Chapter 1

Helens apprehension before writing her autobiography

Helen felt a kind of hesitation before she set on the task of penning down her
autobiography and, thus, reveal the story of her life. In addition, the task itself was
a difficult one for Helen: looking back, she could hardly distinguish between the
facts and the fancies across the years. Furthermore, in the process of learning new
things, she had forgotten many important incidents and experiences of her
childhood.

Birth of Helen

Helen Adams Keller was born on a plantation called Ivy Green in Tuscumbia,
Alabama, on June 27, 1880. She was the eldest daughter of Captain Arthur H. Keller,
a former officer of the Confederate Army, and Kate Adams. Helen was named after
her grandmother, Helen Everett. Even as an infant, she showed signs of eagerness
and independence. By the age of six months, Helen attracted everyones attention
piping out words like How dye and tea.

Helen suffers an illness that leaves her deaf and blind

In February, 1882, at the age of nineteen months, Helen fell ill with an acute
congestion of the stomach and brain, which could possibly have been scarlet fever
or meningitis. This illness left her deaf and blind. Later on, her spirit was liberated
from the world of silence and darkness by her teacher, Anne Sullivan.

Chapter 2
Helens initial attempts to communicate

After her sickness, Helen started using crude signs to communicate with others. A
shake of the head meant No and a nod Yes, a pull meant Come and a push,
Go. If she wanted anything, she would imitate the relevant action. Her mother
encouraged her by involving her in the household activities. This made Helen more
observant of the actions performed by the people around her.

Observing herself as different from others

Helen started to observe that unlike her, other people did not use signs for
communication but talked with their mouths. She realized that she was different
from others. She attempted to copy them but in vain. At times, she released her
frustration on her nurse, Elisa, by kicking and screaming at her until she felt
exhausted. She regretted her misbehavior but did not try to change it.

Companionship with Martha Washington and Belle

Martha Washington was a little coloured girl who understood Helens signs. She was
the cooks daughter. Martha submissively obeyed Helen, who in turn enjoyed
domineering over her. Both the girls spent a lot of time in the kitchen, kneading
dough balls, grinding coffee, quarrelling over the cake bowl.

Helen enjoyed feeding the hens and turkeys, and feeling them as they ate from her
hands. She also loved to hunt for guinea-fowl eggs in the long grass. Even though
Helen could not understand Christmas per se, she enjoyed the preparations leading
to that occasion.

One July afternoon, when Helen and Martha were bored of cutting paper dolls, they
came up with the idea of cutting each others hair. Helen cut Marthas hair and
Martha cut off a curl of Helens. Martha would have cut them all if it werent for
Helens mothers timely intervention.

Belle was a lazy old dog and a companion of Helen. Despite of her attempts, it was
inattentive to her signs and gestures. As a result, Helen would get frustrated and go
looking for Martha.

Helen is saved by the nurse from getting burnt

Once, while drying her wet apron in front of the hearth, Helen ended up going too
close to the fire. Her clothes caught fire. Fortunately, she was saved by the nurse,
Viny, who threw a blanket around her to extinguish the fire. Except for her hands
and hair, she was not badly burnt.

Discovering the use of a key: used as a tool for mischief

About that time, Helen found out the use of a key. The mischievous Helen played a
prank on her mother by locking her in the pantry. After Miss Sullivan arrived to teach
her, she played the same prank on her. Helen locked her teacher in her room and
refused to reveal the hidden key. Eventually, her father had to intervene and take
Miss Sullivan out of the room through the window.

When Helen was around five years old, the Keller family moved from the little vine-
covered house to a large new one.

The loving relationship between Helen and her father

Helens father was loving and indulgent. Helen was fond of the stories her father
narrated to her by forming spellings on her hand. Her father in turn enjoyed Helens
reiteration of these stories. Her fathers death in the summer of 1896 was Helens
first great sorrow-- [her] first personal experience with death.

