her own accord said, "Give baby candy." Mrs. Keller spelled,
"No--baby eat--no." Helen went to the cradle and felt of
Mildred's mouth and pointed to her own teeth. Mrs. Keller spelled
"teeth." Helen shook her head and spelled "Baby teeth--no, baby
eat--no," meaning of course, "Baby cannot eat because she has no
teeth."


May 8, 1887.

No, I don't want any more kindergarten materials. I used my
little stock of beads, cards and straws at first because I didn't
know what else to do; but the need for them is past, for the
present at any rate.

I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of
education. They seem to me to be built up on the supposition that
every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think.
Whereas, if the child is left to himself, he will think more and
better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him
touch real things and combine his impressions for himself,
instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a
sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his
wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of coloured paper,
or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots. Such teaching fills the
mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before
the child can develop independent ideas out of actual
experiences.

Helen is learning adjectives and adverbs as easily as she learned