1

LAURENT CLERC

(1785–1869)

The most influential deaf person in America during the first half of the nineteenth century was Laurent Clerc. With his intelligence, gentlemanly demeanor, sign language skills, and ability to read and write, Clerc gave living proof to the public that deaf individuals could be educated, and educated well. He came from France in 1816 to help found the first permanent school for deaf students in the United States, and taught there for over four decades. An excellent instructor and role model, Clerc had tremendous impact on his pupils, some of whom went on to become teachers, community leaders, and heads of other deaf schools. Deaf Americans linked Clerc with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and revered them both as their benefactors.

Louis Laurent Marie Clerc was born December 26, 1785, in LaBalme, France. He came from a genteel family; his father was a notary public and the village mayor. As Clerc explains in his autobiographical sketch, when he was one year old, he fell into a fireplace and burned his right cheek, leaving a permanent scar. His parents attributed his deafness and loss of smell to the accident. Clerc had no formal education until he was twelve, when he entered the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris. His first teacher was Jean Massieu, an accomplished deaf man who became his close friend. He was also taught by the school’s director, Abbé Roch Ambroise Sicard. Clerc completed his studies in eight years and proved himself brilliant. He became a tutor at the school, and later began teaching the highest class.

In 1808, Clerc had the opportunity to go to St. Petersburg, Russia, to help run a new school for deaf students. The proposed director of the school, Jean-Baptiste Jauffret, knew little of deaf people or sign language, so Clerc urged Sicard to let him accompany Jauffret to Russia. To Clerc’s elation, Sicard agreed. However, the Russians provided funds for only one person, and Clerc reluctantly gave up the idea. Little did he know that he would get another chance to spread deaf education to a different land.

During the political upheaval in 1815 due to Napoleon’s return to France, Sicard took Massieu and Clerc to London, where they gave exhibitions to publicize the school’s teaching methods. On July 10, 1815, one of the audience members was Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a hearing minister from Connecticut. Gallaudet had just arrived in England; a group of Hartford citizens had sent him to learn how to teach deaf students so he could establish a school. Gallaudet was impressed by the exhibition. In the spring of 1816, he visited the school in Paris and eventually invited Clerc to come back with him to the United States. The talented and ambitious Clerc saw that Gallaudet needed his assistance and was eager to help bring deaf education to the New World.

Clerc and Gallaudet sailed to America that summer. During the trip, Clerc tutored Gallaudet in sign language, while Gallaudet instructed Clerc in written English. Clerc studied assiduously, reading and keeping a journal. After drafting his daily entries, he would show them to Gallaudet, who made corrections. Clerc then wrote the amended text into his journal, which helps to explain why the version we have today is remarkably free of errors. After arriving in New York in August 1816, they spent the next seven months raising funds for their school. Using his newly-acquired English skills, Clerc wrote speeches for Gallaudet to read on his behalf to legislatures and civic groups. He also answered questions from the audiences; Gallaudet would sign the questions to him, and Clerc would write his answers on a chalkboard. Clerc’s wit and intelligence rarely failed to sway onlookers, and their efforts were successful. On April 15, 1817, they opened the “Connecticut Asylum, For the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons” (soon to become the American Asylum) in Hartford, with seven students.

Laurent Clerc (painting by Charles Wilson Peale), 1822

In January 1818, Clerc visited Congress with board member Henry Hudson to seek additional financial assistance for the school. Henry Clay, the speaker of the House, seated Clerc beside him, and during a recess Clerc conversed in writing with congressmen, in both French and English. The next day, Clerc visited President Monroe in the White House. His visits made an impression; in its 1819–20 session, Congress passed a bill granting land in Alabama to the school, and Monroe signed the bill into law. The land was subsequently sold for $300,000, enough to ensure the school’s long-term financial stability.

On May 3, 1818, Clerc married Eliza Boardman, one of his first students. The marriage was by all accounts happy, and it provided a new incentive for Clerc to stay in America. The couple had six children, all hearing; four survived infancy. One, Francis Joseph Clerc, later became well-known among deaf people as an advocate and Episcopal minister.

In 1821, Clerc went to Philadelphia for eight months to help the Pennsylvania Institution get underway. Otherwise, he continued teaching at the American Asylum. In 1830, Gallaudet resigned from his position as school principal, an event that saddened Clerc. In 1850, graduates of the Hartford school held a convocation to honor Clerc and Gallaudet (see chapter eight). After Gallaudet’s death in 1851, Clerc served as the president of an association to erect a monument in Gallaudet’s memory. This group led to the formation, in 1854, of the New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf, the first of many such deaf organizations. At the association’s first meeting, a member introduced a resolution stating that “the memory of Professor Clerc is cherished with profound gratitude and affection by all American deaf-mutes.” It was adopted unanimously.

After teaching over half a century in France and America, Clerc retired in 1858 at age seventy-three. He spent his retirement quietly in Hartford. In 1864, he gave a presentation at the inauguration of the National Deaf-Mute College (see chapter ten). He received an honorary degree from Trinity College in Hartford, as well as citations from Dartmouth College and the University of Lyons. He died on July 18, 1869, shortly after celebrating his golden wedding anniversary with his wife. In 1874, grateful deaf Americans unveiled a monument to Clerc at the American Asylum. Its inscription calls him “The Apostle to the Deaf-Mutes of the New World … who left his native land to uplift them with his teachings and encourage them by his example.”

The selections here are mostly his early writings. His later speeches appear in part two.

Journal during Voyage from France to America

The following excerpts are from the journal Clerc kept during his fifty-two-day trip to the United States in 1816. In a brief notice at the beginning, Clerc writes that the work is “a Recital of all that I have done and seen, since my departure from Havre till my arrival in New York. I warn the Reader who may read this relation, that I have not written it for him, but for myself, and particularly to exercise and perfect myself in the English Language.”

