The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-11-20
A GREAT TRIUMPH.
Wonderful Accomplishment Of Id
ucetional 9odoooA


W0O0e 0lSLOEy IL % wei k0OW0p Dy QcEe
sonal appeals secured the sum neces-
sary to educate . little boy similarly
afflicted. They were separated soon
after the education of the boy began,
and Mr.. Ellis gives the following ac-
count Of their recent meeting, after be-
ing many years apart: Helen had been
for weeks longing to see her little
friend, and to many verbal messages
had added her own written invitation to
Tom and his teacher to visit her at her
Cambridge home. Tom himself, al
though recalling little or nothing OF his
past acquaintance with Helen, and al
together ignorant of the debt he owed
her, had begun to look forward with
pleasure to the visit.
! fear that Helen's greetings to her
old friends, Toms teachers, were not 20
protracted Al they otherwise would
have been; for all the while that she was
welcoming them in feminine fashion,
her hand was quietly moving about 70
discover, If possible. her long -desired
visitor. When she did touch his head.
her fingers ran over it lightly for an in
slant, and the her arms were about his
neck. The expressive features of the
blind girl lighted up with rare Joy.
and throughout the visit her counter
ance was shining.
"What fine big boy he IL! The dear
little fellow" was her contradictory ex-
c!amation Of delight when at last abe
found her voice. Then her swift-mov-
ing fingers began to spell messages Of
affection into Toms chubby 1st. All
this time she was running her other
hand over his face, or lifting up his
hands to her own face and curls. Toms
comment OF pleasure on touching her
soft hair delighted her.
It was many moments before Miss
Sullivan. Helen's devoted friend and
teacher, could persuade her pupil. with
the small company Of friends, to be
seated. The two blind and deaf chill
dren, by some subtle instinct. seemed
tn know at once their community Of in-
terest, and together they sat in wide
window seat, talking with eagcrness
and ease, and absorbed in each other.
This Is not the place to report fully
the merry chatter and eager words Of
these two souls that 90 marvelously
dwell apart from the world In their
realm of innocence.
The strangeness Of their meeting inn
pressed her deeply. She stopped her
conversation with Tom long enough to
speak of this. She had been reading
Toms hand. following the movements
of his fingers, as he spelled out the
words with rapidity that would make
an inexperienced onloolker dizzy, by
keeping her own hand partly closed over
his. II suppose Tom il not used to hav-
ing people read his hand in this way"
she suggested.
The progress that Tom has made
since Helen last met him amazed and
charmed her. In answer to an inquiry
concerning TOMS education in articula-
ton, his teacher asked him to speak to
her with his hps. The strange picture
that was then presented ! shall never
forget. The children sat together, fac
ing each other, each countenaace il
lumined with an animation that the pos
session of every faculty could not have
increased. The older ones accomplish
ments are remarkable, 50 that in al
things save the senses Of sight and hear
ing she is not one whit behind the most
cultured and favored of young women.
The other child il following close after
her, along the same pathway that she
has pursued, knowing not his defcien-
lies even as much as lss companion
knows hers, and withal richly encom-
passed by her tender sympathy.
There they sit, neither having seem
since babyhood ray Of light, or slving
heard the slightest sound. and yet
speaking together in articulate. audible
words that all present could under
stand, yet which were not heard by
either of the speakers!
One finger Of Helen's delicate hand
touched Toms lips, and her thumb rest.
ed lightly upon his throat near the
chin. He spoke to her sentence after
sentence, and she repeated aloud after
him the words that he uttered, answer
ing them with her fingers. The signifi-
canoe, the marvelousness 81 it all. was
/ doubt If the world
has even seen . greater triumph OF edu-
Nicholas.