HELEN KELLER. 8i 



the close of day/' In a eaiupinu- party: "At dawn I was awakened 

 by the smell of coffee, the rattling of guns, and the heavy footsteps of 

 the men as they strode about, promising themselves the greatest luck 

 of the season." '"^Fhe aii- was balmy witli a tang of the sea in it." 

 "1 felt th(> low soughing of tlie wind through the cornstalks, the silky 

 rustling of the long leaves, and the indignant snort of my pony as we 

 caught him in llio pasture and put the bit in his mouth^ah me! how 

 well I remember the spicy, clovery smell of his breath ! " In describ- 

 ing her visit to Dr. Holmes, she writes: "There was an odor of print 

 and leather in the room which told me that it was full of books. " Miss 

 Sullivan relates that when she took Helen, as a child, to church, she 

 smelled the wine, when the communion service began 'and sniffed so 

 loud that every one in the church could hear. ' When rowing on the 

 lake at Wrentham in the summer time, she recognizes the direction in 

 which the nearest shore lies by the odors from the shrubbery on the 

 shore. She may even recognize the part of the lake by the specific 

 recognition of some blossoms that grow at some known spot. 



While it thus becomes sufficiently evident that the deprivation of 

 the two most intellectual of the senses leaves an indelible impress upon 

 the habits and manners of the mind, yet the community of the mental 

 economy as well as of the materials which it employs and of the lan- 

 guage in which it finds expression, is by far the more notable factor in 

 the comparison. Wliether we travel by train or by diligence or on 

 foot, the destination is the same w^hen reached. The one mode of con- 

 veyance is swift, the other cumbersome, and the third arduous; each 

 requires an equipment with which the others may dispense. For all 

 the view from the mountain top is much the same, however wearisome 

 the climb. What Miss Keller records of her resolution to go to col- 

 lege is true in large measure of her whole career. ' ' I knew that there 

 were obstacles in the way; but I was eager to overcome them. I had 

 taken to heart the w^ords of the wise Eoman who said, 'To be banished 

 from Eome is but to live outside of Rome.' Debarred from the great 

 highways of knowledge, I was compelled to make the journey across 

 country by unfrequented roads — that was all; and I knew that in col- 

 lege there were many bypaths where I could touch hands with girls 

 who were thinking, loving and struggling like me. ' ' 



And yet the 'journey across country by unfrequented roads' is not 

 quite the same as the bustling traffic along the highway. It is be- 

 cause of this difference that we admire the perseverance and testify 

 to the inherent endowment of one who has reached the goal in spite 

 of disabilities profound. It is difficult, in limited compass, to set forth 

 the dominant traits of Miss Keller's personality; it is the less necessary 

 as the reading of the autobiography will convey a far more convincing 



VOL. LXIII. — 6. 



