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Union (January 22, 1858). This passage and his decision to reprint it indicate not only his dedication to the school but also the pride he took in the way the deaf students were able to learn and communicate through sign language.
The noble old hall of the House of Representatives was lighted up last evening . . . . It was the first public exhibition of the pupils of the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, who entered at the appointed hour neatly dressed and took seats around the Speaker's rostrum . . . . Among the large audience there were many members of Congress, clergymen, and distinguished citizens, with several deaf-mutes, who kept their fingers busily occupied with their pantomime comments on the scene. EM. Gallaudet, Esq, the Principal of the Institution, delivered a brief, sensible, and eloquent address. He reviewed the gradual creation of institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, and of the blind, in the various states, and then urged the claims of the institution here, which has been forwarded,
and sustained, by individual liberality, and now asks the aid of Congress.
Vocal and instrumental music followed, after which the deaf-mutes gave representations of various passions, sentiments,
etc., in obedience to the signs of their preceptor. A little fellow's personification of a snowstorm was very comical, and a young girl's idea of an angel was extremely touching. Exercises on the blackboard followed, in which some of the pupils evinced great proficiency in their studies . . . . The exhibition can but add to the deep sympathy already felt for the institution. The congressmen were sufficiently impressed to allot the additional money requested by Edward Miner Gallaudet. And several years after the college had been chartered, when a member of the House Committee on Appropriations suggested that funding for building at Gallaudet be withheld, "shoulders shook with laughter" when it was hoped that "any gentleman who undertakes to open his mouth in opposition to this appropriation 'maybe struck dumb (To this day, the United States government continues to fund Gallaudet University.)

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