Keller, in which she taught her pupil language, they were in
Tuscumbia; and when they came North and visited the Perkins
Institution, Helen Keller was never a regular student there or
subject to the discipline of the Institution. The impression that
Miss Sullivan educated Helen Keller "under the direction of Mr.
Anagnos" is erroneous. In the three years during which at various
times Miss Keller and Miss Sullivan were guests of the Perkins
Institution, the teachers there did not help Miss Sullivan, and
Mr. Anagnos did not even use the manual alphabet with facility as
a means of communication. Mr. Anagnos wrote in the report of the
Perkins Institution, dated November 27, 1888: "At my urgent
request, Helen, accompanied by her mother and her teacher, came
to the North in the last week of May, and spent several months
with us as our guests.... We gladly allowed her to use freely our
library of embossed books, our collection of stuffed animals,
sea-shells, models of flowers and plants, and the rest of our
apparatus for instructing the blind through the sense of touch. I
do not doubt that she derived from them much pleasure and not a
little profit. But whether Helen stays at home or makes visits in
other parts of the country, her education is always under the
immediate direction and exclusive control of her teacher. No one
interferes with Miss Sullivan's plans, or shares in her tasks.
She has been allowed entire freedom in the choice of means and
methods for carrying on her great work; and, as we can judge by
the results, she has made a most judicious and discreet use of
this privilege. What the little pupil has thus far accomplished
is widely known, and her wonderful attainments command general
admiration; but only those who are familiar with the particulars
of the grand achievement know that the credit is largely due to
the intelligence, wisdom, sagacity, unremitting perseverance and