Note 185 — Chapter IX

Gallaudet remained at the head of the American Asylum, as it was then called, till 1828, when he resigned. He was engaged thereafter in various philanthropic activities, and was invited to lead in the work for the education of the blind, towards which attention was now being directed. Notwithstanding the impairment of his health, his different labors were continued, not the least of which was his office as chaplain of the Connecticut Asylum for the Insane. To Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet America owes a rare debt. Without him the work for the deaf would have been taken up eventually by other hands, but he brought to his task a disregard for obstacles, a splendid idealism, a fine conception of duty, a complete forgetfulness of self, a singular beauty of character, and a great human love that could have existed in but few other men.