Chapter XXIII
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Would that I could enrich this sketch with the names of all those who have ministered to my happiness! Some of them would be found written in our literature ao the hearts of many, while others would be wholly unknown to most of my readers. But their influehough it escapes fame, shall live immortal in the lives that have beeened and ennobled by it. Those are red-letter days in our lives when we meet people who thrill us like a fine poem, people whose handshake is brimful of unspoken sympathy, and whose sweet, riatures impart ter, impatient spirits a wonderful restfulness which, in its essence, is divihe perplexities, irritations and worries that have absorbed us pass like unpleasant dreams, and we wake to see with new eyes and hear with new ears the beauty and harmony of Gods real world. The solemn nothings that fill our everyday life blossom suddenly intht possibilities. In a word, while such friends are near us we feel that all is well. Perhaps we never saw them before, and they may never cross our lifes path again; but the influence of their calm, mellow natures is a libation poured upon our distent, and we feel its healing touch, as the o feels the mountain stream freshening its brine.I have often been asked, "Do not people bore you?" I do not uand quite what that means. I suppose the calls of the stupid and curious, especially of neer reporters, are always inopportune. I also dislike people who try to talk down to my uanding. They are like people who when walking with you try to shorten their steps to suit yours; the hypocrisy in both cases is equally exasperating.
The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so empty of joy, that when I clasped their frosty fiips, it seemed as if I were shaking hands with a northeast storm. Others there are whose hands have sunbeams in them, so that their grasp warms my heart. It may be only the ging touch of a childs hand; but there is as much potential sunshine in it for me as there is in a loving glance for others. A hearty handshake or a friendly letter gives me genuine pleasure.
I have many far-off friends whom I have never seen. Ihey are so many that I have often been uo reply to their letters; but I wish to say here that I am always grateful for their kind words, however insuffitly I aowledge them.
I t it one of the sweetest privileges of my life to have known and versed with many men of genius.
Only those who knew Bishop Brooks appreciate the joy his friendship was to those who possessed it. As a child I loved to sit on his knee and clasp his great hand with one of mine, while Miss Sullivan spelled into the other his beautiful words about God and the spiritual world. I heard him with a childs wonder and delight. My spirit could not reach up to his, but he gave me a real sense of joy in life, and I never left him without carrying away a fihought that grew iy ah of meaning as I grew. Once, when I uzzled to know why there were so many religions, he said: "There is one universal religion, Helen--the religion of love. Love your Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of God as much as ever you , and remember that the possibilities of goreater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key to Heaven." And his life py illustration of this great truth. In his noble soul love and widest knowledge were blended with faith that had bee insight. He saw God in all that liberates and lifts, In all that humbles, sweetens and soles.
Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed ma; but he impressed upon my mind two great ideas--the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.
I am too happy in this world to think much about the future, except to remember that I have cherished friends awaitihere in Gods beautiful Somewhere. In spite of the lapse of years, they seem so close to me that I should not think it strange if at any moment they should clasp my hand and speak words of endearment as they used to before they went away.
Since Bishop Brooks died I have read the Bible through; also some philosophical works ion, among them Swedenbs "Heaven and Hell" and Drummonds "Ast of Man," and I have found no creed or system more soul-satisfying than Bishop Brookss creed of love. I knew Mr. Henry Drummond, and the memory of his strong, warm hand-clasp is like a beion. He was the most sympathetic of panions. He knew so mud was so genial that it was impossible to feel dull in his presence.
I remember well the first time I saw Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. He had invited Miss Sullivan ao call on him one Sunday afternoon. It was early in the spring, just after I had learo speak. We were shown at oo his library where we found him seated in a big armchair by an open fire which glowed and crackled on the hearth, thinking, he said, of other days.
"And listening to the murmur of the River Charles," I suggested.
"Yes," he replied, "the Charles has many dear associations for me." There was an odour of print aher in the room whie that it was full of <bdi></bdi>books, and I stretched out my hand instinctively to find them. My fingers lighted upon a beautiful volume of Tennysons poems, and when Miss Sullivan told me what it was I began to recite: Break, break, break On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
But I stopped suddenly. I felt tears on my hand. I had made my beloved poet weep, and I was greatly distressed. He made me sit in his armchair, while he brought different iing things for me to examine, and at his request I recited "The Chambered Nautilus," which was then my favorite poem. After that I saw Dr.Holmes many times and learo love the man as well as the poet.
