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It is hardly necessary for me to state here that Helen's story, however imperfectly it may be told, is one of unrivalled interest. It continues to be as fascinating as a fairy tale. Although some of its points have been briefly touched upon in previous accounts, yet new incidents add freshness to its pathos and variety to its surprises, and render it a narrative of absorbing interest, a rich treasury of wonders and an abundant source of inspiration.

Before proceeding any further in this sketch, we beg leave to repeat the assertion and renew the assurance that the facts embodied in it have been scrupulously verified and are entirely free from error and exaggeration, and that we vouch for their correctness in every particular. If they appear miraculous to some of the readers of these pages, let it be remembered that the little girl herself is a marvel. These are the precise words which one of the leading scientific men of America used when speaking of her at the end of a long interview with her. For many months this gentleman had been quite skeptical as to the truth of some of the statements concerning her linguistic and other attainments, and ready to cast doubts on them; but after conversing with her for nearly two hours, during which time he questioned her on various topics with his own fingers and in his own methods, he became convinced of the brilliancy of her mind and the superiority of her genius, and joined the ranks of her enthusiastic admirers.

GENERAL VIEW OF HELEN'S INDIVIDUALITY.

"She is most fair, and thereunto
Her life doth rightly harmonize."
Lowell.

Helen is a phenomenal child. She is in every sense a very remarkable person. Her gifts are manifold. Her mind is as clear as her brain is fertile, while her heart flames with earnestness and glows with charity. She is the finest illustration of consecrated, unselfish, whole-souled devotion that childhood has ever offered to the vision of men or that of the gods. She combines largeness of view with subtlety of mind, breadth with keenness, vigor with delicacy, knowledge with geniality, tact with common sense, reason with warmth, enthusiasm with self-control. Noble aspirations, gentle manners, intense feelings, incessant thinking, native goodness, a passion for learning and self-improvement, a thirst for righteousness and a hunger for holiness, all unite in her to place her far above ordinary morals. She is a manifestation of loveliness, the personification of generosity, the essence of amiableness.

"The spirit of a flower
With wings for flight,
Yet held by clinging roots
For our delight."

Helen's life is as perfect as a poem, as pure and sweet as a strain of music. She appears in the firmament of humanity like a new star, shining with its own light and differing from all others in glory, and seemingly independent of the rest of the host of heaven. As the seven colors blend and fuse in a ray of white light, so do choice intellectual endowments and rare moral characteristics enter into the composition of her being and produce what seems to be a true genius. The following quotation from one of Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton's poems applies to Helen's case with peculiar fitness: --

"She is smiling as the smiling May,
As gay at heart as birds that carol gayly
Their sweet young songs to usher in the day;
As ardent as the skies that brood and brighten
O'er the warm fields in summer's happy prime;
As tender as the veiling grace that softens
The harshest shapes in twilight's tender time."

To give a full account of what Helen has accomplished during the past three years would require more space than I have at my disposal. I shall be obliged therefore to notice only such facts and incidents as constitute the sum and substance of her development, and show the chief features of her character, dividing my narrative into three distinct parts, in which the following subjects will be respectively treated: --

First. Physical growth, including health and temperament.

Second. Mental development and intellectual attainments.

Third. Moral nature and religious instruction.

I. PHYSICAL GROWTH

"Grows with her growth and strengthens with her strength."
Pope.

During the past three years Helen has grown amazingly fast in body and mind alike. She sprang up and advanced towards full stature and maturity with astonishing rapidity. She is now five feet and two inches in height and of symmetrical figure, and weighs one hundred and twenty-two pounds. Her physique is, magnificent. Her active brain and great heart are sustained by an adequate material frame, which is so strong and pure that "her soul can do its message fitly" in it. Her head is finely formed, and decked with beautiful brown hair falling in luxuriant curls over her pretty shoulders, while the shape of her brow is indicative both of the capacious spirit that is lodged within and of the majesty of intellect which rises therefrom. Her countenance is beaming with intelligence and animation, and is rendered thereby extremely pleasant and attractive. Hers is not a face of perfect symmetry and beauty, but there blooms in it --