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When asked why she loved books so much, she once replied: "Because they tell me so much that is interesting about things I cannot see, and they are never tired or troubled like people. They tell me over and over what I want to know."

She runs the forefinger of her right hand over the printed pages, perceiving at a glance, as it were, the main points; and she not only grasps the ideas quickly, but she also has the faculty of embodying them in language quite different from that used by the author.

While reading to her from Dickens's "Child's History of England," I had many opportunities of testing her power of comprehension. When we came to the sentence, "Still the spirit of the Britons was not broken," I asked what she thought that meant. She replied: "I think it means that the brave Britons were not discouraged because the Romans had won so many battles, and they wished all the more to drive them away." It would not have been possible for her to give satisfactory definitions of the words in this sentence; and yet she had caught the author's meaning, and was able to give her understanding of it in her own way. The very next lines are still more idiomatic: "When Suetonius left the country they fell upon his troops and retook the island of Anglesea." Here is her interpretation of the sentence: "It means that when the Roman general had gone away, the Britons began to fight again; and because the Roman soldiers had no general to tell them what to do, they were overcome by the Britons and lost the island they had captured."

The more Helen reads and the more extended her knowledge becomes, the greater will be her power of comprehension and the more full her appreciation of the force and beauty of our glorious tongue. Although her vocabulary is now large and she is constantly meeting with new words, her conversation is simple and natural, but more mature than that of ordinary children. The tendency mentioned in my last report, -- to omit in conversation words and phrases not absolutely necessary, -- has, I am glad to say, been entirely overcome. In order to secure variety of expression, I have required her to state the same fact in as many different ways as possible. She enjoys this play on words, as she calls it, and it certainly is a most profitable amusement. The progress which she has already made in language is most gratifying, and promises well for the future.

Constant practice has given to the sense of touch a delicacy and precision such as are seldom attained by blind and never by seeing persons. Sometimes it seems as if her very soul were in her fingers, she finds so much to excite wonder even in common things. People frequently say to me: "She sees more with her fingers than we do with our eyes." Those who know her are often astonished at the amount of information she will get from a casual examination of an object.

She will name every article of furniture in a room where she has only been for a few moments. Whenever she visits a new place it is my custom to require her to give either with her fingers or pencil a description of what she sees there. This helps her to form accurate mental pictures of things and places, and I find that it has assisted her greatly in forming conceptions of things which she has not touched but merely read or heard about. The following is Helen's account of a visit to the country: --

A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY.

LAST May, when the golden sunshine filled our beautiful world with warmth and brightness, teacher and I went to Beverly, to spend a few days with some very kind friends. It was delightful to smell the fresh country air, and to know that the sky was blue, and to feel the soft grass under our feet; and, best of all, we could enjoy the delicious sea breeze, that came straight to us from the ocean. And such fun! such fun! as we did have, picking daisies and buttercups and red clovers, and climbing apple-trees, to touch the young birds very gently. The apple blossoms made such a dainty shelter for the nests that it made me wish I were a little bird, so that I could build my house up in an apple-tree. I think it would be lovely to sing sweetly all the day long, high up in a tree! Do you? But I think little girls can enjoy more than the birds or the trees or the flowers, because they have minds which can think about everything.

One sunny day we went to see our dear poet, Mr. Whittier. He was very kind to me, because he loves children, and likes to make them happy. I told him about Beauty -her moth- and about my home and dear baby sister. He was very kind to show me all the things in his study, to entertain me. Then I had some nice cake, and we thanked the kind gentleman for his courtesy and came away.

It was Decoration Day; and whenever the train stopped, we saw people carrying flowers to put on the graves of brave soldiers. Once we crossed the Merrimac River; but it was not a busy river that day, for all the factories were closed, and the people were having a holiday. I shall always call the Merrimac Whittier's River, because he lives near it, and loves it; and I like to call the Charles Holmes' Gentle River, because it is very dear to him.