Oiful summer day, not long after my meeting with Dr. Holmes, Miss Sullivan and I visited Whittier in his quiet home on the Merrimac. His gentle courtesy and quaint speey heart. He had a book of his poems in raised print from which I read "In School Days." He was delighted that I could pronouhe words so well, and said that he had no difficulty in uandihen I asked many questions about the poem, and read his answers by plag my fingers on his lips. He said he was the little boy in the poem, and that the girls name was Sally, and more which I have fotten. I also recited "Laus Deo," and as I spoke the cluding verses, he placed in my hands a statue of a slave from whose croug figure the fetters were falling, even as they fell from Peters limbs when the angel led him forth out of prison. Afterward we went into his study, and he wrote his autograph for my teacher ["With great admiration of thy noble work in releasing from bohe mind of thy dear pupil, I am truly thy friend. john J. Whittier."] and expressed his admiration of her work, saying to me, "She is thy spiritual liberator." Then he led me to the gate and kissed me tenderly on my forehead. I promised to visit him again the following summer, but he died before the promise was fulfilled.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale is one of my very oldest friends. I have known him since I was eight, and my love for him has increased with my years. His wise, tender sympathy has been the support of Miss Sullivan and me in times of trial and sorrow, and his strong hand has helped us over many rough places; and what he has done for us he has done for thousands of those who have difficult tasks to aplish. He has filled the old skins of dogma with the new wine of love, and shown men what it is to believe, live and be free. What he has taught we have seeifully expressed in his own life--love of try, kio the least of his brethren, and a sincere desire to live upward and onward. He has been a prophet and an inspirer of men, and a mighty doer of the Word, the friend of all his race--God bless him!
I have already written of my first meeting with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. Sihen I have spent many happy days with him at Washington and at his beautiful home in the heart of Cape Breton Island, near
Baddeck, the village made famous by Charles Dudley Warners book. Here in Dr. Bells laboratory, or in the fields on the shore of the great Bras dOr, I have spent many delightful hours listening to what he had to tell me about his experiments, and helping him fly kites by means of which he expects to discover the laws that shall goverure air-ship. Dr. Bell is profit in many fields of sce, and has the art of making every subject he touches iing, even the most abstruse theories. He makes you feel that if you only had a little more time, you, too, might be an ior. He has a humorous and poetic side, too. His dominating passion is his love for children. He is never quite so happy as when he has a little deaf child in his arms. His labours in behalf of the deaf will live on and bless geions of childreo e; and we love him alike for what he himself has achieved and for what he has evoked from others.
During the two years I spent in New York I had many opportuo talk with distinguished people whose names I had often heard, but whom I had never expected to meet. Most of them I met first in the house of my good friend, Mr. Laureton. It was a great privilege to visit him and dear Mrs. Hutton in their lovely home, aheir library ahe beautiful ses and bright thoughts gifted friends had written for them. It has been truly said that Mr. Hutton has the faculty ing out in every ohe best thoughts and ki ses. One does not o read "A Boy I Knew" to uand him--the most generous, sweet-natured boy I ever knew, a good friend in all sorts of weather, who traces the footprints of love in the life of dogs as well as in that of his fellowmen.
Mrs. Hutton is a true and tried friend. Much that I hold sweetest, much that I hold most precious, I owe to her.
She has ofte advised and helped me in my progress through college. When I find my work particularly difficult and discing, she writes me letters that make me feel glad and brave; for she is one of those from whom we learn that one painful duty fulfilled makes the plainer and easier.
Mr. Hutton introduced me to many of his literary friends, greatest of whom are Mr. William Dean Howells and Mark Twain. I also met Mr. Richard Watson Gilder and Mr. Edmund Clareedman. I also knew Mr.
Charles Dudley Warhe most delightful of story-tellers and the most beloved friend, whose sympathy was so broad that it may be truly said of him, he loved all living things and his neighbour as himself. Once Mr.
Warner brought to see me the dear poet of the woodlands--Mr. John Burroughs. They were all gentle and sympathetid I felt the charm of their manner as much as I had felt the brilliancy of their essays and poems.