Helens relationship with her baby sister

Initially, Helen viewed her younger sister, Mildred, as an intruder. She felt that her
sister got all the attention from her mother. Helen vented her frustration and
showed her affection on her doll, Nancy. Once Helen overturned Nancys cradle in
which her sister was sleeping. Fortunately, their mothers timely arrival saved
Mildred. Later, however, the love between the hearts of the two sisters prospered
despite the fact that neither of them understood the language of the other.

Chapter 3
The need for a better means of communication

Gradually, the few signs that were used by Helen to communicate became
inadequate. Failure to get across her thoughts led to fits of anger and frustration in
Helen. She felt miserable. As a result, it became imperative for her parents to find a
teacher or a school for Helen so that she could learn a better means of
communication.

Helens mothers hope was aroused by an account she read in Dickenss American
Notes about the education of Laura Bridgeman, a deaf and blind student, by Dr.
Howe. Unfortunately, his methods had possibly died with him. Besides, it would not
be easy to find a teacher who would come to their distant town in Alabama to teach
Helen.

The train journey to Baltimore

Helen was six when her father decided to consult an oculist in Baltimore for the
treatment of Helens sight. Helen enjoyed the new experiences during her trip. She
was happy to receive a box of shells from a lady and a doll made out of towels from
her aunt during the journey. She also played with the punching machine of the
conductor. In fact, she did not experience any fits of temper during her journey as
there were so many things to keep her mind and hands busy.

Exploring the possibilities of Helens education at Baltimore

At Baltimore, Dr. Chisholm said that there was nothing he could do about Helens
sight. However, he advised Helens father to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell of
Washington, who would be able to guide them in regards to the education of Helen.

Meeting Dr. Bell was a great experience for Helen. He understood Helens signs,
which made her happy. This meeting was the beginning of a long friendship
between Dr. Bell and Helen. Helen later recalled this interview as the foundation of
her journey from darkness to light, from isolation to friendship, companionship,
knowledge and love.

Dr. Bell advised Mr. Keller to write to Dr. Anagnos, the director of the Perkins
Institute in Boston. Her father wrote to him without any delay and got a reply in
positive. Finally, in the March of 1887, Miss Sullivan arrived at the Keller house.

Chapter 4
The most important day of Helens life

Miss Anne Mansfield Sullivan arrived at the house of the Keller family on the third of
March, 1887. This was the day from which Helens life started to transform; the
ailing spirit of Helen could only find solace by the knowledge delivered by Miss
Sullivan.

Beginning of the journey of knowledge with Miss Ann Sullivan

Miss Sullivan gave Helen a doll, which was a present from the little blind students of
the Perkins Institute and was dressed by Laura Bridgeman. Miss Sullivan spelled the
word D-O-L-L on Helens hands. Helen managed to imitate the movements of her
fingers even though she was not aware of the fact that Miss Sullivan was trying to
teach her the name of the thing. It took several weeks for Helen to realize that
everything has a name. Miss Sullivan tried to teach the names of several other
objects to Helen, such as M-U-G and W-A-T-E-R, but Helen was annoyed at the
repeated attempts of her teacher and she broke her doll on the floor.

One day, when they were walking in the garden, Miss Sullivan put Helens hand
under a spout of water. As the cool stream gushed over Helens hand, Miss Sullivan
spelled the word water on the other. Then Helen realized that water meant that
cool something that was flowing over [her] hand. She experienced the joy of
gaining knowledge. When she returned to the house, she was eager to learn since
every name gave birth to a new thought.

That day Helen learnt several new words, including father, mother and
teacher. This eventful day left her very happy and excited. She waited eagerly for
the upcoming new day.
Chapter 5
Helen could experience new joy as she learned the names of the objects and their
uses. This made her more confident and familiar with the outside world.

