The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-05-03
THE CASE OF HELEN KELLER
A Blind Girl Who Is One of the Most
Learned Students of Her
College.

AcdIucO NCuOenCS OF Her
College.
New York Sun: In the current issue of
the Radcliffe Magazine there are several
themes from the pen of Helen Keller the
noted blind and deaf student, in which
she gives her versions of the growth of
flowers and tells of her first plunge in
the ocean. She describes the disillusions
of her college life and puts self-love as
the root of all evil. She says:
1t is very interesting to watch a
plant grow; it is like taking part in crea-
ton When all outside is cold and white,
when the little children of the woodland
are gone to their nurseries in the warn,
earth and the empty nests on the bare
trees are filled with snow my window
garden glows and smiles. making sum-
mer within while it is winter without. 1t
Is wonderful to see flowers bloom in the
midst of snowstorms. l have felt bud
Ishyly doff her green hood and blossom
with a silken burst of sound while the
icy fingers of the snow beat against the
window panes.
+ What secret power, | wonder, caused
this btossoming miracle? What myster-
ious force guided the seeding from the
dark earth up to the light through leaf
and stem and bud to glorious fulfillmelt
in the perfect flower? Who could have
dreamed that such a beauty lurked in the
dark earth. was latent in the tiny seed
we planted? Beautiful flower. you have
taught me to see little way into the
hidden heart of things. Now l under~
stand that the darkness everywhere may
hold possibilities better even than my
hopes"
Another theme is that in which Helen
describes her first experience with the
o1ean. She says:
II must have been about years old
when l was first taken to the seashore.
| had always lived far inland and had
never had much as a Whit of the salt
air: but had read in big book called
Our World a description Of the ocean
which filed me with wonder and an in
tense longing to touch the mighty sea and
feel it rear So my little heart leaped
high with eager excitement when 1 knew
my Wi h was at last to be realized.
NO sooner had l been helped into
my bathing suit than sprang out upon
The warm said and without a thought
of fear plunged into the cool water
When l felt the great pillows rock and
sink my delight knew no bounds. The
buoyant motion of the water filled me
with exquisite. quivering joy; but sud-
d. My the ecstacy gave place to the
widest terror; for my foot struck against
Il rock. and the next instant there was
a rush of water over my head. l thrust
put my hands to grasp some support:
! clu1ched at the water which the waves
a1d the seaweed tossed in my face. but
all my frantic efforts We're in vain.
THE waves seemed to be played a
game with me. and tossed me from one
to another in their wild frolic. 1t was
fearful. The good firm earth had slip
ped from under my feet, and everything
seemed shut out from this strange all
enveloping element-lfe. air. warmth
ard love-. At last, however. the sea,
as if weary with it's new toy, threw me
Lack on the shore, and in another In
start I was clasped in my mothers
rms. Oh. the comfort of the long ten
der embrace. AS soon as I had re-
covered from my panic to say anything
I tlemanded:
who nut salt in the water?"
Helen Keller is always original in her
literary likes and dislikes. In one Of
the themes she says of Lafontaine's
fables. which she has just been read
ing in the French for the first time:
"Stories in which animals are made
to talk and act. like human beings have
never appealed to me very strongly. La
fontaine seldom. if ever, appeals to our
higher moral sense. The highest chords
he strikes are those of reason and self
love. Through all the fables runs the
thoughts that mans morality springs
wholly from self-love. and that when
self-love is directed and restrained by
reason happiness must follow as surely
as surely as the day follows the night.
Now. so far as I can Judge, remarks
this little girl of 20, "self-love is the
/ root of all evil: but, Of course, I may
| be wrong. for I.afontaine had greater
opportunities Of ebs.arving men than
an, likely ever to have"
In another theme Helen puts her fin
ger upon what she regards the funda-
mental weakness Of French dramatic
art. Il should say" she writes, that
display was the most conspicuous char
acteristc of the French. All that they
say and do seems to be said and done
for effect-as if their world were indeed
"a stage, and all the men and women
merely players They are always dra-
liatic; they are in the highest degree
artistic and emotional. but it is an emo
ton of the senses and not of the heart
Their brilliancy is not satisfying, though
often alluring. 1t is ScentleSS mower
beautiful as the poppy is. beautiful, but
not dear to our hearts. like the rose,
though we would have both in our gar
dens.
81 never read a French tragedy with
out having an indefinabIe feeling that
it is all mad up. The characters In the
drama seem to speak with the purpose
| of impressing the audience. Even when
they are most serious, most passionate,
one feels that they are more concerned
with the impression they are making
than with the terrible doom which
| awaits them in the next act One must
indeed be dull not to see the are in il
all. but are-that is, art which we de-
tect and wonder at never touches the
emotions or Quickens the pulse
In her present surroundings MISS