I could not keep pace with all these literary folk as they glanced from subject to subjed entered into deep dispute, or made versation sparkle with epigrams and happy witticisms. I was like little Asius, who followed with unequal steps the heroic strides of Aeneas on his march toward mighty destinies. But they spoke many gracious words to me. Mr. Gilder told me about his moonlight journeys across the vast desert to the Pyramids, and in a letter he wrote me he made his mark under his signature deep in the paper so that I could feel it. This reminds me that Dr. Hale used to give a personal touch to his letters to me by prig his signature in braille. I read from Mark Twains lips one or two of his good stories. He has his own way of thinking, saying and doing everything. I feel the twinkle of his eye in his handshake. Even while he utters his ical wisdom in an indescribably droll voice, he makes you feel that his heart is a tender Iliad of human sympathy.
There are a host of other iing people I met in New York: Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, the beloved editor of St. Nicholas, and Mrs. Riggs (Kate Douglas Wiggin), the sweet author of "Patsy." I received from them gifts that have the gentle currence of the heart, books taining their own thoughts, soul-illumined letters, and photographs that I love to have described again and again. But there is not spaention all my friends, and ihere are things about them hidden behind the wings of cherubim, things too sacred to set forth in cold print. It is with hesitancy that I have spoken even of Mrs. Laureton.
I shall mention only two other friends. One is Mrs. William Thaw, of Pittsburgh, whom I have often visited in her home, Lyndhurst. She is always doing something to make some one happy, and her generosity and wise sel have never failed my teacher and me in all the years we have known her.
To the other friend I am also deeply ied. He is well known for the powerful hand with which he guides vast enterprises, and his wonderful abilities have gained for him the respect of all. Kind to every one, he goes about doing good, silent and unseen. Again I touch upon the circle of honoured names I must not mention; but I would fain aowledge his generosity and affeate i which make it possible for me to go to college.
Thus it is that my friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.
Part II. Letters(1887-1901) INTRODU Helen Kellers letters are important, not only as a supplementary story of her life, but as a demonstration of her growth in thought and expression--the growth whi itself has made her distinguished.
These letters are, however, not merely remarkable as the produs of a deaf and blind girl, to be read with wonder and curiosity; they are good letters almost from the first. The best passages are those in which she talks about herself, and gives her world in terms of her experience of it. Her views on the precession of the equinoxes are not important, but most important are her ats of eech meant to her, of how she felt the statues, the dogs, the chis at the poultry show, and how she stood in the aisle of St. Bartholomews ahe an rumble. Those are passages of whie would ask for more. The reason they are paratively few is that all her life she has been trying to be "like other people," and so she too often describes things not as they appear to her, but as they appear to oh eyes and ears.
One cause for the excellence of her letters is the great number of them. They are the exercises which have trained her to write. She has lived at different times in different parts of the try, and so has been separated from most of her friends aives. Of her friends, many have been distinguished people, to whom--not often, I think, at the sacrifice of spoy--she has felt it necessary to write well. To them and to a few friends with whom she is in closest sympathy she writes with intimate frankness whatever she is thinking about. Her elling of a childs tale she has heard, like the story of "Little Jakey," which she rehearses for Dr. Holmes and Bishop Brooks, is charming and her grave paraphrase of the days lesson in geography or botany, her parrot-like repetition of what she has heard, and her scious display of new words, are delightful and instructive; for they show not only what she was learning, but how, by putting it all into letters, she made the new knowledge and the new words her own.
So these seles from Miss Kellers correspondence are made with two purposes--to show her development and to preserve th<s></s>e most eaining and signifit passages from several hundred letters. Many of those written before 1892 were published in the reports of the Perkins Institution for the Blind. All letters up to that year are printed intact, for it is legitimate to be ied in the degree of skill the child showed in writing, even to details of punctuation; so it is well to preserve a literal iy of reprodu. From the letters after the year 1892 I have culled in the spirit of one making an anthology, choosing the passages best in style and most important from the point of view of biography. Where I have been able to collate the inal letters I have preserved everything as Miss Keller wrote it, punctuation, spelling, and all. I have dohing but seled cut.
The letters are arranged in ological order. One or two letters from Bishop Brooks, Dr. Holmes, and Whittier are put immediately after the letters to which they are replies. Except for two or three importaers of 1901, these seles cease with the year 1900. In that year Miss Keller entered college. Now that she is a grown woman, her mature letters should be judged like those of any other person, and it seems best that no more of her correspondence be published unless she should bee distinguished beyond the fact that Part II. Letters(1887-1901)63
she is the only well-educated deaf and blind person in the world.
