There was once a little girl who lived in a dark and silent prison. It was lonely in there, and frightening, but try as she would, the little girl could not get out. No sounds of children laughing or birds singing ever reached her. She never saw the blue sky nor even a friendly smiling face. It is no wonder that the little girl, who was not yet seven, often fell into a rage because she felt so helpless and bewildered.
Then, finally, someone unlocked the door of her prison, and at last she was able to walk out into the world.
The little girl, of course, was Helen Keller, and the one who came to free her was Anne Sullivan Macy, her beloved "Teacher." Teacher trained Helen to use the manual alphabet and to read and write braille. She taught her to swim, paddle a canoe and climb trees, She even let Helen go into a lion's cage and "see" him with her fingers.
In time, as a result of Helen's eagerness to learn and Teacher's selfless devotion, Helen was ready for college. But no one would believe that a girl who could neither see nor hear could possibly stay the course. Helen wrote to the Radcliffe College Academic Board that "a true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle." And in June, 1904, Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe "cum laude."
Young readers everywhere will be thrilled by this tender and inspiring story of how courage and determination transformed a pitiful child, left blind, deaf and dumb, into the wise and lovely person admired today the whole world over.
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