◆ SpookStack

wp tn EE RAPE PY FR TRI NID Oso neem seer te age ree ee santa cea swans © ee Ct a meee Lowa rh is —_— 40 HELEN KELLER sacrificing work to improve the condition of the blind. The beginning of Helen Adams Keller's life was simple and much like that of every other baby. She was born, healthy and sound, on June 27, 1R8O in Tuscumbia, Ala- fama, the daughter of Captain Arthur H. and Kate (Adams) Keller. At the age of six months she could pipe out “How d'ye” and “tea,” and when she was one year old she could talk, She enjoyed the flowers in her family’s garden, the play of sun anid shadow on the walls of her room, and the singing of the birds, Disaster struck in Feb. uary I88h An ilIness, diagnosed as brain fever, plunged her into unconsciousness. The doctor thought she could not live, and there was great rejoicing when the fever one morn- ing left her as suddenly as it had come, No- bady, not even the doctor, knew then that she would never sce or hear again. Captain Arthur Keller was a prominent man in his community. He was the editor of the North Alabamian and under the Cleveland ad- ministration was appointed marshal ef North Alabama. As owner of a large estate he found himself in the condition typical of many Southerners of that time: he was land-poor, He could not afford expert care for Helen, and she grew into childhood “wild and un- ruly, giggling and chuckling to express pleas- ure: kicking, scratching, uttering the choked screams of the dceaf-mute to indicate the op- posite.” When in 18N6 Captain Keller heard of Dr. Chisholm, a) famous oculist. in’ Baltt- more, he teak Helen to him —only to) hear that there was ne hepe, tut contrary te the common belief that brain fever leaves its victim (an idiot, Dr. Chisholm thought she could be eduneated. He advised her father to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in Wash- ington; and father and daughter proceeded to CURRENT BIOGRAI { Washington immediately. Dr. cll, advised them to write to: the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, and on March 3, 1887 Anne Mansfield Sullivan, a girl of twenty, arrived in Tuscumbia to educate Helen Keller. When Anne Sullivan had Jeft the Tnsti- tute the children had given her a hittle doll for Helen which became the abject of her frst, lesson, After Helen had played with it a while, “Teacher,” as she was soon called. spelled into her pupil's hand the word “d-o-1-1." Helen was much interested ‘in. the finger play and tricd to. imitate it, In the days. that followed she learned many more words, but it was not until a cool stream of water gushed ever her onc hand and “Preacher” spelled the word “w-a-teer” into the other that she realized that everything had a name, and the mystery of Jangnage was revealed to her. From the beginning Anne Sullivan always answered all of Helen's questions so that they were intelligible to her aml at the same time truthful. She did net keep certain class huurs, but spelled into Helen's hand everything they did all day long. Having observed that normal children understand much before they. them: selves utter their ‘lirst wortls--they point out the right things in response to questions, they obey commands like “come” and “go"— she proceeded as if this were also trac of Helen. She umed that Helen bad a normal chikl’s capacity 10 assimilate and imitate and = pro- ceeded to talk inte her hand as others talk into a baby’s car, The result, was) phcnomenal: after three years Helen Keller knew the alphabet, manual and Braille, and could read and write. - When the moner reached Helen that some- where in Sweden a dumb child had been taught to talk, she did not rest until arrange: ments were made for her to take speech les- sons. In March 1890 she started her speech classes with Miss Sarah Fuller, principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Rosten. Her education procecded rapidly, and in October 1894 she entered the Wright Humason School for the Deaf in New York, where she stayed two years. This school had heen chosen to give her all possible advantage in vocal culture and. training in lip readings. While there she also studied arithmetic, phys- ical geography, French, and German. Helen's determination to enter college be- came stronger and stronger, Tee prepare for Radcliffe College she went ty the Cam- bridge School for Young Ladies in. 1896 and for the first time enjoyed the companionship of girls of “her own age. When she entered Radcliffe four years later she was clected vice-president of the freshman class and seon made friends with many of her classmates, Thronghout her school days “Teacher” pa- tiently interpreted —through the manual al- phabet- all classes, Teetures, books, and references. Yet college was tet all Helen had expected i te he. She enjoyed it) Tnat suffered from lack of time and fren the distance of the professurs, “Oc doves net meet the great and the wise face ta face, one does not even feel their fiving touch,” she ee <8, &K Ah r