keller heelen TheStoryofMyLife

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.I remember well the first time I saw Dr.Oliver Wendell Holmes.He had invited Miss Sullivan and me to callon him one Sunday afternoon.It was early in the spring, just after I had learned to speak.We were shown atonce to his library where we found him seated in a big armchair by an open fire which glowed and crackledon the hearth, thinking, he said, of other days."And listening to the murmur of the River Charles," I suggested."Yes," he replied, "the Charles has many dear associations for me." There was an odour of print and leather inthe room which told me that it was full of books, and I stretched out my hand instinctively to find them.Myfingers lighted upon a beautiful volume of Tennyson's poems, and when Miss Sullivan told me what it was Ibegan to recite:Break, break, break On thy cold gray stones, O sea!But I stopped suddenly.I felt tears on my hand.I had made my beloved poet weep, and I was greatlydistressed.He made me sit in his armchair, while he brought different interesting things for me to examine,and at his request I recited "The Chambered Nautilus," which was then my favorite poem.After that I saw Dr.Holmes many times and learned to love the man as well as the poet.One beautiful summer day, not long after my meeting with Dr.Holmes, Miss Sullivan and I visited Whittierin his quiet home on the Merrimac.His gentle courtesy and quaint speech won my heart.He had a book of hispoems in raised print from which I read "In School Days." He was delighted that I could pronounce the wordsso well, and said that he had no difficulty in understanding me.Then I asked many questions about the poem,and read his answers by placing my fingers on his lips.He said he was the little boy in the poem, and that thegirl's name was Sally, and more which I have forgotten.I also recited "Laus Deo," and as I spoke theconcluding verses, he placed in my hands a statue of a slave from whose crouching figure the fetters werefalling, even as they fell from Peter's limbs when the angel led him forth out of prison.Afterward we wentinto his study, and he wrote his autograph for my teacher ["With great admiration of thy noble work inreleasing from bondage the mind of thy dear pupil, I am truly thy friend.john J.Whittier."] and expressed hisadmiration of her work, saying to me, "She is thy spiritual liberator." Then he led me to the gate and kissedme tenderly on my forehead.I promised to visit him again the following summer, but he died before thepromise was fulfilled.Dr.Edward Everett Hale is one of my very oldest friends.I have known him since I was eight, and my lovefor him has increased with my years.His wise, tender sympathy has been the support of Miss Sullivan and mein times of trial and sorrow, and his strong hand has helped us over many rough places; and what he has donefor us he has done for thousands of those who have difficult tasks to accomplish.He has filled the old skins ofdogma with the new wine of love, and shown men what it is to believe, live and be free.What he has taughtwe have seen beautifully expressed in his own life--love of country, kindness to the least of his brethren, and asincere desire to live upward and onward.He has been a prophet and an inspirer of men, and a mighty doer ofthe Word, the friend of all his race--God bless him!I have already written of my first meeting with Dr.Alexander Graham Bell.Since then I have spent manyhappy days with him at Washington and at his beautiful home in the heart of Cape Breton Island, nearChapter XXIII 62Baddeck, the village made famous by Charles Dudley Warner's book.Here in Dr.Bell's laboratory, or in thefields on the shore of the great Bras d'Or, I have spent many delightful hours listening to what he had to tellme about his experiments, and helping him fly kites by means of which he expects to discover the laws thatshall govern the future air-ship.Dr.Bell is proficient in many fields of science, and has the art of makingevery subject he touches interesting, even the most abstruse theories.He makes you feel that if you only had alittle more time, you, too, might be an inventor.He has a humorous and poetic side, too.His dominatingpassion is his love for children.He is never quite so happy as when he has a little deaf child in his arms.Hislabours in behalf of the deaf will live on and bless generations of children yet to come; and we love him alikefor what he himself has achieved and for what he has evoked from others.During the two years I spent in New York I had many opportunities to talk with distinguished people whosenames I had often heard, but whom I had never expected to meet.Most of them I met first in the house of mygood friend, Mr.Laurence Hutton.It was a great privilege to visit him and dear Mrs.Hutton in their lovelyhome, and see their library and read the beautiful sentiments and bright thoughts gifted friends had written forthem.It has been truly said that Mr.Hutton has the faculty of bringing out in every one the best thoughts andkindest sentiments [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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