The Story of My Life – Helen Keller The Story of My Life Helen Keller Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 1 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller The Story of My Life Helen Keller This edition published by http://www.freekidsbooks.org Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 2 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller The Story Of My Life Autobiography by Helen Keller This Edition -Published by Free Kids Books This work is in public domain. This edition of this public domain text is free for non-commercial distribution and use., CC-BY-NC. No part of this text may be reproduced for commercial use without express permission of the author. Any use of this material must be attributed to: Danielle Bruckert – http://www.freekidsbooks.org Contact the Publisher Danielle Bruckert - [email protected] More books like this one are available at http://www.freekidsbooks.org Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 3 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller Table of Contents Editor's Preface........................................................................................................................6 I. THE STORY OF MY LIFE.................................................................................................7 CHAPTER I........................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER II....................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER III...................................................................................................................19 CHAPTER IV...................................................................................................................22 CHAPTER V....................................................................................................................26 CHAPTER VI...................................................................................................................29 CHAPTER VII.................................................................................................................33 CHAPTER VIII................................................................................................................40 CHAPTER IX...................................................................................................................42 CHAPTER X....................................................................................................................46 CHAPTER XI...................................................................................................................49 CHAPTER XII.................................................................................................................54 CHAPTER XIII................................................................................................................57 CHAPTER XIV................................................................................................................61 CHAPTER XV.................................................................................................................70 CHAPTER XVI................................................................................................................74 CHAPTER XVII..............................................................................................................76 CHAPTER XVIII.............................................................................................................79 CHAPTER XIX................................................................................................................85 CHAPTER XX.................................................................................................................90 CHAPTER XXI................................................................................................................98 CHAPTER XXII............................................................................................................110 CHAPTER XXIII...........................................................................................................121 II. LETTERS(1887-1901)...................................................................................................129 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................129 III: A SUPPLEMENTARY ACCOUNT OF HELEN KELLER'S LIFE AND EDUCATION.....................................................................................................................257 CHAPTER I. The Writing of the Book..........................................................................257 CHAPTER II. PERSONALITY.....................................................................................260 CHAPTER III. EDUCATION........................................................................................275 CHAPTER IV. SPEECH................................................................................................386 CHAPTER V. LITERARY STYLE...............................................................................398 Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 4 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller THE STORY OF MY LIFE By Helen Keller Special Edition With Her Letters (1 !"1#$1% And S'pple(entary Acco'nt o) Her Ed'cation* Incl'din+ Passa+es fro( the Reports and Letters o) her Teacher* Anne Mans-eld S'lli.an* By John Al0ert Macy To ALE1&23ER GRAH&M BELL Who has ta'+ht the dea) to spea5 and ena0led the listenin+ ear to hear speech )ro( the Atlantic to the Rockies* I dedicate this Story o) My Li)e6 Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 5 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller Editor's Preface This book is in three parts. The frst t7o* Miss Keller8s story and the e9tracts fro( her letters* for( a co(plete acco'nt o) her li)e as far as she can gi.e it. M'ch o) her ed'cation she cannot e9plain hersel)* and since a kno7led+e o) that is necessary to an understandin+ o) what she has written* it was tho'+ht best to s'pple(ent her a'to0io+raphy with the reports and letters o) her teacher* Miss Anne Mans-eld S'lli.an6 The addition o) a f'rther acco'nt o) Miss Keller8s personality and achie.e(ents may be unnecessary: yet it will help to ma5e clear so(e o) the traits o) her character and the nat're o) the work which she and her teacher ha.e done6 For the third part o) the book the Editor is responsi0le* tho'+h all that is valid in it he o7es to a'thentic records and to the ad.ice o) Miss S'lli.an6 The Editor desires to e9press his gratit'de and the gratit'de o) Miss Keller and Miss S'lli.an to The Ladies8 Ho(e Jo'rnal and to its editors* Mr. Ed7ard Bok and Mr. Willia( V. Ale9ander* who ha.e been 'n)ailin+ly kind and ha.e gi.en for use in this book all the photo+raphs 7hich were taken e9pressly for the Jo'rnal: and the Editor thanks Miss Keller8s many friends who ha.e lent hi( her letters to the( and gi.en hi( val'a0le in)or(ation: especially Mrs. La'rence H'tton* who s'pplied hi( with her lar+e collection o) notes and anecdotes: Mr. John Hit<* S'perintendent o) the Volta B'rea' for the Increase and Di))'sion o) Kno7led+e relatin+ to the Dea): and Mrs. Sophia C. Hopkins* to who( Miss S'lli.an wrote those ill'(inatin+ letters* the e9tracts fro( which +i.e a better idea o) her methods with her p'pil than anythin+ hereto)ore p'0lished6 Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 6 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller I. THE STORY OF MY LIFE CHAPTER I It is with a kind o) fear that I be+in to write the history o) my li)e6 I ha.e* as it were* a s'perstitio's hesitation in li)tin+ the veil that clin+s a0o't my childhood like a golden mist. The task o) writin+ an a'to0io+raphy is a di)-c'lt one. When I try to classi)y my earliest i(pressions* I fnd that fact and fancy look ali5e across the years that link the past with the present. The wo(an paints the child8s e9periences in her o7n fantasy. A fe7 i(pressions stand o't vi.idly fro( the frst years o) my li)e: b't "the shado7s o) the prison"ho'se are on the rest6> Besides* many o) the joys and sorro7s o) childhood ha.e lost their poi+nancy: and many incidents o) vital i(portance in my early ed'cation ha.e been for+otten in the e9cite(ent o) great disco.eries. In order* there)ore* not to be tedio's I shall try to present in a series o) sketches only the episodes that see( to me to be the most interestin+ and i(portant6 I was born on J'ne 2!* 1 $* in Tusc'(0ia* a little to7n o) northern &la0a(a6 The fa(ily on my father8s side is descended fro( Caspar Keller* a nati.e o) S7it<erland* who settled in Maryland. One o) my S7iss ancestors was the frst teacher o) the dea) in Z'rich and wrote a book on the s'0?ect o) their ed'cation""rather a sin+'lar coincidence: tho'+h it is tr'e that there is no kin+ who has not had a sla.e a(on+ his ancestors* and no sla.e who has not had a kin+ a(on+ his6 Free ebook from https://www.freekidsbooks.org Page 7 The Story of My Life – Helen Keller My grand)ather* Caspar Keller8s son* "entered> lar+e tracts o) land in &la0a(a and fnally settled there. I ha.e been told that once a year he 7ent fro( Tusc'(0ia to Philadelphia on horse0ac5 to p'rchase s'pplies )or the plantation* and my a'nt has in her possession many o) the letters to his fa(ily* which gi.e char(in+ and vi.id acco'nts o) these trips6 My Grand(other Keller was a da'+hter o) one o) La)ayette8s aides* &le9ander Moore* and grandda'+hter o) Ale9ander Spots7ood* an early =olonial Go.ernor o) Vir+inia. She was also second