It is interesting to observe the humility of such a man.  The praises lavished on him seemed not in any way to elate him; and he invariably refused any commendation for his labors:  “He that planteth is nothing, neither he that watereth, but God, who giveth the increase,” was his reply to one who congratulated him on the success which had attended his labors.

With one incident more we must close this “record of a good man’s life.”  Some years after the opening of his school for deaf-mutes, a deaf and dumb boy, who had been found wandering in the streets of Paris, was brought to him.  With that habitual piety which was characteristic of him, De l’Epee received the boy as a gift from Heaven, and accordingly named him Theodore.  The new comer soon awakened an unusual interest in the mind of the good Abbe.  Though dressed in rags when found, his manners and habits showed that he had been reared in refinement and luxury.  But, until he had received some education, he could give no account of himself; and the Abbe, though satisfied that he had been the victim of some foul wrong, held his peace, till the mental development of his protege should enable him to describe his early home.  Years passed, and, as each added to his intelligence, young Theodore was able to call to mind more and more of the events of childhood.  He remembered that his ancestral home had been one of great magnificence, in a large city, and that he had been taken thence, stripped of his rich apparel, clothed in rags, and left in the streets of Paris.  The Abbe determined, at once, to attempt to restore his protege to the rights of which he had been so cruelly defrauded; but, being himself too infirm to attempt the journey, he sent the youth, with his steward, and a fellow-pupil named Didier, to make the tour of all the cities of France till they should find the home of Theodore.  Long and weary was their journey, and it was not till after having visited almost all of the larger cities, that they found that the young mute recognized in Toulouse the city of his birth.  Each of its principal streets was evidently familiar to him, and at length, with a sudden cry, he pointed out a splendid mansion as his former home.  It was found to be the palace of the Count de Solar.  On subsequent inquiry, it appeared that the heir of the estate had been deaf and dumb; that some years before he had been taken to Paris, and was said to have died there.  The dates corresponded exactly with the appearance of young Theodore in Paris.  As soon as possible, the Abbe and the Duke de Penthievre commenced a lawsuit, which resulted in the restoration of Theodore to his title and property.  The defeated party appealed to the Parliament, and, by continuing the case till after the death of the Abbe and the Duke, succeeded in obtaining a reversal of the decision, and the declaration that the claimant was an impostor.  Stung with disappointment at the blighting of his hopes, young Theodore enlisted in the army, and was slain in his first battle.