Page 268 - The Story of My Lif

This morning Nancy, her favourite doll, seemed to have some difficulty about

swallowing the milk that was being administered to her in large spoonfuls; for
Helen suddenly put down the cup and began to slap her on the back and turn her
over on her knees, trotting her gently and patting her softly all the time. This
lasted for several minutes; then this mood passed, and Nancy was thrown
ruthlessly on the floor and pushed to one side, while a large, pink-cheeked,
fuzzy-haired member of the family received the little mother’s undivided
attention.

Helen knows several words now, but has no idea how to use them, or that
everything has a name. I think, however, she will learn quickly enough by and
by. As I have said before, she is wonderfully bright and active and as quick as
lightning in her movements.

March 13, 1887.

You will be glad to hear that my experiment is working out finely. I have not had
any trouble at all with Helen, either yesterday or to-day. She has learned three
new words, and when I give her the objects, the names of which she has learned,

she spells them unhesitatingly; but she seems glad when the lesson is over.

We had a good frolic this morning out in the garden. Helen evidently knew
where she was as soon as she touched the boxwood hedges, and made many
signs which I did not understand. No doubt they were signs for the different

members of the family at Ivy Green.

I have just heard something that surprised me very much. It seems that Mr.
Anagnos had heard of Helen before he received Captain Keller’s letter last
summer. Mr. Wilson, a teacher at Florence, and a friend of the Kellers’, studied
at Harvard the summer before and went to the Perkins Institution to learn if