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She is as eager and as enthusiastic in her pursuit of knowledge now as she was three years ago. She has one advantage over ordinary children, that nothing from without distracts her attention from her studies; so that each new thought makes upon her mind a distinct impression which is rarely forgotten.

Here is a letter which indicates Helen's breadth of information, as well as her affectionate qualities.

TUSCUMBIA, ALA., Oct. 9, 1890.

MY DEAR LITTLE FRIENDS: -- You must not think I have forgotten you, for I have thought about you very often this summer, and I want to see you very much indeed. I think I shall come to Boston after Christmas. I was disappointed not to come before, but I am very glad to stay with my parents and my little sister. They are lonely when I leave them.

I wish all of you could be here this lovely autumn day. The roses are blooming in all their beauty. I fancy they are saying a sweet good-bye, for soon Jack Frost will come, and then they must depart. The mother-plants are busy putting their little ones away in their warm cradles, to sleep till the springtime comes to awaken them. I am going to send you some magnolia seeds, and the pods where the seeds are formed, so that you can study about them. Perhaps they will grow, if you plant them in a warm place. The seeds are of a bright-red color when they first ripen. I shall also send you a cotton-pod and a fig-leaf. I think you never saw a fig-tree growing; but Miss Bennett will tell you all about it. A leaf shaped like a fig-leaf is called palmate, because it looks like the hand. The word comes from the Latin, and signifies the palm of the hand. The cotton is opening very slowly this year, and much of it is spoiled because it has rained continuously for more than a week, and a great deal of rain is not good for cotton. Oh, how delighted I was when the sun broke through the dense clouds, and I could feel its brightness once more!

I wish I could bring my great dog and my gentle donkey to Boston with me. You would like Lioness, she is such a good, faithful dog. I think Neddy would make you laugh, he is such a funny, round little fellow; and I am sure Edith would love to ride him. Little sister often rides Neddy by herself. Whenever he hears the dinner-bell ring he goes to the kitchen for some corncobs. I suppose he thinks we have corn for dinner every day. Sometimes I feed the turkeys, and they are so tame that they will come close enough for me to touch them.

We spent the summer on a beautiful mountain near here, where the air was fresh and cool. We call the place Fern Quarry, because there are so many pretty ferns there; and I named the place where our house stands Mount Pleasant. Neddy used to carry me through the woods and up the steep, rocky paths very carefully; but when he got on the road which leads to Tuscumbia, he would start for home as fast as he could trot.

Mildred and our little cousin, Louise Adams, were very happy together. They used to pick wild-flowers, catch butterflies, and play in some nice clean sand, until it was time for them to visit slumberland. Louise is a lovely little girl, with golden lovelocks, dark-blue eyes, and soft rosy cheeks. They make us think of two angels who had strayed away from their home in the sky. Every day we went to the springs, and drank the cool water that gushed out from the rocks, and in September we gathered large bouquets of ladies'-slipper and goldenrod, that grew on the hill near the spring. One day my dear brother Simpson found a little baby-bird, which had fallen out of its nest while the mother-bird was away. We played with it for a little while, and then Simpson put it back into the nest.

My vacation is over now, and I have my lessons every day. I study arithmetic, geography, botany and zoölogy. I have just learned about the wonderful little slime-animals, and to-morrow I shall learn about sponges or polyps, -- I am not sure which. In history I am studying about the brave Britons. How courageously they fought for their little island home! I shall be so glad to receive a letter from you, and hear what you are doing in school; and please tell me about the new scholars. I received Miss Marrett's and Miss Bennett's letters, and I thank them for writing to me. I was so very sorry to hear that Mrs. Hopkins' dear little bird, Dick, was dead. In the springtime I will try to get her a young mocking-bird. Were you all delighted to welcome Mr. Anagnos home? I know he must have been glad to see you all again.

With much love, from your little playmate,

HELEN A. KELLER.

While Helen's isolated condition brings with it this advantage, it involves also a corresponding drawback, -- the danger of unduly severe mental application. Her mind is so constituted that she is in a state of feverish unrest while conscious that there is something that she does not comprehend. I have never known her to be willing to leave a lesson when she felt that there was anything in it which she did not understand. If I suggest her leaving a problem in arithmetic until the next day, she invariably answers, "I think it will make my mind stronger to do it now."