Page 322 - The Story of My Lif

They like juicy fruit to eat as well as people, and they are hungry. They are not

very wrong to eat too many grapes because they do not know much.”

She continues to make rapid progress in the acquisition of language as her
experiences increase. While these were few and elementary, her vocabulary was
necessarily limited; but, as she learns more of the world about her, her judgment
grows more accurate, her reasoning powers grow stronger, more active and

subtle, and the language by which she expresses this intellectual activity gains in
fluency and logic.

When traveling she drinks in thought and language. Sitting beside her in the car,
I describe what I see from the window—hills and valleys and the rivers; cotton-
fields and gardens in which strawberries, peaches, pears, melons, and vegetables

are growing; herds of cows and horses feeding in broad meadows, and flocks of
sheep on the hillside; the cities with their churches and schools, hotels and
warehouses, and the occupations of the busy people. While I am communicating
these things, Helen manifests intense interest; and, in default of words, she
indicates by gestures and pantomime her desire to learn more of her
surroundings and of the great forces which are operating everywhere. In this
way, she learns countless new expressions without any apparent effort.

From the day when Helen first grasped the idea that all objects have names, and
that these can be communicated by certain movements of the fingers, I have
talked to her exactly as I should have done had she been able to hear, with only
this exception, that I have addressed the words to her fingers instead of to her
ears. Naturally, there was at first a strong tendency on her part to use only the
important words in a sentence. She would say: “Helen milk.” I got the milk to
show her that she had used the correct word; but I did not let her drink it until
she had, with my assistance, made a complete sentence, as “Give Helen some
milk to drink.” In these early lessons I encouraged her in the use of different
forms of expression for conveying the same idea. If she was eating some candy, I
said: “Will Helen please give teacher some candy?” or, “Teacher would like to
eat some of Helen’s candy,” emphasizing the ‘s. She very soon perceived that the