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
One day we had a thrilling experience. There was a regatta in the
Northwest Arm, in which the boats from the different warships were
engaged. We went in a sail-boat along with many others to watch the
races. Hundreds of little sail-boats swung to and fro close by, and
the sea was calm. When the races were over, and we turned our faces
homeward, one of the party noticed a black cloud drifting in from the
sea, which grew and spread and thickened until it covered the whole sky.
The wind rose, and the waves chopped angrily at unseen barriers. Our
little boat confronted the gale fearlessly; with sails spread and ropes
taut, she seemed to sit upon the wind. Now she swirled in the billows,
now she sprang upward on a gigantic wave, only to be driven down with
angry howl and hiss. Down came the mainsail. Tacking and jibbing,
we wrestled with opposing winds that drove us from side to side with
impetuous fury. Our hearts beat fast, and our hands trembled with
excitement, not fear, for we had the hearts of vikings, and we knew that
our skipper was master of the situation. He had steered through many
a storm with firm hand and sea-wise eye. As they passed us, the large
craft and the gunboats in the harbour saluted and the seamen shouted
applause for the master of the only little sail-boat that ventured out
into the storm. At last, cold, hungry and weary, we reached our pier.
Last summer I spent in one of the loveliest nooks of one of the most
charming villages in New England. Wrentham, Massachusetts, is associated
with nearly all of my joys and sorrows. For many years Red Farm, by King
Philip's Pond, the home of Mr. J. E. Chamberlin and his family, was
my home. I remember with deepest gratitude the kindness of these dear
friends and the happy days I spent with them. The sweet companionship
of their children meant much to me. I joined in all their sports and
rambles through the woods and frolics in the water. The prattle of the
little ones and their pleasure in the stories I told them of elf and
gnome, of hero and wily bear, are pleasant things to remember. Mr.
Chamberlin initiated me into the mysteries of tree and wild-flower,
until with the little ear of love I heard the flow of sap in the oak,
and saw the sun glint from leaf to leaf. Thus it is that
Even as the roots, shut in the darksome earth,
Share in the tree-top's joyance, and conceive
Of sunshine and wide air and wingéd things,
By sympathy of nature, so do I
have evidence of things unseen.
It seems to me that there is in each of us a capacity to comprehend the
impressions and emotions which have been experienced by mankind from the
beginning. Each individual has a subconscious memory of the green earth
and murmuring waters, and blindness and deafness cannot rob him of this
gift from past generations. This inherited capacity is a sort of sixth
sense--a soul-sense which sees, hears, feels, all in one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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