unbending will of the instructress, who rescued the child from
the depths of everlasting night and stillness, and watched over
the different phases of her mental and moral development with
maternal solicitude and enthusiastic devotion."

Here follow in order Miss Sullivan's letters and the most
important passages from the reports. I have omitted from each
succeeding report what has already been explained and does not
need to be repeated. For the ease of the reader I have, with Miss
Sullivan's consent, made the extracts run together continuously
and supplied words of connection and the resulting necessary
changes in syntax, and Miss Sullivan has made slight changes in
the phrasing of her reports and also of her letters, which were
carelessly written. I have also italicized a few important
passages. Some of her opinions Miss Sullivan would like to
enlarge and revise. That remains for her to do at another time.
At present we have here the fullest record that has been
published. The first letter is dated March 6, 1887, three days
after her arrival in Tuscumbia.

...It was 6.30 when I reached Tuscumbia. I found Mrs. Keller and
Mr. James Keller waiting for me. They said somebody had met every
train for two days. The drive from the station to the house, a
distance of one mile, was very lovely and restful. I was
surprised to find Mrs. Keller a very young-looking woman, not
much older than myself, I should think. Captain Keller met us in
the yard and gave me a cheery welcome and a hearty handshake. My
first question was, "Where is Helen?" I tried with all my might
to control the eagerness that made me tremble so that I could
hardly walk. As we approached the house I saw a child standing in