THE STORY OF HELEN KELLER

    A person who is deaf when he is born, is usually dumb as well. There seems to be nothing wrong with his mouth and tongue, but he cannot speak. This is because, as he is deaf, he cannot hear other people, and therefore has nothing to imitate. He may try to make sounds himself, but he cannot hear his own voice. However, even though he finds it difficult to speak and cannot hear, he can see. He can therefore learn to read. Nowadays he can also be taught to speak because we have modern methods and equipment, but we did not have these when Helen Keller was born.

    Helen Keller was born in a small Alabama town in 1880. When she was nineteen months old, she fell ill and had a fever. She became blind and deaf. She could not communicate with anyone, and no one could communicate with her. She grew frustrated and angry. She threw things and broke things.

    Then in 1887, a teacher, Annie Sullivan arrived at the home of the Kellers to be Helen's tutor. Though Miss Sullivan herself had been blind, she had been partly cured, and although she could not see very well, she was not blind. She remained as Helen's tutor and friend for fifty years.

    Miss Sullivan began to work with Helen. She taught her to make different movements with her fingers. The movements represented the letters of the alphabet. Helen learned to make the movements, but she did not understand their meaning. She did not know that the letters were related to something in the world. But, one morning Miss Sullivan took Helen to a water pond, and she put Helen's hand under the water. At the same time she spelled the letters w-a-t-e-r on Helen's other hand. At that moment, Helen understood. Later in her life, she said, "Somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that w-a-t-e-r was the wonderful cool something flowing over my hand."

    Helen was smart and learned quickly. Soon she knew many words. When she was eight years old, she went to a school for the blind in Boston, and she learned to read books written for blind people. She even went to college and had a full education.

    She wrote many books, too. Although other people had written books about her, people agreed that her own books are the ones that best explain how it feels to be deaf, dumb and blind. Her best book is The Story of My Life. Perhaps you have read it. Though it was written in 1902, it still is a very exciting book. Even if you have not read it, you may have heard of Helen Keller.