HELEN KELLER. ' 75 



trying struggles, victory rested with the teacher; and the taught, once 

 initiated into the charm of the new occupation, was fascinated thereby. 

 After about a fortnight of this constant forming of letters in the 

 child's hand and pointing to objects thus designated — such as 'mug,' 

 'milk,' 'father,' 'mother,' 'walk,' 'sit,' 'water' — the notion that ob- 

 jects were designated by the signs was grasped; and a ceaseless quest 

 for names of all the things with which she was familiar was begun. 

 Miss Sullivan thus describes the moment of inspiration. "We went 

 out to the pump-house, and I made Helen hold her mug under the 

 spout while I pumped. As the cold w^ater gushed forth filling the 

 mug, I spelled 'w-a-t-e-r' in Helen's free hand. The word coming so 

 close upon the sensation of cold water rushing over her hand seemed 

 to startle her. She dropped the mug and stood as one transfixed. A 

 new light came into her face. She spelled 'water' several times. 

 Then she dropped on the ground and asked for its name, and pointed 

 to the pump and the trellis, and suddenly turning around, she asked 

 for my name. I spelled 'teacher.' . . . All the way back to the house 

 she was highly excited, and learned the name of every object she 

 touched, so that in few hours she had added thirty new w^ords to her 

 vocabulary. ' ' 



An illustrative instance of these early lessons in which moral teach- 

 ings and material rewards are mingled with letters and simple occupa- 

 tions is the following : Helen had been rebellious in regard to the use 

 of her napkin. Miss Sullivan arranged the table fittings but omitted 

 the cake which was the reward for spelling a word correctly. "She 

 noticed this at once and made the sign for it. I showed her the nap- 

 kin and pinned it round her neck, then tore it off and threw it on the 

 floor and shook my head. [This had been Helen's behavior.] I re- 

 peated this performance several times. I think she understood per- 

 fectly well ; for she slapped her hand two or three times and shook her 

 head. We began the lesson as usual. I gave her an object, and she 

 spelled the name. (She knows twelve now). After spelling half 

 the word she stopped suddenly, as if a thought had flashed into her 

 mind, and felt for the napkin. She pinned it round her neck and 

 made the sign for cake (it didn't occur to spell the word, you see)." 

 With this as the ' premier pas qui coiite, ' the further progress, though 

 at first slow, was direct and cumulative. On March 31 Helen knew 

 eighteen nouns and three verbs; the next day she added eight more. 

 On May 22 her vocabulary was estimated at three hundred words; on 

 June 19 at 400 words; at the end of August at 625 words; at the close 

 of her first year of instruction at 900 words. 'Open' and 'shut' were 

 learned by the manipulation of a door ; as early as June 12, while hold- 

 ing some worsted for her teacher, she spelled to herself repeatedly 

 'wind fast, wind slow'; 'in' and 'on' were illustrated by putting Helen 



