(C)Helen...
Illustration
(C)
Helen Keller lived in a world of light, a resurrected world that had come to life Helen Keller, though blind, had eyes that penetrated even the walls and curtains that separate most people from the glimpse of eternity and the mystery of the other side of the Jordan River. Yet, this was not always true of Helen Keller. She writes of darkness with no hope of ever getting out of it into the world of light.
One day while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled D-O-L-L and tried to make me understand that D-O-L-L applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words M-U-G and W-A-T-E-R. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it dead upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the doll at my feet. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived, there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed.
She brought me my hat and we walked down the path to the well house. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word W-A-T-E-R. First slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten, a thrill of returning thought, and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I broke out of the world of darkness, non-communication. Everything now had a name. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.
Helen Keller had to put the word W-A-T-E-R with experiencing water. So the word became a reality and the experience identified!
Like the man who lives in a world of darkness with no hope of a new life, so Helen Keller lived. He has the words but no experiences, so the words don't mean anything.
-- Bailey
Helen Keller lived in a world of light, a resurrected world that had come to life Helen Keller, though blind, had eyes that penetrated even the walls and curtains that separate most people from the glimpse of eternity and the mystery of the other side of the Jordan River. Yet, this was not always true of Helen Keller. She writes of darkness with no hope of ever getting out of it into the world of light.
One day while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled D-O-L-L and tried to make me understand that D-O-L-L applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words M-U-G and W-A-T-E-R. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it dead upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the doll at my feet. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived, there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed.
She brought me my hat and we walked down the path to the well house. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word W-A-T-E-R. First slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten, a thrill of returning thought, and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I broke out of the world of darkness, non-communication. Everything now had a name. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.
Helen Keller had to put the word W-A-T-E-R with experiencing water. So the word became a reality and the experience identified!
Like the man who lives in a world of darkness with no hope of a new life, so Helen Keller lived. He has the words but no experiences, so the words don't mean anything.
-- Bailey
