Helen felt that she was unable to express herself by the few signs she used. When she failed to make herself understood, she grew restless and angry. She generally broke down in tears. Her parents were grieved and perplexed. They wanted to educate her, but they lived far away from any school for the blind and the deaf.
When Helen was about six years old, her father heard of an eminent eye surgeon in Baltimore. Her parents decided to consult him.
The journey s pleasant. Helen made friends with many people on the train. The conductor gave her his punch and she played with it, making holes in a piece of cardboard. His aunt made her a big doll, but it had no eyes on it. Helen wanted her to put eyes on it. She pulled two beads from her aunt's cape, and indicated to her that she wanted her to sew them for eyes on the doll. Her aunt sewed them in the right place and Helen was delighted.
At Baltimore, they went to see the eye surgeon. He was a kind man, but he could not help them. He said that she could be educated, and advised her parents to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell of Washington. Her parents went immediately to Washington. Dr. Graham Bell held Helen with tenderness den his knee. He advised her father to write to the director of Perkins Institute in Boston, and ask him if he had a teacher competent to begin Helen's education. The Director assured her father that a teacher had been found. Miss Sullivan was the teacher. She same in March. She brought light, love, knowledge and vision to Helen. She opened a door through which she was going to pass from darkness into light.
Miss Sullivan arrived on the third of March 1887. Helen Keller could never forget that day. That afternoon, she stood on the porch waiting. She did not know what she was waiting for, but she knew from the activities in her home that something unusual was about to happen. She was like a ship surrounded by dense fog on the sea, and she did not know how near the harbor was. Helen was like that ship before her education. She cried for light, and the light of love shone on her that very hour.
Beginning of her education
The morning after Miss Sullivan arrived, she led Helen into her room. She gave her a doll. It had been sent to her by the blind children at Perkins Institution. But Helen was not aware of it then, while Helen played with it, Miss Sullivan spelled the word 'd-o-1-l' into her hand. Helen got interested in this finger play, and tried to imitate it. She succeeded in making the letters correctly, and flushed with childish pleasure, though she did not know what it meant. Later she learned a few more simple words.
One day, while Helen was playing with her new doll, Miss Sullivan put her big, rag doll into her lap, and spelled the word doll. She tried to make Helen understand that the word 'doll' applied to both. Earlier in the day, Miss Sullivan had tried to tell her the difference between 'mug' and 'water'! But Helen confused the two as one thing. So, the teacher had dropped the subject for the time. When she renewed it, Helen became impatient. She dashed the new doll upon the floor. But she had no regrets.
A new dawn
Miss Sullivan led Helen to the well house. Someone was drawing water. She placed Helen's hand under the spout, and spelled the word 'water' into her other hand. Suddenly Helen understood that the wonderful cool thing flowing over hand was 'water'. Now the mystery of language was revealed to her. She was eager to learn. She began to understand that every object had a name. She came back and felt her way to the hearth and packed up the pieces of the broken doll. She tried vainly to put them together. Her eyes filled with tears. For the first time, she felt repentance and sorrow for what she had done.
She learned many new words. She was happy and was eager to learn much more.
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