Modern Americans: A Biographical School Reader for the Upper GradesSanford, Chester Milton
General
Modern Americans: A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades
Sanford, Chester Milton
Biography -- Juvenile literature; United States -- Biography
From the time of her recovery until the journey of which we have been
reading, Helen Keller lived in silence and darkness. This journey was
undertaken in order to consult a famous physician who had cured many
cases of blindness. Mr. and Mrs. Keller hoped this gentleman could
help their child, and you can imagine how sad they were when he said
he could do nothing. However, he sent them to consult Dr. Alexander
Graham Bell, who had taught many deaf children to speak. Dr. Bell
played with Helen and she sat on his knee and fingered curiously his
heavy gold watch. He not only advised her parents to get a special
teacher for her, but told them of a school in Boston in which he
thought they could find some one able to unlock the doors of knowledge
for the little girl. This was in the summer, and the next March Miss
Sullivan went to Alabama to be Helen Keller's friend and teacher.
Let us read how the little girl felt when this kind, loving woman
came. "On the afternoon of that eventful day I stood on the porch,
dumb, expectant. I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my
hand, as I supposed, to my mother. Some one took it and I was caught
up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things
to me.
"The next morning my teacher gave me a doll. When I had played with it
a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word
d-o-l-l. I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to
imitate it. When I at last succeeded I was flushed with pleasure and
pride. In the days that followed I learned to spell a great many words
with my fingers, among them were pin, hat, cup, sit, stand, and walk.
"But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood
that everything has a name."
Months and years of happy companionship now came to pass for Helen
Keller. Every winter she and her teacher went to Boston where they had
greater chances for study than in the little southern town. Here Helen
learned about snow for the first time and all her memories of her
studies in these years are joined with remembrances of the merry times
she had after school riding on a sled or toboggan and playing in the
snow.
It was when Helen was ten years old that she learned to speak. This
was a great and wonderful experience. Her teacher took her to a lady
who had offered to teach her. It was not easy for a deaf child to
learn to talk, and Miss Keller says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account