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Sixtieth Annual Report Of The Trustees Of The Perkins Institution And Massachusetts Asylum For The Blind

Creator: Michael Anagnos (author)
Date: 1891
Source: Perkins School for the Blind


Introduction

Helen Keller lived life in the public eye, perhaps never more so than because of a short story she wrote in 1891 at age 12, “The Frost King.” Keller sent the tale to Michael Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, as a birthday present. Following his custom of reporting on Keller’s training and progress in the annual reports for the Perkins Institution, Anagnos reprinted her story and praised Keller’s imagination and skill at writing.

Such publicity helped to fulfill the public’s insatiable curiosity about Keller, but also had a more serious purpose. Many people were skeptical that deaf-blind people such as Keller could actually learn, but Keller’s story was firm evidence to the contrary. Keller’s status as a celebrity ensured that Anagnos’s report and Keller’s story were disseminated widely. Much to his dismay, Anagnos soon learned that Keller’s story was a near replica of Canby’s “The Frost Fairies.”


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HELEN KELLER.

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"She to highest hopes
Was destined, -- in a firmer mould was wrought,
And tempered with a purer, brighter flame."

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Akenside.

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When the achievements of the nineteenth century shall be tabulated, the wonderful work of Dr. Howe will not be very far from the head of the column.

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Save the traditional legends of supernatural miracles, there is nothing left on record to transcend such an astonishing height as was attained by the consummate skill which this knight-errant of humanity showed in the deliverance of Laura Bridgman from the dreadful prison of ever-enduring darkness and dreary stillness. The success of his courageous efforts to roll away the ponderous stone from the door of the sepulchre, wherein the faculties of this hapless human being were entombed, was a glorious triumph for our civilization and an incalculable gain for the philosophy of education. The commanding voice which said "come forth" to the buried mind of a blind deaf-mute, and was obeyed, reached the loftiest degree of eminence known to history, and made clear Dr. Howe's title to a prominent place in the pantheon of the benefactors of mankind. His demonstration of the possibility of such summons winning a response bound his brow with an amaranthine wreath of honor and fame, and inaugurated the commencement of a new and most beneficent era in the realm of science and the domain of philanthropy. The simple way of communicating with the outer world, which he discovered and with which he bridged across the chasm of ruined avenues of sense for the benefit of those --

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"Whom the fates have mark'd
To bear the extremity of dire mishap," --

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will stand forever a lasting monument to his supreme sagacity and patient perseverance, and a beacon light to those who follow in his footsteps and carry on the noblest of his works.

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In exploring the densest forest and murkiest desert of misfortune, Laura's liberator -- whom John Weiss did not hesitate to characterize in one of his essays as "an incarnate word of God" -- proved himself an acute thinker, an original investigator, a bold pioneer, a second Prometheus. From sparks stolen from heaven he kindled the flame of intelligent life and knowledge in what else had been mere forms of clay, and brought these into communion with their fellow-creatures.

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"He waved a torch that flooded the lessening gloom
With everlasting fire."

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He became a valiant friend and august father of the most helpless victims of affliction, by devoting his prodigious energies and the vast resources of his ingenuity to their rescue from the horrors of life-long solitary confinement and perpetual isolation. He swept away the thick clouds that enveloped them, and revealed to them a vision of the possibilities of social intercourse and real happiness.

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"Like a star of life he rose on their night;"

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and the tie which links him and them is of such pure and immaculate strength that it cannot be broken or violated. Obstacles were nothing to Dr. Howe's genius, the essence of which consisted in heroic force of will and wisdom fired by love. He was well equipped with weapons for the accomplishment of great deeds, for his armor included --

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"Harmonious thoughts, a soul by truth refined,
Entire affection for all humankind."

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A firm believer in the sovereign potency of the mind, he plunged into the task of beating into dust the mountain of difficulties, and of obtaining the gem hidden under them with a dauntless spirit of resolution and without the least fear or doubt as to the ultimate issue. His undertaking was a wholly novel one. There was nothing on record that could be of help or service to him in his gigantic enterprise. He found no external indices to point out his course, no guides to direct his steps, no examples to imitate, no predecessors to follow. All seemed like a trackless wilderness before him; but he was determined to explore it and to complete the work which heaven left for man to do. He came out of it victorious, and opened a wide pathway for his successors and disciples to travel for all time to come.

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"All these did wise Odysseus lead, in council peer to Zeus."

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Dr. Howe's act of discovery is the type both of the science and of the humanity of the present age, and his magnificent invention proved of inestimable benefit to mankind. Its abiding influence is spreading widely on both hemispheres, and bears rich fruitage. The number of persons who have recently been saved from the terrors of intellectual and moral death, and are now enjoying the blessings of mental freedom and the invaluable advantages of education is larger than ever before, and is constantly increasing. Some of these are noted for special talents and marked abilities; but Helen Keller stands unquestionably first and foremost among them.

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"Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky."

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A UNIQUE STORY.

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"I will a round unvarnished tale deliver."
Shakespeare.

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The last authentic account of the rapid development and astonishing achievements of this most extraordinary child was given in these reports three years ago. Since then nothing of an official character has been published. We propose now to take up the thread of the recital where we dropped it in 1888, and to bring it down to the present day.

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