Learning lessons in the lap of nature

Helen had many new experiences during her summer trip to the banks of the
Tennessee River with Miss Sullivan. There, sitting on the warm grass, Helen learned
lessons from her teacher. She got to know how birds make their nests; how trees
grow with the help of the sun and the rain; how animals find food for themselves,
etc. She became more sensitive to nature and rejoiced the company of the world
about which she was now more informed.

Helen learns that nature is not always kind

One day Miss Sullivan helped Helen to climb up a tree. It was a pleasant sunny
afternoon and they decided to have their luncheon there. Miss Sullivan left to fetch
the food, with Helen sitting on a tree alone. Suddenly the weather became dark and
stormy. Helen was terrified and felt alienated from the world. Helen longed for the
return of her teacher and above all to get down from the tree. Too scared to jump,
she crouched down in the fork of the tree. Just as she thought she would fall along
with the tree, her teacher rescued her. Helen felt relieved to reach the ground
safely. This experience taught her that nature is not always kind, that nature wages
open war against her children

Rejoicing independence and a new bond with nature

Helen continued to be terrified of climbing a tree for a long time. One day, however,
she was lured to climb a Mimosa tree by its beautiful fragrance. She did
experience some difficulty in holding on to the large branches but the pleasure of
attempting something new and wonderful kept her going. Finally, she sat down on a
little seat and felt like a fairy sitting on a rose cloud.

Chapter 6
With the acquisition of words, Helen turns more inquisitive

Gradually, Helens knowledge grew in terms of vocabulary and subsequently, her

area of inquiry broadened. She returned to the same subject repeatedly, eager for
more and more information.

Challenges in understanding abstract ideas

One day Helen brought a bunch of violets for her teacher. Miss Sullivan put her arm
around Helen to show her affection and spelled into her hand, I love Helen. But
Helen failed to understand the meaning as she tried associating it with a thing and
not with an emotion or an abstract idea. She was disappointed by the fact that her
teacher could not show her what love meant.

The first conception of an abstract idea

A couple of days later, when Helen was stringing beads of different sizes, her
teacher kept on pointing out mistakes to her. Helen was trying to think about the
correct arrangement when Miss Sullivan touched her forehead and spelled the word
think on her hand. Helen suddenly realized that the word is the name of the
process going on in her mind. This was Helens first conscious awareness of an
abstract idea. Finally, her teacher explained to her that, you cannot touch love
either; but you feel the sweetness that love pours into everything.

The tedious process of learning for a deaf and blind child like Helen

Miss Sullivan encouraged Helen to talk to her. She supplied her with several words
and idioms by spelling them on her hand. It was a long and tedious process that
continued for several years. This was because Helen could neither distinguish
between the different tonalities of the speaker nor look at his expressions.

Chapter 7
Learning to read

The next important lesson for Helen was learning how to read. Once Helen had
managed to spell a few words, her teacher gave her slips of cardboard with raised
letters printed on them. Helen promptly learned that each printed word stood for an
object, an act, or a quality. She was given the slips of paper, which represented, for
example, doll, is, on, bed, and each name was placed on the relevant
object. Her doll was put on the bed with words is, on, bed arranged beside the doll,
thus making a sentence out of it.

From the printed slips Helen moved on to read printed books. Helen enjoyed hunting
for the words she knew in her book Reading for Beginners.

Learning lessons out of doors and through illustrations

Miss Sullivan taught Helen with the help of illustrations through beautiful story or a
poem. In this way, she made each difficult lesson easy to learn.

The early lessons were carried out in the sunlit woods. Among other places that
Helen often visited were the garden and the orchard. Helens favourite walk was to
the Kellers Landing, an old wharf on the Tennessee River. There she was also given
geography lessons in a playful manner without any exhaustion or feeling of being
taught lessons. Helen built dams with pebbles, made islands and lakes, and dug
river-beds. Miss Sullivan built raised maps in clay on a sheet so that Helen could
feel the mountains, ridges and valleys by following her fingers. She illustrated the
division of earth into different zones with the help of illustrative strings and orange
stick representations.

