it was to be presented at once in the event of the adoption of the resolution asking for the resignation of the principal. These teachers were at the hotel in a room adjoining the one occupied by the board. Communication between them and the directors was frequent during the progress of the meeting.

The attitude of the teachers was regarded by many of the directors as an unwarrantable attempt at coercion and resented accordingly. Passion rather than reason controlled the minds of many, and the resolution failed only by a tie vote, most of those who voted for it being regarded as warm personal friends of Mr. Gallaudet up to that time.

No stronger evidence of a willingness to sacrifice personal feelings to a sense of duty could be found than in Mr. Gallaudet's action under the circumstances. His desire was to resign at once. He felt himself wounded in the house of his friends. His pride could ill brook the idea of retaining a position that ten out of twenty of his associates on the board had asked him to vacate. He had made a brilliant record. His name was sure to stand in history as the founder of a great philanthropic enterprise. He had been underpaid and overworked. He could have risen easily and quickly to eminence in the profession of his early choice, which he had relinquished for the cause of the deaf. But he was made to feel that his work for the children of silence was not yet completed. Those who reasoned calmly urged with justice that his retirement would inflict an almost fatal blow on the young institution; that no one could be found who was competent to fill his place; that having outlived the storm he must keep his hand on the helm until all the angry elements were at rest. These counsels prevailed and Mr. Gallaudet kept on the even and laborious tenor of his way, holding back nothing of time nor strength from the work he loved until, indeed, as the sequel will speedily show, the drain upon his vitality became too great for even his self-sacrificing endurance.

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CHAPTER V.
1821.

Marriage to Sophia Fowler, One of the Earliest Pupils of the School -- Characteristic Letter written Two Days after the Wedding -- Description of Mrs. Gallaudet -- Happiness in the Married Life.

BEFORE concluding the story of Mr. Gallaudet's active labors as principal of the school for the deaf at Hartford, an interesting event must be spoken of which exercised a most important influence over his life.

The laws of romance would have made Alice Cogswell his wife in due time. But she was not twelve years of age when she became regularly his pupil, while he was thirty.

And besides, there was among his earliest scholars "a rare and radiant maiden" just on the threshold of womanhood, whose unusual attractiveness turned other heads and touched other hearts than her teacher's. One who knew her only in the last years of her long life, but who gave her that loving homage which none could withhold who ever came within the circle of her influence, and to whom she had confided much of the story of her life, writes thus of her early days and development: (4)

Her parents belonged to the hardy, independent, pious, and active minded race of farmers from whom have descended a great majority of the many distinguished sons and daughters of New England. Lying a short distance back from Long Island Sound, in a region of fertile hills and vales, abounding with towering elms and luxuriant wild roses, her home was equally well placed for health, for beauty, and for the business of its inmates.

It will require no small effort, even from those who are well acquainted with the affliction of deaf-mutism, to realize the depth of anguish into which the parents of this house were plunged when the knowledge was forced upon them painfully and slowly, yet inflexibly, that their girl-baby would be forever incapable of responding to their voices. For it was a far more terrible misfortune then than now. Only in one way could it be alleviated. The parents might be comforted, and the babe grow up useful and happy, if they knew any means by which the intelligence of the little one could be evoked, and drawn into sympathy and communion with those whose faces bent anxiously above it. But there was then no such knowledge, either among the friends of the child or in the community at large. There was not a single school for the deaf in America, and only three in the world. Even the existence of these three was scarcely known on this side the Atlantic; while of the systems on which they were based, and of the methods they employed, there seems to have been no knowledge whatever in America in the year 1800.

It will not seem strange, therefore, that as the child grew the deficiencies of her intellectual acquirements, as compared with those of her young associates, became painfully evident. In all else, in mirthfulness of spirit, in vigor of physique, she was perfectly fitted to delight in their companionship. This she could do in certain games and amusements. But if they partook of an intellectual character her pleasure vanished. Did the group, tired of play, subside to conversation upon the grass-plot; was a book introduced; did the merry jest or sparkling story pass round the happy circle -- she could but sit silent, troubled, gazing in mute wonderment upon the swiftly-moving lips, the responsive glances, eager to share, but unable even to comprehend what was to her an undefined, subtle enjoyment, no less mysterious than precious.

So she passed through childhood to young womanhood, with scarcely a glimpse at the ample page of knowledge. She received no mental instruction, save through the disconnected natural signs of her friends, which could hardly treat of more than the objects of vision.

But if her mind remained largely undeveloped, not so her spirit. That could be reached in a measure, and, moreover, it was at work by itself. She early gave evidence of possessing those lovely and attractive traits which afterwards distinguished her. Unconsciously following the guidance of her own sense and the best models about her, she learned to discriminate between the false and the true, and grew up modest, kindly, conscientious, and cheerful even to gayety. Of definite religious knowledge at this time she had little or none. It may almost be said to have been confined to a dim impression that there was a power above who looked down benignantly upon good actions, and frowningly upon bad.

During these calm years, also, was laid the foundation of that superb physical condition which attended her through life. In the regular and quiet performance of household duties, in all of which she became an adept, her frame acquired the vigor, grace, and elasticity which afterwards, under the softening influences of metropolitan life, gave her a rare personal comeliness, without ever losing their sustaining qualities. Her hair was black; her eyes large, dark, and inquiring. Her features betokened a sanguine temperament, and her manner was vivacious and pleasing to a remarkable degree.

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Such was Sophia Fowler in character and appearance as she stood at nineteen on the threshold of womanhood; happy in the performance of her daily home duties, scarcely ever having passed beyond the borders of her native town, unconscious of the widening paths that stretched before her, apparently destined to pursue without interruption the noiseless tenor of her sequestered way.

In the spring of 1817, her father learned that some gentlemen at Hartford were about to establish a school for the deaf. Soon after, hearing that these gentlemen were at New Haven, he went there in order to meet them, taking her with him. He told her by signs of his hope that they would be able to teach her to read, to write, to cipher, -- to acquire, she afterward said, it seemed to her, knowledge without end. She grew radiant with the prospect of satisfying the only craving of which her nature felt a need.

Not long after the meeting at New Haven, Mr. Gallaudet visited the home of the Fowlers, in Guilford, and the same spring Sophia became a pupil in the Hartford school. Her name appears as the fifteenth in the order of those received at the opening, Alice Cogswell's being the first.

Of her progress as a pupil it is possible to judge only by her later development. Those who are familiar with the difficulties to be encountered will understand the fact that for a number of years her acquirements were confined to the common English branches. Owing to her zeal and vigor of mind, her advancement in these was rapid. In the spring of 1821, however, just at the period when a bright deaf-mute pupil may be expected to attain a fair degree of proficiency in the subjects indicated, her studies were interrupted in a manner quite unanticipated by all the parties concerned except one.

