The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-08-29
A LITTLE LAY SERMON.

Popular interest in Helen Keller
has never waned, but on the contrary
has grown into a universal amaze
ment that has itself increased until
it appears that the climax has been
reached in the announcement a week
or SO ago that this girl, born deaf,
dumb and blind. has learned to speak
and sing. The marvellous patience
and skill of the devoted teacher who
had dedicated her life to her charge
have unlocked the doors that shut
Helen Keller out from the physical
brightness of life. They have strick-
en- off the shackles that seemingly |
bound her in helpless captivity to |
eternal silence. Against obstacles |
which would have daunted all but |
the dauntless and baffed all but those
who had the genius for conquering
apparently insuperable difficulties,
Helen Keller has gone from one vic
tory of love and patience to another
until the dumb lips have been taught
to speak and, if the physical eyes
have not learned to see and the
physical ears to hear, the mental and
spiritual hearing and vision have
freed the mind and soul TO an extent
that surpasses the achievements OF
the great majority of young women
OF her age possessed of all their fac
ulties and most of Helen Kellers adj
yantages.
That is the real miracle of the
present days, a miracle in which
those must believe who doubt that
wonders were performed in the magic
and mysterious years of Jesus and
the saints. Whether or not one be-
leves that the bonds of the grave
were ever broken two thousand years
ago, he must concede that almost as
great a marvel has been wrought in
the case of Helen Keller, which stands
for all time as a monument to per-
severance and devotion and as a re-
buke to the neglect of opportunities.
The loss of even one of the precious
senses is universally regarded as a
, calamity; the loss of two is considered
. an insurmountable handicap, while
the loss of three, perhaps by its very
rarity, would be generally accepted as
an irreparable disaster and the reason
able occasion for utter despair. TIC
4 start life without the faculties of hear
ing, seeing or speaking is, from the
general viewpoint, a mere crue
:. travesty on existence. But Helen Kel
Ter, the living testimonial to he
/. miracle of intellectual resurrection
makes hope duty and despair itself {
- sin.
There is another sort of mircle, tina
n has been wrought in Pennsylvania
penitentiary. Kate Edwards has no
filled the public eye as has Helen Kel
!, Ter but her case is hardly less inter
esting. She is the living witness t
n the miracle of moral resurrection
Eleven years ago she came to tn
Berks county Jail under sentence c
q death for the murder of her HUSBAND
IN She is described as having been in tn
m lowermost depths of depravity, tn
N consort of the vilest. She was tt
d. nearest approach to a female Hyde
m that had come within the pale of actu
at happenings-the very incarnation
re soulless evil, what the problem make
of are fond of glibly calling "unmor
rs rather than immoral" She apparer
b. ly had no conception of right
wrong; she was fierce and primordi
SO in her savage wickedness, cave W
b, man intellectually and morally, viii
ID slae was little better physically The
had apparently never been > sly
ID side to hSer lite. She Inc.xn.11z a.
visualizee s}e<sason's EEa 10