Miss Sullivan taught Helen arithmetic, botany and zoology with the same leisurely
approach.

Learning in the form of stories that were based on the gifts received by
Helen

A collection of fossils was once gifted to Helen by a gentleman. These served as a

key to the antediluvian world on which Miss Sullivan narrated dreadful tales about
various beasts and devils with unpronounceable names.

Another time, a beautiful shell was gifted to Helen, and it helped her to learn about
the habitat of the marine animals. She associated the shell building process with the
working of the mind. Just as the Nautilus changes the material it absorbs from water
and makes it a part of itself, similarly, the mind converts the bits of knowledge
that one gathers into pearls of thought.

Lessons of science from life itself

Miss Sullivan picked up illustrations for her lessons from life itself. She taught the
growth of a plant by making observations on a growing lily plant kept on the
window. Helen learnt about the behaviour of animals by feeling the tadpoles in a
glass globe and monitoring their growth.

Teaching skills of Miss Sullivan

Miss Sullivan was a teacher with great teaching skills: she was sympathetic and
loving. She could seize the right moment for delivering knowledge to Helen, which
made learning experience pleasant. Helen developed such closeness with her
teacher that she hardly thought herself distant from her. She acknowledges her
teacher for all the good in her and as a source of aspiration to gain knowledge
Chapter 8
Preparing for Christmas celebration

Helen eagerly waited for the first Christmas after the arrival of Miss Sullivan.
Everyone in the house was planning surprises for Helen and she, in turn, was
preparing surprises for them with the help of her teacher. Her friends incited her
excitement by throwing hints at her with half spelled words and incomplete
sentences which were both amusements and language lessons for her. Meanwhile,
Miss Sullivan and Helen played the guessing game every evening to help her learn
the use of language.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Helen was invited to a school in Tuscumbia. She felt excited in
the presence of a beautiful Christmas tree standing in the centre of the room. She
was delighted when asked to distribute presents among the school children. She
received her gifts as well. However, she was not satisfied with these and wanted
those gifts that were being planned by her family and friends. Later, she waited
eagerly for the morning to discover her Christmas presents from Santa Claus and
others.

Helens new pet: Tim:

Helen woke up to a large number of gifts. She was most pleased by her teachers
gift: a canary bird.

Helen named the little bird as Tim and Miss Sullivan taught her to take proper care
of it. Tim was a friendly bird who clenched to Helens fingertip and loved to eat
candied cherries out of her hand. Helen grew quite fond of Tim, until one fateful day
when a cat ate the bird. That day, she had forgotten to shut the door of the cage
and as she was returning with water for the birds bath, she felt a pussy cat pass by
her. Soon she realized what happened: she would not be able to see it again.

Chapter 9
The journey to Boston in May, 1888

In May, 1888, Helen travelled to Boston with Miss Sullivan and her mother. This
journey was different from the previous journey to Baltimore as she was no longer a
young restless child. Instead, she was now a calm child sitting beside her teacher
who was informing her about the views outside the car window: the Tennessee
River, cotton fields, hills, woods and so on.

Helen recalls the tragic end of Nancy, her doll

After their arrival at Boston, Helens doll Nancy underwent a sad experience. During
the journey, the doll became dirty and hence, the laundress at the Perkins
Institution gave her a bath. Consequently, the doll turned into a formless heap of
cotton and could only be recognized by Helen by her two bead eyes.

Helens friendly arrival at the Perkins Institution for the Blind

Helen could befriend the blind children at the Perkins Institute quite easily. She was
delighted to be able to communicate with the blind children in her own language.
Besides, she was happy to be at the same institute where Laura Bridgeman had
been taught. She envied the blind children only in one aspect: their ability to hear.
Eventually, Helen felt contended and happy in their company and forgot all her
pain.

Helens first history lesson at Bunker Hill

While Helen was at Boston, she visited the Bunker Hill. There she had her first
history lesson. She was thrilled to imagine that she was standing at the high
stairway which was once used by the soldiers to shoot their enemies.

