[185] Gallaudet remained at the head of the American Asylum, as it was then called, till 1828, when he resigned. He was engaged thereafter in various philanthropic activities, and was invited to lead in the work for the education of the blind, towards which attention was now being directed. Notwithstanding the impairment of his health, his different labors were continued, not the least of which was his office as chaplain of the Connecticut Asylum for the Insane. To Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet America owes a rare debt. Without him the work for the deaf would have been taken up eventually by other hands, but he brought to his task a disregard for obstacles, a splendid idealism, a fine conception of duty, a complete forgetfulness of self, a singular beauty of character, and a great human love that could have existed in but few other men. [186] There were 66 found in a very short time. [187] Volumes iii. and iv. of the _Association Review_ (1901 and 1902) contain most interesting accounts of these first schools, with extracts from early reports, letters of Dr. Cogswell, Gallaudet and others; extracts from the Hartford _Courant_ and the _Connecticut Mirror_, both urging the importance of the school established at Hartford and the need of contributions, and the latter (in the issue of March 24, 1817) giving the conditions and terms of admission; also extracts from other papers, as the Albany _Daily Advertiser_, the New York _Commercial Advertiser_, the _General Aurora Advertiser_, _Poulson's American Daily Advocate_, the _Christian Observer_, the _Freeman's Journal and Columbian Chronicle_, of Philadelphia, and _Niles' Weekly Register_, of Baltimore. See also E. M. Gallaudet, "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet." [188] Pub. Stat., ch. 24. [189] Pupils were in time received here from all the Southern states. History, 1893, p. 5. [190] This was to be called "The Western Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb". An association was formed, and the legislature was asked to incorporate the school. In 1822 a census was taken for all the state except two counties, when 428 deaf persons were found. The school was not established on the ground that it was too far removed from the center of the state. See _Annals_, v., 1853, p. 221; xxv., 1880, p. 30; Report of Ohio School, 1876, p. 30. [191] A school under Roman Catholic auspices was established near St. Louis in 1837.