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"The rugged metal of the mine
Must burn before its surface shine."

An iron will was hammered out upon the anvil of misfortune. Miss Sullivan was not very long under systematic instruction before she gave unmistakable evidences of the depth, the steadfastness and the beauty of her character. She spared no pains to remedy the defects and to fill out the gaps in her training. She toiled, in season and out of season, to overcome obstacles. She was determined to climb to the top of the ladder, and used uncommon industry, perseverance and resolution as steps for the ascent. She has finally reached the goal for which she strove so bravely. The golden words that Dr. Howe uttered and the example that he left passed into her thoughts and heart and helped her on the road of usefulness; and now she stands by his side as his worthy successor in one of the most cherished branches of his work, carrying it on in a most satisfactory manner and receiving the benediction of his spirit.

"Delightful task, to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast!"

Miss Sullivan's talents are of the highest order. In breadth of intellect, in opulence of mental power, in fertility of resource, in originality of device and in practical sagacity she stands in the front rank. Only one of Dr. Howe's assistants, Miss Wight (afterward Mrs. Edward Bond), could vie with her in these respects; and a great pity it was that Laura was not placed under the broad, quickening, and vitalizing influence of this most excellent woman at an earlier stage of her education, when her mind was more plastic and susceptible to lasting impressions of generous views and liberal ideas.

Miss Sullivan is truly an honor to the graduates of this institution. Her intelligence, vivified by earnestness and colored by a high sense of self-respect, is conspicuous. By proper treatment and skilful surgical operations the thick opaqueness of her eyes was converted into translucency, and now she is able to read and write with but very little difficulty. Her personality is marked and positive. The story of her life is one of high endeavor and grand achievement. Helen's rescue from the abyss of darkness and stillness is the crown of her work. She undertook the task with becoming modesty and diffidence, and accomplished it alone, quietly and unostentatiously. She had no coadjutors in it, and there will therefore be no plausible opportunity for any one to claim a share in the origin of the architectural design of the magnificent structure, because he or she was employed as helper to participate in the execution of the plan.

At my urgent request Miss Sullivan prepared a brief account of Helen's life and education, which is an admirable specimen of terse, clear, cogent statement of facts and of conclusions based thereon. Here is the tale as told in her own words: --

HELEN ADAMS KELLER, daughter of Arthur H. and Kate Keller, was born June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Her father was formerly editor of the "North Alabamian," an old, influential and well-known journal, and is now United States marshal for the northern district of Alabama. Mr. Arthur H. Keller's father was a native of Switzerland, who came to America before the revolution and settled in Maryland. His mother, Mary F. Keller, was born in Rockbridge, Virginia. Her maiden name was Moore, and she was a great grand-daughter of Alexander Spotswood, the first colonial governor of that State, and the founder of the order of the " Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe." She was also second cousin to General Robert E. Lee.

Helen's mother is a daughter of the late General Charles W. Adams of Memphis, Tennessee, a distinguished lawyer, and a brigadier general in the confederate army. He was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to the south when quite a young man. Mrs. Keller's mother was an Everett, and her grandparents on her mother's side were also from the north.

When Helen was about nineteen months old, she was attacked violently with congestion of the stomach; and this illness resulted in total loss of sight and hearing. Previously she had enjoyed perfect health, and is said to have been an unusually bright and active child. She had learned to walk, and was fast learning to talk.

During this sickness her life hung in the balance for several days, and after recovery there was no evidence for some time of any injury to her eyes, except a red and inflamed appearance. The terrible truth soon dawned upon her parents, however. They tried every available avenue of relief, carrying her to the best specialists of the day, from none of whom, however, did they receive the slightest hope of her restoration to sight or hearing. For many months her eyes were very painful and she buried them in the bed-clothes away from the light. Soon she ceased to talk, because she had ceased to hear any sound.