This interruption was occasioned by nothing less than a proposal of marriage from Mr. Gallaudet. It appears that for more than a year previous he had carefully concealed his feelings out of regard for the young woman's position as a pupil; his bearing toward her, up to this time, was in no way distinguished from that which he observed toward the other female pupils under his charge.

The first sensations excited in the bosom of the young lady when she perceived his wishes give assurance of this. There is nothing to show that her previous feelings for him were other than those which would naturally flow forth toward an able, kind, and sympathetic instructor. In after life she said that her first feeling, when she comprehended his meaning, was one of almost unmixed surprise.

When, to this, other and warmer feelings succeeded, they did not blind her to what she considered her lack of qualifications for such a great change of station. She pleaded her want of knowledge of the world; he averred that this would soon be remedied by travel and society. She lamented that her education was but just begun; he promised that it should be pursued, with himself for a guide and helper. Considering the character and relations of the suitor and the sought, it is not surprising that this period of hesitation did not long endure. They were married on the 29th of August, 1821, and went on a wedding journey to Saratoga.

The marriage was announced by the bridegroom in the following letter:

SAYBROOK, August 31, 1821. MY DEAR FATHER: -- I wrote you a few days since from Guilford. I am here on a little excursion with one to whom my fortunes are at length united -- Miss Sophia Fowler that was -- Mrs. Gallaudet that now is. We were married on Wednesday evening. It is an event to which I have been looking forward for some time, and, all things considered, I deemed it best to have it take place now. I can not but hope that it will increase my means of usefulness among the deaf and dumb to whom I feel myself devoted. Yet I feel more than I ever did the shortness and uncertainty of all things human. Oh! that we could be always ready for a better and happier state. I am now obliged to write in great haste. You shall hear from me again soon. Sophia joins me in best love to yourself and our dear sisters and brothers.

Your dutiful son,
T. H. GALLAUDET.

Fifty-six years later, shortly after the death of Mrs. Gallaudet, a packet carefully enveloped was found in her writing desk containing ten letters received from her husband before her marriage.

The first bears date New York, April 20, 1818, and was written during a vacation following Miss Fowler's first year at Hartford. In order to appreciate what may seem a rather commonplace letter, it must be considered that the person to whom it was addressed, although an adult in years, was no more than an infant in the use of verbal language. On entering school eleven months earlier Miss Fowler was absolutely ignorant of the meaning of words, she had no power of communicating her own thoughts and feelings except through rude gestures and facial expressions. That she could now understand and enjoy such a letter as her teacher addressed her gives evidence no less of zeal and skill on his part than of industry and intelligence on hers. It may interest the curious to know that the letter given below contains two hundred and nineteen different words, of which seventy are nouns, sixty-five verbs, thirty-two adjectives, twenty pronouns, fourteen adverbs, twelve prepositions, three conjunctions, two articles, with one interjection.

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Mr. Gallaudet's First Letter to his Future Wife.

MY DEAR FRIEND: -- To-day I received your kind letter. I read it with great pleasure. It was composed very well. I understood it all. I am very glad your father and you and Parnel (5) arrived home in good health. I am glad all your friends are well. You remember Mr. Woodbridge (6) and my sister and Mary R-- and myself rode away in the stage on Thursday morning. We rode till sunset. It was a very unpleasant day. It rained and snowed, and it was very cold. My sister was very sick; she was faint and ate nothing. Mary R-- was very well. God took care of us. We passed Friday in New Haven. I saw Mr. Orr; he will come to teach the deaf and dumb in May.

(6) An instructor.

On Friday evening, when it was dark, Mr. W. and A. and M. and myself went aboard of the steamboat. We soon went to bed. We sailed all night. In the morning I rose early. I soon met my sister and M. I shook their hands. I asked them if they were well. They were very well. We arrived in New York on Saturday at noon. I got a coach. Four of my brothers met me on the wharf. I was glad to see them. Ann and Mary and my brother James and myself, with all our trunks, rode in the coach. I stopped the coach and I spoke to my father at his book store. He was well. We again rode very far. We arrived at my father's house. I saw my dear mother and brothers and sisters and aunt, who were all well. Mary R. slept at our house two nights. On Tuesday she went to Albany with her father. I did not stay long at home. I went to Newark. I passed Sunday with Mr. Woodbridge. I saw his father and mother. On Sunday evening thirty ladies and gentlemen met at Mr. W.'s. I told them about the deaf and dumb. Three men prayed ardently for all the deaf and dumb, that God would bless Mr. Clerc and Mr. Woodbridge and me, and give all the deaf and dumb clean hearts and enable them to trust in Christ and repent of all their sins. The thirty persons sang hymns and some of the ladies cried very much. I heard them weeping. How kind they were to pray for the deaf and dumb! Oh! do not forget God and Christ. Pray for a very clean heart. Trust in Christ. Avoid all sin. And may God bless you, my dear pupil, both you and your sister and your dear father and mother and brothers and grandmother and all your friends.

I returned to New York on Monday one week ago. I have been very busy in buying books and pictures for the deaf and dumb. Alice -Cogswell- will be here probably to-morrow. I will show her your letter; how glad she will be to see it! I had a letter to-day from Loring; (7) he writes thus: "I love very Miss Sophia Fowler." Loring was very well. I received a letter from Comstock; (8) he was well and all the deaf and dumb were well. When Mr. Clerc comes to your home give him my best love. Tell him I have already written him two long letters. I hope he will stay and see you some days. I wish I could be at your house also. Give my kind regards to Parnel. I hope she is quite well. Give my kind regards to your grandmother and your father and mother and brothers and all my friends. I shall soon see you again. Next year we will learn more, and I hope love God and Christ more and become more and more wise and holy.

(8) A class-mate from Newport.

My father's family, especially my sister Ann, send their best regards to you and your sister.

I am your sincere friend,
T. H. GALLAUDET.

In other letters written during 1818, '19 and '20, Mr. Gallaudet addresses Miss Fowler as "My esteemed pupil," or "My dear pupil," signing himself "Your affectionate teacher," or "Your sincere friend;" but late in the latter year he begins a letter "My dear Sophia," and signs himself "Your affectionate friend," in which he shows a much deeper interest than that of a teacher.

Two letters written in the spring of 1821 show plainly that an engagement had taken place, for arrangements are alluded to for Miss Fowler to board on her return to school with friends, of Mr. Gallaudet's, to whom he has "spoken frankly about our expected prospects."

These letters of Mr. Gallaudet to his future wife are unusual in two particulars -- they show a great desire to add to the knowledge of his pupil, and the greatest possible solicitude for her development in spiritual and religious matters.

One little yellow folded bit of paper, addressed in a beautiful hand, such a note as might naturally carry a sentimental message between lovers, and being no doubt such a love missive to the mind of him who though consciously a lover was still the faithful teacher and guardian, on being opened reveals only these words:

The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price.

