4(>4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.IrxE 1. 



lovers than any romance. In a dee])ly interest- 

 ing paniplilet published by Mr. Anagnos. man- 

 ager of the institute, he thus speaks of her be- 

 ginning: 



On tJiking- charge Nf her little pupil (wIkj liopelessly 

 l(is1 ;ill sijaiit and lieariufiwht'n only nineteen months 

 oldi Mis> Sullivan saw at a jilanci- tliat slie liad an e.\- 

 ti-aoi-dinaiily l)ri,i2lit cldldlodcal with. Theebuhiency 

 of Helen's nicntal activity, and tlie ou'tlnusts of de- 

 spair wliich followed the failure of her attempts to 

 make heiself understood by the memhers of her 

 family, couvuiced the teacher that tliei'e was a tre- 

 mendous intellectual force locked ui)aiid sujipressed 

 in a dismal grave, struggling for an outlet, and 

 7-eady to shatter its barriei-s. Following the sinijilest 

 and most diiect methods of Dr. Howe (the teacliei- of 

 LaiU'H Bridgman), Miss Siillivan sought anxiously to 

 find some apertiue through which to convey tlie 

 pabulum of kiiowUflge to a starving soul. Her ef- 

 forts were rewarded with a speedy and grand success. 

 Helen's darkened mind was reached through the 

 .sense of touch, and the little prisoner triumphantlj- 

 rescued, and at once- became a citizen of the world. 

 She is no longer disiidierited fn)m her luiman estate, 

 and treads the earth with buoyant fotrtsteps and a 

 light heart. 



iSince that time Helen has been tinder Miss 

 Sullivan's intelligent and devoted care, and at 

 the present writing both are at the institute in 

 Boston. 



As already intimated, during the sliort time 

 of her tuition Hiden has made the most aston- 

 ishing progress — not only reads all books writ- 

 ten for the blind, but ■' her vocabulary has in- 

 creased to such an extent as to comprehend 

 more than three thousand words, which she 

 can spell without a mistake, and which sue 

 uses with a freedom and accuracy not often 

 found in hearing children of her age." She has 

 also learned to articulate, or speak slowly, by 

 placing those wonderful hnger-tips upon her 

 teachers throat and lips, and noting theii- 

 movements. 



A friend in Pennsylvania thus writes me 

 about her: zn 



Wonderful as are her acquirements, the child hei'- 

 self is still more so. Her natural poetry of miud, 

 lier unfailing amiability, her perfect trust and conti 

 deuce iu the good intent of every one, her detei'- 

 mination never to see any tiling bad in any one, are 

 simply marvelous. To all our family she is dearer 

 than any one outside of it. 



Another friend thus writes of her: 



Her little heart is too full of unselfishness and af- 

 fection to allow a dream of fear or unkindness. She 

 does not realize that any one can he any thing but 

 kind-hearted and tender. 



The simple, trustful manner of her appeal for 

 little Tommy will be noticed as showing these 

 traits in her character. As will be seen by her 

 letter, site dearly loves all kinds of pets. This 

 winter her faitlifnl dog. a trusty guaidian and 

 affectionate playmate, to which she was great- 

 ly attached, was killed under very aggravating 

 circumstances. Though distressed beyond 

 measure at her loss, all she would say about the 

 murd<'rers of her pet was. "'They never could 

 have done it if they had only known what a 

 dear good dog Lioness was I" 



A short time since. I had the great pleasure 

 of a little visit with Helen and her friends in 

 Boston at the Institute. I found her to be a 

 tall, well-formed, graceful girl, nearly eleven 

 years of age. natural and winsome in her man- 

 ner, with beautiful brown hair falling in lux- 

 uriant curls over her pretty shoulders. Her 

 face lighted up with such a cheerful, animated, 

 and altogether charming expression, that I miss- 

 ed far less than I expected the usual " windows 

 of the soul." 



The only time during my visit that I thought 

 of pitying her was after dinner while we were 

 stiil sitting at the table, all of us chatting to- 

 gether except Helen, who sat quietly and pa- 



tiently with her touching face in quiet repose, 

 alone in that awful darkness and dread stillness. 

 I could not bear it, and made an excuse for us 

 to rise from the table so we could talk to her. 

 As she chatted on, showing so many pleasing 

 phases of her wonderful miud and character, 

 my feeling of woiulerment so increased tliat it 

 was most dil'ticult to control my thoughts and 

 feelings, and. after leaving. 1 found ever so 

 many things I had forgotten to ask her about. 



She is very fond of llowers. and told me 

 about the different kinds her father had in her 

 Southern home, inquii'iug if I grew the same, 

 naming and describing very pleasingly, mer- 

 nu^ts. Marshall Niels, brides, jacqueminots, etc., 

 all of which she knows and can distinguish 

 from each other by their fragrance. Warming 

 with the subject of Howers (and after speaking 

 with gleeful anticipation of the time when she 

 should go into the woods n<^iir tin- poet ^Vliit- 

 tier's iuinie witii her teacher, and gatlu^i' the 



THE DEAF AXP BLIND rilRI, AND IIEK DOG. 



spring flowers, many of which she lovingly de- 

 scribed) she said, articulately. '" Soon they" will 

 burst again in all their wonderful beauty and 

 fragi'ancel" tinconsciously emphasizing her 

 words by lightly starting fiom her seat and 

 giving a quick little upward movement of her 

 hands, full of meaning and expression. My 

 eyes failed me for a tnoment as I thought of the 

 tiine when this lovely soul would burst its fet- 

 ters of awful darkness and silence, and. with 

 increased and never-fading beauty and sweet- 

 ness, evermore bloom in otir Father's kingdom. 

 Before seeing her I had learned that she was 

 intensely interested in the little blind-deaf 

 mute. Tommy Stringer, of Washington, Pa. 

 His mother is dead, and his father too poor to 

 send him to the Perkins Institute. As soon as 

 Helen learned of the pitiful situation of the 

 little fellow, her tender sympathetic heart could 

 not bear the thought that he should be left to 

 remain in that terrible state of mental darkness 

 from which she had emerged, and which, with 



