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Very early in her education I led her to observe and describe flowers and animals. A flower or insect often furnished material for a long and intensely interesting language-lesson. I would catch an insect and allow Helen to examine its tiny wings, antennae and plump little body; then she would open her hand, and bidding it a tender goodbye, let it fly away in the sunshine. Helen says, in speaking of her early education: "I did not have regular lessons then, as I do now. I just learned about everything, about flowers and trees, how they absorbed the dew and sunshine; about animals, their names and all their secrets, 'how the beavers built their lodges, where the squirrels hid their acorns, how the reindeer ran so swiftly, why the rabbit was so timid.' Once I went to a circus, and Teacher described to me the wild animals and the countries where they live. I fed the elephants and monkies; I patted a sleepy lion and sat on a camel's back. I was very much interested in the wild animals, and approached them without fear; for they seemed to me a part of the great, beautiful country I was exploring." The vegetable-garden and her mother's flower-garden, her numerous pets and the domestic animals were a never-ending source of instruction and enjoyment to her; and in thus being brought in close touch with nature, she learned to feel as if every little blade of grass had a history, and to think of every bud as if it were a little child, and knew and loved her. I did not attempt to make these lessons in zoology and botany formally scientific. I introduced them early in her education for the purpose of cultivating her observation, furnishing themes for thought, and to fill her mind with beautiful pictures and inspiring ideals. Material for language-lessons, knowledge of facts, and greater power of expression were ends obtained through these lessons; but they were not the most important aims. . I believe every child has hidden away somewhere in its being noble qualities and capacities which may be quickened and developed if we go about it in the right way; but we shall never properly develop the higher natures of our little ones while we continue to fill their minds with the so-called rudiments. Mathematics will never make them loving, nor will the accurate knowledge of the size and shape of the world help them to appreciate its wondrous beauties. Let us lead them then, during the first years they are intrusted to our care, to find their greatest pleasure in Nature, by training them to notice everything familiar or strange in our walks with them through the fields, the woods, on the hill tops, or by the sea-shore. The child who loves and appreciates the wonders of the out-door world will never have room in his heart for the mean and low. Such a child will have risen to a higher plane, and in a wise study of God's laws in Nature he will ever find his highest joy.

Books have played a very important part in Helen's education. As soon as she had learned the raised letters, I gave her books to read, and I doubt very much if I shall be able to make you understand the importance and advantage that books have been to her in acquiring a command of idiomatic English; the advantage has certainly been incalculable. I am confident that the ease and fluency with which she uses language are in large part due to the fact that embossed books were placed in her hands as soon as she had learned the letters. She has, like many hearing persons, a natural aptitude for comprehending and using language as soon as it has been acquired. I think, also, much of the fluency with which she uses language is due to the fact that nearly every impression which she receives comes through the medium of language. But, after due allowance has been given to Helen's natural aptitude for acquiring language, and from the advantage resulting from her peculiar environment, I think that we shall still find that the constant companionship of good books has been of supreme importance in her education. It may be true, as some claim, that language cannot express to us much beyond what we have lived and experienced; but I have always observed that children invariably manifest the greatest delight in the lofty poetic language, which we are too ready to think beyond their comprehension. "This is all you will understand," said a teacher to a class of little children, closing the book which she had been reading to them. "Oh, please read us the rest, even if we don't understand it," they pleaded, delighted with the rhythm, and the beauty which they felt, even if they could not interpret. In speaking of what books have been to her, Helen says: "I read my first story on May-day, and, ever since, books and I have been loving friends and inseparable companions. They have made a bright world of thought and beauty all around me; they have been my faithful teacher in all that is good and beautiful; their pages have carried me back to ancient times, and shown me Egypt, Greece, Rome; they have introduced me to kings, heroes, and gods; and they have revealed to me great thoughts, great deeds. Is it strange that I love them?" It is not necessary that a child should understand every word in a book before he can read with pleasure and profit. Indeed, only such explanations should be given as are really essential. Helen drank in language which she at first could not understand, and it remained in her mind until needed, when it fitted itself naturally and easily into her conversation and compositions. Thus she drew her vocabulary from the best source, -- standard literature, and when the occasion came, she was able to use it without effort. Indeed it is claimed by some that she reads too much, that a great deal of originative force is dissipated in the enjoyment of books, -- that, when she might see and say things for herself, she sees them only through the eyes of others, and says them in their language; but I am convinced that original composition without some mental preparation in the way of conscientious reading, is an impossibility. She has had the best and purest models in language constantly presented to her, and her conversation and her writings are unconscious reproductions of what she has read. Reading, I think, should be kept independent of the regular school exercises. Children should be encouraged to read for the pure delight of it. The attitude of the child toward his books should be that of unconscious receptivity. This means true reading; reading not only for entertainment, but for intellectual enrichment and enlargement. The great works of the imagination ought to become a part of their lives, as they were once of the very substance of the men who wrote them. It is true that the more sensitive and imaginative the mind is that receives the thought-pictures and images of literature, the more nicely the finest lines are reproduced. Helen has the vitality of feeling, the freshness and eagerness of interest, and the spiritual insight which proclaims the artistic temperament, and naturally she has a more active and intense joy in life, simply as life, and in nature, books, and people, than less gifted mortals. Her mind is so filled with the beautiful thoughts and ideals of the great poets, that nothing seems commonplace to her; for her imagination colors all life with its own rich hues.