Page 190 - The Story of My Lif

she says that people frequently said to her, “Helen sees more with her fingers

than we do with our eyes.” The President of the Exposition gave her this letter:
TO THE CHIEFS OF THE DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICERS IN CHARGE
OF

BUILDINGS AND EXHIBITS

GENTLEMEN—The bearer, Miss Helen Keller, accompanied by Miss Sullivan,
is desirous of making a complete inspection of the Exposition in all
Departments. She is blind and deaf, but is able to converse, and is introduced to
me as one having a wonderful ability to understand the objects she visits, and as

being possessed of a high order of intelligence and of culture beyond her years.
Please favour her with every facility to examine the exhibits in the several
Departments, and extend to her such other courtesies as may be possible.

Thanking you in advance for the same, I am, with respect, Very truly yours,

(signed) H. N. HIGINBOTHAM,

President.

TO MISS CAROLINE DERBY

Hulton, Penn., August 17, 1893.

…Every one at the Fair was very kind to me… Nearly all of the exhibitors
seemed perfectly willing to let me touch the most delicate things, and they were

very nice about explaining everything to me. A French gentleman, whose name I
cannot remember, showed me the great French bronzes. I believe they gave me
more pleasure than anything else at the Fair: they were so lifelike and wonderful
to my touch. Dr. Bell went with us himself to the electrical building, and showed
us some of the historical telephones. I saw the one through which Emperor Dom