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
When she returned almost the first thing we did was to begin the story
of "Little Lord Fauntleroy." I recall distinctly the time and place when
we read the first chapters of the fascinating child's story. It was a
warm afternoon in August. We were sitting together in a hammock which
swung from two solemn pines at a short distance from the house. We had
hurried through the dish-washing after luncheon, in order that we might
have as long an afternoon as possible for the story. As we hastened
through the long grass toward the hammock, the grasshoppers swarmed
about us and fastened themselves on our clothes, and I remember that
my teacher insisted upon picking them all off before we sat down, which
seemed to me an unnecessary waste of time. The hammock was covered with
pine needles, for it had not been used while my teacher was away. The
warm sun shone on the pine trees and drew out all their fragrance. The
air was balmy, with a tang of the sea in it. Before we began the story
Miss Sullivan explained to me the things that she knew I should not
understand, and as we read on she explained the unfamiliar words.
At first there were many words I did not know, and the reading was
constantly interrupted; but as soon as I thoroughly comprehended the
situation, I became too eagerly absorbed in the story to notice mere
words, and I am afraid I listened impatiently to the explanations that
Miss Sullivan felt to be necessary. When her fingers were too tired
to spell another word, I had for the first time a keen sense of my
deprivations. I took the book in my hands and tried to feel the letters
with an intensity of longing that I can never forget.
Afterward, at my eager request, Mr. Anagnos had this story embossed,
and I read it again and again, until I almost knew it by heart; and all
through my childhood "Little Lord Fauntleroy" was my sweet and gentle
companion. I have given these details at the risk of being tedious,
because they are in such vivid contrast with my vague, mutable and
confused memories of earlier reading.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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