[Tuesday, June the 18th.] The ship named Mary-Augusta, the provisions all being ready in the morning of Tuesday the 18th of June 1816, we waited for nothing but the high water to take our departure. In fine, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the tide having risen, we left Havre, a pretty little City of France, surrounded by a crowd of spectators. The persons who knew us wished us a happy voyage and good health. We were in number six passengers without counting the Captain, whose name was Mr. Hall, and twelve strong and skillful sailors.

Friday, June the 21st. After breakfast, M. Gallaudet desiring to encourage me to learn good English, suggested to me the thought of writing this journal, and it is in consequence of his advice that I do it. I began it therefore on the spot and I wrote my diary of the 18th of June, which busied me all the day. It was a long time for so small a matter, but if you deign to consider that I was obliged, every moment, to seek in my dictionary the words which I did not understand, you would say of it, I am sure, that I could not do it more quickly. When I finished my first day, I presented it to Mr. Gallaudet, praying him to correct it. He did it with his ordinary kindness. Afterwards I wrote my work fair in my stitched book.

Saturday, June the 22nd. I passed all the morning up on deck to write my diary of the preceding days, and all the evening to talk with M. Gallaudet, who, at my request, gave me the description of an American dinner, of a marriage, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of that country; so that in arriving thither I may be familiar with them, and that the people may take me for a true American citizen and not for a stranger. This long conversation all amusing and interesting as it was, did not fail to fatigue us a little.

Wednesday, June the 26th. The whole day was bad, the weather always windy, the sea always agitated, the wind always contrary, so that we made but little way. My friend M. Gallaudet always indisposed, and all my companions melancholy. Indeed, all that were well were wearisome. Moreover, how much we wished to be in New York, but we ought to have patience. …

I talked a little with M. Wilder. We spoke at first of Proctor1 and afterwards of marriage. He asked me if I should like to marry a deaf and dumb lady, handsome, young, virtuous, pious and amiable. I answered him that it would give me much pleasure but that a deaf and dumb gentleman and a lady suffering the same misfortune could not be companions for each other, and that consequently a lady endowed with the sense of hearing and with the gift of speech was and ought to be preferable and indispensable to a deaf and dumb person.2 Mr. Wilder replied nothing, but I am sure that he found my argument just.

Thursday, June the 27th. Conversation Between M. Gallaudet and Myself

M.Gallaudet: At what age do you think it will be best to admit the deaf and dumb into our institution?

I:You can admit at all ages those who will pay their board, because they will be able to remain there as long as they may wish. For those who may be at the expense of the Government, I think that it will be best not to admit them, except at ten years of age.

I:How long a time do you think that the Government will grant to the deaf and dumb persons who may be at its expense?

[Gallaudet]: I shall endeavor to have them continue 7 or 8 years. The children of the rich can stay longer. I shall write some few directions for parents who have deaf and dumb children, that they may teach them the alphabet and the names of material things before they come to us. What do you think of this? I mean for such as cannot be sent to us when young.

I:But if the children are ten years of age, the parents can send them immediately. If, on the contrary, the children are too young, that is, if they are 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 years of age, what you have just said will produce a good effect.

Saturday, June 29th. I presented my blotted paper to him with the same fearfulness which a scholar feels when he shows his lesson to his master. In correcting my English, M. Gallaudet told me that I began to make fewer faults than formerly, and that if I continued to apply myself faithfully, in a short time I should not make any more.

Tuesday, July the 2nd. I have forgotten to say in the beginning of my journal that we have in our ship different species of living animals for our daily nourishment, among which are six hogs, several ducks and several cocks and hens. We have also some canary birds to tickle the ears of the passengers by the agreeable sound of their singing. Ah well!! After dinner I was told that one was now going to kill a hog. In truth, I saw two strong sailors seize the poor animal by his feet, throw him down and thrust a large knife in his neck. The blood flew and gushed—such a spectacle caused too much pain.

Wednesday, July the 3rd. I … relaxed my mind in talking a moment with M. Cowperthwaite:

M. Cowperthwaite: How long do you expect to stay in America, should you be so fortunate as to arrive there safely?

Answer: I hope to stay there three years. Then I shall return to France.3 The time hangs heavy upon me here. I wish much to arrive at New York.

M. Cowperthwaite: How long have you been studying the English language?

Answer: I knew almost nothing before my departure from Havre. I had neglected to learn English when I went to London.

M. Cowperthwaite: I have seen your journal and I think that you make great progress. You have a very good instructor in M. Gallaudet.

Friday, July the 19th. Fair weather, a calm and peaceful sea, but not a breath of wind and consequently not the least progress. …

Thursday, August the 8th. Oh, great joy among us all! We are told that we are approaching America that if the wind continues we shall be in sight of New York in two days at latest. May God grant that this hope may be realized! But whatsoever He may please to command, we are all disposed to resign ourselves to His orders, and whatsoever may happen, I shall mention it tomorrow.

The end.

First Speech in America

In early September 1816, Clerc, Gallaudet, and Mason Cogswell (Alice’s father) traveled to Boston to seek financial support for the proposed school. Clerc wrote the following address, which was read to an audience of civic leaders at the courthouse. He composed this speech just months after he began to study English seriously.

Gentlemen—you know the motive which has led me to the United States of America. The public papers have taught you it; but you do not yet know, I believe, the reason why I have come to Boston with Mr. Gallaudet and Dr. Cogswell, and why we have invited you to honor this meeting with your presence.

