Henry Barnard

“ I found that the happiness of the Americans was at their firesides with their wives, children and friends. They had few amusements, few spectacles and very few sublime objects capable of arresting the attention of a European; and such a one could not easily appreciate the extent of the private happiness of a people who were secure and not poor. ”

“ It is to speak to you more conveniently of the deaf and dumb, of those unfortunate beings who, deprived of the sense of hearing and consequently of that of speech, would be condemned all their life, to the most sad vegetation if nobody came to their succor, but who entrusted to our regenerative hands, will pass from the class of brutes to the class of men. ”

“ It is to affect your hearts with regard to their unhappy state, to excite the sensibility and solicit the charity of your generous souls in their favor; respectfully to entreat you to occupy yourselves in promoting their future happiness. ”

“ Here is my address, the first I ever made in this country:
"Gentlemen—You know the motive which has led me to the United States of America. The public papers have taught you it; but you do not yet know, I believe, the reason why I have come to Boston with Mr. Gallaudet and Dr. Cogswell, and why we have invited you to honor this meeting with your presence. ”

“ My first impression of the city was admiration of Broadway which appeared to me to be the finest street in the world, and my astonishment was great at seeing so much bustle in the streets, people in so great a hurry and walking so fast. ”

“ You have naturally great sensibility; you are endowed with the talent of causing the insensible to feel, and of subduing the inexorable. Thus my friends rely on you, kind ladies, and I place in the number of the obligations I shall owe to you, those which my companions in the same situation as myself, will owe to you; and when they are educated, they will doubtless themselves express their gratitude to you. ”

“ A part of our time on board was usefully employed. I taught Mr. Gallaudet the method of the signs for abstract ideas, and he taught me the English language. I wrote my journal, and as I thought in French rather than in English, I made several laughable mistakes in the construction of my sentences, which he corrected; so that being thus daily occupied, I did not find the time to fall very heavily upon me. We formed plans for the success of the institution we were going to establish; we made arrangements for the journeys we expected to undertake for the collection of funds ”

“ Sicard the preceding day. [Footnote: One of my sons, Francis or Charles, when in France, took a copy of Mr. Sicard's letter to my mother, which was still in the possession of one of my sisters.] On reading it, I found that the good Abbé Sicard had altered his mind, and written to dissuade my mother from giving her consent; saying he "could not spare me!" Accordingly my mother urged me hard to stay in France, but to no purpose, for I told her that my resolution was taken, and that nothing could make me change it. ”

“ Hyde de Neuville, the French ambassador, for whom I had a letter of recommendation from the Duke Mathieu de Montmorency.
The President received me with much affability and bade me "welcome to America," and said among other things, that he hoped I would receive great honor and much gratitude by doing good to the deaf and dumb. I carefully preserved the paper containing our conversation, but have mislaid it. I attended one of the levees with the ambassador and Mr. Hudson, and holding a paper and pencil in my hands, I had the pleasure of conversing with gentlemen and ladies. ”

“ I applied myself to other things. I learned to draw and to compose in the printing office of the Institution till 1805, when I was employed as a tutor on trial, and in 1806 appointed a teacher with a salary of about two hundred dollars. In process of time, Mr. Sicard thought me capable of teaching the highest class, and I occupied that place when Mr. Gallaudet came to Paris. ”

“ Eaton and two or three other gentlemen of Albany.
Toward the close of April, 1820, that is, about a month after the birth of my oldest daughter, Elizabeth Victoria, (now Mrs. George W. Beers,) I sailed for France on a visit to my friends, and returned to Hartford in a year. We have now four living children, viz: two sons and two daughters, having lost two, viz: a girl and a boy, each at about two years old. ”