The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-25
Discourse on Helen Kellar'r
 Life--Pathos of Gods Love

Brooklyn Eagle.
 i For his morning sermon yesterday the Rev. Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, pastor of Plymouth Church, had for his sup ject: Helen Kellar's Life and the Pa- thos Of Gods Love--why Men Know so
 Little of God and the Future Life" The text was the words: Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath 1t entered into
 the heart of man, the things that God
 hath prepared for them that love Him." Blind, deaf and dumb, Helen Keilar Is
 now publishing her biography. Thanks to her wise teacher, the girl has at last
 escaped from her dungeon. For many years her spirit was buried alive, en- tombed, not i'm stone, but in aesh- The body was living sepulcher. with opaque walls that shut her spirit in. During those awful years she ate. she slept. she wakened--no more. From time to time she made signals, but no answer came from without. From time to time she thought she detected signals coming In to her, but she knew not how to inter- pret them. That Man with the Iron Mask, in his dungeon. detected rappings on the wall at night, but knew not whether the rappines stood for numbers or letters. Unable to determine, the pris- oner beat his head against the wall un- til he fell unconscious. Not otherwise did this young girl send forth from her living tomb thousand signals for help. If others heard. she thought she received no answer. But at last, in the provi- dence of God little Helen Keller was placed in the charge of a teacher unique for skill. When the child was hungry ne gave her the orange. Then putting his fingers on her throat. and putting her fingers on his throat, he spelled out the word. When the child was thirsty he gave her drink and then with the
 fingers of the one on the throat of the other he spelled out the word water. One June day, when summer was at It's best, he took the child into the garden. and, with his fingers on her throat, spelled out the sun and the summer. Just as afterward, in the warm sum- mers rain, he spelled out the word storm. When the chiid fell, brutsing her self. with his fingers he sent this dis patch. 'T love you" and quickly with her fingers on his throat, the child spelled back her answer, And love you"
 Then later. Helen Kellar passed into the charge of a lady, to whose wisdom and instruction the whole world owes a debt. One day she told Helen Keilar through her fingers that there was a nerve in the ear for hearing. that something had deadened her nerve in infancy. That. although all seemed silent to her, yet there were soldiers marching through the streets. keeping step to the sound of martial music. There was a chorus
 in the music hall whose voices rose and fell in sounds like the roar of the sea. That sometimes the music was so sweet that 1t tasted to the auditory nerve much as sugar or the strawberry or the orange tasted upon the tongue. Later she took the child to the gallery, and with fingers told the girl that the great room was filled with noble pictures, faces. flowers, landscapes, colors gay and brilliant, and that the face of those who loved her was sometimes bright with smiles. and . the eyes sometimes dim with tears
 Because your optic nerve Is dead, you must not be skeptical about the great realm of sight and coior;< and because your auditory nerve is paralyzed, you must got say there is no realm of sound. And the child answered: II understand, and I believe" One. day the friend brought Phillips Brooks. the great preacher, to her. And through her teach CT Phillips Brooks told Helen KeIlar that God was very near to her. her Father Unseen, who loved her. and would never let go of her hand, either in life or In death And the child answered: T have often felt Him. He comes like warmth, but did not know before what to call Him." And from that day the girl went swiftly from one realm of knowledge to another realm. She passed from king dom to kingdom. Her tomb began to enlaFge. Great windows were opened up. At last she walked forth, free, she un- derstood the signals from without; she answered these signals from within. For a long time she knew only in part; she saw, as 1t were, through glass darky. But she believes now in the great realm where sweet sounds dwell, in the upper realm where. wondrous sights called clouds and mountains and stars are. Now from the viewpoint of her experience, I will ask Helen Kellar to read the text: Eye. hath not seen, neither ear heard, neither hath 1t entered into the heart of man to understand the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. Now We know in part"
 Helen Kellar's Story is the Story of
 Mans Soul.
 Last night. when closed this story of this young girl, my heart was fountain of water and my eyes ran in a river of tears. No. not for years for me has a story so broken up the fountains of the great deep. The pathos of this life's his- tory is that 1t is the history of mans soul. Not this little girl, blind and deaf and dumb, suffered during those first years. It was the parent and the friend, who stood above the child's cradle, who suffered. thousand times the mother heart whispered, 1T love you," and there was no answer. Ten thousand times she might have said, T suffer for you and weep for you,' but the child did not un- derstand the signals. No message came from the dungeon within. Meanwhile the little prisoner. entombed in flesh, did not understand. Questioning, she was beginning to say to herself, Prom whence did come? Have I an earthly father or mother? If so, why do they not speak to me? If the food and drink come from them, why do they not re- veal themselves? Why do they surround their throne with clouds and darknessT' Sometimes she sobbed, "Oh, that I knew where might find an earthly father and mother!' She thought they were silent. but 1t was her dead ears. She thought they were shadowy, unreal, curtained about with mystery. unseen. but 1t was her dead optic nerve. One day. when her mother gave her some bitter med icine. the child clenched her fists and said: Why does this unseen thing make me suner? It cannot be my father or mother. l would not make a kitten suffer this way. The child did not know that that bitter medicine was the beginning of happiness and health and pleasure any more than these rebellious men who cry out against their heavenly Fathers chas- tisement. An. men are only boys grown Kellars in their ignorance crying out of the depths of their own folly and ignor- ance. Here are the philosophers saying l.. AT--