It is to speak to you more conveniently of the deaf and dumb, of those unfortunate beings who, deprived of the sense of hearing and consequently of that of speech, would be condemned all their life to the most sad vegetation if nobody came to their succor, but who entrusted to our regenerative hands, will pass from the class of brutes to the class of men.

It is to affect your hearts with regard to their unhappy state, to excite the sensibility and solicit the charity of your generous souls in their favor; respectfully to entreat you to occupy yourselves in promoting their future happiness. …

I was about twelve years old when I arrived at the Abbé Sicard’s school. I was endowed with considerable intelligence, but nevertheless I had no idea of intellectual things. I had it is true a mind, but it did not think; I had a heart, but it did not feel.4

My mother, affected at my misfortune, had endeavored to show me the heavens and to make me know God, imagining that I understood her, but her attempts were vain; I could comprehend nothing. I believed that God was a tall, big and strong man, and that Jesus Christ having come to kill us, had been killed by us, and placed on a cross as one of our triumphs.

I believed many other droll and ridiculous things; but as one cannot recollect what passed in his infancy, I cannot describe them. I am sure that the deaf and dumb who are in your country, think as I once did. You must be so kind as to aid us to undeceive them. We shall cultivate their minds and form their hearts; but as the mind and heart cannot live without the body, you will have the goodness to charge yourselves, with your other countrymen, with the support of their bodies. In Europe, each nation, however small, has an institution for the deaf and dumb, and most of these institutions are at the expense of the government. Will America remain the only nation which is insensible to the cry of humanity?5 I hope not, gentlemen; I hope that you will busy yourselves with the same zeal as your neighbors, the good inhabitants of Connecticut. If the deaf and dumb become happy, it will be your joy to see that it is the effect of your generosity, and they will preserve the remembrance of it as long as they live, and your reward will be heaven.

Responding to Questions from the Audience

In November 1816, Clerc and Gallaudet traveled to Albany, New York, to raise funds for the proposed school for deaf students. Clerc gave a short address in the capitol to legislators, prominent citizens, and people from all over the state. Afterwards they asked him many questions. Gallaudet translated these into sign language, and Clerc wrote his answers upon a chalkboard.

Q:What is truth?

A:It is the conformity of an action with its fact, of what we say with what we have seen, or heard, or learned.

Q:How would you communicate the knowledge of God to a person deaf and dumb?

A:First, we will give them the knowledge of sensible objects, then pass to intellectual, and thence to the Supreme intelligence.

Q:What is the difference between religion and morality?

A:Religion is belief that there is a God in the world, and all the worship due to him. Morality has reference to manners & contains whatever is due from man to man, and whatever is enjoined by human laws & such as gain human esteem.

Q:Is there any universal language founded upon the principles of human nature? If so in your opinion, what is it?

A:The language of signs is universal, and as simple as nature herself. I think those who can gesticulate can be understood everywhere they go.6

Q:What is the difference in the manners and habits of the people of this country and those of the French people?

A:Your manners and habits seem to me more regular and simple, and consequently more salutary. Those of the French, though less regular and less constant, are nevertheless more elegant and polite, but you improve more and more every day and I hope you will be quite equal to them in a few years.

[Editor’s Note: At a similar meeting in Philadelphia, more questions were asked.]

Q:By what means do you judge whether the operations of your mind are similar to those of persons who can hear and speak?

A:I can express my own ideas by writing, and as what I write is what you speak, I can judge that I possess the same faculties of mind as you do.7

Q:What are your ideas of music, and of sound in general?

A:I have no accurate idea of everything which relates to the sense of hearing, but if I may judge from what I have been told & what I have read, I may say that music is a concert of various sounds, emanated either from the voice or from some instrument, and which form a most agreeable harmony for the persons endowed with the sense of hearing. Sound is the feeling of the organs of hearing struck and moved by the agitation of clinking bodies, and which are causing an agreeable or disagreeable sensation on the ear.

Address to the Connecticut Legislature

On May 28, 1818, Clerc and Gallaudet conducted a public exhibition of their students before the governor of Connecticut, both houses of the state legislature, and various citizens. Clerc prepared an address that Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet read to the audience. An edited version appears below.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The kind concern which you were pleased to take in our public exhibition of last year, and the wish which you have had the goodness to express, to see it renewed, have induced me to comply with the request of the Directors of the Asylum, to deliver this address. …

The language of signs … ought to fix the attention of every enlightened man who makes it his study to improve the various parts of public instruction; this language, as simple as nature, is capable of extending itself like her, and of attaining the farthest limits of human thought.8 This language of signs is universal, and the Deaf and Dumb of whatever country they may be, can understand each other as well as you who hear and speak, do among yourselves. But they cannot understand you: it is for this reason that we wish to instruct them, that they may converse with you by writing, in the room of speech, and know the truths and mysteries of religion. … The arts and sciences belong to the mass of physical or intellectual objects; and the Deaf and Dumb, like men gifted with all their senses, may penetrate them according to the degree of intelligence which nature has granted them, as soon as they have reached the degree of instruction which Mr. Sicard’s system of teaching, embraces and affords.

Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you will take the pains of reflecting ever so little upon the excessive difficulties which this mode of instruction presents, without cessation, you will not believe, as many people in this country do, that a few years are sufficient in order that a Deaf and Dumb person may be restored to society, and so acquainted with religion as to partake of it with benefit, and to render an account to himself of the reasons of his faith. You will notice that the language of any people cannot be the mother tongue of the Deaf and Dumb, born amidst these people. Every spoken language is necessarily a learned language for these unfortunate Beings.9 The English language must be taught to the Deaf and Dumb, as the Greek or Latin is taught in the Colleges to the young Americans who attend the classes of this kind. Now, will you, Ladies and Gentlemen, give yourselves the trouble of interrogating the professors of the Colleges, and asking them the time required to put a pupil in a state to understand fully the Greek and Latin authors, and to write their thoughts in either of these languages, so as to make them understood by those who would speak these languages, then you would agree with me that the Greek or Latin would not be more difficult to be taught to the Deaf and Dumb, than the English; and yet to teach the Greek and Latin in colleges, the professors and pupils have, for a means of comparison, a language at hand, an acquired language, a mother tongue, which is the English language, in which they have learned to think: whereas the unfortunate Deaf and Dumb, in order to learn English, have not any language with which to compare it, nor any language in which they may have had the habit of thinking. These unfortunate have for their native language but a few gestures, to express their usual wants, and the most familiar actions of life. … I have the pleasure to inform you that the Deaf and Dumb of this country have very good natural talents, a great facility, and an unusual ardor in learning, and an intensity of application, which we have rather to moderate than to excite. …10 From five to seven years only is the time we wish they may pass with us (especially if they come to the Asylum young), that they may truly improve in all the common branches of useful knowledge, after so painful and so hard a course of study, and that their teachers may see with satisfaction, that they have not sowed on the sand.

What must I think of the vain presage which some people draw from certain accidents, purely fortuitous! I compare these birds of good or bad augury, who imagine that the sight of Deaf and Dumb persons multiply them,11 with those weak minds who fear beginning a journey on a Friday, or who believe that the meeting of a weasel, the overthrowing of a salt-box, and the salt spread on the table, bring an ill-luck; or who fear hobgoblins, or who say that when there are thirteen persons at table, one of them is to die in the course of the year!

Every creature, every work of God, is admirably well made; but if any one appears imperfect in our eyes, it does not belong to us to criticize it. Perhaps that which we do not find right in its kind, turns to our advantage without being able to perceive it.12 Let us look at the state of the heavens, one while the sun shines, another time it does not appear; now the weather is fine; again it is unpleasant; one day is hot, another is cold; another time it is rainy, snowy or cloudy; every thing is variable and inconstant. Let us look at the surface of the earth: here the ground is flat; there it is hilly and mountainous; in other place it is sandy; in others it is barren; and elsewhere it is productive. Let us, in thought, go into an orchard or forest. What do we see? Trees high or low, large or small, upright or crooked, fruitful or unfruitful. Let us look at the birds of the air, and at the fishes of the sea, nothing resembles another thing. Let us look at the beasts. We see among the same kinds some of the different forms, of different dimensions, domestic or wild, harmless or ferocious, useful or useless, pleasing or hideous. Some are bred for men’s sakes; some for their own pleasures and amusements; some are of no use to us. There are faults in their organization as well as in that of men. Those who are acquainted with the veterinary art know this well: but as for us who have not made a study of this science, we seem not to discover or remark these faults. Let us now come to ourselves. Our intellectual faculties as well as our corporeal organization have their imperfections. There are faculties both of the mind and heart, which education improve; there are others which it does not correct. I class in this number idiotism, imbecility, dullness. But nothing can correct the infirmities of the bodily organization, such as deafness, blindness, lameness, palsy, crookedness, ugliness. The sight of a beautiful person does not make another so likewise, a blind person does not render another blind. Why then should a deaf person make others so also: Why are we Deaf and Dumb? Is it from the difference of our ears? But our ears are like yours, is it that there may be some infirmity? But they are as well organized as yours. Why then are we Deaf and Dumb? I do not know, as you do not know why there are infirmities in your bodies, nor why there are among the human kind, white, black, red and yellow men. The Deaf and Dumb are everywhere, in Asia, in Africa, as well as in Europe and America. They existed before you spoke of them and before you saw them. I have read, in a certain account of Turkey, that the great Sultan knowing not what to do with the Deaf and Dumb of his empire, employed the most intelligent among them in playing pantomime before his Highness. The forty-two Deaf and Dumb, who are here present, except four or six, had never seen each other besides themselves.13 Their parents probably imagined the same. It is not then the sight of them which can have produced them. I think our deafness proceeds from an act of Providence, I would say, from the will of God, and does it imply that the Deaf and Dumb are worse than other men? Perhaps if we heard, we might have heard much evil, and perhaps blasphemed the holy name of our Creator, and of course hazarded the loss of our soul when departing this life. We therefore cannot but thank God for having made us Deaf and Dumb, hoping that in the future world, the reason of this may be explained to us all.

The Bible, however, says that the doors of Heaven will be opened to no one, unless he has fulfilled the conditions imposed by Jesus Christ. If then, when the uneducated Deaf and Dumb appear before the supreme tribunal, they are found not to have fulfilled these conditions, they may plead: “Lord, we wished to learn to know you and to do what you had ordered; but it did not depend upon us. Our mind was buried in the deepest darkness, and no man raised or contributed to raise the veil which covered it, although it was in his power!”14 But let us hope, Ladies and Gentlemen, that this will not be the case. You are at peace with all the powers of Europe, and nothing abroad requires any sacrifice of your finances. May this happy state of things, therefore, while it permits you to improve the agriculture and manufactures of your country, allow you at the same time to improve the welfare of some hundred individuals among your fellow-citizens! Doubtless you ought to use a wise economy in the distribution of the succor, for which the unfortunate sue from the national equity; doubtless you ought to refuse your charity to any establishment which, soliciting benevolence, would be a servant rather to pride than to humanity; doubtless you would have deserved well of your country by stopping with firmness, the first impulses of the sensibility of those among you who are ready to yield to pageantry and magnificence, that which ought to be granted only to the most urgent needs. But are these truths applicable to an establishment of a nature like ours? I believe I can deny it. About one hundred Deaf and Dumb [live] in the State of Connecticut, included in the two thousand spread over all parts of the United States, the greatest portion of whom are born in the bottom of indigence, and reduced to the most miserable condition, all deprived of the charms of society, all unacquainted with the benefit of religion, all more to be pitied than those who are bound by pure instinct, and holding nothing from man but the faculty of more lively feeling, ought they then to be still longer neglected, eternally forgotten! They suspect, doubtless, all the extent of the deprivation they experience; every day they lament their unhappiness; but this is invisible, and the comfortable voice of reason neither comes to soften the rigor of their fate, nor alleviate the weight of their misfortune. Yet do not they form, like yourselves, a part of human kind? Are not the unhappy authors of their existence, Americans like yourselves? On account of having not penetrated our benevolent views, some persons, instead of casting a kind look upon those poor Beings, rose against our project, but we are persuaded that their hearts belied their attempt, and that even at the moment in which they thought of opening their lips to remove from the great human family, Beings whom every thing commands you to introduce therein, their arms were involuntarily opened to carry them back to it.

