Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-03
BLIND AND DEAF GIRL
STORY OF HELEN KELLAR'S WON
DERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS.
Lecture Before Anthropological So
ciety at the Cosmos Club by
Mr.. John Hitz.


reau. DR.. Alexander Graham Bells irsti-
delivered lecture of unusual interest at
Society last night on Helen Kellar, Her
Friends. Associates and Achievements" The
lecture was followed by number of stere-
opticon pictures showing Miss Ke.lar at
various ages, and in company with several
of her friends and with her dog pets for the
blind girl is very fond of animals and al
ways has one more of them for COM
panions. Mr.. Hitz was particularly we'll
fitted to tell the story of this remarkable
girls achievements, as he has had the
pleasure of knowing both her and her teach
er, Miss Sullivan, and has visited them
many times in their Alabama home has
been with them on their vacations in Nova
Scotia and has seen q good many of Miss
kellar's triumphS over the barriers that
from nineteen months of age We're thrown
around her senses of sight, sound and
speech
Mr.. Hitz told what is not generally known
with regard to Miss kellar, and that Is
that in her childhood she was of a most
violent and intractable disposition. But all
accounts of Helen kellar's later life have
spoken in such admring terms of her kind
ly and generous disposition that one is apt
to forget that she was built up to her
present attainments, both of mentality and
character, from sadly handicapped and
unpromising condition. The very change In
her face as her education has developed
was shown in the series of pictures
The first little miniature taken of her
showed dull and sullen face without life
or animation, almost as though 1t lay be-
hind mask of death. A little later on,
too, this expression was noticeable though
not so pronounced. But in the later pic
lures, taken after her mind had begun to
unfold under the constant care and instruc-
S1I1
remarkable change in expression, and In
all of her later pictures there is a gentle
ness and sweetness in the composed features
that speak eioquently of a soul awakened
10 all that Is best and sweetest in life.
Her Fondness for Pets.
One picture taken of her seated at a table
with her cheek pressed against the head
of pet bull terrier tells more than anv
description can of her love for animals. and
the kindly patience that has enabled her to
master most of what is best in life, while
shut out from many of lfe's harsher and
more disagreeable features
Mr. Hitz told one story that IS not gen.
orally known of her childhood. It was
while she still in her darkened animal
state, and when impish mischief was the
only outlet for her animal spirits She had
learned the uses of a key and a lock and
n
try of her home and then sat on the floor
outside the door, apparently enioytng
through some subtle sense the storm of un-
awaiting protest that she knew was going
on inside.
The story of Miss Sullivan and of her de-
votion to the task of educating Helen. to
which she has given up her whole life is
almost as interesting as the story of the
girls own successes. 1t was contest of
strong wills when Miss Sullivan first took
charge of the Maynard little girl Helen's
father was OF such an indulgent DISPOSE
ton that he could not bear to see physical
force used in coeTcing her, and he inter-
ferred so much with Miss Sullivan's course
of discipline and training that she and her
charge were obliged to take little house
on the home farm, where they lived to-
gether and where the father was allowed to
come at intervals and watch his daughter
without her being able to see him or know
that he was in the neghborhood.
Teaching Her to Talk.
The feat of teaching Helen to speak was
the work not of Miss Sullivan, but prima-
rily of Miss Sarah Fuller of the Horace
Mann School for the Deaf and Dumb. She
had learned the manual alphabet first, and
1t was able to understand what
her teacher wanted of her. Her mouth,
teeth, lips and tongue were placed in po-
sition to make the sounds and she was
told how to use her vocal organs At this
as at almost everything else, she was
quick. She mastered six
sounds on the first day and needed but ten
lessons to master the subject generally. In
fact, Miss Fuller said she learned more in
two months than many of the merely deaf
pupils learned in two years. This seems
to be one Of Helen's strong points. She
hardly ever forgets anything. She has a
library of over 800 volumes In the peculiar
raised letters for the blind. They are all
standard works, and she has been reared
largely on only what is best in literature
and art.
Her appreciation of statuary Is remark
able and she says she believes one can en-
low a statue or a carving more from the
sense of touch than from sight. This is, OF
course unbelievable to those who can see,
but in the case of Miss Kellar. with her
marvellous and delicately trained touch, 1t
seems almost to be true.
She used the typewriter as readily as
though she could see, and to the use of the
machine was due much OF her success in
following the college courses and keeping
up with the difficult examinations. Her let
tiers are products of clear and clever Eng
lish. and one would never think either from
the tone or phraseology that they were the
work of q blind girl. She used the terms
''see" and hear as though she really
could see and hear, and seems to appreciate
the difference between good and bad
weather and between day and night as
readily as though she were in possession OF
all her 1dCulLlSS
Among the pictures shown was thai of
her watch a somewhat curious affair with
raised knobs ON the edge in place of the
hour marks and with a single hand that Is
moved with the fingers and stops at the
hour the watch indicates Yet with this
continuance Miss Kellar can come within
five minutes of the time by merely touching
the watch without removing 1t from her
pocket
Reads Only Standard Works.
It is, perhaps, owing to her reading OF
standard works of literature, Mr.. Hits
said, that her style is SO clear and at the
same time so conventional in the use of
SMILES and descriptions that would seem
natural to one who could see and hear. Her
phraseology is sometimes unique and shows
mastery of language that places her cas-
lily abreast of the average magazine writer.
But she has many phrases that are evident
ly the fruit of her reading and not OF per-
sonal experience. She speaks of the sun
and moon shining with various degrees OF
brilliance, of clear and cloudy weather, OF
the sweetness of music and of various
sounds that she has never heard. But her
mastery OF the technique OF expression Is
only the more wonderful when one consid-
ers the difficulties she has surmounted to
gain 1t.
& e. 49,, tx~l1y ,ax,A