Helens maiden ocean voyage: trip to Plymouth:

The next day, they went to Plymouth by water. It was Helens first trip on the ocean
and first voyage on a steamboat. On reaching their destination, she felt the curves
and cuts of the Plymouth Rock and the 1620 engraved on it. A gentleman at the
Pilgrim Hall museum gave her a small model of the rock. She was familiar with the
wonderful stories about the Pilgrims that visited that rock. She could idealize them
for their bravery and zeal to acquire home in an unknown territory. Later on, she
was disappointed to know about their shameful acts of persecuting minority groups
like the Quakers.

Close companionship with Mr. William Endicott and his daughter

Among her close friends at Boston were Mr. William Endicott and his daughter. She
was delighted by their stroll through their rose-garden of their house at Beverly
Farms. Their dogs, Leo and Fritz, were quite friendly with Helen and the horse,
Nimrod, poked his nose in her hand to get a pat.

She also enjoyed playing in the sand near the sea. Mr. Endicott told her about great
Europe-bound ships that sailed by from Boston. Helen recounts her whole
experience at Boston as full of pleasure and denotes the city in one phrase as The
City of Kind Hearts.

Chapter 10
The vacation at Brewster with Mrs. Hopkins

When the Perkins institute closed for the summer, Helen and her teacher went to
Brewster, on Cape Cod, to spend the vacation with a dear friend, Mrs. Hopkins.
Helen had read about the sea in her book Our Worldand was excited to visit it.

Helens first encounter with the sea

Once at the sea shore, she hurriedly plunged into the water. She was enjoying the
water, when suddenly her foot struck a rock. Her ecstasy changed into fear as she
started drowning. She struggled for a while and finally, the waves threw her back on
the shore and she was supported by the embrace of her teacher. After she
recovered from the panic, she innocently asked her teacher, Who put salt in
water?

After she had recovered from the incident, Helen enjoyed sitting on a big rock and
feeling the dashing of waves against the rock, sending up a shower of spray. She
noticed the movement of the waves and their affect on the pebbles and the beach.

The horseshoe crab

Miss Sullivan drew Helens attention to a sea organism---the horseshoe crab. Helen
was so fascinated by it that she carried the heavy crab all the way to their house.
On reaching their home, she carefully placed it in a trough of water. But to her
surprise, it disappeared the next morning. Helen slowly but surely realized her
mistake of separating the crab from his habitat and felt happy thinking that it had
possibly safely travelled to its home.

Chapter 11
Spending a leisurely autumn at the Fern Quarry

Helen returned to her Southern home in autumn. She felt happy and content with
her experiences in the north. She spent her autumn months with her family at their
summer cottage, Fern Quarry. The cottage was like a rough camp situated on top
of a mountain, near a limestone quarry. Helen spent her time in a leisurely manner
at the cottage.

Many visitors came to Fern Quarry. In the evening, men played cards and talked
about their hunting experiences. She woke up in the morning with the sound of
rattling guns and the smell of coffee. All the men went off to hunt after bidding each
other good luck for the season.

Later in the morning, barbecue was prepared. The savoury odour of meat made
her hungry even before the tables were set. Afterward, the hunting party also joined
the feast of veal and roast pig, following their discussion on their hunting events
during the day.

Helen had a pony and she named it Black Beauty, having just completed the book.
Sometimes, accompanied by her teacher, she rode the pony. At times, Miss Sullivan
would release the rein and the pony would stop at his will to eat leaves from trees.
On other days, they would go for walks in the woods and return home with armful of
laurels, ferns and other beautiful flowers. Sometimes, she would go on similar trips
with her sister and cousins.

