Story and drawing by Esther Causland, 9 years old

      Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, on a farm in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  Mr. and Mrs. Keller were overjoyed to have such a beautiful baby girl!  Her mother and father were Kate Adams and Captain Arthur H. Keller.
    When Helen was a year and a half old, she became ill.  She had a high fever.  Her parents were afraid that she would die.  In a few days the illness was gone, but something was still wrong with little Helen, she could no longer see or hear. The illness had left her blind and deaf.
The Keller’s sweet little girl became a wild child.  She kicked and scratched her parents when they tried to touch her. The Keller’s did not know what to do.  They wanted to help Helen, but how? 
    One day, Mrs. Keller was reading a magazine when something caught her eye.  She read about a special eye doctor named Dr. Chisholm who lived in Baltimore, Maryland.  The Keller’s took Helen on a train trip to see Dr. Chisholm.  He examined Helen and said that her eyesight and hearing would not be restored, but he suggested that they send her to a school for blind and deaf children.  He also suggested that they go see a good friend of his, Alexander Graham Bell, who had invented the telephone.  Since Bell’s own mother and wife were deaf, he knew a lot about teaching the deaf.  Bell’s father had invented a system of teaching speech symbols, and Bell used it to teach deaf children how to communicate.  Bell said that he could not help Helen, but he told the Keller’s not to worry.  Even a blind child could learn how to read and write.  Bell told Captain Keller to speak with Michael Anagnos who was the director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, and he could help them find a teacher for Helen. 
    Captain Keller wrote a letter to Mr. Anagnos and he quickly recommended a teacher named Anne Sullivan, but her friends called her Annie.  Annie Sullivan had a very miserable childhood.  She was born near Springfield, Massachusetts.  When she was five years old, she had an eye disease which took away most of her eyesight.  Annie’s father was an alcoholic who worked on a farm, who often beat his daughter, because she was a disobedient and demanding child.  Annie’s mother tried to help protect Annie and hide her from her father so he wouldn’t beat her.  When Annie was eight years old, her mother died from tuberculosis.  Later, her father abandoned his two children, ten year old Annie and her five year old brother, Jimmie, who had a hurt hip from tuberculosis.  They had another sister, Mary, who was healthy and went to live with an aunt; but Annie and Jimmie were sent to live in the state poor house in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, in 1876.  This was a very sad time for Annie, because Jimmie died and Annie was all alone. 
    One day, a group of men from the state board of charities came to visit the state poor house.  Annie heard about one of the visitors named Frank B. Sanborn who was good friends with Mr. Michael Anagnos, the Director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind.  She suddenly threw herself on one of the men and yelled, “Mr. Sanborn, Mr. Sanborn, I want to go to school!”  They asked her how long she had been there and what was wrong with her.  She replied that she could not see well.  Soon, Annie was told that she was leaving the state poor house to go to school at the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.  She arrived there on October 7, 1880.  There she became friends with Laura Bridgman who taught students at the Perkins Institution how to sew.  Six years later in 1886, Annie graduated as the top student from the Perkins Institution.  In August of the same year, Annie received a letter from Mr. Anagnos asking her if she would consider going to Alabama to teach Helen.  Annie had no choice but to take the job because it was the only job available.  Annie didn’t know how to teach but she began to read and study about how to be a good teacher.  Annie left Boston for Tuscumbia, Alabama, on March 1887.  The train trip was terrible for Annie because she had just had surgery on her eyes, and could not see well; and she was lonely.  She arrived in Tuscumbia on March 3, 1887.  She was hot and tired, and her eyes were very swollen from crying, but she wasn’t sorry that she had come.  Helen was very eager to meet her new teacher, and Annie was also excited to meet her new pupil.  Later in Helen’s life, she called this day, “the most important day of her life.”  Annie liked Mrs. Keller from the start, and soon found out that Helen was a pretty, but strong-willed child.  When Annie first met Helen, Helen did not like Annie trying to hug and kiss her.  Helen put her hands all over Annie’s face and dress, and tried to open her bag, but Mrs. Keller would not let her open it.  Helen threw a temper tantrum, kicking and screaming, because she didn’t get her way.  Annie showed Helen her watch and her tantrum ended.  Annie knew that it was not going to be easy but she had to find out a way to discipline Helen.  One time when Annie was trying to discipline Helen, Helen became angry and knocked out one of Annie’s front teeth.  Annie decided that she was not going to put up with Helen’s tantrums but was going to keep disciplining her and teaching her how to communicate using words.  (TO BE CONTINUED…)