Another note, written with equal care and preserved to a later day by her to whom it was addressed, is as follows:

Pray in secret every morning and evening.
Ask God to teach you how to pray.
Ask God to give you His Holy Spirit.
Ask God to warn your conscience.
Think of God often.
Think of Christ often.
Every evening think if you have been wicked during the day; -- ask God to forgive your sins.
Trust in Christ alone to save you.
Trust in Christ alone to enable you to avoid all sin.
Often examine your heart to see if you truly love God, and obey Him and trust in Christ
Be humble. Be meek. Be kind. Avoid pride, vanity, ambition.
Serve Christ every day.
Teach the young pupils, and talk with them about God and Christ.
Be cheerful. Be contented.
Oh! do not forget God and Christ.
May God bless you and keep you from all sin.

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A little well worn pocket notebook, with a calendar of Saints' days in French, for the year 1818, perhaps a gift from Mr. Clerc to Miss Fowler, contains the following meditation written very carefully and legibly in pencil by Mr. Gallaudet:

Oh! Jesus, my Saviour, I love thee. I wish to imitate thee, to be kind as thou wert kind, to be humble us thou wert humble. -- Oh! give me thy Spirit to keep me from sin. Oh! enable me to serve thee and to be kind to all and to do good every day. And oh! prepare me to eat the Lord's Supper.

That these lessons, given when the mind of Sophia Fowler was at its most impressionable period of development, took a lasting hold on her spiritual organism was proven a thousand times through her long and not uneventful life.

When heartrending sorrow came to her, she did not need to cry,
"Oh! for a faith that will not shrink
Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe."
For at such times hers was indeed,
"A faith that shines more bright and clear,
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear
In darkness feels no doubt."

Of this faith and its influence over Mrs. Gallaudet's life her friend quoted above writes as follows:

A prominent characteristic was her joyous and undoubting faith in the religion of Jesus Christ. When they came to her, she accepted the truths of revelation so readily and implicitly that it seemed as if they did but bear out and confirm the dim intuitions of her uninstructed childhood. Not only did she love and practice all the Christian virtues; not only, as one who knew her long and well has said, was she "most exactly just and perfectly truthful and sincere, exemplifying in an eminent degree all the virtues described by the apostle when he exhorted us to think on whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report" -- but Christ, the embodiment of all excellences, was to her a real and present person. When threatened with blindness, in the last year of her life, and feeling its dread approach, more than once she was seen to pray to Him, with fervor, as if He stood in her chamber, that He would spare her such a grievous affliction; she was aged and deaf, she said, and if now her sight must be taken she would lose the little joy that remained to her; then, in a moment, and in a different spirit, she would tell Him that, though she felt it hard to bear, she wished what He thought best should be done, and she would strive to be resigned.

It will not surprise the reader to be told that the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gallaudet was pre-eminently a happy one. His physical weaknesses and natural tendencies to depression of spirits were often overcome by the vigor and cheerfulness she was able always to impart to their united life: while her mind, eager for knowledge, could easily supply the deficiencies of her early education by an appeal to her ever-present teacher.

Mr. Gallaudet has been heard to say that many trials and difficulties had come upon him in the course of his life which he could hardly have endured or overcome, but for the sympathy and encouragement his brave and loving wife was always quick to give him.

CHAPTER VI.
1823 -- 1830.

Arduous Labors as Principal and Teacher -- Invention of Methods of Pantomimic Communication -- Visit of Col. John Trumbull -- Solicitations to aid in Establishing Schools for the Deaf outside of New England -- Failing Health -- Application to the Directors for Relief from Certain Duties -- Opposition of Associates to such Relief -- The Institution Established on a Firm and Permanent Basis -- Increasing Feebleness -- Resignation of Principalship.

THE years following Mr. Gallaudet's marriage in 1821 were happy years though full of toil.

The occupancy of enlarged and permanent buildings by the institution was followed by an increase in the number of pupils, necessitating the employment and training of new teachers. This growth brought added cares and labors to the principal of the school. But he shrank from nothing, rejoicing in work that was thoroughly congenial. He was a born teacher, and a teacher of teachers, as well as of children.

His skill in adapting methods borrowed from France to the needs of American children was great. He possessed peculiar and natural endowments for the special work of instructing the deaf: prominent among which was a really marvelous grace and clearness in all kinds of pantomimic expression.

He was the first to suggest and use in schools for the deaf the language of signs in religious exercises and lectures. His eloquence in this language has never been surpassed and rarely equaled.

He had an unusual facility in communicating thought by means of facial expression and movements of the body without any resort whatever to motions of the hands or arms.

This process is described in an article published three years before his death, long after he gave up teaching.

One day our distinguished and lamented historical painter, Col. John Trumbull, was in my schoolroom during the hours of instruction, and, on alluding to the tact which a certain pupil 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."

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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 expressions of my countenance, and a few motions of the 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 Col. 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 communicate, with the exception of a single one, if, indeed, it ought to be considered such.

The usual sign, at that time, among the teachers and pupils, for a Roman was portraying an aquiline nose by placing the fore finger crooked, in front of the nose. As I was prevented from using my finger in this way, and having considerable command over the muscles of my face, I endeavored to give my nose as much of the aquiline form as possible, and succeeded well enough for my purpose.

Every thing else that I looked and did was the pure, natural language by which my mind spontaneously endeavored to convey its thoughts and feelings to his mind by the varied expressions of the countenance, some motions of the head, and attitudes of the body.

It would be difficult to give any thing like a complete analysis of the process which I pursued in making the communication. To be understood it ought to be witnessed and accompanied with the requisite explanations. The outlines of the process, however, I can give. They were the following: --

A stretching and searching gaze eastward, with an undulating motion of the head, as if looking across and beyond the Atlantic Ocean, to denote that the event happened, not on the western, but on the eastern continent. This was making a little progress, as it took the subject out of the range of American history.

A turning of the eyes upward and backward, with frequently repeated motions of the head backward, as if looking a great way back in past time, to denote that the event was one of quite ancient date. The aquiline shape of the nose already referred to, indicating that a Roman was the person concerned. It was, of course, an old Roman.

Portraying, as well as I could, by my countenance, attitude, and manner, an individual high in authority, and commanding others, as if he expected to be obeyed.

Looking and acting as if I were giving out a specific order to many persons, and threatening punishment on those who should resist my authority -- even the punishment of death.

Here was a pause in the progress of events, which I denoted by sleeping as it were during the night and awaking in the morning, and doing this several times, to signify that several days had elapsed.

Looking with deep interest and surprise, as if at a single person brought and standing before me, with an expression of countenance indicating that he had violated the order which I had given, and that I knew it. Then looking in the same way at another person near him as also guilty. Two offending persons were thus denoted.

