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
My Dear Mr. Anagnos: You will laugh when you open your little friend's
letter and see all the queer mistakes she has made in French, but I
think you will be pleased to know that I can write even a short letter
in French. It makes me very happy to please you and my dear teacher. I
wish I could see your little niece Amelia. I am sure we should love each
other. I hope you will bring some of Virginia Evanghelides' poems home
with you, and translate them for me. Teacher and I have just returned
from our walk. It is a beautiful day. We met a sweet little child. She
was playing on the pier with a wee brother. She gave me a kiss and then
ran away, because she was a shy little girl. I wonder if you would like
to have me tell you a pretty dream which I had a long time ago when I
was a very little child? Teacher says it was a day-dream, and she thinks
you would be delighted to hear it. One pleasant morning in the beautiful
springtime, I thought I was sitting on the soft grass under my dear
mother's window, looking very earnestly at the rose-bushes which were
growing all around me. It was quite early, the sun had not been up very
long; the birds were just beginning to sing joyously. The flowers were
still asleep. They would not awake until the sun had smiled lovingly
upon them. I was a very happy little child with rosy cheeks, and large
blue eyes, and the most beautiful golden ringlets you can imagine. The
fresh morning air blew gently in my face, as if to welcome me, and be my
merry playmate, and the sun looked at me with a warm and tender smile.
I clapped my chubby hands for joy when I saw that the rose-bushes were
covered with lovely buds. Some were red, some white, and others were
delicate pink, and they were peeping out from between the green leaves
like beautiful little fairies. I had never seen anything so lovely
before, for I was very young and I could not remember how pretty the
roses had been the summer before. My little heart was filled with a
sweet joy, and I danced around the rosebushes to show my delight.
After a while I went very near to a beautiful white rose-bush which was
completely covered with buds and sparkling with dewdrops; I bent down
one of the branches with a lovely pure white bud upon it, and kissed it
softly many times; just then I felt two loving arms steal gently around
me, and loving lips kissing my eyelids, my cheeks, and my mouth, until
I began to think it was raining kisses; and at last I opened my eyes
to see what it all meant, and found it was my precious mother, who was
bending over me, trying to kiss me awake. Do you like my day-dream? If
you do, perhaps I will dream again for you some time.
Teacher and all of your friends send you their love. I shall be so glad
when you come home, for I greatly miss you. Please give my love to your
good Greek friends, and tell them that I shall come to Athens some day.
Lovingly your little friend and playmate, HELEN A. KELLER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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