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The next December forty pupils were reported as having been received during the year. Mr. Talbot was confronted with a large deficit hanging over the Institution. The board asked for $12,386 with which to liquidate this debt and carry the institution through the next year. It appears the legislature appropriated only $10,182, but by the careful management and judicious purchases of Mr. Talbot the indebtedness was paid, and all expenditures for the year were met and a balance was reported of $700. This report shows forty-one pupils present. In 1877 an amendment to the constitution changes the sessions of the legislature from annual to biennial. The next report appeared in 1878, and seventy-one pupils had been received during that time. In the summer of 1878, it will be remembered, the terrible epidemic of yellow fever visited this city, and the school was not opened till December. This is Mr. Talbot's last report, December, 1879. Before another biennial term passed, he tendered his resignation, to take effect March 1, 1881, and returned to his native State, where he has enjoyed the quiet and comfort of an elegant country home and indulged in the luxuriant abundance of a magnificent Kentucky blue-grass farm. Mr. Talbot was a Christian man of great force of character and splendid financial ability, and was successful in carrying the Institution through the most trying financial period of the State's history.

On January 10, 1881, Mr. J. R. Dobyns, the present incumbent, was elected to succeed Mr. Talbot, and entered upon his duties March 1 following.

During the biennial term ending December 31, 1881, there were received ninety-two pupils, and sixty-eight reported present at that time. In his report for 1880 and 1881, the superintendent recommended the introduction of articulation teaching, the teaching of trades, the purchase of more ground, and the erection of a school building, and provision for the education of colored deaf, all of which recommendations were adopted by the board and provided for by the legislature. The printing office was opened, and on April 1, 1882, the publication of the Deaf-Mute Voice was begun, which has continued, with the exception of a few months in the latter part of 1889 and the beginning of 1890. The teaching of articulation was begun in November, 1882, by Miss Mossie McGann, whose successful history of six years' teaching in this Institution and whose untimely death in 1889 are still fresh in the memory of the profession. The separate department for colored pupils was opened October 1, 1882, and has continued to grow during the ten years of its existence.

In December, 1883, an epidemic of typhoid fever prevailed in the Institution, and, continuing to grow more and more serious, the school was dismissed in March, 1884. Though there were many cases of the fever, there was but one death. The entire history of the Institution records only six deaths among the pupils while in school. There were under instruction in 1882 and 1883 eighty pupils, with seventy-nine present when the report for those years was made. During 1884 and 1885 there were enrolled one hundred and ten, with eighty present December 31, 1885.

About this time the De l'Epée Literary Society was organized for the pupils, and has continued its regular monthly meetings, much to the entertainment and profit of its members. In April, 1886, the Sixth Conference of Principals and Superintendents was held here, which became an important part of the history of this Institution. There were present at this Conference representatives from twenty-four States and two Provinces of Canada. This Conference was signalized as the "GALLAUDET CONFERENCE." in which was celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET, the founder of the education of the deaf in America.

The enrollment for the period covered by the report made in December, 1887, was ninety for 1886 and ninety-three for 1887, with seventy-six present at that writing. There were received in 1888 ninety-six, and in 1889 ninety-five, with eighty-four present at the close of that year. There were enrolled in 1890 one hundred, and in 1891 ninety-five, with eighty-two present when the report was made. There were received in 1892 ninety-one, and up to this writing, in 1893, ninety-three have been admitted. This Institution is supported entirely by appropriations made by the legislature and has never received a donation or bequest.

It is free to all the deaf of the State who cannot be taught in the public schools; the age of admission and time of remaining under instruction have been very wisely left to the discretion of the board of trustees. The course of study is about what is taught in the public schools of the State, and the average pupil who remains nine or ten sessions is well equipped for the battle of life. The combined system is the one in use. It is the constant aim of the management to supplement their education with some useful trade, so that they will go out into the world producers instead of consumers.