LETTERS (1887-1901) Miss Sullivan began to teach Helen Keller on March 3rd, 1887. Three months and a half after the first word elled into her hand, she wrote in pencil this letter TO HER COUSIN ANNA, MRS. GEE T. TURuscumbia, Alabama, June 17, 1887.] helen write anna gee will give helen apple simpson will shoot bird jack will give helen stick of dy doctor will give mildred medie mother will make mildred new dress [No signature] Twenty-five days later, while she was on a short visit away from home, she wrote to her mother. Two words are almost illegible, and the angular print slants in every dire.
TO MRS. KATE ADAMS KELLER [Huntsville, Alabama, July 12, 1887.] Helen will write mother letter papa did give helen medie mildred will sit in swing mildred did kiss helen teacher did give helen peach gee is si bed gee arm is hurt anna did give helen lemonade dog did stand up.
ductor did punch ticket papa did give helen drink of water in car carlotta did give helen flowers anna will buy heley new hat helen will hug and kiss mother helen will e home grandmother does love helen good-by [No signature.] By the followiember Helen shows improvement in fulness of stru and more extended relations of thought.
TO THE BLIND GIRLS AT THE PERKINS INSTITUTION IN SOUTH BOSTON [Tuscumbia, September, 1887.] Helen will write little blind girls a letter Helen and teacher will e to see little blind girls Helen and teacher will go in steam car to boston Helen and blind girls will have fun blind girls talk on fingers Helen will see Mr anagnos Mr anagnos will love and kiss Helen Helen will go to school with blind girls Helen read and t and spell and write like blind girls mildred will not go to boston Mildred does cry prind jumbo will go to boston papa does shoot ducks with gun and ducks do fall in water and jumbo and mamie do swim in water and bring ducks out in mouth to papa Helen does play with dogs Helen does ride on horseback with teacher Helen does give handee grass in hand teacher does whip hao go fast Helen is blind Helen will put letter in envelope for blind girls good-by HELEN KELLER A few weeks later her style is more nearly corred freer in movement. She improves in idiom, although she still omits articles and uses the "did" stru for the simple past. This is an idiom ong children.
TO THE BLIND GIRLS AT THE PERKINS INSTITUTION [Tuscumbia, October 24, 1887.] dear little blind girls I will write you a letter I thank you for pretty desk I did write to mother in memphis on it mother and mildred Part II. Letters(1887-1901)64
came home wednesday mother brought me a pretty new dress and hat papa did go to huntsville he brought me apples and dy I and teacher will e to boston and see you nancy is my doll she does cry I do roancy to sleep mildred is sick doctor will give her medie to make her well. I and teacher did go to church sunday mr. lane did read in book and talk Lady did play an. I did give man money in basket. I will be good girl and teacher will curl my hair lovely. I will hug and kiss little blind girls mr. anagnos will e to see me.
good-by HELEN KELLER TO MR. MICHAEL ANAGNOS, DIRECTOR OF THE PERKINS INSTITUTION [Tuscumbia, November, 1887.] dear mr. anagnos I will write you a letter. I and teacher did have pictures. teacher will send it to you.
photographer does make pictures. carpenter does build new houses. gardener does dig and hoe ground and plaables. my doll nancy is sleeping. she is sick. mildred is well uncle frank has gone hunting deer. we will have venison for breakfast when he es home. I did ride in wheel barrow and teacher did push it.
simpson did give me pop and walnuts. cousin rosa has goo see her mother. people do go to church sunday. I did read in my book about fox and box. fox sit in the box. I do like to read in my book. you do love me. I do love you.
good-by HELEN KELLER.
TO DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL [Tuscumbia, November, 1887.] Dear Mr. Bell. I am glad to write you a letter, Father will send you picture. I and Father and aunt did go to see you in Washington. I did play with your watch. I do love you. I saw doctor in Washington. He looked at my eyes. I read stories in my book. I write and<u>.９9liｂ?</u> spell and t. good girl. My sister walk and run. We do have fun with Jumbo. Prince is not good dog. He ot get birds. Rat did kill baby pigeons. I am sorry.
Rat does not kn. I and mother and teacher will go to Boston in June. I will see little blind girls.
Nancy will go with me. She is a good doll. Father will buy me lovely new watch. Cousin Anna gave me a pretty doll. Her name is Allie.
