Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-25
By REV. CHARLES f. AKED, d. d., LII. D.

thing as writing exists. quickly
found that there was still another
problem: she had to humanize
this savage little creature. She
must win both obedience and
love.
The account Of Miss sulllvan's
travels in search of Helen's soul
is as thrilling as some romance
Of mountain climbing or adven-
ture amongst buried cities. The
waterway became the way of
life. doll" failed and the dolly
was smashed. Miss Sullivan.
using the manual alphabet
spelled into Helen's little hand
DOLL" bending the child,s an
gers and manipulating the tiny
hand until the teacher despaired
OF success. Helen imitated.
learned the motions: and seemed
at FIRST to delight in them.
Miss Sullivan put the ch,id,s
doll into her arms and tried a.
discover some way In which "a
get Helen's mind to connect the
nnger signs with the doll which
she held. 1t was useless. Against
the walls which imprisoned Hell
ems soul Miss Sullivan's gentle
assaults were vain. The child
dashed the doll to pieces -
rage.
From the days before darkness,
descended upon her Helen had
brought up sounds something
like "wah-wah," her best imita-
ton Of water" Deep daan
down In the recesses of her being
were instructive linkings Of tbis
sound with running water And
now, leaving the fragments ~
doiiy upon the floor, teacher ana
enid walked through the gar
den to the well. Someone W..
drawing water. Miss Sullivan
placed Helen's hand under the
spout, and as the cool strean
gushed upon 1t spelt into her OH
er hand "w-a-t-e-r." There ne
a thrill Of thought, an electric
vibration, as it were. within fba
soul lurking in the darkness. she
connected waiter" with tbis
cool, tonic thing rushing unon
her! She thoughts The mvs-
terry Of language stood revealed.
She was seven years old, and
In that instant the woman was
born. Refinement. deIicacy. in
tellectual and spiritual culture
tenderness and philanthropy and
human love were all potentially
present in her soul that day as
the water flowed. Miss Keller il
now one of the worlds great
women. Scholars are honored bv
her friendship. Men and women
whose names are written on the
bead-rol Of the immortals count
her their equal. She is nearly 90
years old. but ~ years ago she
was born of water and OF the
spirit!
The remainder of her story be-
longs to the romance of educa-
ton. Under pressure of neces-
sity Miss Sullivan learned in or
der to teach. Incredibly rapid
progress was made. Still using
the manual alphabet" spelling
words into the child's hands, Miss
Sullivan taught Helen innumera-
BILE things From words to 40
tons, from actions to ideas, the
transit was swift. In q few days
Helen could put the doll on the
bed and then spell out doll is
on the bed" After this, abstrac-
lions could be understood. Writ
ing was learned. Then Iip-read-
ing. Later came speech. But
this again is romancel
English, French, German, Lat
in, Greek-Miss Keller learned
them. She passed the entrance
examination for Radcliffe. She
took her B. A. degree with dis
tlnction. She has written books.
She delivers lectures. She is a
stylist. Her English is fault
lessly clear, dignified and fluent.
Mark Twain said that the two
most interesting characters Of
the nineteenth century are Napo-
leon and Helen Keller. And
Helen wrote lovely thing about
Mark Twain. She believed it
true when she wrote It. The de-
testable biography Of Mark
Twain, which ought to have been
burned by the common hangman
before ever 1t saw printers ink.
was not then written. Miss KEEL
Ter said;
ct love Mark Twain-who
does not? The gods, too. loved
him and put into his heart all
manner Of wisdom; then. fearing
lest he should become a pessi-