e mice and people ate the ducks, the the people were really eating mice! After that, when roast duck was served on the ship, he refused to eat the duck, eating only bread and tea. On the ship, Clerc taught Gallaudet sign language while Gallaudet taught English. Clerc knew not one iota of the English language, but by the time he arrived in America (52 days), he mastered English to "near-perfection." Clerc loved New York City and on meeting Alice Cogswell, all his homesickness that he felt on that ship vanished. Clerc's first three pupils were Alice Cogswell, WIlson Whiton (first native-born American deaf teacher), and George Loring (entering business with his father in Boston). Clerc taught for over 50 years. He had taught for at least 10 years in France and then for 40 years at the American School for the Deaf. He left the American School for the Deaf for six months to be an acting principal at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf in Philadelphia. Clerc retired in 1858 at the age of 73 years. He died on July 18, 1869, two months after his 50th wedding anniversary. Clerc and John Carlin knew each other. Carlin did at least two oil paintings of him. One of the paintings labelled Clerc as an apostle to the deaf-mutes of the New World. Indeed, he is recognized as such as it was said, "If Clerc had been a lesser man, the social, economic, and educational history of the deaf in the United States would be considerably different from what it is." ...