Good-by, HELEN KELLER.
By the beginning of the year her idioms are firmer. More adjectives appear, including adjectives of colour. Although she have no sensuous knowledge of colour, she use the words, as we use most of our vocabulary, intellectually, with truth, not to impression, but to fact. This letter is to a sate at the Perkins Institution.
TO MISS SARAH TOMLINSON Tuscumbia, Ala. Jan. 2nd 1888.
Dear Sarah I am happy to write to you this m. I hope Mr. Anagnos is ing to see me soon. I will go to Boston in June and I will buy father gloves, and James nice collar, and Simpson cuffs. I saw Miss Betty and her scholars. They had a pretty Christmas-tree, and there were many pretty presents on it for little children. I had a mug, and little bird and dy. I had many lovely things for Christmas. Aunt gave me a trunk for Nand clothes. I went to party with teacher and mother. We did dand play a nuts and dy and cakes and es and I did have fun with little boys and girls. Mrs. Hopkins did send me lovely ring, I do love her and little blind girls.
Men and boys do make carpets in mills. Wool grows on sheep. Men do cut sheeps wool off with large shears, and send it to the mill. Men and women do make wool cloth in mills.
Cotton grows on large stalks in fields. Men and boys and girls and women do pick cotton. We do make thread Part II. Letters(1887-1901)65
and cotton dresses of cotton. Cotton has pretty white and red flowers on it. Teacher did tear her dress. Mildred does cry. I will nurse Nancy. Mother will buy me lovely nerons and dress to take to Boston. I went to Knoxville with father and aunt. Bessie is weak and little. Mrs. Thompsons chis killed Leilas chis.
Eva does sleep in my bed. I do love good girls.
Good-by HELEN KELLER.
The wo letters mention her visit in January to her relatives in Memphis, Tennessee. She was taken to the cotton exge. When she felt the maps and blackboards she asked, "Do men go to school?" She wrote on the blackboard the names of all the gentleme. While at Memphis she went over one of the large Mississippi steamers.
TO DR. EDWARD EVERETT HALE Tuscumbia, Alabama, February 15th [1888].
Dear Mr. Hale, I am happy to write you a letter this m. Teacher told me about kileman I shall be glad to read pretty story I do read stories in my book about tigers and lions and sheep.
I am ing to Boston in Juo see little blind girls and I will e to see you. I went to Memphis to see grandmother and Aunt Naeacher bought me lovely new dress and cap and aprons. Little Natalie is a very weak and small baby. Father took us to see steamboat. It was on a large river. Boat is like house. Mildred is a good baby. I do love to play with little sister. Nancy was not a good child when I went to Memphis. She did cry loud. I will not write more to-day. I am tired.
Good-by HELEN KELLER.
TO MR. MICHAEL ANAGNOS Tuscumbia, Ala., Feb. 24th, 1888.
My dear Mr. Anagnos,--I am glad to write you a letter in Braille. This m Lu Thompso me a beautiful bouquet of violets and crocuses and jonquils. Sunday Adeline Moses brought me a lovely doll. It came from New York. Her name is Adeline Keller. She shut her eyes and bend her arms and sit down and stand up straight. She has on a pretty red dress. She is Nancys sister and I am their mother. Allie is their cousin. Nancy was a bad child when I went to Memphis she cried loud, I whipped her with a stick.
Mildred does feed little chis with crumbs. I love to play with little sister.
Teacher and I went to Memphis to see aunt Nannie and grandmother. Louise is aunt Nannies child. Teacher bought me a lovely new dress and gloves and stogs and collars and grandmother made me warm flannels, and aunt Nannie made me aprons. Lady made me a pretty cap. I went to see Robert and Mr. Graves and Mrs.
Graves and little Natalie, and Mr. Farris and Mr. Mayo and Mary and everyone. I do love Robert and teacher.
She does not wao write more today. I feel tired.
I found box of dy in Mr. Graves pocket. Father took us to see steam boat it is like house. Boat was on very large river. Yates plowed yard today to plant grass. Mule pulled plow. Mother will make garden of vegetables.
Father will plant melons and peas and beans.
Cousin Bell will e to see us Saturday. Mother will make ice-cream for dinner, we will have ice-cream and cake for dinner. Lu Thompson is sick. I am sorry for him.
