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
General
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
While making a visit at Brewster, Massachusetts, she one day accompanied
my friend and me through the graveyard. She examined one stone after
another, and seemed pleased when she could decipher a name. She smelt of
the flowers, but showed no desire to pluck them; and, when I gathered
a few for her, she refused to have them pinned on her dress. When her
attention was drawn to a marble slab inscribed with the name FLORENCE
in relief, she dropped upon the ground as though looking for something,
then turned to me with a face full of trouble, and asked, "Were is poor
little Florence?" I evaded the question, but she persisted. Turning to
my friend, she asked, "Did you cry loud for poor little Florence?" Then
she added: "I think she is very dead. Who put her in big hole?" As she
continued to ask these distressing questions, we left the cemetery.
Florence was the daughter of my friend, and was a young lady at the time
of her death; but Helen had been told nothing about her, nor did she
even know that my friend had had a daughter. Helen had been given a bed
and carriage for her dolls, which she had received and used like any
other gift. On her return to the house after her visit to the cemetery,
she ran to the closet where these toys were kept, and carried them to
my friend, saying, "They are poor little Florence's." This was true,
although we were at a loss to understand how she guessed it. A letter
written to her mother in the course of the following week gave an
account of her impression in her own words:
"I put my little babies to sleep in Florence's little bed, and I take
them to ride in her carriage. Poor little Florence is dead. She was very
sick and died. Mrs. H. did cry loud for her dear little child. She got
in the ground, and she is very dirty, and she is cold. Florence was very
lovely like Sadie, and Mrs. H. kissed her and hugged her much. Florence
is very sad in big hole. Doctor gave her medicine to make her well, but
poor Florence did not get well. When she was very sick she tossed and
moaned in bed. Mrs. H. will go to see her soon."
Notwithstanding the activity of Helen's mind, she is a very natural
child. She is fond of fun and frolic, and loves dearly to be with other
children. She is never fretful or irritable, and I have never seen her
impatient with her playmates because they failed to understand her.
She will play for hours together with children who cannot understand a
single word she spells, and it is pathetic to watch the eager gestures
and excited pantomime through which her ideas and emotions find
expression. Occasionally some little boy or girl will try to learn the
manual alphabet. Then it is beautiful to observe with what patience,
sweetness, and perseverance Helen endeavours to bring the unruly fingers
of her little friend into proper position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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