Exhibiting serious deliberation -- then hesitation, accompanied with strong conflicting emotions, producing perturbation, as if I knew not how to feel or what to do.

Looking first at one of the persons before me and then at the other, and then at both together, as a father would look, indicating his distressful parental feelings under such affecting circumstances.

Composing my feelings, showing that a change was coming over me, and exhibiting towards the imaginary persons before me, the decided look of the inflexible commander who was determined and ready to order them away to execution. Looking and acting as if the tender feelings of the father had again got the ascendency, and as if I were about to relent and pardon them.

These alternating states of mind I portrayed several times, to make my representation the more graphic and impressive.

At length the father yields, and the stern principle of justice, as expressed in my countenance and manner, prevails. My look and action denote the passing of the sentence of death on the offenders, and the ordering them away to execution.

Before I had quite completed the process, I perceived, from the expression of his countenance, and a little of impatience in his manner, that the pupil felt satisfied that he was fully in possession of the fact which I was endeavoring to communicate. But for the sake of greater certainty, I detained his attention till I had nothing more to portray. He quickly turned round to his slate and wrote a complete and correct account of the story of Brutus and his two sons.

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Mr. Gallaudet follows with other instances of such communication and adds:

There was another use which I found it practicable to make of the mere expressions of the countenance, in conveying not only ideas but words to the mind of this pupil.

On a journey to Maine, we sat, one day, directly facing each other in the stage-coach. I proposed to him that we should invent an alphabet of expressions of the countenance, and see if we could not, in a short time, become so familiar with it, as to make it subservient to the spelling of words quite as surely and quickly as could be done by the finger alphabet. We began and settled it as follows:

The simple expression of awe was to denote the letter a; of boldness, b; of curiosity, c; of despair, d; of eagerness, e; of fear f; of gladness, g; and so on. We made various trials of this new alphabet of the looks, and found it to succeed. It is easy to see, that if I expressed by my countenance distinctly, and with slight intervals between the expressions, the emotions of despair, eagerness, awe and fear, the letters d, e, a, and f, would be denoted, and, of course, the word deaf, communicated.

Simple as this process is, it would still appear very surprising to a person ignorant of it, after being requested to furnish any word, no matter how difficult or abstruse its meaning, to see it immediately looked by the teacher into the mind of the pupil, and the latter writing it down correctly on his slate.

These, and other experiments of a similar kind, made by a teacher of the deaf and his pupils, may, perhaps, seem to be matters of mere amusement, and not of any practical use. But amusements have their uses in all schools, and especially if the teacher can, at suitable times, take part in them with his pupils.

Mr. Gallaudet had strong convictions as to the value of the sign language as a means of instruction, of which it may not be amiss to speak in these days, when not a few men of intelligence are found who would banish them from all schools for the deaf.

In an article on "The Natural Language of Signs; and its Value and Uses in the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb," published long after he had given up teaching, Mr. Gallaudet says: --

"My object is to show the intrinsic value and, indeed, indispensable necessity of the use of natural signs in the education of the deaf and dumb. ... In attempting this I wish I had time to go somewhat at length into the genius of this natural language of signs; to compare it with merely oral language, and to show, as I think I could, its decided superiority over the latter, so far as respects its peculiar adaptation to the mind of childhood and early youth.

"In what relates to the expression of passion and emotion, and of all the finer and stronger sentiments of the heart, this language is eminently appropriate and copious.

"So far as objects, motions, or actions addressed to the senses are concerned, this language, in its improved state, is superior in its accuracy and force of delineation to that in which words spelled on the fingers, spoken, written, or printed are employed."

Mr. Gallaudet, after treating at length of the capabilities and value of gesture language as a means of instruction, says in closing:

Instructors of the deaf and dumb should appreciate the great importance of being masters of the natural language of signs, -- of excelling in this language; of being able to make delineating and descriptive signs with graphical and picture-like accuracy; of acquiring the power to have the inmost workings of their souls, -- their various thoughts and feelings, with their fainter and stronger shades of distinctive character, -- beam out through the eye, countenance, attitude, movement, and gesture; and of doing all this with spirit, grace, and fluency, and for the love of doing it.

The labor is not small, indeed, that must be undergone, in order to possess these indispensable qualifications of an accomplished instructor of the deaf and dumb. To acquire them, the new and inexperienced teacher must consent, carefully and perseveringly, to take lesson after lesson of the older teacher who is a proficient in this language, while the older teacher must have the patience to give these lessons. For the language of signs is not to be learned from books. It can not be delineated in pictures, or printed on paper. It must be learned, in a great degree, from the living, looking, acting model. Some of the finest models for such a purpose are found among the originators of this language, the deaf and dumb. The peculiarities of their mind and character, and the genius of that singularly beautiful and impressive language which nature has taught them, should be the constant study of those whose beneficent calling it is to elevate them in the scale of intellectual, social, and moral existence; to fit them for usefulness and respectability in this life, and for happiness in that which is to come.

Mr. Gallaudet's practice as a teacher was consistent with this earnest preaching. He loved the language of signs and made a lifelong study of it. That he was such a master of it is due in part to his patience and painstaking as a student of it. But his eminence in pantomime was, no doubt, in large measure owing to inherited natural ability derived from those Italian ancestors of whom mention was made in the early pages of this book.

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Though continuing, while he remained principal, to have the entire daily charge of a class in the school, as required by the board, he exerted himself in many other directions, than in the rather narrow one of elementary teaching.

Demands for public addresses in aid of the cause of deaf-mute education were frequent, and were cheerfully responded to. Exhibitions of pupils before legislatures and to the general public had often to be given, and in them Mr. Gallaudet showed his great skill in enlisting the sympathy and co-operation of others.

These occasions brought him in contact with the leading men of his time, and though a drain upon his strength were congenial to his tastes.

Representatives of several states outside of New England appealed for counsel and aid in establishing schools for the deaf within their borders, and in meeting their applications much time and effort was expended by Mr. Gallaudet.

His services as a preacher were often sought to supply vacant pulpits, and in most of the organized public movements of the day his support and active co-operation were considered essential.

No man, however vigorous, could have led a life of such constant activity and involving so much of ever-present care and responsibility for many years without showing signs of breaking; and the wonder is that with so fragile a physique these signs did not sooner appear in Mr. Gallaudet.

He became painfully conscious during the latter part of 1829 that he was overtaxing his strength and felt that he must be relieved of some of his duties, or relinquish them altogether.

Up to this time he had taken little thought as to his pecuniary interests, accepting such compensation for his services in the institution as the directors saw fit to vote him. But the presence in his household by this time of three sons and two daughters led him to wonder how all the little mouths were to be fed, the bodies clothed and the minds instructed as time went on.

So almost for the first time since he had been in relations with his board of directors, now more than fourteen years, he asked their serious consideration of his personal affairs in a communication that-needs to be read entire to be fully understood.

