The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-19

, the invitation, saying that she had al
ways wanted to see the ''silverbowed god
and the white-armed goddesses''
| At the museum the first statute shown
her was that of Apollo. A stepladder was
brought and she mounted until she could
reach the face. She put both hands on
T, the forehead touching 1t lightly with the
| tips of her fingers. From the center of the
forehead she deftly followed the curves
outward, then down the cheeks until her
, hands met at the chin; then both eyes
! We're touched; then the nose, and lastly
the mouth. her hands moving in unison.
Next the arms and other parts of the
statue were examined. This was the or
der pursued each time. Every new curve
was a surprise and pleasure to her. She
was as eager as child at each fresh dis
covery, and when anything pleased her
especially would give a quick gasp of
pleasure and clasp her hands, bending
forward her whole figure. Helen's COM
ment on Apollo was: "It is grand beyond
description. OF another god she said:
He has an exalted look" and of Medusa,
Her expression is painful"
The deftness and quickness with which
she could examine a statue were wonder
full, but what impressed the onlooker as
even more remarkable was that she
seemed to read the artists thought
through her sensitive fingers as readily
as seeing person could take 1t in by a
glance She was shown a bas-relief Of
mother bidding farewell to her child
child In this the arms of the mother were
missing. Her first question was, ''Where
are the mothers arms? She should en-
brace her child" And, as she was not at
first understood, she repeated the word
embrace, at the same time putting her
arms around Miss Cobb. OF the mother
she remarked, She has sorrowful eyes,
wide open; her lips seem to quiver; she
lifts up her forehead little.'
Helen Keller's vocabulary is quaint ard
bookish, quite different from that of an
ordinary school girl. She talks as il she
were translating. She enunciates slowly
and with an earnest effort to be under
stood, but in order to catch every word
she says one must give close attention
There is a Slight thickness of speech
When she desired eXplana ton about any
of the statues, she reached for the hand
of Miss Cobb, who spelled into her fingers
what She wanted to know.
Her quickness Of perception astonishej
everybody. Upon being shown a bas-relief
Of some dancing girls she Immediately
asked: Where are the choriSters?" SEEM
ing to detect their absence simply by
touch even sooner than 1t would be noted
by a seeing person. The adjoining bas-
relief represented singers, there being
four or five figures. The lips of one were
closed, and as soon as her fingers touched
it she announced, lone is silent" A little
further on was a statue of Neptune, and
on feeling the empty hand her instant
question was Where is the trident?'
She Is not without a sense of humor
She said to Euripides laughngly: ''He is
not SO handsome as Pericles." The latter
she had previously described as having
"a fine, strong face, full of spirit and
| thought" and Sappho was the "Sappho.
she had always loved to think of, sweet,
smiling Sappho." Julius Caesar looked
'just like what he was" She was espe-
cially pleased with Michael Angeles group
of mother and child and after having ex-
amined each Of its figures separately she
placed one hand on the mothers face and
the other that of the child and re-
mained in that position for brief min
ute, as If touched with the gentle picture
of motherhood. Then she said softly: ''It
! Is sweet and lovely"
| There was an absorbed and expectant
silence in the big rooms as the blind girl
passed with rapt face from statue to
statue. The little group of students fol-
| lowing her watched her with an almost
breathlesS interest she stood the
top of the stepiadder, cropping and smil-
ing. They were eager to catch every
word she might say. With eyes as sight
! less as the vacant orbits of stone about
her, yet with wonderful intelligence dis
picture of extraordinary interest and one
which will never be forgotten by those
who saw t.-Congregationalist.