Teacher and I went to walk in the yard, and I learned about how flowers and trees grow. Sun rises in the east as in the west. Sheffield is north and Tuscumbia is south. We will go to Boston in June. I will have fun with little blind girls.
Part II. Letters(1887-1901)66
Good bye HELEN KELLER.
"Uncle Morrie" of the letter is Mr. Morrison Heady, of Normandy, Kentucky, who lost his sight and hearing when he was a boy. He is the author of some endable verses.
TO MR. MORRISON HEADY Tuscumbia, Ala., March 1st 1888.
My dear uncle Morrie,--I am happy to write you a letter, I do love you, and I will hug and kiss you when I see you.
Mr. Anagnos is ing to see me Monday. I do love to run and hop and skip with Robert in bright warm sun.
I do know little girl in Lexington Ky. her name is Katherine Hobson.
I am going to Boston in Juh mother and teacher, I will have fun with little blind girls, and Mr. Hale will send me pretty story. I do read stories in my book about lions and tigers and bears.
Mildred will not go to Boston, she does cry. I love to play with little sister, she is weak and small baby. Eva is better.
Yates killed ants, ants stung Yates. Yates is digging in garden. Mr. Anagnos did see es, they look like golden apples.
Robert will e to see me Sunday when sun shines and I will have fun with him. My cousin Frank lives in Louisville. I will e to Memphis again to see Mr. Farris and Mrs. Graves and Mr. Mayo and Mr. Graves.
Natalie is a good girl and does not cry, and she will be big and Mrs. Graves is making short dresses for her.
Natalie has a little carriage. Mr. Mayo has been to Duck Hill and he brought sweet flowers home.
With much love and a kiss HELEN A. KELLER.
In this at of the piic we get an illuminating glimpse of Miss Sullivans skill in teag her pupil during play hours. This was a day when the childs vocabulary grew.
TO MR. MICHAEL ANAGNOS Tuscumbia, Ala., May 3rd 1888.
Dear Mr. Anagnos.--I am glad to write to you this m, because I love you very much. I was very happy to receive pretty book and nice dy and two letters from you. I will e to see you soon and will ask you many questions about tries and you will love good child.
Mother is making me pretty new dresses to wear in Boston and I will look lovely to see little girls and boys and you. Friday teacher and I went to a piic with little children. We played games and ate dinner uhe trees, and we found ferns and wild flowers. I walked in the woods and learned names of many trees. There are poplar and cedar and pine and oak and ash and hickory and maple trees. They make a pleasant shade and the little birds love to swing to and fro and sing sweetly up irees. Rabbits hop and squirrels run and ugly snakes do crawl in the woods. Geraniums and roses jasamines and japonicas are cultivated flowers. I help mother and teacher water them every night before supper.
Cousin Arthur made me a swing in the ash tree. Aunt Ev. has goo Memphis. Uncle Frank is here. He is pig strawberries for dinner. Nancy is sick agaieeth do make her ill. Adeline is well and she go to ati Monday with me. Aunt Ev. will send me a boy doll, Harry will be Nancys and Adelines brother. Wee sister is a good girl. I am tired now and I do want to go down stairs. I send many kisses and hugs with letter.
Part II. Letters(1887-1901)67
Your darling child HELEN KELLER.
Toward the end of May Mrs. Keller, Helen, and Miss Sullivan started for Boston. On the way they spent a few days in Washington, where they saw Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and called on President Cleveland. On May 26th they arrived in Boston ao the Perkins Institution; here Helehe little blind girls with whom she had correspohe year before.
Early in July she went to Brewster, Massachusetts, and spent the rest of the summer. Here occurred her first enter with the sea, of which she has since written.
TO MISS MARY C. MOORE So. Boston, Mass. Sept. 1888 My dear Miss Moore Are you very glad to receive a ter from your darling little friend? I love you very dearly because you are my friend. My precious little sister is quite well now. She likes to sit in my little rog-chair and put her kitty to sleep. Would you like to see darling little Mildred? She is a very pretty baby. Her eyes are very big and blue, and her cheeks are soft and round and rosy and her hair is very bright and golden. She is very good and sweet when she does not cry loud. summer Mildred will go out in the garden with me and pick the big sweet strawberries and then she will be very happy. I hope she will oo many of the delicious fruit for they will make her very ill.
