Page 294 - The Story of My Lif

eggs—that the mother hen keeps her eggs warm and dry until the little chicks

come out. I made her understand that all life comes from an egg. The mother
bird lays her eggs in a nest and keeps them warm until the birdlings are hatched.
The mother fish lays her eggs where she knows they will be moist and safe, until
it is time for the little fish to come out. I told her that she could call the egg the
cradle of life. Then I told her that other animals like the dog and cow, and human
beings, do not lay their eggs, but nourish their young in their own bodies. I had
no difficulty in making it clear to her that if plants and animals didn’t produce
offspring after their kind, they would cease to exist, and everything in the world
would soon die. But the function of sex I passed over as lightly as possible. I did,
however, try to give her the idea that love is the great continuer of life. The
subject was difficult, and my knowledge inadequate; but I am glad I didn’t shirk
my responsibility; for, stumbling, hesitating, and incomplete as my explanation
was, it touched deep responsive chords in the soul of my little pupil, and the
readiness with which she comprehended the great facts of physical life
confirmed me in the opinion that the child has dormant within him, when he
comes into the world, all the experiences of the race. These experiences are like

photographic negatives, until language develops them and brings out the
memory-images.

September 4, 1887.

Helen had a letter this morning from her uncle, Doctor Keller. He invited her to
come to see him at Hot Springs. The name Hot Springs interested her, and she
asked many questions about it.

She knows about cold springs. There are several near Tuscumbia; one very large
one from which the town got its name. “Tuscumbia”

is the Indian for “Great Spring.” But she was surprised that hot water should
come out of the ground. She wanted to know who made fire under the ground,
and if it was like the fire in stoves, and if it burned the roots of plants and trees.

She was much pleased with the letter, and after she had asked all the questions