This is the story of Helen Keller, who could neither see nor hear from the time she was a baby, so that for many years she did not even leam to talk. Yet this brilliant girl was able to overcome all these handicaps, and become a useful citizen. Helen Keller was born in 1880. There was nothing wrong with Helen when she was born. Her father and mother were very proud of their pretty baby. Her parents looked forward to the time when their daughter would be going to school with the other children of the neighbourhood and running home afterward to tell them all that she had seen and heard in the classroom.
For nineteen months Helen grew bigger and stronger. She was able to walk when she was a year old, and she was even able to say a few words. But one day the child refused to eat her breakfast and started to cry when her mother tried to make her eat her cereal. Then the mother felt the child’s head and knew that the little girl was sick with a high fever. She put the child to bed and called for the doctor.
For days the child lay ill. At last she began to get better, and her parents became happy once more. But their happiness did not last long, for they soon discovered that their darling little Helen would never again be able to see or hear. The little child was now doomed to a life of silence and darkness. She could not hear what was said to her and did not know how to talk, so she was unable to play with the other children.
Helen Keller was taken to famous doctors but the doctors could do nothing. The child was hopelessly deaf. One of the doctors recommended them to write to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston and ask if they can send someone to help the child.
It was a wonderful day for Helen when Anne Sullivan arrived at the Kellers’. Helen was then nearly seven years old, Anne Sullivan was just twenty. Miss Sullivan loved her pupil who was so quick to leam. She lived with Helen, played with her, and worked with her every hour of the day. By means of the hand language Helen and her teacher were able to talk to each other. It was due to the patience and skill of Anne Sullivan that Helen developed into a useful citizen.
The life of Helen Keller is the inspiring story of a woman who has done much for herself and for others to live a happy and useful life in spite of terrible handicaps.
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