An uneducated Deaf and Dumb is a natural man who attributes the whole good which he sees others do, to the personal interest which governs them; who supposes in others, all the vices which he finds in his own soul. Often prone to suspicion, he exaggerates the evil which he sees, and fears always to be the victim of those who are stronger than himself.

While casting your eyes on so afflicting a picture, do you not, Ladies and Gentlemen, feel a strong wish, that the art of instructing Beings as unhappy as the Deaf and Dumb, may receive all possible encouragement? Ah! what among the branches of your knowledge deserves more to interest Government and literary bodies of men, devoted by their profession, to patronize all that can render men better and happier.

One institution for them, in New England, would produce the most satisfactory result, and answer all your future expectations. In coming, thus, to lay our pretensions before so enlightened an assembly as this, we have not suffered ourselves to disguise the fact, that we should have for judges, persons to be regarded for their various and extensive information; but the desire of en riching our method of instruction with your observation has surmounted the fears which we had, at first, conceived. And we presume to reckon the more on your indulgence, as the progress of our pupils, which you are about to witness, are the fruits of only one year’s labor, and of the most constant and assiduous application.

Letter to Frederick A. P. Barnard

In 1835, Frederick A. P. Barnard wrote to Clerc asking some complex questions about deafness, language, and psychology. Only twenty-six years old, Barnard had become interested in deafness several years before, when he began losing his hearing while an undergraduate at Yale College.15 Clerc wrote the following response.

Dear Sir,

I received your letter just a week ago. Sickness in two members of my family, Mrs. C. & Elizabeth,16 impelled me to lay it aside till the state of their health became less alarming. Now I am happy to say that they both appear to be out of danger, and I will not delay the answer which you so much desire. …

I will … confine myself to answer the questions in your letter, viz:

Q:Do you habitually think in English, in French, or in the language of action?

A:I habitually think in English, and that, in the order of words in the English language. The reason is that being in a country where the language is daily spoken, I have acquired this habit. n.b. I habitually thought in French before I knew English and since I knew English, I continued for three or four years to think in French while writing in English or spelling on the fingers; that is, I translated French thoughts into English. Afterwards, I gradually acquired the habit of thinking in English, although I occasionally had recourse to the French to assist me.

Q:Can you, at will, adopt either of these modes of thoughts?

A:Yes, certainly—but separately & not at once.

Q:Do you find that you are able to think more clearly or more rapidly & more satisfactorily by means of signs than by that of words?

A:By means of signs. The reason is that I have plenty of signs at my command to express whatever I think, whereas I want words to describe it. I can then say with propriety that I want words to express signs, as you sometimes want words to express or describe feelings of gratitude, admiration, wonder or horror.17

Q:Do you learn to see words before you when you employ them as the instrument of thought, & if so, how? As written, printed, or spelled on the fingers?

A:I do not always find words ready, but in general I seem to see them before me. As soon as I have sought them in my mind, in order to employ them, they usually present themselves as written, when I take up paper, or printed, when I open a book, but never as spelled on the fingers.

Q:Does your habit of thought accommodate itself to the circumstances in which you imagine yourself placed, & the individual with whom you think of conversing; that is: Do you think in signs when you imagine yourself before your deaf, & in words when you seem to be holding conversation with some servant?

A:Generally my habit of thought does accommodate itself very readily, for when before my class, this idea which I have that they are deaf & dumb like myself, immediately leads me to think in signs if I have any thing to tell them in this way, & in words if it be my wish to have them put it in written language; and when before some servant with whom I am going to hold conversation, I usually think in words. I could not do otherwise.

I am afraid, my dear sir, that I have misunderstood some of your questions, & am aware that I have not exactly answered your expectations; but this is so puzzling a subject, that I am glad to dismiss it and to refer you to any other D[eaf] & D[umb] opinions more deeply versed in the sciences of metaphysics and logic than is yours truly.

LC

Autobiographical Sketch

In 1851, Clerc was asked to write a brief account of his life for inclusion in a book honoring Gallaudet, who had recently died. Clerc produced the following narrative.

I was born in LaBalme, Canton of Cremieu, Department of Isoro, on the 26th of December, 1785. The village of LaBalme lies twenty-six miles east of Lyons, on the east side of the Rhône, and is noted for its grotto, called “Latrottee de Notre Dame de la Balme.” My father, Joseph Francis Clerc, a notary public by profession, was the mayor of the place from 1780 to 1814. My mother, Elizabeth Candy, was the daughter of Mr. Candy, of Cremieu, also a notary public. My father died in April, 1816, and my mother in May, 1818.

