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Though continuing, while he remained principal, to have the entire daily charge of a class in the school, as required by the board, he exerted himself in many other directions, than in the rather narrow one of elementary teaching.

Demands for public addresses in aid of the cause of deaf-mute education were frequent, and were cheerfully responded to. Exhibitions of pupils before legislatures and to the general public had often to be given, and in them Mr. Gallaudet showed his great skill in enlisting the sympathy and co-operation of others.

These occasions brought him in contact with the leading men of his time, and though a drain upon his strength were congenial to his tastes.

Representatives of several states outside of New England appealed for counsel and aid in establishing schools for the deaf within their borders, and in meeting their applications much time and effort was expended by Mr. Gallaudet.

His services as a preacher were often sought to supply vacant pulpits, and in most of the organized public movements of the day his support and active co-operation were considered essential.

No man, however vigorous, could have led a life of such constant activity and involving so much of ever-present care and responsibility for many years without showing signs of breaking; and the wonder is that with so fragile a physique these signs did not sooner appear in Mr. Gallaudet.

He became painfully conscious during the latter part of 1829 that he was overtaxing his strength and felt that he must be relieved of some of his duties, or relinquish them altogether.

Up to this time he had taken little thought as to his pecuniary interests, accepting such compensation for his services in the institution as the directors saw fit to vote him. But the presence in his household by this time of three sons and two daughters led him to wonder how all the little mouths were to be fed, the bodies clothed and the minds instructed as time went on.

So almost for the first time since he had been in relations with his board of directors, now more than fourteen years, he asked their serious consideration of his personal affairs in a communication that-needs to be read entire to be fully understood.

Mr. Gallaudet, to the President and Directors, etc.

HARTFORD, January 11, 1830.

GENTLEMEN: -- I have been led, for several years past, seriously to consider, how much longer my health and strength would enable me to sustain the confinement and labor necessary for the daily instruction of a class, together with the performance of other duties, as principal, in the institution over the interests of which you preside.

While making known these sentiments from time to time to those more immediately connected with the management of the school, and especially to the instructors, I have perceived that the actual amount of time and of labor which I have been obliged to bestow from the commencement upon its internal and external concerns, in addition to that employed, in common with the other instructors, in the daily care of a class, has been but imperfectly understood; -- and, on this account, it has been thought by some rather unreasonable that I should propose, in anyway, to have my labors diminished.

As I still feel it to be a duty which I owe to myself and family, to state explicitly that I can not any longer undertake the daily instruction of a class, and thinking it not improbable that this may lead to the dissolution of my connection with the institution, I beg leave, gentlemen, to lay before you a brief statement of what labors I have sustained in the discharge of my various duties, since I have been in your employment. In this way I hope to satisfy you that, in my past wishes, and present determination not to be confined to the daily instruction of a class, I have been actuated only by those views and motives which should influence the conduct of every prudent man. I make this statement, as I know your candor will do me the justice to believe, not from the desire of vain-boasting, nor from a wish to induce you to think it would be for the interests of the school that my connection with it should be continued (for I am ever doubtful in my own mind whether this would be the case), but from that feeling which is common to us all, to show to our friends that we have not been wholly unreasonable in our plans and conduct. Such a statement, also, will, I think, not be without use, in presenting to the consideration of the directors some views with regard to both the internal and external concerns of the institution, and, especially, the duties which the principal, whoever he may be, ought to have abundant time allowed him to perform, that may, heretofore, have escaped their notice. Should the issue be, that you deem it best to have some other person occupy the station which I now hold, a decision in which I shall cheerfully acquiesce, I can not but urge the importance of" your affording him every needful facility for sustaining the responsibilities which he will assume, and every suitable encouragement for making this institution what it already aspires to be, one of the most useful and respectable in the world.