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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.