Page 180 - The Story of My Lif

This letter was reproduced in facsimile in St. Nicholas, June, 1892. It is undated,

but must have been written two or three months before it was published.

To St. Nicholas

Dear St. Nicholas:

It gives me very great pleasure to send you my autograph because I want the
boys and girls who read St. Nicholas to know how blind children write. I
suppose some of them wonder how we keep the lines so straight so I will try to
tell them how it is done. We have a grooved board which we put between the
pages when we wish to write. The parallel grooves correspond to lines and when
we have pressed the paper into them by means of the blunt end of the pencil it is
very easy to keep the words even. The small letters are all made in the grooves,
while the long ones extend above and below them. We guide the pencil with the
right hand, and feel carefully with the forefinger of the left hand to see that we
shape and space the letters correctly. It is very difficult at first to form them

plainly, but if we keep on trying it gradually becomes easier, and after a great
deal of practice we can write legible letters to our friends. Then we are very, very
happy.

Sometime they may visit a school for the blind. If they do, I am sure they will
wish to see the pupils write.

Very sincerely your little friend

HELEN KELLER.

In May, 1892, Helen gave a tea in aid of the kindergarten for the blind. It was
quite her own idea, and was given in the house of Mrs. Mahlon D. Spaulding,
sister of Mr. John P. Spaulding, one of Helen’s kindest and most liberal friends.
The tea brought more than two thousand dollars for the blind children.