from an eternal
night of silence." The first report of the Minnesota School[221] refers
to the deaf as "liberated from the winding sheets of silence and
ignorance," and tells how "their souls vibrate with such joy as Lazarus
felt when he stepped forth from the gloom of the grave."

In the first report of the Indiana School[222] the state of the deaf
without education is thus contrasted with that of the deaf with
education:

Indeed, the difference between the uneducated and the educated mute
is almost incredible. The former "winds his weary way" through life
in ignorance and obscurity, often an object of charity, and almost a
burden to himself; but the latter, gladdened by the genial rays of
knowledge and fitted for the discharge of duty, becomes a blessing
to his friends and to society, acts well his part as a member of the
great human family, enjoys the present, and looks forward to the
future with cheerfulness and hope.

The charter of the Pennsylvania Institution refers to the desire of
certain citizens "to restore the deaf and dumb to the ranks of their
species;" and the preamble of the statutes creating schools in Kentucky
and other states contains similar language. The purpose of the Illinois
school is given in the organic act, the language of that of Nebraska and
other states being almost identical:

To promote by all proper and feasible means the mental, moral and
physical culture of that portion of the community, who by the
mysterious dispensations of Providence, have been born, or by
disease have become deaf, and of course dumb, by a judicious and
well adapted course of education, to reclaim them from their lonely
and cheerless condition, to restore them to the ranks of their
species, and to fit them to discharge the social and domestic duties
of life.

The object of the schools in Wisconsin, South Dakota, and other states
is declared to be:

To afford the deaf and dumb of the state, so far as possible, an
enlightened and practical education, that may aid them to obtain the
means of instruction, discharge the duties of citizenship, and
secure all the happiness they are capable of obtaining.

The early educators of the deaf felt themselves that they were indeed
carrying the light to shine in a dark place. In the language of one of
the foremost of them:[223]

Then the great triumph of science and benevolence over one o