When I was about a year old, I was left alone for a few moments on a chair by the fireside, and it happened, I know not how, that I fell into the fire, and so badly burned my right cheek that the scar of it is still visible; and my parents were under the impression that this accident deprived me of my senses of hearing and smelling. When I was seven years, my mother hearing that a certain physician in Lyons could cure deafness, took me thither. The doctor, after examining my ears, said he thought he could make me hear, provided I would call at his office twice a day for a fortnight. My mother agreed to take me, so we called regularly every day and the doctor injected into my ears I do not know what liquids, but I did not derive any benefit whatever from the operation. And at the expiration of the fortnight, I returned home with my mother still as deaf as I was before.

I passed my childhood at home, in doing nothing but running about and playing with other children. I sometimes drove my mother’s turkeys to the field or her cows to pasture, and occasionally my father’s horse to the watering place. I was never taught to write or to form the letters of the alphabet; nor did I ever go to school; for there were no such school-houses or academies in our villages as we see everywhere in New England.

At the age of about twelve, that is, in 1797, my father being unable to absent himself from home on account of the duties of his office, at his earnest request, my uncle, Laurent Clerc, took me to Paris, and the next day I was placed in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. I did not see the Abbé Sicard, but I learned afterward that he was in prison for a political offense.18 Mr. Massieu, deaf and dumb like myself, was my first teacher, and when the Abbé Sicard was set at liberty and had resumed the superintendence of the Institution, he took me into his class, and I was with him ever after.

Out of school hours, the Abbé Margaron, one of the assistant teachers, taught me to articulate together with a few other pupils. We learned to articulate pretty well all the letters of the alphabet, and many words of one and two or three syllables; but I had much difficulty to pronounce da and la, de and do and to, &c., and although Mr. Margaron made me repeat these words again and again, I succeeded no better. One day he became so impatient, and gave me so violent a blow under my chin, that I bit my tongue, and I felt so chagrined that I would try to learn to speak no longer.19

I applied myself to other things. I learned to draw and to compose in the printing office of the Institution till 1805, when I was employed as a tutor on trial, and in 1806 appointed a teacher with a salary of about two hundred dollars. In process of time, Mr. Sicard thought me capable of teaching the highest class, and I occupied that place when Mr. Gallaudet came to Paris. …

It was at the close of one of our public lectures that Mr. Gallaudet was introduced to me for the first time by Mr. Sicard, to whom he had previously been introduced by a member of parliament. We cordially shook hands with him, and on being told who he was, where he came from, and for what purpose, and on being further informed of the ill success of his mission in England, we earnestly invited him to come to Paris, assuring him that every facility would be afforded him to see our Institution and attend our daily lessons. He accepted the invitation, and said he would come in the ensuing spring. We did not see him any more, as we left London soon afterward. In the spring of 1816, according to his promise, he came to Paris, and glad were we to see him again. He visited our Institution almost every day. He began by attending the lowest class, and from class to class, he came to mine which, as mentioned above, was the highest. I had, therefore, a good opportunity of seeing and conversing with him often, and the more I saw him, the more I liked him; his countenance and manners pleased me greatly. He frequented my school-room, and one day requested me to give him private lessons of an hour every day. I could receive him but three times a week, in my room upstairs in the afternoon, and he came with punctuality, so great was his desire of acquiring the knowledge of the language of signs in the shortest time possible. I told him, nevertheless, that however diligent he might be, it would require at least six months to get a tolerably good knowledge of signs, and a year for the method of instruction so as to be well qualified to teach thoroughly. He said he feared it would not be in his power to stay so long, and that he would reflect, and give me his final decision by and by. In the mean time, he continued coming to receive his lesson, and we spoke no more of “how long he would stay” till the middle of May, when taking a favorable opinion, he intimated to me that he wished very much he could obtain a well educated deaf and dumb young man to accompany him to America. I named two young deaf and dumb men who had left our Institution a few years since, that I know would suit him, as they both had some knowledge of the English language, whereas I had none at all; but he answered that he had already made his choice, and that I was the person he preferred. Greatly astonished was I, for I had not the least expectation that I should be thought of. After a short pause, I said I would not hesitate to go if I could do it properly. I suggested to him the idea of speaking or writing to the Abbé Sicard on the subject, as I considered myself engaged to the Abbé. He said he would write, and accordingly wrote; but although his letter was never answered, we both inferred that Mr. Sicard’s silence was rather favorable than otherwise. But in order to ascertain his views, I was requested to sound him. Accordingly I called and inquired in the most respectful manner whether he had received Mr. G’s letter, and if so, what answer he had returned. I received but an evasive answer to my question; for he abruptly asked me why I wished to part with him. My reply was simply this, that I could without much inconvenience leave him for a few years without loving him the less for it, and that I had a great desire to see the world, and especially to make my unfortunate fellow-being on the other side of the Atlantic, participate in the same benefits of education that I had myself received from him. He seemed to appreciate my feelings; for after some further discussions on both sides, he finished by saying that he would give his consent, provided I also obtained the consent of my mother, my father being dead. I said I would ask her, if he would permit me to go home. He said I might. Accordingly I made my preparations and started for Lyons on the 1st of June, after having promised Mr. Gallaudet to return a few days before the appointed time for our voyage. I thought I was going to agreeably surprise my dear mother, for she never imagined, poor woman, that I could come to see her, except during my vacation, which usually took place in September; but I was myself much more surprised when, on my arrival, she told me she knew what I had come for, and on my inquiring what it was she handed me a letter she had received from Mr. Sicard the preceding day. On reading it, I found that the good Abbé Sicard had altered his mind, and written to dissuade my mother from giving her consent; saying he “could not spare me!” Accordingly my mother urged me hard to stay in France, but to no purpose, for I told her that my resolution was taken, and that nothing could make me change it. She gave her consent with much reluctance, and said she would pray God every day for my safety, through the intercession of La Sainte Vierge. I bade herself, my brother and sisters and friends, adieu, and was back in Paris on the 12th of June, and the next day, after having taken an affectionate leave of the good Abbé Sicard, who had been like a father to me, I went also to bid my pupils good-by, and there took place a painful scene I can never forget. A favorite pupil of mine, the young Polish Count Alexander de Machwitz, a natural son of the Emperor Alexander,20 whom I knew to be much attached to me, came over to me and with tears in his eyes, took hold of me, saying he would not let me depart, scolding me, at the same time, for having so long kept a secret my intention to go away. I apologized as well as I could, assuring him that I had done so because I thought it best. However, he still held me so fast in his arms, so that I had to struggle to disentangle myself from him, and having floored him without hurting him, I made my exit, and the day following, the 14th of June, I was en route for Havre, with Mr. Gallaudet and our much honored friend, S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., who, I am happy to say, is still alive, and now resides some where in Greenwich, in this state. On the 18th of June, in the afternoon, we embarked on board the ship Mary Augusta, Captain Hall, and arrived at New York on the 9th of August, 1810, in the morning.

