Page 166 - The Story of My Lif

wish I could see your little sister.

Good Bye, dear Helen. Do write to me soon again, directing your letter to
Boston.

Your affectionate friend

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

DR. HOLMES’S REPLY

To a letter which has been lost.

Beverly Farms, Mass., August 1, 1890.

My Dear Little Friend Helen:

I received your welcome letter several days ago, but I have so much writing to
do that I am apt to make my letters wait a good while before they get answered.

It gratifies me very much to find that you remember me so kindly.

Your letter is charming, and I am greatly pleased with it. I rejoice to know that
you are well and happy. I am very much delighted to hear of your new
acquisition—that you “talk with your mouth” as well as with your fingers. What
a curious thing SPEECH is! The tongue is so serviceable a member (taking all
sorts of shapes, just as is wanted),—the teeth, the lips, the roof of the mouth, all
ready to help, and so heap up the sound of the voice into the solid bits which we
call consonants, and make room for the curiously shaped breathings which we
call vowels!