The Story of My Life: With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert MacyKeller, Helen
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The Story of My Life: With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy
Keller, Helen
Deafblind women -- United States -- Biography; Keller, Helen, 1880-1968
You see, I use a typewriter--it is my right hand man, so to
speak. Without it I do not see how I could go to college. I write
all my themes and examinations on it, even Greek. Indeed, it has
only one drawback, and that probably is regarded as an advantage
by the professors; it is that one's mistakes may be detected at a
glance; for there is no chance to hide them in illegible writing.
I know you will be amused when I tell you that I am deeply
interested in politics. I like to have the papers read to me, and
I try to understand the great questions of the day; but I am
afraid my knowledge is very unstable; for I change my opinions
with every new book I read. I used to think that when I studied
Civil Government and Economics, all my difficulties and
perplexities would blossom into beautiful certainties; but alas,
I find that there are more tares than wheat in these fertile
fields of knowledge....
III: A SUPPLEMENTARY ACCOUNT OF HELEN KELLER'S LIFE AND EDUCATION
CHAPTER I. The Writing of the Book
It is fitting that Miss Keller's "Story of My Life" should appear at
this time. What is remarkable in her career is already accomplished,
and whatever she may do in the future will be but a relatively slight
addition to the success which distinguishes her now. That success has
just been assured, for it is her work at Radcliffe during the last two
years which has shown that she can carry her education as far as if
she were studying under normal conditions. Whatever doubts Miss Keller
herself may have had are now at rest.
Several passages of her autobiography, as it appeared in serial form,
have been made the subject of a grave editorial in a Boston newspaper,
in which the writer regretted Miss Keller's apparent disillusionment in
regard to the value of her college life. He quoted the passages in which
she explains that college is not the "universal Athens" she had hoped to
find, and cited the cases of other remarkable persons whose college life
had proved disappointing. But it is to be remembered that Miss Keller
has written many things in her autobiography for the fun of writing
them, and the disillusion, which the writer of the editorial took
seriously, is in great part humorous. Miss Keller does not suppose her
views to be of great importance, and when she utters her opinions on
important matters she takes it for granted that her reader will receive
them as the opinions of a junior in college, not of one who writes with
the wisdom of maturity. For instance, it surprised her that some people
were annoyed at what she said about the Bible, and she was amused that
they did not see, what was plain enough, that she had been obliged
to read the whole Bible in a course in English literature, not as a
religious duty put upon her by her teacher or her parents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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