Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-01-02
little Helen Eeller, the Blind Deaf
Mute.

Helen Keller has % wonderful mem
Org, and seldom forgets what she has
once learned; and She learns very
quickly. She is wonderfully bright
chilli. and her teacher, instead Of urg-
ing her 10 study, is often obliged to
coax Helen away from some example
in arithmetic, or other task, lest the
little girl should injure her health by
working too hard az her lessons. But
her marvellous progress is not due to her
fine memory alone, but also to her
great quickness Of perception, and tC
her remarkable powers of thought.
To speak little more clearly, Helen
understands with singular raridty, not
only what is said TO her but even the
feelings and the state Of mind of thOs
about her, and she MtVbS more than
most children of her aye. The
Touch >chOolmistress has done such
wonders for her little pupil that you
would scarcely believe how many
things Helen finds out, as with electric
qu,ckness, through her fingers. She
knows in a moment whether her com
pauIOus are sad, or frightened OF
mpaticnt-in other words. she has
learned so we'll what movements PEG.
pie make under the influenza of differ.
eut feelings that at times she seems tC
read our thoughts. Thus. when she
was walking one day with her mother,
boy exploded a torpedo which
frightened Mrs. Keller. Helen asked
at once, "What are YOU afraid ofP'
Some Of YOU already know that sound
ii. e., noise OF all sor' Is produced by
the vibrations of the air striking
against our organs Of hearing that is
to say, the ears; and deaf people, even
though they eau hear absolutely moth.
ing, are still conscious Of these yibra.
tions. Thus. they can "feel" loud
nusic, probably because il shakes the
floor; aud lIelon's sense of feeling is SO
wonderfully acute, that she no doubt
learns many things from these vlbra.
tiuns of the air which to us are imper.
ceptibie.
The following anecdote illustrates
both her quickness of touch aud her
reasoning powers. The matron of the
Perkins Institution for the Blind ex-
hibited one day, to number OF friends,
"a glass lemon-squecZer Of a new pat.
term II had never been used. and no
one present could guess for what pur-
pose il was intended. Some one hand
Ell il to Helen, who spelled lemonade"
on her fingers, and asked for a drink
iug-glass. When the glass was brought,
she placed the squeezer in proper
position for use.
Ittf Ia. t,,, a ,tsaa al ngalt- vNngtfpppA
as TO how she found out the secret that
had batnyd all the seeing people
present She tapped her forehead
twice, and spelled, i think"
can not t0vbear telling You one
more auccdote about her, which seems
to me a very pathetic Que. She is a
very good mimic, aud loves TO initiate
the motions and gestures of those
about her and she can do so very
clcverly. On a certain Sunday, she
went to church with a lady named
Mrs. Hopkins. having been cautioned
beforehand hy her teacher. that she
must sit very quiet during the church
service. IT, Is very hard TO sit perfectly
sulL however when you can hear one
word of what the minister is saying,
and Httlo Helen presently began TO
talk to Mrs. Hopkins, and ass what
was going on, Mrs. H. told her. and
reminded her Of Miss Sulliyau's in
junction about keeping quiet. She
Immediately obeyod, and turned her
head Ia % listening attitude, she said,
FL listen. F0rgao5 H9ua HtH, ~ So.
Nicholas.