Adventure with the train at the rail road

At the foot of the mountain there was a railroad and about a mile distant was a
trestle spanning a deep gorge. Helen had never actually been there until one day
when she, along with her sister and Miss Sullivan, got lost in the woods. They came
across the trestle, which was a short cut to their home. Since they were lost, they
decided to take this way in spite of the dangers: the ties were wide apart and quite
narrow. Feeling the rails with the toes, Helen moved on the trestle cautiously but
without fear. Suddenly, train was heard coming in from the other side. They had to
climb quickly down upon the crossbraces while the train passed by. With some
difficulty, they regained the track. When, ultimately, they reached back home, it had
grown quite dark and all the family members were out looking for them.

Chapter 12
Chilly winter at a New England Village

After her first visit to Boston, Helen continued to visit the north every winter. Once
Helen went on a visit to a New England village. This village had frozen lakes and
vast snow fields. It was here that Helen got to experience the snow. She explored
the snow-covered hills and fields that were devoid of any life, the empty nests and
the bare trees.

One day, the advent of a snowstorm made Helen rush out-of-doors to enjoy the first
few descending snowflakes. Gradually, the whole area was covered by snow and the
morning became dark. In the evening, there was a snowstorm. Helen and her
teacher spent their time sitting around the fire and narrating stories. At night, they
could hear the terrifying noise of the wind on the trees around the house and the
creaking and breaking sounds of the rafters. On the third day, the storm was over
and sunlight peeped out from the clouds. It scattered to the different places making
everything shine and glow. The trees were standing still as if statues of white
marble. The roads and paths were all covered with snow. Helen could scarcely feel
the earth below her feet.

The favorite amusement during winters: tobogganing

Helens favorite pastime during the winters was tobogganing. Helen enjoyed
plunging through the drifts, leaping hollows, drifting and swooping down upon the
lake while riding on a toboggan.

Chapter 13
Helens urge to speak

With the loss of the ability to hear, Helens speech had died down. However, from a
young age, she had an impulse to speak. She tried to feel the noise that she made
by keeping one hand on her throat and the other on her lips, feeling their
movements. She produced sounds not to speak but for the exercise of her vocal
chords. There was a feeling of lack in Helen which needed to be fulfilled. She was
not satisfied with the means of communication she used and desperately wanted to
learn to speak.

In 1890, Mrs. Lamson, one of the teachers at the Perkins Institutions, told Helen
about a deaf and blind girl, Ragnhild Kaata who had been taught to speak. Helen
resolved that she will also learn to speak and Mrs. Lamson took her for advice and
assistance to Miss Sarah Fuller, the principal of Horace Mann School.

Speaking lessons from Miss Sarah Fuller

Miss Sarah Fuller was a sweet-natured lady who started tutoring Helen on the
26th of March, 1890. Miss Fuller passed Helens hand lightly over her face to make
her feel her tongue and lips when she made a sound. Within the first hour itself,
Helen learnt six elements of speech: M, P, A, S, T, I. It is warm is the first complete
sentence that Helen managed to utter. In total, eleven lessons were given to her by
Miss Fuller. The syllables were broken but, nevertheless, human. She was eager to
share her happiness with her family and to see the joy on their faces. Miss Fuller
taught her the elements of the speech but she was to continue practicing herself
with Miss Sullivans help.

Helen learns to speak with Miss Sullivans assistance

Miss Sullivan dragged Helens attention to the mispronounced words. Helen had
to depend on the vibrations felt by her fingers, the movement of the mouth and
expressions of the face. Discouragement wearied her efforts initially but as soon as
she thought of the joy of her family, she felt optimistic. Helen gave up the manual
alphabet method to develop her speech even though Miss Sullivan and her friends
continued to use it to communicate with her.

The final moment of joy: Helens speech

Finally, the happiest moment arrived. Helen had developed speech and was eager
to return home. As she reached the station and her family heard her speak, they
were overjoyed. Her mother was speechless with delight and hugged her tightly;
Mildred danced in joy clasped her hand and kissed her; and her father expressed his
pride and affection by a big silence.

