Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-02-01

Oh JdIlElI II, ~ 81 lul llid
one is almost inevitably skepticaI aS
to its being her own unaided work
Notwithstanding the assertion at the
head of the narrative that it is writ
en- wholly without help of any sort by
a deaf and blind girl, Il years old
and printed without change" 1t is
not alone the things said, which are
in themselves wonderful enough, but
the manner of saying them which Is
so extraordinary. This little creature
so terribly deprived almost from birth
of every natural advantage, and whose
teaching, in spite of every help that
has been given, has necessarily been
narrow, nevertheless is here shown
to have acquired Il literary capacity
of a very rare sort and degree. She
possesses pictorial power such as few
seeing persons have: she appreciates
the beauty OF poetry, which to ordinary
mOrtals seems to depend so much upon
sound; and she has acquired a treas
ury of essential thought, removed from
physical conditions, which enables her
70 use expressions of comparisons, con
rrast, imagery and reasoning which
would certainly be extraordinary in a
ehlld OF her age under the best advan
RACES.
1t may of course be said here that
n child with the usual command of it,
senses would be brought up in the com
mon way. so that it would not be
stimulated to know 50 much; that il
would not be likely to have its higher
nature developed at all as Helen Kel
ier's has been by constant and indi
vidual attention; in fact, that it would
be handicapped, and that every such
normal child is so handicapped, by
the commonplace of life. and the lack
of this fine attention to each individual
creature which has been paid to Helen
Keller. And this we suppose to be
true. In every essential of the life of
the soul, this little girl has been bless
ed instead of cursed by her depriva
tons Life is sweeter to her TOW: and
will probably bc sweeter to hel
throughout than to any child possessed
of Sll the senses. Laura Bridgman
who was not nearly so richly endow
ed ap individuality, led n happy life
at the borders of age. Helen Keller
will do more; she will be able to make
a name for herself in literature. fol
her fine spiritual senses set her above
her fellows. and the interest of tho
world will continue to turn to her. be
cause of her personal charm and gen
ius. The profile portrait of her in half.
tone shows fine intellectual head and
attractive features; she is represented
as working her typewriter, and {
sample in facsimile is given of the
last few lines of her article. as type
written by herself: while there ar,
appended in her own handwriting done
in a frame. of Course) her signature
and the date. '"TuScumbia. Ala. Dec
9th, 1892" This signatur is as fui
of character as the article Of which
it IS an ornament.
Helen Keller begins with the words
quoted whence we know rot Mind
mind alone is light AID hope ard life
and power She speaks Of her baby
hood, and says: II like 10 think
lived with God in the beautiful SOmc
where before | cane here, and tina
is why | always knew God loved mo
even when I had forgotten his name.
Again she says: "Of course my rccol
lections Of my early childhood ar
very indistirct. | have confused me-
morieS of long summer days tiiled witt
light, and the voices Of birds Singip;
in the clear sunshine I seem TO 70
member as if it were yesterday, bein:
lost in a great green place, where ther'
were beautiful flowers and fragran
trees | stood under one tall plant, ant
let it's blossoms rest upon my curl
head, | saw little flakes of light fit
ting among the flowers: | suppose the'
were birds, or perhaps butterflies.
heard a well-knOwn voice calling me
but feeling rOugiSh, / did not answer
I was glad, however, when my mothe
found me, and carried me away il
her arms. | discovered the true wa:
to walk the day I was Il year old an'
during the radiant summer days tina
Followed | sat never still Il minute
My mother watched mo coming. &C
ing, laughing, playing, prattling wit
proud, happy eyes. / was her Onl
child, and she thought there never ha
been another baby quite so beautifu
as her little Helen.
When she was 10 months old Hele
had scarlet fever. and the result wa
silence and darkness, and gradually tn
power of speech departed. She d'
scribes pathetically how she endeavo
ed to make up for these losses by fee
ing. and how angry She got becauS
she could not be understood eve
when she made signs which to he
were perfectly expressive. Then he
parents determined to have her laugh
and applied to DR.. AnagnOs. directt
now of the school which owed it's lii
TO DIR. Howe. the father of his wifi
and the teacher of Laura Bridgma1
He sent down that lovely woman an
accomplished teacher whom Hele
does not name, probably because Il
modesty OF the teacher forbids. Hele
describes her coming: Eve could n,
speak to each other; I could not as
why she had come" But she had
vague sense of some precious new gi
that they would make little sentence
but before I ever arranged sentenc
in the frame I used to make the
with objects I would find the sill
of paper which represented doll is
bed" and place them on the obiec
thus making q sentence. Nothing c
lighted me so much as this game.
would play it for hours togeth,
Often when everything in the roc