Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-16


promise of amendment. Mr.. Kendall went
to work, and by the aid of the law apd
courts of the District obtained possession
Of the children and took them to Kendall
Green, and there himself became their guar
dian and their teacher, and that was the
commencement of the foundation of this in
stftution for the deaf ann dumb"
The Incorporation.
Mr.. Kendall wrote the act of incorpora-
ton, which contained two very wise and
far-sighted provisions, authorizing the in
stitution to receive students from any place
and to allow them to stay as long as they
could be taught. The constitution, also
written by him, contains similar provisions
that illustrate his foresight. He makes
three persons a quorum of the board OF
directors for the transaction of business,
and nine persons a quorum of the assoc1a-
ton which he proposed to organize for Its
support. The government, by the act OF In
corporation, gave the institution no per-
manent financial assistance, but agreed to
pay a per capita of $50 a year for the
education Of every deaf, dumb OF blind
person of teachable age properly belonging
to this District.
Mr.. Kendall established a school on his
own grounds. now known as Kendall
Green, where he had a handsome mansion.
He gave it two acres of land and a small
frame house, which was sufficient at the
beginning, and later, as soon as 1t was
needed, built and presented brick house
costing $1,000. The year following the
foundation. of the institution Congress pro-
vided by special act that $1,000 should be
given to it's support for a period of five
years in addition to the per capita pro
vision for the education of the deaf mutes
in the District of Columbia. This $1,000
was continued until the end of the time pro-
vided, when the appropriation was in
creased to 81, 400 year, and in 1862 the sum
of $1,000 was appropriated to erect and
furnish additions to the buildiRgs. In
1864 the institution was elevated to the rank
of college and authorized to grant
diplomas and confer degrees. At the same
time an appropriation of $4,000 was made
to purchase fourteen additional acres OF
land from Mr.. Kendall and Mr.. Stckney,
his son-in-law, which money was PAID
over to them on perhaps the darkest DAY
of the civil war, when the capital was
absolutely cut off from communication with
the rest of the country and the outside
world. Gen. Garfield, who always took an
absorbing interest in the college, afterWaro
in a public speech pointed out singular
coincidence-that the University of Leyden
was founded while that city was besieged
by the Spaniards in the middle ages.
Congressional Action.
Congress, having thus taken the young
institution under it's wing, amended the act
of incorporation so that the government
might be represented by one senator and
two members of the House of Represen-
tatives upon the board of education. Elihu
Washburne of Illinois, who was always
opposed to it, objected strenuously to this
recognition, declaring that it would give
the school a larger representation on the
floor of the House than was enjoyed by
any congressional district in the country.
Mr.. Washburne took the ground that II
was impossible to educate a deaf mute so
that he could participate In public afairs
or transact business or practice the profess
sions like ordinary men, but he lived TO
see his nephew Cadwalader Washburne,
to ipStifutiOn with hOnOrS
after brilliant career as a student. HIS
graduating essay Is one of the most of1g1nai
and polished pieces OF literature In the
English language. 1t describes THE Mind
of a Spider" and may now be found In the
popular school readers as an example OF
literary taste and style. Mr.. Washburne
is an artist in New York city, and mas
been very successful in his profession. ,
Engagement Of E. III. Gallaudet.
Shortly after the act Of Incorporation
was approved Mr.. Kendall sought for the
proper man to take charge Of the pro-
posed institution. DR.. Peet, director of
school for deaf mutes in New York, rec
commended Edward Minor Gallaudet, a
young man of only twenty years, son of
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who had or
ganized the first institution for deaf mutes
in the United States. The young man was
a graduate Of Trinity College, Hartford,
had taught in his fathers school and was
him to Washington the latter part of April,
1857, and he agreed to take charge of the
school with the understanding that 1t would
ultimately be developed into college.
There was no contract, no written agree
ment, no definite agreement concerning
young Gallaudet's employment, but ne
moved down to Washington In May with
his mother, who was a deaf mute, and she
became the matron of the institution. She
occupied that position for about ten years
and lived twenty years in Washington after
her retirement. DR.. Gallaudets relations
with the institution have been unbroken
from the day of his arrival in May, 1857,
and every hour and every act Of his life
through all these years has had its in
fuence, directly or indirectly, upon its his
tory. He had twenty pupils to begin with
all from the District of Columbia. Nearly
400 deaf mutes have since passed under
his influence and instruction. He passed
his SEVENTEEN birthday on the 9Th of the
present month, and will celebrate the semi
centennial of the institution in a quiet
way tomorrow, Sunday, the 18th, by a
historical address to the students. The
alumni of the college have shown their
appreciation of his life. works and ex
ample by raising the Edward Minor Gallau-
Diet fund, to be applied for the benefit Of
future students in the college, the details
to be arranged hereafter.
Dr. Gallaudet's brother, the Rev. Thomas
Gallaudet, also devoted his life to the edu-
cation of deaf mutes, and shortly before his
death. in 1908, completed his fiftieth year in
.
Church for Deaf Mutes on 18th street,
near 5th avenue New York. 1t is the only
church of the kind in the world
Suggestion to Congress.
The program for the regular graduating
exercises in May next will be arranged
with appropriate reference to the semi-cen-
tennial of the institution; but / take the
liberty to suggest that Congress might, in
the meantime, celebrate the anniversary
and show it's appreciation of the useful
ness of the most celebrated and advanced
school for deaf mutes in the world by pur-
chasing the adjoining property, the re-
mainder of the estate of the late Carlisle
Patterson, called Brentwood. which adjoins
the grounds of the college on the north
This tract contains 100 acres of the most
beautiful natural park in this neighborhood
with fully thirty acres in a primeval forest
of grand old oaks, the finest trees In the
vicinity of Washington. The property might
be bought for 5000 or $1,000 an acre
few years hence it will be worth $4,000
an acre, and the old oak trees are price,
less There is no park in that section Of the