Mr. Gallaudet, to the President and Directors, etc.

HARTFORD, January 11, 1830.

GENTLEMEN: -- I have been led, for several years past, seriously to consider, how much longer my health and strength would enable me to sustain the confinement and labor necessary for the daily instruction of a class, together with the performance of other duties, as principal, in the institution over the interests of which you preside.

While making known these sentiments from time to time to those more immediately connected with the management of the school, and especially to the instructors, I have perceived that the actual amount of time and of labor which I have been obliged to bestow from the commencement upon its internal and external concerns, in addition to that employed, in common with the other instructors, in the daily care of a class, has been but imperfectly understood; -- and, on this account, it has been thought by some rather unreasonable that I should propose, in anyway, to have my labors diminished.

As I still feel it to be a duty which I owe to myself and family, to state explicitly that I can not any longer undertake the daily instruction of a class, and thinking it not improbable that this may lead to the dissolution of my connection with the institution, I beg leave, gentlemen, to lay before you a brief statement of what labors I have sustained in the discharge of my various duties, since I have been in your employment. In this way I hope to satisfy you that, in my past wishes, and present determination not to be confined to the daily instruction of a class, I have been actuated only by those views and motives which should influence the conduct of every prudent man. I make this statement, as I know your candor will do me the justice to believe, not from the desire of vain-boasting, nor from a wish to induce you to think it would be for the interests of the school that my connection with it should be continued (for I am ever doubtful in my own mind whether this would be the case), but from that feeling which is common to us all, to show to our friends that we have not been wholly unreasonable in our plans and conduct. Such a statement, also, will, I think, not be without use, in presenting to the consideration of the directors some views with regard to both the internal and external concerns of the institution, and, especially, the duties which the principal, whoever he may be, ought to have abundant time allowed him to perform, that may, heretofore, have escaped their notice. Should the issue be, that you deem it best to have some other person occupy the station which I now hold, a decision in which I shall cheerfully acquiesce, I can not but urge the importance of" your affording him every needful facility for sustaining the responsibilities which he will assume, and every suitable encouragement for making this institution what it already aspires to be, one of the most useful and respectable in the world.

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During the twelve years and a half that I have labored here, I may safely say that I have devoted full as much time to the discharge of my official duties, as is devoted by any of the presidents, professors, or tutors, in our colleges, to the business of their respective institutions, -- and, even much more than this during the early stages of the work. In most of the colleges, there are three months of vacation in each year; and, in addition to this, many of the labors of the president and professors are suspended from the time of the examination of the senior class in July, to the commencement in September. Our vacations are but two months in the year; during some of these, it has fallen to my lot, in common with the other instructors, to remain and take a general oversight of the establishment, and of such of the pupils as did not return home, and during others, and nearly all of the vacations in the spring, I have been detained by the business of the annual meeting happening at that time, and by the preparation of the annual reports, twelve of which I have written, and arranged and prepared the original compositions of the pupils for the press: a labor demanding no small amount of time and care.

The Elementary Book which has been used in the various classes was prepared by me, while teaching a class, and consumed no small portion of my time out of school hours; for this labor I did not receive, nor, indeed, did I expect, any compensation. In the same manner, with the assistance of Mr. W., I also prepared the Catechism of Religious Instruction which has been used.

I have given, out of school hours, much private instruction to the younger teachers, and especially a long and elaborate course of lectures to Mr. P. For such services, from the very commencement of the institution, Mr. Clerc has received a liberal compensation, to which, indeed, he was justly entitled, at first from you, and, afterwards, from the instructors. For similar services, I have never received, nor asked, any compensation.

The correspondence of the institution, more especially that which relates to its external relations, to the many inquiries made from different parts of the country with regard to the terms of admission and to the peculiar circumstances of the pupils as connected with their accounts with the treasurer, has occupied no inconsiderable portion of my time. With regard to the last particular, I may venture to refer to the recollection of the treasurer for the correctness of my statement. The principal degree of responsibility with regard to the admission of new pupils, and the recording of their names, and oft other interesting particulars respecting them, in a book kept for this purpose, has devolved upon me, and, also, their organization into a class, and their getting started in the course of instruction, especially when they have been under the care of a new and inexperienced instructor. One part of my labors, as principal of the institution, which has not, indeed, attracted much observation from those employed more immediately in its concerns, but which has consumed, in the aggregate, a vast amount of time, and been attended, out of school hours, with great additional fatigue, is the attention which I have been obliged to show to visitors. Among these have been the patrons and friends of the school, respectable strangers coming with letters of introduction, and others introduced by some of the directors, or by their friends in the city, and who always expect and are entitled to receive respectful attentions from the principal of a public institution. Such attentions I have always cheerfully rendered, but, it ought to be recollected, that it has more particularly fallen upon me to render them; that they have often made it necessary for me out of school hours, to gratify such visitors by an exhibition of the pupils in the school-room, that I have been liable, from my residing near at hand, to such demand upon my time very frequently, and that such time, after the exhaustion occasioned by the labors of the school-room, I have often needed for relaxation and exercise, and also, to devote to the domestic concerns of my family. It is very important, however, for the interests of an institution depending on public patronage for its character and usefulness, and increasing, too, like ours, in public estimation, that the principal should be at liberty, at almost all times, to exhibit its internal management, and the progress of the pupils, in such a way as to excite a deep and permanent interest in the minds of intelligent visitors.

For a somewhat similar reason, too, I have had peculiar labors to perform and embarrassments to contend with, even during school hours, in advancing the class of which I have most usually had the charge. This class has consisted of those pupils who had made the most progress, and on whose attainments, and especially on their original compositions published in the annual reports, the character of the institution has chiefly depended.

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This class I have had to advance in their studies, while subject, during school hours, to peculiar interruptions from various sources, -- from some of the younger instructors resorting to me for signs, from persons coming to my room for the transaction of business; from visitors, some bringing letters of introduction, and most of all such wishing to visit the class taught by the principal, and he, of course, having afterwards to provide for their being admitted into some of the other classes. Of late, a person has been employed to receive visitors at the door, and to conduct them to some one of the school-rooms. Previous to this arrangement, and for a long course of time, the interruptions which I experienced from this source were so frequent as to create no small embarrassment in the attention which it was important I should bestow upon the class immediately under my care.

I have devoted also considerable time to the religious instruction of the younger classes, where the teacher has himself as yet been a novice in the art of making signs.

