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"Uses today freely the prepositions in and on: she says, teacher sitting in sofa: -- do not dare to correct her in such cases of anomalous usage of the preposition, but prefer to let her be in error, than shake her faith in a rule given: the corrections must be made by and by: the sofa having sides, she naturally says in."

In her eagerness to advance her knowledge of words and to communicate her ideas she coins words, and is always guided by analogy. Sometimes her process of word-making is very interesting; for instance, after some time spent in giving her an idea of the abstract meaning of alone, she seemed to obtain it, and understanding that being by one's self was to be alone, or al-one. She was told to go to her chamber, or school, or elsewhere and return alone; she did so, but soon after, wishing to go with one of the little girls, she strove to express her meaning thus, Laura go al-two.

The same eagerness is manifested in her attempts to define for the purpose of classification: for instance, some one giving her the word bachelor she came to her teacher for a definition, she was taught that men who had wives were husbands, those who had none, bachelors; when asked if she understood she said "man no have wife -- bachelor -- Tenny bachelor": referring to an old friend of hers. Being told to define bachelor, she said "bachelor, no have wife, and smoke pipe." Thus she considered the individual peculiarity of smoking in one person, as a specific mark of the species bachelor.

Then in order to test her knowledge of the word, it was said by her teacher Tenny has got no wife, what is Tenny?

She paused, and then said, Tenny is wrong!

The word widow being explained to her, a woman whose husband is dead, and she being called upon to define she said, "widow is woman, man dead, and cold," and eked out her meaning, by sinking down, and dropping her hand, to signify in the ground.

The two last words she added herself, they not having been in the definition: but she instantly associates the idea of coldness and burial with death.

Her having acquired any idea of death was not by the wish of her teacher, it having been his intention to reserve the subject until such a development of her reason should be attained as would enable him to give a correct idea of it.

He hopes still, by aid of the analogy of the germination and growth of plants, to give her a consoling hope of resurrection, to counterbalance the almost instinctive dread of death.

She had touched a dead body before she came to the Institution.

She easily acquired a knowledge and use of active verbs, especially those expressive of tangible action; as to walk, to run, to sew, to shake.

At first, of course, no distinction could be made of mood and tense, she used the words in a general sense, and according to the order of her sense of ideas; thus, in asking some one to give her bread, she would first use the word expressive of the leading idea, and say "Laura, bread, give." If she wanted water she would say water, drink, Laura.

Soon, however she learned the use of the auxiliary verbs, of the difference of past, present and future tense; for instance, here is an early sentence, Keller is sick -- when will Keller well; the use of be she had not acquired.

Having acquired the use of substantives, adjectives, verbs, prepositions and conjugations, it was deemed time to make the experiment of trying to teach her to write, and to show her that she might communicate her ideas to persons not in contact with her.

It was amusing to witness the mute amazement with which she submitted to the process, the docility with which she imitated every motion, and the perseverance with which she moved her pencil over and over again in the same track, until she could form the letter. But when at last the idea dawned upon her, that by this mysterious process she could make other people understand what she thought, her joy was boundless.

Never did child apply more eagerly and joyfully to any task than she did to this, and in a few months she could make every letter distinctly, and separate words from each other.

The following anecdote will give an idea of her fondness for teazing, or innocent fun or mischief. Her teacher looking one day unobserved into the girls' play room, saw three blind girls playing with the rockinghorse. Laura was on the crupper, another in the saddle, and a third clinging on the neck, and they were all in high glee, swinging backward and forward as far as the rockers would roll. There was a peculiarly arch look in Laura's countenance -- the natural language of sly fun. She seemed prepared to give a spring, and suddenly when her end was lowest, and the others were perched high in the air, she sidled quickly off on to the floor, and down went the other end so swiftly as to throw the girls off the horse.

This Laura evidently expected, for she stood a moment convulsed with laughter, then ran eagerly forward with outstretched hands to find the girls, almost screamed with joy. As soon, however, as she got hold of one of them, she perceived that she was hurt, and instantly her countenance changed, she seemed shocked and grieved, and after caressing and comforting her playmate, she found the other, and seemed to apologise by spelling the word -- wrong, and caressing her.