Owing to adverse winds and frequent calms which usually occur at sea in the summer season, our passage lasted fifty-two days. It was rather long, but on the whole, the voyage was pleasant. A part of our time on board was usefully employed. I taught Mr. Gallaudet the method of the signs for abstract ideas, and he taught me the English language. I wrote my journal, and as I thought in French rather than in English, I made several laughable mistakes in the construction of my sentences, which he corrected; so that being thus daily occupied, I did not find the time to fall very heavily upon me. We formed plans for the success of the institution we were going to establish; we made arrangements for the journeys we expected to undertake for the collection of funds; we reformed certain signs which we thought would not well suit American manners and customs.

The weather was fair when we landed. Our first stops were directed to the store of Messrs. Wilder & Co., in Pearl street, thence to the customhouse, and thence we proceeded to the house of Mr. Gallaudet’s father, in John street. I anticipated much pleasure in witnessing his joy at again seeing his parents, brothers and sisters after so long an absence; but I must acknowledge that I was rather disappointed; for I did not see any greater demonstration of welcome on both sides than the mere shaking of hands; little was I aware, at that time, of the difference between the French and American mode of saluting, especially with respect to the ladies. We stayed about ten days in New York. We met, or rather we called on several gentlemen of Mr. Gallaudet’s acquaintance, who gave me a cordial welcome to America.

My first impression of the city was admiration of Broadway which appeared to me to be the finest street in the world, and my astonishment was great at seeing so much bustle in the streets, people in so great a hurry and walking so fast.

My second impression was the wearisomeness which the uniformity produced. Men, streets, squares, buildings, every thing was alike; all looked well, nothing appeared magnificent. I noticed neatness without elegance, riches without taste, beauty without gracefulness. I found that the happiness of the Americans was at their firesides with their wives, children and friends. They had few amusements, few spectacles and very few sublime objects capable of arresting the attention of a European; and such a one could not easily appreciate the extent of the private happiness of a people who were secure and not poor.

At length, we left New York for New Haven, where we made a short tarry, which I wished had been much longer; for I found it a delightful place. We called on President Dwight and some of the professors, who welcomed us.21 We visited the college, the library and chapel. The next day, it being very pleasant, we took the stage for Hartford, where we arrived in the afternoon of the 22nd of August, 1810. We alighted at Dr. Cogswell’s in Prospect street.22 We found Mrs. Cogswell alone at home with her daughters, excepting Alice, who was then at school under Miss Lydia Huntley (now Mrs. Sigourney, our lovely poetess).23 She was immediately sent for, and when she made her appearance, I beheld a very interesting little girl. She had one of the most intelligent countenances I ever saw. I was much pleased with her. We conversed by signs, and we understood each other very well; so true is it, as I have often mentioned before, that the language of signs is universal and as simple as nature.24 I had left many persons and objects in France endeared to me by association, and America, at first, seemed uninteresting and monotonous, and I sometimes regretted leaving my native land; but on seeing Alice, I had only to recur to the object which had induced me to seek these shores, to contemplate the good we were going to do, and sadness was subdued by an approving conscience. …

On the 15th of April, 1817, our school was opened with seven pupils, in the south part of the building now the City Hotel, and on the 20th, Mr. Gallaudet delivered an appropriate sermon on the occasion in the Rev. Dr. Strong’s church.25 In January, 1818, I visited Washington [D.C.] with the late Mr. Henry Hudson, to ascertain whether we could hope to obtain something from Congress for our Asylum. I attended the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Henry Clay, who was the speaker, politely offered me a seat beside him.26 There was a recess of half an hour, and I conversed with several members of Congress, both in English and French. Afterward I visited the Senate chamber. The next day I had the honor of being introduced to President Monroe27 at the White House, by Mr. Hyde de Neuville, the French ambassador, for whom I had a letter of recommendation from the Duke Mathieu de Montmorency.

The President received me with much affability and bade me “welcome to America,” and said among other things, that he hoped I would receive great honor and much gratitude by doing good to the deaf and dumb. I carefully preserved the paper containing our conversation, but have mislaid it. I attended one of the levees with the ambassador and Mr. Hudson, and holding a paper and pencil in my hands, I had the pleasure of conversing with gentlemen and ladies.

