The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-28
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.

Helen KeIIeE's Story of Her LIfe-A Hnr-
 vsIous Educational Fsat-Jos@Ph |.
 AItshsieF's "Bsfore the Dawn,'' story
 of ths Days When Richmond Fer-
 Martha ". Austin's "Veronica"-
 Coming New Books-The Magazines.
 An intensely interesting narrative is ''The Story of My Life" by Miss Helen Keller, just published by Doubleday, Page & O.. New York. with eighteen portraits, views, etc.
 A marvellous educational feat. in deed, was Miss Keller's wonderful achievement of getting into touch, through the aid of her devoted teacher and friend, Miss Sullivan. with the world about her. Left deaf, dumb and blind by mysterious illness at the age of nineteen months, she has in the last sixteen years learned to communicate with friends, to read. to see" statues by feeling, to speak French and Ger man as fluently as English, and to write,-correcting the chapters ill this volume when her teacher read them to her by means of her fingers. Simply, but with much feeling and with sur prising faculty for expression, she tells the story; how she learned the first word; her emotions at going to Boston, meeting other children, bathing in the ocean,-and so on through the almost incredible record. The volume has also an Illuminating study of Miss Keller by John Albert Macy and contains selection of Miss Keller's letters to many well known people; Phillips Brooks, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, ,Dr. Edward Everett Hale, John Green leaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Charles Dudley Warner and others. The book is dedi- cated by Miss Keller to Alexander Gra- ham Bell with the sentence 'who has taught the deaf to speak and enabled the listening ear to hear speech from the Atlantic to the Rockies" Among the illustrations are Miss Keller and Dr. Bell" Miss Keller, Miss Sullivan and Joseph Jefferson" Miss Keller, Miss Sullivan and pr. Edward Everett Hale,'' and Miss Keller and Mark Twain" There is also fac simile of part of a letter from Miss Keller to Phillips Brooks, which shows the clear ness and beauty of Miss Keller's hand writing. The joy Of her awakening from her long night is most touchingly described. Her first consciousness of language came a few days after Miss SulIivan's arrival at Tuscumbia.
 we walked she says, down the path to the well house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle, with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water, and my teacher placed my hand under the spout.
 : As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Sud- denly felt misty consciousness as of something forgotten-a thrill of return Jrg thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. knew tneasthat water meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!
 .eThere were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away"
 Later she became aware of the pro- cess of thought. "A day or two after ward I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups-two large beads, three small ones, and so on. I had made many mistakes, and Miss Sullivan had pointed them out again and again with gentle patience. Final ly I noticed very obvious error in the sequence, and for an instant I concen trated nay attention on the lesson and tried to think how I should have ar ranged the beads. Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled, with decided emphasis, Think In flash knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in my head. This was my first conscious per- ception of an abstract idea
 In the days of infancy and early childhood, before her education was be- gun, she showed that intelligence and mental readiness which was to accom- plish so much for her in future years. It was not long before sine began to feel the necessity, for some means of communication and to make crude signs. A shake of the head meant t'No'' and a nod Yes" a pull meant Come and a push "Go."' If she wanted bread she would initiate the art of cutting the slices and buttering them. If I wanted my mother to make ice cream for dinner" she writes, T made the sign for working the freez- CT and shivered, indicating cold My mother, moreover, succeeded in making me understand a good deal. I always knew when she wished me to bring her something, and I would run up stairs or anywhere else she indicated. Indeed, l owe to her loving wisdom all that was bright and good in my long night" She does not remember when she first realized that she was different from other people, but she knew it before her teacher came. T had noticed" she says, "that my mother and my friends did not use signs as I did when they wanted anything done but talked with their mouths. Sometimes I stood be- tween two persons who were convers- ing and touched their lips. I could not understand and was vexed. I moved my lips and gesticulated frantically without result. This made me so an-