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Page 1: | | | | 1 | Acknowledgment
| | | | 2 | To Mr. Guy B. Holt of Hartford, great-great-grandson of Laurent
Clerc, we are indebted for this extremely interesting diary written by Laurent
Clerc on his initial voyage to our country from France in 1816. This diary has
been preserved in the Clerc family for five generations.
| | | | 3 | It may be surprising to our readers that Laurent Clerc was able to
master the English language in such short time, but a complete reading of
his diary will enable the reader to fully appreciate Clerc's wonderful intellect
and wide knowledge.
| | | | 4 | This diary also brings to light the wonderful companionship that
Thomas H. Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc entertained for each other.
| | | | 5 | It is truly a remarkable writing and should enthrall all who are
interested in the history of deaf education.
| | | | 6 | Printed at the American School for the Deaf
| | | | 7 | West Hartford, Connecticut
| | | | 8 | 1952
| | | | 9 | Laurent Clerc was born in La Balme, France, on the 26th of
December, 1785, to a family of superior lineage. His father, Joseph Francis
Clerc, a notary public profession, was the mayor of La Balme from 1780 to
1814. His mother, Elizabeth Candy was the daughter of Mr. Candy of Crimieu,
also a notary public.
| | | | 10 | It happened that when Laurent was about a year old, he was left
alone in a chair by the fireside, and fell into the fire, which, it is believed
resulted in the loss of the senses of hearing and smell. His right cheek was
burned so badly in this accident that a permanent scar remained. When
Laurent was seven years old, his mother, hearing that there was a certain
physician in Lyons, a city not far from La Balme, who could cure deafness,
took him there. Treatment was began immediately, but after two weeks of
daily injections of various liquids into the ear, Laurent returned home with
his mother still as deaf as before.
| | | | 11 | Laurent's early childhood was unexceptional, he indulged in the
usual pastimes of children. His formal education did not commence until he
was about twelve years old, when his uncle, Laurent Clerc, took him to Paris
and placed him in the Royal Institution for the Deaf, where, for most of the
eight years of his pupilage, he was under the personal instruction of the
Abbe Sicard. He was gifted with uncommon mental powers and soon
distinguished himself so well as a scholar that, upon completion of his
course of study, he was appointed an assistant teacher in the Institution. In
the process of time, the good Abbe, noting his ability, placed him in charge
of the highest class in the school.
| | | | 12 | During the political upheavel in France in the spring of 1815, the
Abbe Sicard, accompanied by his two teachers, Massieu and Clerc, journeyed
to London and gave several public lectures in that city, explaining his method
of teaching the deaf, which he illustrated by the attainments of the two deaf
teachers who had been his pupils. It so chanced that Thomas Hopkins
Gallaudet had been in London at that time and had attended one of these
public exhibitions. At the conclusion of the lecture he was introduced to the
Abbe Sicard and his assistants and was cordially invited to visit the
Institution at Paris. Dr. Gallaudet was quick to accept the invitation and in
the spring of 1816 journeyed to Paris.
| | | | 13 | Gallaudet was a daily visitor at the school and began by attending
the lowest class and progressing upward until he came to the highest class which was in charge of Clerc. Clerc had, therefore, a great
opportunity to see him often and to converse with him and they soon became
good friends. Gallaudet was very anxious to learn the sign language and the
methods of teaching employed by Clerc, but the latter informed him that it
would take at least six months to acquire a tolerable amount of signs, and a
year of method's study before he would be qualified to teach. Dr. Gallaudet
was most impatient to be back in America to carry on his work, so at his
earnest request, Mr. Clerc who had meantime been instructing him in the use
of signs, consented to come to this country and introduce the French system
of educating the deaf. The good Abbe Sicard was most, reluctant to part with
his prize teacher, but, recognizing the needs of the deaf in America finally
wrote to Gallaudet saying: "I have with pleasure made the sacrifice you
demanded of me."
| | | | 14 | With Mr. Gallaudet, Mr. Clerc left France on the 18th of June, 1816,
in the ship "Mary Augusta". Owing to adverse winds and frequent calms, the
voyage lasted fifty-two days. During that time, Clerc taught Gallaudet
method of signs for abstract ideas and Dr. Gallaudet taught Clerc the English
language. They made arrangements for the journeys they expected to
undertake for the collection of funds for the institution they were about to
establish; they reformed certain signs which they thought would not well suit
American manners and customs. They arrived in New York on the 9th of
August. After visiting dignitaries in New York and New Haven for a time, they
made their way to Hartford and set to work.
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