Chapter 14
Helens first attempt to write a composition on her own

During her stay at the Fern Quarry, Miss Sullivan described to her the beauty of the
late foliage plants. This apparently revived in Helen the memory of a story that
had been read to her in the past. The story had been unconsciously retained in her
mind but she thought that she was making up the story herself. She eagerly jotted
down her ideas before they would slip away from her mind. The words and images
smoothly flowed from her mind and she felt the joy of composing a story. The story
was called The Frost king. She did not realize that the words and images coming
to her mind without effort were not her own. For her, the boundary line between her
own ideas and those she gathered from the books were blurred because most of the
impressions came to her mind through the medium of others eyes or ears.

The Frost King appreciated by family and friends

After completing the story, she read it to everyone at dinner. Despite some
pronunciation errors, she managed to impress everyone with her story. However,
someone did ask her if she had read the story in a book. Helen did not have the
faintest recollection of the story been read to her and so she denied it saying that it
was her story and she had written it for Mr. Anagnos. Mr. Anagnos was delighted
with her story and published it in one of the Perkins Institution reports.
Helens happiness gets crushed in Boston

During her short stay in Boston, Helen was astonished to discover that her story
The Frost King was similar to The Frost Fairies written by Miss Margaret T. Canby.
This story had appeared in the book, Birdie and His Friends, which was published
even before Helen's birth. The fact that the language of the two stories was alike
confirmed that Miss Canbys story had been read to her and that hers was a
plagiarism. Her joy changed into grief.

Mr. Anagnos felt deceived. He believed that Helen and Miss Sullivan had deliberately
stolen the thoughts of a great writer to win his appreciation.

Helen at the court of investigation

Helen was brought before a court of investigation where she was examined and
cross-examined by the teachers and officers of the Perkins Institution. The
investigators seemed to force Helen to acknowledge that she remembered The
Frost Fairies being read to her. Helen felt heavy at her heart because of the doubts
and suspicions from her loved ones. She could respond to them only in
monosyllables. Her consciousness could not be unburdened by the realization that
she had only committed a dreadful mistake. At last she was allowed to leave the
room. Her friends and family assured her that she was a brave girl and that they
were proud of her. That night, Helen wept pitiably, suffering for her mistake.

The problem in the composition of The Frost King acknowledged

Miss Sullivan had never heard The Frost Fairies, let alone read it to Helen. So, with
the assistance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, she investigated the matter. At last, it
was found out that Miss Canbys story had been narrated to Helen by Mrs. Sophia
Hopkins when she had spent a summer with her at Brewster. Even though Helen did
not recall hearing the story, it sustained in her memory.

During this distressing time, Helen received a lot of messages of love and sympathy
from her loved ones. She also received a kind note from Miss Canby herself,
encouraging her to write something of her own in future that might help others.
This was comforting to Helen but she was afraid of playing with words again for a
long time fearing that she would repeat her mistake again. Miss Sullivans
encouragement, however, helped her to continue writing in future.

Helens early compositions

Helen recognized herself as a part of the process of learning by assimilation and

imitation to put ideas into words. Her early compositions are mainly assimilation
of the descriptions from various forgotten sources. Helen gives an example of the
composition she wrote for Mr. Anagnos about the beauty of the Greek and Italian old
cities. Mr. Anagnos appreciated the poetical essence in her ideas. Helen was happy
that even though the works resembled a crazy patchwork comprising of her own
thoughts and others, they proved her ability to express of her admiration for
beautiful objects in clear and animated language.

Effects of The Frost King incident in the later life of Helen

The good part of the tragic experience of The Frost King was that Helen started
thinking about the problems of composition.

After the publication of The Story of My Life in the Ladies Home Journal, Mr.
Anagnos, in a letter to Macy, stated his views supporting Helen in the matter of the
Frost King. He also stated that he had cast his vote in favour of Helen in the court
of investigation.

Helen remarks the Frost King incident as an important one for her education and,
therefore, has included it in the chapter without an attempt to defend herself or
laying the blame on anyone else.