Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-25
ness Of Amiction.

~ animal, subject to fits
Of ungovernable rage,
deaf, blind. dumb, appar-
emily without soul, de-
demonstrably without a gateway
to the soul, il soul there was-a
brilliant and charming woman,
gifted beyond her fellows; mis-
tress Of many languages, heiress
by divine right Of the worlds
culture, her great heart beating
with sympathy for the afflicted,
the disinherited. and the poor!
These two are one. and the one Is
called Helen Keller. It is mir
acle, a miracle o9 love and
science. The world swings back
upon its axis. Tertullian is right
after all: Certum est quia impos
sibile est. 1t is certain because
1t Is inlpossibleI
Helen Keller was 10 months old
when she was attacked by a mys-
terious Illness which was dag
nosed as acute congestion OF the
stomach and brain. The physi-
clan, like the preacher, can some
times ride off on the back of a
phrase. The fever passed, leav-
ing the child blind and deaf. She
had not, Of course, learned to
talk; and for years there was no
wav OF teaching her. We learn to
talk by hearing others talk. She
was stone deaf. During more
than ave years 1t was uncertain
whether she could form an idea.
Did you ever try to think with
out words? Try 1t. You will find
that you can not. Little Helen
had no words; did not know that
such things as words have an ex-
istence; q tangible white dark
ness shut her in and she drifted,
like a rudderless ship. without
steam or sail, through the en-
shrouding fog. Her sense OF
touch remained. But if she felt
a doll or a table she could not
think "dolr' or table" We know
now that she had a brain and an
extremely powerful brain. But it
was machinery inert because no
living energy could get at it to
start it working.
Charles Dickens wrote his
American Notes The Ameri-
can people have long since for
given him for Martin chuzzle-
witt and kindred offenses. The
world has reason to be grateful
to him for american Notes" In
that book he tells the story OF
Laura Bridgman, deaf and blind,
vet educated by the genius of DR..
Howe. Helen's mother read the
story, sighed as she remembered
that DR.. Howe had been dead
many years, yet took heart OF
hope even as she sighed. And
DR.. Howe, being dead, yet speak
eth. The Perkins Institution in
Boston, the scene Of DR.. Howe's
great labors, Undertook to furnish
a teacher for Helen, and Anne
Mansfield Sullivan entered upon
her life work.
OF Miss Sullivan (now Mrs.
Macy it is impossible to speak
in terms Of ordinary praise and
gratitude. The strongest words
are weak and poor. Her achieve
ments outrun the language Of
hyperboIe. 1t may be that this
good world Of ours holds many
women whose conservation is as
splendid as hers.
Helen Keller is miracle. and
the miracle worker is Miss Sui
Ivan. Science could not have ac-
complished this without love;
love would have been bafled
without science. The minds Of
some women have ranged through
space with star eyed science;
the hearts Of many women have
famed with a love that many wa
ters can not quench. Mind and
heart according well in the per-
son of Miss Sullivan have made
a music vaster than that Of
which the English poet dreamed.
She is a fulfllment of prophecy:
Then the eyes Of the blind shall
be opened and the ears Of the
deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame leap as hart, and
the tongue of the dumb shall
sing!@
Miss Sullivan had herself been
blind. Her sight had been
SO recently restored that her
training for the work she under
took seemed contemptibly made
uuate. But she has mind of
extremely swift and strong grasp.
Love did the rest.
And Miss Sullivan. given a girl