HELEN KELLER 279 has her teacher been that the two have shared ahnost equally the public's interest. Miss Sullivan is a Massachusetts woman, and was twenty-three when she took charge of little seven-year-old Helen Keller. Almost blind as a child, she had entered the Perkins Institution when fourteen. Here she par- tially regained her sight and was graduated in 1886. Her preparation for the special teaching of Helen Keller was made between August, 1886, and February, 1887. Miss Sullivan owes much to Dr. Howe, the teacher of Laura Bridgman and the pioneer in teaching the deaf-blind, but her individual achievement is that she discovered how to teach spoken lan- guage to the deaf -blind. A woman of strong mentality and splendid character, she was indeed happily chosen to release from captivity the mind and soul of Helen Keller. It would take long to trace the steps in the education of this little deaf and blind girl who is to-day a broad-minded, tal- ented and charming woman. It is evident that from the first Miss Sullivan tenderly loved her pupil, that she understood how to teach the petted, rebellious child obedience and self- control. She lived with her, played, worked, slept with her. From the wonderful moment when Helen learned that every- thing has a name that could be spelled into her hand. Miss Sul- livan pursued the plan of spelling into her hand all day long everything they did, until the hand language was absorbed by her as spoken language is by an ordinary child. As soon as communication was possible with the outer world through manual or hand language, Helen's intellectual improvement was marvellously rapid. Her eagerness and de- light in learning were evidently great factors in her acquire- ment of information and a vocabulary. After three months' work, she knew about three hundred words and a great many of the current idioms. At that time her teacher declared:
- It is a rare privilege to watch the birth, growth, and first
feeble struggles of a living mind ; this privilege is mine ; and, moreover, it is given me to rouse and guide this bright intel- ligence." Constantly Miss Sullivan roused and guided, never driving or nagging. It was soon evident that her unusual power of description was not lost upon her pupil, whose im-
