Library Collections: Document: Full Text

The following letter will show how her mind, even three years ago, glanced from earth to sky: --

TUSCUMBIA, ALA., Jan. 29, 1889.

MY DEAR MISS BENNETT: -- I am delighted to write to you this morning. We have just eaten our breakfast. Mildred is running about downstairs. I have been reading in my book about astronomers. Astronomer comes from the Latin word astra, which means stars; and astronomers are men who study the stars, and tell us about them. When we are sleeping quietly in our beds, they are watching the beautiful sky through the telescope. A telescope is like a very strong eye. The stars are so far away that people cannot tell much about them, without very excellent instruments. Do you like to look out of your window, and see little stars? Teacher says she can see Venus from our window, and it is a large and beautiful star. The stars are called the earth's brothers and sisters.

There are a great many instruments besides those which the astronomers use. A knife is an instrument to cut with. I think the bell is an instrument, too. I will tell you what I know about bells.

Some bells are musical and others are unmusical. Some are very tiny and some are very large. I saw a very large bell at Wellesley. It came from Japan. Bells are used for many purposes. They tell us when breakfast is ready, when to go to school, when it is time for church, and when there is a fire. They tell people when to go to work, and when to go home and rest. The engine-bell tells the passengers that they are coining to a station, and it tells the people to keep out of the way. Sometimes very terrible accidents happen, and many people are burned and drowned and injured. The other day I broke my doll's head off; but that was not a dreadful accident, because dolls do not live and feel, like people. My little pigeons are well, and so is my little bird. I would like to have some clay. Teacher says it is time for me to study now. Good-bye.

With much love, and many kisses, HELEN A. KELLER.

Geography is her favorite study. About strange countries and their inhabitants she never tires of learning, and I venture to assert that very few boys or girls, even in the highest grades of the public schools, have a more extensive knowledge of foreign lands than has Helen. In this study she is greatly assisted by her vivid imagination, which translates words into images and sentences into pictures. She has received letters and tokens of affection from strangers in other nations, and so feels a real and personal interest in whatever concerns them. While Mr. Anagnos was travelling in Europe, he sent her a full description of each important city he visited. She looked forward to the coming of these letters with great eagerness, and it would have delighted the writer to see the pleasure which her bright face expressed during the reading of these communications.

She had conceived a great admiration for kings and queens, having an idea that queens must all be beautiful, and that kings are born good and wise. It was therefore a very painful surprise to her when she learned of the cruel punishments which the czar allows his officers to inflict upon some of his subjects. She said: "I think the czar cannot know that his officers do wrong. We must send a wise messenger to tell him that his people are unhappy."

The following letter will illustrate her interest in passing history, as well as her delight in crowned heads: --

TUSCUMBIA, ALA., December 8.

MY DEAR MADEMOISELLE RILEY: -- I think you will like to receive a letter from Helen A. Keller. I would like to run into the parlor, and have a good game of tickle with you. Are you very lonely? I miss all of my friends very much. I have been reading about kings and queens. Teacher says I am a beautiful princess. The Queen of Roumania is Elizabeth. She is a lovely queen. Her friends call her the Wild Rosebud of Wied. She was born in Wied, a pretty place on the Rhine River. She was taught to read and to sew and to cook, when she was a very small child. She had a poor little invalid brother. His name was William. Elizabeth was always very kind and patient with her little brother. The queen, their mother, had a garden made for the prince and princess to work in. They sowed grain and planted corn, milked their cows, and took care of their hens. When Elizabeth became the queen of Roumania the people were glad, and they call her the Little Mother, -- because she is always helping them, just like a real mother. Roumania is a little country, with high mountains all around it; and it is between Turkey and Russia. The Roumanians call their country a word that means my darling. The queen had one little daughter. Her name was Maria, but she died when she was only four years old. The poor queen was very sorrowful. Wilhelmina, the Princess of Holland, is a wee Dutch maiden. She is only four years old, but some day she will be queen of Holland.

Please give my love to Mrs. Hopkins, and tell her I wish Dick would fly to Alabama to see me. I will catch him and put him in a cage. I hope you will write me very soon. Now I must close.