for intervals of ill health, which sometimes induced a retreat to my chamber. The ancient classic injunction, "Keep your piece nine years," was transcended, as this slumbered some thirteen in manuscript ere it was intrusted to the care of my Springfield publishers; who, wishing to make it acceptable to the young, embellished it with pictorial illustrations.
1833.
10. "Memoir of Phebe P. Hammond."
She was a young pupil in the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford—that noble and benevolent institution, which has done so much for the relief and elevation of suffering humanity. I was induced to undertake this transcript of the early-summoned by the urgency of its principal, the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet; though reluctantly, from a great pressure of employment that then absorbed my time. He argued that the depressed circumstances of the family of the departed, and the means of education for the surviving sister, might be materially affected by the pecuniary aid thus derived. As I proceeded, I repented of my hesitation, being more than repaid for the labor by the simplicity, beauty, and piety of the character thus unfolded before me; furnishing delightful evidence that not only from the lips "of babes and sucklings," but from the tongue of the silent, God had perfected praise.
