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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.