In the present day there is a girl as remarkable as Laura Bridgman, and who bids fair to attain even greater fame by her superior development. This girl, Helen Keller, is both deaf and blind; she has been seen in all the principal cities of the United States, has been examined by thousands of persons, and is famous for her victories over infirmities. On account of her wonderful power of comprehension special efforts have been made to educate Helen Keller, and for this reason her mind is far more finely developed than in most girls of her age. It is true that she has the advantage over Laura Bridgman in having the senses of taste and smell, both of which she has developed to a most marvelous degree of acuteness. It is said that by odor alone she is always conscious of the presence of another person, no matter how noiseless his entrance into the room in which she may be. She cannot be persuaded to take food which she dislikes, and is never deceived in the taste. It is, however, by the means of what might be called "touch-sight" that the most miraculous of her feats are performed. By placing her hands on the face of a visitor she is able to detect shades of emotion which the normal human eye fails to distinguish, or, in the words of one of her lay observers, "her sense of touch is developed to such an exquisite extent as to form a better eye for her than are yours or mine for us; and what is more, she forms judgments of character by this sight." According to a recent report of a conversation with one of the principals of the school in which her education is being completed, it is said that since the girl has been under his care he has been teaching her to sing with great success. Placing the fingers of her hands on the throat of a singer, she is able to follow notes covering two octaves with her own voice, and sings synchronously with her instructor. The only difference between her voice and that of a normal person is in its resonant qualities. So acute has this sense become, that by placing her hand upon the frame of a piano she can distinguish two notes not more than half a tone apart. Helen is expected to enter the preparatory school for Radcliffe College in the fall of 1896.
At a meeting of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, in Philadelphia, July, 1896, this child appeared, and in a well-chosen and distinct speech told the interesting story of her own progress. Miss Sarah Fuller, principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston, is credited with the history of Helen Keller, as follows:—
"Helen Keller's home is in Tuscumbia, Ala. At the age of nineteen months she became deaf, dumb, and blind after convulsions lasting three days. Up to the age of seven years she had received no instruction. Her parents engaged Miss Sullivan of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, South Boston, to go to Alabama as her teacher. She was familiar with methods of teaching the blind, but knew nothing about instructing deaf children. Miss Sullivan called upon Miss Fuller for some instruction on the subject. Miss Fuller was at that time experimenting with two little deaf girls to make them speak as hearing children do, and called Miss Sullivan's attention to it. Miss Sullivan left for her charge, and from time to time made reports to Dr. Anagnos the principal of the Perkins School, which mentioned the remarkable mind which she found this little Alabama child possessed. The following year Miss Sullivan brought the child, then eight years old, to Boston, and Mrs. Keller came with her. They visited Miss Fuller's school. Miss Sullivan had taught the child the manual alphabet, and she had obtained much information by means of it. Miss Fuller noticed how quickly she appreciated the ideas given to her in that way.
"It is interesting to note that before any attempt had been made to teach the child to speak or there had been any thought of it, her own quickness of thought had suggested it to her as she talked by hand alphabet to Miss Fuller. Her mother, however, did not approve Miss Fuller's suggestion that an attempt should be made to teach her speech. She remained at the Perkins School, under Miss Sullivan's charge, another year, when the matter was brought up again, this time by little Helen herself, who said she must speak. Miss Sullivan brought her to Miss Fuller's school one day and she received her first lesson, of about two hours' length.
"The child's hand was first passed over Miss Fuller's face, mouth, and neck, then into her mouth, touching the tongue, teeth, lips, and hard palate, to give her an idea of the organs of speech. Miss Fuller then arranged her mouth, tongue, and teeth for the sound of i as in it. She took the child's finger and placed it upon the windpipe so that she might feel the vibration there, put her finger between her teeth to show her how wide apart they were, and one finger in the mouth to feel the tongue, and then sounded the vowel. The child grasped the idea at once. Her fingers flew to her own mouth and throat, and she produced the sound so nearly accurate that it sounded like an echo. Next the sound of ah was made by dropping the jaw a little and letting the child feel that the tongue was soft and lying in the bed of the jaw with the teeth more widely separated. She in the same way arranged her own, but was not so successful as at first, but soon produced the sound perfectly."
"Eleven such lessons were given, at intervals of three or four days, until she had acquired all the elements of speech, Miss Sullivan in the meantime practicing with the child on the lessons received. The first word spoken was arm, which was at once associated with her arm; this gave her great delight. She soon learned to pronounce words by herself, combining the elements she had learned, and used them to communicate her simple wants. The first connected language she used was a description she gave Miss Fuller of a visit she had made to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in all over 200 words. They were, all but two or three, pronounced correctly. She now, six years afterward, converses quite fluently with people who know nothing of the manual alphabet by placing a couple of fingers on the speaker's lips, her countenance showing great intentness and brightening as she catches the meaning. Anybody can understand her answers."
In a beautiful eulogy of Helen Keller in a recent number of Harper's Magazine, Charles Dudley Warner expresses the opinion that she is the purest-minded girl of her age in the world.
Edith Thomas, a little inmate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, at South Boston, is not only deaf and dumb but also blind. She was a fellow-pupil with Helen Keller, and in a measure duplicated the rapid progress of her former playmate. In commenting on progress in learning to talk the Boston Herald says: "And as the teacher said the word 'Kitty' once or twice she placed the finger-tips of one hand upon the teacher's lips and with the other hand clasped tightly the teacher's throat; then, guided by the muscular action of the throat and the position of the teeth, tongue, and lips, as interpreted by that marvelous and delicate touch of hers, she said the word 'Kitty' over and over again distinctly in a very pretty way. She can be called dumb no longer, and before the summer vacation comes she will have mastered quite a number of words, and such is her intelligence and patience, in spite of the loss of three senses, she may yet speak quite readily.
"Her history is very interesting. She was born in Maplewood, and up to the time of contracting diphtheria and scarlet fever, which occurred when she was four years old, had been a very healthy child of more than ordinary quickness and ability. She had attained a greater command of language than most children of her age. What a contrast between these 'other days,' as she calls them, and the days which followed, when hearing and sight were completely gone, and gradually the senses of speech and smell went, too! After the varied instruction of the blind school the little girl had advanced so far as to make the rest of her study comparatively easy. The extent of her vocabulary is not definitely known, but it numbers at least 700 words. Reading, which was once an irksome task, has become a pleasure to her. Her ideas of locality and the independence of movement are remarkable, and her industry and patience are more noticeable from day to day. She has great ability, and is in every respect a very wonderful child."
According to recent reports, in the vicinity of Rothesay, on the Clyde, there resides a lady totally deaf and dumb, who, in point of intelligence, scholarship, and skill in various ways, far excels many who have all their faculties. Having been educated partly in Paris, she is a good French scholar, and her general composition is really wonderful. She has a shorthand system of her own, and when writing letters, etc., she uses a peculiar machine, somewhat of the nature of a typewriter.