I like this paragraph. The more I explore Laurent, the more I think that his being a role model for his students might have been a precious gift that he was able to bring to his students. The growing and evolving ASL was significant but I would wonder if his example was not what motivated his students to sacrifice their lives to teaching and enduring the hardships of opening schools across America. A little hero worship going on here I think. I would like to think that he is still one of the many Deaf role models that can be called upon by similar students today!
There it stands - monumental shaft and bust of bronze - on the soil which his feet trod as he went to and from his daily labors, and surrounded by mementos of his presence and his work. It will be first among the objects which catch the eager eye of the child of silence as he approaches the portals where the fetters that bind his mind shall be struck off; it will rise before his sight day by day as he pursues his round of duty and of study; it will be among the last of the familiar objects connected with school life to fade on his vision as he leaves his Alma Mater to fight the battle of life. To him, as it is to us all, it will be a reminder of sturdy endeavor, cheerful self-sacrifice, and faithful performance of duty, and of the obligation which conscience and gratitude lay upon him to prove worthy of one who embodied in his character these sterling traits.
