Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-28
THE ACHIEVEMENT
OF HELEN KELLER

A delightful lecture on Happiness" was
given last night in the witherspoon Hall
by Miss Helen Keller. The gifted young
woman was listened TO with great interest
by thoroughly appreclative audience.
The story Of Helen Keller, now In the
early thirties and deaf and blind since in
fancy, is as unparalleled as It Is well
known. The development Of this extraor-
binary girl, who at years Of age was
dumb as well as totally deprived of the
power OF sight, and yet graduated with
honors from college at a. wrote several
successful books, and finally acquired
speaking voice that enables her to APP
pear on the public lecture platform, is
| the most remarkable achievement in the
| history of education. To realize the full
| import of these triumphs, and of the stu
| pendous obstacles which hindered their
attainment is to agree with Mark Twain
| in his assertion that "the two most In
! terestinE characters Of the 18th century
are Napoleon and Helen Keller
For q years Helen Keler's constant
companion and teacher has been MRS.
! John Macy, who Anna sullivan hrst
pointed the way for the little girl to
! emerge from the darkness into the light.
| II is difficult for us who have all our
! normal senses to realize the full import
of Mrs. Macys work She found Helen
! with a mind so uutaught that 1t was ao-
solutely ignorant of the fact that things
have names. Fear. pain, hunger, thirst
these the girl knew, for they were in
! stinctiye: but of knowledge as we under
| stand II Helen Keller had not the re-
| motest sensation, and all the ordinary
avenues of acquiring knowledge were
closed to her. Yet through Mrs. Macy
| pA true con-
| ceptlon of even the subtler beauties or
| the world, and so keen is Helen Kellers
J appreciation of nature that 1t seems only
! right she should be living now IN the
! country where she can revel among lhe
| fields and woods she loves so we'll And
here in the country Is her home among
the Massachusetts hills, with broad out
looks and grateful sunshine.
| Wentham, not far from Boston, Is
! as picturesque a New England village as
| one would ever hope to fnd, and, well IN
| keeping with It's Common and Its white
| meeting house, is the old Colonial home
/ of Mr.. and Mrs. Macy. and so OF Helen
Keller About the house are evergreens
| from whose needles the sun draws dell
| cately resinous odorS-spruce and pine and
| fir, they are, with here and there the
! feathery plumes Of hemlock. Great trees,
| too, stand about. the famous elms of New
! England. Hospitality and kndliness are
! the keynote of the place and their spell
| falls on the visitor as he turns in at the
| gate and walks up the drive past the row
| of rough gray bolders OF which Miss
Keller wrote so charmingly In The Song
of the Stone Wall"
Meeting Miss Keller anywhere It Is dlr-
| ncult to believe she is deprived OF the
senses so necessary to most of us But
to be with her in her home Is to forget
that there are any differences,
She is in the big sunny room set apart
for her study Mrs, Macy Is there, so Is
Mrs Keller a charming lady with a de-
lightful sense OF humor enhancing all
! the faculties OF which her daughter is
| derived She often travels with them
| on their lecture tours about the coun-
| try, for the relationship between all three
is more than fond.
Very much like an ordinary woman,
Helen Keller seems as she sits there, her
fingers running rapidly from line to line
| OF the raised Braile type OF the book she
| ia reading No time Is ever lost to her;
she has her hours for study, work and
recreation. and she goes about them with
! wonderful confidence and precision. With
| a knowledge born OF long use, she points
| out her various typewriters for different
purposes, the Braile machine for writing
| letters 10 the blind, and all the multitude
| OF things her library and study contain
Most interesting Of all, perhaps, Is the
| collection OF books being printed In the
|
| size OF the ordinary dictionary. There
/ Is a certain unconscious satire in the
| Thought OF Green's Short History Of the
| English People" being packed away In
| about seven OF these huge volumes 1t
| makes one realize what persistent fight
| education has been 10 this girl, espe-
| cially as many books could not at nrst
/ be secured in the raised type, and Mrs.
\ Naev had to read" many OF them to her
! by means OF the manuel alphabet.
| The whole house is full OF interesting
| things. particularly autographed pictures
| OF people who have been devoted TO this
| remarkable girl No ordinary collection
| is III but rather a review OF Americas
| genius for the last century. James Rus
| sell Lowell Is there, and Mark Twain,
| while Joseph Jefferson seems everywhere
/ one Of Jefferson's great Joys was to act
/ for Helen Keller, and there are several
/ pictures Of them together her hands on
| his mobile face interpreting his every
/ word and mannerism as he enacts some
part The love for acting did not depart
/ with Jefferson's death, for today Helen
/ Keller Is a great theatregoer. Only at
/ a theatre, Mrs. Macy, OF course, has to
/ interpret the play TO her short while
ago they saw David Warhelds and after
/ the play Mr. Warheld gave a little per-
/ formance for Miss Keller. so she could
read his face. Her delight was un-
/ bounded as the great actors genius came
l 10 her through the medium OF her fingers
touch and the expression on her sensitive
| faee indicated more plainly than words
could how accurate a conception OF the
Dart she had formed. Indeed Helen Kel-
leI's sense Of touch Is beyond belief Not
long ago she met Frank Speaight the
Enelish Interpreter Of Dickens, and 20
az surprise 81 even her Intimate friends,
sra srne aule 10 tell hu tnunh aIoua what