The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-07-08
SHE ENJOYS srArUARY.
Helen Keller, the Famous Blind Girl
Visits the Bo.tSa Art
Museum.

Helen Keller. the Fanous Blind Girl
vi.its the Bo.tSa Art
Museum
Ihad the good fortune to witness the
unique scene in tie Boston Art mu-
scum, two OF tA7Ve weeks ago, when
Helen Keller. the beauuhi deaf and
blind grl. was taheu to see the STAT
uAry. Helen Keller is now i7yearsoid.
She has q beautiful form and her face
Is expressive to most unusual degree.
She gives one O. Impression Of fresh.
happy girlhood. Taere is = slight de-
tormity d the eyes, but very other
feature Is perfect and her mouth Is es-
peeially expressive and wirsome. With
smiling. parted lips, she seems 10 be
Allied with a happy expectancy Of what
the future may br.rg her.
For some time HeleR attended a pri-
vate school in Cambridge, but she Is
now studying with a tutor and fitting
for Radcliffe Her careful trimming in
Greek showed during her visit TO the
museum. She appeared thoroughly IA
mlliar with the old Greek myiholOgieA
and Il seems Tia, she has Just been
reading the Had \ letter suggesting
the visit was sent her by her friend,
Miss Cobb, formerly 4 teacher Of the
blind, and Helen accepted the invita-
ton, saying that she had always want
ed 10 see the "slyer-b0wed god and the
whitearmed godiesses.-
At the museum The first statue shown
her was that Of Apollo. A stepladder
was brought. and She mounted until she
could reach the face. She put both
hands on the forehead. touching il
lightly with the tips Of her fingers.
From the center Of the forehead she
deity followed the curves outward,
then down the checks until her hands
met at the chin; then both eyes were
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
order pursued each time. Every new
cure was a surprise and q pleasure
10 her. She was as eager as a child
at each fresh discovery, and when any
thing pleased her especially she would
give a quick gasp of pleasure and clasp
her hands, bending forward her whole
figure. Helen's comment on Apollo was:
at is grand beyond description" OF
another god she said; HE has an ex-
allied look" and of Medusa; Her ex-
preston is painful"
The deftness and quickness with
which she could examine a statue were
wonderful, but what impressed the on
locker as even more remarkable was
that she seemed to read the artists
thought through her sensitive fingers
as readily as a seeing person could take
1t In by a glance. She was shown a bas-
relief Of a mother bidding farewell to
her child. In this the arms Of the
mother were missing. Her first ques-
ton was: Where ARE the mothers
arms? She should embrace her child"
And, as she was not at first under
stood, 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 culver;
Ahe lifts up her forehead a little"
Helen Keller's vocabulary is quaint
and bookish, quite different from that
Of an ordinary schoolgirl. She talks
as II she were translaiing, She
ciates slowly and with an earnest ef-
fort to be understood, but In order to
catch every word she says one must
give close attention. There Is a slight
thickness Of speech. When she desired
explanation 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 aston
ished everybody. Upon being shown a
bas-rehef Of some dancing girls she
Immediately asked: where are the
choristers seeming to detect their
absence simply by touch even sooner
than 1t would be noted by a seeing per-
son. The adjoining bas-rellef repre-
sented singers, there being four or Ave
figures. The lips of one were closed,
and as soon as her fingers touched il
she announced: "0ne Is silent" A lit
tie 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 q sense Of humor
She said Of Euripides, laughingly; "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 &c
think of, sweet smiling Sappbo." Ju.
Illus Caesar looked "just like what he
was" She was especially pleased with
Michael Angeles group OF mother and
child, and after having examined each
Of Its figures separately she placed onS
hand on the mothers face and the othel
on that Of the child and remained II
that position for 3 brief minute, as Il
touched with the gentle figure Of moth.
erhood. Then she said softly: at Il
very sweet and lovely"
There was an absorbed and expectan-
silence In the big rooms as the blind CIR
J passed with rapt face from statue Il
statue. The little group OF students
? following her watched her with an al
most breathless interest as she stoot
t on the top Of the stepladder, CROPPING
; and smiling. They were eager to catcl
every word she might say. With eye
as sightless as the vacant orbits O
stone about her, yet with a wonderful
Intelligence disclosed in every motion
! she presented q picture Of extraordi
nary interest and one which will never
be forgotten by those who saw it.-Con
: gregationalist.
q Why People Are Right-Handed.
4 A professor who has made a stud,
OF children says he has discovered VIII,
the majority Of people are right.hand
- ed. Tufaufa uga hoth bnnds ,,,0,t A.,