Sometime will you please e to Alabama and visit me? My uncle James is going to buy me a very gentle pony and a pretty cart and I shall be very happy to take you and Harry to ride. I hope Harry will not be afraid of my pony. I think my father will buy me a beautiful little brother some day. I shall be very gentle and patient to my new little brother. When I visit many strange tries my brother and Mildred will stay with grandmother because they will be too small to see a great many people and I think they would cry loud on the great rough o.
When Capt. Baker gets well he will take me in his big ship to Africa. Then I shall see lions and tigers and monkeys. I will get a baby lion and a white monkey and a mild bear t home. I had a very pleasant time at Brewster. I w<cite></cite>ent in bathing almost every day and Carrie and Frank and little Helen and I had fun. We splashed and jumped and waded in the deep water. I am not afraid to float now. Harry float and swim?
We came to Boston last Thursday, and Mr. Anagnos was delighted to see me, and he hugged and kissed me.
The little girls are ing back to school Wednesday.
Will you please tell Harry to write me a very loer soon? When you e to Tuscumbia to see me I hope my father will have many sweet apples and juicy peaches and fine pears and delicious grapes and large water melons.
I hope you think about me and love me because I am a good little child.
With much love and two kisses From your little friend HELEN A. KELLER.
In this at of a visit to some friends, Helens thought is much what one would expect from an ordinary child of eight, except perhaps her isfa in the boldness of the youlemen.
TO MRS. KATE ADAMS KELLER So. Boston, Mass, Sept. 24th [1888].
My dear Mother, I think you will be very glad to know all about my visit to West on. Teacher and I had a lovely time with many kind friends. West on is not far from Boston and we went there ieam cars very quickly.
Mrs. Freeman and Carrie ahel and Frank and Helen came to station to meet us in a huge carriage. I art II. Letters(1887-1901)68
delighted to see my dear little friends and I hugged and kissed them. Then we rode for a long time to see all the beautiful things i on. Many very handsome houses and large soft green lawns around them and trees and bright flowers and fountains. The horses name rind he was gentle and liked to trot very fast. When we went home we saw eight rab?s and tuppies, and a tle white pony, and two wee kittens and a pretty curly dog named Don. Ponys name was Mollie and I had a nice ride on her back; I was not afraid, I hope my uncle will get me a dear little pony and a little cart very soon.
Clifton did not kiss me because he does not like to kiss little girls. He is shy. I am very glad that Frank and Clarend Robbie and Eddie and Charles and Gee were not very shy. I played with many little girls and we had fun. I rode on Carries tricicle and picked flowers and ate fruit and hopped and skipped and danced ao ride. Many ladies alemen came to see us. Lud Dora and Charles were born in a. I was born in America, and Mr. Anagnos was born in Greece. Mr. Drew says little girls in a ot talk on their fingers but I think when I go to a I will teach them. ese nurse came to see me, her name was Asu. She showed me a tiny atze that very rich ladies in a wear because their feet never grow large. Amah means a nurse. We came home in horse cars because it was Sunday and steam cars do not go often on Sunday.
ductors and engineers do get very tired and go home to rest. I saw little Willie Swan in the car and he gave me a juicy pear. He was six years old. What did I do when I was six years old? Will you please ask my father to e to train to meet teacher and me? I am very sorry that Eva and Bessie are sick. I hope I have a nice party my birthday, and I do want Carrie ahel and Frank and Helen to e to Alabama to visit me.
Will Mildred sleep with me when I e home.
With much love and thousand kisses. From your dear little daughter. HELEN A. KELLER.
Her visit to Plymouth was in July. This letter, written three months later, shows how well she remembered her first lesson in history.
TO MR. MORRISON HEADY South Boston, Mass. October 1st, 1888.
My dear uncle Morrie,--I think you will be very glad to receive a letter from your dear little friend Helen. I am very happy to write to you because I think of you and love you. I read pretty stories in the book you sent me, about Charles and his boat, and Arthur and his dream, and Rosa and the sheep.
I have been in a large boat. It was like a ship. Mother and teacher and Mrs. Hopkins and Mr. Anagnos and Mr.
Rodoachi and many other friends went to Plymouth to see many old things. I will tell you a little story about Plymouth.
Many years ago there lived in England many good people, but the king and his friends were not kind ale and patient with good people, because the king did not like to have the people disobey him. People did not like to go to church with the king; but they did like to build very tle churches for themselves.
