Page 144 - The Story of My Lif

My dearest Aunt,—I am coming home very soon and I think you and every one
will be very glad to see my teacher and me. I am very happy because I have
learned much about many things. I am studying French and German and Latin

and Greek. Se agapo is Greek, and it means I love thee. J’ai une bonne petite
soeur is French, and it means I have a good little sister. Nous avons un bon pere
et une bonne mere means, we have a good father and a good mother. Puer is boy
in Latin, and Mutter is mother in German. I will teach Mildred many languages
when I come home.

HELEN A. KELLER.

TO MRS. SOPHIA C. HOPKINS

Tuscumbia, Ala. Dec. 11th, 1888.

My dear Mrs. Hopkins:—

I have just fed my dear little pigeon. My brother Simpson gave it to me last
Sunday. I named it Annie, for my teacher. My puppy has had his supper and
gone to bed. My rabbits are sleeping, too; and very soon I shall go to bed.
Teacher is writing letters to her friends. Mother and father and their friends have
gone to see a huge furnace. The furnace is to make iron. The iron ore is found in
the ground; but it cannot be used until it has been brought to the furnace and
melted, and all the dirt taken out, and just the pure iron left. Then it is all ready
to be manufactured into engines, stoves, kettles and many other things.

Coal is found in the ground, too. Many years ago, before people came to live on
the earth, great trees and tall grasses and huge ferns and all the beautiful flowers
cover the earth. When the leaves and the trees fell, the water and the soil covered
them; and then more trees grew and fell also, and were buried under water and
soil. After they had all been pressed together for many thousands of years, the
wood grew very hard, like rock, and then it was all ready for people to burn. Can