82 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



realization of what she is and thinks and does than any sketch could 

 suggest. During the first three years of her instruction she more 

 than made up for the deficiencies to which her deprivations had sen- 

 tenced her; and one can not but be impressed, upon reading the letters 

 written before her tenth year, with the linguistic facility and the 

 breadth of imagination of the child. Then, under more systematic 

 guidance, she learned to speak and laid the elementary foundation for 

 the arts and crafts of life. The desire to prepare for college was one 

 of her early ambitions and became formulated into a definite plan of 

 campaign at about her sixteenth year. The range of studies required 

 for entrance she duly mastered, showing very unequal gifts for the 

 various branches, and especial strength in her knowledge of languages, 

 literature and history. It is no small tribute to her talents that in 

 spite of no natural bent for mathematics and with the special diSiculty 

 that geometrical relations must present to a 'tactual' mind, she ac- 

 quitted herself creditably in this study. At the moment of the publi- 

 cation of her book she is closing her junior year at Radcliffe College. 

 She has evidently gained much from her academic associations; and 

 not the least of the confidence that her friends express in her future is 

 based upon the mental growth that has been characteristic of these 

 collegiate days. A reading of the selections from her themes in the 

 course in English and from her more recent letters, indicate a certainty 

 of touch in the handling of language as well as a noteworthy power to 

 sustain an argument, that certainly meets the customary standard that 

 one would be willing to apply to student writings. Such unusual 

 achievements would have been impossible without an unusual endow- 

 ment ; alertness and vigor of mind, a remarkable memory, a keen obser- 

 vation and fertility of imagination, a pronounced taste for the literary 

 side of life, good spirits and a ready sense of humor, comprehensive- 

 ness and saneness of interests, a sympathetic and enthusiastic tempera- 

 ment, a love of nature as well as of books — these are the traits that 

 impress one as most potent in shaping her life and her aspirations. 



It is quite true that the same could be said for many another indi- 

 vidual whose biography remains unwritten, and whose achievements 

 are not entered upon the tablets of a hall of fame. The absurd exag- 

 gerations and distorted accounts of Miss Keller's career, that have 

 gained currency, are much to be deplored. We feel so overwhelmingly 

 our own dependence upon what we see and upon what we hear, that we 

 naturally drop into hyperbole and exhaust our adjectives in expressing 

 our appreciation of one who has done so much without these invalu- 

 able handmaids of the mind. Yet the truer interest lies in the train- 

 ing that has been imparted to the normally less skilful servants, and 

 in the mastery that has thus been gained. It is this aspect of Helen 