In the session of 1819–20, thanks to the exertions of both our Connecticut senators and representatives, Congress granted us a township located in the state of Alabama, and President Monroe, with the benevolence which characterized him, readily sanctioned the act with his signature. …

In 1830, Mr. Gallaudet resigned his situation as Principal, notwithstanding my supplications that he would not.28 We had been so intimate, so harmonious, so much attached to each other; we had labored together so many years; that I parted with him with unspeakable grief. …

L. Clerc

1. Perhaps the title of a book.

2. Since Clerc married Eliza Boardman, a deaf woman, two years later, his views on this subject would clearly change.

3. Again, Clerc would alter his plans. He remained in the United States the rest of his life, returning to France for visits on three occasions.

4. Clerc embellishes the facts to call attention to the momentous effect that education had upon him; of course he could think and feel before he attended school.

5. With this appeal to his audience’s national pride, Clerc sets a rhetorical example that subsequent deaf authors would follow.

6. Clerc’s assertion that sign language is universal is typical of this period. He and other commentators seemed to include basic gestures and mime, which are universally intelligible, in their definition of sign language. However, actual American Sign Language, like other signed languages, has its own vocabulary, syntax, and structure, and thus is not readily comprehensible. For more on the romanticization of sign language as universal, see Douglas Baynton, Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).

7. Clerc’s remark points to the crucial role that writing played in enabling deaf people to prove their intelligence and humanity to mainstream society.

8. In the preceding section, which does not appear here due to space limitations, Clerc had discussed the history of deaf education in France and the limits of oralism. On the purported universality of sign, see note 6, p. 12.

9. By telling the audience that spoken languages, even in written form, are necessarily foreign languages to congenitally deaf people, Clerc introduces a theme in evidence throughout this collection.

10. Clerc’s belief in deaf people’s capabilities challenges the conventional assumptions of the period. With the student exhibition following this address, he supported his claims with tangible evidence.

11. This superstition demonstrates how the schools helped to make deaf Americans more visible in society. When deaf people lived apart from each other, they were often hidden from view. Once they came together and signed in public, they became much more noticeable. Hearing observers must have wondered from where so many deaf people had suddenly appeared.

12. By suggesting that deafness could turn out to be an advantage, Clerc again questions traditional assumptions about deaf peoples’ inferiority.

13. An indication of how isolated many deaf Americans were before the advent of deaf education.

14. Clerc’s appeal to Christian charity conforms to the religious environment of the time. Like Gallaudet, he calls on citizens to support the American Asylum so deaf people can learn the Gospel and be saved. In this way, he presents the school not only as the site of education and socialization, but also of Christian redemption.

15. Since losing his hearing, Barnard had learned sign language, taught briefly at the New York Institution, and published articles on deaf education. He would go on to have a distinguished career, becoming a noted scientist, the president of the University of Mississippi, and, later, the president of Columbia University in New York City. As such, Barnard was the first deaf college president in America.

16. Clerc’s wife and daughter.

17. Clerc shows again that sign language, rather than written French or English, is his most effective means of communication.

18. The Abbé Roch Ambroise Sicard (1742–1822) was the director of the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris and Clerc’s teacher. Like many priests, he repeatedly had trouble with the French revolutionary government because he declined to take the oath of civil allegiance, which was required by the legislature but forbidden by the pope.

19. This moving anecdote helps further to explain Clerc’s ardent belief in sign language over oralism.

20. Czar Alexander I (1777–1825), the ruler of Russia, was deaf in one ear and, as he grew older, lost some hearing in the other. He had a long affair with the Princess Marie Antonova Naryshkina, who was born in Poland and lived in Russia as the wife of a prosperous prince. Naryshkina gave birth in 1803 and 1804; either of these children could have been the deaf student Clerc mentions here. However, scholars do not agree on whether these children were fathered by the czar or by one of Naryshkina’s other lovers, so we cannot confirm or deny Clerc’s claim that Count Machwitz was the czar’s natural son. See Harlan Lane, When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf (New York, Vintage, 1984), 156, 433 n. 2.

21. Timothy Dwight (1752–1822), a well-known clergyman, was then near the end of his twenty-two-year term as president of Yale University.

22. Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell (1761–1830) was a prominent surgeon and civic leader in Hartford whose daughter, Alice, was deaf. A strong supporter of deaf education, he developed a network of political and financial support to send Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to Europe and, later, to help found the American Asylum.

23. Lydia (Huntley) Sigourney (1791–1865) was Alice’s teacher in a public school while Gallaudet was in Europe learning about deaf education. She went on to become a popular poet, producing pious, sentimental verse that appealed to mid-nineteenth-century Americans. In 1853, she fondly recalled that Alice “was the darling of all.” She wrote, “I was indebted to her for a new idea, that the hand and eye possessed an eloquence which had been heretofore claimed as the exclusive privilege of the tongue.” See Lydia H. Sigourney, Letters to My Pupils: With Narrative and Biographical Sketches (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 251, 253.

24. Clerc presumably used a lot of pantomime and gestures to communicate with Alice, who of course did not know formal sign language at the time.

25. Dr. Nathan Strong, the minister of the Center Church in Hartford, had died shortly before, so Gallaudet preached to the crowded gathering. He spoke on the many potential benefits of the new school.

26. Henry Clay (1777–1852) was a leading member of Congress during much of the first half of the nineteenth century. Later, he visited the American Asylum in Hartford.

27. James Monroe (1758–1831) was president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He had met Clerc in 1817, when he visited the justopened American Asylum while on a tour of New England.

28. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787–1851), who suffered from illness throughout his life, apparently felt exhausted and unwell in 1830. He petitioned the school board for relief from daily teaching; when that request was denied, he resigned. He went on to write books on religion, help to found a women’s seminary, and minister to the mentally ill, among many other activities.