Page 171 - The Story of My Lif

my dearest friend, Mr. Anagnos wants me to rest and play a great deal.

Teacher is well and sends her kind remembrance to you. The happy Christmas
time is almost here! I can hardly wait for the fun to begin! I hope your Christmas
Day will be a very happy one and that the New Year will be full of brightness
and joy for you and every one.

From your little friend

HELEN A. KELLER.

WHITTIER’S REPLY

My Dear Young Friend—I was very glad to have such a pleasant letter on my

birthday. I had two or three hundred others and thine was one of the most
welcome of all. I must tell thee about how the day passed at Oak Knoll. Of
course the sun did not shine, but we had great open wood fires in the rooms,
which were all very sweet with roses and other flowers, which were sent to me
from distant friends; and fruits of all kinds from California and other places.
Some relatives and dear old friends were with me through the day. I do not
wonder thee thinks eighty three years a long time, but to me it seems but a very
little while since I was a boy no older than thee, playing on the old farm at
Haverhill. I thank thee for all thy good wishes, and wish thee as many. I am glad
thee is at the Institution; it is an excellent place. Give my best regards to Miss
Sullivan, and with a great deal of love I am

Thy old friend,

JOHN G. WHITTIER.

Tommy Stringer, who appears in several of the following letters, became blind
and deaf when he was four years old. His mother was dead and his father was