Finally James is getting to the point and the task of the day. To dedicate the memorial to Laurent Clerc. With a shout out to his main man, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, James gives us a lovely poem of sorts. I wonder what happened when he uttered these words? Did they pull a canvas from the monument and the audience gasped? Why were there no iphones back then!!
“In his 84th year, Laurent Clerc, on the 18th of July, 1869, finished his earthly life, passing away in the hope of the Christian's immortality. His wife, faithful companion of half a century, and two children in mature life, survive, witnesses of the universal regard and affection in which his memory is held, and of the gratitude with which it is embalmed in the hearts of those whom his sacrifices and labors have benefited. 'Yes; that affection, reverence, and devotion which were the natural and involuntary tribute to Sicard's character and deeds, we mutes of America render to Gallaudet and Clerc, our teachers, our friends, our benefactors. Twenty years ago we gathered here under the shadow of the walls he had done so much to erect, and dedicated to the memory of Thomas H. Gallaudet a token of our affection and our gratitude. And today we assemble again. We have come up, as then, " from New England hills and vales, from the rivers and lakes of the Empire State, from the City of Brotherly Love and its sturdy Commonwealth, from the Old Dominion, and further down in the regions of the sunny South, from the rolling prairies of the West - a mighty brotherhood " - and this time it is to Laurent Clerc that we rear our memorial.”
