The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-10-03
WITH FINGER TIPS.
HOW HELEN KELLER WAS TAUGHT
THE NAMES OF THINGS.

Something of the Method Explained by
Her Tireless Instructress-A Face That
Mirrors a Soul which Knows Naught of
the Appearance of Sin.
The most interesting feature of the ed
vocational congress was the appearance
of Helen Keller under the kind and skill
full guidance of Miss Annie M. Sullivan,
her teacher. When babe, Helen Keller
became blind, deaf and dumb. When
Miss Sullivan, young woman Of unus-
ual beauty of form and feature, stood
before the audience beside a girl who,
except for the sad sign of blindness in
the large eyes, gave promise of still
greater beauty, her face glistening with
rapture that painters try to express in
the ecstacy of angels, hearts seemed to
stand still. 1t was face that had never
consciously looked on the distortions of
passion or pain-the mirror of a soul
that could not imagine the outward APP
pearance of sin nor remember any of the
discords of life.
In her presence it was hard to appre-
ciate the fact that her world lay within
ours, without sun, music or speech. No
one who saw it will forget the impulsive
futtering of her young, white hand as
it sought her teachers face or round,
white throat; the satisfaction when the
contact of her delicate white finger tips
gave her what sight gives us; the fash
of light over her face when, with her
forefnger resting on her teachers lip,
she read the answer to the question she
had asked by the twinkling digital move
ments in her teachers palm. There
were those who wept ahen she repeated
audibly, with deph of feeling she
alone can feel:
Tell me not in mournful numbers
Life is but an empty dream.
All were invited to ask questions, yet
not many did so. The occasion seemed
sacred.
How did you teach her the first
wordP' some one ventured at last.
''Her first word was doll, ," was the
answer. 81 gave her the doll, placed
her finger on my lip and spoke the word.
When she wearied of the doll, took it
from her, and when l returned it again
gave lIl0 I1ONGlucub VI bllO ups. L no
second word was mug fused the cup
from which she drank, but became con-
WINGED that she had not clear idea of
the name, but that it meant to her also
water or drink. So one day took her
to the pump, and as the water was flow
ing into her cNp had her hold her hand
in the stream, and then putting her fin
ger ON my lip gave her the word water.
Then l again gave her the word mug
The idea that everything had name,
the comprehension of nouns, was great
revelation to her and came then and all
at once. She was greatly excited. A
nurse, with the baby sister in her arms,
was standing near. Helen Immediately
put her hand on its face to know its
name ] told her baby, and she caught
it at once. Then she stopped down and
patted the ground to know what it was
called. She learned many words that
day, and those words she never forgot
"How soon after she learned words
did she frame sentences?"
Immediately"
"Were verbs harder to learn than
nouns?'
''Not at all. began with such words
as sit stand and the like that were
easy to illustrate. Propositions troubled
her most"
How does she get an idea of the alb
stract?"
Il cannot tell. It seems to be with
her, or it comes
HAS she any distinguishing sense of
musical vibrations
Eyes, very distinct. She likes music"
''Is her vocabulary larger
Every large. She expresses herself
fuently and is choice of words"
''What books does she like bestY'
Every now and then the white fingers
fluttered to the teachers face for just
one delicate touch-a finger look it was
and now they rested on Miss Sulli-
vans lip:
"Tell-the = people = what = books
you-like-best."
Helen's face was an open book of her
mental processes. She repeated each
word after Miss Sullivan, but hesitated
a little ON the words ''tell" and ''you,"
the brightness of her face dimming for
the instant. AS soon as she compre-
hended the question, which she did in adj
vance of its completion, the flash of intel
ligence came, and when she turned to-
ward the audience, for she did not seem
at any time to lose her location, she said
with spirit:
sob, have read so much that it is
very hard to say what / like best, but
waiting a moment-" Little Lord Faunt-
leroy And then followed rapidly
the names of several works, some of
which, it would seem, could hardly be
understood by any one who cannot know
sound and color.
"How do you readY'
'By raised letters and by my teacher"
II noticed when you pronounced for
her you articulated with an exaggerated
motion of the lips, said one. us not
that necessary"
Her teaching was begun in that way.
do not think it is necessary or best. |
attribute the popularity of her voice to
that mechanical action which she uses.
l think it would have been better and
just as easy if she had been spoken to
with the usual movement"
In reply to the question of her knowl-
edge of the abstract, General Futon re-
marked that the greatest development in
the case of Helen Keller was that of the
spiritual. Memphis Appeal-Avalanche.