I have long regretted that my confinement to the daily instruction of a class has prevented me from spending more time in what I apprehend would have greatly contributed to the prosperity of the institution in maturing improvements in the general course of instruction -- in communicating signs, and the results of my experience to the other instructors, and especially to the younger ones, both by private lectures out of school, and by explanations and suggestions in school in the presence of their classes, and in the preparation of a series of books for the use of the deaf and dumb. To this latter object I have been for years endeavoring to give its true importance, while at the same time I have as constantly stated that, while engaged in the instruction of a class, it was impossible for me to prosecute it to any effect. Surely, while confined daily to the exhausting employment of making signs, having the common responsibilities of an instructor of a class, and the more peculiar ones of principal of the institution, it was not to be expected that I could find time for the arduous task of preparing such books as would be useful to the pupils and creditable to the institution. I experience no small degree of satisfaction in finding that my general views with regard to the importance of having such books prepared correspond precisely with those expressed in a late circular of the institution for the deaf and dumb at Paris. The employment of making signs daily for twelve years is one demanding vigorous health. I have found it, together with the pressure of my other duties, making deep inroads upon my bodily constitution. During the last term, in consequence of a statement which I made to you, gentlemen, I was released from the instruction of a class, with reference more especially to the preparation of some books for the deaf and dumb.

The result of my labors I beg leave to lay before you, and to state also the other duties which I discharged during that period of time. In that period I prepared the annual report for publication; I carried on that part of the general correspondence of the institution which has usually devolved upon me (some general view of the time employed in which the treasurer may be able to state from recollection); I officiated in turn in the various religious exercises of the school; I devoted every Saturday forenoon to the instruction of three of the lower classes, with their teachers, in their religious lessons; I spent some time in aiding the younger instructors in their school-rooms; I delivered for one month a course of daily lectures on signs, one hour each, to the younger instructors, including Mr. H., who, expecting soon to go to Ohio, was very anxious to have the benefit of my experience; for this I declined receiving any compensation, but the instructors presented me with a few books as an expression of their thanks. I attended also to many visitors, who were of such a character that it was indispensable that they should be treated with respectful attention by the principal.

Besides these more general duties, I prepared a book of about fifty pages, which was much needed in four of the classes. This book was ready for publication in September last. Delay on the part of the engraver in New York has prevented its publication. I have made an arrangement with the publisher that I shall be able soon to furnish, free of all charge, seven or eight hundred copies, sufficient to supply the new classes for years to come. I have also made considerable progress in the preparation of a vocabulary for the deaf and dumb. The preliminary steps which I deemed necessary for the completion of such a work in order to render it both creditable to the institution, and permanently useful to this and other similar schools, required an amount of patient labor which no one but those familiar with pursuits of the same kind can duly appreciate. Some estimate can be formed of the amount of this labor when I state that it was necessary for me to go twice through the English dictionary from A to Z, examining carefully each time thirty or forty thousand words in order to make the proper selections, and to arrange them in classes. In addition to this, I have transferred to a series of charts one principal class of these words, relating wholly to sensible objects, and also to other charts classes of words of a different kind. By no other process which I could devise could I see any mode of obtaining the materials necessary for the formation of a vocabulary for the deaf and dumb. I am aware that it has been thought that such a vocabulary might be formed in the space of a few weeks. If this were practicable, it is rather singular that it should not ere this have been done in some of the European institutions, for the late circular of the Paris institution, published in September last, to which I have already referred, states that the preparation of such a vocabulary is a work of great importance, and that the instructors in some of the European institutions are now actually engaged in it. The preliminary steps which I have taken are precisely those recommended in this circular, showing a remarkable coincidence of views in this respect, and what is more, stated to be absolutely indispensable. In the completion of this work there is still needed no small amount of time and labor, and I would most cheerfully put all my manuscripts into the hands of any person who would undertake to bring it to a conclusion; and if originally such a vocabulary could have been prepared in three or four weeks, the task will now be a much lighter one, as many of the more difficult preliminary steps are already accomplished.

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In the review of my past connection with the institution, I have much to lament of deficiencies and error in the discharge of my duties; yet justice to myself leads me to state that I have performed services out of school for which a compensation might reasonably have been asked, and that the actual amount of time and labor, which for twelve years I have expended in order to promote the prosperity of the school, is fully equal to what any president or professor or tutor in any of our colleges has devoted in the same length of time to a similar object, while the kind of labor, that of teaching the deaf and dumb, is more exhausting, and makes deeper encroachments upon the constitution and bodily health than that endured in almost any other pursuit or profession. I ought to state also that from the first moment when I concluded to go to Europe on my responsible and difficult undertaking to this hour, I have never urged any pecuniary claims, nor received any thing for any extra services. I have taken just what the directors have seen fit to allow me, and with this have always been contented.

When I allude, therefore, to the fact that some of the instructors have been receiving for years past a much larger compensation than myself, and that others have found it perfectly consistent with their duties to add by other labors to their income; while it was impossible for me, when confined to the daily instruction of a class, and to the duties both of an instructor and the other peculiar ones connected with the office of principal, to engage in any pursuit by which to add to my income: when I allude to these facts, and also to one other of a striking nature known to every body, that the presidents and professors in colleges, and also many settled clergymen, find time, after discharging the appropriate duties of their stations, to publish books and to do other things as means of increasing their resources, -- I hope, gentlemen, I shall be considered as presenting for your consideration only what I owe to myself and family, when I state that after having spent the very prime of my life in your service, I have deemed it but reasonable to be released from the instruction of a class, and also to have sufficient leisure to command enough of my time to devote to some objects by which to add to my means of providing for my family and educating my children, and of laying up a little something for the exigencies of those future days rapidly approaching, when the life and animation of an actor of pantomime, calling into artificial exercise the most intense effort of thought and of feeling through the mysterious medium of the eye and the countenance and the gestures and attitudes of the body, must settle down into the tranquillity and even feebleness of declining years.

It ought not to be concealed, that I entertain views, with regard to what the principal of such an institution might accomplish, if released from the instruction of a class, so as very much to promote its welfare, with which those of most, perhaps all, of the other instructors, do not coincide. They think, as I am informed by the chairman of the committee, and this without any reference to myself personally, that the true interests of the school require, that the principal should, in addition to his other peculiar duties, be engaged in the instruction of a class. They also think that the peculiar duties of the principal, out of school, need not occupy more than one hour daily. Consider this estimate as correct, though in my opinion it is far from being so, taking into account the performance of all that I have stated to have been performed by me, in addition to the instruction of a class -- and what time will be left for the principal to devote to the general progress of the classes, to the training up of instructors, to the delivering of lectures on signs, to the maturing improvements in the course of instruction, to the religious instruction of the lower classes, to the preparation of suitable books, to the general good order and prosperity of the institution, both in the school-room and the workshops, and to the publication of the annual reports. Are such objects worthy of the active and zealous efforts of such a person as is fit to be held up to the public as competent to discharge the duties of principal; and if so, how can he justly be held responsible for the faithful discharge of the duties growing out of this important trust, while he is obliged to exhaust a great portion of his strength, and consume the most considerable part of his time, in the daily instruction of a class? It is to be recollected, also, that he needs time to attend to his family concerns, -- to take a sufficient degree of relaxation and exercise for the preservation of his health, and surely to enjoy the opportunity of keeping pace with his cotemporaries in the improvement of his intellectual powers, which is, through him, to affect the reputation of the institution.

