By kind permission of her teacher, Miss Sullivan, I was granted the
privilege of an interview with Miss Keller at her residence on Newbury
street, Boston, where she was busily at work preparing for the entrance
examinations to Radcliffe College.
After a cordial greeting, Miss Sullivan, whose gracious, kindly manner
makes the visitor feel perfectly at home, introduced me to her pupil.
Seated on a low rocking-chair, in a large, sunny bay-window, the young
girl, fresh as the morning, in her dainty pink shirt-waist over a dress
of plain, dark material, with the sunshine glinting through her waving
brown hair, and kissing her broad white forehead and pink cheeks, made
a picture which one will not willingly forget. On her lap was a small
red cushion, to which wires, representing the geometrical figures
included in the problem on which she was engaged, were fastened. Laying
this aside at a touch from Miss Sullivan, she arose, and, stretching
out her hand, pronounced my name softly, with a peculiar intonation,
which at first makes it a little difficult to understand her words, but
to which the listener soon becomes accustomed. Of course, her teacher
acted as an interpreter during our conversation, though much of what
Helen says is perfectly intelligible even to the untrained ear.
“Yes,” she said, “it is a very difficult problem, but I have a little
light on it now.”