The king was very angry with the people and they were sorry and they said, we will go away to a strange try to live and leave very dear home and friends and naughty king. So, they put all their things into big boxes, and said, Good-bye. I am sorry for them because they cried much. When they went to Holland they did not know anyone; and they could not know what the people were talking about because they did not know Dutch. But soon they learned some Dutch words; but they loved their own language and they did not want little boys and girls tet it and learn to talk funny Dutch. So they said, We must go to a new try far away and build schools and houses and churches and make new cities. So they put all their things in boxes and said, Good-bye to their new friends and sailed away in a large boat to find a new try. Poor people were not happy for their hearts were full of sad thoughts because they did not know much about America. I think little children must have been afraid of a great o for it is very strong and it makes a large boat rod thetle children would fall down and hurt their heads. After they had been many weeks on the deep o where they could not see trees or flowers rass, but just water and the beautiful sky, for ships could Part II. Letters(1887-1901)69
not sail quickly then because men did not know about engines and steam. One day a dear little baby-boy was born. His name eregrine White. I am very sorry that poor little Peregrine is dead now. Every day the people went upoo look out for land. One day there was a great shout on the ship for the people saw the land and they were full of joy because they had reached a new try safely. Little girls and boys jumped and clapped their hands. They were all glad wheepped upon a huge rock. I did see the ro Plymouth and a little ship like the Mayflower and the cradle that dear little Peregrine slept in and many old things that came in the Mayflower. Would you like to visit Plymouth some time and see many old things.
Now I am very tired and I will rest.
With much love and many kisses, from your little friend. HELEN A. KELLER.
The fn words iwo letters, the first of which was written during a visit to the kindergarten for the blind, she had been told months before, and had stowed them away in her memory. She assimilated words and practised with them, sometimes using them intelligently, sometimes repeating them in a parrot-like fashion.
Even when she did not fully uand words or ideas, she liked to set them down as though she did. It was in this way that she learo use correctly words of sound and vision which express ideas outside of her experience. "Edith" is Edith Thomas.
TO MR. MICHAEL ANAGNOS Roxbury, Mass. Oct. 17th, 1888.
Mon cher Monsieur Anagnos, I am sitting by the window and the beautiful sun is shining oeacher and I came to the kindergarteerday. There are twenty seven little children here and they are all blind. I am sorry because they ot see much. Sometime will they have very well eyes? Poor Edith is blind and deaf and dumb. Are you very sad for Edith and me? Soon I shall go home to see my mother and my father and my dear good and sweet little sister. I hope you will e to Alabama to visit me and I will take you to ride in my little cart and I think you will like to see me on my dear little ponys back. I shall wear my lovely cap and my new riding dress. If the sun shines brightly I will take you to see Leila and Eva and Bessie. When I am thirteen years old I am going to travel in many strange aiful tries. I shall climb very high mountains in Norway and see much id snow. I hope I will not fall and hurt my head I shall visit little Lord Fauntleroy in England and he will be glad to show me his grand and very a castle. And we will run with the deer ahe rabbits and catch the squirrels. I shall not be afraid of Fauntleroys great dog Dougal. I hope Fauntleroy take me to see a very kind queen. When I go to France I will take French. A little French boy will say, Parlez-vous Francais?
and I will say, Oui, Monsieur, vous avez un joli chapeau. Donnez moi un baiser. I hope you will go with me to Athens to see the maid of Athens. She was very lovely lady and I will talk Greek to her. I will say, se agapo and, pos echete and I think she will say, kalos, and then I will say chaere. Will you please e to see me soon and take me to the theater? When you e I will say, Kale emera, and when you go home I will say, Kale nykta. Now I am too tired to write more. Je vous aime. Au revoir From your darling little friend HELEN A. KELLER.
TO MISS EVELINA H. KELLER [So. Boston, Mass. October 29, 1888.] My dearest Aunt,--I am ing home very soon and I think you and every one will be very glad to see my teacher and me. I am very happy because I have learned much about many things. I am studying Frend German and Latin and Greek. Se agapo is Greek, and it means I love thee. Jai une boite soeur is French, and it means I have a good little sister. Nous avons un bon pere et une bonne mere means, we have a good father and a good mother. Puer is boy in Latin, and Mutter is mother in German. I will teach Mildred many languages when I e home. HELEN A. KELLER.
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