My confinement, for years past, to the daily instruction of a class -- an employment, in itself, quite as exhausting as the whole amount of the daily duties performed by the presidents or professors in our colleges -- while numerous responsibilities, connected with the state of other classes and the general concerns of the institution, have, for want of any other appropriate person, been constantly referred to myself, and yet no adequate time allowed me to discharge them; this, together with the wide field of enterprise for promoting the prosperity and elevating the character of the school opening before me, could I but have been released from the care of a particular class, has tended very much, I am free to confess, to damp the former ardor which I had during the early progress of my work; has had no trifling effect upon my general health and spirits, and has furnished reasons, at times, for my friends to fear that the spirit of resolution and of effort had quite forsaken me. And yet I have held on my course, and may I not be permitted to ask, referring to all the past history of the institution, when has your principal once failed in the accomplishment of any great object connected with its prosperity? It was an ardent and enthusiastic spirit which first led him to embark in an undertaking considered by many as wholly visionary, and the same spirit has always been ready to kindle whenever any important object has been proposed by which to add to the usefulness or the reputation of the institution. But for any one to plod on in the same round of elementary instruction to twelve or fifteen infantile minds for twelve years, with no hope of being released from it, while, at the same time, he sees various ways in which his time and talents could be brought to bear with a hundred-fold more effect upon the prosperity of an institution, which under Providence he has been one of the principal instruments of raising up to usefulness and reputation, -- all this is calculated, especially where a feeble constitution has to contend with the pressure of nervous disease, while engaged in one of the most exhausting of all employments -- to weaken, to dishearten, nay to paralyze hope, -- although once the brightest, and resolution the strongest, and enterprise the most undaunted.

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To one point, gentlemen, permit me to invite your particular and candid attention. Ought the services which I have rendered to be estimated by the exact number of hours and minutes consumed in their performance, and ought they to be placed on a level with those of the other instructors?

Before I went to Europe in your employment, I had received a very expensive education. I had graduated at Yale College; I had been a tutor in that institution two years; I was licensed to preach, and, in addition to all this, I had received a pretty thorough mercantile education. All this cost money, and enabled me to enter upon the discharge of the trust that you assigned me in the origin of the school, and has since enabled me to discharge additional ones, with so much the greater promptness, dispatch and success. In support of this position, may I allude to the peculiar difficulties which I had to encounter, and which, by the blessing of God, I overcame while in Europe; to the amount of funds which I was instrumental in raising; to the successive annual reports which I have prepared; to the impressions made by means of addresses, and sermons, and public exhibitions, on legislatures and the inhabitants of some of our largest cities, and on the Congress of the United States, favorable to the prosperity of the institution; to the securing, by previous correspondence and by my own personal attendance on their respective legislatures, the appointment of commissioners from the New England States, and the abandonment of projects almost ripe for execution, for the establishment of other schools, and the concentration of public patronage on one for all New England; to the conducting for years a very delicate and difficult controversy, if it may be so called, with the New York institution, and affording complete satisfaction to the commissioners chosen on the part of that state to visit the institution of the superiority of our mode of instruction; to the enlisting the feelings and good will of hundreds of respectable visitors from all parts of the Union; to the carrying on a correspondence with distinguished individuals and officers of government, with regard to the interests of the deaf and dumb generally and the welfare of this institution more particularly; to the making improvements in the course, and manner of instruction, and in the religious exercises of the pupils; to the educating some pupils who are now assistant teachers, and to the furnishing in the early progress of the school specimens of the attainments of the pupils which excited surprise even in the older establishments in Europe; and in these, and other ways, to the securing to this institution, while yet in its infancy, the approbation and patronage of our own country, and an elevated rank among those of long standing in foreign countries.

So far as I have been instrumental, under the support of a kind superintending Providence, in the accomplishment of these objects; and, so far as I have performed the more ordinary business of the institution with promptness, dispatch and success, ought not a proper regard to be had to the qualifications in the possession of which I originally entered into your employment?

Are not the services of all public agents and professional men estimated in this way, and ought my services, then, to be estimated by the precise number of hours and minutes that it has taken me to render them; or ought I, in this respect, to be placed on a level with younger men, who have not had the same advantages of experience and of education as myself?

If we examine the arrangements of any extensive establishment of a commercial or manufacturing kind, or those of the naval, the military, or the civil department of our government, do we ever find that those occupying important stations of trust are obliged, in addition to the responsibilities growing out of these stations, to labor, also, in the details of business in the more inferior departments?

Is the estimate placed upon their services, and the compensation which they receive for them, ascertained by the precise amount of time employed in rendering them, or are they placed, in this respect, on a level with those having less experience and occupying subordinate stations? On the contrary, are not their services estimated according to their experience and skill -- and do they not often receive double the amount of pay for spending much less time than is employed by one in an inferior station? These principles are acted upon in institutions of a similar kind in Europe, and none of the prominent ones for the instruction of the deaf and dumb require of the principal to be devoted to the daily instruction of a class.

Nothing but the very peculiar circumstances under which I am placed, would lead me thus to allude to topics, to mention which, on almost any other occasion, would look too much like vain-boasting. But it seemed to me indispensable to make such a statement -- in order to place in its true light the reasonableness of my views with regard to releasing the principal, whoever he may be, from the daily instruction of a class, since no one but myself, however kindly disposed, is sufficiently acquainted with all the facts of the case, to be able to state them fully and accurately. Such a statement, for various reasons, I wished to leave on your records -- and having thus considered the past, the great question recurs, what is to be done with regard to the future.

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After much deliberation, with the advice of several judicious friends, I have formed my judgment on two important points -- that I ought not to be confined any longer to the daily instruction of a class, and that, in justice to an increasing family, I ought, in some way or other, to add to my present income.

Whether, under these circumstances, the continuance of my connection with your institution will be consistent both with its true interests, and with the duties which I owe to myself, and to my family, is a question which I am free to confess I feel myself much at a loss to decide, until I am made more fully acquainted with the views of the directors, and also with those of my colleagues, on the various points involved in this communication.

Other spheres of usefulness, of great importance, have been presented to my consideration and offers made to me, within a year or two past, more compatible with my health, and more productive, in a pecuniary point of view, than that which I now occupy; -- and as these have all related to the great department of education toward which both the efforts of my mind and the feelings of my heart have long been intensely directed, and in which the dearest interests of our common country are most deeply involved, I confess, that I have been often led to hesitate whether to such objects it might not become my duty to devote my future labors. In addition to this, so long as the other instructors retain the views that they have expressed to the committee, it is manifest that they can not consider the other services which the principal of the institution might render if released from the instruction of a class, of sufficient value to justify his being retained in his present station.

