Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-11
BLIND GIRLS OPTIMISM.
Cheerful View of Life Taken By Miss
 Helen Keller.

EtIC"= VI gAuI 1dhCh AOJ y4AAsofo
 Helen Keller.
 Filled with analyses of emotions and with philosophic discussion is the new book by Miss Helen Keller, the blind author, says the New York World. The work is called Optimism; an Essay and note by the publishers, Messrs. T. |. Crowell GS Go. of New York city, says that the book marks Miss kelleI's Ind that it is an exposition of the au- !hor's creed of cheerfulness.
 Miss Keller begins as follows:
 Could we choose our environment, ind were desire in human undertakings lyncl1y nous with endowment, all men would I suppose, be optimists. Ger tainly most of us regard happiness as tic proper end of all earthly enterprise.
 The will to be happy anfnates alike the philosopher, the prince and the chirn- hey sweep. No matterIhow dull or how mean or how wise man is he feels that happiness is his indisputable right
 Tt is curious to observe what differ, hnt ideals of happiness people cherish hnd in what singular places they look Tor this wellspring of their life. Most leople measure their happiness in terms Atf physical pleasure and material pos iiesson. Could they win some visible Eeal which they have set on the hori- .kon. how happy they would be! !. 's0nce I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face bf all things. Then love came and set tiy soul free. Now I know hope and toy. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. Now ! rejoice in the consciousness that |, ean think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death, tho pessimist would say, a consumma- lion deyoutly to be wished But lit
 tle word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at
 emptiness, and my heart leaped to the
 rapture of living. Night fled before the
 day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a passion of obedi- ence to knowledge
 T know what evil is. Once or twice l have wrestled with it and for time | felt it's chilling touch on my life, so I speak with Knowledge when I say that evil is of no consequence except as
 sort of men ymnastic. For the very | reason that .lve come in contact with ] it I am more truly an optimist. I can 1 say with conviction that the struggle which evil necesstates is one of the | greatest blessings. It makes us strong, 1 patient, hopeful men and women It l let's us into the soul of things and l teaches us that although the world is l full of suffering it is full also of the | overcoming of it. My optimism, then, l does not rest on the absence of evil, | but on q glad belief in the preponder- ance of good and a willing effort al- ways to cooperate with the good, that l it may prevail.
 l As my college days draw to close
 l find myself looking forward with l beating heart and bright anticipations l b what the future holds of activity for | mo- My share in the work of the world 1 may be limited, but the fact that it is 1 work makes it precious. Nay, the de- sire and will to work is optimism it. | self.
 1 II, too, can work, and because I love l to labor with my head and my hands I
 am an optimiSt in spite of all. I used to think should be thwarted in my de sire to do something useful. The glad
 dest laborer fn the vineyard may be a l cripple. Darwin could work only half i an hour at time, yet in many diligent l half hours be laid atew the foundations of philosophy. I long to accomplish a l great and noble task, but it is my chief
 duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and 1 nobie'