Page 298 - The Story of My Lif

Helen wrote another letter to the little girls yesterday, and her father sent it to Mr.

Anagnos. Ask him to let you see it. She has begun to use the pronouns of her
own accord. This morning I happened to say, “Helen will go upstairs.” She
laughed and said, “Teacher is wrong. You will go upstairs.” This is another great
forward step. Thus it always is. Yesterday’s perplexities are strangely simple to-
day, and to-day’s difficulties become tomorrow’s pastime.

The rapid development of Helen’s mind is beautiful to watch. I doubt if any
teacher ever had a work of such absorbing interest.

There must have been one lucky star in the heavens at my birth, and I am just

beginning to feel its beneficent influence.

I had two letters from Mr. Anagnos last week. He is more grateful for my report
than the English idiom will express. Now he wants a picture “of darling Helen
and her illustrious teacher, to grace the pages of the forthcoming annual report.”

October, 1887.

You have probably read, ere this, Helen’s second letter to the little girls. I am
aware that the progress which she has made between the writing of the two
letters must seem incredible. Only those who are with her daily can realize the
rapid advancement which she is making in the acquisition of language. You will
see from her letter that she uses many pronouns correctly. She rarely misuses or
omits one in conversation. Her passion for writing letters and putting her
thoughts upon paper grows more intense.

She now tells stories in which the imagination plays an important part. She is
also beginning to realize that she is not like other children. The other day she
asked, “What do my eyes do?” I told her that I could see things with my eyes,
and that she could see them with her fingers. After thinking a moment she said,
“My eyes are bad!” then she changed it into “My eyes are sick!”