Under these circumstances, is it not obvious to every mind possessed of any feelings of delicacy and of self-respect, that the continuance of my connection with the institution must be attended with much to depress any generous feelings of enterprise and usefulness?

The general question at issue, is, I am aware, but matter of opinion. My colleagues may be in the right, and myself in the wrong. It maybe establishing an injurious precedent to release the principal from the daily instruction of a class; and should you, gentlemen, be of this opinion, I will submit most cheerfully to your decision; not disappointed, should it thus prove to be the will of Providence, in being permitted to resign a station of great responsibility, full of anxieties and cares, and to discharge the duties of which, as they ought to be discharged, demands no small portion of both bodily and mental labor. I will retire, in perfect good-will toward all parties; retaining a grateful recollection of the kindness and indulgence which I have experienced at your hands, and pledging myself, so far as any means or influence may be left to me, to do all that I can to promote the peace, the prosperity, and the happiness of the school.

On the other hand, should you conclude that it is desirable still to continue me in your employment, as principal of the institution, in accordance with the views which I have stated, I must say, with the same frankness which I have endeavored to preserve throughout all this communication, that my decision with regard to the course of duty will depend, not merely on the nature and extent of the duties which may be assigned to me, but quite as much on the views and feelings which this may produce on the 'part of my colleagues.

For it must be obvious to every one, that without harmony and confidence between the principal and his associates, his. own comfort, and of course his usefulness, must be greatly diminished; -- his health impaired by a constant series of anxieties, and thus, his efforts to promote the prosperity of the institution rendered, in a great degree, ineffectual.

I am, gentlemen, with sentiments of esteem and respect,

Your obedient servant,
T. H. GALLAUDET.

This letter was not without its effect on the directors, and within a week after its presentation they voted to release Mr. Gallaudet from the duty of teaching a class for a year, with the evident intention of making the arrangement a permanent one. Not so ready, however, were the assistant instructors to do what might have retained their principal in his place. They had already expressed their view that he ought not to be excused from teaching. Not sustained in this by the board they entered into an earnest controversy as to the proper mode of governing the institution, insisting that this should be done by a faculty in which the principal should have little if any more authority than one of them. It will be remembered that in 1818 the experiment of governing the school by a faculty was made. This method proving unsatisfactory at that time was not continued. Two sets of proposed regulations were submitted to the directors, one by Mr. Gallaudet and one by his assistants.

When it became evident after almost interminable correspondence that their suggestions did not command the approval of the directors, and when they found their course of conduct was actually driving Mr. Gallaudet to resign, the instructors undertook to withdraw much they had said, and expressed a disposition to acquiesce in the decision of the board and to give Mr. Gallaudet their support if he would remain.

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Too much argument, however, had been carried on, and the differences of opinion were too radical to allow a hope of harmonious action to be had.

Mr. Gallaudet, therefore, on the 7th of April, 1830, forwarded his resignation to the directors.

To one who has studied with care the many documents that go to make up the record of this seemingly unfortunate history, the charity shown by Mr. Gallaudet towards those who had been opposing him appears little short of sublime.

While giving suitable prominence to the differences of view existing between the instructors and himself and showing how unlikely it was that harmony could be expected even though the directors should fully sustain and the assistants acquiesce in his policy, as both seemed disposed now to do, he still declared his willingness to make the attempt of continuing to direct the affairs of the institution, were he not convinced that his health would no longer bear the strain. He closes his letter of resignation as follows:

Trusting, gentlemen, that whatever opinion you may form of the expediency of the course which, after long and deliberate reflection, I have adopted, you will let my motives share the exercise of your candor, 1 resign into your hands the office of principal, cherishing towards all connected with the establishment the most friendly sentiments; grateful for the kindnesses which I have received; sensible of my many deficiencies in duty and errors in judgment; and beseeching Almighty God so to guide and bless all concerned in its management that the institution, over whose interests you, gentlemen, have so long and so successfully presided, may go on to increase in favor with the public, and in usefulness to that interesting and yet very numerous class of our fellow-men, for whose benefit it was, under the guidance of a merciful Providence, originally established.

In their annual report following Mr. Gallaudet's resignation the directors thus record their appreciation of the value of his services:

It is well known that to this gentleman, as the agent of the board of directors, the cause of humanity is primarily indebted for the introduction of the art of deaf-mute instruction into the United States, and for the general spread of that information necessary for prosecuting it successfully in public institutions, of which all in operation in the country are now experiencing the benefits. It is, however, in our own establishment that the importance of his services can be best appreciated. These are and have ever been most highly valued by the board. To them they attribute primarily and chiefly the success of their institution hitherto, as it appertains either to the patronage of public bodies, the favor of influential individuals, the benevolent wishes and the contributions of the charitable, and the actual instruction of several hundred deaf and dumb persons. Retaining his connection with the institution as one of its life-directors, Mr. Gallaudet will still be enabled to exercise an important influence in its management; and while his associates in the board rely upon the aid of his experience and counsels in their future operations, they can not but express their cordial desire for his own continued prosperity and happiness, in whatever sphere of usefulness he may be called to engage.

It would budren -sic- these pages to relate how often and in what manner Mr. Gallaudet's "experience and counsels" were of special value to the institution in whose board of management he retained a seat, after ceasing to be its executive head.

These services covered a period of more than twenty years: they were given without thought of pecuniary reward; and that the directors recognized later the obligations of the institution to Mr. Gallaudet growing out of these labors, by voting him a sum of money, detracts nothing from the unselfish spirit in which they were offered.

Not the least important of them was rendered almost immediately after his resignation, and before his successor had been appointed. It was to urge upon the directors with an earnestness which good taste, and his natural modesty, forbade him to show so long as they concerned himself, all those measures he had proposed concerning organization and division of duty and authority in the institution.

These measures were promptly adopted by the board, and Mr. Gallaudet's successor found himself clothed with all needful power, required only to perform such duties as were natural to his office as principal -- and these not of an exhausting character -- and in the receipt of a salary much larger than had ever been paid to Mr. Gallaudet.

That the directors of the institution, or the teachers, intended to do injustice to Mr. Gallaudet need not be charged at this late day, and it would probably be wrong to impute such motives to them. That he was unjustly, even cruelly, treated is evident from the record. It is known that he felt himself to have been so dealt with. But through all this bitter experience he broke no friendship, he accused no man of unworthy motives. He had, with wonderful energy, discretion and devotion, carried a great public work to a brilliant and substantial success, in consideration of which the least the directors could, in justice, have offered him would have been a year of absolute rest, that he might, if possible, regain the health which had broken down in their service.

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But it does not appear that this, or any such measure, was even suggested in the board, and it was left to Mr. Gallaudet to see that the consideration he had long deserved was bestowed on his successor.